Care Delivery & Management Essay

The purpose of this assignment is to reflect upon my personal and professional development. It will consider the quality of the care I provided, the skills I developed in my specialist placement, plus my learning since the commencement of my nurse training. Personal learning and self-reflection will be identified. I shall be using Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle to consider my practice. Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle looks at six aspects which include the following; what happened, what were my thoughts and feelings, what was good or bad about the experience, what sense can I make out of the situation, what else could I have done and if it arose again what would I do? Findings will be supported or contrasted by relevant literature. A conclusion will be offered to evaluate findings. I shall also include an action plan, which will address future professional and personal development needs and any factors that may help or hinder this. I will also consider why I have selected these issues fo r my action plan, what my goals are and how I aim to achieve them. At the beginning of my nurse training we were asked to write on a piece of piece what our definition of nursing was. I wrote ‘It’s about being human’. At the time these words were based on my gut feeling and personal belief. Now, two and a half years later, I would write the same thing, but this time my definition would be based on the skills, knowledge and experiences I feel privileged and grateful to have had during my training and not just on gut feeling and personal belief. How does this knowledge impact on me in terms of practice? I can now put my definition of nursing into a framework and relate the theory of it to practice, for example I can identify when I am actively undertaking anxiety management with a patient. This is quite an achievement for me. What else have I learnt? I have gained knowledge of illnesses and understand how bio-psycho-social aspects of mental illness impact on the individual, their family and their life. I have also developed a good basic knowledge of practical skills such as: counselling, anxiety management, assessment, nursing and communication models, problem-solving and psychotherapy. This knowledge and development of practical skills has enabled my self confidence and self esteem to grow. What things have had the most influence on my personal and professional learning? These things are what ‘It’s about being human’ means to me as a nurse. They include a humanistic care philosophy. Evidence suggests that patients have found the humanistic care philosophy to be positive and helpful to their well-being (Beech, Norman 1995.) Humanistic care believes in; developing trust, the nurse-patient relationship, using the self as a therapeutic tool, spending time to ‘be with’ and ‘do with’ the patient (Hanson 2000,) patient empowerment, the patient as an equal partners in their care (Department Of Health 1999,) respect for the patient’s uniqueness, recognition of the patient as an expert on themselves (Nelson-Jones 1982, Playle 1995, Horsfall 1997). Equally important to me is person-centred care, Roger’s (1961) unconditional positive regard, warmth, genuineness and empathy, recognition of counter-transference, self-reflect ion and self-awareness. I was on placement with Liaison Psychiatry also known as Deliberate Self Harm. The team consisted of my mentor and myself. In this placement we would assess patients who had deliberately self harmed. Patients would be referred via A&E only. We would see patients whilst they were still in A&E or after they had been transferred to hospital wards for medical treatment for their injuries etc. We would only see patients once they were medically fit to have a psychiatric assessment. The purpose of the assessment was to find out what was happening for the individual and see if we could offer any help via mental health services to the individual, this is done via implementing ‘APIE’ the nursing process (Hargreaves 1975). The main focus was to consider what degree of risk we felt the patient was in. Therefore we needed to establish what the individuals intent was at the time of the deliberate self harm, and if suicidal, whether they still had suicidal intent after the incident. We also held a weekly counselling clinic. I considered Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle. How did I feel about this placement? At first I was apprehensive as to how I would feel dealing with patients who do not necessarily want to live. I belong to a profession that saves lives, so I felt an inner conflict. This is an anxiety that is recognised in most nurses (Whitworth 1984). In my first few weeks I felt distressed by the traumatic events that these patients were experiencing. I felt guilty that I have a family who love me, a fulfilling career, a lovely home and no debts, then each day I talk to people who may have no home, no money, no one to love them and no employment. It was hard for me to make sense of these things when life circumstances, such as class, status, wealth, education and employment create unfairness. I felt a desire to help try and improve the quality of these patients’ situations. Midence (1996) has identified that these feelings are a normal response when dealing with others less fortunate that oursel ves. Patients’ who attempt suicide have lost hope (Beck 1986). I felt more settled and positive once I was able to make sense of the situation (Gibbs 1988). I realised that could help by listening to these patient’s and help to restore hope, develop problem solving ideas to tackle some of their problems or referring them to gain the emotional help and support they needed from appropriate mental health services. Patients find help with problem solving extremely valuable and can help them feel able to cope (McLaughlin 1999). Generally, after most assessments, I learnt that listening, giving emotional support and problem solving helped restore enough hope in the previously suicidal patient enable them to feel safe from future self harm. In only a handful of cases did my mentor and I need to admit patients to any inpatient facility under the Mental Health Act (1983). This was because they still felt at risk of future self-harm. Through using Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle to consider my special placement area I feel I have been able to change my nursing practice in a positive way, initially from feeling anxious, guilty and helpless when dealing with suicidal patients to feeling useful, constructive and positive. I’ve learnt that by confronting my own feelings of guilt and discomfort I was able to help in a very positive, practical, constructive and empowering way. My mentor identified that one of my strengths is that I can generally combine common sense, logic and practicality in terms of risk assessment and problem solving and still build up a sensitive and caring, therapeutic relationship when dealing with patients whose circumstances are in crisis and complicated and they themselves are emotionally and mentally vulnerable. Nurses not only need good communication skills (Faulkner 1998) but they also need to have an environment conductive to open communication (Wilkinson 1992). Social barriers such as environment, structure or cultural aspects of healthcare can inhibit the application of communication skills (Chambers 2002) Utilising Gibbs (19988) Reflective Model, in retrospect; I feel our interview with some patients could have been done differently. On occasions when my mentor and I were in the A & E department the two rooms that we had available for our use were occasionally both in use. This meant that we would conduct our assessment interviews in the Plaster Room, if it was empty. This room was where medical patients would have plaster-casts applied. This was a very clinical room. However, due to limited room availability this was sometimes the only option we had at the time, it was not a welcoming or appropriate setting and would not have helped patients feel relaxed or valued. In reflection, I believe it was actually demeaning as we were asking patients who had attempted suicide to sit on a hard chair in a clinical workroom and share their despair with us. I am sad that this happened and I feel as though we were giving the patients the impression that a cold clinical work room is all they were worth. If this arose again (Gibbs 1988) I would suggest to my mentor that we wait for one of our allocated rooms to become available, where the rooms were relaxing, with soft armchairs and a feeling of comfort. Using Gibbs (1988) Reflective Model I shall describe a situation with a patient to highlight my learning. What happened (Gibbs 1988)? Neil had been bought to A&E by his son after he made an attempt to take his own life. His son explained that Neil’s wife had terminal cancer and had died the day before. Neil was unable to engage in conversation other that to repeat over and over again â€Å"I don’t want to live without my wife.† However the more disturbed and difficult to communicate a patient is the less interaction they receive therapeutic or otherwise from nursing staff (Cormack 1976, Poole, Sanson-Fisher, Thompson 1981, Robinson 1996a, 1996b). I found this too be true in Neil’s situation as some A & E nurses did not wish to approach him because of his disturbed state and unresponsiveness to verbal cues. What were my thoughts and feeling (Gibbs 1988)? After spending twenty minutes in the assessment interview Neil had remained unresponsive to our approaches and had remained distressed, distant and uncommunicative for the entire time. I had past experience of recent bereavement within my immediate family and I realised that counter-transference was at play and was a reason for my strong emotional reaction to Neil’s distress resulting in me having an overwhelming desire to ease his suffering. Even though another part of me understood the need for him to experience this extreme pain as a normal part of grieving. What was good or bad about the experience (Gibbs 1988)? This was not a good experience for me because as a compassionate person, I found it extremely hard to suppress my own feelings of wanting to protect him from such devastating distress, although I recognised that I was over-identifying with him due to my own grief. I considered that he might have been embarrassed by the emotional state he was in and his inability to control his grief; he could not speak, maintain eye contact or even physically stand. What sense could I make of the situation (Gibbs 1988)? We adjourned for a few minutes so that my mentor and I could assess the situation. I thought it might be appropriate to utilise Heron’s Six Category Intervention Analysis (1975) cathartic intervention as a therapeutic strategy to enable the patient to release emotional tension such as grief, anger, despair and anxiety by helping to (Chambers 1990). I hoped it would facilitate the opportunity for Neil to open up and express his full feelings in a safe and supportive environment. I initially planned to sit quietly with him and briefly put a reassuring hand on either his hand, arm or shoulder. My mentor supported this action. I was aware that I ran a risk of misinterpretation by choosing therapeutic touch. Therapeutic touch may be criticised because it is open to misinterpretation by the patient and abuse of power by staff. The patient may view holding another’s hand as a sexual advance, violation or abuse, so nurses should always consider patient consent, appropriateness, context and boundaries. Clause 2.4 of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (2002) Code Of Professional Conduct says that at all times healthcare professionals must maintain appropriate boundaries with patients and all aspects of care must be relevant to their needs. Therapeutic touch appeared acceptable given his situation and seemed appropriate to the context it would be performed in, given that my mentor would supervise me. As per Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle I considered what else I could have done especially if the situation arose again and mentor not been there. I would may have chosen to utilise Hanson’s (2000) approach of ‘being with’ whereby I use therapeutic use of self through the sharing of one’s own presence, and not involved any form of touch, avoiding any misinterpretation or breach of boundaries. I was anxious because I felt concerned that my nursing skills would be inadequate to address his needs due to his acutely distressed state. In reflection my mentor helped me acknowledge that this was about my own anxiety rather than being accurately reflective of my nursing ability. I approached Neil and explained that if it was acceptable with him I would like to sit quietly with him so that he was not alone in his distress. â€Å"It is likely that the nursing process is therapeutic when nurse and patient can come to know and to respect each other, as persons who are alike and yet different, as persons who share in the solution of problems† (Peplau 1988). I gently placed my hand onto his. Neil reacted by given the impression that he physically disintegrated, he become extremely distressed and crying loudly, squeezing my hand tightly. This continued for several minutes. Neil became calmer and started to talk about his situation. This was a good outcome. I was able to utilise Herons (1975) cathartic strategy with positive effect via empathising with Neil’s situation and using myself as a therapeutic tool through the use of touch, thus enabling Neil to express his emotions and activate a nurse-patient relationship. Studies have shown that nurses can express compassion and empathy through touch, using themselves as a therapeutic tool (Routasalo 1999, Scholes 1996) and this has a cathartic value, enabling the patient to express their feelings more easily (Leslie Baillie 1996). The therapeutic value of non-verbal communication and its harmfulness is overlooked (Salvage 1990). Attitudes are evident in the way we interact with others and can create atmospheres that make patient care uncomfortable (Hinchcliff, Norman, Schoeber 1998) On one occasion, one nurse privately referred to Neil as a â€Å"wimp† because he was having difficulty coping with the death of his wife. I wondered whether her body language had transmitted her bad attitude towards Neil, contributing to his distress and difficulties in communicating with staff. Again using Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle, I shall provide another example to highlight my learning in practice. What happened (Gibbs 1988)? Cycle On one occasion my mentor and I received a phone call from A & E asking us to review an 18-year-old girl called Emma who had taken an overdose. They said she was medically fit to be assessed. When we arrived they claimed that she was pretending to still feel unwell and described her as â€Å"milking it†. We found her to be vomiting and discovered she had been left in a bed in the corridor of A & E for 8 hours. McAllister (2001) found that patients who had self-harmed were ignored, had exceptionally long waits and suffered judgemental comments. What were my thoughts and feelings (Gibbs 1988)? I felt very angry towards A & E staff as I felt that she was being unfairly treated because she had caused harm to herself, she had been labelled as a troublemaker by staff and I do not believe she had received good quality care. Emma explained that in the last month her father had died, she had miscarried her baby, discovered that her partner was having an affair, and she had been made redundant leaving her with debts that she couldn’t pay. As I looked at her, I saw a vulnerable young woman at the end of her tether. I felt saddened and disappointed by the judgemental attitudes of the A & E staff who had not even taken the time to talk to Emma or ask her why she had taken an overdose, instead they describe her as an â€Å"immature and attention seeking kid†. As per Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle, I felt this was a very bad experience of poor care, bad attitudes and unacceptable moral judgement being made by A & E staff. Cohen (1996) and Nettleton (1995) identify that social status; age, gender, race and class contribute to stereotyping and judgemental attitudes. I noticed that people who self-harmed were judged differently dependent upon their age and the younger they were the worse the attitude of A and E staff. Interestingly ageism towards youth is an area that I could find no research on. I believe ageism towards younger people is overlooked and is really only identified in the elderly. During the assessment I was aware of how my physical presence can impact on the care given. However, I have learnt about the importance of considering how one can communicate to the patient via body language. By attending to patients in a non-verbal or physical way it is another method of saying, â€Å"I’m interested, I’m listening and I care.† To do this during Emma’s assessment I utilised Egan’s (1982) acronym S.O.L.A.R. This meant that I sat facing Emma Squarely, with an Open posture, Leaning towards her, whilst making Eye contact and Relaxing myself, to give her the feeling of my willingness to help. This client centred care recognises her equality in the nurse-patient relationship. What sense did I make of the situation (Gibbs 1988)? I was very unhappy about the attitude of A & E staff but recognised that they had a lack of understanding and knowledge. In one study looking at self-harm admissions it was discovered that patients who deliberately self-harm are often deemed as unpopular patients, being labelled and judged as time wasters by A & E staff. Apparently 55% of general nurses perceived these patients as attention seekers and disliked working with them, 64% found it frustrating, 20% found it depressing and almost a third found it uncomfortable (Sidley, Renton 1996). What else could I have done (Gibbs 1988) After reflecting upon the experience with my mentor, I was able to realise that part of my role is to act as a representative for mental health. If this happened again what would I do (Gibbs 1988)? If staff were to make judgemental comments again it is part of my role to educate and inform them so they can have a positive understanding of the needs of the mental health patient and learn to address any judgemental comments made. This is a view supported by Johnstone (1997), who says that if we are made aware of our actions when we are judging and labelling people it is our responsibility to correct this. Medical staff need to be aware of mental health promotion, and need further training and education in respects of helping to care for and understand of this vulnerable patient group (Hawton 2000). This is a view supported by the Department of Health (DOH 1999a) who have recommended closer liaison between mental health and A & E services in an effort to address the poor understanding and negative attitudes of A & E staff. I have also learnt that I must look at both sides of each situation and should show more understanding towards the A & E staff’s feelings, as they are often confronted with shocking and distressing acts of self infliction which can make them feel despair, helpless and unskilled to deal with these sort of patient. I believe nurses negative attitudes develop because we all intuitively apply own our values and views to everyday situations, people, experiences and interactions. It may be the staff member’s own coping mechanism to keep their distance from the patient or to label them as attention seeking in order to make sense of the situation for themselves. This is a view supported by Johnstone (1997). In reflection, following the assessment and planning of care for Emma my mentor and I reflected upon the care I provided for her. I recognised that I felt nervous because it was my first experience of conducting an assessment. Having my mentor there to observe me made me feel secure because I trusted my mentor and could rely on her expertise to ensure that I provided safe practice for Emma. However, I still felt anxious as I was faced with an unknown situation. This made me realise how difficult and intimidating the assessment process may have felt to Emma. I had the security of feeling safe in the relationship with my mentor. Emma didn’t know either of us. This highlighted the huge value of the nurse-patient relationship and how the importance of utilising Rogers (1961) theory of client-centred care involving unconditional positive regard, warmth, genuineness and empathy towards patients. My mentor said that I provided evidence based care and I appeared to have a good humanistic approach, sensitively providing client centred care. She joked that I was so keen to ‘get it right’ that I was practically sat on Emma’s knee in my efforts to non-verbally show to Emma that I was attentive and listening to her. I think that whilst this was a joke, I will endeavour to continue to be keen but will relax a bit more, hopefully as I gain more experience myself. I will also use the insight and understanding from these experiences to benefit my future practise and the care I provide for patients. Boyd & Fales (1983) suggest, â€Å"Reflective learning is the process of internally examining an issue of concern, triggered by an experience, which creates and clarifies meaning in terms of self, and which results in a changed conceptual perspective.† Self-reflection helps the practitioner find practice-based answers to problems that require more than the application of theory (Schon 1983). I have discovered this to be true, especially in mental health nursing where problem solving may be in the realm of religious, spiritual or cultural beliefs, emotional or intuitive feelings, ethics and moral ideals, which sometimes cannot be theorised. With one patient I couldn’t understand his unwillingness to engage in therapy even though he turned up for a weekly appointment. Once I reflected on this with my mentor I realised that I was not considering his strict religious and cultural background, which complicated his care. I realised that I had been completely ignorant of his needs and had in-fact lacked self-awareness otherwise I would have recognised these issues sooner. According to Kemmis (1995) a benefit of self-reflection is that it helps practitioners become ‘aware of their unawareness’. I have learnt that there are barriers to reflection. On occasions after seeing a patient my mentor may interpret events in a slightly different way to myself. Newell (1992) and Jones (1995) criticize the idea of reflection arguing that it is a flawed process due to inaccurate recall memory and hindsight bias. Another criticism of refection is that it aims to theorise actions in hindsight therefore devaluing the skill of responding intuitively to a patient (Richardson 1995). I considered that my thought to hold Neil’s hand may have been intuitive but because we must use evidence based practice and appropriate frameworks of care, I theorised my care and utilised Heron’s (1975) framework. I believe self-reflection helps me to become self-aware. Self-awareness is achieved when the student acknowledges there own personal characteristics, including values, attitudes, prejudices, beliefs, assumptions, feelings, counter-transferences, personal motives and needs, competencies, skills and limitations. When they become aware of these things and the impact they have on the therapeutic communication and relationship with the patient then they become self-aware (Cook 1999). I have learnt through these experiences that reflection can be a painful experience as I have recognised my own imperfections and bias. I have felt angry with general nursing staffs attitudes towards mental health patients and have now been able to realise that this emotion is unhelpful and instead I should be more tolerant and understanding and help them to understand the patients needs. It is also difficult especially if one is experiencing strong emotions such as anger, frustration and grief (Rich 1995). At times I have over-identified with my patients and personalised their situation to similar situations of my own. This is known as counter-transference and has blinded my ability to address their care needs. Counter-transference is the healthcare professionals emotional reaction to the patient, it is constantly present in every interaction and it strongly influences the therapeutic relationship, but is often not reflected upon (Slipp 2000). Counter-transference can be defined as negative as it can create disruptive feelings in the clinician, causing misguided values and bias (Pearson 2001). I have learnt that it is crucial for me to consider how my reactions to a patient’s problem can impact on the care I provide. Whilst I endeavour to always give 100% best and unbiased care to each patient, I have realised I respond more favourably to patients that I like or identify with. For example I was extremely compassionate and biased towards both Emma and Neil and I feel that my personal life experiences influenced me because I could really empathise with them both. However, I realised that I am only human and that as long as I recognise the impact of counter-transference then I can use it positively as my self awareness of the fact that the process is occurring will enable me to address and challenge my own thoughts, feelings and responses. To conclude, I have been able to highlight my learning over the last two and a half years, both personally and professionally. This has enabled me to look at the areas that I am good at and the areas that I can improve on. I have been able to look at the quality of the care I have given patients and considered what I have achieved, how I felt, how I could have done things better, what was successful and unsuccessful, what issues influenced me and what understanding I had of the experience. I have also been able to recognise my role as a representative for mental health nursing and how I can promote it to other healthcare professionals. I have also identified the value of the role of my mentor in helping me to develop as a nurse. I will use the insight and understanding from these experiences to benefit my future practice and the care I provide for patients. ACTION PLAN Word Count 1086 What are my goals? My mentor and I discussed the areas that I want to improve on. We identified that my stronger points are common sense, logical approach and practical ability in terms of things like risk assessing and problem solving. I am also competent in the building of a therapeutic relationship, utilising a humanistic care philosophy, person centre approach, empathy, genuineness, unconditional positive regard and honest. I also have a good knowledge in respect of mental health promotion, anxiety management, basic counselling skills, understanding of the fundamentals associated with nursing, assessment and communication models and the basic principles of psychotherapy. I feel I have come a long way in two and a half years and have accomplished a lot. However, there are areas that I recognise that I can improve on and I am happy that I can address these as I hope this will improve my learning, skills and competency as a nurse in the future, providing better patient care. The areas I need to gain more knowledge and experience of include: understanding the religious, cultural and spiritual needs of the patient and how this impacts on their care and quality of life, recognising and working with counter transference and my tendency to feel the need to over protect patients as this does not help the patient to utilise choice, be responsible for themselves or empower themselves. I want to continue developing my own self awareness through self reflection. Finally I wish to develop my academic abilities and to train further so that I have more knowledge. Why have I chosen these issues? I have chosen to improve my knowledge and understanding of patients religious, cultural and spiritual needs and how this impacts on their care and quality of life, because by doing this I hope to be able to address their needs holistically. To successfully undertake a thorough assessment the healthcare practitioner needs to identify the holistic needs of the patient, failure to do so would neglect the patients physical, psycho-social and spiritual needs (Stuart and Sundeen 1997.) At present I feel I am unable to fully comprehend or provide best care as I feel I lack the skills and knowledge to do so. I also wish to further consider the impact of counter transference and my tendency to feel the need to over protect patients. I feel that if I gain more understanding and recognition of how counter-transference can change my reaction to a patient then I will be able to address it and have more control and choice over my nursing and my responses. In practice, I have experienced strong emotional reactions to some patient’s, perhaps because I could identify with some of their issues. However, this can result in my wanting to over protect them, which may disempower them, and this is unhelpful. Different characteristic in patients can influence the emotional reaction of the nurse (Holmquist 1998). I need to be able to recognise these characteristics in the patient and be self aware of the way I am responding. I want to continue developing my own self-awareness through self-reflection, as I will need to be able to exercise autonomous and expert judgement as a qualified nurse. The ability to use self-reflection as a learning tool to becoming self-aware will help me achieve this. This is a view supported by (Wong 1995). Boud, Keogh & Walker (1995) believe self reflection is an important human activity, essential for personal development as well as for the professional development of the nurse. By being able to mull over my experiences will help me challenge my beliefs and behaviour as an individual and a nurse. Finally I wish to develop my academic abilities and to train further so that I have more nursing knowledge. Experience alone is not the key to learning (Boud et al 1985). I wish to gain further qualifications so that I may further my career and knowledge, as this will provide a sense of achievement and fulfilment for me. How am I going to achieve my goals? I intend to develop my portfolio and keep an open reflective diary (Richardson 1995) to show evidence of my learning and prepare for my PREPP. Portfolios are seen as a collection of information and evidence used to summarize what has been learnt from prior experience and opportunities (Knapp 1975), and acknowledges professional and personal development, knowledge and competence, providing nurses with evidence of their eligibility for re-registration every three years (NMC 2002). I believe maintaining my portfolio helps with one’s self-assessment and will help me to develop my strengths, plus identify and critically evaluate my weaker areas, this is a view supported by Garside (1990). However in contrast Miller & Daloz (1989) suggest there is no evidence to suggest that self assessment contributes to enhance self awareness. A barrier to one’s ability to self-reflect may be time constraints and socio-economic factors such as high staff and management turnover, low staff morale and staff illness (Bailey 1995) I hope to overcome this by being a supportive team member to my colleagues and maintaining a positive mental attitude. I am happy to work on my portfolio and diary in my own time as I think it is a valuable learning tool. I will use my preceptorship, learning in practice, observation in practice and clinical supervision to help achieve my goals. Reflection on action is considered to be an essential part of clinical supervision (Scanlon & Weir 1997). I will continue to use Gibbs (1988) Reflective Model to help me develop my learning through reflection. I will need to feel confident that by sharing my portfolio, diary, reflection or seeking advice via preceptorship and supervision that this will not reflect negatively on me and effect my ability to feel able to trust my mentor. Students and staff sometimes feel unable to fully express themselves or belittled by the power relationship if supervision is not in a trusting relationship feeling it could be open to bias, personality clashes, counter-transference or could disadvantage them in terms of career development (Richardson 1995 Jones 2001). However, good clinical supervision enables nurses to feel better supported, contributing to safer and more effective nursing (Teasdale 2001, Jones A 2001). I hope to continue with life long learning and would like to be able to study for a degree in nursing. I shall do this by apply for funding once I am employed and hope that whoever my employers are they will support me in my goal to become better qualified. 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Deception Point Page 47

Arriving now at the doorway of the Communications Office, Tench felt alive with the thrill of the fight. Politics was war. She took a deep breath and checked her watch. 6:15 P.M. The first shot was about to be fired. She entered. The Communications Office was small not for lack of room, but for lack of necessity. It was one of the most efficient mass communications stations in the world and employed a staff of only five people. At the moment, all five employees stood over their banks of electronic gear looking like swimmers poised for the starting gun. They are ready, Tench saw in their eager gazes. It always amazed her that this tiny office, given only two hours head start, could contact more than one third of the world's civilized population. With electronic connections to literally tens of thousands of global news sources-from the largest television conglomerates to the smallest hometown newspapers-the White House Communications Office could, at the touch of a few buttons, reach out and touch the world. Fax-broadcast computers churned press releases into the in-boxes of radio, television, print, and Internet media outlets from Maine to Moscow. Bulk e-mail programs blanketed on-line news wires. Telephone autodialers phoned thousands of media content managers and played recorded voice announcements. A breaking news Web page provided constant updates and preformatted content. The â€Å"live-feed-capable† news sources-CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, foreign syndicates-would be assaulted from all angles and promised free, live television feeds. Whatever else these networks were airing would come to a screeching halt for an emergency presidential address. Full penetration. Like a general inspecting her troops, Tench strode in silence over to the copy desk and picked up the printout of the â€Å"flash release† that now sat loaded in all the transmission machines like cartridges in a shotgun. When Tench read it, she had to laugh quietly to herself. By usual standards, the release loaded for broadcast was heavy-handed-more of an advertisement than an announcement-but the President had ordered the Communications Office to pull out all the stops. And that they had. This text was perfect-keyword-rich and content light. A deadly combination. Even the news wires that used automated â€Å"keyword-sniffer† programs to sort their incoming mail would see multiple flags on this one: From: White House Communications Office Subject: Urgent Presidential Address The President of the United States will be holding an urgent press conference tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time from the White House briefing room. The topic of his announcement is currently classified. Live A/V feeds will be available via customary outlets. Laying the paper back down on the desk, Marjorie Tench looked around the Communications Office and gave the staff an impressed nod. They looked eager. Lighting a cigarette, she puffed a moment, letting the anticipation build. Finally, she grinned. â€Å"Ladies and gentlemen. Start your engines.† 53 All logical reasoning had evaporated from Rachel Sexton's mind. She held no thoughts for the meteorite, the mysterious GPR printout in her pocket, Ming, the horrific attack on the ice sheet. There was one matter at hand. Survival. The ice skimmed by in a blur beneath her like an endless, sleek highway. Whether her body was numb with fear or simply cocooned by her protective suit, Rachel did not know, but she felt no pain. She felt nothing. Yet. Lying on her side, attached to Tolland at the waist, Rachel lay face-to-face with him in an awkward embrace. Somewhere ahead of them, the balloon billowed, fat with wind, like a parachute on the back of a dragster. Corky trailed behind, swerving wildly like a tractor trailer out of control. The flare marking the spot where they had been attacked had all but disappeared in the distance. The hissing of their nylon Mark IX suits on the ice grew higher and higher in pitch as they continued to accelerate. She had no idea how fast they were going now, but the wind was at least sixty miles an hour, and the frictionless runway beneath them seemed to be racing by faster and faster with every passing second. The impervious Mylar balloon apparently had no intentions of tearing or relinquishing its hold. We need to release, she thought. They were racing away from one deadly force-directly toward another. The ocean is probably less than a mile ahead now! The thought of icy water brought back terrifying memories. The wind gusted harder, and their speed increased. Somewhere behind them Corky let out a scream of terror. At this speed, Rachel knew they had only a few minutes before they were dragged out over the cliff into the frigid ocean. Tolland was apparently having similar thoughts because he was now fighting with the payload clasp attached to their bodies. â€Å"I can't unhook us!† he yelled. â€Å"There's too much tension!† Rachel hoped a momentary lull in the wind might give Tolland some slack, but the katabatic pulled on with relentless uniformity. Trying to help, Rachel twisted her body and rammed the toe cleat of one of her crampons into the ice, sending a rooster tail of ice shards into the air. Their velocity slowed ever so slightly. â€Å"Now!† she yelled, lifting her foot. For an instant the payload line on the balloon slackened slightly. Tolland yanked down, trying to take advantage of the loose line to maneuver the payload clip out of their carabiners. Not even close. â€Å"Again!† he yelled. This time they both twisted against one another and rammed their toe prongs into the ice, sending a double plume of ice into the air. This slowed the contraption more perceptibly. â€Å"Now!† On Tolland's cue, they both let up. As the balloon surged forward again, Tolland rammed his thumb into the carabiner latch and twisted the hook, trying to release the clasp. Although closer this time, he still needed more slack. The carabiners, Norah had bragged, were first-rate, Joker safety clips, specifically crafted with an extra loop in the metal so they would never release if there were any tension on them at all. Killed by safety clips, Rachel thought, not finding the irony the least bit amusing. â€Å"One more time!† Tolland yelled. Mustering all her energy and hope, Rachel twisted as far as she could and rammed both of her toes into the ice. Arching her back, she tried to lift all her weight onto her toes. Tolland followed her lead until they were both angled roughly on their stomachs, the connection at their belt straining their harnesses. Tolland rammed his toes down and Rachel arched farther. The vibrations sent shock waves up her legs. She felt like her ankles were going to break. â€Å"Hold it†¦ hold it†¦ † Tolland contorted himself to release the Joker clip as their speed decreased. â€Å"Almost†¦ â€Å" Rachel's crampons snapped. The metal cleats tore off of her boots and went tumbling backward into the night, bouncing over Corky. The balloon immediately lurched forward, sending Rachel and Tolland fishtailing to one side. Tolland lost his grasp on the clip. â€Å"Shit!† The Mylar balloon, as if angered at having been momentarily restrained, lurched forward now, pulling even harder, dragging them down the glacier toward the sea. Rachel knew they were closing fast on the cliff, although they faced danger even before the hundred-foot drop into the Arctic Ocean. Three huge snow berms stood in their path. Even protected by the padding in the Mark IX suits, the experience of launching at high speed up and over the snow mounds filled her with terror. Fighting in desperation with their harnesses, Rachel tried to find a way to release the balloon. It was then that she heard the rhythmic ticking on the ice-the rapid-fire staccato of lightweight metal on the sheet of bare ice.

How the legalization of marijuana would affect the economy Research Paper

How the legalization of marijuana would affect the economy - Research Paper Example These positive results mostly have a direct relation to the increased income that the local government regulation of Marijuana sales have had upon their economy. In fact, if one were to keep an open mind about the issue of Marijuana legalization and its possible positive effects on a state or national economy, one will see that the pros in this instance will definitely outweigh the cons. This paper will concentrate on highlighting the positive effects that Marijuana legalization and regulation by a local state can have on its economy. The results of which will definitely astound you and make you question why the government continues to oppose the legalization of Marijuana on a national level. Our country is struggling against consistently growing unemployment rates and is buckling under the pressure of having to balance our national budget. The recent government shutdown resulted in thousands of people being furloughed without any idea as to how and when their income will resume. The se are the true struggles of the average American struggling to make a living in what was once the most powerful and economically stable country in the world. But in Obama's America, inflation is something that nobody, not even the president himself, seems to have the power to overcome. While we spend billions of taxpayer dollars every year in efforts to shut down Marijuana clinics across the nation, we kill an industry that can very well provide jobs to our countrymen and provide the national government with billions in income that can be generated from regulated sales of the plant. Consider the following information regarding the way the government treats what is considered to be a petty drug crime: â€Å"incarcerations for what are basically petty drug crimes continue to rise: â€Å"$200 transaction can cost society $100,000 for a three-year sentence. â€Å" (Erb, Kelly Phillips â€Å"Stirring the Pot: Could Legalizing Marijuana Save the Economy?†). With every state spe nding that kind of serious money on every Marijuana related arrest, it stands to reason that the country as a whole is overspending on the upkeep of each Marijuana grower / dealer in the country when that money can very well be allocated to more serious costs such as housing, healthcare, etc. While Washington remains oblivious to these facts, there have already been 16 states within the union that has come to see the potential benefits that the legalization of Marijuana can have on their local economy. Taking a page out of the prohibition era when alcohol was banned thus creating an underground economy that boomed without the government getting its fair share in terms of taxes. However, legalizing the use of Marijuana for medical and recreational purposes has its economic benefits as the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington have come to realize. Follow ing in their footsteps, twelve more have similar legislation pending: Alabama, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania (Erb, Kelly Phillips â€Å"Stirring the Pot: Could Legalizing Marijuana Save the Economy?†). These are the states that have woken up to the fact that there is money to be made from government regulation of Marijuana. States

Foundation of Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Foundation of Management - Essay Example Specifically, culture is the personality of an organization around which the whole organization revolves. Therefore, it is necessary to make a fundamental criterion and embed these core values with the individuals/employees of the organization. Without its existence, the energy of all the members will dissipate in terms of plans, decisions, and operations. Over the past decade, the concept of organizational culture has gained significant importance and acceptance. It is considered as a way to understand human systems. Each element of culture can be viewed as an environmental condition that has a great impact on the entire system and its subsystems. Increased competition, mergers, acquisitions, alliances, advancements and diversification in various workforce departments have created an urgent need for strong organizational culture (Daft, 2008). Thus, the role of culture in organizational development cannot be overlooked. An accurate understanding of organizational culture will not onl y help in directing activities towards the productive manner but it will also avoid the destructive influence of those employees who are not committed and loyal to the goals of the organization. ... For instance, if the organization’s mission is to provide excellent customer services but the employees are not empowered with the authority to carry out the required responses or results then this discrepancy will lead to a major decline in the overall performance of the company (Alvesson, 2002). In this regard, it is the premise of this paper that in order for a business organization to be successful, culture is the most important notion, and management can put efforts to foster ‘right culture’ in the organization. In order to be SUCCESSFUL, Culture is the MOST IMPORTANT thing The concept of culture is described as how employees or members of any organization understand their world and their position in it (Alvesson, 2002). There are varieties of definitions attached to the world ‘culture’, most of them are widely in acceptance and they share the same aspects. Schein's defines organizational culture as "A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems that has worked well enough to be considered valid and is passed on to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems" (Schein, pp. 30-39, 2010). In simpler terms, organizational culture includes a group of people who are trained to deal with a situation through guidelines or by those around them. It works like any other social learning process. One important aspect of organizational culture is that it is deeply rooted within its members. It creates the identity of the company and shapes the identity of its workers as well. This social identity is valuable in for company’s market position and an inherent conflict with the employees values can be a serious disadvantage. Due to this fact, companies transmit their values

Social problems questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Social problems questions - Essay Example One measure that is being used in organization is the monitoring of telephone and internet activity. Statistics show that over 50% of all workers with internet access utilized the web for non-work relating surfing activity, an action that decreases the productivity of the employee (Crimm). The monitoring of employee phone conversations and internet activity is not supposed to hurt the employee since the employees know that certain type of behavior is unacceptable. Issues concerning ethics occur when employers are unreasonable and are constantly spying in employees email and phone conversations and violate privacy issues. If a person receives a call from their marriage partner, the called is an implied private call that should not be heard by anyone. Drug testing is a different type of control measure. Typically a drug test is performed when a person starts working for an organization. Drug testing is an expensive event that if applied constantly to a staff of 100,000 employees would cost millions of dollars. Drug testing are not effective control measures since typical implementation is random testing, an action which will not help detect true drug usage among the staff. A company has to be careful not to target a person and perform various drug tests on an employee, because if the results are all in negative results the person may feel discriminated upon if the employee is the only person receiving recurrent drug tests. The event does not follow the random statistics nature and its probability of occurrence is very low. I personally do not feel the drug screening, email and telephone monitoring would affect me in any negative way in the workplace. Corporations in which profits are more important than human life are extremely unethical. The purpose of a business should not be money at the cost of human suffering. There are

Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 6

Philosophy - Essay Example e worry that this world might too be a dream was famously expressed by the French philosopher Rene Descartes in the seventeenth century in his Meditations. In fact, he specifically sought to doubt whatever could be doubted in order to lay the foundations for true knowledge through reasoning. After pointing out what happens during sleep, he makes his ‘dreaming argument’ when he writes, â€Å"In dwelling carefully on this reflection, I see so manifestly that there are no certain indications by which we may clearly distinguish wakefulness from sleep that I am lost in astonishment. And my astonishment is such that it is almost capable of persuading me that I now dream† (Descartes, 2009: 12). Put simply, the reasoning of his argument is that perceptions during both states are similar, and given that there are no ways to distinguish between them, therefore this raises the possibility that even during ‘waking’ one may be dreaming such that the perceptions du ring ‘waking’ may turn out to be ‘false’ as in dreams. An outline of this argument is presented below. Thus, Descartes doubts both; being presently awake and being ever awake. He refers to the particulars (i.e. what we do) during sleep as false delusions, and the things represented to us in dreams, as â€Å"painted representations which can only have been formed as the counterparts of something real and true †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (ibid). Incidentally, this shows that the non-dream world does have a greater originality than the dream world because what is painted in dreams is not created ex nihilo, but he continues to suggest that all the thoughts he has â€Å"are no more true than the phantasies† of his dreams (ibid: 49). Furthermore, Descartes’ obsessively skeptical approach is rather dubious because in places, it does not make sense, and some of his ideas like the demon are hypothetical. Moreover, it is ironic that after much doubting and casting aside the trustworthiness of the senses, he never once doubts his own

Arranged Marriage Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Arranged Marriage - Term Paper Example According to the term paper "Arranged Marriage" findings, arranged marriages are marriages arranged by the family members of the two partners. Even today in many parts of the world marriages are arranged by the families of the incumbents. The decision-making process in arranged marriages is quite different to the ‘love’ marriages popular in the West (Batabyal, 2001). The reasons are scientific. The young persons are not mature enough to choose the right partner. Their decisions would be based on aesthetics and pleasure while a successful marriage has to consider the family background. The youth would be guided by friendship and external factors whereas the family members would probe into the socio-economic search of the other family. While the marriages in India too are fixed by the two families, the consent of the two partners is paramount. The Indian families grow up with the conviction that marriages take place between two families and not two individuals. Thus, the f irst step is to evaluate the family when the proposal comes in. Once the two families are satisfied with each other’s standing in the society, the two potential partners in the marriage are provided an opportunity to talk to each other. This remains restricted to one or two meetings but their opinion does matter. Only when they give their consent the marriage is fixed. No coercion is exercised although when the two partners are very young, they may be shown the right direction in evaluating the taking the decision. The final decision however, rests on the two partners concerned. Thus, it is arranged to the extent that the family finds the prospective partner but the two agents have the right not to agree or get married. This sort of arranged marriage is healthy as there is no exchange or subjugation as in Pakistan. In Pakistan exchange marriages take place between where the family members or the close relatives of the spouses take the initiative to fix the marriages. In such societies patriarchic authority persists even today and such decisions are usually based on socio-economic relationships (Zaman, 2008). The two partners agree to such exchange marriages fixed by their elders for them and Zaman says they â€Å"subjugate themselves as actors to the agency of corporate family structures†. The reason for the involvement of families in arranging the marriages has several reasons. Such marriages provide social security as has also been pointed out by Zaman as it also helps to combat the security risks at both the macro and the micro levels. While security is important, partner compatibility is equally important which is not given importance to in Pakistan. Batabyal discusses about the utility of the traditional methods of decision-making in arrange marriages. He suggests that

Promotion and Public Relations Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Promotion and Public Relations - Coursework Example It only can be determined with the help of sales revenue of the restaurant. It is Doral, Florida based restaurant. It possesses or establishments 116 Japanese cooking restaurants as far and wide as possible, including its lead Benihana Teppanyaki brand, and in addition the Haru (combination food) and RA Sushi restaurants. Hiroaki Aoki was founder of this restaurant. The marketing promotion and public relation aids a restaurant to increase their sales and engage new customers. It also helps the restaurant organization to remain competitive in to the market, able to introduce their new services in foods and drink. The main objective of a restaurant organization should retain their existing customers. There are many tools for consumer sales promotion of restaurant organization, such as coupon distribution, price off promotion, free sample distribution and offering free gifts. To being a new service in restaurant, there should be free sample distribution of foods and drinks to the customers so that the customers will aware of food and drink quality. Distribution of coupon and offering free gifts will help the restaurant organization to attract more customers. These activities will aid the restaurant to understand the consumer behavior and their desires and needs from restaurant (Horchover, 2002). For a restaurant, it will be good to do trade sales promotion. It will aid Benihana Inc restaurant to attract more customers and can give competition to other existing restaurant in the market. Here, Benihana Inc restaurant should sale provide their service via online third party website, in this the restaurant should decrease their price of foods and drinks, some rebates to existing customers and free coupons. This particular activity will increase the sales of the restaurant and helps engage more new customers (Dauster, 2007). For a Benihana Inc restaurant in the market, the owner should distribute pamphlets and flyers to the

The God of the Bible is very much like old Eli in 1 Samuel-always Essay

The God of the Bible is very much like old Eli in 1 Samuel-always nagging his children but not really controlling them - Essay Example He allows them to eat all fruits of the trees in the garden with exception to the tree in the middle of the garden; The Tree of Knowledge, â€Å"And the Lord commanded the man ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil for when you eat it you will surely die.’ [Sic]† (Genesis 2:16-17). Despite this, man eats the fruit after being persuaded to do so by the serpent: God being Omni-conscious knew that Eve would be tempted by the serpent and did not take control of Eve to stop her from eating the apple, but rather let her choose her path even after emphasising on the importance of avoiding the apple. In Exodus, God calls Moses up into Mount Sinai to deliver to him The Ten Commandments. God then commands Moses to tell people of Israel that they are not to worship idols or build altars in the name of these idols, â€Å"And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.† [Sic] (Exodus 20:22-23). During his stay in the mountain, the Israelites soon lost hope in Moses and thought he died up there. Their faith in God soon weakened and they asked Aaron, who was left in charge, to make them a god that they could see as they have lost faith in Moses and his God. Aaron complies and asks them to strip themselves of the jewellery they have and give it to him so that he may make a god for them. â€Å"And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which [are] in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of yo ur daughters, and bring [them] unto me. And he received [them] at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These [be] thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. [Sic]† (Exodus 32:2-4). God was well aware of what

What affect has the Internet had on our Cognitive abilities Research Paper

What affect has the Internet had on our Cognitive abilities - Research Paper Example is widely used as a means of communication around the world and therefore contributes immensely in developing the cognitive abilities of the individual. The authors Berson & Berson (2005) has denoted that the internet has caused a revolution in causing the environments to expand at a global level, the world has turned into a global village since the inception of internet, the people around the world have gained an easy access in interacting with others around the world. Internet has become one of the famous modes of communication around the world among especially youngsters as well as adults (Quigley & Blashki, 2003). The use of internet focuses on developing the cognitive abilities of the individuals. At the educational level the use of internet is considered compulsory as students need to be in touch with the latest happenings of their respective fields and internet is the easiest modes of being in touch with the latest proceedings. The cognitive skills of any being is the capability of implying the mental abilities of any individual at the basic level, and by this use of mental ability, the individual is able to conduct their thinking process, their learning process and their studying process (Keil, 1989). Cognitive Abilities is associated with mental processes in for instance evaluating the sounds that an individual has heard or the images and the information that an individual tries to recall. Also, cognitive abilities include the relationships that are made between different data and information. Cognitive abilities of any human being can be identified and also measured on an individual basis. The strength of the cognitive skill and its efficiency has direct correlations with the learning processes of any individual. There have been different research studies conducted and various theories have been derived for deducing the importance of cognitive abilities and resources so that the variation levels can be understood in the learning processes (de Haan,

Malnutrition in Darfur Essay Example for Free

Malnutrition in Darfur Essay Darfur is located in the Western part of Sudan and covers one fifth of the country being home to six million people. Darfur means house of fur and it is a historical region of Bilad al Sudan which is the Western part of Sudan. The northern part of Darfur is occupied by the Arabs while the main occupants of southern part are the white Arabs and Fur who are also regarded as the people of Darfur. Christianity period in Darfur lasted from around 900 to 1200. In the late 1980’s, ethnic tensions between the people of Darfur and nomadic Arabs and other agriculturalists began erupting into armed conflicts. These conflicts were very bloody and they continued up to 2003 after which the rebels from among the agriculturalists started attacking installations of the government. A peace treaty was signed in the year 2003 but this was not effective. The government of Sudan is seen to support these killings which become worse day after day. Janjaweed is the group that is terrorizing the people of Sudan and is said to be like a features of the mafia and the KKK in U. S. Janjaweed are racists and want to see the subjugation of the non Arabs in Sudan (Ubiera, 2010). Malnutrition refers to a condition which occurs when a person’s body is deprived of enough nutrients. It is brought about by an unbalanced diet, difficulties in digestion, problems of absorbing food or other medical conditions. Hunger, protein deficiency and overconsumption are the main causes of malnutrition. Malnourishment makes the body struggle to operate normally as such the ability to learn and physical work becomes difficult to undertake. In women and especially breastfeeding mothers, the prospect of producing breast milk that is nourished is very low (WFP, 2010). At present there are about 5 million people who are experiencing food insecurity in northern parts of Sudan, Darfur being among them. This is due to the conflicts going on in Darfur, poor 2009/2010 harvests, sky rocketing food prices and reduction in supply of grains. Levels of food insecurity are due to civil insecurities, limited access to cultivable land by the IDPs and poor rainfall, destruction of crops by animals, and pest infestation. Populations that are experiencing food insecurity are relying on aids from World Food Program (WFP) while others have developed coping strategies like sale of livestock, firewood and even grass so as to buy food in addition to income received from daily wage (USAID, 2010). By January 2010, research collected by UNICEF showed that there was an increase in all the three regions of Darfur with Northern Darfur being the worst hit into Outpatient Treatment Programme and Supplementary Feeding Centers. Global Outcome Malnutrition showed that it stood at over 15% in Darfur. It is estimated that there were about 3. 6 million beneficiaries of food with 30, 000MT. Consequence of the food insecurity; most of the individuals rely on donations from donors. If this help is not received, most of them end up starving. However, when it finally arrives it is limited in quantity and also quality hence its recipients cannot get all the required nutrients. Due to this there is malnutrition and more so in the camps where water is a problem too. Studies have shown that by January 2010, 80% of the total deaths since the fighting began are due to diseases and not violence. The findings showed that among the millions of people affected by the on going conflicts, most of them were still at risk of succumbing to malnutrition, waterborne diseases and diarrhea which has been rampant in the camps as the fighting continues. Displaced individuals are the most susceptible to this (AP, 2010). International interventions have been put in place so as to reduce the levels of inhumane actions in Darfur. Thousands of peacekeepers are in the region where there is collaboration of African Union-UN peace keeping and UNAMID. However, the intervention is said to have failed due to a number of factors. First, the government of Sudan is the main player of genocide. United Nations and as well as the International community has the commitment to respect the sovereignty of the national governments and so with this commitment and their need to maintain peace cannot afford them to enter into war with the government of Sudan. This means that attempts to stop war can only be successful if the government of Sudan is willing to cooperate but if it continues to keep conflicts alive and use racial hatred as a means to attack the marginalized communities, the interventions will be of little impact. Another reason is the lack of international community to make full commitments to bringing the war to a stop. The people around the world are unwilling to incur the costs of peace keeping unless there are some international strategic interests or economic benefits. The cost to human lives is not acceptable by most individuals for international conflicts which have no direct consequences to their own lives. Another reason is attributed to overall reluctance of countries, agencies or forces to do something which is related to war on terror being undertaken by US or any country. The last reason is the complexity of the problem itself. The Darfur war has significant social and political aspects. Hence the flaring up of the crisis in Darfur can only end when there is a long lasting balance of power between the two warring groups (Kumar, 2010). Even with the said failure by the humanitarian group to bring sanity into the region, their presence is still felt in Darfur. They nonetheless face many challenges but are daring enough to continue with their stay. Some of the problems are related to the government which makes it difficult for them to obtain travel visas and work permit. Bandits too attack them making it impossible for them to access the troubled areas but this has not deterred them. They try as much as possible to access the areas so as to help victims of crime and mostly the displaced people but mostly the vulnerable groups which comprise of children, women, the sick and the elderly. This shows the level of their commitment despite the reality of the failure of their efforts to bring peace in Darfur (USAID, 2010). The Sudan government and conflicts Sudan’s Liberation Army and Justice and Equality movement began attacking the government in the year 2003 by oppressing them for favoring Arabs over black Africans. Initially the conflicts were generally due to neglect by the government and lack of development in the black inhabited regions. Other supporting factors of the conflicts in Darfur are deemed to be complex and interwoven. Factors like, environmental degradation due to conflict over the access to the resources; famines in the past, neglect by the government hence lack of development characterized by poor health facilities, breakdown of the education sector and poorly developed economy; and constant interference by outsiders like British colonialists, Southern conflicts and expansion of Islamic religion. The Sudanese government responded by deploying troops to back the militias or the Janjaweed. This made the government to be accused of supporting crimes against humanity and hence perpetrating genocide. Entire communities lost their livelihood as most of their villages were burnt to the ground which forced individuals to flee from their homes. The most vulnerable groups in the underlying conditions are women and children. This is attributed to the violence in the camps for the internally displaced, and attacks on the civilians including sexual violence that is gender based and reduction in the level of water supplies (AMNESTY International, 2008). Humanitarian crisis resulted due to this mass displacement of the citizens. They included direct attacks to poor living conditions which were deteriorating day in day out. 300,000 people have lost their lives from the year 2003 to 2005 and it is during this period that George W. Bush declared the Darfur crisis as genocide. Despite the world’s outcry, the genocide continued as the number of those displaced and killed continued to increase. In 2006, the Sudanese government signed a peace treaty with one of the rebel movements but it continued to fight the other two groups which did not consent to signing the treaty. The rebel movements too started experiencing internal divisions orchestrated by political differences which led to fights leading to further complexity of the war and endangering lives of more civilians. Up to date fighting between the governments and rebel movements continues. Opportunistic bandits and militias have also taken advantage of this and it has affected the humanitarian aid and contributed to most the of gender based crimes. Despite this entire crisis, the Sudan government is seen to be on centre stage as President Bashir and his entire government is the one who created conducive environment for the fights due to their counterinsurgency campaigns through use of violence that target innocent civilians. Furthermore it has rendered peace keeping missions by the international community futile. All this makes the government to be accused of being the main player in the on going Darfur conflicts. The poor living conditions with no food or little food has led to malnutrition cases among those displaced. Further attacks made against the rescue teams have made it difficult for food to be availed to the needy persons in the camps hence cases of starvation due to limited or no food provision among the people together with lack of water are rampant (SaveDarfur, 2010). Geographic factor Darfur means the land of fur people. It was an independent sultanate from fourteenth century to 1917. It was absorbed into the British Empire after the World War 1. Under the rule of colonialists, development in the region was neglected. Before then, Darfur was provided with nothing apart from cattle and gum export support. Important facilities like maternity clinics were not available and at time of independence, Darfur had the lowest number of hospital beds (De Waal Flint, 2005). Deliberate negligence of Darfur especially after falling in the hands of colonialists is the major reason behind the hostility. Another reason is that Darfur is somehow separated from Sudan by mountains and has therefore been regarded by some people as part of Chad. In the last three centuries, neighboring countries have been struggling to rile Darfur (Collins, 2006. In the pre-colonial era there was more development than there is today due to cooler climates and the geographical condition as it was the pathway for the traders since it was between the desert and the mountains. Most of the important trade items such as feathers of ostrich, ivory and tusks of the time were transported through Darfur but in today’s economy they are no longer necessary hence decline in the economic growth of Darfur. With the imposition of the colonialists, Darfur’s importance ceased and from then their attention from the central government was lost (Prunier 2007). People of Western Sudan were disappointed by the central government for its neglect on the region. Drought experienced in 1983 and 1984 and its mismanagement by the government added to the fury. This is because the then president ignored warnings by experts on the effects of the drought on the people. Although the international community provided food it was hardly enough and this led to conflicts among the Darfurians as they tried to survive (Collins Burr, 1995). The autonym also concurs that these disagreements between Khartoum and Southerners are major factors that brought about the conflicts. Lack of security is also a concern for the government. Darfur is in the east of the Chad and is not part of Nile Valley. Geographically, Darfur is in Chad and in the past the inhabitants were linked to west more than to the Arabs on the east of Nile. This has made Darfur to be seen to be open to influence from the neighboring countries. In the past, Sudan has had issues with Chad which made the government of Sudan to allow the Libyan troops to train there and this led to increased cases of banditry and small scale violence (Collins, 2006). Conflicts in Darfur have been said to spill over to the western border into Chad and Central Africa Republic (CAR) with several armed forces being involved hence forcing the people to flee their homes across the three countries. Chad and Sudan have been accusing each other of lending a helping hand to the rebel movements in one another’s country. A quarter of Darfur citizens have fled to UN ran camps in Chad while a few of Chad citizens have taken refuge in Darfur. CAR’s government blames Sudan for supporting coalition of rebels which is Union of Democratic Forces for Unity which opposes President Francoise B. of CAR. Darfur expelled a number of humanitarian agencies after International Criminal Court issued a warrant on arrest of Bashir. As a result, thirteen international agencies and some three local groups were told to cease working in Darfur and in other parts of northern and southern Sudan. Since then little humanitarian action is said to take place (Hicks, 2010). UN Panel of Experts that is given the mandate to monitor the situation on the ground has been denied access to some areas. Other monitoring mechanisms that are independent have been reorganized as joint mechanisms with the government of Sudan. This has in turn led to increased levels of malnutrition and more so in rural areas where aid is stretched beyond capacity. Camps where they have fled due to the fights are raided by armed groups and collection of basic needs materials like firewood is proving to be dangerous as women are raped and men killed. Malnutrition rates are increasing as levels of hygiene in camps is poor and sporadic fights continue displacing more people. As people migrate from one country to the other, due to the fights, they increase chances of spreading infections. Cholera which is related to poor conditions spreads fast and other air borne diseases. Furthermore, the immigrants might not be covered by health services of the receiving country be it Sudan or the neighbors as they are not documented as required therefore being more vulnerable to diseases and this could serve as a source of spread of diseases. Public health interventions in Darfur and in the nearby border camps might not have the required health personnel who are useful in controlling or treatment of some minor infections which makes it worse and also facilitates fast spread of infections. These factors will make easy for diseases or infections to spread fast causing more trouble to the already malnourished people as the conditions are favoring too (Hicks, 2010). Doha Darfur Agreement This is a declaration of goodwill and confidence building signed by the government of Sudan and Darfur justice and Equality Movement (JEM) which is to pave way for full blown negotiations. It aims at resolving the conflicts in Darfur. Qatar is playing the role of a mediator with the help of African union-United Nations through the use of intensive talks. These talks have been seen to restore sanity if not the required level of complete peace to the troubled region. One of the reasons why it is seen to be a success is because of Qatar’s active role in the last two years in collaboration with African Union- United Nations mediation team which is led by Djibril Bassole. Qatar has been successful in bringing the two parties together and getting them to ink a deal that is deemed to have the potential for paving way to settlement of the disputes. Secondly, the current political climate and pressure on al Bashir to strike a deal as early as possible is also seen to be a reason. Al Bashir is getting pressure from Western countries in addition to the human rights organization for his bad record on rights of humanity besides ICC threats to arrest him. Upcoming referendums for independence in southern parts have put pressure on Bashir to call for peace (Pandey, 2010). Third reason that is seen to make the peace deal a success under Qatar leadership is the difficulties that are being faced by the JWEM movement to keep its movement intact. With no support from N’Dajema, the group can only opt for a peace deal as this is the only option since it has also lost the support it had before. The peace deal promises all the parties a chance to share power with the government. The fourth reason is the change of heart of the neighboring government of Chad. They have made amendments with the Khartoum government to end their long term feud. The signing of the peace accord by Chadian government in Doha shows its willingness to end the long term disputes and its support of Darfur. Another reason is the approach by International community which has also seen some changes. There is a positive attitude as the agreement led by Qatar has the full backing of organizations and world powers that have major influence. Finally disarray in rebel movements in Darfur is another reason. Leader of SLA which sparked off the fights has lost major influence on the ground due to certain splits. Many of the splitters have joined hand to form Liberation Movement for justice which has agreed to talk with the Sudanese government. With the support of most countries and with the dedication of the government of Sudan this can be seen as a step forward for the on going peace talks. Dedication too by JEM which is playing a major role is a good sign that the deal will be a success. Mass participation by people of Sudan in the concluded elections shows that there is a positive trend (Pandey, 2010). However, these peace deals have been marked by a number of difficulties which include: lack of confidence among the parties to the conflict, disputes among the movements and their unwillingness to unite in the critical process of restoring peace. These challenges are being overcome through the use of workshops which comprises of international leadership and experts drawn from the civil society organizations which are supposed to submit a recommendation on Darfur’s crisis so as to restore peace. Other challenges facing the peace talks are issues related to pockets of instability and lack of access to unstable and other areas by UNAMID. Some of the measures taken to counter the challenges are deployment of security to the humanitarian persons and the targeted population, and provision of pro active support for the peace keeping process and facilitation of the ongoing normalization of relations between Chad and Sudan and support of recovery process (UN Security Council, 2010). Conclusion The crises in Darfur do not reflect local conflicts but rather government crisis in the whole nation. The major reason why the conflicts erupted in Darfur is because of negligence by central government to issues related to development. Due to this many of people have been deprived of their human rights and there have been several humanitarian crises which have led to many deaths. Most of the deaths were due to poor health conditions especially in the camps and also due to lack of water. The only way to ensure that the conflicts come to an end or some level of sanity is restored is through the government’s dedication to peace talks with the other rebel groups. Equal development should be advocated for the whole country. Even with the deployment of troops by AU and extensive talks being held, emphasis should be on factors that led to the conflicts or else the interventions might turn out to be total failure. With the on going peace talks led by Qatar, some hope is raising though there are some difficulties involved. The strategies that are being used to correct the challenges show the extent of commitment and this makes the world and Darfur people to raise their hopes even more. Some strategic consultations too are on going between UNAMID and United Nations, African union, Arabs, the newly elected officials, displaced persons, women, the youths and representatives of civil organizations and involvement in peace process. Chad and Sudan’s reconciliation is strengthening too and there are no further reported cases of cross border attacks (UN Security Council, 2010). Efforts made by the international community in response to the crisis facing Darfur are being closely monitored by international organizations, governments, and worldwide scholars. If the international community continues to show its support, Sudan will finally enjoy peace which has been absent for so many years. References AMNESTY International, (2008). Sudan: the crisis in Darfur. Retrieved on June 7, 2010 from http://www. amnesty. ca/themes/sudan_darfur_conflict. php AP, (2010). Review of data from Darfur conflicts shows that 80% of deaths caused by diseases and not violence. Retrieved on June 7, 2010 from http://blog. taragana. com/health/2010/01/23/review-of-data-from-darfur-conflict-shows-80-percent-of-deaths-caused-by-disease-not-violence-186 Burr, J. Milliard and Robert O. Collins (1995) Requiem for the Sudan: War, Drought, and Disaster Relief on the Nile. Boudler: Westview Press Inc. Collins, Robert O. (2006) The Disaster in Darfur in Historical Perspective, The Journal of Conflict Studies, Winter 2006, pp. 25-43 Flint, J. De Waal, A. (2005) Darfur: A Short History of A Long War. London: Zed Books Kumar, V. (2010). Why international interventions to stop fighting in Darfur failed and alternative policies. Retrieved on June 7, 2010 from http://www. helium. com/items/954423-international-intervention-stop-fighting-darfur-failed-policy-alternatives? page=2 Hicks, C. (2010). Chad: views from Darfur refugees and UN protection force for Central Africa. Retrieved on June 8, 2010 from http://www. helomagazine. org/chad/2010/3/4/chad-views-from-darfur-refugees-and-the-un-protection-force. html Pandey, R. (2010). Why Darfur accord will hold. Qatar Tribune. Prunier, G. (2007) Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide. New York: Cornell University Press. SaveDarfur, (2010). What has happened in Darfur? Retrieved on June 7, 2010 from http://www. savedarfur. org/pages/primer Ubiera, S. N. (2010). Darfur. Retrieved on June 7, 2010 from http://achumbalacafe. tripod. com/id1.html United Nations Children’s Fund, (2010). Sudan: Nutrition summary, issue 23. United Nations Security Council, (2010). AU-UN Hybrid operation in Darfur focused on protection mandate despite challenges. Retrieved on June 8, 2010 from http://www. reliefweb. int/rw/rwb. nsf/db900SID/EGUA-85MR67 USAID, (2010). Sudan food security outlook. Retrieved on June 7, 2010 from http://www. fews. net/docs/Publications/Sudan_Outlook_April_2010_final. pdf World Food Programme, (2010). What is malnutrition? Retrieved on June 7, 2010 from http://www. wfp. org/hunger/stats? gclid=CNG94pXAjaICFU6Z2AodHD9_Uw

Current health and safety legislation Essay Example for Free

Current health and safety legislation Essay Ensure the area in or outdoors is free of any hazards or risks and is safe for CYP to work or play in safely. There should be adequate space for the number of people using it to move round comfortably and safely. Equipment should be stored safely storage should be labelled clearly. Furniture should be appropriate size for age of CYP using it. Lighting and noise should be taken into account and specific risks to individuals as in pregnancy, impaired sight or hearing, disabled, and CYP with special educational needs. We have a duty of care towards all the CYP in our care. The outdoor environment has some different needs like secure boundaries, being regularly inspected. The area should be checked for litter broken glass or animal droppings. Ensure any plants bushes or trees are safe no thorns or nettles and no poisonous or irritant leaves, berries, or flowers. Safety rules should be displayed and explained to the CYP also making sure they have a clear understanding of how to use any toys or equipment safely. Areas that include ponds, pools and sandpits etc should be covered when not in use. Be aware of lines of responsibility for checking the learning environment for risks and hazards. Your health and safety officer should answer any queries you have. There should be the correct ratio of adults to children with suitable training and safety clearance. In both these environments and off-site visits everyone should be aware of what to do in case of: emergencies, fire alarms, incidents, accidents or illness. Be aware of possible signs and indicators of child abuse: physical, emotional, sexual abuse, bullying and harassment , neglect and failure to thrive not based on illness. The signs could be: behavioural changes such as regression, withdrawal, excessive attention seeking, aggression and negative behaviour. Physical indicators such as unlikely bruising, burns, marks, genital irritation or damage, hunger , being dirty, lack of  health care. In school we have notices about certain children whom either have allergies, specific illnesses that require specialised medication or immediate contacting of emergency services, they have a picture of the child and detailed instructions of what to do in an emergency. All incidents and accidents no matter how minor are recorded in detail in our first aid book, anything more serious has to be recorded on special incident sheets along with any witness statements. We have regular fire drill practices. There are security locks on the main exits that can only be opened with a swipe card that only members of staff have. If someone should get through this system and are unknown to staff they will be challenged by any member of staff within the school and asked to leave. All the CYP’s are regularly reminded of stranger danger and what to do if they should be approached by a stranger. The gates are locked to the entrance of the school at starting and leaving times for the CYP’s to ensure there is no danger from cars or lorries driving on and off site. CYP are regularly reminded of hygiene issues like washing hands after using the toilet or at lunch times before eating their food, there are also posters to remind them on a daily basis too.

How Malaysia Has Benefit From The International Trade Economics Essay

How Malaysia Has Benefit From The International Trade Economics Essay 2.0 INTRODUCTION Recent years international trade has played a important role to most of the countries . It has connected every country together provided a considerable profits to them . To the international trade , it contains two main parts import and export . Exporting is the selling of products or services supplied from ones own country for use in other countries . By contrast , importing buying of products made in other countries for use in ones country . They are the basic element of the international trade . Among all the countries , Malaysia has benefit a lot from international trade in terms of life , work , house , health and so on . It has improved the economic development totally and made Malaysia much more beautiful . CHANGE IN CONSUMPTION PATTERN Consumption pattern is the combination of qualities , quantities , acts and tendencies characterizing a community or human groups use of resources for survival , comfort and enjoyment . To Malaysia , it just has a very single and closed corporation at the beginning before the international trade . They just sell themselves and grow food on their own . But some of the products are not as good as they think of because of the insufficient technology and the poor quality of materials supplies . Though with the same materials , they still can not produce better goods . However , the international has changed this . It absorbs the investment as well as the varieties of goods such as food including Japanese sushi , Korea cuisine and Chinese dumplings to Malaysia . People begin to try those food and this has changed their habits . Meanwhile some goods which Malaysia is not good at producing are introduced for people to use them . So Malaysia take advantages of their special goods which have good quality to export in order to achieve more profits by using the extra time . It means they just produce what they do well in and focus on producing some special and goo products . For example , Malaysia has a good resources of rubber , so they focus on exporting this . Unlike the rubber , they dont have enough resources to grow the rice. Thus Malaysia just depends on the importing from Thailand ,India and China mainly . This has changed the consumption pattern of Malaysia and made it much easier for people to consume . In all , the total consumption pattern has been changed to the specialization by the international trade , which is really helpful to Malaysia . In the future , the consumption will be much perfect to Malaysia . Olympia College JB International trade 13 IMPROVE PRODUCT QUALITY AND PRODUCTION EFFICIENCY Quality consists of the capacity to satisfy wants , quality is the degree to which a specific product satisfies the wants of a specific consumer. Efficiency is the high speed to produce the goods in limit time . As we know , international trade brings external competition to Malaysia which has affected the local market . Though the tax of importing is very high in result of the price of goods will be higher than the local ones , there are still many people purchasing the foreign goods due to the good quality . For example the shoes Adidas, Nike , Converse and Puma which has attracted many costumers in Malaysia .Though the price of them is very high , The quality has won the costumers . Therefore it reduces the number of local goods which should be sold . Meanwhile , the local market also face the internal competition . In order to sell more and stand in the market , they have to improve the quality of goods . The local market take advantages of the international trade to import technology , good materials and funds to improve the quality . Of course , this method improve the production efficiency as well due to the advanced technology . In the same time and same condition , they can produce more products . This has made them become more confident and increase the economic growth of Malaysia . For example ,the statistics from the United States to a view , Malaysia imported machine tools in about more than 400 million US dollars . Mainly from Japan , Germany , China Taiwan. In order to encourage importing , Malaysia has taken the current zero-tariff policy on imported machines . With these materials , Malaysia has acquired large profits and improved the quality and efficiency . Thus , international trade is really necessary to improve the product quality and production efficiency . Olympia College JB International trade 14 REDUCTION IN UNEMPLOYED RESOURCES Reduction in unemployed resources means the unemployment rate has reduced . There are not too many people who dont have jobs . In terms of employees in Malaysia , international trade has reduced a lot by two main methods . One is the investment and export , anther one is transfer the labors . Generally, investment is the application of money for earning more money. Investment also means savings or savings made through delayed consumption . Due to the international trade , a lot of firms have invested in Malaysia and build industry . It is not only a chance to increase the economic development , but also provides more jobs for employees . For example , a foreign company A want to invest and build a electric industry in Malaysia . Everything is prepared except the employees . As their own countrys employees [$1500] are very experience compared to Malaysia[$1000] , so they make use of the local workers so that they can save the principal and outcome . However , this indirectly help Malaysia to reduce the number of unemployed resources. In addition , As Malaysia need to export goods to obtain exchanges , this also has offered a stable market and reduce the number of employees . Transfer the labors means the labors can go abroad to work and the foreign labors can come Malaysia to work . Malaysia has a good surrounding , which is near to Singapore , Thailand and so on. So every year a lot of people go to Singapore and Thailand to work in order to obtain more money . This has decreased the number of employees in Malaysia . To the work like agricultural and mining jobs , as the local people dont like to work , then the foreign labors will solve this problem. The migrant labor came mainly from southern China and southern India . In all , international trade is really efficient to reduce the unemployed rate , which improve the economic growth as well . Olympia College JB International trade 15 WIDER CONSUMER CHOICE BRING HIGHER STANDARD OF LIVING International trade has brought different countries products and it provides people a wider choice to consume as well . Meanwhile the standard of living has also been improved . As you know , some people are attracted by the foreign products easily as they want to try the special things and the quality is also very good . Thus , the external competition between foreign goods and local goods make the local firms improve their quality and beauty . Meanwhile the foreign firms has to improve themselves as well , it result the quality of goods will be updated every second . In addition , many firms import variety of goods in order to attract the consumers . They make the market more abundant .People can enjoy themselves and have better choices . Due to the abundant market , the standard of living has been improved higher and higher . Therefore peoples life is better and better . A good example which can show you how Malaysia standard of living has been changed . According to Ministry of Finance statistics , as of August 2003 , Malaysia accounted for bank deposits of individual deposit 58% of the total annual of 6% . According to Ma energy telecommunications and multimedia Department of statistics , as if June 2004, fixed phone users 454.7 million , mobile users 1,239.8 million in urban and rural fixed-line telephone has a rate of 23% and 12% mobile phone ownership 53% and 2% . as of April 2006 , Malaysia has 420 million computer users , the number of internet users account for 40% .From this we know that the standard of living in Malaysia is increasing by the international trade fast . In all ,Malaysia has taken a big step in terms of the standard of living after the international trade . The life of Malaysia is better and better . Olympia College JB International trade 16 GREATER MOBILITY OF RESOURCES Mobility means can move . International trade has brought greater mobility of resources such as labors , goods and capital . This makes people exchange their technology and improve themselves. The movement of students and highly skilled workers across borders is a real and complex phenomenon that poses challenges for developing countries with no simple solution. Student mobility represents by the most important source of international trade in higher education . Recent years Malaysia has sent 25-30 thousand students to go abroad . Of course basically all the students are supported by the government .In year 2005, there were 42 712 Malaysian students  went abroad for study. 38 784  of them chose to study in OECD countries while the rest went to non-OECD countries. Back here shows the  breakdown of destinations where  Malaysian students chose to  go [data 1] . After they return , they will bring new technology and knowledge to make contributions to their mother land . This has helped Malaysia in the economy a lot and learn from other countries to improve themselves . Highly skilled workers are one of the supreme arrogance of a person with great power . They are the one most countries want to have . So every year some highly skilled worker will be introduced and someone who has highly skilled in Malaysia take advantages of the skill to achieve exchange. For example , the contractors in Malaysia hands this year was 3.7 billion worth of overseas contracts . This has made a big difference to Malaysia economy . This has taken a big step by the mobility of resources to Malaysia . Olympia College JB International Trade 19 Data 1 Malaysia students go to†¦ / Percentage (%)  [ Number (2005) ] Australia 36.41 ( 15552 ) United Kingdom 26.86 ( 11474 ) United States 15.02 ( 6415 ) Japan 4.48 ( 1915 ) New Zealand 2.79 ( 1190 ) Ireland 2.25 ( 960 ) Germany 1.33 ( 566 ) France 0.81 ( 345 ) Korea 0.50 ( 212 ) Netherlands 0.09 ( 40 ) Sweden 0.09 ( 40 ) Finland 0.03 ( 14 ) Denmark 0.03 ( 11 ) Switzerland 0.02 ( 10 ) Belgium 0.02 ( 9 ) Norway 0.02 ( 9 ) Spain 0.01 ( 6 ) Austria 0.01 ( 5 ) Czech Republic 0.01 ( 4 ) Hungary 0.01 ( 4 ) Turkey 0.00 ( 2 ) Poland 0.00 ( 1 ) Total OECD destinations : 90.80 ( 38784 ) Total Non-OECD destinations:   9.20 ( 3928 ) Source: OECD Education at a Glance 2007 Indicator C3: Who studies abroad and Olympia College JB International trade 17 CONCLUSION Overall , international trade has really benefit Malaysia so much that basically every part of Malaysia has been improved . It made Malaysia consumption pattern more special and fit for Malaysia themselves . To the quality and efficiency , they have been improved a big step and this has provided Malaysia a good method to obtain more profits . Meanwhile their standard of living is becoming higher and higher . In addition , Malaysia has obtained so many mobility of resources , especially the students and highly skilled workers , who have taken advantages of their knowledge and skill to make more countries to their countries . All of them above made Malaysia economy increasing fast and stably .with the international trade , the future of Malaysia will be much beautiful and developed . Olympia College JB Intro to Business 20