Wednesday, November 27, 2019

The Jesus I Never Knew By Philip Yancey free essay sample

The impact of Jesus on human history is so obvious that many writers are always inspired to write about Him. Many have written about Him and His teachings, but few have actually been as personal as Philip Yancey’s The Jesus I Never Knew. Intriguing as the title is, this paper looks at the more personal Jesus under Yancey’s writing. The book’s main strength is the progression of the character and personhood of Jesus that the author takes his readers to—a journey into the Jesus who may seem to have started as an ordinary carpenter but came to be known as the Savior of all men. The author immediately takes his readers into the theme of the paper.   Yancey orients readers he took an interest to write about Jesus from the very start, because as a child, he knew about Jesus as â€Å"a child singing Jesus Loves Me in Sunday school, addressing bedtime prayers to ‘Lord Jesus,’ watching Bible Club teachers move cutout figures across a flannelgraph board. We will write a custom essay sample on The Jesus I Never Knew By Philip Yancey or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He also associated Jesus with Kool-Aid and sugar cookies and gold stars for good attendance. The author gets the reader’s empathy as similar experiences come to mind. Yancey’s description of Jesus physical appearance is also very similar to most of the other people’s experience such as seen in the first two paragraphs alone. Here, the author has his readers under his watchful guide as to how he perceives Him. Indeed, during the Christian era, Jesus was the best example of a servant leader. Despite His divine power and qualities, he remained humble and followed God’s commandments even until his death. He was a good leader for all. Being a leader for Jesus also means being a servant for all. He told his apostles that if any one wants to lead, he must also be a good servant. For Jesus, a leader as a servant must be humble, unselfish and unworldly. As Yancey takes his readers on this journey, readers experience the discovery as much as the author. Thus, there is no feeling that he has experienced or known Jesus more than the other person. Yancey’s role is more of an inspiration that motivates people to look and see the biblical Jesus and what drives Him to do what He does. Philip Yancey addresses the theme of his book and puts it as,   Ã¢â‚¬Å"The God Who fills the universe imploded to become a peasant baby Who, like every infant that has ever lived, had to learn to walk and talk and dress Himself.† Jesus’ life and teachings can be glimpsed from the way the author depicts Him as devoid of any stereotyping, given to a well-known character. Instead, readers grasp the true meaning of his coming to this earth.   He divides the book into three categories and simplifies the flow of thoughts. The novel is divided into three main sections such as Jesus’ personhood, His mission and purpose and His legacy. Thus, readers are able to identify well with Him like any other human being born in this earth. However, Yancey goes even further as readers see the depth of His character. His purpose on earth is explained well as we see how the author explains the Beatitudes and His resurrection. Jesus Christ’s redemptive work on the cross, is the ultimate sacrifice so man will be saved and so that we might be able to come to God without worrying if we were righteous enough or if sinners could come to God. When Christ died for our sins, that was the payment for all of man’s past, present and future sins and it means that no sin remains unforgiven. With this knowledge, we should be confident in the fact that we are already right with the Lord. That, although Christ by His work has earned forgiveness for all, there are still certain conditions which God demands of people before He will pronounce them righteous. Because of the purity that we are able to attain through the saving power of Jesus Christ, we are able to walk in fellowship with the Lord. There is also a false teaching that was believed before and that was taught to many. For some reason, some people have been taught: That a person is able to bring about his own justification or that of anyone else by his own faculties, abilities, or works. This is not true because man is sinful and his ways are fallen so he cannot reconcile with a Holy God through a sinful manner in the first place. Whatever man does in order for him to attain justification, it will fall short of the glory of God because a sinful person will do it through fallen means.† People can only be right by receiving the gift God gave usthe gift of His Son’s most precious sacrifice which completely gave us the right to be called righteous by our Eternal Father. As in other writings of Yancey, he shows a God who does not give man what he deserves. He has set out to get back His lost sheep, His lost family by any means and through a great sacrifice, He was able to create a means for an unholy people to commune with a Holy God. Philip Yancey writes, â€Å"The same God who created the heavens and earth has the power to bridge the great chasm that separates Him from His creatures. He will reconcile, He will forgive, and no matter what obstacles His prodigal children put in the way. As the prophet Micah says, â€Å"You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.† (Yancey, 1998) Because of God’s great love, he gives man the grace that he needs in order to come back to Him. No matter how many fallacies other churches may teach, His word remains.   He is a holy and a loving God;   He is a forgiving God who has the compassion to sacrifice His own Son for the illegitimate children who always wants their ways to be given precedence. The grace has been provided and we only need to repent of our sins and be right with God to receive it in its wholeness. Despite all these truths, Yancey’s motivation for even writing about this book spurs one to examine his own life’s direction. For Yancey was both a â€Å"doubter and lover† and he needed to balance it well. When Yancey writes, â€Å"I tend to write as a means of confronting my own doubts,† makes readers take a good look at his own beliefs. Even as he writes, â€Å"Sometimes, I confess, I wonder what difference it should make to my life that a man lived two thousand years ago in a place called Galilee?† Yet these are the very words that make readers want to explore what Jesus was really like and why he would die for someone so far down in history, whom He has never even seen? Yancey emphasizes his point when he says that â€Å"It occurs to me that all the contorted theories about Jesus that have been spontaneously generating since the day of his death merely confirm the awesome risk God took when he stretched himself out on the dissection table—a risk he seemed to welcome. Examine me. Test me. You decide.† (p.21).   And from there, Yancey gives a clearer view of who the Savior and manages to allow readers to ask themselves gently after reading the book, â€Å" Now who do you say that I am?†Ã‚   Yancey shows his readers the character of Jesus all throughout his book.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

How to Efficiently Publish Content With Shawn Smith From Trizone

How to Efficiently Publish Content With Shawn Smith From Trizone Have you thought about what makes someone a thought leader? One of the best ways is to publish content consistently. Today we’re talking to Shawn Smith, the co-owner of Trizone. Shawn knows all about how to create high-quality content with limited resources, how to involve subject matter experts in creating your content, and why automating processes can help you get everything done. You’ll want to stay tuned to hear about all of this and more! A bit about Trizone and what Shawn does there as a â€Å"jack of all trades. What it’s like working with a small team and how they work as efficiently as possible. What fluidity means to Shawn and how it helps his team be more effective and productive when it comes to creating great content. How automating some of the process helps Shawn and his team be more efficient and save time. How and why the Trizone team works with subject matters to help them with their content creation and thought-leadership. Also, Shawn talks about how he gets into contact with them and gets them to contribute. Shawn’s best tips for working with subject matter experts and collaborating with a remote team of people. Information about the Trizone workflow process and why it works for them. Advice for a small team who is looking to become an authority in their niche through content creation. Links: Shawn Smith Trizone Slack If you liked today’s show, please subscribe on iTunes to The Actionable Content Marketing Podcast! The podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play. Quotes by Shawn: â€Å"Once we’ve built a piece of content, we start to go and jiggle it. We use the social media template and then we start building it out. It’s so quick and easy.† â€Å"We spend a lot of time with [experts] talking about their subject matters in depth because they do bring a wealth of information that, clearly, we will never have.† â€Å"Stay on point. Whatever you believe is right, stick with it.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Whats Your Dangerous Idea Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Whats Your Dangerous Idea - Essay Example Common people or the governed want to be left on their own to manage their own affairs. On the other hand, the ruling class or the elites are always seeking for a pretext such as war, social disorder and poverty to increase their power over common people, hence, even in the aristocratic nation, one expects the ruled in defending their interests to delay the growth and development of centralized authority. Aristocracies or governments that repress class conflicts are always successful. For instance, countries such as ancient Rome and U.S became powerful and successful because her citizens were warlike and truculent (Machiavelli 23). Politics and religion were distinct in the sense that people in ancient Rome were not godly and absolute in anyway but they are still in a position to provide vital insight in how people operated. This is the platform and foundation of political thoughts, and how the society is to be planned and organized so that every individual benefits. My political theory offers a cure to the diseased politics in the sense that my interest in the conflicts in early societies is a reflection of my personal concerns with current state which is rife with conflict. For instance, there was tension between the Italian bourgeois and the nobility, and the poor were excluded from other social classes in society. Therefore, with all these dissensions, someone has to emerge as a winner while another as a loser. In such a case, the loser has to submit to the winner in order to establish social stability (Machiavelli 55). Politics is not similar to science because of the absence of absolute rules and regulations for how to attain and maintain authority. There are certain actions to be taken but not police to resolutely and absolutely direct ad guide people’s actions. This is because contexts, time and situations transform. Therefore, the ruler or president will not remain

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The Government Should Not Cut Education Budgets To solve Its Financial Research Paper

The Government Should Not Cut Education Budgets To solve Its Financial Problems - Research Paper Example The proposed way to give the United States a continued competitive edge in today’s complex world is to give students in the U.S. an excellent education. Educational funding should not be used to solve the national budget crisis because: 1) money needs to be cut from the national defense budget, which is overcompensated; 2) education is too important to be relegated to lesser funding; and 3) cutting the budget for education will promote an elitist society because many people will see an education as a privilege and not a right. A Bloated National Defense Budget Defense spending being cut could be the solution to solving not only the nation’s budget crisis, but could also be used to funnel more money into education as a result. More money for the budget would then allow one to logically then conclude there would be more money for education in the national budget. "Consistent with US military needs and declining threats, defense spending will be cut [emphasis added], which will help reduce the deficit and provide funds to invest for economic growth."1 Unfortunately, military spending in the United States has gotten out of control. â€Å"Government control over the military's budget is also deficient, because the government lacks the ability to estimate the army's needs and to evaluate the manner in which its budget is utilized.†2 First when Pres. George W. Bush invaded Iraq without consulting Congress or the international community, he pledged American troops to eight years of combat in Iraq—from which the country still has not recovered. It has been ten years that the United States has been engaged in combat in Afghanistan as well. Both wars have drained the U.S. of its budget surplus which was in effect when Pres. Bill Clinton left office. That surplus quickly dwindled with the advent of the two wars. If less money was spent on wars and more money was pumped into education, perhaps schools all across the country would not require rest ructuring due to failing Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmarks since the advent of the No Child Left Behind Act. America, frankly speaking, must prioritize in order to realize what is really important—having an educated public to make good decisions, or keeping the American people safe from all the possible dangers of the world by getting involved in every major conflict in the globe that could potentially endanger vested U.S. interests. These are difficult choices but they must be made, because the country’s energies are being divided in a haphazard fashion. Education: Too Important to Ignore The problems began when President Bush got elected to office in 2000 and started whittling down the surplus Bill Clinton had left behind when he left the office of the President—severely making cuts to education. â€Å"[President Bush’s] budget cut†¦funding for elementary and secondary education, denying 3.2 million children the extra reading and math help they were promised by the so-called No Child Left Behind Act.†3 Although President Barack Obama came to office in January of 2009 promising â€Å"change,† unfortunately he is also making cuts to education, including grants for history. â€Å"The President’s fiscal year 2012 budget request for the Department of Education once again eliminates Teaching American History Grants (TAH) as a separately funded program†¦

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Discussion Board question and comment Assignment

Discussion Board question and comment - Assignment Example Apparently, productivity increases as the number of inputs increases. However, this is not the case as I recently witnessed a scenario where a company specializing in motor vehicles assembly hired more workers only to be disappointed that the move only drained the company’s resources and increased operational expenses without a significant increase in output. Thus, while it is important to increase productivity, companies must strive to ensure that the desired productivity is attained with the same resources. While it is true that multifactor productivity pinpoints the efficiency of a company, I believe that there is more items to consider when assessing the efficiency rather than merely focusing on the production process. Maybe we should consider sales turnover as well as how the company meets its plans. However, we cannot claim with certainty that reducing inputs increases productivity as this is not always the case. The volume of production should most appropriately be increased through motivating employees and providing appropriate amount of materials. Non-financial rewards will work best as they do not upsurge the labor cost. I believe that productivity can best be explained as the efficiency of production and not as â€Å"represent the economic value of the factors of production† as you put it. However, it is true that when determining productivity, one must determine the market value of the inputs and outputs. The suggestion that productivity be improved through scientific methods is quite reasonable. Technology and investment in skilled labor coupled with motivation of employees, I believe, are best suited to improve the productivity of firms in a country. Moreover, it will improve the productivity of the country resulting in growth and development where welfare of citizens will dexterously

Friday, November 15, 2019

Critically assess the main arguments in Outsiders

Critically assess the main arguments in Outsiders Arguing that social deviance is a more common phenomenon than perceived and that conventional wisdom that social deviants are pathological is incorrect Howard S. Becker, born April 18th 1928, is a well known renowned American Sociologist. Of all his many writings, Outsiders, which was written in 1963, is one of his most imperative and prominent works, regarded as critical classical study within the discipline of sociology and deviance. It can be said that it is one of Beckers most famous pieces of work which offered one of the first and clearest explanations for the labelling theory. Outsiders continues to be a seminal text on the Interactionists approach to deviance in society today. He states that the outsider the deviant from group rules has been the subject of much speculation, theorizing, and scientific study (Becker 1997: 3). Howard Becker elaborates the study of deviance specifically from a social perspective, and considers the processes by which people or different types of acts come to be labelled as deviant. His ideas and arguments are based upon his notion that deviance is not a quality of a bad person but it is the res ult of someone characterizing and labelling someones activity as bad. This essay asks one to critically assess the main arguments Becker puts forward in Outsiders. Becker sets the foundations for his ideas on labelling theory in his book and furthers the notions of other Sociologists such as Edwin Lemert. Lemert has been commonly credited with being the founder and one of the firsts to discuss what has been called the Societal Reaction theory. In Lemerts book Social Pathology written in 1951, Lemert summarized an approach which has been regarded and considered to be an original version of the labelling theory. In his book he focuses on the social construction of deviance and explained deviance to be the product of societys reaction to an act and the affixing of a deviant label to the actor. The book explains the concepts of primary and secondary deviance and according to Lemert; primary deviance is the initial incidence of an act causing someone of authority to label the actor as deviant. This initial labelling of an act deemed deviant would stay prima ry for as long as the actor can rationalize the process as a function of a socially acceptable role (Lemert 1951). As well as discussing the theory of labelling, Becker appraises the process in where users of marihuana become labelled as deviants and talks about jazz music. The main objective is to attempt to critically evaluate and analyse the ideas and themes contained within the book and assess his arguments. The book was written in the 60s and as a consequence it is quite outdated, and although some of his ideas and theories are relevant in todays society, some of them can not in context. In addition he uses the term `Negros rather than African American to describe black people and he puts homosexuality into the same deviant group such as alcoholics, gamblers and people who are on drugs. In Beckers book he coins and furthers the term labelling theory. It explains that if individuals or groups are defined as deviant, there will be important and often unanticipated consequences at the level of behaviour (Abercrombie et al. 1988: 132). Chapter one explains what deviance is and Becker argues the limitations of existing attempts to define deviance. He explained for deviance to exist, the behaviour has to be first observed and then judged to be deviant. Becker stated that social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance; and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them outsiders (Becker 1997: 9). When a rule is enforced, the person who is supposed to have broken it may be seen as a special kind of person, one cannot be trusted to live by the tiles agreed on by the group. He is regarded as an outsider (Becker 1997: 3). Furthermore, Becker points out that what one may define as a deviant; another perhaps in a different society would not. In addition the person who is thus labelled an outsider may have a different view of the matter and may believe that those that have judged them not to be legitimately entitled to do so so then the rule breakers may see those tha t judged as outsiders. Becker stated that different social groups created deviance by making the rules whose infraction constituted deviance and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders. Becker stated that after one has been ascribed as a deviant, they then progress down the path of a deviant career as that is what they have been labelled as. This then becomes hard to get rid of. Becker claimed though that when we are studying people who are deviant we should not take their deviance for granted due to the fact we cannot assume that these people have actually committed a deviant act or broken some rule, because the process of labelling theory may not be infallible. Furthermore, an individual who has been labelled as a deviant may not have committed the act intentionally believing that it was in fact deviant. In addition, this does not necessarily mean that the individual was even a deviant in the past which is a critical examination of the book. Wh en a person is labelled as such by society, they then accept this label so because they now seem themselves as criminals they then are likely to continue on their deviant behaviour (Becker 1997).  Deviant becomes a master status, it becomes the key definition in the eyes of the wider society of who and what you are. In chapter two Becker points outs and states that he is not here to argue that only acts which are regarded as deviant by others are really deviant (Becker 1997: 19). If we look at this in relation to homosexuality, in the 60s it was deemed as a criminal offence but too those who were homosexual it was who they were. Becker explains two different models of deviance; the simultaneous and sequential models. The simultaneous claims that particular behaviours occur as a result of a number of variables arising at the same time and the sequential model contends that particular behaviours are caused by sequence of occurrences. Becker criticises the implicit theoretical assumption in standard which attempts to explain deviancy; that all factor operate simultaneously and seek to predict behaviour. Becker used juvenile delinquency as an example and explained and argued that coming from a broken home or in an environment with negative influences will not necessarily lead to juvenile delinquency but rather would be one of a series of sequential events or circumstances.  The sequential model in addition is too apparent in the following two chapters which detail and explain how one learns the techniques of how to use marihuana and this in the process assists the formation of an individual identity. this may include joining a social group in which the drug is available and learning their techniques on how to smoke. For instance, most users agree that it cannot be smoked like tobacco if one is to get high (Becker 1997: 46). In addition without the use of some such technique the drug will produce no effects and the user will be unable to get high. In relation to a musician career, which is one of the topics Becker discusses, he stated that Members of the musicians demographic go from being `normal family men to dance musicians, adapting to the needs of that sub-culture as they do so. For example, a musician may feel pressurized and forced into playing commercial music to meet perceived demand, even if that is not the type of music they wanted to play or produce. Musicians in general continuously adapt their music to the needs of their sub-culture, even if this means compromising the quality of their music. As a result they may have been seen to be selling out, loosing their integrity and in addition they would have lost the respect from their musical counterparts.  In todays society this may be apparent in hip hop, with many people complaining that the integrity of the genre has gone with record labels interested on what sells more, rather than good music. In relation to deviance, Becker linked it and explained the processes through which dance musicians find work as deviant. Even though their culture may be different to that of an ordinary job, what they do is no different to what occurs in the music industry today. A popular quote used in show business is its not what you know, its who you know and it is just as imperative and important today as it was back in the 1960s. Nevertheless there is a contradiction when Becker talks about losing the respect of other dance musicians. It leads to the question though that how can respect be lost if all dance musicians act in the same way and manner. Thus can it be seemed deviant. The final chapter looks at problems and sympathies within the study of deviance, where Becker describes a lack of substance in the theories that exist, believing them to be faulty or inadequate. He believes that not enough is known about deviant groups such as homosexuals, and gaps exist not just with homosexuals but with other deviant groups. He also describes how access to information and to the groups that are the focus for study is restricted, because those classed as outsiders in turn reciprocate that label to the rest of society; this forms part of an element of protection on the deviants part. Questions are posed, such as `how do researchers find doctors who are drug-addicts themselves, or even homosexuals of certain kinds? Becker even asks what stand-point the researcher will take, due to the many levels of individual characteristics in any social group; essentially, how will a researcher remove any other factors that may influence his study beyond that which he intends to ma nipulate.   The work analysing how deviance is socially constructed is revelatory. This has pure presence. Becker shows how deviance is created through the appliance of rules by people who define deviance and then search for the miscreants. It is form of institutional violence enacted on the powerless outer groups to create an inner sense of camaraderie; the socially included.   Becker examines some of the criticisms and feels that labelling theory was created as a way of looking at a general area of human activity (1963). Moreover he suggests that it was created as a way of looking at a general area of human activity (1963).   However, it is not a theory, with all the achievements and obligations that go with the title, nor is it focussed exclusively on the act of labelling as some have thought. Moreover, Becker does mention some of the criticisms given to labelling theory. For example, he states how interactionist theories have been accused of giving aid and comfort to the enemy, be the enemy those who would upset the stability of the existing order of the Establishment. In essence, we have already mentioned the suggestion of Erikson that deviance is a necessary part of society, showing the difference between right and wrong, and encouraging the majority of society to toe the line at the expense of the deviant minority. A further criticism mentioned by Becker is that given by many conservative critics (although other non-conservative critics have also noted this) that is, that interactionist theories of deviance openly or covertly attack conventional morality. Becker acknowledges this, suggesting that int entionally or otherwise, they are corrosive of conventional modes of thought and established institutions. Becker (1967) goes as far as to say that the labelling theorist must side with the deviator, as it is up to the sociologists to remedy unfair situations. However, not all theorists would see the work of Becker and the other labelling theorists as quite so radical. As a matter of fact, many sociologists view labelling theory as an untestable and untrue theory. Furthermore, Becker (1963) acknowledges that his labelling theory is a theoretical approach, not a true theory. As well, Becker suggests that sociologists should attempt establishing empirical tests for his approach. As well, further criticism is given due to the fact that, following behaviour patterns is the mere result of the behaviour patterns being ascribed to it. Secondly, he suggests that while considering the more usual, everyday types of deviance, such as homosexuality, prostitution, and juvenile delinquency, the l abelling theorists have totally ignored a more dangerous and malevolent type of deviance, what Liazos himself terms covert institutional violence. He suggests that this type of violence leads to such things as poverty and exploitation, the war in Vietnam, unjust tax laws, racism, sexism, and so on (1972). However, it is questionable whether labelling theorists should even attempt to discuss forms of deviance such as this in the same way as more commonplace individual crimes, or whether the two should be kept totally separate, being so different in subject matter. Liazos also criticises the labelling theorists as they do not consider the extent of the importance of power in their substantive analysis, although all stress its importance. He says that the really powerful, the upper classes and the power elite, those that could be referred to as the top dogs, are not considered in any great detail by the labelling theorists. A further criticism of the labelling theory is that of Jack Gi bb (1966). He questions the success of the labelling theorists in terms of how they interpret the defining of behaviour as deviant, as well as, how much study is actually done in this area. In addition, Becker (1963) goes out of his way to explain the underlying problems of labelling theory. First of all, he suggests that there are not enough studies of deviant behaviour. He further implies that there are not enough studies of enough kinds of deviant behaviour. Finally, he insists that another deficiency of the labelling theory is that they dont have enough studies in which the persons doing the research achieve close contact with those that they study, in order for them to become aware of the complex and manifold character of the deviant activity. Becker (1963) also speaks of the difficulty with secrecy. As a matter of fact, in many cases the deviant individual performs deviant acts in secrecy and does not wish this behaviour to be known universally. For example, in the results fou nd by Humphreys in his study of the `Tearoom Trade`, many of the individuals partaking in homosexual behaviour were married with children. When asked later in questionnaires about their views on homosexuality, very few admitted to visiting the tearooms. In its entirety, the labelling theory has been imperative within the discipline of Sociology. What is more, after extensive critical analysis it appears to be evident that the theory has proven to be very significant in establishing a relative body of empirical research evidence on the study of crime and deviance. After an individual has been labelled a deviant they then lead a life of crime and become deviants which is the main focus Becker stressed. Nevertheless, Becker also pointed out that when studying deviant people one should not take their deviance for granted, as one cannot presuppose they had actually committed a deviant or criminal act for the reason that the process of labelling theory may not be foolproof and reliable. In other words, to be labelled deviant does not necessarily mean that the individual is, or has been deviant in the past.   Some sociologists dispute the labelling theory and insist it is not really a theory. Becker stressed the need for more empirical research on his study of it as he concluded Outsiders and many sociologists today have furthered his ideas and explanations. Nevertheless, the labelling theory will forever remain useful as long as deviant behaviour exists in society. Critically, Becker focuses on the way society reacts to people with criminal labels. He proposes that this label becomes a persons master status, meaning that this is a constant label, affecting and over-riding how others will view them. The status people use to identify and classify a person will always be that of a criminal and no matter what other social status the individual has, they will always be deemed deviant. He declared that one may be someone high in class, perhaps a sibling, parent or spouse nevertheless the first and major status that everyone would focus on was the criminal and deviant label (Becker 1963).  

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

The Witch by Edilberto K. Tiempo

The Witch By Edilberto K. Tiempo When I was twelve years old, I used to go to Libas, about nine kilometers from the town, to visit my favorite uncle, Tio Sabelo, the head teacher of the barrio school there. I like going to Libas because of the many things to eat at my uncle’s house: cane sugar syrup, candied meat of young coconut, corn and rice cakes, ripe jackfruit, guavas from trees growing wild on a hill not far from Tio Sabelo’s house. It was through these visits that I heard many strange stories about Minggay Awok. Awok is the word for witch in southern Leyte.Minggay was known as a witch even beyond Libas, in five outlying sitios, and considering that not uncommonly a man’s nearest neighbor was two or three hills away, her notoriety was wide. Minggay lived in a small, low hut as the back of the creek separating the barrios of Libas and Sinit-an. It squatted like a soaked hen on a steep incline and below it, six or seven meters away, two trails forked, one go ing to Libas and the other to Mahangin, a mountain sitio. The hut leaned dangerously to the side where the creek water ate away large chunks of earth during the rainy season.It had two small openings, a small door through which Minggay probably had to stoop to pass, and a window about two feet square facing the creek. The window was screened by a frayed jute sacking which fluttered eerily even in the daytime. What she had in the hut nobody seemed to know definitely. One daring fellow who boasted of having gone inside it when Minggay was out in her clearing on a hill nearby said he had seen dirty stoppered bottles hanging from the bamboo slats of the cogon thatch.Some of the bottles contained scorpions, centipedes, beetles, bumble bees, and other insects; others were filled with ash-colored powder and dark liquids. These bottles contained the paraphernalia of her witchcraft. Two or three small bottles she always had with her hanging on her waistband with a bunch of iron keys, whether she went to her clearing or to the creek to catch shrimps or gather fresh-water shells, or even when she slept.It was said that those who had done her wrong never escaped her vengeance, in the form of festering carbuncles, chronic fevers that caused withering of the skin, or a certain disease of the nose that eventually ate the nose out. Using an incantation known only to her, Minggay would take out one insect from a bottle, soak it in colored liquid or roll it in powder, and with a curse let it go to the body of her victim; the insect might be removed and the disease cured only rarely through intricate rituals of an expensive tambalan. Thus Minggay was feared in Libas and the surrounding barrios.There had been attempts to murder her, but in some mysterious way she always came out unscathed. A man set fire to her hut one night, thinking to burn her with it. The hut quickly burned down, but Minggay was unharmed. On another occasion a man openly declared that he had killed her, showi ng the blood-stained bolo with which he had stabbed her; a week later she was seen hobbling to her clearing. This man believed Minggay was the cause of the rash that his only child had been carrying for over a year. One day, so the story went, meeting his wife, Minggay asked to hold her child. She didn’t want to offend Minggay.As the witch gave the child back she said, â€Å"He has a very smooth skin. † A few days later the boy had skin eruptions all over his body that never left him. Minggay’s only companions were a lean, barren sow and a few chickens, all of them charcoal black. The sow and the chickens were allowed to wander in the fields, and even if the sow dug up sweet potatoes and the chickens pecked rice or corn grain drying in the sun, they were not driven away by the neighbors because they were afraid to arouse Minggay’s wrath. Besides the sow and the chickens, Minggay was known to have a wakwak and a sigbin.Those who claimed to have seen the si gbin described it as a queer animal resembling a kangaroo: the forelegs were shorter than the hind ones: its fanlike ears made a flapping sound when it walked. The wakwak was a nocturnal bird, as big and black as a crow. It gave out raucous cries when a person in the neighborhood had just died. The bird was supposed to be Minggay’s messenger, and the sigbin caried her to the grave; then the witch dug up the corpse and feasted on it. The times when I passed by the hut and saw her lean sow and her black chickens, I wondered if they transformed themselves into fantastic creatures at night.Even in the daytime I dreaded the possibility of meeting her; she might accost me on the trail near her hut, say something about my face or any part of it, and then I might live the rest of my life with a harelip, a sunken nose, or crossed eyes. But I never saw Minggay in her house or near the premises. There were times when I thought she was only a legend, a name to frighten children from doin g mischief. But then I almost always saw her sow digging banana roots or wallowing near the trail and the black chickens scratching for worms or pecking grains in her yard, and the witch became very real indeed.Once I was told to go to Libas with a bottle of medicine for Tio Sabelo’s sick wife. I started from the town at half past five and by the time I saw the balete tree across the creek from Minggay’s hut, I could hardly see the trail before me. The balete was called Minggay’s tree, for she was known to sit on one of the numerous twisting vines that formed its grotesque trunk to wait for a belated passer-by. The balete was a towering monstrous shadow; a firefly that flitted among the vines was an evil eye plucked out searching for its socket.I wanted to run back, but the medicine had to get to Tio Sabelo’s wife that night. I wanted to push through the thick underbrush to the dry part of the creek to avoid the balete, but I was afraid of snakes. I had d iscarded the idea of a coconut frond torch because the light would catch the attention of the witch, and when she saw it was only a little boy†¦ Steeling myself I tried to whistle as I passed in the shadow of the balete, its overhanging vines like hairy arms ready to hoist and strangle me among the branches. Emerging into the stony bed of the creek, I saw Minggay’s hut.The screen in the window waved in the faint light of the room and I thought I saw the witch peering behind it. As I started going up the trail by the hut, each moving clump and shadow was a crouching old woman. I had heard stories of Minggay’s attempts to waylay travelers in the dark and suck their blood. Closing my eyes twenty yards from the hut of the witch, I ran up the hill. A few meters past the hut I stumbled on a low stump. I got up at once and ran again. When I reached Tio Sabelo’s house I was very tired and badly shaken.Somehow after the terror of the balete and the hut of the witch had lessened, although I always had the goose flesh whenever I passed by them after dusk. One moonlight night going home to town I heard a splashing of the water below Minggay’s house. I thought the sound was made by the witch, for she was seen to bathe on moonlit nights in the creek, her loose hair falling on her face. It was not Minggay I saw. It was a huge animal. I was about to run thinking it was the sigbin of the witch, but when I looked at it again, I saw that it was a carabao wallowing in the creek.One morning I thought of bringing home shrimps to my mother, and so I went to a creek a hundred yards from Tio Sabelo’s house. I had with me my cousin’s pana, made of a long steel rod pointed at one end and cleft at the other and shot through the hollow of a bamboo joint the size of a finger by means of a rubber band attached to one end of the joint. After wading for two hours in the creek which meandered around bamboo groves and banban and ipil clumps with on ly three small shrimps strung on a coconut midrib dangling from my belt, I came upon an old woman taking a bath in the shade of a catmon tree.A brown tapis was wound around her to three fingers width above her thin chest. The bank of her left was a foot-wide ledge of unbroken boulder on which she had set a wooden basin half full of wet but still unwashed clothes. In front of her was a submerged stone pile topped by a platter size rock; on it were a heap of shredded coconut meat, a small discolored tin basin, a few lemon rinds, and bits of pounded gogo bark. The woman was soaking her sparse gray hair with the gogo suds. She must have seen me coming because she did not look surprised.Seeing the three small shrimps hanging at my side she said, â€Å"You have a poor catch. † She looked kind. She was probably as old as my grandmother; smaller, for this old woman was two or three inches below five feet. Her eyes looked surprisingly young, but her mouth, just a thin line above the l ittle chin, seemed to have tasted many bitter years. â€Å"Why don’t you bait them out of their hiding? Take some of this. † She gave me a handful of shredded coconut meat whose milk she had squeezed out and with the gogo suds used on her hair.She exuded a sweet wood fragrance of gogo bark and the rind of lemons. â€Å"Beyond the first bend,† she said pointing, â€Å"the water is still. Scatter the shreds there. That’s where I get my shrimps. You will see some traps. If you find shrimps in them they are yours. † I mumbled my thanks and waded to the bend she had indicated. That part of the creek was like a small lake. One bank was lined by huge boulders showing long, deep fissures where the roots of gnarled dapdap trees had penetrated. The other bank was sandy, with bamboo and catmon trees leaning over, their roots sticking out in the water.There was good shade and the air had a twilight chilliness. The water was shallow except on the rocky side, wh ich was deep and murky. I scattered the coconut shreds around, and not long after they had settled down shrimps crawled from boles under the bamboo and catmon roots and from crevices of the boulders. It did not take me an hour to catch a midribful, some hairy with age, some heavy with eggs, moulters, dark magus, leaf-green shrimps, speckled. I saw three traps of woven bamboo strips, round-bellied and about two feet long, two hidden behind a catmon root.I did not disturb them because I had enough shrimps for myself. â€Å"No, no, iti. Your mother will need them. You don’t have enough. Besides I have freshwater crabs at home. † She looked up at me with her strange young eyes and asked, â€Å"Do you still have a mother? † I told her I had, and a grandmother, too. â€Å"You are not from Libas, I think. This is the first time I have seen you. † I said I was from the town and my uncle was the head teacher of the Libas barrio school. â€Å"You remind me of my s on when he was your age. He had bright eyes like you, and his voice was soft like yours.I think you are a good boy. † â€Å"Where is your son now? † â€Å"I have not heard from him since he left. He went away when he was seventeen. He left in anger, because I didn’t want him to marry so young. I don’t know where he went, where he is. † She spread the length of a kimona on the water for a last rinsing. The flesh hanging from her skinny arms was loose and flabby. â€Å"If he’s still living,† she went on, â€Å"he’d be as old as your father maybe. Many times I feel in my bones he is alive, and will come back before I die. † â€Å"Your husband is still living? † He died a long time ago, when my boy was eleven. † She twisted the kimona like a rope to wring out the water. â€Å"I’m glad he died early. He was very cruel. † I looked at her, at the thin mouth, wondering about her husband’s cruelty , disturbed by the manner she spoke about it. â€Å"Do you have other children? † â€Å"I wish I had. Then I wouldn’t be living alone. † A woman her age, I thought, should be a grandmother and live among many children. â€Å"Where do you live? † She did not speak, but her strange young eyes were probing and looked grotesque in the old woman’s face. Not far from here–the house on the high bank, across the balete. † She must have seen the fright that suddenly leaped into my face, for I thought she smiled at me queerly. â€Å"I’m going now,† I said. I felt her following me with her eyes; indeed they seemed to bore a hot hole between my shoulder blades. I did not look back. Don’t run, I told myself. But at the first bend of the creek, when I knew she couldn’t see me, I ran. After a while I stopped, feeling a little foolish. Such a helpless-looking little old woman couldn’t be Minggay, couldn’t be t he witch.I remembered her kind voice and the woodfragrance. She could be my own grandmother. As I walked the string of shrimps kept brushing against the side of my leg. I detached it from my belt and looked at the shrimps. Except for the three small ones, all of them belonged to the old woman. Her coconut shreds had coaxed them as by magic out of their hiding. The protruding eyes of the biggest, which was still alive, seemed to glare at me—and then they became the eyes of the witch. Angrily, I hurled the shrimps back into the creek.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Porter’s 5 Forces Essay

The model of the Five Competitive Forces was developed by Michael E. Porter in his book „Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitorsâ€Å"in 1980. Since that time it has become an important tool for analyzing an organizations industry structure in strategic processes. Porter’s model is based up on the insight that a corporate strategy should meet the opportunities and threats in the organizations external environment. Competitive strategy should be developed based upon forecasting of the available information on the developing competitive environment and other threats faced .Porter was able to identify five competitive forces that that shapes the different industry and market. Porter five forces do was able to interpret the intensity of the competition and also the profitability and attractiveness of an industry. The corporate strategy is devised to improve the position of the respective industry in there market position as well as in brand form. Porter’s model provides the analysis of the driving forces in an industry. Based on the information derived from the Five Forces Analysis, management can decide on how to influence or to exploit particular characteristics of their industry. The Five Competitive Forces The Five Competitive Forces are typically described as follows: 1 Bargaining Power of Suppliers Suppliers comprises of all the sources for inputs that are needed in order to provide/produce goods or services. Supplier bargaining power is likely to be high when: 1. The market is dominated by a few large suppliers rather than a fragmented source of supply, 2. There are no substitutes for the particular input, 3. The suppliers customers are fragmented, so their bargaining power is low, 4. The switching costs from one supplier to another are high, 5. There is the possibility of the supplier integrating forwards in order to obtain higher prices and margins. This threat is especially high when 6. The buying industry has a higher profitability than the supplying industry, 7. Forward integration provides economies of scale for the supplier, 8. The buying industry hinders the supplying industry in their development (e.g. reluctance to accept new releases of products), 9. The buying industry has low barriers to entry. In these situations, the buying industry does face a high pressure on margins from their suppliers. The relationship to powerful suppliers can enormously reduce strategic options for the organization. 2 Bargaining Power of Customers Similarly, the bargaining power of customers determines how much customers can influence pressure on margins and volumes. Customers bargaining power is likely to be high when 1. They buy large volumes, there is a concentration of buyers, 2. The supplying industry comprises a large number of small operators 3. The supplying industry operates with high fixed costs, 4. The product is undifferentiated and can be replaces by substitutes, 5. Switching to an alternative product is relatively simple and is not related to high costs, 6. Customers have low margins and are price-sensitive, 7. Customers could produce the product themselves, 8. The product is not of strategically importance for the customer, 9. The customer knows about the production costs of the product 10. There is the possibility for the customer integrating backwards. 3 Threat of New Entrants If the competition in an industry is higher, the easier it is for other companies to enter this industry. In such situations, new entrants could create major determinants of the market environment (e.g. market shares, prices, customer loyalty) at any time. There is always pressure for reaction and adjustment for existing players in the industry. The threat of new entries will depend on the extent to which there are barriers to entry. These are typically 1. Economies of scale (minimum size requirements for profitable operations), 2. High initial investments and fixed costs, 3. Cost advantages of existing players due to experience curve effects of operation with fully depreciated assets, 4. Brand loyalty of customers 5. Protected intellectual property like patents, licenses etc, 6. Scarcity of important resources, e.g. qualified expert staff 7. Access to raw materials is controlled by existing players, 8. Distribution channels are controlled by existing players, 9. Existing players have close customer relations, e.g. from long-term service contracts, 10. High switching costs for customers 11. Legislation and government action 4 Threat of Substitutes A threat from substitutes exists if there is an alternative product with lower prices of better performance parameters for the same purpose. This could attract a significant proportion of market volume and hence reduce the sales volume for existing players. This category also relates to complementary products. Similarly to the threat of new entrants, the treat of substitutes is determined by factors like 1. Brand loyalty of customers, 2. Close customer relationships, 3. Switching costs for customers, 4. The relative price for performance of substitutes, 5. Current trends. 5 Competitive Rivalry between Existing Players This force describes the intensity of competition between existing players (companies) in an industry. High competitive pressure results in pressure on pricing, margins, and also, on profitability for every single company in the industry. Competition between existing players is likely to be high when 1. There are many players of about the same size, 2. Players have similar strategies 3. There is not much differentiation between players and their products, hence, there is much price competition 4. Low market growth rates (growth of a particular company is possible only at the expense of a competitor), 5. Barriers for exit are high (e.g. expensive and highly specialized equipment). Use of the Information from Five Forces Analysis Five Forces Analysis can provide valuable information for three aspects of corporate planning: Statistical Analysis: The Five Forces Analysis allows the user to determine the attractiveness of an industry. Also, it provides visibility on profitability. Thus, it helps to decide about the entry or exit from an industry or a market segment. Moreover, the model can be used to compare the impact of competitive forces on the own organization with their impact on competitors. Competitors may have different options to react to changes in competitive forces from their different resources and competences. This may influence the structure of the whole industry. Dynamical Analysis: If done along with a PEST-Analysis, which provides the drivers for change in an industry, Five Forces Analysis can help to give insights on the potential future attractiveness of the industry. Expected political, economical, socio-demographical and technological changes can influence the five competitive forces and thus have impact on industry structures. In general term to determine potential changes in competitive forces. Analysis of Options: With this knowledge on intensity and power of competitive forces, organizations could develop options to control them in a way so to improve  their own competitive position. The result could be a new strategic decision, e.g. a new positioning, differentiation for competitive products of strategic partnerships. Thus, Porters model of Five Competitive Forces gives a systematic and structured analysis on market and their structure and what likely be competitive situation. The model can be used on particular companies, market segments, industries or regions. Hence, it is needed to determine the scope of the market to be analyzed in a first step. Then, all relevant forces for this market are identified and analyzed. Though, it is not necessary to analyze all elements of all competitive forces with the same depth. The Five Forces Model is based on microeconomics. It also takes into account the supply and demand, complementary products and substitutes, the relationship between volume of production and cost of production, and market structures like monopoly, oligopoly or perfect competition etc. Influencing the Power of Five Forces After the analysis of current and potential future state of the five competitive forces, Users can search for options on how these forces influences in their organization’s interest. Although industry-specific business models will limit options, the own strategy can create different impact of competitive forces on organizations. The objective is to reduce the influence of competitive forces. The following figure provides some examples. They are of general nature. Hence, they have to be adjusted to each organization’s specific situation. The options of an organization are determined not only by the external market environment, but also by its own internal resources, competences and objectives. 4.1 Reducing the Bargaining Power of Suppliers 4.2 Reducing the Bargaining Power of Customers 1. Partnering 2. Supply chain management 3. Supply chain training 4. Increase dependency 5. Build knowledge of supplier costs and methods 6.   Take over a supplier 1. Partnering 2. Supply chain management 3. Increase loyalty 4. Increase incentives and value added 5. Move purchase decision away from price 6. Cut put powerful intermediaries (go directly to customer) 4.3 Reducing the Treat of New Entrants 4.4 Reducing the Threat of Substitutes 1. Increase minimum efficient scales of operations 2. Create a marketing / brand image (loyalty as a barrier) 3. Patents, protection of intellectual property 4. Alliances with linked products / services 5. Tie up with suppliers 6. Tie up with distributors 7. Retaliation tactics 1. Legal actions 2. Increase switching costs 3. Alliances 4. Customer surveys to learn about their preferences 5. Enter substitute market and influence from within 6. Accentuate differences (real or perceived) Drawbacks Porter’s model of Five Competitive Forces has been subject of critique for many years. Its main weakness results from which year it was developed. In the early eighties, the global economy. was characterized by cyclical growth Thus, primary objectives consisted of profitability and survival. A major prerequisite for achieving these objectives has been optimizing strategy in relation to the external environment. In early days, development  in most industries has been fairly stable and predictable, compared with today’s dynamics. In general, the meaningfulness of this model is reduced by the following factors: a. In the economic sense, the model assumes a classic perfect market. The more an industry is regulated, the less meaningful insights the model can deliver. b. The model is best applicable for analysis of simple market structures. A comprehensive description and analysis of all five forces gets very difficult in complex industries with multiple interrelations, product groups, by-products and segments. A too narrow focus on particular segments of such industries, however, bears the risk of missing important elements. c. The model assumes relatively static market structures. This is hardly the case in today’s dynamic markets. Technological breakthroughs and dynamic market entrants from start-ups or other industries may completely change business models, entry barriers and relationships along the supply chain within short times. The Five Forces model may have some use for later analysis of the new situation; but it will hardly provide much meaningful advice for preventive actions. d. The model is based on the idea of competition. It assumes that companies try to achieve competitive advantages over other players in the markets as well as over suppliers or customers. With this focus, it dos not really take into consideration strategies like strategic alliances, electronic linking of information systems of all companies along a value chain, virtual enterprise-networks or others. Overall, Porters Five Forces Model still has some major limitations in today’s market environment. It is not able to take into account new business models and the dynamics of markets. The value of Porters model is more that it enables managers to think about the current situation of their industry in a structured, easy-to-understand way – as a starting point for further analysis. Case Analysis Facebook Facebook (formerly [thefacebook]) is an online social networking service headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Its name comes from a colloquialism for the directory given to students at some American  universities.] Facebook was founded on February 4, 2004, by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow Harvard University studentsEduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. The founders had initially limited the website’s membership to Harvard students, but later expanded it to colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, andStanford University. It gradually added support for students at various other universities and later to their high-school students Porters Five Force analysis on Facebook 1. The Power of Consumer Here customers are those company which are advertising in facebook. Being a large social network , it attracts a large number of advertisers who want to advertise in the platform. Hence, , the bargaining power of customer is low. , in later years if there is a new competion emergence power balance can vary. 2. The power of supplier: Users are the suppliers,As of 2012 report the users numbers are more than 1 billion globally. the power of suppliers is low. Here the suppliers have no other customer , that is there is no other availiable social sites hence they have to stand by facebook for the time being. 3. The threat of substitute products There are many upcoming products which is providing servie similar to that of facebook. Products such as Skype, WhatsApp, Google+, etc. are always a danger being substitutes for Facebook. Hence, the threat of substitute product is high. To maintain dominance, they always have to stay ahead of the tech ,also the trend and outperform possible substitute products. 4. The threat of new entrants The chance of new entray is high. There are always disruptive innovations happening in the social space. As a result new similar products keep creeping. Facebook especially needs to improve its product 5. The competitive rivalry: The field of social network is highly competitive. The most recent example was when Google launched social network Google+ that could be accessed by all Gmail users through the web as well as Android devices. Although Google+ has not been greatly successful in outwitting Facebook, we cannot rightly predict what lies ahead in future. Hence, the competitive rivalry that Facebook faces is high. REFERENCES http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook http://www.slideshare.net/manan/firm-strategy-analysis-facebook http://www.businessballs.com/portersfiveforcesofcompetition.htm

Friday, November 8, 2019

Understanding Case in English Grammar

Understanding Case in English Grammar So what is this thing called case in English, anyway? And why is it important? Being pretty clueless about this aspect of grammar is pretty common: When teachers or editors discuss the importance of getting  case  right in English grammar, quizzical looks from listeners are often the result. But not to worry. Heres a simple explanation: Basically, the concept of case in English is the grammatical relationship of nouns and pronouns to other words in a sentence. In English, nouns have only one case inflection: the possessive (or genitive). The case of nouns other than the possessive is sometimes called the common case. Common case nouns are the basic word, such as dog, cat, sunset or water. Pronouns have three case distinctions: Subjective (or nominative)Possessive (or genitive)Objective (or accusative) Examples and Observations on Case Sidney Greenbaum discusses this basic subject of English grammar in Case in The Oxford Companion to the English Language (1992). Potentially, countable nouns have four case forms: two singular (child, childs), two plural (children, childrens). In regular nouns, these manifest themselves only in writing, through the apostrophe ( girl, girls, girls, girls), since in speech three of the forms are identical. The genitive [or possessive] case is used in two contexts: dependently, before a noun ( This is Toms/his bat), and independently ( This bat is Toms/his). Most personal pronouns have different forms for the dependent and independent genitive: This is your bat and This bat is yours. The genitive case forms of personal pronouns are often called possessive pronouns. A few pronouns have three cases: subjective or nominative, objective or accusative, and genitive or possessive.Andrea Lunsford gives tips on editing for case in The St. Martins Handbook (2008). In compound structures, make su re pronouns are in the same case they would be in if used alone (Jake and she were living in Spain). When a pronoun follows than or as, complete the sentence mentally. If the pronoun is the subject of an unstated verb, it should be in the subjective case (I like her better than he [likes her]). If it is the object of an unstated verb, it should be in the objective case (I like her better than [I like] him.). Robert Lane Greene talks about the disappearance of case endings in English in his book You Are What You Speak   (2011). While the stickler might see the misuse and gradual disappearance of whom as proof that education and society have been flushed down the toilet, most linguists   even though they will almost certainly use whom in their written work themselves see the pronouns replacement with who as merely another step in Englishs gradual shedding of case endings. In the era of Beowulf, English nouns had endings that showed what role they played in the sentence, as Latin did. But nearly all of them disappeared by the time of Shakespeare, and a linguist would see the death of whom as simply the conclusion of the process.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Explore The Increasing Cost Of Providing Community Care Social Work Essay Essays

Explore The Increasing Cost Of Providing Community Care Social Work Essay Essays Explore The Increasing Cost Of Providing Community Care Social Work Essay Essay Explore The Increasing Cost Of Providing Community Care Social Work Essay Essay The cost of supplying community attention in the UK is increasing significantly. In this essay an effort will be made to discourse on the lifting costs of supplying community attention particularly concentrating on older people with dementedness and those under residential attention in UK by utilizing assorted research methods including research informations and literature analysis. The chief focal point would be on factors which lead to increase economic load on societal and wellness attention services. Besides a elaborate treatment on analysis and review of the current support system and its results on the reforms made are categorised by understanding the rationing function of attention directors to get the better of such load. This would be followed by an in-detail treatment on the importance of ego attention and informal attention and some issues originating with them with more focal point on the importance of informal attention utilizing a instance survey. Before continuing farther, allow us concentrate on the term community attention and discourse about its development in the UK. Community attention was invented in 1993 with the execution of community attention reforms. However, harmonizing to Bulmer, as mentioned by Victor ( 1997 ) , the first functionary usage of the term community attention was made in 1957 and related to the field of mental unwellness. Bulmer besides puts frontward that during the late fiftiess, the long-run attention services for mentally sick patients in communal or institutional scenes led the development of community attention policy in this state. It was found that Community attention was more effectual and efficient for long-stay attention unlike institutional scenes which were perceived as being inhumane, uneffective and highly expensive. Titmus ( 1968:4 cited by Victor, 1997:8 ) quoted: What some hope will one twenty-four hours be is all of a sudden thought by many to be already what of the bungalow garden trailor community attention . Does it non raise up a sense of heat and human kindness, particularly personal and comforting, every bit loving as the wild flowers so bewitchingly described by Lawrence in Lady Chatterley s Lover? Harmonizing to the 1989 White Paper Caring for People, community attention was defined as: supplying the right degree of intercession and support to enable people to accomplish maximal independency and control over their lives. For this purpose to go a world, the development of a broad scope of services provided in a assortment of scenes is indispensable. These services form portion of spectrum of attention, runing from domiciliary support provided to people in their ain places, strengthened by the handiness of respite attention and twenty-four hours attention for those with more intensive attention demands, those sheltered lodging, group places and inns where increasing degrees of attention are available, to residential attention and nursing places and long-stay infirmary attention for those whom other signifiers of attention are no longer plenty ( DoH, 1989 cited by Means et Al, 2008:6 ) . Community attention as explained by Victor ( 1997 ) is provided by both informal and formal suppliers. Classifying farther, he adds that formal suppliers of community attention constitutes assorted statutory bureaus, voluntary every bit good as private sector whereas informal suppliers constitutes household and friends. However, there has been a important concern over increasing cost of the formal attention and demographic alterations which will be discussed in item in this essay as I proceed. The economic load of supplying a formal community attention has led to the retrenchment of statutory bureaus and as proposed by Victor ( 1997 ) has increased accent upon the function of informal sector. Let us now discuss demographics of long-run attention concentrating more on residential attention and the attention of older people with dementedness. As mentioned by Laing ( 1993, cited by Victor, 1997 ) , an one-year outgo for long stay attention in UK in the yesteryear was ?10.2 billion a twelvemonth of which ?9.1 billion was accounted for older people. Outgo on residential attention proviso was ?6.6 billion a twelvemonth and ?2.5 billion was spent on supplying services in older peoples ain place. Hence older people accounted more for residential attention than for services provided in their ain places. Let us besides now seek to concentrate on an mean per-capita outgo on the personal societal services for older people in England. As per the information obtained from the NHS wellness and societal attention information Centre ( 2006 ) , gross current outgo on older people in 2003-2004 was ?8 billion which constituted about 44 % of the entire outgo ( 18.2 one million millions ) and merely ?4.4 billion was spent on kids s and household services. Harmonizing to the types of proviso for older people in England, outgo on residential attention proviso was ?4,490 1000000s and that of twenty-four hours and domiciliary attention proviso was ?2,620 1000000s in 2004-2005 ( National statistics, 2006 ) , whereas in 2006-07, the outgo raised to ?4,710 1000000s for residential proviso and ?2,620 1000000s for twenty-four hours and domiciliary attention proviso ( National statistics, 2008 ) . Thus it is apparent that mean per capita outgo additions markedly with the age and is besides much more for residential attention services than twenty-four hours and domiciliary attention services. One of the grounds can be dementia that creates a important load through the costs placed on long-run institutionalized attention like nursing places or residential attention places. As per the statistics obtained and published by Fernandez ( 2010 ) in the United Kingdom, 683,597 people suffer ed from dementedness in 2005, which increased to 821,884 in 2006 and is proposed to hold increased up to 940,110 by 2021 and 1,735,087 by 2051. In 2008 it was estimated that 37 % of all dementedness patients in the UK were in long-run attention establishments bing an surplus of ?9 billion per twelvemonth in societal attention. Overall, dementedness was found to be ?23 billion in footings of wellness and societal attention, informal attention and productiveness losingss in 2008 ( Fernandez, 2010 ) . Furthermore, increasing population has besides been one of the factors for lending in such job. Harmonizing to the Government Actuary s section ( 2007 ) the United Kingdom population is projected to increase by 7.2 million by 2031 and by 2025, the figure of people in the UK aged over 85 will hold increased by two-thirds as mentioned by Department of wellness ( 2007 ) in its article, A formula for care- Not a individual ingredient. Such an addition in the figure of older people is one of the of import factors for increasing cost of supplying community attention because it is them who are the chief donees of wellness and societal attention services as they are more likely to endure from dangerous infections, falls and craze and to remain in infirmaries. As per the statistics published by the Department of Health ( 2007 ) , people over 65 old ages accounted for 43 % of the NHS s entire budgets in 2003-04 and at the same clip accounted for 65 % of acute infirmary beds. In 2004-2005, the y accounted for 58 % of societal services budgets and received 71 % of societal attention bundles ( DoH, 2007 ) . Having identified the increasing figure of aged persons in the state as one of the of import factors, allow us besides focus on some other factors that may impact the cost of wellness and societal attention services in close hereafter. Other factors we can see are fewer working age, addition in pensionable age and addition in older age. As per the statistics given by GAD ( 2007 ) , in 2004 there were 3.33 individuals of working age for every individual of province pensionable age. This demographic support ratio is expected to worsen to about 2.40 around the twelvemonth 2040. The figure of people of province pensionable age is projected to increase by 9.3 per cent from 11.1 million in 2004 to 12.2 million in 2010. Furthermore, the population will bit by bit go older with the norm ( average ) age expected to lift from 39.5 old ages in 2004 to 43.3 old ages in 2031. Thus we see that demand for attention is set to lift significantly as a consequence of the ageing population. The cost for supplying attention service has been and is likely to go on to lift faster. Let us now focus on the current support system in England particularly residential attention. Forder ( 2009 ) explains that England falls into the means-tested grouping which means that parts to the system are mandated harmonizing to ability to pay, and hence low income groups are subsidised with public support through general revenue enhancement. He farther adds that in England, about all public disbursement on societal attention is made via local councils, with most of the financess allocated from general revenue enhancement and some besides rose through council revenue enhancement. The sum to be spent on societal attention is budget-constrained. Therefore if the demand is higher than the existent or proposed budget, councils have to raise the FAC ( Fair Access to Care ) eligibility thresholds ( Forder, 2009 ) . Sing long-run attention, nursing attention is free to service users in any scene, whether be that a infirmary or attention place after an appraisal being done. Forder ( 200 9 ) besides points out that there are national regulations for agencies proving of residential attention support as given by Department of Health. Analysing recent policies of the Department of Health Forder ( 2009 ) , points out that if the assessed individual has assets over a specified sum ( the upper capital bound ?23,000 as of April 2009 ) , they themselves will be apt for their full cost of the attention place except for any eligible free nursing attention. Eligible assets in this instance include the individual s house every bit long as no partner or other eligible dependant is populating in that place. Anyone with entire assets of less than the upper capital bound will be asked to lend all their hebdomadal eligible income including pension and other province benefits, less a personal disbursals allowance of around ?20 a hebdomad, up to the cost of the arrangement. In add-on, for people with assets above ?14,000 ( the lower capital bound as on April 2009 ) , a tariff income of ?1 for every ?250 between the upper and lower capital bounds is assessed for the individual on top of existent income. However, in-spite of current support services there are issues sing unmet demands due to increase in outgo with the increasing demands of attention for older people. Unmet needs like wealthy people get really small public aid and that they need to see against the fiscal and other hazards of necessitating attention. As it was besides argued in the past by Robins and Wittenberg ( 1992, cited by Victor, 1997 ) , that in-spite of developments made in policies in the past, wellness and societal services for older people was still being a political issue and one of the chief grounds behind this was ageing. Consequently, the community attention policy had been subjected to a strict examination by a series of authorities studies ; the Audit committee ( 1986 ) , the House of Commons Select Committee on Social Services ( 1985 ) and the Griffiths study ( 1986 ) which resulted in 1989 White Paper lovingness for Peoples and the NHS and Community Care Act 1990. These had required some alterations in pattern every bit good as administration of attention. The most important alterations were the debut of attention direction and appraisal and the development of the assorted economic system of attention ( Means et al, 2008 ) . The NHS A ; Community Care Act 1990 formed a new epoch in community attention in the UK. Needs-led appraisal and attention direction were to organize the basis of high quality attention ( Beth-Pary Jones, 2001 ) . The services were provided after a thorough appraisal of the person. It was the responsibility of attention directors to make appraisal and consequently present flexible bundles of attention for single clients. The appraisal was to guarantee that entry to publically funded long-run attention was based upon demand and to place those persons who can outdo be supported in their ain places ( Victor, 1997 ) . The White paper ( DoH, 1989, cited by Victor, 1997 ) had placed some indexs for the appraisal of separately based demands like mobility, personal attention, domestic undertakings, fiscal offers, adjustment, leisure and employment. It was stated that Assessment should take into history the wants of the person and his or her carer, and of the carer s ability to go on to supp ly careaˆÂ ¦efforts should be made to offer flexible services which enable persons and carers to do picks ( DoH, 1989:3.2.6, cited by Victor, 1997:70 ) . I intend to explicate this by taking an illustration of a 72 twelvemonth old widow who lives entirely without household support and exhibits agitated, violent and eccentric behaviour ; from Community attention and Older people by Victor C. ( 1997:151 ) . This single needs aid to acquire frock, provender and lavatory. The assessors had identified her as a individual with extended societal and personal demands and have placed in a nursing place. The client was placed in a nursing place after placing dementedness and her societal and personal demands. Thus argued by Henwood ( 2008 ) such an issue of eligibility became progressively of import in societal attention, and had moved from being localised and sometimes comparatively informal, towards a formalistic national model which was locally interpreted and implemented as Fair A ccess to Care. The Fair Access to Care Services ( FACS ) model was introduced in England in 1998 to turn to incompatibilities across the state about who gets support and to supply a more crystalline system. It originated in the 1998 White Paper, Modernising Social Services. Its chief rule was to guarantee a needs-led services instead than service-led. It besides incorporated non-discriminatory and human rights attack. The FACS counsel was issued in May 2002 that provided a national model for eligibility standards for grownup societal attention and focused upon people with the greatest assessed demands. Eligibility standard was graded into four sets as critical, significant, moderate and low as per the earnestness of the hazard ( CSCI, 2008 ) . However, there have been many challenges related to FACS. Since the debut of FACS, there have been increasing demands on societal attention budgets due to increasing figure of older people, populating longer and frequently with more complex demands, and besides increasing Numberss of younger grownups with terrible physical and learning disablements. Therefore seting the model into pattern was hard due to miss of fiscal resources, service commissariats and staffs. Another job was that most of councils were runing at substantial or critical degree which means most people with moderate or low demands were non eligible for publically funded support. Furthermore, harmonizing to the High Court, the council s determination to curtail eligibility to critical demand as defined by FACS was improper ( CSCI, 2008 ) . As evaluated by Henwood ( 2008 ) , the fastening budgets as of all time and service eligibility standards indicated a displacement of focal point from appraisal of demand to ra tioning explicating the FACS policies to be operationalised with two distinguishable issues at interest. The first being precedence puting which denotes an allotment of resources to particular services or programmes, and 2nd is rationing which refers to the distribution of resources to persons at the point of service bringing ( Henwood, 2008 ) . It is hence apparent that because of the fiscal load precedence scene has become the important parametric quantity for rationing ; moreover the local governments will so hold to find the local budget for grownup societal attention. This in bend makes it necessarily a complex country within which local governments along with local politicians have to weigh up a scope of factors as identified by Henwood ( 2008 ) such as the demands of the local population, the cost of run intoing those demands, and the likely responses of cardinal stakeholders such as cardinal authorities, the electorate, fellow politicians and officers and staff members. As many Councils had been seeking to pull off their resources by fastening their eligibility standards, Government policy placed increasing accent on bar and personalisation by implementing a policy of Puting People First in 2007. It enables people to populate their ain lives as they wish, confident that services are of high quality, are safe and able to advance their single demands and penchants for independency, well-being and self-respect. Peoples utilizing societal attention services and their households committee their ain services. Personal budgets will guarantee people having public support usage available resources to take their ain support Services ( CSCI, 2008 ) . Rationing is the duty of attention director whereas precedence scene is the duty of authoritiess. Therefore, attention directors, after exhaustively measuring the demands of the clients, will so apportion resources to people who are deemed to hold a demand for community attention and therefore besides pull offing the economic load. Harmonizing to Klein ( 1996, cited by Tull, 2010 ) there are seven chief methods of rationing which are by denial, by choice, by warp, by disincentive, by hold, by dilution and by expiration. Service refused to clients on the evidences of ineligibility is the rationing by denial. Rationing by choice agencies that merely those who are deemed meriting are selected by assorted service suppliers. Rationing by warp takes topographic point when clients are steered towards other budgets, for illustration, a wellness services job becomes a societal services job. Rationing by disincentive makes entree to a service highly hard. Examples of rationing by hold are the waiting list and assignments made many hebdomads or months in progress. Rationing by dilution agencies that clip and services which would usually be spent on people are reduced. Rationing by expiration means an intercession ends, such as the discharge of a patient. Another attack to cut down the economic load of community attention can be adopted by stressing on ego attention and informal attention. Let us now focus more on informal attention in inside informations. Informal attention as defined by Finch ( 1995 cited by Victor 1997 ) as a attention provided by members of the household, close relations, friends and neighbors which is non organized through a statutory or voluntary bureau. Typically, such attention is non provided with an purpose of gaining a pecuniary addition, but it is by and large taken as moral and ethical duties within households and society. It was in 1980s that the true extent of informal attention was identified. It was enshrined in 1930 Poor Law Act which stated: It should be the responsibility of the male parent, gramps, female parent, grandma, hubby or kid of a hapless, old, blind, square or impotent individual or other hapless individual, non able to work, if possessed of sufficient agencies, to alleviate and keep the individual non able to work ( Means and Smith, 1994:19 cited by Victor, 1997:118 ) . The importance of the informal sector in keeping older people and those with long-run attention demands in the community is now an accepted and acknowledged portion of community attention policy. Now let us discourse the human ecology of informal attention services provided to older people with the aid of a instance survey of older people with dementedness given by Fernandez ( 2010 ) . The figure of instances of dementedness was obtained from the European Community Concerted Action on the Epidemiology and Prevention of Dementia ( EURODEM ) survey. Surveies were conducted in several European states, including the UK, for work forces and adult females in 9 different age groups ( 30-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70-74, 75-79, 80-84, 85-89, 90-94 and 95-99 ) for the UK and 30 other European states. In 2006, the estimated figure of patients with diagnosed and undiagnosed dementedness in the UK was 821,884 stand foring 1.3 % of the UK population. It was estimated that 304,850 patients aged 65 old ages or more with dementedness were populating in institutionalized long term attention, stand foring about 37 % of all dementedness patients in the UK. With adjustment in long-run nursing and residen tial attention scenes bring forthing an one-year cost of about ?30,000 per patient, the one-year cost of long-run attention adjustment due to dementia was in surplus of ?9 billion. A sum of 1,509 million hours of informal attention was provided by friends and relations of the 517,033 dementedness patients populating in the community. Approximately 34 % ( 512 million hours ) of this attention was provided by economically active and employed relations or friends, with the bulk of attention ( 997 million hours ) being provided by retired, inactive or unemployed informal carers. Combined, the entire one-year costs of informal care-giving were estimated at ?12,383 million. Consequences from this study had shown that the wellness attention, societal attention, informal attention and productiveness costs of dementedness were about ?23 billion a twelvemonth. Over 55 % ( ?12 billion ) of these entire costs was due to informal attention, stand foring 1.5 billion hours of unpaid attention provided by relations and friends of dementedness patients ( Fernandez, 2010 ) . Hence it is apparent that promoting informal attention for the dementedness patients will cut down the economic load on the authorities and the saved fund can be utilised towards farther publicities for a better societal attention. We can besides state that informal attention of older people is of import at present because of the lifting figure of older people particularly aged 65 and over, who have the greatest demands for attention. However, Pickard ( 2004 ) cites Parker s ( 1992 ) statement that informal carers are non a homogeneous group as a differentiation had been drawn in the societal policy literature between informal assisting and to a great extent involved lovingness. Heavily involved carers are normally defined in footings of long hours of caring ( normally over 20 hours a hebdomad ) ; sharing a family with the cared-for individual ( co-residence ) ; or transporting out personal and/or physical undertakings. And it is them who are most likely to necessitate support. Maher and Green ( 2002, cited by Pickard, 2004 ) points out that harmonizing to General Household Survey ( GHS ) , that was carried out in 2000 in Great Britain, there were a sum of 6.8 million informal carers with around 27 per cent ( a bout 1.8 million ) disbursement 20 hours or more a hebdomad on caring undertaking. Besides there were over a 3rd of a million partner carers and about half a million kids caring for an older parent/parent-in-law for 20 hours a hebdomad or more harmonizing to the study. Several issues have been raised for informal carers by placing the demands of the carer. Spouse carers are frequently aged and in hapless wellness themselves. Carers of parents and parents-in-law are normally of working age and are involved in full/part clip employment, raising issues to make with the relationship between caring and paid work. The proviso of informal attention to frail older people have a great impact on the carers, as the duties of caring frequently constrain societal engagement and necessitate backdown from the work force. Intensive lovingness has profound inauspicious effects on the psychological wellness of carers, peculiarly emphasis, depression, choler, anxiousness and guilt and besides physical wellness issues such as terrible back jobs and others. Harmonizing to Bauld et Al ( 2000, cited by Pickard 2004 ) , these negative impacts are seen largely among the carers who provide informal services to older people with dementedness. So at that place have been a fi gure of developments in policy relating to informal carers. These include the community attention reforms, associated with the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 ; the Carers ( Recognition and Services ) Act 1995 ; the National Strategy for Carers ( 1999 ) ; the Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000 ; and the National Service Frameworks for Mental Health and for Older Peoples ( DoH 1999 ) . These developments are of import in the present context because they shape the proviso of services to carers and older people today ( Pickard, 2004 ) . Now let us discourse on self attention in brief. Self attention can be defined as any signifier of attention which is taken by persons towards improvement of their ain wellness and good being, which besides includes the attention extended to their kids, household, friends and others in vicinities and local communities. In other words the actions that people take for themselves, their kids and their households to remain fit and keep good physical and mental wellness ; meet societal and psychological demands ; prevent unwellness or accidents ; attention for minor complaints and long-run conditions like diabetes, arthritis, asthma, epilepsy, etc ; and keep wellness and well-being after an acute unwellness or discharge from infirmary is included as a portion of their Self Care ( Department of wellness, 2005 ) . Finally it is believed that cognition and experience about the long term conditions could greatly profit the quality of patients attention and finally their quality of life. But this has been mostly ignored. So the construct of Expert Patients was set out in the Government s 1999 White Paper, Salvaging Lifes: Our Healthier Nation. Harmonizing to this construct, they are empowered to take some duty for their ain direction and work in partnership with their wellness and societal attention suppliers. Self-management programmes are designed to cut down the badness of symptoms and better assurance, resourcefulness and self-efficacy. A farther committedness to implementing a formal programme was made in the NHS Plan published in July 2000 ( Department of wellness, 2001 ) . However, there are some issues with self care that service suppliers should concern about like the hazard of patient safety, guaranting equality of entree, factors such as poorness, entree to resources or hapless lodgin g ( Department of wellness, 2005 ) .

Sunday, November 3, 2019

WK VIII Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

WK VIII - Research Paper Example In this paper multi-dimensional perspectives will be analyzed after studying typologies from various empirical studies. Thus, the typologies explicated by R Harrison and C Handy (1998) will be studies, also those of T J Peters, Deal and Kennedy, Chatman and Caldwell and also those of O Reilly would be incorporated in an effort to classify organizational cultures. Furthermore, the paper will try to determine a paradigm so that behavior of those participating in these given cultures can be predicted to address organizational issues. Also, most of the models being addressed in the paper take functionalist paradigm approach to explain their typologies, thus they focus primarily on interrelationship between the internal dynamics of the organization and effectiveness. Thus, comparative research will aim at determining models of cultural classification, further aiming at predicting future behavior of those participating in the culture of the organization (Harrison & Handy 1998). Analyzing the model proposed by Harrison and Handy is one of the most credible, the oldest and the most cited one amongst all. Though the typologies proposed by both these researchers are distinct, there are many similarities in their models. Harrison identified four distinct kinds of organizations; based on the power, tasks, roles and people of the organization. Since an organization contains employees who share a sense of values, thus the system or culture of the organization is shaped by the values identified by Harrison (Hofstede 2002). The culture of power can be identified in an organization where there is immense rivalry amongst people, centralization of power exists with an intensified presence of rivalries alongside intense competition amongst various actors in the organization. Similarly, Culture of roles is found in an organization where there is stability and order, proper hierarchy, and a sense of security with apparent competition. Also, the culture of tasks is the one where

Friday, November 1, 2019

Architectural Theory Analytical paper about specific article and Assignment

Architectural Theory Analytical paper about specific article and theory - Assignment Example rence material which Venturi produced is good because it pertains a variety of issues involved when it comes to confronting a term like postmodernism, which constitutes many tangents and a voluminous paper. My focus in the presentation will be on the issue which inspired this project. When analyzing Ducks and Decoration, we see that Robert Venturi believes that there is a prevalent misconception concerning his work. So how did this come about? The concern is, at very least, challenging to layout and attack methodically as it usually is with most things related with the term Postmodern. The complexity is in the fact that the word and what it explains are used in a vast number of ways. People avoided using the term at all in scholarship which was actually most helpful due to its amorphous nature. Its imprecision really doesnt assist with your point if you are scrupulous. The term postmodern means something rather particular when one is talking about architecture. Postmodern, in the most usual parlance when describing an architectural style which means a style on or of a building built in the past 40 years which incorporates references to past non-modern styles, usually the classical. We can site a very common example of what is architecturally and stylistically postmodern; this is the 80s pastel. This is a classical ornament covered Plaza d Italia located in New Orleans which is the work of Michael Graves. This proposal she ds some light on what it we refer to by ducks and decoration, which basically being an architect is working in a postmodern style. Ducks and decoration is on the basis of postmodernism and perhaps it will come out as very surprising and interesting to know that in the September 2001 issue of Architecture magazine, titled postmodernism, Robert Venturi, who is known to be prolific and groundbreaking architect with a legacy assured, among his notable achievements is being the winner of the Pritzker Prize and former professor of architecture at