Memo letter. Arbitration advocacy Essay

Memo Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Dear All, it is with great pleasure that I would like to bring to your attention that the company has reached a decision on implementing a MANDATORY ARBITRATION AGREEMENT, which is to take effect as from the start of next month of November 2014. The decision was reached after lengthy discussions and consultations with major stakeholders within and outside the company, as well as your labour union representatives.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are various benefits or advantages of arbitration which will arise when it comes into effects. These advantages will include:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Improved relationships and harmony among employees. Arbitration will help reduce animosity and grudges since it will provide a chance for parties involved in a dispute to work out their differences, hence create an environment that supports differences(Cooley, & Lubet, 2003).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The other advantage of arbitration is that it will help reduce the expenses that you incur when you take the disputes to court or take other measures which require use of resources (Cooley, & Lubet, 2003).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The amount of time that is required to resolve the disputes will be less hence leaving you with a lot of time to concentrate on your duties and increase your productivity (Cooley, & Lubet, 2003).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Therefore, based on the above advantages and many more which you will realize, it is advisable that all should embrace this new method of settling disputes for the progress of the company as well as for your personal benefits and development. Regards, HR Manager Reference Cooley, J. W., & Lubet, S. (2003). Arbitration advocacy. Notre Dame, IN: National Institute for Trial Advocacy. Source document

Interpersonal, Group and Collective Behavior Dynamics Essay

Enron is a company that is faced with financial instability but continues to run on dubious dealings including misrepresenting their true financial position (Cohan, 2002). This is done to save the public image of the company hence avoiding the risk of losing investors. American International Group (AIG) is also in a serious financial crisis following cases of mismanagement (FRB, 2009). We shall make a comparison of the group dynamics and internal politics within these two companies. The companies exhibited an element of information blockage. This is holding back adverse news from the public until the last possible moment. This is usually a deliberate act with the aim of maintaining a good public image. It is however followed by lawsuits, hate mails or even death threats from unhappy investors. In Enron’s case, the senior executives withheld any information about financial crisis from the public until it collapsed (Cohan, 2002). AIG maintained a ‘business as usual’ image in the public despite its liquidity issues (FRB, 2009). Motivation to lie or deliberately concealing the truth in an organization was evident in the two companies. The corporate officers do not disclose the truth especially when this truth may put the company into bankruptcy or cost them their jobs. In the case of Enron the lies were inform of hard data, lying about accounting results and a stream of earnings (Williamson, 1970). Questionable accounting practices were meant to hide huge losses that the company suffered. AIG had its share of deliberate lies when it valued its A-A and sub prime property at 1. 7; twice the value used by Lehman. The issue of the board’s oversight function and the business judgment rule is also fairly evident in the two companies he board of directors act as if they are entitled to rely on the honesty and integrity of their subordinates until something wrong happens (Crag & Rebecca, 1996) . The directors of Enron were totally unaware of the severity of the company’s financial crisis until its collapse. A directors were too ignorant of the liquidity problem to the extend of planning for a lavish retreat for themselves. The subordinate managers have persuasive interest in concealing the bad news. This is meant to avoid or delay personal embarrassment and other associated risks such as the likelihood of a price drop in its shares. In Enron, individual executives who decided to hide the dubious partnership feared erosion of status (Cohan, 2002). They felt that they needed to protect both their self and external image. The same case was evident in AIG, where the subordinate managers saw the need for over costing their assets to redeem their image. Overconfidence and optimism is displayed in the two companies by the senior executives especially in press releases. Overconfidence creates a strong image for any company in the eyes of the public. Executives who are overconfident and optimistic are considered to be successful managers. This is because they are able to persuade and influence people even in the face of a crisis. The executives in Enron and AIG were also in the bid of making a name for themselves. Senior executives assured employees would continuously rise even in the event of financial instability in Enron. The chief executive officer in AIG assured investors that they would still get their bonuses even as the company was being bailed out (FRB, 2009). Corporate ‘culture’ cannot be ruled out in the management of the two companies. This refers to the norms of the company which are well known to the management and the subordinate employees. They supersede other business or ethical laws in case of a conflict. Cynism as a corporate culture fosters the breaking of rules as a means to succeed. Ethical rules are under enforced with the focus being to maximize profits. The Enron and AIG were caught up in this culture when they faced a financial crisis. They misrepresented their debts and assets respectively in the company’s sheet so as to reflect high profits and attract investors (Cohan, 2002). All this is done in total disregard for accounting ethics. Myopic information within the organization is also prevalent in the two companies. This might be due to our limited cognitive capabilities but more so because the executives are too busy to deal with abundant data. They prefer sifting this data and extracting only what is relevant. They may also be lacking the skill to analyze and understand the data as was the case of Enron’s former chairman Mr. Kenneth Lay. The directors in AIG and Enron, focused on information that confirmed their prior attitudes of leading institutions in the market. They disregarded any disconfirming information of possible collapse or liquidity issues. This is normally referred to as cognitive dissonance. It is usually difficult to change these beliefs as one is seen as a threat to the company’s status quo. Ms. Watkins, an employee in Enron became such a threat by warning a senior manager of a possible collapse (Cohan, 2002). A chief executive officer’s proposal in AIG was ignored on the same basis (FRB, 2009). Intimidation of subordinate employees by the senior employees is prevalent in Enron but not in AIG. In Enron, investigations against Mr. Andrew a former chief financial officer and other senior officers who were involved in fraud cases did not happen since no one was confident enough to confront them (Cohan, 2002). In AIG the accounting scandal is thoroughly investigated and no one is spared including a former chairman of the board. REFERENCES: Federal Reserve Bank. (2009). History and development of AIG. Retrieved May 26,2009, from http://www. federalbank. orf/history/development. pdf Herbert, A. S. (1955). A behavioral model of rational choice. John, A. C. (2002). †I didn’t know† and â€Å"I was only doing my job†. Has corporate governance careened out of control? A case study of Enron’s information myopia. Journal of Business Ethics, 40 (3),275-299. Paul Z. & Janet A. (1997). The social influence of confidence in group decision making.

Adam Reres

Adam Reres Essay Ms. CooperU.S. History II19 march 2004Three Mile IslandThree Mile Island is a nuclear power plant located in Harrisburg, PA. Ithad two pressurized water reactors. One in which began its service in 1974and is the best performing reactor in the US. However its other reactor isalmost brand new and suffered a server nuke clear meltdown. March 28th 1979at approximately 4:00 a.m. a minor malfunction created a rise intemperature to the primary coolant. The reactor shut down as a safety result. In no time a pilot-operatedrelief valve (PORV) on the reactors cooling system opened but did notclose. This caused reactor coolant water to leak out and soon drained thetank of its coolant (Wikipeia). As a effect of the lost coolant, highpressure pumps pushed replacement water into the reactor system. Water andsteam then escaped through its relief valve as cooling water surged to thereactor. In this type of situation, the operators were trained to reduce theflow of the replacement water. Their training told them that thepressurizer water level was the only dependable indication of the amount ofcooling water in the system. Because the pressuriser level was increasing,they thought the reactor system was too full of water They were told to doall they could to keep the pressuriser from filling with water. If itfilled, they could not control pressure in the cooling system and it mightrupture. Operators responded by reducing the flow of replacement water. Steam thenformed in the reactor cooling system. Pumping a mixture of steam and watercaused the reactor cooling pumps to vibrate. If the severe vibrations couldhave damaged the pumps they would made them unusable, so the operators shutdown the pumps. This ended the forced cooling of the reactor. However, as reactor coolant water boiled away, the reactors fuel core wasuncovered and became even hotter. The fuel rods were damaged and releasedradioactive material into the cooling water. At 6:22 am operators closed ablock valve between the relief valve and the pressuriser. This actionstopped the loss of coolant water through the relief valve. However,superheated steam and gases blocked the flow of water through the corecooling system (Wikipeia). By late afternoon, operators began high-pressureinjection of water into the reactor cooling system to increase pressure andto collapse steam bubbles. By 7:50 pm, they restored forced cooling of thereactor when they were able to restart one reactor coolant pump. They hadcondensed steam so that the pump could run without severe vibrations. FromMarch 29 and 30, operators used a system of pipes and compressors to movethe gas to waste gas decay tanks(Wikipeia). The compressors leaked, andsome radioactive gas was released to the environmentAfte r an anxious month, on 27 April operators established naturalconvection circulation of coolant. The reactor core was being cooled by thenatural movement of water rather than by mechanical pumping. The plant wasin cold shutdown. The cleanup of the damaged nuclear reactor system at TMI-2 took nearly12 years and cost approximately $973 million. The Plant surfaces had to bedecontaminated. Any water used and stored during the cleanup had to beprocessed. And about 100 tones of damaged uranium fuel had to be removedfrom the reactor vessel all without hazard to cleanup workers or thepublic. (Wikipeia)OpinionI see Three Mile Island as history repeating itself; It reminded me alot of the Titanic. The crew on titanic and in the operators room weretold that an accident was nearly impossible so that when something happenedthey didnt know how to react properly or knew entirely what was going on. READ: The last of the mohicans Persuasive EssayHowever, they responded with there instincts which only made the problemworse. Unlike the Titanic though, no one died in Three Mile Island. The Three Mile Island incident was in a way a good lesion to the US inworking with nuclear generated power. We saw that it is a force of naturethat is very powerful. Its dangers are very real, anything could happen,and if something did happen when using the nuclear power many could die. Wesaw that we should not assume anything in a time of delicate decisionshttp://en.wikipeia.com/wiki/Three_Mile_Island, Wikipeia, Joan , lastmodified 02:19, 15 Mar 2004The plants main feedwater pumps in the secondary non-nuclear coolingsystem failed at about 4:00 a.m. on March 28, 1979. This failure was due toeither a mechanical or electrical failure and prevented the steamgenerators from removing heat. First the turbine, then the reactorautomatically shut down. Immediately, the pressure in the primary system(the nuclear portion of the plant) began to increase. In order to preventthat pressure from becoming excessive, the pressurizer relief valve (avalve located at the top of the pressurizer) opened. T he valve should haveclosed when the pressure decreased by a certain amount, but it did not. Signals available to the operator failed to show that the valve was stillopen. As a result, the stuck-open valve caused the pressure to continue todecrease in the system. Meanwhile, another problem appeared elsewhere in the plant. The emergencyfeedwater system (backup to main feedwater) was tested 42 hours prior tothe accident. As part of the test, a valve is closed and then reopened atthe end of the test. But this time, through either an administrative orhuman error, the valve was not reopened preventing the emergencyfeedwater system from functioning. The valve was discovered closed abouteight minutes into the accident. Once it was reopened, the emergencyfeedwater system began to work correctly, allowing cooling water to flowinto the steam generators. As the system pressure in the primary system continued to decrease, voids(areas where no water is present) began to form in portions of the systemother than the pressurizer. Because of these voids, the water in the systemwas redistributed and the pressurizer became full of water. The levelindicator, which tells the operator the amount of coolant capable of heatremoval, incorrectly indicated the system was full of water. Thus, theoperator stopped adding water. He was unaware that, because of the stuckvalve, the indicator could, and in this instance did, provide falsereadings. After almost eighty minutes of slow temperature rise the primary loop pumpsbegin to shudder as steam rather than water began to pass through them. Thepumps were shut down, and it was believed that natural circulation wouldcontinue the water movement. Steam in the system locked the primary loop,and as the water stopped circulating it was converted to steam inincreasing amounts. After around 130 minutes since the first malfunction,the top of the reactor core was exposed and the heat and steam drove areaction involving hydrogen and other radioactive gases with the zirconiumrod cladding. The quench tank ruptured, and radioactive coolant began toleak out into the general containment building. At 6 a.m. there was a shiftchange in the control room. A new arrival noticed that the temperature inthe holding tanks was excessive and used a backup valve to shut off thecoolant venting. Around 250,000 gallons (950 m) of coolant had alreadybeen lost from the primary loop. It was not until 165 minute s after thestart of the problem that radiation alarms activated as contaminated waterreached detectors, by which time the radiation levels in the primarycoolant water were around 300 times expected levels.

Description of Nick Vujicic video Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Description of Nick Vujicic video - Essay Example † he even suggest that he should take the wheelchair to be â€Å"pimped.† This is supposed to make the wheelchair look fancy and flashy, as it is added some accessories such as spinning metallic wheels on the wheels. He talks with a lot of humor about the wheelchair showing the love he has for this facility; furthermore it is the wheelchair that makes him move around. Nick suggest that the hydraulics system that will be installed in the wheelchair after it is â€Å"pimped† will make him bump while crossing the road. He loves his wheelchair very much, and he even say he would find it ‘cool’ if he could play his drums while on the wheelchair. Nick Vujicic explains to the students that he doesn’t have limbs, and nothing happened to him as he was born in that state. There is no medical reason to even explain his situation, but though he has no arms nor legs there is something that he likes about this situation. He says though he has no legs he has his â€Å"little chicken drumstick.† He call that part ‘chicken drumstick’ because resembles one and also his dog thinks is one. He explains how his dog thinks it’s a chicken drumstick, and this prompt the dog to come have a bite, but fortunately he manages to chase it away each time. But this does not make him bitter, rather this phenomena makes him better. Every person who meets him wonder what happened to him, and sometimes he jokingly says its cigarette. He has even been described as an alien but some kids, while other kids freak out when they see him. This â€Å"chicken drumstick† he has enabled him to do several things such as typing , writing, and even learn sign language as he demonstrates the peace sign. This is very inspiring, despite the fact that he doesn’t have limbs and arms he can do some activities such as swimming that most people blessed with arms and limbs can’t swim. He even gave a demonstration playing some drums perfectly. The students are even shocked that he can kick a tennis ball that

High Pump Prices Oil Demand and Supply Factors Essay

High Pump Prices Oil Demand and Supply Factors - Essay Example The upward shift in the demand curve (D1 to D2) results from the increase in crude demand due to seasonal factors. As cited in the article, February is commonly slated for refinery maintenance. As such, decline in gasoline stockpiles occurs with refinery production slowing down. Ceteris paribus, a higher equilibrium point E2 is seen. The above graph also exhibits no shift in the supply curve S. This assumption is derived from the advisory of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a powerful cartel of major oil producers, that they would keep current output restrictions in place. In this regard, no additional supply may be expected to offset the increase in demand, thus, increasing crude price. Another case of supply and demand schedules interesting to analyze is the declining oil prices in the world market at the onset of 2007 (Ghatous 2007). Last year, oil price hovered at around $60-65 per barrel. With OPEC aiming to maximize its earnings, the cartel decided to reduce supply. However, oil price continued to slide despite the supply cut. This could be explained using Graph 2 below. Assuming an initial equilibrium price and quantity of $60 per barrel and 52 million barrels, respectively, an upward shift of the supply curve (from S1 to S2) due to the OPEC supply cut would cause an upward movement in the oil price. However, the supply shift was accompanied by a greater downward shift in the demand curve (from D1 to D2). The downtrend in demand resulted from the warmer than expected winter season in the US. With this, there is lesser demand for oil used for heating. Given the simultaneous shift in both supply and demand curves, equilibrium point E2 is reached with a lower price of $58 per barrel and quantity of 52 million barrels. References Articles Ghatous, G. (2007). "OPEC concerned about price, to act if needed". Reuters. Accessed: 14 March 2007 from http://www.reuters.com Valdmanis, R. (2007). "Oil rises on US fuel draw, eyes on OPEC". Reuters. Accessed: 14 March 2007 from http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStockNews/idUSSP28601520070314 Books Samuelson, P.A. and W.D. Nordhaus. (2001). Economics 17th Ed. McGraw-Hill. Sayre, J.E. and A.J. Morris. (2004). Principles of Microeconomics 4th Ed.

Market Analysis for TESCO Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Market Analysis for TESCO - Essay Example That was exactly the case with Tesco having over 450,000 employees and over 3,200 stores today. A very humble beginning in 1919 when Jack Cohen began this journey gradually transformed the fortunes. Strong Government support: It was the state patronage which encouraged the promoters of Tesco to plan for future. Not many hurdles were created by the political class. In fact Tesco also kept the ruling class in good humor by taking politically correct steps from time to time. Minimal competition during those early days: Those were the golden days when Tesco came out with its first branded tea in 1924, not many competitors were around and terms like 'cut-throat competition' were not even introduced. Satisfied customer: Grabbing customer attention is not a big deal but retaining customer loyalty requires sound thinking at the top. A satisfied customer often takes pride in becoming a goodwill ambassador for the company. Tesco team says1, "Our core purpose is to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty." By all accounts it can be said that they are indeed working, quite successfully, towards that. Reigns in the hands of able management and shrewd strategists: It is said that 'Winners don't do different things, they do things differently'. This statement gives full credit to strategists of successful enterprises. Strategic decisions provide a direction in which the organisation is to move. Organisation's mission and objectives find a reflection of strategists. Tesco has a long term strategy for growth, based on four key parts: growth in the Core UK, to expand by growing internationally, to be as strong in non-food as in food and to follow customers into new retailing services. Committed workforce: Organisations are not passive components. They are live, full of activity and environment-responsive like living beings. With time organisations acquire a character and develop a typical personality and we tend to make an image of the employee depending on the organisation he/ she works for. This very personality of the organisation considerably influences the functions of organisation in the long run. Reasonably good industrial relations: Keeping the workforce in good humour by providing them with adequate benefits and considering them as an inseparable part of the organisation helps in resolving the disputes quickly. Good investor relations: This becomes all the more important when general public has a stake in any. After becoming Tesco PLC from Tesco Stores (Holdings) in 1983, Tesco became a public company and it has been sharing good amount of its profits with investors. Understanding the environment: Continuously monitoring the environment and following the leads is the key to a successful business. Continuously studying the different aspects of environment (social, political, legal, technological, etc) and taking corrective and adaptive steps accordingly helps in growing of an organisation. Tesco started computerised check-out counters as early as 1982 and this stride continued with opening of www.tesco.com and its online operations. On the societal front Tesco states, "One of our most important values is to treat people how we would like to be treated."2 With this in mind Tesco makes a

Migrating Servers to Virtual Machines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Migrating Servers to Virtual Machines - Essay Example This requires using of multiple hardware systems to manage and store the information in an easy to retrieve way. Hence, virtual machines come in to provide saving of space used for multiple hardware and easy access to information since it can set up several servers on one hardware. Data management is an essential part of modern organization since they have to deal with huge loads of information. Thus moving of physical servers to virtual machines, virtualization has increased in the recent past since virtual machines help in managing data through shared hardware. It has become a mainstream operation in the organization due to its ability in, â€Å"helping provide consolidation savings, workload migration capabilities, reduced deployment times and a variety of other benefits,† (Schmidt & Rispoli, 2009, p. 42). The advantage of virtualization is that one can set up several servers on the same hardware box, rather than having to pay for many hardware servers. This has the benefit of saving costs of running multiple hardware servers such as power used when there are several servers, space for putting up the hardware as well as financial costs.    Recently, information has become the main tool for organization in competing, thus, management of information is most crucial. Sharing of information is yet another requirement in the organization. Thus, a tool that can help in sharing of information is welcome in organization. More so, cost saving is among the most emphasized issues in many organizations of the current times. Virtual machines provide these benefits, making it a key tool for organizations. Many organizations have realized this, and are virtualizing their physical servers to enjoy the differences. Review of Other Work   Ã‚  Ã‚   The number of organizations using virtual machines has grown tremendously in the recent past. Many of these organizations are virtualizing with an aim of achieving several goals that are reducing of costs of running physi cal servers, enhancing efficiency, achieving flexibility with information, and improving operations within the organization. Le Bourget Communaute provides a good illustration of virtualization at work. The company has virtualized its servers and desktops with vSphere virtualization from the VMware and the Cisco Nexus 1000V virtual switch (Cisco, 2010). The company has all the efforts of 2500 employees supported by 1000 desktop computers that deliver quite a big range of services. Its PCs are located in various places such as city halls, self-service kiosks, libraries, schools and among other places for providing services to the public (Cisco, 2010). The company has good control of this infrastructure after it was able to virtualize. The company started the virtualization project in 2008, with an objective to save space. However, the company realized other benefits such as servers that were dedicated to specific tasks and the ability to clone servers for testing purposes. The compan y was able to virtualize 27 physical servers, and it is currently running 70 virtual servers. The company

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Alternative Dispute Essay

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Alternative Dispute Resolution - Essay Example The same is known as alternative dispute resolution1. According to the available literature on alterative dispute resolution, there are four categories of ADR, which include arbitration, negotiation, mediation and collaborative law. There are experts who tend to cite conciliation as the fifth category. Other than negotiation, all other ADR categories include the person of a outside, unbiased and external person, which acts as the third party to facilitate the process and ensure that the parties reach a settlement. There are thousands of cases of divorces, commercial disputes, family disputes, professional liability cases, insurance issues, personal injury situations and others, where ADR has proven to be more effective than the traditional court processes and the first choice of parties to resolve their disputes2. Nevertheless, there are some pros and cons of ADR. This paper, therefore, is an attempt to explore the various advantages and disadvantages associated with alternative disp ute resolution. Discussion Advantages of ADR First, ADR offers the advantage of being cheap and quick. On the other hand, formal court processes may take years and cost people a fortune. In fact, in many developing countries with huge populations such as India, Pakistan and others, it takes more than 20-30 years for a person to get a date for his or her case hearing. During the 1990s, a woman who was raped filled a petition in the court for justice. However, when her date for hearing arrived, it has been more than 5 years since her death3. Furthermore, many poor and lower class people forget about their issues and claims in various countries considering the legal fees, bribes and other money which they would have to pay for getting justice. ADR, on the other hand, allows people to get quick and inexpensive justice. Many arbitration boards would take less than a few weeks before they could finalize their decisions45. Second, people prefer to keep their internal matters public; howeve r, when they refer to courts for justice, everything becomes public. The bigger the case, the information about both the parties would leak into the public. However, in case of ADR, the same does not happen. Both parties cannot only ensure confidentiality during the investigations and hearings but if they want then the decision and results may also be kept only to people inside the rooms6. Third, despite the fact that the judges and jury have great deal of knowledge about the happenings in the society, nevertheless, they are not the experts of certain fields. Therefore, whenever technical matters are brought up in front of the jury, huge investments in terms of time and money have to be done in order to educate the jury and even then, there is lesser chance that the jury would give a verdict after fully understanding the technical matters7. Fourth, courts have a limited number of options. They are books of law, processes, specific rules and outcomes, which one can predict. In short, there are certain paths and processes, which the jury cannot avoid while making a decision. However, in ADR, the jury has the power to be more creative and give decisions in light of domestic laws, international laws, foreign laws or even religious laws8. Fifth,

Yum Brands China Business Strategy Research Paper

Yum Brands China Business Strategy - Research Paper Example Yum Brands Inc. entered the Chinese market in 1987, considering the fact that during this period, the Chinese economy had rapidly grown after its liberalization. The company was one of the early players in the Chinese restaurants’ business, which has enabled it to establish its operations in the Chinese market firmly. The company’s entry into China has provided Chinese consumers with a new and unique dining experience, where they get customized and clean ambiance service. The Yum Brand Inc. business strategies have focused on menus that include both western and local consumables, with focus being directed towards offering customer preferences in each province. Business Strategies The business strategy of Yum Brand Inc. in China encompasses providing a variety of consumables, customer preferences, franchise relationships, and employing locals to key positions of the company. The company focused on strategies of employing locals in its key positions alongside delivering s ervices according to customer preferences, which vary from one province to another. The company also has established franchise relationships and built its own logistics and distributions network. Moreover, the company has been keen on its business strategy of developing new markets through establishing widespread restaurant chains in China division to increase its market share. Apparently, mainland China is Yum Brands’ leading market according to worldwide restaurant development (Enz, 2010, p.945). Internationally, the company has built a vibrant global entity by focusing on key business strategies such as establishing leading brands all over the Chinese market, driving aggressive expansion of the international market, and building franchise value and long-term shareholders for industry needs. The Company has built a unique business culture that is filled with exciting opportunities and energy for both employees and customers. According to executives, the company believes in the people, encourages ideas from all and sundry, and trusts in positive intentions of its people. Through this, the company has been able to bring about diversity in style in its business operations and consumables, considering that customer needs and preferences can be best met through diversity. In a bid to establish a huge market for base in the Chinese market, Yum Brands Inc. in Beijing sought to take over the Little Sheep Group limited, which operates a popular chain in China. This move is among the many global business growth strategies, which have seen the company penetrating and establishing its groping in the largest Chinese market. The Chinese market of casual dining was seen to grow expansively, which befits the Yum Brands move to grow beyond the chicken and Pizza market being concentrated on by Pizza Hut outlets and KFC. The company’s stake holdings in the Little Sheep limited operations have enable massive growth on foodservice operators’ growth. Mergers and take over strategies being put in place by the company have propelled its market penetration in China to greater heights, although government regulatory measures have limited its international bid. The Little Sheep Company has contributed to Yum Brand Inc’s great leap forward in winning in China market due to its widespread operations of the cuisine where patrons are able to cook meat and vegetables themselves. China’s great market embraced such kind of an idea with enthusiasm, and thus enabling Yum Brand Inc. to take root into the market. The market has since grown tremendously, with the company adding up its popularity by introducing consumables such as seafood-topped pizza and fried

Thomas Hardys life and work Essay Example for Free

Thomas Hardys life and work Essay What becomes apparent from researching Thomas Hardys life is the multitude of experiences and influences that may have had some bearing on how he wrote and the content of these works. Obviously, his early life in Dorset and the bearing upon which this had on his early works is apparent through vivid descriptions and the recounting of certain episodes so much so that it is impossible to ignore the inspiration that he derived from his birthplace. For example, the portrayal of the heath in The Return Of The Native is the work of a man clearly saturated by his environment. Hardys flirtation with the clergy during his early years, and his subsequent disillusionment, may also have been significant to his writings in the capacity of spiritual development and advancement. It seems that his temporary abandonment of the countryside in favour of the city and its hectic lifestyle, along with his rejection of religion, represents a man moving away in search of new inspirations and passions to indulge which he most certainly did if accounts of his private life are to be believed. With the introduction of Emma Guifford into his life and the qualities that she possessed strength, vivacity and vitality, Hardy was perhaps more settled having found a muse and someone with whom he could share ideas, reflect and ruminate with. Dare I say that perhaps his love for this woman masked a Freudian desire to rediscover his mothers strength of character and resourcefulness? After all, both women had married well beneath their social class yet found it in them to make use of their well-educated backgrounds. Seeing as how Hardy trained as an architect, on reading his work one can detect a discernible acknowledgement of structure and form in which he creates images that stand alone without further referral to detail. It is in this strength of description that Hardy forms believable and tangible backdrops against which he can set his novels, once again using the heath in The Return Of The Native as a prime example. As I have barely touched on the issue, I must stress the importance of which class seems to have affected Hardys work. In order to become accepted by  the class into which he had married and was now a part of due to his literary connections, Hardy felt it necessary to refer to works that only one of an cultured and educated background would be aware of. With his apparent shyness and easily influenced character, perhaps Hardy felt he had to compensate for his humble upbringings by donning a patrician faà §ade. Yet his character is also contradictory, what with his pride of being a countryman and the fact that he would occasionally play the fiddle in country inns and taverns, soaking up the atmosphere for his novels. It is through Hardys indulgent and addictive character that emerges the true face of the man responsible for such feats in modern literature (although he never actually won the Nobel Prize, once nominated) a sensitive and aware man, paradoxically unsure of his placement in life but certain of the importance of his work. It is through these influences and loves that we now enjoy the wealth and variety of his legacy.

Literature Review on Volatility

Literature Review on Volatility Literature Review What is Volatility? Volatility is defined as the spread of all likely outcomes of an uncertain variable (Poon, 2005). Statistically, it is often measured as the sample standard deviation (as seen below), but can also be measured by variance. Where rt = return on day t, and ÃŽÂ ¼ = average return over the T-day period. The common misconception is to equate volatility to risk. However, whilst volatility is related to risk, it is not the same. Risk represents an undesirable outcome, whilst volatility is a measure for uncertainty that could arise from a positive outcome. Furthermore, volatility as a measure for the spread of a distribution contains no information on the shape, this represents another reason for volatility being an imperfect measure for risk. The sole exception to this being a normal distribution or lognormal distribution where mean and standard deviation are appropriate statistics for the whole distribution (Poon, 2005). In dealing with volatility as a subject matter in financial markets, the focus is on the spread of asset returns. High volatility is generally undesirable as it indicates security values are unreliable and capital markets arent functioning efficiently (Poon, 2005; Figlewski, 1997). Financial market volatility has been the subject of much research and the number of studies continues to rise since Poon and Granger (2003)s original survey first identified 93 papers in the field. A whole host of drivers for volatility have been explored (including political events, macroeconomic factors and investors behavior) in an attempt to better capture volatility and decrease risk (Poon, 2005). This study will add to that list, hoping to contribute something novel to the field by scrutinizing the appropriateness of different volatility models for different country indexes. The Importance of Volatility Forecasting Investment strategies, Portfolio Optimization and Asset Valuation Volatility when taken as uncertainty transforms into an important component in a wide range of financial applications including Investment strategies for trading or hedging, Portfolio optimization and Asset price valuation. The Markowitz mean-variance portfolio theory (Markowitz, 1952), Capital Asset Pricing Model (Sharpe, 1964) and Sharpe ratio (Sharpe 1966) signify three cornerstones for optimal decision-making and measurement of performance, advocating a focus on the risk-return interrelationship with volatility taken as a risk proxy. With Investors and portfolio managers having limits as to the risk they can bear, accurate forecasts of the volatility of asset prices for long-term horizons is necessary to reliably assess investment risk. Such forecasts allow investors to be better informed and hold stocks for longer rather than constantly reallocating their portfolio in reaction to movements in prices; an often expensive exercise in general (Poon and Granger, 2003). In terms of st ock price valuation French, et al. (1987) analyse NYSE common stocks for the period of 1928-1984 and find expected market risk premium to be positively related to the predictable volatility of stock returns, which is further strengthened by the indirect relationship between stock market returns and the unexpected change in the volatility of stock returns. Derivatives pricing Volatility is a key element in Modern option pricing theory that enables estimation of the fair value of options and other derivative instruments. According to Poon and Granger (2003) the trading volume of derivative securities had quadrupled in the recent years leading up to their research and since then this growth has accelerated with the global derivatives market now estimated to be around $544 Trillion excluding credit default swaps and commodity contracts (BIS, 2017). As one of five input variables (including Stock Price, Strike price, time to maturity and risk-free interest rate), expected volatility over the options life in the Black-Scholes model theorized by Black and Scholes (1973) is crucially also the only variable that is not directly observable and must be forecast (Figlewski, 1997). Implied volatility and realized volatility can be computed by referencing observed market prices for options and historical data. Whilst the former is attractive for requiring little input data and delivering excellent results when analysed in some empirical studies compared to time series models utilizing just historical information, it is deficient by not having a firm statistical basis and different strike prices yielding different implied volatilities creating confusion over which implied volatility to use (Tse, 1991; Poon, 2005). Lengthening maturities of derivative instruments also weakens the assumption that volatility realized in the recent past can be used as a fairly reliable proxy for volatility in the near future. (Figlewski, 1997). With recent developments, derivatives written on volatility can now also be purchased whereby volatility represents the underlying asset, thus further necessitating volatility forecasting practices (Poon and Granger, 2003). Financial Risk Management Volatility forecasting plays a significant role in Financial Risk Management of the finance and banking industries. The practice aids in estimation of value-at-risk (VaR), a measure introduced by the Basel Committee in 1996 through an amendment to the Basel Accords (an international standard for minimum capital requirement among international banks to safeguard against various risks). Whilst many risks are examined within, volatility forecasting is most relevant for Market risk and VaR. However, calculating VaR is necessary only if banks choose to adopt its own internal proprietary model for calculating market risk related capital requirement. By choosing to do so, there is greater flexibility for banks in specifying model parameters but with an attached condition of regular backtesting of the internal model. Apart from banks, other financial institutions may also use VaR voluntarily for internal risk management purposes. (Poon and Granger 2003; Poon 2005) Christoffersen and Diebold (2000) do however contend the limits of relevance of Volatility Forecasting for Financial Risk Management, arguing that for reliable forecastablity much depends on whether the horizon of interest is of a short term or long-term nature (taken to be more than 10 or 20 days) with the practice deemed more relevant for the former than the latter due to the limitations in forecastability. Policymaking Financial market volatility can have wide-reaching consequences on economies. As an example, large recessions create ambiguity and hinder public confidence. To counter such negative impacts and disruptions, policy makers utilize market estimates of volatility as a means for identifying the vulnerability of financial markets, equipping them with more reliable and complete information with which to respond with appropriate policies. (Poon and Granger, 2003) The Federal Reserve of the United States is one such entity that incorporates volatility of various financial instruments into its monetary policy decision-making (Nasar, 1991). Bernanke and Gertler (2000) explore the degree to which implications of asset price volatility impact monetary policy decision-making. A side-by-side comparison of U.S. and Japanese monetary policy is the basis of the study. The researchers find that inflation-targeting is desirable, however, monetary policy decisions based on changes in asset prices should only be made to the extent that such changes help to forecast inflationary or deflationary pressures. Meanwhile, Bomfim (2003) investigates the relationship between monetary policy and stock market volatility from the other perspective. Interest rate policy decisions that carry an element of surprise appear to increase short run, stock market volatility significantly with positive surprises also having a greater effect than negative surprises. Empirical stylized facts of asset returns and volatility Any attempt to model volatility appropriately must be done with an understanding of the common, recurring set of properties identified from numerous empirical studies carried out across financial instruments, markets and time periods. Contrary to the event-based theory in which it is hypothesized different assets respond differently to different economic and political events, empirical studies show that different assets do in fact share some generalizable, qualitative statistical properties. Volatility models should thus seek to capture these features of asset returns and volatility so as to enhance the forecasting process; herein lays the challenge. (Cont, 2001; Bollerslev et al 1994) Presented are some of these stylized facts, along with their corresponding empirical studies that have contributed to the evolving literature aimed at improving volatility-forecasting practices and which this study will also look to capture. Return Distributions Stock Market returns are not normally distributed and it is therefore an unsuitable distribution for modeling returns according to Mandelbrot (1963) and Fama (1965). Returns are approximately symmetrical but can display negative skewness and significantly have leptokurtic features (excess kurtosis with heavier tails and taller, narrower peaks than found in a normal distribution) that see large moves occur with greater frequency than under normal distributions (Sinclair, 2013). Cont (2001) asserts that these large moves in the form of gains and losses are asymmetric by nature with the scale of downward movements in stock index values dwarfing upward movements. He further argues that the introduction of GARCH-type models to counter the effects of volatility clustering can reduce the heaviness of tails in the residual time series to some small extent. However, as GARCH models can at times struggle to fully incorporate heavy-tail features of returns, this has necessitated the use of alte rnative distributions such as the students t-distribution employed in Bollerslev (1987). Alberg et al (2008) employ a skewed version of this distribution to various models with the EGARCH model delivering the best performance in forecasting the volatility of Tel Aviv stock indices. Cont (2001) does however also highlight an important consideration with the notion of aggregational gaussianity that as one increases time scale (t) for calculation of returns, the distribution of returns seems more normally distributed in appearance. Leverage effect/Asymmetric volatility In most markets, volatility and returns are negatively correlated (Cont, 2001). First elucidated by Black (1976) and particularly prevalent for stock indices, Volatility will tend to increase when stock price declines. The justification for this is because a decline in equity stock price will increase a companys debt-to-equity ratio and consequently its risk and volatility (Figlewski and Wang, 2000; Engle and Patton, 2001). Importantly, this relationship is asymmetric, with negative returns having a more marked effect on volatility than positive returns as documented by Christie (1982) and Schwert, (1989). However they also argue that the leverage effect is not enough on its own to explain all of the change in volatility with Christie (1982) incorporating interest rate as another element that has a partial effect. Hence, whilst, ARCH (Engle, 1982) and GARCH (Bollerslev, 1986) models do well to account for volatility clustering and leptokurtosis, their symmetric distribution fails to account for the leverage effect. In response to this, various asymmetric modifications of GARCH have been developed, the most significant of these being Exponential GARCH (EGARCH; Nelson, 1991) and GJR (Glosten et al, 1993). Other models like GARCH-in-Mean have also endeavored to capture the leverage effect along with the risk premium effect, another concept that has been theorized to contribute to volatility asymmetry by studies such as Schwert (1989) (Engle and Patton, 2001). Volatility Distribution The distribution of volatility is taken to be approximately log-normal. Various studies such as Andersen et al (2001) have postulated this. More significantly than the actual distribution is the high positive skewness indicating volatility spends longer in lower states than higher states. (Sinclair, 2013) Volatility-Volume correlation All measures of volatility and trading volume are highly positively correlated (Cont, 2001). Lee and Rui (2002) show this relationship to be foundationally robust, however what is more complex is determining the causality between the two. Strong arguments can be made either way. As an example, Brooks (1998) utilizes linear and non-linear Granger causality tests and finds the relationship to be stronger from volatility to volume than the converse. He concludes by highlighting that for forecasting accuracy, predicting volume using volatility is more productive than forecasting stock index volume and using such forecasts in trading. According to Gallant et al (1992) this relationship is also closely linked with the leverage effect and incorporating lagged volume weakens the effect considerably. Non-Constant Volatility Volatility is not constant. The changing nature of volatility occurs in a particular manner; Merton (1980) was critical of researchers who failed to incorporate this feature in their models. Firstly volatility is mean reverting. Indeed LeBaron (1992) found a strong negative relationship between volatility and autocorrelation for stock indices in the United States. Secondly, Volatility clusters. This is a phenomenon first noted by Mandelbrot (1963) that allows a good estimation of future volatility based on current volatility. Other studies such as Chou (1988) have also empirically shown the existence of clustering. Mandelbrot (1963) wrote, large changes tend to be followed by large changes of either sign, and small changes tend to be followed by small changes. In other words, a turbulent day of trading usually comes after another turbulent trading day, whilst a calm period will usually be followed by another calm period. Importantly, the phenomenon is not exclusive to the underlying product and can be seen in stock indices, commodities and currencies. It also tends to be more pronounced in developed than emerging markets. (Taylor, 2008; Sinclair, 2013) Engle and Patton (2001) argue that volatility clustering indicates volatility goes through phases whereby periods of high volatility eventually give way to more normal volatility with the contrary also holding. Engles (1982) landmark paper incorporated these features of volatility persistence using his ARCH model, whereby time varying, non-constant volatility that persists in high or low states is taken account of.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban :: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Summary and Evaluation Summary: The book â€Å"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban† is the third book in the series about Harry Potter. In this book, Harry is in his third year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Prisoner of Azkaban in this book is Sirius Black, who everyone believes is responsible for killing 13 muggles (non-wizards). They also believe he told Voldemort where Lilly and James Potter were hiding. Azkaban is a prison where evil wizards are jailed. At the beginning of the book, Sirius escapes from Azkaban. At Hogwarts, there is a worry that Sirius will come after Harry. There are guards posted around the school. The guards are called Dementors, which are not human, and they feed off human souls and energy. The Dementors have a strange effect on Harry, which makes him blank out and hear his mother’s dying words. Professor Lupin helps Harry create a Patroness to help fight off the effects of the Dementors. While all this is happening, Harry is training for the Quiddich cup championship at school. Harry sees Crookshanks, the cat, wandering around with a big black dog during the night. It turns out that Sirius is an animongous, disguised as the big black dog. After many twists and turns in the story, Sirius ends up meeting Harry. Sirius is really not bad and it is Peter Pettigrew (the rat) that did all the bad things. Sirius and Harry become friends but Pettigrew gets away. Dumbledore, the head of the school, decides that Dementors will never be at the school again because they tried to attack two students. Of course, Harry’s team also wins the Quiddich championship! †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 'The Worst Birthday' ---  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before you start reading the book (and if you've read the previous book!) get the children to make a list of all the important things that happened in the first book that they think the reader will need to know in order to understand and enjoy the second book. Which information is the most important? Which information could the reader manage without? Make a checklist and tick off the information as you read through the second book and as J.K. Rowling mentions it. (GP)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Get the children to write an 'Introduction to Harry Potter' -> the intended audience is a person who hasn't read the first book and wants to understand what all the fuss is about before reading the second book. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban :: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Summary and Evaluation Summary: The book â€Å"Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban† is the third book in the series about Harry Potter. In this book, Harry is in his third year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Prisoner of Azkaban in this book is Sirius Black, who everyone believes is responsible for killing 13 muggles (non-wizards). They also believe he told Voldemort where Lilly and James Potter were hiding. Azkaban is a prison where evil wizards are jailed. At the beginning of the book, Sirius escapes from Azkaban. At Hogwarts, there is a worry that Sirius will come after Harry. There are guards posted around the school. The guards are called Dementors, which are not human, and they feed off human souls and energy. The Dementors have a strange effect on Harry, which makes him blank out and hear his mother’s dying words. Professor Lupin helps Harry create a Patroness to help fight off the effects of the Dementors. While all this is happening, Harry is training for the Quiddich cup championship at school. Harry sees Crookshanks, the cat, wandering around with a big black dog during the night. It turns out that Sirius is an animongous, disguised as the big black dog. After many twists and turns in the story, Sirius ends up meeting Harry. Sirius is really not bad and it is Peter Pettigrew (the rat) that did all the bad things. Sirius and Harry become friends but Pettigrew gets away. Dumbledore, the head of the school, decides that Dementors will never be at the school again because they tried to attack two students. Of course, Harry’s team also wins the Quiddich championship! †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 'The Worst Birthday' ---  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before you start reading the book (and if you've read the previous book!) get the children to make a list of all the important things that happened in the first book that they think the reader will need to know in order to understand and enjoy the second book. Which information is the most important? Which information could the reader manage without? Make a checklist and tick off the information as you read through the second book and as J.K. Rowling mentions it. (GP)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Get the children to write an 'Introduction to Harry Potter' -> the intended audience is a person who hasn't read the first book and wants to understand what all the fuss is about before reading the second book.

The True Online Community Essay -- Internet Blogs Experience Essays

The True Online Community What makes a true online community? There are many different types of online communities. There are those that focus on role playing and living a secret life, and there are others that are there to provide a place to vent emotions and to provide helpful information. I tried to join an online classroom that was similar to blackboard in some ways, but it turned out that I could only read articles and not respond to them. The web site was http://cyberdash.net/online1102/. The setup of the site consists of links to online articles, posts written by students, and responses to both articles and posts. There are also several links to personal â€Å"BLOGS† or web logs, which are personal pages similar to a journal where you can post any sort of information you like. One student, Drew Rosener created a BLOG for his ENC1102 class, which is a writing class at Florida State University, in one of his articles he says that this site is â€Å"going to contain things that, you guess it, are interesting to me and uninteresting to you†. This is one of the things that I found appealing about this site. He directly states that not everyone’s views are or will be the same, but in this community students have the chance to put their own opinion into writing. I think that this illustrates why online communities are beneficial. In â€Å"real life† communities it is often hard to express what you think because many fear ridicule. In an online community you can freely post your opinions without worrying about a face to face conflict. Because it is a class there are several policies that the students must abide by, just like any other class there is an attendance policy. You must spend a certain amount of time on the site to meet the att... ...f Topic, 6 Feb. 2003 http://cyberdash.net/online1102/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=90. MahiMahi, â€Å"New Anti-Marijuana and SUV ads: Going to far?†, Off Topic, 12 Jan. 2003 http://cyberdash.net/online1102/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=32. Mdunn09, â€Å"Writing made Simple†, Writing, 18 Feb. 2003 http://cyberdash.net/online1102/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=106. Pav02, â€Å"Surprisingly, Proof-Reading is Helpful†, Writing, 12 Feb. 2003 http://cyberdash.net/online1102/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=98. Jayjay, â€Å"Tyson fight staged?†, Off Topic, 23 Feb. 2003 http://cyberdash.net/online1102/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=116. Rheingold, Howard, â€Å"The Virtual Community†, The Wired Society, Orlando, Florida: Harcourt Brace and Company, 1999.

Do Gays and Lesbians Threaten the System of Male Dominance? Essay

Do Gays and Lesbians Threaten the System of Male Dominance? "In short, by not complying with their assigned gender roles, gays and lesbians threaten the system of male dominance (Calhoun 157)" A debate is raging in America about who people have a right to marry. In response to lesbians and gays asking for the right to marry, many legislators are writing laws to ban same-sex marriage in their respective states. Even President Bush supports a Constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage (prez.bush.marriage/). Opponents of such legislation do not want discrimination passed into law and are protesting at every opportunity. One must understand the reasons that people want to ban same-sex marriage before he or she can effectively argue about the subject. Many advocates of same-sex marriage bans say that allowing gays and lesbians to marry would degrade the institution of marriage because marriage is only supposed to exist between a man and woman. In addition, allowing same-sex marriage would cause problems for society (Issues and Controversies on File). One theory why opponents may fight against same-sex marriages is that heterosexual marriages have long reinfo rced traditional gender roles within marriage and that allowing same-sex marriages would cause males to lose their authority to subordinate females as heterosexual couples begin to model same-sex marriage gender equality (Calhoun 157). The traditional argument against same-sex marriage states that marriage is defined as the emotional and spiritual union of a man and a woman. According to that definition, a pair of men or women cannot marry. Opponents of same-sex marriage bans, however, argue that marriage is a basic personal and social right and a social contract that is devoid of gender consideration. Cheshire Calhoun states, "the dominant goal of marriage is and should be unitive, the spiritual and personal union of the committed couple" (151). The sexual orientation or gender of the partners does not lessen the importance placed upon entering such a union and need not be used to restrict who can enter into such a union. Heterosexuals have enjoyed the right to marry throughout recorded history, though there have been restrictions placed over who could marry that have been overc... ...at sodomy is immoral or that same-sex unions are immoral, but nevertheless think the state should adopt a neutral position, refraining from criminalizing sodomy and offering legal protection for same-sex unions under domestic partnership laws" (Calhoun 168). Bibliography LOVING ET UX. v. VIRGINIA. http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document? _m=5fc1bb0239c8912aa97d779528e9d62b& _docnum=2&wchp=dGLbVlb-zSkVb&_md5=60c85af0cd3ade6c85561f31ba41bdc7 http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/02/24/elec04.prez.bush.marriage/ Calhoun, Cheshire. Feminism, the Family, and the Politics of the Closet: Lesbian and Gay Displacement. Oxford University Press: New York, 2000. Corvino, John. Why Shouldn't Tommy and Jim Have Sex? A Defense of Homosexuality. Rowman & Littlefield: New York, 1997. Issues and Controversies on File. Same-Sex Marriage. Facts on File News Services: New York, 1996. Levin, Michael E. Sexual Orientation and Human rights. Rowman & Littlefield: New York, 1999. B.A. Robinson. â€Å"CONSERVATIVE RELIGIOUS OPPOSITION TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGES†. http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_marj_c.htm. Sullivan, Andrew. Virtually Normal. Alfred A. Knopf Inc: New York, 1995.

The Views On Womens Roles History Essay

An mean adult female in the fifth and 6th centuries of the Byzantine Empire did non hold a large function in public society.[ 1 ]In fact, it was common for her to non be seen in public at all. It was standard for Byzantine adult females to acquire married around 12 to thirteen old ages old due to an ordered matrimony chosen by her parents. Once married she spent most of her clip at place. Occasionally a adult female was allowed to go forth her place to go to to church, festivals, matrimonies, births, visit dealingss, or travel to public baths. These were the lone activities in society acceptable where a adult female could to go forth her house.[ 2 ]However, if a adult female must venture outside, she must hold her face covered by a head covering at all times and be accompanied by a adult male. Though head coverings were seldom shown in Byzantine graphics, this was a societal criterion for adult females. The erosion of head coverings frequently represented the difference between an ho norable adult females and a cocotte.[ 3 ] Even in her ain place, a Byzantine adult female had to digest gender inequalities. During repasts she was non allowed to dine with work forces foreign of her dealingss. More frequently than non, she would be eating entirely separate from work forces.[ 4 ]For her instruction, she was taught accomplishments merely utile for a house married woman. If a adult female was in in-between to upper category, she was normally taught to read, compose, and sing.[ 5 ]Womans of royalty nevertheless, were given the chance to analyze medical specialty and natural scientific disciplines with bookmans in their tribunals.[ 6 ]However instruction was normally 2nd quality compared to the instruction given to work forces. Womans could easy be described as â€Å" cloistered as captives, † though her prison walls were merely the unseeable judgements and regulations cast by society.[ 7 ] Most adult females could non take part in political relations. A adult female could non even attest in tribunal for fright that her testimony would be easy influenced by her hubby or brother. It is merely in rare instances where a adult male was non involved that a adult female could attest.[ 8 ]Despite what small influence and regard adult females had in public society, through place life a adult female could still easy act upon her ain hubby, boies, brothers, and other male dealingss in her place life.[ 9 ]This influence could be subtle in a little Byzantine household or highly considerable if she was the married woman of the emperor. Unlike work forces who could lift up to a political place through military, or the church, for a adult females to derive political power she had either be born or marry into nobility. Born in 399 A.D, Empress Pulcheria was the eldest girl of Emperor Arcadius.[ 10 ]She was a devoted Christian that paved her manner into power through her influence over her younger brother Theodosios II. She finally received the rubric of Augusta ( Empress ) which was the highest place a adult female of relation to the Emperor could draw a bead on to.[ 11 ]Pulcheria was merely two old ages older than Theodosios II but had a great influence over him all his life. Though Pulcheria was the eldest Born into royalty, she did non hold much power as she would if she had been born male. Even with this gender disadvantage, she was highly intelligent. At the age of 16, she swore a vow of celibacy and besides influenced her younger sisters to make the same.[ 12 ]This was a manner to prolong power that would be lost if she was forced into matrimony every bit good as halt the competition to her brother ‘s throne.[ 13 ]The concluding she gave for her actions was due to her Christian destiny, comparing the Virgin Mary as her celestial opposite number.[ 14 ]Figure 1 depicts an ivory alleviation known as The Translation of Relics Ivory dating around the twelvemonth 420 A.D.[ 15 ]and was acquired by the Trier Cathedral in 1844.[ 16 ]The carving step 13.1 ten 26.1 ten 2.3 centimeter and has been cut to a deepness of 2 centimeter[ 17 ]. The Byzantines loved tusk and normally imported it from India and Africa. The tusk of this specific piece has been speculated to hold been imported from Africa do to its larger size.[ 18 ]The Translation of Relics Ivory depicts a emanation of people in the streets followed by two priests siting a chariot pulled by mules. Leading this emanation is an Emperor keeping a taper and ready to have the relics is an Empress keeping a cross in forepart of church doors. In the background are looker-ons heartening beckoning incense and a church which is still under building, still being complete for the relics to be topographic point into. For many old a ges, the supporters in this alleviation have been unidentifiable. Historians have compared the lives of Justin II, Maurice, and Phocas and their married womans but found no historical grounds which relates them to this scene.[ 19 ]In the late seventies, The Translation of Relics Ivory has been identified by historiographers, Kenneth G. Holum and Gary Vikan that the characters in this alleviation are likely Empress Pulcheria, her brother Emperor Theodosios II and the relics given are the castanetss of Saint Stephen. The historiographers deducted this from written grounds of a chronicler of the 9th century named Theophanes Confessor. In his narration he wrote: Under the influence of the blest Pulcheria, the pious Theodosius sent a rich contribution to the archbishop of Jerusalem for distribution to the needy, and besides a aureate cross studded with cherished rocks to be erected on Golgotha. In exchange for these gifts, the archbishop dispatched relics of the right arm of Stephen Protomaryr, in the attention of St. Passarion†¦ [ Pulcheria ] arose taking her brother with her and went to recognize the sanctum relics. Receiving them into the castle, she founded a glorious chapel for the sanctum Protomartr, and in it she deposited the sanctum relics.[ 20 ] The narrative matched absolutely with the description of The Translation of Relics Ivory every bit good as another found narration which proved that the castanetss of Saint Stephen had in fact appeared outside Jerusalem that clip in December 416 and subsequently went under control of the bishop.[ 21 ]The church under building is believed to be a church of St. Stephen.[ 22 ]An interesting item to The Translation of Relics Ivory is the composing of the piece. The full focal point of the image is on Pulcheria instead than the Emperor Theodosios II, her brother. Even Theodosios ‘ alleviation is still a spot further back than hers, as he is standing right following to her. This is a immense representation of Pulcheria ‘s power as she is the centre of attending opposed to the Emperor himself. In her life-time, Pulcheria had commissioned several new churches, most dedicated to her frequenter saint the Virgin Mary. It was good known that Virgin Mary profoundly impacted her life to remaining openly celibate for God. However during the 5th century the Virgin Mary was non a major figure in Constantinople.[ 23 ]Her pick for the Virgin Mary as her frequenter was non to progress adult females but merely acquire rid of the stigma that adult females were the â€Å" expletive of Eve † , a expletive which claimed that adult females where responsible for original wickedness.[ 24 ]It was besides due to Pulcheria ‘s influence that the Virgin Mary would be once more be known non merely as the â€Å" Mother of Christ † ( christotokos ) but the â€Å" Mother of God † ( theotokos ) when the statement was overturned.[ 25 ]Pulcheria ‘s most well-know church to the Virgin Mary is the Church of Saint Mary of Blacherne, which has besides been depicted in literatu re with names such as the Panagia of Blachernae and the Blachernae Monastery. The church started building in 450 A.D. and was finished by her hubby Marcian after Pulcheria ‘s decease in 453 A.D.[ 26 ]The church was built around a preexistent sacred spring called the Ayazma of Blacherne.[ 27 ]It is besides said that Christians of Jerusalem had contributed a robe that belonged to the Virgin Mary as a relic for the church,[ 28 ]though other beginnings province that the robe was stolen.[ 29 ]Figure 2 shows the church before its 2nd fire, and Figure 3 shows the current modern church after being rebuilt. The church focused around images of the Virgin Mary, which led to much devastation of its icons during the reign of Constantine V.[ 30 ]The church foremost burnt down in 1070 from a fire but was rebuilt once more utilizing its old floor programs.[ 31 ]The church was wholly burned down yet once more in 1434, this clip from a careless fire caused by kids trailing pigeons on its roofs. [ 32 ]By the clip Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Church of Saint Mary of Blachernae no longer existed and the people of Constantinople had to turn to different mediums for the protection Virgin Mary ‘s icons.[ 33 ] Figure 3 shows Icon of the Virgin Blachernitissa. In 626 A.D. , the Blachernitissa was credited for the protecting the metropolis from an Avar onslaught every bit good as an Arab besieging in 717. Thus this relic ‘s repute grew to be known as a powerful Byzantine amulet of protection and was kept in the Church of Saint Mary of Blachernae.[ 34 ]Though the figure caput of this icon was a adult female, it had immense fear. The term Blachernitissa was a type of representation of the Virgin Mary named after the Church of Saint Mary of Blachernae.[ 35 ]The icon shows Mary within it and was held in the Church of Saint Mary of Blachernae. The piece was besides within the church during its 1434 fire and was thought to be destroyed. It was a amulet that represented the protection of the metropolis ‘s walls.[ 36 ]Its absence was believed to be the ground why the Ottoman Turks succeeded their invasion merely 19 old ages subsequently. The twelvemonth 730 was the start of the first iconoclastic period lasing until 787.[ 37 ]It started with Emperor Leo III, who reigned from 717-740. The Iconoclasts believed that icons where immorality and led to the misunderstanding of the Catholic faith. As the Iconoclasts resorted back into symbols and Bible, they tore down icons, believing them as unorthodoxy to their faith. When Leo III died in 740, his boy Constantine V continued the prohibition of during his reign in 741-775.[ 38 ]It was during Constantine V ‘s reign, that the Church of St. Mary of Blachernae was attacked by image breakers. Constantine V ordered the devastation of the interior mosaics that represented a New Testament rhythm and replaced them with vegetational decorations and images of birds.[ 39 ]It was fortunate nevertheless that the Icon of the Virgin Blachernitissa was hidden from devastation at this clip. This first Iconoclastic period was stopped by Empress Irene. Irene acted in the name of her boy Constatine VI, who was excessively immature to govern at the clip. She created and ordered the Second Council of Nicea, which supported Iconophiles.[ 40 ]As Iconophiles, they believed that images were besides stand foring their faith and they were non incorrect in utilizing them. The Council condemned the resistance to icons as unorthodoxy. It is through Irene ‘s actions of the resurgence of icons that she earned the rubric of Saint in the Grecian Orthodox Church. The 2nd iconoclastic period lasted 814-842. This clip it was Emperor Leo V ( reigning from 813-820 ) who instated this new moving ridge of iconoclasm. It was speculated that it was to bring around the recent military failure. Emperors Michael II and Theophilus who succeeded him were besides image breakers. However after Theophilus died, he was succeeded by his boy Michael III. Michael at the clip was excessively immature to reign so his female parent Theodora acted as a trustee for him. Similar to Irene, Theodora was an iconodule and was able to proclaim the Restoration of icons. Now of all time since the resurgence of icons, the first Sunday of Lent is celebrated as the â€Å" Triumph of Orthodoxy. † Figure 4 shows the Icon of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, a picture that was painted on a wooden panel covered with gesso and linen. Its medium was egg poster paint and gold foliage.[ 41 ]The centre of the picture is a portrayal of the Virgin Mary, said to be painted by St. Luke. Empr ess Theodora and her boy, Emperor Michael III, appear on the left of the portrayal. On the right are three monastics with the Patriarch Methodios. This picture was painted more than 500 old ages after the terminal of iconoclasm during the clip when the Byzantine Empire was under menace of invasion by the Ottoman Turks.[ 42 ]Again as it is non normally common for a adult female to be in the picture, Empress Theodora is shown following to her boy in royal robes. Though she is non following to them, Theodora is shown at the same degree as the bishops. In the centre of the picture is the Blachernitissa, the Virgin Mary and kid. The Virgin Mary was a famed icon of her adult female position. It is non surprising that Irene and Theodora were iconophiles. Since the mean Byzantine adult female was housebound for the bulk of their lives, most had a particular dedication to spiritual patterns affecting icons.[ 43 ]It might be due to their life manner that adult females where the most affected when their cherished icons where taken off. The influence adult females had and their dealingss to art during the Byzantine Empire shown to be really of import. It is through the influence of the empresses Pulcheria, Irene and Theodora that impacted graphics despite a judgmental and men-driven environment that shadowed their lives. It is as intriguing and influential as the plant themselves that these adult females were able to act upon the Byzantine populace and the graphics.

Explore the presentation of Nick as a narrator in the first three chapters of The Great Gatsby

Nick comes across as an unreliable narrator throughout the first three chapters of ‘The Great Gatsby’, especially during Chapter two at the party, where his use of ellipses suggests to the reader that his knowledge is distorted. Also, nick is unable to give an accurate account of what has occurred in the society he has become acquainted with before he moved to West Egg and therefore his insights into events are based on hearsay and rumours. Jordan has become a source of Nick’s intelligence, and he demands information from her at Gatsby’s party – about Gatsby himself – however he then goes on to describe her as ‘incurably dishonest’, casting doubt on everything she has said previous to this. Furthermore, Nick does not confirm whether the information he has been told is truthful or not, he merely states what he has been informed without expanding on this, thus it is unclear to the reader if Jordan is a reliable source of information . Nick himself is going through an internal conflict, implying that he cannot give an accurate, unbiased account of what is going on in other people’s lives. It is clear that he is struggling between two contrasting lifestyles – the pleasure-orientated, fast-paced life of New York and the conventional, fairly nondescript background he came from where, he believes, morality is still valued. This suggests that he is so concerned with his own problems that he cannot afford to think through the events of other people. Despite this, Nick seems drawn towards the garishly ostentatious lifestyle that he is introduced to at Gatsby’s party and appears to forget his morals and ideals – ‘on my way to get roaring drunk’; this story is set whilst prohibition was in place, and so to get ‘roaring drunk’ was to go against the law. This contradicts his earlier statement, ‘wanting the world to be in uniform’ which implies that he wants the strict discipline and uniformity of society during the Great War back, despite him participating in many activities that would strongly go against this – for instance, his drunken fiasco at Myrtle’s apartment. Incidentally, the morals he so strongly believes in are questioned through his meeting with Myrtle – she is Nick’s cousins husbands mistress and yet he seems to have no objection to their affair, despite the seemingly close relationship he has with Daisy. Furthermore, the ease at which he has adapted his characteristics is similar to the ease that the disciplined society of the Great War changed at its sudden abrupt end; although he is being critical about the changes that have happened since that point in time he is actually changing in the same way, thus emphasising his hypocritical mannerisms. Nick seems to have been caught up in the moral decay of the society; the only mention of his engagement is from Daisy in Chapter 1, and in the form of the ‘certain girl’ that played tennis at the end of chapter three, but the lack of detail given about her suggests that he doesn’t believe that fact to be entirely important – especially considering that Nick is writing about past events. Based on the romantic imagery that he uses – ‘one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance’ – and the romantic ideals he appears to believe in, it seems out of character for him to skip over his engagement, thereby suggesting that he has been caught up in the moral decay within the society. Nicks character portrays something different to what Nick as a narrator thinks. Nick believes he is ‘inclined to reserve all judgements’, however he immediately contradicts this by stating he has been made ‘victim of not a few veteran bores’, reiterating his obvious hypocrisy. This is the narrator’s attempt to make the reader aware that although many opinions are not voiced, they are still there and various techniques are used throughout to novel to allow the reader to draw their own conclusion – especially symbolism. Whilst Nick realises that Tom, Daisy and Jordan are dishonourable people, he still spends a great deal of time with them, choosing to neglect their faults; it is more important for him to fit in with these rich, sophisticated people that to risk his friendship with them by pointing out their imperfections. It is this reservation of the truth that leads the reader to question Nick’s reliability and honesty, and it is also this that makes him conform to the majority of society; most people are dishonest and they sacrifice their honesty to fit in with the rest of society. Nick seems to be a bit of a wallflower throughout the first three chapters in that he doesn’t get involved in the events that are happening all around him and appears to blend in with the background. This is especially apparent in Chapter Two; whilst Nick is at Myrtle and Tom’s apartment he merely sits and watches everyone else in the room. It implies that he doesn’t have a mind of his own – he would rather sit and watch from the side-lines than actually get involved – and this is emphasised when Tom drags him off the train to meet Myrtle, ‘I followed him’. The valley of ashes appears to intrigue and repulse Nick almost simultaneously – this is made apparent through his use of imagery, ‘spasms of dust’. This is perhaps because, whilst Nick thinks that he has seen the ‘real world’ he has in fact only seen a shaded version of reality as he comes from a reasonably well-off background – implies through his great-uncle being able to send a ‘substitute to the Civil War’ in his place, which was something that only the rich could achieve. Part of Fitzgerald’s skill in ‘The Great Gatsby’ shines through the way he cleverly makes Nick a focal point of the action, whilst simultaneously allowing him to remain sufficiently in the background, thereby being able to comment on what events were unfolding; throughout the novel, Nick functions as Fitzgerald’s voice.

Protection from Harm & Abuse Essay

Throughout this work I will relate to a case study. I will provide a definition of abuse using both sociological and psychological perspectives to contribute to our understanding of the causes of abuse. I will define the types, indicators, signs and symptoms of abuse and its impact on families and individuals, identifying factors relevant to the case study, recognising and explaining current legislation making reference to Government reports/inquiries and research into failures to protect from harm and abuse. I will consider the policies and procedures that my work place use and I will identify some statutory and voluntary agencies and their roles in supporting those affected by abuse, relating specifically to the abuse of children. My understanding is abuse is an unpleasant and harmful treatment of an individual, which can effects physical and psychological welfare and may affect future development. Abuse can cause an individual a great deal of distress and fear, as well as physical injury and may affect their emotional development. â€Å"Child maltreatment is the abuse and neglect that occurs to children under 18 years of age. see more:identify reports into serious failures to protect individuals from abuse in health and social care It includes all types of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, negligence and commercial or other exploitation, which results in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power. Exposure to intimate partner violence is also sometimes included as a form of child maltreatment† (WHO) A Psychological & Sociological Perspective into the Causes of Abuse Psychological theory focuses on the instinctive and psychological qualities of those who abuse. Believing it’s the abusers abnormalities that are responsible for abuse, abusive parents may have been abused in childhood. Psychodynamic theory claims abuse and neglect are a bi-product of maternal deprivation. The mother has suffered abuse herself, displays a lack of empathy, sensitivity and responses to her child. Mother and child relationships are the focus with the mothers’ psychological make-up key. Psychodynamic psychologists say we are born with drives which need satisfying and if not satisfied one can be psychologically stuck at a certain stage Erikson’s â€Å"lifespan† theory saw that universally people face conflict throughout stages of life, he said people faced conflicts influenced by social relationships, rather than their own psycho-sexual development. At each stage of life Erikson believed was: a conflict to resolve and a balance to achieve between the two with a possible positive outcome, creating a ‘virtue’ or ‘ego strength’ allowing competency in all other areas of life or if not resolved a negative ‘maladjustment’ causing disadvantage in the succeeding stage. For example at Stage 1 – Infancy, conflict – trust versus mistrust. A baby learns from attentive care to trust, or through neglect, mistrust in the world. Good resolution of this stage leads to the ego strength of hope about the world. The mala djustment can be either mistrust or insecurity. Erikson believes people who’ve had problems in life haven’t resolved conflict beforehand and as each stage is programmed the individual cannot relive a stage however work can be done to resolve some of the issues. â€Å"Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life has to be sustained hope must remain, even when confidence is wounded, trust impaired† Erikson, 1950. (Bingham et al. p78) Sociological theory emphasise social and political conditions as most important reason for child abuse, examining social conditions that create the climate for abuse, not individual factors. Feminist theory sees abuse as longstanding male power over women and children, believing men abuse to exert power. Brownmiller 1975, revealed sexual abuse is more than an action committed by one man against one woman; it is a imposing tool of male control over women, an exercise of power with a philosophy to instruct women to fear male violence. â€Å"A sexual invasion of the body by force, an incursion into the private, personal inner space without consent. . . . constitutes a deliberate violation of emotional, physical and rational integrity and is a hostile, degrading act of violence that deserves the name of rape† (Brownmiller, S p377) The five most common social service workers will likely see are: Physical Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Neglect and Financial Abuse. Physical abuse is causing bodily harm it may involve hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning or scalding, drowning or suffocating or excessive discipline or family violence, use of restraints or imprisonment, denial or misuse of medication, physical aids and adaptations or when the carer feigns ill-health of a child. Some signs and indicators may be physical (several injuries in various stages of healing, repeated injuries or accidents over a period of time, injuries that form a shape like the object used to injure (buckle, hand, iron, teeth, cigarette burns), or death. Behavioural indicators include (negative self-image, deserving punishment, no recall how injuries occurred, offer inconsistent explanations, wary of others and reluctance to go home) Physical abuse can be seen in relation to John Burn (60). He claimed no recollection to a black-eye and urged for his son not to be informed, although it is important not to cast assumptions. Emotional abuse is persistent neglect with severe effects on a child’s emotional development. Can involve conveying worthlessness, detested, inadequate or valued only to meet the needs of another. It may involve the imposition of age- or developmentally-inappropriate expectations on a child or causing children fear or danger, or exploiting or corrupting them. Some level of emotional abuse is persistent in all ill treatment. Both physical (Bed-wetting/soiling without medical cause, prolonged vomiting/diarrhoea, not attained developmental milestones) and behavioural (play models negative behaviour/language, depression, anxiety, withdrawal or aggression) signs may be indicators. John Burn did not want his son to be told anymore of his black-eye as he would be annoyed, Ann reported Peter gets loud and aggressive at night and appeared apprehensive during social work visit as Peter did not want interference. Sexual abuse includes acts or behaviours where a more powerful person uses another for a sexual purpose. It may involve a stranger, however most sexual abuse is by someone known and trusted. It includes touching, fondling, sexual intercourse, exposure of private parts, or seeking to be touch for sexual gratification. Also voyeurism, pornographic photographing or involvement of children, prostitution or using internet/phone for sexual conversations with children. Indicators can be: physical: bruises, swelling or bleeding in genital/vaginal/anal area, torn, stained or bloody underclothing, and STI’s. Behavioural – cringing/flinching if touched; caregiver constantly calling ‘stupid’ or ‘dumb’ and can be displayed by child or abuser. Scottish Government acknowledges â€Å"not every case of sexual activity in under-16s has child protection concerns, but some may need support in relation to their sexual development and relationships† (fpa.org. uk). Ann (17) has learning difficulties and would have been under 16 during her first pregnancy. Due to her age and vulnerability Child Protection issues should have been raised as Peter is almost double Ann’s age and the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 states â€Å"sexual activity between an adult and someone under 16 is a criminal offence† Neglect – failure to meet basic physical and/or psychological needs, likely to result in the serious impairment of health or development, involving failure to provide food, shelter and clothing, or to protect from physical harm/danger, or failure to obtain medical care/treatment, failure to respond to basic emotional needs. Possible physical indicators may be: Inappropriately dress for weather, dirty, unkempt, lengths of time unsupervised, malnourished, severe nappy rash or persistent skin disorders from lack of care and hygiene. Both children in the case study are neglected they have unsatisfactory medical attendance with George (1) suffering nappy rash, inflamed skin and missed inoculations since birth. Kyle (2) has missed medicals which could’ve addressed his development needs. Financial abuse includes stealing money or property, fraud, pressure in connection with savings, wills, inheritance or personal financial transactions, embezzlement, pensions or benefits. Possible signs and indicators of this abuse: unusual & unexplained activity in bank accounts, embezzlement or unpaid bills. John Burn may have been financially abused, he has no recollection of missing money and is unable to manage without it, and again does not want his son to know. The impact and effects of the above abuse within the case study is apparent as Peter Burns has traded a dependency on heroin for alcohol which sees him sleep all day, neglecting his role within the family and becomes loudly aggressive at night, this would cause fear in the rest of the household. Protection means recognising concerns and understanding how to share concerns, investigate, assess and the steps required to ensure safety and well-being. Legislation places a variety of duties and responsibilities on services and organisations. Neglectful indicators seen in both infants within the study, social work may say that the parents breach ‘Section 5 of The Children (Scotland) Act 1995’ which states â€Å"a parent has in relation to his child the responsibility to safeguard and promote the child’s health, development and welfare†. (www.scotland.gov.uk) â€Å"State Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child.† (Article 19’ UNCRC) This places responsibility on the social worker and health professionals in case study. Legislation is often formed as a response to public inquiries, highlighting poor practice/abuse that takes place with authority or private providers, government investigations highlight failures and make recommendations to prevent future incidents. Summary of Fatal Accident Inquiry Determination: The Deaths on Erskine Bridge Niamh and Georgia died below Erskine Bridge, 4/10/2009, by suicides. Having walked from the Good Shepherd Open Unit, stopping at the centre of the Bridge, both girls died on impact with the water. The Inquiry lasted 65 days and it ruled deaths avoidable had reasonable precautions been taken: ‘Staff members on duty at the Unit been higher. Had Niamh & Georgia risk assessment needs assessed and accommodated at a different location within the Unit’. Several recommendations were made following relating to: security, supervision, management, lack of information, risk/psychological assessments missing, better communication system and accurate recording /time keeping amongst others. Professor S Platt of Health Policy Research at University of Edinburgh made three recommendations which are reflected in residential policies now. 1. Local authorities to commission guidelines for staff on recognising and mitigating suicide risk in this client group. These guidelines should include the requirement to develop a detailed management protocol. 2. The management protocol should set out the procedures to be implemented when a looked after and accommodation child is considered to be at risk of self-harm or suicide e.g. by making suicide ‘threats’, by expressing suicidal thoughts or by making preparations for suicide. The protocol should cover inter alia the allocation of duties and responsibilities. 3. Professionals working with looked after and accommodated children, either directly or indirectly should have a sound understanding self-harm and suicide among their clients and of appropriate interventions to mitigate that risk. Provision of appropriate training on start of employment and regularly thereafter (as part professional development). (Scotland-judiciary.com) Results of recommendations mean frequent suicide prevention training is mandatory, new traffic light system of reporting absconders/missing people, created in partnership with Strathclyde Police and Local Authorities reflecting individual risk assessments, allowing staff to identify and prevent risks of self harm or suicide and report efficiently should they suspect an absconder is at risk. My workplace lengthy child protection policy, provides guidelines for all eventualities. In the case of a disclosure the child/young person would be informed that information would be passed on if it related to their wellbeing being harmed, allowing them to speak without interruption, listen to-do not coheres, don’t make judgement, positive praise for sharing with you and inform them that you will do all in your power to support them. It must then be reported to the child protection officer who would deal with the formal reporting if it were deemed necessary. I could be asked to help assess the child or provide statements to police. In the case of the abuser staff working in safeguarding children has a responsibility to ensure children are adequately protected and a responsibility to share information about individuals where a risk of child abuse is suspected with Social Care Service Managers. Legislation, National Care Standards and SSSC Codes of Practice contribute to the protection of children and vulnerable adults. In NCS’s for school care accommodation services standard 3.3 looks at care and protection states that workers are aware of child protection policies and procedures. Standard 3.7 ensures protection issues are dealt with using policies and procedures. The SSSC codes of practice contribute to protection code 3.2 states we must carry out the correct processes and procedures to challenge and report dangerous, abusive, discriminatory or exploitive behaviour and practice. code 3.7 states we must support service users/carers to make complaints, taking complaints seriously, responding to or passing to appropriate person. Code 2.7 states to respect confidential information. For child protection, no Schedule One offence is ever ‘spent’ in terms of Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 has sections relevant to care workers and committed against service users such as; Section 39 Care workers: causing or inciting sexual activity, Section 40 Care workers: sexual activity in the presence of a person with a mental disorder & Section 41 Care workers: causing a person with a mental disorder to watch a sexual act. The support, therapy and treatment of those affected by abuse is an important factor in ensuring wellbeing and safety. Statutory, voluntary and private/independent organisations provide diverse services some of which may overlap. Set up through government remit such as SurvivorScotland, social service and education departments, CAMHS are part of the NHS who support young people and their families with emotional, behavioral and mental health difficulties. A single shared assessment from a multi-agency partner ship of professionals not only protect but prevent with early intervention. Many voluntary agencies/charities focus on helping children such as, Barnardos, Womens Aid and the NSPCC (National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children) who work at national, regional and local level, some of their services include Childline as well as advise lines like the CTAC (Child Trafficking Advice Centre). Private services are profit driven, including home care providers and respite services. Instances of disclosure in various aspects which must be always dealt with professionally no matter how distressing. Workers/carers are offered support in the form of counselling through BACP (The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy) or services such as mind, Re-think or Samaritans who’ll listen to, provide support, advice, signposts or referrals to other agencies. There will be instances where workers will support the ‘abused’ however may find themselves supporting an ‘abuser’ or ‘someone at risk of abusing’. Police, Prison Services, Local Authorities, and Social Services work closely to minimise risk and supervise offenders in the community. It is crucial not to allow personal feelings/values to conflict with professionalism. The Human Rights Act, Article 8: Right to privacy, highlights the importance of confidentiality in this line of work, however this right can be limited if it is necessary to protect public safety which Police and Social Work would determine through on-going reviews of risk level each offender poses, reducing the likelihood of further offending by providing sex offender group-work through social work services. Not all sex offenders are alike, some people have deep regrets and go on to be law-abiding whereas others have deep-rooted psychological problems requiring intensive support to manage behaviour. Workers should bear in mind that a significant proportion of sexual crimes go unreported and there are a number of sex-offenders not known to the authorities and need t o take sensible safety precautions if you should suspect such individuals. Workers will have supervision with managers where issues are highlighted or access to counselling. Bibliography BINGHAM, E. et al. (2009) HNC in Social Care. For Scotland. Essex: Heinemann. BROWNMILLER, S. (1975) Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape. New York: Simon and Schuster. CHILD MATTERS (2014) Learn about Child Abuse [Online]. Available from: http://www.childmatters.org.nz/42/learn-about-child-abuse/what-is-child-abuse [Accessed: 20th March 2014] COMPANY POLICIES & PROCEDURES. ANON (Data Protection Act 1998) SC03-Child Protection MIND (2014) How to Cope as a Carer [Online]. Available from: http://www.mind.org.uk/media/859562/how-to-cope-as-a-carer-2014-.pdf [Accessed: 3rd May 2014] SCOTTISH PARLIMENT. SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT MINISTERS. (2012) National Care Standards. [Online]. Available from: http://www.nationalcarestandards.org/52.html [Accessed: 7th March 2014]. SCOTTISH PARLIMENT. SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT MINISTERS (2010) National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland & The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 & National Guidance – Under-age Sexual Activity [Online]. Available from: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/12/09134441/8 http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/254432/0078985.pdf http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/10/20066/44708 [Accessed: 7th March & 19th May 2014] SCOTLAND JUDICIARY Fatal Accident Inquiry into the Deaths on Erskine Bridge (2010) [Online]. Available from: http://scotland-judiciary.com/10/895/Fatal-Accident-Inquiry-into-the-deaths-on-Erskine-Bridge [Accessed 9th May 2014] THE OXFORD DICTIONARY (2014) Abuse [Online] Available from: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/abuse [Accessed 17th March 2014] LIBERTY (2014) Human Rights Act Myths [Online] Available from: