Tuesday, August 6, 2019

The Power of a Magnifying Glass Essay Example for Free

The Power of a Magnifying Glass Essay The magnification of a magnifying glass depends upon where it is placed between the users eye and the object being viewed, and the total distance between them. The magnifying power is equivalent to angular magnification (this should not be confused with optical power, which is a different quantity). The magnifying power is the ratio of the sizes of the images formed on the users retina with and without the lens.[3] For the without case, it is typically assumed that the user would bring the object as close to the eye as possible without it becoming blurry. This point, known as the near point, varies with age. In a young child it can be as close as 5 cm, while in an elderly person it may be as far as one or two metres. Magnifiers are typically characterized using a standard value of 0.25 m. The highest magnifying power is obtained by putting the lens very close to the eye and moving the eye and the lens together to obtain the best focus. The object will then typically also be close to the lens. The magnifying power obtained in this condition is MP0 =  ¼ÃŽ ¦ + 1, where ÃŽ ¦ is the optical power in dioptres, and the factor of  ¼ comes from the assumed distance to the near point ( ¼ m from the eye). This value of the magnifying power is the one normally used to characterize magnifiers. It is typically denoted mÃâ€", where m = MP0. This is sometimes called the total power of the magnifier (again, not to be confused with optical power). Magnifiers are not always used as described above, however. It is much more comfortable to put the magnifier close to the object (one focal length away). The eye can then be a larger distance away, and a good image can be obtained very easily; the focus is not very sensitive to the eyes exact position. The magnifying power in this case is roughly MP =  ¼ÃŽ ¦. A typical magnifying glass might have a focal length of 25 cm, corresponding to an optical power of 4 dioptres. Such a magnifier would be sold as a 2Ãâ€" magnifier. In actual use, an observer with typical eyes would obtain a magnifying power between 1 and 2, depending on where lens is held. Using this principle, a magnifying glass can also be used to focus light, such as to concentrate the suns radiation to create a hot spot at the focus.

Different Types of UK Airport

Different Types of UK Airport LO 3:   Understand the different types of UK airport, their ownership and characteristics Title: UK airports Map of major airports in the UK For P5:  Ã‚   Describe different types of UK airports and their ownership. Regional These have short haul scheduled international services, and long haul, charter and domestics services is available as well. Eg Liverpool john Lennon (LPL) Operate/ owner: the peel group, group Major International airports Provide a verity if international services. both long and short haul also have chart and domestic services. Eg. Manchester (MAN) Operator/owner : Manchester airport group (MAG) private Local Some domestic services, sometimes short-haul services as well as charter and general aviation services Eg, Blackpool Owner: Balfour Beatty, public Operator: squires gate airport operation Ltd. 3. For P6:  Ã‚   Compare the operating characteristics of different types of airports. Regional airports Liverpool john Lennon (LPL) route network long and short haul, point to point, domestic service number and type of airlines 8 airlines which offers low cost scheduled service, charter number of passengers 4 million passengers in 2014 cargo tones 40,000 tones in 2015 (Airportwatch.org.uk, 2016) passenger facilities and services, e.g. car parks, shops, restaurants, executive lounges, hotels have a variety of parking service only available through pre-booking restaurants, shops, and lounges are also at the airport to suite everyone needs, terminal passenger 4,458,500 operational facilities and services runway 7,497 ft of asphalt run way with two handlers (Liverpool John Lennon Airport, 2016). Major International airports Manchester (MAN) route network long haul, short haul number and type of airlines approximately 70 airlines, low cost scheduled, full service, charter, cargo number of passengers approximately 23 million passengers cargo tons 250,000 tones by 2015 passenger facilities and services offers adequate parkin foe either short stay or long stay, shops restaurant hotels, lounges are available to meet every passengers need operational facilities and services two runways and three terminals, three handling agents (En.wikipedia.org, 2016) Local airport Blackpool airport route network short haul, domestic number and type of airlines one airline for passengers and a helicopter service to oil platforms low cost airline, domestic, chartered service number of passengers 33,494 passenger facilities and services one new lounges no hotels car rental is available from the air port operational facilities and services two terminals and must give a 24-hour notice for handling scale and location of general aviation operations two training schools located between the British Army camps and Squires Gate and at Weeton and Kirkham. Offers helicopter operations and also the center of private clubs (Anon, 2016) For M2:  Ã‚   Discuss why an airline might base its operation from a particular airport. EasyJet bases its operation from Manchester airport (MAN) because this airport offers   a vast range of services and have connection to major cities and holiday destination. Also the airport facilities example the three terminals is another factor of why EasyJet uses this airport (En.wikipedia.org,2016).Due to the fact that Manchester airport is very popular   and it have won different award siding with this airport is good for business because when the airport grows EasyJet will somewhat benefits from this. (Manchesterairport.co.uk ,2016) References Airportwatch.org.uk. (2016). AirportWatch | Liverpool Airport. [online] Available at: http://www.airportwatch.org.uk/uk-airports/liverpool-airport/ [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016]. Anon, (2016). Home. [online] Available at: http://blackpoolairport.com/ [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016]. En.wikipedia.org. (2016). Domestic airport. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_airport#Regional_airport [Accessed 20 Dec. 2016]. En.wikipedia.org. (2016). Manchester Airport. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Airport [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016]. Liverpool John Lennon Airport. (2016). Cite a Website Cite This For Me. [online] Available at: https://www.liverpoolairport.com/ [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016]. Manchesterairport.co.uk. (2016). About Us | Manchester Airport. [online] Available at: http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/about-us/ [Accessed 21 Dec. 2016].

Monday, August 5, 2019

Prisons: Punishment and Rehabilitation

Prisons: Punishment and Rehabilitation In order to understand the nature of imprisonment, this chapter will briefly look at the historical origins of prison, and then it will move onto justify their theoretical legitimacy: punishment/retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation. These theories/ideologies will re-occur through the thesis like themes- what we refer to them as meta-concepts. The final section of this chapter will examine the strategies employed by the Prison Service to reach its ultimate goal of protecting public and reducing re-offending. ORIGINS OF PRISON Prisons do not exist in a vacuum. They exist because society decided that they should be used as a method of responding to crime. The early 12th century prisons served a custodial function, mainly detaining people until civil debts were met. A prisons effectiveness was measured by its success in holding people (Muncie, 2001: 159). And in the 18th century, though the prison population remained mainly debtors, the rationale behind prison changed to one of punishment rather than containment. The end of the 18th century saw the rise of the penitentiary in which prisoners were categorised into groups in a regime of punishment, and were subjected to severe physical labour and moral reformation (Muncie, 2001: 164). Things changed drastically over time, and issues such as justice and rehabilitation ascended in the prison system. Benevolent societies were committed to ushering in better conditions, useful employment and good habits of behaviour through discipline and compassion (Muncie, 2001: 169). Perhaps this formed the inspiration of contemporary rehabilitative yet punitive National Offender Management Service (NOMS)- which is a law enforcement agency formed by the integration of the headquarters of prison and probation service to improve effectiveness and efficiency. JUSTIFICATIONS FOR IMPRISONMENT In his speech to the Conservative Party Conference, Michael Howard who was the Home Secretary in 1993, argued that for many crimes, imprisonment was the response demanded by victims in the interests of retribution. Hence, the first given purpose of imprisonment is to punish persons for the crime(s) they have committed. Punishment, in essence, is the practice of getting even with the wrongdoer. It is justified on the ground like a payment of what is owned: that is, offenders who are punished are paying their debt to society and offenders have a right to go free once they have paid their debt (McGraw, 2005:54). This is in some ways the complete antithesis of reductivism which justifies punishment on the ground that it helps to reduce the incidence of crime. Garland (1990:17) defined punishment as the legal process whereby violators of criminal law are condemned and sanctioned in accordance with specified legal categories and procedures. In Her Majestys Prison Services (HMPS) statement of purpose, which was adopted in 1988, punishment is defined as keeping in custody those committed by the court (cited in McGraw, 2005:39). There is a general agreement that the restriction of liberty would only be included for crimes like murder and other serious offences of violence against the person, such as rape. In the early times, systems of retribution favoured lex talionis, calling for an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a life for a life (Hudson, 1996:38). It claimed that it is morally right to return evil for evil, and that two wrongs can make a right (Bean, 1981: 16). It looked only at the crime: it made no allowance for the mental state of the offender or for any mitigating or aggravating circumstances associated with the crime. Contemporarily however lex talionis is seen as a crude formula because it cannot be applied to many of todays crimes. For instance, what punishment ought to be inflicted on a rapist under lex talionis? The failure to inflict the same on the offender as the offender has inflicted on his or her victim has forced the retributive tariff to be considerably more lenient than it used to be in Biblical times (Hudson, 1996). Being required to stay behind the walls of a prison for the specified period, not permitted to go out from the prison other than in approved circumstances, is now the most punitive sentence which a court in England and Wales can impose. The criminal law is quite specific in restricting the courts authority to impose a prison sentence: The court must not pass a custodial sentence unless it is of the opinion that the offence, or the combination of the offence and one or more offences associated with it, was so serious that neither a fine lone nor a community sentence can be justified for the offence (Criminal Justice Act, 2003: Section 152 cited in Scott, 2007: 42) A sentence of imprisonment is imposed, in principle, to deprive the individual of his or her freedom. Although some would argue that the prison is a refuge from the pressure and severity of normal life, for many prisoners the pains of deprivation of liberty and separation from family are almost unbearable. Furthermore, the coercive punitive element of imprisonment extends beyond the mere deprivation of liberty: typically, the offenders family who have not been found guilty of a crime have also seen to be punished (McGraw, 2005). This is not a big concern for some ideologies. According to the utilitarian theory, moral actions are those that produce the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people (Hudson, 1996:54), inferring that if punishment is effective in reducing crime, then the pain and unhappiness caused to the offender and to the relatives may be outweighed by the unpleasantness to other people in the future which is prevented. Prison works because it ensures that we are protected from murderers, muggers and rapists (Howard, 1993 cited in Cavadino and Dignan, 2002: 67)- a reference to the second justification of imprisonment known as incapacitation. Incapacitation enables the prison service to protect public because offenders are in prison, and they are prevented from committing other crimes. In some respects this argument is valid, particularly in respect of specific neighbourhoods where a significant proportion of crime is committed by identifiable individuals. However, this type of crime tends to be low level, attracting relatively short prison sentences. The person concerned may be taken out of their community for a short period of time but they are likely soon to return. Some of them may still give indication that, if they were to return, they would continue to present a threat to the public. A more problematic group includes those who have not committed a serious crime but have been identified by expe rts as likely to do so. It may well be necessary that these people should be in prison for as long as they present a threat. However, in order to justify holding these men in custody, the state has to derogate from Article five of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which guarantees the right to a fair trial. Hence, although punishment for imaginary crimes in the future might not be essentially wrong for utilitarianism, it is a serious objection for retributivism and human rights theory. This is because, our powers of prediction are simply not up to the job, whether we use impressionistic guesswork, psychological testing, statistical prediction techniques or any other method (Ashworth and Redmayne, 2005: 206) inferring that a number of persons will suffer incapacitation who would not have committed further crimes if left free. The third justification of imprisonment is deterrence. There are two types of deterrence: individual and general. The former involves deterring someone who has already offended from reoffending where as the latter involves dissuading those who might be tempted. Becarria expressed his early conception of deterrence and argued that the aim of punishment can only be to prevent the criminal committing new crimes against his countrymen and to keep others from doing likewise (cited in Bean, 1981: 30). Michael Howard (1993 cited in Jewkes and Johnston, 2007:84), took a similar position to Beccaria and argued that prison works à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ it makes many who are tempted to commit crime think twice because people fear the punishment that they may receive if they offend. The greater the punishment, the greater the deterrent. It can be argued, for example, that the prospect of one month in prison might be enough to deter someone from stealing  £100 but not from stealing  £100,000. To dete r someone from stealing that amount of money, the prospect might have to be several years in custody. On the contrary to punishment, another justification for imprisonment is to rehabilitate. The rehabilitation of prisoners became a prime concern for the penal system in the late eighteenth century when the demands for labour were high. The rehabilitation of prisoners in the early years of its origin was unsophisticated. The development of human sciences of psychology, physiology and sociology enabled todays rehabilitative ideal to include an examination of the offence and the criminal, and a concern for the criminals social background. The rehabilitation of offenders to re-join society, as useful and law-abiding members of the community (House of Lords, 2004:12) is attractive on a number of counts. Firstly, it provides a positive justification for what would be an otherwise negative form of punishment of the criminal, although there are some who would argue that punishment has already got a rehabilitative effect on the offender; as a result of punishment is a change on offenders valu es and beliefs which refrains him or her from committing further offences (Cavadino and Dignan, 2002). Secondly, rehabilitation is reinforced by the notion that it can reduce crime by altering the individuals character or behaviour. The rehabilitationist theory regards criminal behaviour as a social disease rather than a personal choice and sees the reasonable solution as curing that disease through psychological therapy, education and training (Cavadino and Dignan, 2002). This is attractive to those who work in prisons and who wish to do more professional work than merely deprive prisoners from their liberty. However, unwarranted assumption that crime is related to a disease and that social experts can diagnose that condition is a weakness because treatment programmes are open-ended and do not always relate to the offence (Farrall, 2002). Furthermore, there is also a room for prisoners to cheat by participating in programmes they had no faith in, by expressions of remorse they did not feel, and of intentions to refrain from crime to which they had no commitment. UNDERSTANDING CONTEMPORARY PENALITY As can be seen, there is relative clarity that prisons are not merely to lock up particular types of offenders for specified periods. There also seems to be a relative clarity that there are problems with the functions of prisons- retribution, incapacitation, deterrence, and rehabilitation- when considering the high recidivism rates. Official figures show that when the Labour party came into power in 1997, more than a third of criminals reoffended within six months, 50% almost within a year, and 58% reoffended within two years of being released (Ford, 2005). More recent statistics showed that of the offenders who were discharged from custody in 2000, 20% had been reconvicted within three months, 43% within a year, 55% within two years, and 68% within five years (BBC News, 2010a). The offenders convicted of theft took the shortest number of days (90 days) to reoffend in 2000, where in 2008 it was offenders convicted of other (91 days) (MoJ, 2010a: 49). The official statistics based on the latest data show that the proportion of offenders reoffending decreased by 6.8% from 43% in 2000 to 40.1% in 2008 (MoJ, 2010a: 21). However, the number of reconvictions classified as severe within this period rose by 14.7% (MoJ 2010a: 9). Despite that however, the severity rate has remained broadly stable at between 0.6 to 0.9 offences per 100 offenders between 2000 and 2008: this is equivalent to less than one serious offence being committed per 100 offenders in the cohort (MoJ, 2010a: 9). The majority of the most serious reconvictions committed by the 2008 cohort were in the violence offence group, with 21% accounting for sexual-related crimes. The 80% of the most serious offences were committed by offenders who had never before committed an offence classified as serious (MoJ, 2010a:15). The reconviction rates for individual prisons published for the first time revealed that there are fourteen prisons in England and Wales which have reconviction rates of more than 70%. The Do rchester prison, in Dorset, has the highest at 74.7% for adult male prisoners and New Hall, in Yorkshire, has the highest reconviction rates for female prisoners at 76% (The Guardian, 2010). However, it is highly questionable whether searching for an association between recorded crime statistics and usage of official punishments can provide satisfactory answers to the question of whether prison works. This is partly because of the unreliability of crime statistics, and also because à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ there is every reason to assume that extralegal conditions play a major role in criminal etiology (Gibbs, 1988: 28). As can be seen, the statistics above underline a long-term ineffectiveness of the criminal justice system at diverting persistent offenders from a life of crime. Thus the emerging question is why prisons are not working? It would be fair to assert that prisons are impacted by developments, trends, and changes that occur with regularity in the larger society (Saunders and Billante, 2002). The complex set of changes in politics, economics, social and cultural life has had a fundamental influence on the way prisons operate. For instance, in the mid-1990s, escapes from prisons, particularly by highly dangerous offenders, emphasised on improving security, and thus enabled community safety to become a prominent political agenda at central and local level. Michael Howard prioritised public protection and thereby played a central role in the introduction of Prisons Works philosophy because It is a deterrent. Criminals fear it. And it takes criminals out of circulation(cited in Farrall, 2002: 5). This took much of the necessity of tackling prisoners behaviour and lessened the rehabilitation initiatives: the movement was all away from individualised, indeterminate sentencing which considered offenders circumstances towards standardised, tariff sentences, which valued consistency, proportionality and predictability. Consequently, this led to a rise in the prison population (Saunders and Billante, 2002). In May 1993, the prison population used to be 43,500 but this figure rapidly increased to 60,000 within four years (McGraw, 2005:9). The labour government did little to dispel the prison population but favoured tough regime and introduced harsher sentence outcomes for violent and non-violent offences. As a result, while it had taken four decades from 1958 to 1995 for the prison population to rise by 25,000 it had taken New Labour only eight years to match that 25,000 increase (McGraw, 2005:1). On 22 February 2008 the total population exceeded the useable operational capaci ty of the prison estate for the first time in history. The number of offenders in prison at the end of February stands on 85,206. Of the population in prison custody, 80% comprised males aged 18 or older while 16% were on remand either awaiting trial or sentence (House of Commons, 2010:2). Approximately one-third of the total sentenced prison population are serving sentences of more than 12 months, with a further 18% serving indeterminate sentences (House of Commons, 2010:4). Of the sentenced population, the violence against the person offence group accounts for the largest proportion (28%) (House of Commons, 2010:4). Importantly, unlike in the past, a higher proportion of the sentenced female population are now serving sentences for violence against the person offences rather than drug offences. At a glance, the incapacitation of offenders might be a good idea (as it removes offenders from circulation), but the truth is that it is an ineffective strategy towards crime. The public rightly expects someone who is convicted of a serious crime to receive a suitably severe punishment, and in particular expects protection, but the evidence about the incapacitation effect of prison has concluded that the degree of incapacitation resulting from a sentencing policy has a marginal effect on the crime rate (Blumstein and Farrington, 1986). The best calculations suggest that incapacitation effects of imprisonment are only modest partly because most criminal careers are relatively short: by the time offenders are locked away they may be about to give up crime (Green et al 2005 cited in Cavadino and Dignan, 2002). Where crime was once viewed as a social problem facilitated by the failure of the society to provide for its members, today the society is blameless and the individual offender i s seen as a wholly volitional creature who makes rational choices to engage in crime. When imprisoned, despite the existence Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 which discloses criminal convictions, ex-offenders experience serious difficulty in readjusting to society after they have served their time and paid the dues that the law required of them because the stigma of imprisonment and long absences from work often puts employers off hiring ex-prisoners (Giddens, 1999). This exacerbates social exclusion and increases the risk of a return to crime and a life dependent on social benefits. Another effect of imprisonment, according to Western (1999 cited in Street, (no year:), prisoners are likely to develop certain attitudes, mannerisms and behavioural practices that on the inside function to enhance survival but are not compatible with success in the conventional job market. McGuire and Priestley (1985) told that to reduce the actual crime rates by one-third the prison population in England and Wales would have to rise to 300,000- an approximate fourfold increase. The capital and revenue costs of this enterprise would be enormous. To arrest the required extra numbers, many more police and prisons officers would be needed, and to process them through the courts there would have to be a rise in the numbers of court personnel. The law-and-order would not just be the biggest item of public spending; there might well be nothing left over for anything else. There also exist doubts about the effects of deterrence. According to Lefton (1991) freedom is the most valuable thing for every human being, and people will do anything to avoid putting that freedom at risk. Leftons claim may sound acceptable at first sight but there is little evidence that offenders are deterred by longer or more frequent prison sentences. Because the deterrence theory is based on classical criminology, ie, individuals must, before they act, weigh up the benefit of carrying out the offence against the possible disadvantage of going to prison, one of the problems is that we cannot calculate how many crimes are avoided because potential criminals are deterred by the prospect of imprisonment. But in terms of deterring those convicted from reoffending, the statistics do not give a great deal of cause for optimism, as discussed above. After carrying out a comprehensive review of studies, Beylebeld (1979 cited in Hudson, 1996: 23) concluded that implementing an official deterrence policy can be no more than a shot in the dark because much crime is committed on impulse, given the opportunity presented by an open window or unlocked door, and it is committed by offenders who live from moment to moment (The White Paper cited in Cavadino et al, 1999:186). An alternative deterrent strategy has been put forward by Bachman et al (1992 cited in Farral, 2002). They told that potential offenders are more likely to be deterred by the certainty of detection than the prospect of punishment. At the other end of the spectrum, for McGraw (2005), punishments that are designed as deterrents can increase, rather than decrease, delinquency. In support, Wests (1982:104) research study on boys growing up in London found that if a boy offends, the best way to prevent him from offending repeatedly is not to catch him in the first place. This research evidence may seem contrary to common sense, but such finding suggests that punishment has other effects which may cancel out and even outweigh its deterrent effects. The labelling theory, for example, contends that catching and punishing offenders labels them as criminals, and stigmatises them. To make matters worse, harsher penalties can change offenders self-image from that of a law-abiding person to that of a deviant because custodial institutions are notoriously schools for crime where offenders can meet each other, learn criminal techniques and enter into a criminal subculture. In support, Woolfs (2001) investigation into English prisons found that some prisoners who were not addicted to drugs before admission were later drug addicts by the time of their release (cited in House of Commons, 2005). This process upon release is sufficient to elicit pathological behaviour (Zimbardo, 1982:249) which can in various ways make it more difficult for prisoners to conform to a law-abiding life in future (Cavadino and Dignan, 2002). If labelling theory is correct, then an essential area which needs to be tackle d in order to lower the crime rate is to change the way the society interacts with criminals, including those released from prison, to avoid these stigmatised labels from sticking. An institutional transition from being soft on offenders to get tough agenda which incorporated retribution, deterrence and incapacitation does not mean that the rehabilitative ideal is totally taken away from the justice system. Contemporary imprisonment is also about helping offenders to lead a law abiding lives in custody and after-release (Crawley, 2004:65). Over 700 National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) schemes are being implemented in prisons. Research-based offender rehabilitation programmes do not only offer viable alternative for reducing recidivism, but they have also shown to be an economically efficient strategy (Farrall, 2002). It is widely accepted that rehabilitation programmes give the opportunity to harness prisoners strengths, make amends to their misdemeanours, earn their redemption, and restore their relationship with the society (Maruna and LeBel, 2002). Today, many rehabilitative programmes are based on cognitive behavioural approach, which attempts to alter how offenders think by improving their cognitive and reasoning skills so that they change their attitudes towards breaking the law. Leading empirical reviews of the literature on prison based rehabilitative programmes (Lipsey and Wilson, 1998; MacKenzie, 1997) told that the most effective way to reduce offending and re-offending is through education and employment, along with behavioural or cognitive programmes. In support, Marques et al (1994:55) gave an encouraging result by reporting that offenders in their study who did not volunteer for treatment were 8.5 times more likely to be arrested for a violent crime in the first twelve months after release from prison or discharge from parole. Less dramatic but equally encouraging results were reported from Patrick Carter (2003): well-designed, well-run and well-targeted cognitive behavioural programmes can reduce reconviction rates by 5-10% (cited in House of Commons, 2005:24). However, despite the positive effects of rehabilitation on recidivism, rehabilitation remains secondary to the facilities primary functions: control and confinement. Carters (2007: 146) research into prisons found that more than two-thirds of prisoners did not agree that they were being helped to lead a law-abiding life on release in the community; and only 28% of prisoners agreed that sufficient efforts are made to help prisoners stop committing offences when they have been released from custody. On the contrary however, Linden and Perrys (1988) review of research studies on the effectiveness of prison education programmes showed that although inmates have made substantial alterations to their behaviour, the changes did not necessarily have an impact on post-release employment and recidivism rates (cited in Ryan, 1990). Crawley (2004) argued that the pessimism that nothing works and that whatever you do to offenders makes no difference (Martinson, 1974) has destroyed the reformative aim of the penal system by encouraging policy makers and legislators to abandon the idea of rehabilitation as an objective of punishment- not because it had been shown to be true, but more because the disappointment of the high hopes invested in reform led to an over-reaction against the rehabilitative ideal. Mental Health Case Study: Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) Mental Health Case Study: Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) Mental health, Amir Daud case study Later in your initial discussions with Amir you think he may be having an anxiety disorder. Identify the character of anxiety disorder Amir is likely to be experiencing and what constituents in his history indicate this type of upset. Amir is highly likely to be experiencing Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) which results from too much sympathetic activation of the neural system. It makes the person experiencing it gets constant nervousness that leads to a negative impact on both physical and emotional health status. It significantly interferes with the normal behavior path of the individual at its mercy. Amir spent two years in torturous detention in Afghanistan, which was a time of constant uncertainty and anxiety followed by a perilous journey to Australia. While he was in detention, he witnessed many episodes of self-harm by fellow detainees who had lost hope and pessimistic about their future welfare which have contributed to increasing Amir’s trauma and anxiety state. The fact that he felt powerless in his situation aggravated his stress levels because he lacked hope or someone or something that would help secure it in that hopeless state of personal business. Amir is also battling with mild depression from worrying too much about the family he left behind as he says he feels guilty because he is aware they are still facing persecution. He blames himself for not being able to rescue them from that situation. In addition, Amir is required to secure himself employment, only he feels quite the opposite due to his impatience and poor absorption. The major symptoms of this disorder include restlessness, exaggerated startle response, sleep disturbance, difficulty in concentrating, irritability and tremor. The symptoms must have occurred days than not for at least 6months and must cause clinically important distress or impairment in social, occupational or other significant areas of functioning’ (APA, 2000). According to Sigmund Freud, His type falls under Neurotic category of which is defined as the anticipation of negative consequences that activate defensive processes. This is as a consequence of his experience in the detention which he says makes him sleep poorly and development of negative intrusive thoughts during his waking time in the morning. Possible Treatments that could be administered to Amir include pharmaceutical medication (SSRIs and Benzodiazepines) or herbal extracts made from a relaxant made from the root of the kava plant (Hall, 1998). References Derek Hayes, A. G., Suhaini, M. J., Kassim, K. K. (2014). Hope and Mental Health Nursing. LinkedIn Corporations. Hall, R. H. (1998). Anxiety Disorders. Psychiatryonline. (2014). Neurobiology of Anxiety Disorders. Retrieved March 31st, 2014, from www.psychiatryonline.org: http://psychiatryonline.org/content.aspx?bookid=29sectionid=1361949 School, I. S. (2008). Neurobiology of Anxiety Disorders. In I. S. School. Russia: St. Petersburg. Explain what is meant by the neurobiology of anxiety. Anxiety is a psychological and a behavioral state commonly characterized by avoidance behavior which affects a patient emotionally and psychologically. Neurobiology of anxiety is the classification of all anxiety disorders that affect the brain emotional states. These emotional states could be anxiety about the future, fear of the present or depression about events that occurred in the past. There are many different categories of the neurobiology of anxiety as listed below. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) which is most common in young adults like Amir. It’s the fear, anxiety and depression associated with reaction to any dangerous situation. (Psychiatryonline, 2014). GAD is more likely than not to be confused with other anxiety disorder types. For one to conclude that a patient has it, they must identify four symptoms from the first rank list and at least one from the second list. First rank Inability to relax or restlessness Fatigueability Exaggerated sudden response Muscle tension Poor sleeping habits Poor concentration Easily irritable Second Nausea or abdominal complaints A Dry mouth Tachycardia Tremor Stress disorders (Post traumatic stress disorder- PTSD) and Phobias which are divided into specific and social phobia. These are characterized by a general feeling of dissociation from reality. Panic disorders (With or without agoraphobia) -Attributes are manifested by intense apprehension, terror, fear often associated with feelings of hopelessness and intense physical discomfort. Attacks usually last for a short while and rarely take hours. In case they are accompanied by agoraphobia, there is a fear of being in places or Situations from which escape might be hard or in which help might not be available in the event of a panic attack (Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental health, 2000) Agoraphobia without history of panic disorder- The (Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental health, 2000) identifies the essential feature of this disorder as fear of being in places or situations from which escape might be difficult or in which help might not be available in the event of suddenly developing a symptom that could be incapacitating or extremely embarrassing. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) –This is characterized by involuntary recurring thoughts or images that the patient is not able to dispense. The victims feel powerless despite them knowing that it’s irrational behavior. The four general categories are: counting, checking, cleaning and finally avoidance. They happen frequently, which consequently interferes with normal daily activities. Acute Stress Disorder-It’s an anxiety disorder due to a general medical condition. Symptoms of are judged to be the direct physiological consequence of a general medical condition. They may include prominent generalized anxiety symptoms, panic attacks, or obsessions or compulsions (APA, 2000) References APA. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental health (4th Ed.). DSM-IV-TR: American Psychiatric Assocaition press. Psychiatryonline. (2014). Neurobiology of Anxiety Disorders. Retrieved March 31st, 2014, from www.psychiatryonline.org: http://psychiatryonline.org/content.aspx?bookid=29sectionid=1361949 School, I. S. (2008). Neurobiology of Anxiety Disorders. In I. S. School. Russia: St. Petersburg. Why is hope relevant in mental health nursing practice? How might you incorporate this concept in subsequent therapeutic communication with Amir? What other elements of communication might you employ? Hope is a vital element in any human’s life and is a pivotal act in any mental health nurse. It helps people with any medical problem get assurance about their situation, whether or not the treatment or recovery is complete. Kylma and Vehvilainen-Julkunen (1997) described it as an experience, emotion or need. The term in nursing is regarded as being dynamic and helps in rebuilding a patients self-worth and how they regard themselves which acts as a complementary treatment. Amir needs to be shown unconditional acceptance, understanding and tolerance to help him overcome his disorder condition. A patient who believes that their situation can change through professional guidance and hard work from their end does find a way out of their situation. The reason the placebo effect is important when dealing with patients like Amir. The nurse-client relationship with Amir’s case needs to be on a personal level, to breed trust and a sense of value. Recognizing that Amirs case is difficult will be the first step to helping him since for him to feel inspired by the therapeutic communication; he must feel the same energy from the nurse. There are different ways in which one can inspire hope especially in Amir’s case. They include: Educating Amir of his condition, treatment and assuring him that he can still achieve all his goals and objectives like any normal human being. Group therapy –This is where the assessor tries to interact with the patient with a group of other patients with more or less similar anxiety disorders with the aid of a leader to help them resolve interpersonal problems. Groups bring a sense of security and trust that they not battling their condition alone. More often, this results in positive outcomes in almost all cases. Humor-Using humor to help Amir arouse happy thoughts and avoid the negative thoughts he gets during his waking time. Humor results to laughter which has been proven to be therapeutic. Spiritual aspect-Here one tries to introduce spirituality, faith in the patient, which is a form of faith in all religions. Psychoanalysis-The main goal will be to reduce his anxiety and guilt through verbal processes. Conduct Humanistic therapy to help him fulfill his full potential and improve self concept. Conduct Behavior and cognitive therapy to help him change unwanted abnormal behaviors and acquire desirable ones through revising his thoughts and behavioral training. Later, Amir can be engaged in the assessment of his hope level to monitor any progress. Use of Herth Hope Index (HHI) rating where higher rate shows a high level of hope and subsequent opposite are an indication of low self-worth and depression. Amir detachment from the normal world could drive him to commit suicide and thus the nurse need to do a full assessment on his level of hope. Effective communication of the management plan and encouraging self-help strategies will also play a big role during management discussion with Amir. References Derek Hayes, A. G., Suhaini, M. J., Kassim, K. K. (2014). Hope and Mental Health Nursing. LinkedIn Corporations. Psychiatryonline. (2014). Neurobiology of Anxiety Disorders. Retrieved March 31st, 2014, from www.psychiatryonline.org: http://psychiatryonline.org/content.aspx?bookid=29sectionid=1361949 Define what is meant by ethnicity. Given Amir’s ethnic background explain what cultural assessments you might make in planning his ongoing care. Ethnicity refers to a state in which an individual belongs to a certain social group which happens to share common national, customs or cultural traditions. Amir is ethnic Hazara. The Hazara people have for a long time been the victim of discrimination in Afghanistan. At the refugee camp the people there are more likely to be of the same ethnicity with Amir. This will make it easier for Amir since he will feel a sense of belonging while interacting with people who share his cultural values and origin. I would use a cultural assessment tool to help me get all the information about Amir cultural background. Details I would include in the assessment area include: The primary language spoken by Amir, how he communicates with other people who speak a different language, whether he requires an interpreter or not, the highest level of education he has attained, whether his condition has ever occurred before, if it did in what manner was it handled, what are his normal ways of coping with stress? Let Amir describe his family living arrangements, the major decision maker in the family, his religious beliefs and any religious requirements or restrictions that may place limitation to his care, any special belief and practices that may vary from the conventional ways, from whom has the family been seeking help from. Additionally, the following questions should help in cultural assessment. Are there any topics that are particularly sensitive or unwilling to discuss (because of cultural taboos) Are there any activities in which Amir is unwilling to participate (because of cultural customs or taboos) What are the Amir’s personal feelings regarding touch? What are his personal feelings regarding eye contact? What is his personal orientation to time? (Past, present, future) Any particular illnesses to which the Amir may be bioculturally susceptible? All the above questions will help gather any possible information regarding the Hazara ethnic group which will help in treatment program recommended to Amir while he is in Australia. It will also help the employer of his religious and ethnic practices to avoid stigmatization. References Mary C.Townsend, D.-B. (2011). Nursing Diagnoses in Psychiatry Nursing (8th Edition Ed.). Philadelphia, 1915 Arch Street: F. A Davis Company. Psychiatryonline. (2014). Neurobiology of Anxiety Disorders. Retrieved March 31st, 2014, from www.psychiatryonline.org:

Sunday, August 4, 2019

Comparing Mores Utopia and Our Modern Dystopia :: comparison compare contrast essays

Thomas More was born in London in 1478. He studied at Oxford where he took a profound love of classical literature. In Utopia, More shows his own skills in humanism. In this story, modeled after Plato's Republic, More examines his culture against a hypothetical culture he invents. His Utopia varies greatly from both his society and our society today. Four ways Utopia differs from our society are social system, attitude towards jewelry, marriage customs, and religion. First, the people of More's Utopia have a complex communism compared to our modern neo-fascist culture. In Utopia, the government owns the business world. The government forces men to work the land in two-year stints. In modern society, the government does not own the economy but it does control the economy. The government does not make men be farmers but it does tell farmers how much to grow. Furthermore, it penalizes those who disobey its command. Second, Utopians treat precious metals and jewels radically different than modern society. Today people adorn all sorts of jewelry to beautify themselves or attract attention to them. These precious metals are golden calves to many people. People today are like the Anemolian ambassadors, they strut their fine jewels because they are "more proud than wise, they decide, they decide to dress as splendidly as the very gods." Third, the Utopian attitude towards money differs from modern society. The Utopians highly prize virginity. The government forbids marriage for life those who commit premarital intercourse. Yet the percentage of people marrying without premarital intercourse in our society is minute. In most cases, the couple has a long-standing sexual relationship. Fourth, the religion of the Utopians is much like modern religion with one major exception. The religious beliefs of both societies are pluralistic. Utopia allows all religion except our most dominant religion: secular humanism (i.e. "atheism"). A man, who believes blind chance not divine providence, determines actions, is less than a man. In our culture of neo-Darwinism and "man is pure matter," everything is by chance.

Saturday, August 3, 2019

Effective Leadership and Social Identity Theory Essay -- Leadership

There are many definitions with regards to leadership, but what defines 'effective leadership' and how is it evaluated? Chemers (2000) explained that effective leadership is "follower satisfaction and group performance." (p. 28) G. Yukl expalined "there is no correct definition of leadership; it is only a matter of how useful it is increasing our understanding of effective leadership."(Yukl) How does an organization establish effective leadership? While some leaders of organizations direct considerable resources to find, train, and mentor managers to be effective leaders, many leaders of organizations put little research into the subject of effective leadership. Whatever the organization's policy on selecting the leadership group is, such as to promote from within or to hire from outside, most organization's leaders make decisions without a full understanding of leadership theories. The missing aspect that many leaders and developers of leaders ignore is that the construct of lead ership is not an individual endeavor, but rather one that must include the organization as a whole. Leadership is not just the sum characteristics of an individual (leader) but should include the leaders, the followers, dyadic relationships, and group relationships. Hogg and Terry (2000) explained that "organizations are internally structured groups that are located in complex networks of intergroup relations..." (p. 121). Leadership directly impacts an organization's bottom line, employee satisfaction, and turnover; it can impact how the organization is viewed by society and in particular its marketing audience. This is particularly significant during a downturn in economic markets. Organizations must meet budgetary controls, and need to communicate... ... M. & Terry, D. (2000). Social identity and self-categorization processes in organizational contexts. Academy of Management Review, 25, 121-140. Lord, R. (2000). Leadership. In A. E. Kazdin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of psychology, vol. 4. (pp. 499-505). Doi:10.1037/10519-216 Reicher, S., Haslam, S., & Hopkins, N. (2005). Social identity and the dynamics of leadership: Leaders and followers as collaborative agents in the transformation of social reality. Leadership Quarterly, 16, 547-568. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2005.06.007 Hogg, M., & van Knippenberg D. (2003). Social identity  and  leadership processes  in groups. Advances in Experimental  Social  Psychology,  Volume 35,  1-52. Yukl, G. (2002). Leadership in organizations. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. p. 1-19. Retrieved from http://www.blackdiamond.dk/HDO/Organisation_Gary_Yukl_Leadership_in_Organizations.pdf

Friday, August 2, 2019

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee :: To Kill a Mockingbird Essays

To Kill a Mockingbird by Horton Foote To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel set over sixty years ago in a foreign country, yet it has always been both popular and respected. Consider why the novel is still relevant to readers in 2015. Refer closely to events and characters in the text. ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ shows that even in the democratic society of the United States, there was discrimination and prejudice in the nineteen-thirties. Although this has been reduced there, in many other countries and regions these conditions still exist for minority groups. Consequently people from a different culture or those who live their lives differently from the majority are still looked down upon and regarded as outsiders. An example of this in the story is the Radley family who live in Maycomb. They have isolated themselves from the community by living strictly within the rules established by the father. The youngest son, Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley is locked up in his house after committing a small crime with his friends, and is blamed for nearly every small offence in Maycomb even if he had not committed anything, â€Å" any stealthy small crimes committed in Maycomb were his work.† In the court case later on in the book, Mayella Ewell, a young white woman, falsely accuses Tom Robinson, a ‘Negro’ of raping her. Tom Robinson is a married white man with three children and a respected member of the black church-going community. There was no circumstantial evidence to prove that he committed any crime. Despite this, the jury, consisting solely of white men, find him guilty, demonstrating their unreasonable bias against black people. Nowadays this is still occurring in many countries, and the story makes us more aware of how easily such racial intolerance can lead to totally false judgements. As Scout starts school, her teacher immediately dislikes her when she discovers that Scout was literate, and the author tells us â€Å" she looked at me with more than faint distaste.† Her teacher also disliked her because she spoke on behalf of Walter Cunningham, who would not

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Ship management perspective

Ship management (KLSM) is a ship management company located in Singapore and involved in the technical management of a fleet of 30 container and tanker ships. It is a fully owned subsidiary company of K Line in Japan and all the ships managed by KLSM are owned by its parent company in Japan. Technical management activities include provision on crew members to man the ships, implementing and malntalnlng safety and quality management systems on board the vessels, maintaining safe and satisfactory vessel operations and maintenance of hull nd machinery on board the ship.The company is involved in procurement and supply management of various goods and services including stores, spare parts, bunkers, food and beverage, manpower etc. One of the major functions of the company Is the maintenance of hull and machinery of vessels under Its management, Technical superintendents are responsible for the maintenance matters on board their controlled ships whilst managers are responsible for formula ting and overseeing policy making and implementation. A major part of maintenance involves the supply of stores and spare parts to the vessel.Each ship is fitted on board with a large number of complex equipments and machinery manufactured by hundreds of different makers and thus spare parts lists for all the equipment and machinery on board, runs into hundreds of pages. With the life of a ship being 20-30 years, several of these equipments/parts become obsolete and even OEM's close shop during such course. Procuring spares and delivering these on board ships (in good time) that are trading worldwide thus becomes a great challenge for the technical department and in turn for the company.Presently the responslblllty of procuring spare parts for each vessel Iles with the echnical superintendent In charge of the vessel. An admin lady assists him in this work. The technical superintendent, who is responsible for the smooth running of the vessel and its machinery, spends a majority of hi s time in such procurement and supply issues. It might be a good idea to outsource this function to another department or to another organization altogether.This would free up the technical superintendents time to work on more critical operational and technical issues where his expertise might be better utlllzed and also perhaps make the procurement and upply management more efficient and organized. The decision to make or buy could be critical and various factors must be considered. Transaction Cost Economics is a central theory in Strategy. It addresses questions about why firms exist, how firms define their boundaries, and how they must govern operations. Transaction cost economics suggests that the costs and difficulties production) and sometimes markets as an economic governance structure.An intermediate mechanism, called hybrid or relational, between these two extremes has recently emerged as a new governance structure. Coase (1937) defined the term transaction costs by asking two fundamental questions: â€Å"Why is there any organization? † and â€Å"Why isn't all production carried out by one big firm? † Reason is that there are transaction costs that determine what is done in the market, with price as the regulating mechanism, and what is done inside the firm, with bureaucracy as the regulator.Within this framework, all transactions carry a cost, either as an external market transaction cost or an internal bureaucratic transaction cost. The limit to the size of the firm is reached when the costs of rganizing additional transactions within the firm exceed the costs of carrying out the same transactions through the market (Coase 1993). The most important market transaction costs are the cost of determining the price of a product or service, the cost of negotiating and creating the contract, and the cost of information failure.Williamson (1975, 1985) extended the argument by noting that two behavioral assumptions are critical. First, indivi duals in an organization are boundedly rational. Meaning individuals in an organization have the ability to make rational decisions ased on the limited knowledge they possess. This limitation makes it impossible to structure perfect contracts, and any contract will be incomplete even if all information is available. Second, individuals behave opportunistically. This means that they will act in self interest with guile. Organizing the vertical chain is an important part of business strategy.Deciding which parts of the vertical chain must be produced in-house and which parts must be out-sourced, is an important strategic decision defined by the vertical boundaries of the firm. This decision is simply called the â€Å"make or buy' decision. The company must compare the benefits and costs of in-house production versus using the market. Traditionally such procurement and supply function has been carried out by technical superintendents so they will always be fully aware of the maintenan ce requirements and status of spare parts and repair.Completely outsourcing the function to another organization could result in the loss of control and loss of critical business contacts in the marketplace. Also then, reliance on a third party for such procurement and supply could be detrimental to the performance of the vessel in ase of non performance or poor performance which might be realized only after the problem occurs. Perhaps a better way to manage the sourcing and supply of spare parts on board ships would be to invest in an integrated software solution linking planned maintenance systems, spare part requisitions and approved vendor database worldwide, to optimize supply management.The procurement and supply part of the can work closely with the technical department or be a subset of the technical department itself. As the maintenance system will be linked to the spare part equisition and supply system, the technical superintendent retains overview and control on this asp ect at all times whilst being able to focus on his primary responsibilities. All planned maintenance is scheduled into the system and spare parts required to perform each maintenance item will also be part of the database.Standard inventory of parts must always be maintained and a requisition for supply of these will be automatically generated for the superintendent's approval as and when a planned maintenance Job is recorded on board the vessel system as complete. The age of the internet and speed of communication between ship and shore as well as amongst parties ashore has changed drastically. Automated information interchange and highly intelligible databases have made online purchasing and inventory maintenance very easy and efficient.Vendor approval and management could be an integrated part of the software solution and any requirement of spare parts supply would come with a recommended approved vendor list which could be targeted for action. A variety of sourcing strategies co uld then be used for procurement of spares onsidering the technical complexity, lead time necessary, logistical issues etc. To help in formulation of appropriate sourcing and competitive strategies, KralJic (1983) developed a simple positioning matrix based on these factors.This model could be applied by the purchasing department for procuring different spare parts with different levels of complexity in terms of source, logistics, coat, lead time etc. Pareto's 80/20 rule may be applied to classify spares into A, B and C class items and determine strategic positioning and risk. Environmental and ethical issues are of growing concern as regulators continue to ighten the already stringent regulations for garbage disposal at sea. All supplies that come on board the vessel packaged substantially and this eventually generates waste on board.A conscious effort needs to be made to push suppliers to use more eco friendly and bio degradable packaging and to have the vessel return all unwanted packaging back to the supplier for safe and eco friendly disposal ashore rather than disposal at sea or incineration. Instructions must be sent to all Vendor management and approvals must include vetting for compliance with standards like ISO 14001 etc. Another important supply management area for the company is bunkers. Fuel oil, diesel oil and lube oils supplied on board vessels are referred to as bunkers and more commonly the work bunkers denotes fuel oil.Challenges faced here are mainly to do with availability, pricing and quality of bunkers stemmed. Since bunkers are supplied worldwide, optimal ports are identified for good quality and reasonably priced procurement. Several vendors are used at various ports worldwide and price negotiations are tough with little guarantee of quality at several of these. Bunker for vessel management and could be integrated with same. Such bunker supply modules help in optimizing bunker stems and also include capability of having an approved vend or database.Hedging against bunker price volatility is another tool that must be considered as the price of fuel oil in the recent times has shown extreme volatility in the short term. Experts must be employed to carry out this function in house or alternatively hedge incorporated supply contracts must be negotiated with standard supplier groups who have the capability to supply bunkers t most major and frequent bunkering ports around the world. Such activity would effectively reduce the risk of exposure to extreme price fluctuations. Besides supply management of goods, the company also faces challenges in the supply management of services.All ships need to be manned with a suitable regulated complement of officers and crew members. These crew members are contracted for a certain period and proper rotation of staff upon completion of contracts poses a logistical challenge. The supply of manpower to each vessel involves a rostering and planning process which becomes highly complex du e to a arge gamut of regulatory requirements on competency, standards and other facets. The crew manning department struggles to have the right people on board the right vessel at the right time and there is a constant struggle with retention rates as well.Resumes of all crew members are manually updated and maintained and the rostering as well is performed manually. An electronic system or module to cover this function will be extremely significant in increasing the departments efficiency and eventually benefit the overall organization as retention rates increase and crew erformance is enhanced. The strategic supply wheel (Cousins, 2006) suggests that it is imperative to maintain an alignment of corporate and supply policies. There seems to be good alignment of policies within KLSM and as a small company with less than 50 staff, this is relatively easy to implement.With acute cost focus without compromise on quality of critical items, the strategy is uniform and understood by all i nvolved. Overall KLSM deals with several unique supply chain management challenges because of the nature of the company's functions and ships trading worldwide. An overall efficient supply management strategy implemented at all levels would become almost imperative for successful achievement of the company's goals which is primarily safe, efficient and cost effective maintenance of the ships and their operations.A comprehensive software solution to replace a lot of the traditional manual work in relation to supply management will certainly help optimize outcome, considerably improve cost efficiency and mitigate risk inherent in the manual system. Careful selection from available range of software in the marketplace will need to be one and suitable packages compared before making the important decision of which product to use.Training of all staff involved with operations both on board ships and ashore will then become necessary to fully exploit the software's capabilities and achiev e desired results.