Dota Addiction

What is Dota? Dota or Defense of the ancient is a custom scenario for the real-time strategy video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and it's expansion, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, based on the â€Å"Aeon of Strife† map for StarCraft. The objective of the scenario is for each team to destroy the opponents' Ancients, heavily guarded structures at opposing corners of the map. Players use powerful units known as heroes, and are assisted by allied heroes and AI-controlled fighters called â€Å"creeps†. As in role-playing games, players level up their hero and use gold to buy equipment during the mission. Does Dota really affect the youth today? Does it help the youth today? Or it corrupts the minds of the youth who are playing this game? Let us look at Dota's advantages and disadvantages. Dota helps the youth who are playing this game to become mentally alert, cooperative, and strategic. It also increases their knowledge in mathematics by computing the gold's, damages, magic and physical reduction present in the game. Indeed, Dota really helps the youth by playing this game. In the other hand, playing this game without time management and priority can lead to irresponsibility. Starting from their responsibilities, the youth spend more time playing this game rather than doing their tasks. Studies were forgotten, students became lazy, and relationships with the family were also affected because of this game. Playing this game also triggers the player to lose his/her temper and values. Why? It simply because of the different languages used during the game or what we called â€Å"Trash talks†. Trash talks such as foul languages can really lose their temper and values. As a result, the both sides will fight against each other. Gamble is also present in this game, the highest bet is 5,000 pesos and the lowest is 300 pesos. Again, money for them is not that important anymore. Many players says that â€Å"Dota is the best past time ever,† so it's OK for them to waste their money. Due to playing, eating is irrelevant; the satisfaction they get from playing is the same as the satisfaction they get from eating. As a result, the body's immune systems are getting weaker and now expose the different viruses and diseases. All in all, Dota really affects the life style of the youth who are in to this game, although it has one good benefit, but it corrupts the mind and the way the youth think. It also weakened the body system, money and moral values were not given importance because of this game.

A Kindly Child

Oliver, my step son, is a young, good-hearted and kind boy. I first met him in a book shop years ago where he was forced to steal a handkerchief silk from my pocket; however, he was not the one who committed the pickpocket. At first glance you can see he is small and quite slim young man. He has got an oval face with bright blue eyes and a little mouth; furthermore, he has short brown straight hair. He is quite handsome, especially when he shows her bright smile. On the other hand, when I saw him firstly he was pale and thin with an expression of sorrow in her face which has no more. The most characteristic thing about Oliver is his unprecedented kindness. Despite the fact that he has raised in corrupt surroundings, his purity and virtue are absolute. What is more, even when he is abused and manipulated, Oliver does not become angry or indignant. Oliver’s moral scruples about the holiness of property seem inborn in him. Furthermore, other pauper children use rough idioms, but Oliver, oddly enough, speaks in proper words. His grammatical meticulousness is also inexplicable, as he presumably is not well-educated. I admire Oliver because he shows people how to be a better person. Moreover, his generosity of spirit is total, and even when faced with serious maltreatment; he has never lost his sense of morality or humanity. Her hair is brown, her eyes are honey colour. Moreover, she has a small nose and a big small. Today she is wearing a brown and white sweater, blue trouser and black shoes. The first thing you notice about him, are his blue eyes, small upturned nose and large sensuous mouth, which make his face very photogenic. At first glance you can also see her short, brown hair, as well as slender body which make her look really amazing. . It is rare to cheer everybody up in different situations, yet she always manages to do it. Moreover, she is the life and soul of a party, which makes her extremely sociable. Pointing out her tendency to be incredibly precise and insistance an perfection. Some people claim she may seem quick-tempered but in reality deep down, she is really an amiable person. Public places their real â€Å"work† when Dawkins picks the pocket of a gentleman. When the gentleman, Mr. Brownlow, realizes he is being robbed, Oliver is mistaken for the pickpocket. And he is then chased, captured and taken to the police Oliver is noted for having an especially innocent looking face, Brownlow. Oliver collects his inheritance and is adopted by Brownlow Oliver’s incorruptible undermines although he is raised in corrupt surroundings, his purity and virtue are absolute. Lily really deserves admiration due to her ambition and optimism. She shows people how to be a better person. I hope our friendship will never end. Mary is as beautiful as a Hollywood star. Her thick, wavy, long black hair gracefully falls down to her shoulders and encircles her diamond-shaped face. A golden suntan usually brings out her smooth, clear complexion and high cheek bones. Her slightly arched chestnut brown eyebrows highlight her emotions by moving up and down as she reacts to her world around her. Her large deep blue eyes, remind me of a lake on a stormy day. Her curved nose gives her little girl look that makes me want to smile when she talks. And her mouth is a small mouth outlined by puffy lips that she often accentuates with glossy pink lipstick. When she smiles, which is often, her well formed and even, white teeth brighten up her whole face. I guess you can tell that I am head over heals in love with Mary. His generosity of spirit is total, and even when he faced with serious maltreatment, he never loses his sense of morality or kindness.

Case Write-Up: The Investment Detective Essay

Case Summary The purpose of this case is to become a capital budgeting analyst and evaluate which set of free cash flows for 8 projects will result in the most effective investment for a firm’s capital. The objective given is to rank the four best that the company should accept. The case is broken down into three separate steps including the given information about estimated cash flows (inflows & outflows), determining the appropriate discount rate, and evaluating the cash flows using the IRR (Internal Rate of Return), MIRR (Modified Internal Rate of Return), NPV (Net Present Value), and other metrics. Each project is chosen solely on the basis of the quantitative analysis. Here are some factors to consider for this case: Each project has the same initial investment of $2 million; in addition, all are believed to be of the same risk class. The managers have determined that projects 7 and 8 are mutually exclusive. The issue is that the WACC has never been officially estimated and in the pas t the discount rate has been assumed at 10 percent (however, certain officers have asserted the discount rate to be higher). Ranking Projects Ranking projects simply through the inspection of cash flows is inadequate due to the time value of money and cost of capital of companies; the only piece of information that can be derived from looking at the cash flows is the amount of time it would take to be paid back (regular payback period). There are several capital budgeting tools that can be used, including IRR, MIRR, and NPV. These three can be used to see if a project exceeds the expected rate of return or the cost of capital for a company. We also refer to payback, discounted payback period, and a profitability index to help assist the decision-making process for which projects should start to commence. In addition, qualitative factors must be considered for any project given outside of this case, to cover the bases and have successful implementation. A company could find that having a negative NPV is acceptable due to the critical nature of the project. Experimenting in new markets to identify potential favorable businesses should be taken into consideration. Finally, cash flows are estimated in most projects so a  consideration has to be made for the quality of estimation. Therein lies one of the critical issues in capital budgeting; that there is a margin of error in the calculation of cash flows, whereas in the example above, the margin of error (typically larger with uncertain outcomes) could mean there would be a positive NPV for that critical project. Typically, NPV is the foremost choice for determining the investing worthiness of a specific project; NPV, determined by the sum of discounted cash flows compared against the cost of the investment. NPV allows anyone to see how much value above the initial investment. MIRR, would be the next best choice, as it is measures profitability of a project as a percentage (IRR does this as well). The reason MIRR is of higher significance is it has the extra part of assuming cash flows being reinvested at the WACC rate; additionally MIRR eliminates the problem of IRR having two potential rates. Quantitative Ranking Methods We ranked each project by the various methods stated above. Below, in Exhibit 1, are the metrics ranked by highest amount or percentage, except for payback and discounted payback periods which are ranked from low to high, signifying the shortest amount of time that the initial investment is recovered. The answer to determine which project is best to invest in is dependent on the variables and requirements that management deems necessary, meaning the qualitative content that is supplementary to the cash flow data. Typically, firms will decide to invest on the project that produces the highest NPV, and for this case if we are to rank by NPV, project #3 is the clear winner. Ranking by profitability index gives the same answer for each project number (it is indirectly related to NPV through the sum of discounted cash flow benefits). However when we look at the other values for project #3, it is  lower down the order. This is a result of the only cash flow being in the last (15th) year; due to the time value of money, this lowers the IRR and MIRR substantially, and obviously the payback period is the longest of all the projects. The next prosperous project based off of NPV but also ranked 2nd highest for IRR, MIRR, and PI, is project #4. At first glance, when considering the two mutually exclusive projects: project #7 and #8, the NPV and PI for project #8 is higher, while the IRR and MIRR are higher for project #7. Additionally the payback and discounted payback periods are shorter for project #7. This presents a dilemma in which it appears project #8 should be selected, yet #7 seems to be more favorable overall. There is a continuity of this dilemma as the cash flow streams are unequal for each project. To solve for this issue, we used a replacement chain analysis to determine which project between the two is the best investment decision. Below, in Exhibit 2, is an analysis of each project using replacement chaining. We excluded the last cash flow of $70 at T15, because for project #8’s last cash flow is after 7 years (project #7’s last cash flow is after 5 years), so we repeated that to T14. As shown above, when using the replacement chain method, we can see the change in outputs when the cash flows are repeated  through time. The decision between each project is now much clearer once the cash flows are repeated to the same* time-frame. Project #7 is the clear-cut investment decision when deciding between those two projects. Alternative Courses of Action There are always numerous ways to see a problem and decide how to react. The investor could choose any of the above mentioned methods (NPV, IRR, MIRR, payback, discounted payback, or Probability Index) to choose an investment project. Due to the mutual exclusivity of projects #7 and #8, the investor can choose whatever criteria method deemed most significant. Other factors for consideration include the project’s proposing manager’s track record for success, the proposing manager’s confidence in the project, the timing of the project’s cash flows, the project’s ability to protect market share, or the proposing division’s track record of success. Recommendation Based on these options, and the previously detailed analysis, we recommend that the project be selected based on the NPV ranking shown in Exhibit 1. With mutually exclusive projects, conflicts may arise in choosing between using the NPV, IRR, and MIRR. In this case, the NPV is the best choice for selection because it chooses the project that maximizes value for the firm. If managers are interested in the expected rate of return on the project, the MIRR or IRR will be more likely to demonstrate the rates that are actually earned if the project’s cash flows are reinvested in future projects, but this should be supplemental to the NPV during the decision process.

Western Civilization. The Second World War Essay

Western Civilization. The Second World War - Essay Example In the months and days prior to the war, tension had built up all over the country. As a newly appointed general and having had my father participate in the First World War, I was equally tense and concerned not only about my safety, but that of my squadron as well. When the looming war finally broke, initial orders conveyed to me and other generals expressly instructed us to lead our troops to invade Poland. This was one of the cruellest acts I have ever witnessed because innocent farmers were forced to relinquish their food supply and horses to the soldiers because they were needed for the war effort. Additionally, old people and veterans of the World War were recalled to the battle field. After the first two days, all the generals including me got assigned to diverse tasks meant to ensure that, the war was going as planned. I got the task of assigning the veterans to their specified areas of responsibility. I instructed them to head to the Hellnthal area and protect the border to the west; it was sad, yet challenging to see the old veterans rise up to serve their nation again after diligently doing the same during the previous war. The recalling of veterans and billeting them in the available castles, in Drreibor, was done hurriedly because France and England had declared war on Germany (Cole, Symes, Coffin, and Stacey 520). The weather was getting cold toward the conclusion of the Poland campaign. I remember ordering some young soldiers to replace the veterans in the castles, because the winter had a lot of snow, as well as, frost and some of the old soldiers could not handle the weather. After one year in the war, another campaign was launched and we were ordered to attack Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Holland. This is when we lost one of our planes near a dynamo generator house and the troops had to embark on travelling on railroad tracks. Other than railroads’ development, there was immense improvement of the aircrafts, which contributed to some of the major conquests in the war. The campaign lasted for six weeks and we emerged successful although, sadly, we lost a lot of men on the battle field. In 1941, the Battle of Britain began and this is when I was ordered to direct one thousand planes to raid the British (Cole et al 561). There were more casualties but as a general, one is not supposed to show weakness or pity for the enemy, but I can attest and say that this was the most difficult time in my life. I not only lost comrades, but many civilians died during the attacks as well. Additionally, about two young men were dying every day on the battle field and almost every night there were air raid. This is when I started to see people building shelters in their gardens although there was acute shortage in raw materials. It was a major development, since it showed growing innovation among civilians and it was also indicative of the people’s capacity to optimally utilize resources. It was not until 1944 that we start ed to launch attacks with the help of our allies, but despite our efforts to maintain our dominance over France, Paris got liberated. This is when the attacks got intense and we were losing so many people to the battle. Railroads and tunnels got destroyed and many boys and girls were taken to make the Westwall entrenchment, a highly difficult and perilous task (Cole 603). Even though the situation was deplorable and I did not want to exploit the young children, I had no choice but to follow orders and try to protect the civilians from continued deaths. I was also under immense pressure to guide my squadron in improving our weaponry cache, since the Americans had more civilized war machines. This brought about major improvements in the military.

Culture of Consumption During Eisenhower Administration Essay

Culture of Consumption During Eisenhower Administration - Essay Example His economic conservatism allowed the economy to grow to unprecedented levels and citizens at that time refer to this period as the â€Å"happy days† or the â€Å"good old days† to sort of give a characteristic feature of his administration. He cut the defense budget and controlled the budget deficit of the Federal government so private enterprises will not be crowded out of the credit and financial markets. In other words, private enterprise and individual initiative were in full bloom. American citizens felt good about themselves and at peace with the outside world such that this period saw an economic and also a baby boom when record numbers of babies were born. People felt upbeat in general when they produced record numbers of newborns and this in turn boosted consumer confidence such that people spent their monies in record numbers too. When people have faith in the future, they tend to spend money confidently and consume all the products and services on the market that led to a culture of conspicuous consumption. There also were profound social and economic changes that encouraged Americans to consume more. They found new affluence, moved to the suburbs in prefabricated houses, got new financial credit and took secure and well-paying jobs giving rise to a strong middle class (Mayer, 2010, p.

Analysis of Michel Foucault's theories of Power, Knowledge and Essay

Analysis of Michel Foucault's theories of Power, Knowledge and Technologies of the self - Essay Example Donnie Darko, a movie which was directed by Richard Kelly back in 2001, is a cult psychological thriller film. Basically, the main characters in the movie named Donnie Darko is a troubled teenager who was searching for the real meaning of life. Paranoid schizophrenia is a common type of schizophrenia which causes a person to experience a series of paranoid, delusions, and hallucinations related to auditory sensory or hearing. Due to the fact that Donnie is suffering from the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia, he often encounters emotional and psychological disturbances due to the presence of auditory hallucination. For this reason, his outlook in life was totally different from what other teenagers are going through in life. Not only did he get much trouble inside the school compound but also within the family circle and the community. For this study, the researcher will focus on discussing Foucault’s technologies of self, power, and theory of knowledge. To enable the readers to have a better understanding of the subject matter, the first part of study has been divided into three major sections. As part of conducting a literature review, the first section will analyse and discuss about Foucault’s technologies of self. The second section of the study will tackle Foucault’s point-of-view regarding knowledge whereas the third section will discuss about Foucault’s theories behind power. The second part of the study will provide the readers with a brief summary regarding the movie Donnie Darko. Upon analyzing the thoughts of Foucault on technologies of self, power, and theory of knowledge, the researcher will examine the main characters behind the movie entitled Donnie Darko. In the process of discussing the movie, Foucault’s technologies of self, power, and the theory of knowledge will be used in analyzing the personal attitude and social behaviour of Donnie – the main characters of the movie

Composition with Twelve Tones Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Composition with Twelve Tones - Essay Example The researcher states that it was in the early 19th century (between 1911 and 1922) that Schoenberg was searching for something new, something that may replace the traditional and old scheme of composition of music pieces. He believed that the old music was using just one or two tones as the core elements of its compositions. These two elements according to him were the tone / tonality and dissonance. According to Schoenberg these elements were stretched and used throughout the composition which he did not appreciate. As a result Schoenberg came up with a new idea that all the twelve tones must be utilized while composing music. Through it he was assure of the fact that no single tone will get the significance and all tones will be heard and balance each other in any composition. If we try to understand ‘The method of composing with twelve tones grew out of necessity†¦such a change became necessary when there occurred simultaneously, a development which ended in what I cal l the emancipation of the dissonance’, Schoenberg actually pointed out towards the surplus use of dissonance in the late 19th century by the composers like Strauss, Debussy and Wagner. These composers used dissonance freely as the basic element of music. This was indeed a thorough change in the techniques of compositions and thus it ended in what Schoenberg’s has stated as ‘Emancipation of the dissonance’. It has been noticed that the majority of the Schoenberg’s twelve tone composition portrays some characteristics which summons the forms of large scale tones. The music composition included all the major and minor keys from A to G. However his prediction regarding the popularity of the twelve tone composition did not come to reality. He thought that with the formation of the twelve tone composition he can spread and sustain the Germanic Music for the coming ten decades. Actually it did not happen. Schoenberg’s twelve tone system gained popul arity in the 20th century only. However at present musicians are unaware of the system and does not even aware of what twelve tone composition (Taylor & Melchior, 1993). With the formation of the twelve tones composition there was a simultaneous development in the music composition which was called the emancipation of dissonance. Emancipation of dissonance is also a concept in music composition which was formulated by Arnold Schoenberg  and some other composers. In this emancipation he declared no difference or change in dissonance or consonance. According to Schoenberg, just like any other feature of life, music is also historically foreseeable. With this assumption and his establishment of the twelve tone composition he thought that he can hold German music for the coming 100 years. His representation was classical and portrayed a sequence in which principle of evolution was symbolized by chromatic scale. He further assumed the twelve tone composition as a replacement for functi onal tonality. The development of twelve tone composition was considered to bring a change in music style whereas the change was brought to an end with the development of emancipation of dissonance. However for the use of twelve tone composition he emphasized on not using or avoiding traditional dissonance or simple consonance (Encyclop?dia Britannica, 2013). It is evidenced from Music literature that Schoenberg was very

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Economics - Essay Example The main reason for the differences coming short may so be given by the treasury was the previous failings of monetary policy. In their description of the new monetary framework of October 1999, the principal argument was that previously there had been that numerous shortcomings in the design and conduct of monetary policy. Objectives were often inappropriate or unclear, while decisions were often poorly coordinated with fiscal policy or were made too late to prevent inflationary pressures from building. Roles and responsibilities were also ill-defined, creating the impression that policy decisions could be based on short-term political considerations. A lack of transparency hindered accountability and meant that policy-makers were unable to build credibility (Balls, & ODonnell, 2002). Given that the Treasury was conducting both monetary and fiscal policy prior to giving independence to the Bank, this is a remarkable statement. It seems to be either a vote of no confidence in the Treasury, or in the incoming government. It was argued that previous governments had often accompanied an apparently tough budget with an interest rate cut, only to raise interest rates again shortly afterwards, when the budget proved more inflationary than expected. As a result, they proposed that a test of fiscal policy was whether an independent Bank would change interest rates following a budget. Their finding under the new monetary policy arrangements was that interest rate changes did not seem related to the previous budget (Goodhart, 2006). A possible test of what type of policy the Bank is pursuing may be possible when the Bank is faced by a supply shock. Interest rates control inflation through their effect on aggregate demand. Since a positive aggregate demand shock raises demand and inflation, the correct monetary policy response would be to offset the increase in aggregate demand by higher interest rates. In contrast, a negative supply shock- say an oil price increase,

The nature of Darwin's Contributions to the study of evolution Essay

The nature of Darwin's Contributions to the study of evolution - Essay Example Most f these masses said nothing, however, some vocally supported such persons as Charles Hodge, a Princeton theologian who preached that Darwinism was atheism. John William Dawson and Arnold Guyot, two f the last reputable nineteenth-century creationists attempted to oblige science by interpreting the days f Genesis "as ages and by correlating them with successive epochs in the natural history f the world" (Ruse, 229). Dawson and Guyot cited several supernatural interventions, particularly in their theories f the first humans; however, they attempted to keep such paranormal citations to a minimum, thus focusing on a maximizing f operations f natural law. Between 1910 and 1915, The Fundamentals was published to rejuvenate and reform Christianity throughout the world. These booklets were mass-produced, and, at the time, posed a bigger threat to orthodox faith than did evolution. According to Numbers, "Although one contributor [to The Fundamentals] identified evolution as the principal cause f disbelief in the Scriptures and another traced the roots f higher criticism to Darwin, the collection as a whole lacked the strident anti-evolution that would characterize the fundamentalist movement f the 1920s" (249). William Jennings Bryan soon became the ideal spokesman for an anti-evolution crusade. He was politically involved and, although lost the bid for presidency three times, had a national reputation, vast prestige, and a strong following. Bryan often preached f the silliness f humans having a biological connection to apes. After the outbreak f World War I, Bryan began to trace the source f trouble to the influence f Darwinism. From the information printed in two published books, one by Vernon Kellogg and one by Benjamin Kidd, Bryan blamed the deterioration f Christianity and democracy on the support f theories f evolution. Each f the two books cited conversations among German officers revealing that Darwin's biology had played a major role in convincing the Germans to declare war. Bryan furthered his crusade by noting that beliefs in evolution were the main cause f students to lose faith in the Bible. In class we learned that "creation science" has, indeed, not been proven as a science, thus should not be taught in schools. However, it is that same claim that was used by many creationists when referring to theories f evolution-- that it is not scientific. The crusade against evolution was given a significant boost in 1921 when British biologist William Bateson declared that scientists had not discovered "the actual mode and process f evolution" (Bateson, 56). Even though Bateson urged creationists not to misinterpret his statement as a rejection f evolution, they ignored him and accepted the statement as a minor triumph. Nonetheless, when it came down to a scientific debate, the creationists had only a handful f legitimate scientists-- including one or two physicians and a few teachers. In 1925 came the famous Scopes trial, where a high school teacher, John Thomas

An act of kindness you did for someone Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

An act of kindness you did for someone - Essay Example I myself wanted to keep a dog but my mother would never allow. She said that animals have germs and keeping them is not very hygienic for us. However, this was one chance for me to keep a pet and see if they are really that unhygienic to keep or difficult to manage the mess they create. So I took the chance and told my friend that she could leave Nin with me while she was away. My friend became very happy to hear this and said that it was a big load off her shoulder. She thanked me a lot. She said that now she could leave peacefully and content that her cat would be taken care of in her absence. When I brought Nin home, it was a shock for my mother. My mother is very conscious about maintaining cleanliness and hygiene in everything. While that is a good habit, but it gets a little irritating for others for whom the standards of cleanliness and hygiene are a little different from hers. It was not easy for me to convince my mother that I would be extremely careful with the cat and would regularly clean up any mess that Nin created. Still, my mother was not satisfied till the time she saw that it was not that difficult to keep a pet. I used to bathe Nin in a tub of luke warm water on alternate days, and would dry her with an air-blower. I bought Nin some very fine pet-cookies from the store from my own pocket money, and made sure that she had sufficient supply of cookies and milk. I also used to leave a little meat on the bones from my own meals to share it with Nin. This was all I could do with the pocket money I had at that time. In the evening, I used to take Nin out so that she could play. When my friend returned, she was extremely happy to find that Nin was doing well. She noticed that Nin had gained a few extra pounds. She was very grateful to me to have taken care of Nin so well. To see her smile was a very precious moment of my life, and reassured me that I

Sex Education and Why It Should Be Increased in Schools Essay

Sex Education and Why It Should Be Increased in Schools - Essay Example Teenagers should be made aware about the issue of teenage pregnancy and its consequences by promoting sex education in their schools. Sex education is a term used to describe education about human sexuality. It includes the teaching of human sexual behavior, male and female anatomy, reproduction, contraception and sexually transmitted diseases. Sex is a subject to which teens are not properly introduced. People in their teens are only exposed to sex through their friends, media and sometimes through their parents. This makes them unaware of the details linked with sexual intercourse and reproduction. It has been seen that teen pregnancies are most common where the teenagers are not formally educated on the subject of sex. Schools play a very important role in educating the students as it provides an environment for learning. Such an environment is necessary if the teens are to be properly educated about sex. When they are properly equipped with the knowledge, it broadens their view a nd the students can form their own point of view regarding sex. It is also seen that places where education is less common tend to have a higher rate of teenage pregnancies. Contraception and sexually transmitted diseases are the subjects which need most highlighting. ... Hence the sex education teens receive at the hands of their parents is inadequate. This makes it ever so important to include special classes in schools to enlighten the students about sex. A further important thing is the timing at which this education should be imparted. Most of the students that are in their late teens would have already experimented on a sexual relationship. Hence teens should be given classes when they are near puberty so that they have all the knowledge about sex and can think over it before starting a relationship. Rather than focusing on the facts and problems related to sex, teens should be given adequate information to prevent them. They should be taught about problems related to sexuality like complications in menstrual cycles, sexually transmitted diseases and early pregnancies. Teens should be told about contraception and how it could be achieved and from where they can get condoms without embarrassing themselves (Davis, 1995). Sex education will undoubt edly prevent a large number of teenage pregnancies that arise due to lack of proper information about the sexual experience. Once it is decided that the schools incorporate sex education in their curriculum, it is imperative to look for a teacher that can cater to teenagers’ needs and understand their psychology. The teacher should be confident and talk to the teenagers like a friend so that they voice their confusions without getting uncomfortable. Also the classes for sex education should be conducted in a single sex environment that is boys should have a class with all boys and the same goes for the girls. With such planning, teenagers will be able to get most out of the class (Irvine,

The Leisure Products (LP) Company manufactures lawn and patio furniture Essay Example for Free

The Leisure Products (LP) Company manufactures lawn and patio furniture Essay These costs are allocated to each unit of output based on the projected annual production of 500,000 chairs. A 10 percent markup ($ 0. 65) was added to the cost per unit in arriving at the firms selling price of $ 7. 15 (plus shipping). In May, LP received an inquiry from Southeast Department Stores concerning the possible purchase of folding chairs for delivery in August. Southeast indicated that they would place an order for 30,000 chairs if the price did not exceed $ 5. 50 each (plus shipping). The chairs could be produced during the slow period using the firms existing equipment and workforce. No overtime wages would have to be paid to the workforce in fulfilling the order. Adequate materials were on hand (or could be purchased at prevailing market prices) to complete the order. LP management was considering whether to accept the order. The firm’s chief accountant felt that the firm should not accept the order because the price per chair was less than the total cost and contributed nothing to the firm’s profits. The firm’s chief economist argued that the firm should accept the order if the incremental revenue would exceed the incremental cost. The following cost accounting definitions may be helpful in making this decision Direct labor: Labor costs incurred in converting the raw material into the finished product. Material: Raw materials that enter into and become part of the final product. Plant overhead: All costs other than direct labor and materials that are associated with the product, including wages and salaries paid to employees who do not work directly on the product but whose services are related to the production process (line managers, maintenance, and janitorial personnel); heat; light; power; supplies; depreciation; taxes; and insurance on the assets employed in the production process. Selling and distribution costs: Costs incurred in making sales (e. g. , billing and salespeople’s compensation), storing the product, and shipping the product to the customer. (In this case the customer pays all shipping costs. ) Administrative costs: Items not listed in the preceding categories, including general and executive office costs, research, development, engineering costs, and miscellaneous items. Answer the following questions: 1. Calculate the incremental, or marginal, cost per chair to Leisure Products of accepting the order from Southeast? 2. What assumptions did you make in calculating the incremental cost in Question 1? What additional information would be helpful in making these calculations? 3. Based on your answers to Questions 1 and 2, should Leisure Products accept the Southeast order? 4. What additional considerations might lead Leisure Products to reject the order? Solution 1. Marginal cost per chair to Leisure Products = $4. 55 (Direct labor + Direct Materials) 2. While calculating incremental cost in Q1, I made following assumptions: a. The cost of labor would remain same i. e. there will no overtime wages. b. LP will be able to produce 30,000 chairs to fulfill the order from Southeast with its existing capacity. c. The cost of materials will remain same. There is additional information given in the case to support my calculation in Q1. Since the customer is bearing the shipping cost, the selling and distribution costs is ignored for decision making. Administrative cost and plant overhead are indirect costs and are allocated to estimate size of production. Since these costs do not change irrespective of production, such cost is not considered for calculation of marginal cost per chair. 3. Since selling price per chair exceeds the marginal cost per chair, LP should accept the order. This order will have positive impact on the profitability of LP. 4. Following considerations may lead Leisure Products to reject the order: a. The existing capacity is not adequate and new capacity would be required to complete the order. b. Overtime and more labor resources affecting the labor cost would be required to complete the order. c. LP will have to bear the selling and distribution costs. d. Changes in market affecting material or labor cost can affect the decision.

Maintaining Project Management in the Built Environment

Maintaining Project Management in the Built Environment â€Å"The UKs construction industry has been enjoying a period of strong growth, with the infrastructure and the commercial construction sectors at the forefront of this trend.† (Corporate watch, 2004) The environmental groups of UK, such as the Construction Industry Environmental Forum (CIEF), The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Envirowise, Construction Industry Council (CIC), Defra, Environment Agency, Corporate Watch, etc. are more cautious and active to built environment specifically in the UK construction industry. Their one of the main objectives is to improve the sustainability and environmental performance of construction. Thus it need a well organized preplan and to maintain it; that means project management. Now the question come that, does it really important to maintain a project management in the built environment specifically in the UK construction industry.  · Background: There is no doubt that the construction industries in built environment today face more challenges than in the past. The modern business environment is operating in a highly turbulent time. Demand for operational activities to achieve effectiveness and efficiency, the environment has increased the need for organizational accountability both in public and private sector. The UK construction industry is a growing sector and developing day by day. In this case project management is viewed as a tool that helps the organization to carry out selected project effectively and efficiently. This project management tool in the built environment does not guarantee the project success. It has been seen that some project completed within the determined time and meet all requirements, but has not succeed. On the other hand, some project perceived as successful though they have failed to meet the most important criteria. However, in a project environment, the project management can provide the achievement of project and organizational goals. In addition, project management presents a greater assurance to the stakeholders that all resources are utilized and managed effectively. â€Å"Projects fail at an alarming rate. Quantitative evaluations show that as many as 30% of projects are cancelled before completion, wasting all the time money and effort spent on them. Surviving projects usually fail to deliver the full initial project scope or deliver late or overrun the budget†. (William, 2002). Project management is very important when consequence is absence of proper project management or project management is not applied properly to the projects. Continues changes in project scope, the demand for efficient project management is emerged to maximize the resources. â€Å"Effective project management will help: meet or exceed customer expectations, maximize the use of your resources (time, people, money, space, etc.), bring the project to a successful conclusion on time and within budget, document what was done for any need of future reference, and build confidence in your team for future projects†. (Glenn ,2007)  · Aims of the dissertation: The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the importance of project management in the built environment, specifically in the UK construction industry.  · Method of the dissertation: The method of this dissertation is external referencing. Journals and reference books are used as the source of data to this dissertation. Materials are collected on the internet, libraries and other mediums of research.  · Results: One or two sentences indicating the main findings. For the touch of globalization and worldwide competition construction firms are not concern with accomplish the work within the time limit and budget; and get profit, They are competing with how efficiently, accurately accomplish the project with highest amount profit as well as proper implementation of the project.  · Conclusions: One sentence giving the most important consequence of the work. 2. To assess the significance, structure and execution of Project Management in built environment principally in the UK construction industry. Construction Industry Environmental Forum, UK says that their objectives and mission is to improve the sustainability and environmental performance of construction, by providing a cross-sector and independent forum for the exchange of new ideas and demonstration of best practice. 2.1. The objectives of Construction Industry Environmental Forum Their objectives are Demonstrate the implementation and value of sustainability best practice To identify the barriers and promote practical solutions To provide briefings on the latest legislative changes To showcase examples of best practice and innovation, and the business benefits To assist in the production of appropriate best practice guidance To promote research in sustainable construction Disseminate the results of new research and guidance that can help to deliver a more sustainable built environment. 2.2. Key themes of Project Management in built environment principally The key themes are- Biodiversity and wildlife Energy use and climate change Performance measurement Planning urban regeneration Sustainable resource use Contaminated land Environmental management Sustainability accounting and reporting The internal environment Social and corporate responsibility Waste management, recycling and materials Procurement and modern methods of construction 2.3. Illustration Rapid Globalization has made so much pollution that the people of the world are now cautious to build environment friendly construction. Government has imposed many rules and regulations on construction industries. This makes the construction projects more complex to do. Increasing amount of the competition in construction industries are now emphasis on the accuracy and the efficiency of work as well as the environment friendliness. So a proper management and well established plan is needed to face this situation. Thus the necessity of project management came to an question in of project management in the built environment specifically in the UK construction industry. The skills in Project management are not secret art especially in built environment. In regarding construction project success there are some techniques that should be developed. Now let see what a project management means. â€Å"A project is some overall task which has a definable beginning and a definable end. It consists of a number of related and dependent activities, all of which utilize resources, and upon which there are imposed internal and external conditions† (Marttino, 1968) â€Å"Project management in construction is a practical, easy-to-read guide to defining, organizing, planning, and executing a construction project so that it is completed to the satisfaction of the principal stakeholders†.( Research and markets,2004) The Project sponsor receives the projects due. The sponsor owns overall responsibility of directing and organizing for the project. Asides that, the sponsor resolves various issues around scope, schedule, budget, and staffing and accelerates finance for the project. Surely the sponsors want to get profit and frequent money circulation from their investment and invest where they the risk is low. To attract them project management is an attractive tool. Project management ensures optimum performance of their operation, proper use of resources and completes the project within the time limit. 2.4. Basic Elements of project Basically the elements of any project are Operations- the things organization/firm do Resources- the things organization/firm use, consisting of men, money, materials, machines and time. Conditions or restraints- under which organization/firm must work such as deliveries and deadlines. Resources may be fixed, variable or combined. When resources are used efficiently, they are said to be levelled. Planning is done independently of resources consideration. The assigning of resources to a plan determines the schedule automatically. Since duration estimates are only guesses, it is important that dynamic control be maintained. Network analysis is a tool for controlling, as well as planning. â€Å"Even organizations that have established a formal Project Management Office need an executive champion, particularly when the office is understaffed.† (Don, 2007) 2.5. Life cycle of a project Now let see how the Life cycle of a project is Project development and preliminary engineering Bidding and contract negotiation Engineering design Purchase and procurement Construction Commissioning (Prasanna,P-28.8) Figure 2: life cycle of a project (Prasanna,P-28.8) Project management is the primary means which manipulate the organizational strategy. Projects are to be said as unique units of work that put into action the policies and strategies of an organization. â€Å"Construction projects are directly linked with the strategic vision and mission of the organization. As far as owners or operators of physical facilities are concerned, construction projects are the means of supporting their organizational goals. Organizations are constantly faced with new demands on their physical facilities. Owners of facilities are continually re-shaping the way they design and organize their work practices, which in turn directly impacts the performance of their physical facilities.† (Michael,2004) In the field of UK construction industry the importance and need of project management is an important issue, because all organization, whether large or small, at one time or other, are engaged in manipulating new undertakings. â€Å"These undertakings may be diverse, such as, the development of a new product or service; the establishment of a new production line in a manufacturing enterprise; a public relations promotion campaign; or a major building programmers†.(Sandro,2004) The concept of project management is traditionally familiar with construction industry and is widely applied on projects of all sizes and complexity. The role of project management in the construction industry is to put in important value to achieve the successful delivery of projects. Project management function is applicable to all types of projects in built environment. Application of project management to the construction industry is an important component to raise the standards by setting objective standards of competence and encouraging their usage. To achieve the construction project success in the field of built environment the proper criteria should be followed. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said about them, â€Å"The RICS Project Management Faculty is the home within RICS for professionals who have an interest in the management of construction projects.† (rics.org ) 3. To classify the project management tools and techniques and quantify their influence in the construction project success. â€Å"There is a relationship between time and cost to perform an activity. There is a normal and crash point for both the time and cost of each job.† (Marttino, 1968) Team building, planning, controlling and monitoring, even terminating a project all are the part of the project management function. There are many reasons for which the construction projects are often completed late and the budget exceed the expectation. However, the department of the environment working with the construction industry, that encouraged a number of initiatives to promote improvements of successful construction. Skills of the construction workforce, information technology, research all these needs to be developed to achieve the construction project success. The right process makes built environment easy and application of information technology in the construction industry become available. It is known that high levels of understanding issues facing by the governments and the industry leaders and the applicability of project management provide a theoretical framework for strategic planning and emphasize the tools for research into the economics of the industry. In the field of construction industry promoting the importance of built environment is a significant issue. Construction industry is the process that adding infrastructure to the UK built environment. Commitment to the objective of project management is strong tool to continue and maintain a successful construction project. Excellent communication, well managed team leadership, capability to work at both internal and external levels of project management, being informed about when and how to make trade-offs and concentrating on business goal are to be said the techniques used to achieve the successful delivery of projects. 3.1. International project management The planning exercise provides the project appraiser with the following information- Determination of the major problem areas, Identification of goals and a good matrix to related targets purpose, purpose to objective and objectives to fid development goals, A consideration of alternatives strategies, sector allocations and programmes and a choice between them An identification of alternative project Thus the boundaries of project appraisal are determinate. (Wadhwa, Daver, Rao, -1998) The appraisal of the project is very important which consists of the following steps. Determination of expected contribution of alternatives actions to the various goals. The determination of costs-benefits of the various actions. The determination of a conceptual framework to monitor and evaluate the proposal action.(Wadhwa, Daver, Rao, -1998) So any Project investigation, analyzing, designing, implementing, and managing is done properly by the management. Management directs the project through appropriate process. The process goes through a continuous aspect as the Directing a Project (DP), Starting up a Project (SU), Initiating a Project (IP), Managing Stage Boundaries (MSB), Controlling a Stage (CS), Managing Product Delivery (MP), Closing a Project (CP), Planning (PL).( PRINCE2 2008) 3.2. Times with any project All this processes are related with time boundaries. The time lines are- Earliest start times- the earliest time at which all preceding activities can be accomplished. Latest starting time- the latest time an activities can be starts without delaying the project. Earliest finish time- the earliest possible time at which an activity can be completed. Latest finish time- the latest time and activity can be completed without delaying the project.(Marttino, 1968) Select time line boundaries are very important for a successful project management. Float is a measure of available time verses required time. Jobs without float are said to be critical and lie on the critical path. There are four Kinds of float- Total float- differences required time and maximum time. Interfering float (event slake) the measure of float share by downstream activities Free float measure of excess time when all activities start as early as possible. Independent float the difference between required time and minimum available time.(Marttino, 1968) 3.3. Common Difficulties There are some common difficulties that are playing as a determiner of the success or failure of the project. In a project, capital expenditure decisions are extremely important; they also pose difficulties which stem from three principal sources. Measurement problem Identifying and measuring the cost and benefits of a capital expenditure proposal tends to be difficult. This is more so when a capital expenditure has a bearing on some other activities of the firm (like cutting into the sales of some existing product) or has some intangible consequence (like improving the morale of workers). Uncertainty A capital expenditure decision involves cost and benefits that extend far into the future. It is impossible to predict exactly what will happen in the future. Hence, there is usually a great deal of uncertainty characterising the cost and benefits of a capital expenditure decision. Temporal spread The cost and benefits associated with a capital expenditure decision are spread out over a long period of time. Usually 10-20 years for industrial projects and 20-50 years for infrastructural culture projects. Such a temporal spread creates some problems in estimating discount rates and establishing equivalence. (Chandra, 2007) 4. To evaluate the stages onto which the project management tools and techniques are applied while executing any construction project. It is very important to evaluate the tools and techniques that are used in a project to its successful conclusion. Every steps of a project is very important. The efficiency of the management depends upon the perfect use of its resources. One fault may change the overall condition of the project. 4.1. Capital expenditure decision Capital expenditure decision often represents the most important decision taken by a firm. Their importance stems from three inter-related reasons- Long term effect The consequences of capital expenditure decisions extend far into the future. The scope of current manufacturing activities of a firm is governed targets by capital expenditures in the past. Irreversibility The market for used capital equipment in general is ill -organized. Further, for some types of capital equipment, custom made to specific requirements, the market may virtually be no existent. Once such an equipment is acquired, reversal of decision may mean scrapping be reversed without incurring a substantial loss. Substantial outlays Capital expenditures usually involve substantial outlays. An integrated steel plan, for example, in rolves an outlay of several thousand million. Capital costs lend to increase with advanced technology. (Chandra, 2007) 4.2. Facts of project analysis There are some factors to analysis any project. They are essential to estimate the importance of the project to the firm. According to Chandra, 2007 the factors are- Market analysis this factor determines the need of the project. That means how fruitful will be the project to the society. Technical analysis it determines the capability of the firm to complete the project. Financial analysis it determines the financial capability of the firm to complete the project as well as the profitability of the project. Economic analysis it determines the economic aspects of the project to the society. Ecological analysis it determines the biological aspects of the projects. Basically this is the most important factor to build built environment specifically in the construction industry.(Chandra, 2007) 4.3. Capital budgeting process Capital budgeting is the tool that ensures the outcome from the project and successful conclusion of the project. It is also very important to continue the regular activity and financing. It requires identifying all parties as well as stakeholders related to this project for proper execution of management of the project. First the plan of budgeting should be made than analyze it to determine the necessity and minimize the cost. After this firm should select the priority of financing and select the source of financing. Then implement it and review the effectiveness. The process can be shown as follows. In Capital budgeting process every elements is affecting others. 5. To investigate the role, application and efficacy of project management processes in achieving the successful delivery of projects. There are five resources to complete the project. Basically these are the elements that combine all the factors and tools to complete a project. Man Money Materials Machines and Time The building process maintains follows an identifiable life cycle at the time when important environmental impact occurs. However, this process is result to the function and rules of project management of varying degrees of formality that is liable about the procurement, control, and direction of the resources required. The function project management is practiced as it seeks to continue the explicit and implicit performance factors. â€Å"The roles, duties, and responsibilities of the project manager are examined to establish the positions during the life cycle at which the environmental impact of the building process is determined and the opportunities available to the project manager to exercise environmental responsibility whilst pursuing the satisfaction of explicit performance requirements (cat.inist.fr,1997) Single project management provides the project portfolio management efficiency. The previous research reminds that the single project management is related with project portfolio level outcome. â€Å"A questionnaire survey with 279 firms verifies the hypothesized role of information availability, goal setting and systematic decision making in achieving portfolio management efficiency.†(Miia Pà ¤ivi, 2007, Pages 56-65) So, reaching project management goals and portfolio management efficiency are two different hypothesized links. Project management is known as a general issue, but most of the time so many of us get it wrong. Even if one gets it right once, the next time project is often so disappointment. The reason behind it may be unable to embed project management into all aspect of the organization and dont learn from the mistakes. In the built environment of construction industry the organization needs to consider which projects will delivery strategic objectives. Project management has emerged as a well-built discipline which is practiced by high level of training, certified experts as organizations have come to observe that they would not stay in business if they cannot handle their projects. However, many organizations are still limiting or reducing the application of project management to the tactical level. It is so much important for the organization to stay in the survival of the construction enterprises in built environment. 5.1 Role of Project Management Notably, the role of project management is defined especially by the following strategies:- Executive championship: high level of buy-in decision and the guidance to give support the portfolio manager. â€Å"Even organizations that have established a formal Project Management Office need an executive champion, particularly when the office is understaffed.† (Wessels, 2007) Business acumen: in order to meet the organization objectives, the project managers need to take quick decision about which projects are necessary. A solid project management process: leadership is an important tool to do the excellent job to create strategic portfolio in regarding project management of construction industry. the project managers and their teams should maintain and continue the practice of just-do-it. Timeframes and budgets: the budget and timeframes should be within the control of project so that the projects would not set up for failure from the beginning. It is known that construction industry is sixth largest industry in United Kingdom. So, it is needless to mention the importance of successful project planning and the budgets in a timeframe. The construction industry comprises a huge amount of investment and cost that is to be said unrecoverable. Hence, if the proper implementation does not occur especially in the UK built environment then there is the possibility of a large amount of loss. â€Å"According to the latest figures (April 2003) from the Office of Government Commerce statistics, 569 PFI contracts have been signed in the UK, 418 of which are already operational. The combined capital value of these contracts is  £53 billion, although the value of individual projects ranges from under  £1 million to over  £1 billion. In the construction and property sector, the scope of PFI has been wide-ranging, including roads, bridges, sewage treatment plants, waste incinerators, hospitals, schools, prisons and office accommodation. But despite the large number of projects procured to date, the effectiveness of PFI is still subject to considerable debate.† (emeraldinsight,2008) Requirements analysis: most of the cases it has been viewed that the organization does not follow and meet the proper requirements. This lack leads to a risky result for any type of organization. Stay the course: the benefit of project management is that it helps to stay in the course when the objectives and goals are determined. Whatever the task is, whether it is difficult or easy, staying in the course makes it possible to fulfill. 6. To identify the importance and need of project management with the augmentation of scope and complexity of construction project. It is strongly recommend that the benefit, challenge, objectives, goals, strategies all should be selected in a systematic manner for the better outcome. Furthermore, the stages of project management are to be considered and implemented in a normal procedure. The following diagram shows the stages involved in project management. The above figure suggests that at first the organization would focus on what would be their task and strategy that already mentioned. Then the next step would be to emphasize on how those task and strategy can be implemented. To implement successfully, the organization must have to consider the following criteria in accordance with their objectives: Adequate formulation: the project management helps to formulate the required data and information adequately and make the function more reliable. Sound project organization: sound project organization means how smoothly and efficiently the organization can run. When the proper project is implemented then the organizational activities become functional and easy to retain. Proper implementation planning: whatever the plan is should be implemented properly. The organization needs to follow the right way to make their plan of project effective and desired. It is strongly recommended that the right thing at right way would be implemented at right time and obviously at the right place. Advance action: advance action needs to take before going to consider about any project success. Good project management thinking helps to identify and recognize the advance actions those are needed to run in the built environment of construction industry. The success or final outcome of the effort depends mostly on the proper advance action. Timely available of funds: the project management plays a major role in regarding budget issue. The budget issue is equaled important for achieving the desired success. Barriers are involved when the project is maintained and run. Available of funds is one thing that formulates the process of a successful project outcome. Judicial equipment tendering and procurement: Better contract management: management is to be defined as planning, controlling, organizing and implementing the functional activities. Contract management is the field where all things related with the planning, controlling, organizing and implementing. The more managed contract, the more desired success can be gained. However, project management to success of construction is similar with blood to a body. â€Å"Communication on projects between owners and contractors can sometimes be difficult†. (ehbrunjesassociates.com,2004). In UK construction industry, the external environment is very competitive and challenging. At every step, the organization has to face these challenges and only proper project management can make these challenge completed. Effective maintaining: the well maintenance of project is the heart of successful construction project. In the perspective of UK construction industry, effective maintaining can lead to a high level of success. â€Å"Project Management is not a catch phrase dreamed up by some marketing director. It is a well-developed body of science with its own processes, technologies, certified professionals, trade associations, and body of literature. So far, lawyers have not been a part of that world, but that is about to change†. (Donald,n.d) The importance and need of project management with the augmentation of scope and complexity of construction project cannot be ended in words. The development of project management within a construction industry related organization allows the management teams to work in partnership. Proficiency, locally, nationally or globally the implementation of project management bears some legal and ethical importance. The contribution of project management to a modern developed country like UK is a considerable topic. It is a formal methodology used to ensure that the projects would be completed on time and within the budget. However, project management is used historically in the construction industry, where methodology is firmly established. In the area of project management ability, making decision in a changing environment is the major concern. The rapid growth of project management is to be stated as an indication of a change in business function throughout all organization. It is implemented in construction industry to bring about change in organization platform so that they can lead change in organization. The trinity of project management is time, cost and quality (content or scope). All these things are the major objective function on a project. â€Å"The importance of effective project management is by no means restricted to new plant development and construction†. (Brian, n.d) For careful management, maintenance and plant outage work is necessary, especially for in light of growing competitive pressures. Project management in todays UK construction industry is faced with the challenge whereby the essential roles and functions they are performing witness a gradual shift in focus. To continue and retain their professional competency, application of project management in construction adapt to the changing environment by depending on effi

Evidence Based Case Study Social Work Essay

Evidence Based Case Study Social Work Essay Evidence based practice (EBP) refers to integrating professional expertise with the best available external research, and incorporating the views of service users (Beresford, 1996). Evidence based practice has received its reputation by examining the reasons why interventions are necessary (Duffy, Fisher and Munroe, 2008). Within my placement EBP was important for refining my practice so the service user was provided with appropriate support for her individual needs. I used my EBP to carry out research to determine what evidence supported or rejected the use of a specific intervention; within this case I used a counseling approach. The principle of social work intervention is to provide good practice and should be based on a decision-making framework (Preston-Shoot and Braye, 2009). This framework operates on four concepts:- The legislation that informs a decision; Social work ethics and NISCC codes of conduct; Information to ensure a well-informed decision; Knowledge drawn from research, theory, practice and other professionals. In addition to powers and duties of social workers, legislation embeds notions of partnership, respect, rights and anti-discriminatory practice, which are key elements in social work practice (Preston-Shoot and Braye, 2009). My practice learning opportunity involved working with adults with a learning disability in a day care setting. The benefits of the day centre were to provide a service for local people to access support in living with, or caring for someone, with a learning disability. Northern Ireland statistics show that in 2008 there were 9,460 people with a learning disability in contact with Trusts (www.northernireland.gov.uk). From the 9,460 people with a learning disability there were 2,574 benefiting from care management, 42% (1,086) of whom were being supported in their own homes and 35% (898) being cared for in residential homes solely for the use of people with learning disabilities (www.northernireland.gov.uk). This evidence based case study is based on Miss A, a 35 year old woman, who has a learning disability and Spina Bifida resulting in her using a wheel chair for mobility. Within the past few years Miss As family life has changed dramatically. In previous years Miss A had lived in the community with her elderly parents, who cared for her. She is one of three children and has two older brothers. Miss As mother, after being diagnosed with Dementia, was admitted to a residential care home. Her father after having been moved to residential care himself passed away in November 2008 due to his physical health. Miss A now resides in a private nursing home and attends day care three days per week. In March 2008, there were 75 residential homes in Northern Ireland solely for people with a learning disability providing 898 places (www.northernireland.gov.uk). Miss A has been previously diagnosed with MRSA; it is currently located in her toe, having been previously present in her urine. Treatments from the residential care staff have the infection under control, however the infection still remains. The recent death of her father plays a significant role in Miss As life and continues to affect her socially and emotionally. Some of the stereotypical assumptions I had before meeting Miss A were that because she had a physical and learning disability that she would be hard to communicate with, that she would have limited understanding and limited verbal skills. I have challenged this opinion and realised that Miss A is a very competent individual with good communication skills, and can express her likes and dislikes proficiently. As for her physical disability this does not affect her cognitive or cerebral functions. I had also made the assumption that as Miss A had MRSA that it could easily be cross-contracted due to a lack of knowledge and education. After researching the issue and contacting infection control within the Trust I deducted that MRSA is a problem within clinical settings but can be easily controlled with proper preventative procedures. This can be identified as a risk, but should not be a reason to oppress or discriminate Miss A. After having initially met Miss A, liaised with her social worker, accessed her case file and Tuned In to her life issues, I met with Miss A to prepare for the initial assessment and gather information into how best to support her. My role with Miss A was to provide a reassessment since the changes in her circumstances and the death of her father. My role was to determine what support she may need, and to include her wishes and feelings. Assessment: History has shown that there has always been an importance to assessment in social work, but since the 1990s there has been specific importance to a new form assessment to include risk. The National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 stresses the importance of inter-agency collaboration and a multi-disciplinary assessment process (Trevithick, 2000). The purpose of an assessment may seem evident; that is, to assess the needs of individuals who may need help and/or support. In recent history however assessment seems to mean a relationship between need and available resources (Whittington, 2007, p23) leading to a question if this is ethical or effective practice? There are many purposes of an assessment, for example to assess risk, to assess need, to act as an advocate for someone and also to implement agency and government policy (Whittington, 2007, p25-26). Coulshed and Orme (2006) explain that assessment is an ongoing process where the purpose is to understand people in relation to their environment; it is a basis for planning what needs to be done to maintain, improve or bring about change with the service users participation. The initial preparation for the assessment with Miss A included visiting her social worker and studying her case file. This enabled me to gather information to dispel any preconceptions I had about meeting this service user. The social worker passed on her knowledge of Miss A, such as medical conditions, family circumstances and finances, and also any previous problems that had occurred. I felt it was important to work in partnership with Miss As social worker so I could keep her up to date with events, and also contact her if I required advice about Miss A. The purpose of Miss As individual assessment was to gather information by interacting and communicating with Miss A and others involved in her care, this was also to gain a holistic perspective to her needs. Her assessment was guided by legislation such as, the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act (NI) 1978, which places a duty on health and social services to investigate a level of need, and also the Health and Personal Soc ial Services (NI) Order 1972 which stipulates a responsibility to provide personal social services for the promotion of social welfare for the general public (http://www.understandingindividualneeds.com). As a model of assessment I used Smales (1993) Models of Professional Care which were useful in gathering important information about Miss A. I used the procedural and questioning model to gather information into how Miss A felt about certain issues in her life, such as the bereavement of her father, contact with her other family, and other issues she felt were working or not working. I used these methods of assessment as this followed Trust guidelines. I used The Model of Professional Care to gain a holistic understanding of information. I also included the Exchange model in the assessment as I considered Miss A to be the expert of her own life. I feel the use of the Procedural model was useful in certain aspects of the assessment as it worked in collaboration with the Trusts format of assessment and worked as a form of gathering information, but feel I could have used more of an Exchange model to communicate effectively with Miss A rather than just form filling. I feel Smales method of assessment provided me with tools to help Miss A identify factors that were important for her to maintain, but also issues she would like to change. By working in partnership with her I felt we would have an open and trusting working relationship. I also focused on Person Centred Planning (PCP) in regards to the assessment with Miss A. Person Centred Planning, which evolved from the White Paper; a government policy known as Valuing People, suggested four key principles; Rights, Independence, Choice and Inclusion as a proposal of changing services (Thompson, Kilbane and Sanderson, 2008, p9). This policy also helped inform guidelines for Northern Irelands Equal Lives Policy (2005). Person Centred Planning focused on finding out what is important to and what is important for (health and safety) Miss A. I found PCP a continual process of listening and learning, by focusing on whats important to Miss A now and in the future (Thompson, Kilbane and Sanderson, 2008, p27). By using person centred tools, such as a one page profile, I gained knowledge of what was important to Miss A including her family, her boyfriend and her independence, as well as knowing what was important to keep her safe and healthy. I used a person centred approac h to make others aware of Miss As great personality characteristics as well as the help and support she would like. I feel this was fundamental to demonstrate that Miss A is a person behind her disability. I found by using this approach was an essential skill in understanding Miss A and helped me to be anti oppressive and actively support her needs One particular piece of legislation which I found to be significant in the assessment of Miss A was the Human Rights Act (1998), which identifies Miss As right to family life. Since the death of her father and the institutionalisation of her mother due to her mental health, Miss A has been experiencing disintegration of her family and has lost the support connected to it. The Human Rights Act could have a great significance as Miss A needs emotional and physical support to visit her mother and has not been receiving it; therefore her right to family life is being impeded. The assessment identified that contact with her family and friends are imperative for this right to be upheld. Therefore as a result my role was to facilitate this right, and help to support Miss A in retaining family contact. The main objectives we (Miss A and I) identified within the assessment were; That Miss A had limited support to help discuss the death of her father. That Miss A was not receiving contact with her mother or other family and would like to. From the identification of objectives Miss A and I decided to work towards solutions by preparing a work plan. Planning: After the initial assessment was carried out with Miss A we proceeded to work towards formulating a care plan and targeting her objectives. A care plan provided clear information for everyone involved with Miss A and helped work in partnership with her and the Trust. For a person centred care plan the word ‘support is used in preference to ‘care because the verb implies that support is there to help people achieve their goals and ambitions† (Thompson, Sanderson and Kilbane, 2008). â€Å"A support plan is developed by the person with help where necessary, and it describes how the person intends to be supported in order to live their own life† (Thompson, Sanderson and Kilbane, 2008). I feel the use of a support plan with Miss A, rather than a care plan is an anti-oppressive method, as it incorporates Miss As feelings and opinions into how she wishes to be supported. I used the formulation of a support plan with Miss A to record the objectives she would like to meet and used these to formulate an intervention. It was clear from the assessment and one page profile that limited contact with her mother was an issue, and that the death of her father had a significant impact on her life. I then proceeded to investigate theory of loss and grief as I had never experienced a loss of Miss As magnitude before. I found the Kubler-Ross Model and the 5 responses to grief to be particularly informative. (Goldsworthy, 2005). This theory helped inform my knowledge and in turn helped me be empathetic to Miss A. I was able to identify that Miss A can experience the 5 stages of grief and that they are not necessarily in a specific order. I felt Miss A was at two stages of grief, some days she experiences anger at her father leaving, and other times she has deep feelings of depression of losing him. I was able to use Kubler-Rosss model to identify these stages in Miss A, and also to advise her that these feelings were part of the normal process of grief. The assessment also identified that Miss A had a lack of support in discussing her feelings of grief. Research suggests that people with learning disabilities experience many of the emotions of bereavement but are limited in the opportunities they have to resolve their feelings of grief (Cathcart, 1995; Elliot, 1995; Read, 1996). There are many reasons for this and Murray et al explains that historically, professionals, parents or carers of individuals with learning disabilities believed that those in their care did not understand the concept of death and thus were unable to grieve for the loss of a loved one (McLoughlin, 1986; Elliot, 1995; Read, 1996 cited in Murray et al. 2000). Kitching (1987) and Bradford (1984) highlight that the capacity to grieve is not dependent on a persons intellectual ability, but that a person with learning disability may experience grief in the same way as a child. Therefore research shows that people with a learning disability experience grief and loss but have a limited support network to discuss it with. I used this research to formulate a plan for the intervention with Miss A and we concluded that I could be support for discussing her grief. From the assessment and care plan with Miss A, and following discussions my practice teacher, I discussed that I would use counselling skills to help support Miss A with her feelings of grief. I felt Miss A needed her emotional needs met since the feelings of the death of her father were so dominant. Miss A and I also decided that I would facilitate visits to her mother for emotional and physical support, as her mother was in the latter stages of dementia and Miss A found it hard to communicate with her. Intervention: Rationale for Counselling Intervention: After having conducted an assessment and care plan with Miss A, and building a rapport over numerous meetings, it was decided that a counselling intervention would be the most appropriate form of support for grief. My practice teacher and I felt that if Miss A had the opportunity to discuss her feelings this would help her grieve more effectively and perhaps help her cope better. The two models of counselling that are prominent in social work are the work of Carl Rogers and Gerard Egan, who base their counselling approaches from psychodynamic work around inner thoughts and feelings. Both counselling theories â€Å"reflect the social work values of accepting the individual, using skills in listening to the information that is given, and work towards a joint understanding and decision making about ways forward† (Coulshed and Orme, 2006). I focused on researching counselling theory to help me understand how I could help Miss A through her grief. Trevithick explains that within social work, humanistic approaches to counselling have been particularly influential, specifically with the work of Egan (1990) and Rogers (1961), mainly because they promote personal freedom and are consistent with anti-discriminatory practice and anti-oppressive perspectives† (Trevithick, 2000). I found that the Rogers (1961) Person Centred counselling informed me that I cou ld show unconditional positive regard for Miss A and understand that she is the expert of her own grief. I also analysed Egans (1990) Skilled Helper Model and found it to be an effective theory for an approach to counselling. I found that the structure and framework of the model and the three stages were useful as a guide to follow. I found that although this method of counselling may not be as person centred as Rogers it could be more effective in helping Miss A understand her own grief as it followed a certain framework, could empower her and could be evaluated over time. This theory helped inform my practice by helping me realise that I do not need to be a qualified counsellor to support someone; I just need to be able to actively listen, to use empathy and be reassuring knowing that Miss As agenda is paramount. I consider this in itself to be a person centred way of counselling. I decided to follow a combination of Rogerian method and Egans approach to help support Miss A as an intervention. I decided I would use the structure of Egans model to help build a logical, consistent framework to the intervention, while using the core principles of the Rogerian approach to demonstrate my skills and values, such as working with respect, empathy, genuineness and good active listening (Coulshed and Orme, 2006). Counselling Procedure: Egans Skilled Helper Model form of counselling provides a structured and solution focus basis. It is a three stage model in which each stage consists of specific skills that the helper uses to support the service user move forward (Nelson, 2007). Egans model is described as a three-stage process: identification of the service users current issue(s); identification of the service users desired situation; and the formulation of an action plan to achieve this. This process is facilitated by the â€Å"skilled helper† using the skills outlines by Egan (Nelson, 2007). The goal of using Egans model with Miss A was to help her manage her grief and better understand the â€Å"norms† associated with it, such as anger or depression according to the Kubler-Ross Model. Egan (1998) claims his model is to help people become better at helping themselves in their everyday lives. To provide Miss A with the empowerment to help herself grieve. The use of Egans Skilled Helper Model was to explore how Miss A felt about her bereavement. I used it to ask open questions about how Miss A felt about her father. We explored her past and discussed her relationship with her father before his death. I also used this stage to focus on aspects of her father before he died and what she missed about him, this was to explore and gather information about what her relationship was like with her dad. I was able to use a range of skills to gather information about Miss As grief. Trevithick (2000) explains that social work skills are â€Å"the degree of knowledge, expertise, judgement and experience that is brought into play within any given situation, course of action or intervention† (Trevithick, 2000). Some of the skills I incorporated into Egans counselling were active listening, I used this skill with a range of non verbal cues to indicate to Miss A that I was interested in what she was saying. I concentrated on active listening as Miss A was portraying feelings and knowledge of the death of her father which was a sensitive subject and needed my full concentration. I portrayed active listening by nodding, giving eye contact and facing Miss A which were successful in helping build a rapport with Miss A, thus helping her open up. Another skill I feel I used well with Miss A was empathy. I feel I portrayed my feelings of empathy by responding appropriately to her answers and reassuring her that her thoughts and feelings around grief were normal. I found myself using Empathy a great deal with Miss A as I had never experienced bereavement before and she helped me understand how it felt. Its easy to imagine how someone feels, but when youre faced with helping them I felt I really neede d to place myself in â€Å"her shoes†. I also found I made good use of silences with Miss A, I used these to give her time to reflect on her thoughts and answers. I have found by doing this that the meetings were paced better, and showed that she was the expert of her own grief and I was just there to listen and to reassure her. I found that by using Rogerian person centred skills like genuineness, empathy, communication and active listening I was able to understand Miss A and show her that I was there to support with her agenda. Throughout the discussions of grief I feel Miss A was able to vent a lot of her feelings that she had since her fathers funeral. I feel I was able to support her understand those feelings and help her recognise that anger, depression, or denial are normal feelings that many people in her situation suffer. Throughout Egans Skilled Helper Model and each of the sessions with Miss A I found that she responded well to being able to discuss her feelings with someone. The Rogerian influence on the intervention enabled me to build trust, partnership and a good rapport with her facilitating an open working relationship and providing her with support. Some of the values I tried to incorporate into my counselling and indeed my relationship with Miss A were empowerment and self-advocacy, by letting her know that her agenda was central. I wanted to create a balance of power and to provide a supporting role rather than a dictator role, which I feel I achieved by being able to listen to her views and incorporating PCP. Social work has a distinctive value base with beliefs and principles playing an important role in practice (Thompson, 2005). Challenging my values has helped me to treat Miss A with unconditional positive regard, and with the respect and dignity she deserves. I have challenged my values anti-oppressively by researching MRSA and not making assumptions about the condition; I have challenged my stereotypical attitude around learning disability demonstrating that Miss A is first and foremost a person with feelings and issues before recognising she has a disability. Evaluation: On evaluation of the Egans Skilled Helper Model and my intervention with Miss A have shown that her agenda was central to the sessions, a balance of power was necessary to achieve the trust and respect of one another and that listening is paramount to providing effective counselling. I entered the sessions with Miss A being unaware of what to expect, I was troubled that I would not have enough knowledge about grief to help support her. After the initial session I soon realised that I didnt need to be a qualified counsellor to make a difference to her understanding of grief, I just needed to be able to explain her feelings to her and reassure her that they were normal and not as she phrased it â€Å"being mental†. I found that by working with Miss A using the Skilled Helper Model I was able to apply my skills of listening, communication and empathy to help her understand her feelings. I have never personally had a bereavement of Miss As scale before but feel as a direct result of working with Miss A I have learned that grief is a powerful emotion for anyone to experience and it can take a significant amount of time to recover from. The only regret I have of using the Skilled Helper Model was that I feel I did not have enough time to fully help support Miss A, I feel as I had a placement of only eighty-five days I did not have enough time to fully counsel her for the best outcome. I feel throughout the intervention process I tried to maintain person centred principles with Miss A by providing her with the opportunity to discuss what was important to her. Research shows that the use of Egans model is not person centred as it incorporates the counsellor to ask all the questions, and therefore have the control; but I feel by working in partnership with Miss A to discuss the death of her father was important for her emotional well being and empowered her to help resolve her grief. I also incorporated Rogers core skills of genuineness, respect and trust to achieve this Conclusion Through working with Miss A I have found the experience to be invaluable learning. I have discovered that there is a spectrum of ability with adults and their learning disability. I have found that each person is an individual, and that group care is not necessarily recognising of this. In regards to Miss A I have learned not to make assumptions or stereotypes before meeting the person, as this can lead to oppression and even discrimination. Miss A is an individual, with individual needs, and at this assessment and intervention her emotional needs were prominent. I feel I completed the aims I had intended to by supporting Miss a through her grief using Egans Skilled Helper Model. I incorporated Rogers core skills into this model to help facilitate person centred sessions, and create an understanding that she was the expert, and I was there to listen and support her. If I was to repeat the intervention I would use Egans model again as it provided me with a structured, logical framework to work with and provided me with the identification of the skills I needed to make the sessions successful and effectively counsel Miss A. I feel my future learning needs from working with Miss A are to use more formal language as I identified I talked to her informally using words such as â€Å"wee†. I feel I did this to appear more friendly rather than her social worker, but realise this is not a professional manner to work. Other learning needs I identified were to pace the sessions more appropriately and ensure that Miss A understands the conversation. I feel during the initial sessions with Miss A I spoke more to engage her in the discussion, and feel this was more of a nervous reaction to having to counsel Miss A. During later sessions I was able to take this skill into consideration and settle quicker into sessions to give Miss A the opportunity to discuss what she wished. Overall I feel my relationship with Miss A was good, I feel the assessment and intervention were successful, and I feel I worked in a person centred way incorporating knowledge, skills and values to inform my practice. I feel Miss A felt positively about our work together as her feedback from sessions indicated that she was satisfied with the support I provided. References: 1. Beresford, P. (1996) The Standards we Expect: What Service Users and Carers Want fromSocial Services Workers. London: National Institute of Social Work 2. Bradford, J. (1984) Life after a Death, Parents Voice 34: 6-7 3. Cathcart, F. (1995) Death and People with Learning Disabilities: Interventions to Support Clients and Carers; British Journal of Clinical Psychology 34: 165-75 4. Coulshed, V., and Orme, J. (2006) Social Work Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, Fourth Edition 5. Duffy P, Fisher C, Munroe D (2008). Nursing knowledge, skill, and attitudes related to evidenced based practice: Before or After Organizational Supports. Medsurg Nursing 17 (1): 55-60 6. Egan, G (1990) The Skilled Helper: A Systematic Approach to Effective Helping. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole 7. Elliot, D. (1995) Helping People with Learning Disabilities to Handle Grief, Nursing Times 91 (43): 27-9. 8. Goldsworthy, K. (2005) Grief and loss theory in social work practice: All changes involve loss, just as all losses require change, Australian Social Work, 58:2, 167 — 178 9. Kitching, N. (1987) Helping People with Mental Handicaps Cope with Bereavement, Mental Handicap 15: 60-3. 10. McLoughlin, I . (1986) Bereavement in the Mentally Handicapped, British Journal of Hospital Medicine October: 256-60. 11. Murray, G., McKenzie, K., and Quigley, A. (2000) The Grieving Process in Individuals with a Learning Disability; An Examination of the Knowledge and Understanding of Health and Social Care: Journal of Intellectual Disabilities; 4; 77 12. Nelson, P. (2007) An Easy Introduction to the Egans Skilled Helper Solution Focused Counselling Approach. Palgrave and Macmillan (Online at www.f-e-t-t.co.uk) (Accessed 2 March 2009) 13. Preston-Shoot, M., and Braye, S. (2009) Social work intervention (Online) Available at: http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/elearning/law/law08/index.asp [Accessed 5 May 2009]. 14. Read, S. (1996) Helping People with Learning Disabilities to Grieve, British Journal of Nursing 5 (2). 15. Smale, G and Tuson, G. (1993) Empowerment, Assessment, Care Management and the Skilled Worker. London. HMSO 16. Thompson, N. (2005) Understanding Social Work: Preparation for Practice. Second Edition. Palgrave Macmillan 17. Thompson, J., Kilbane, J., and Sanderson, H. (2008) Person Centred Practice for Professionals. Open University Press. 18. Trevithick, P (2000) Social Work Skills: A Practice Handbook. Open University Press. 19. Whittington, C. (2007) Assessment in social work: A guide for learning and teaching; London.Social Care Institute for Excellence 20. Williams, P (2006) Social Work with People with Learning Disabilities. Learning Matters Ltd Other: 21. http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/news/news-dhssps/news-dhssps-october-2008/news-dhssps-101008-community-statistics-for.htm (10/10/08) (Accessed on 8 May 2009) 22. http://www.understandingindividualneeds.com/policyandprocedure/statistics.htm (Accessed on 24 April 2009)

How Conan Doyle Perceives a Victorian Gentleman in Sherlock Holmes :: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes Essays

How Conan Doyle Perceives a Victorian Gentleman in Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes is a hero, he is also a typical Victorian gentleman. A very important fact about the books is that he was the first detective. This brought him much attention and many people loved this idea. He set the standard and has been copied by others many times. Detectives nowadays are still perceived to be just like Sherlock Holmes. They still have the same mannerisms: for example Sherlock Holmes Detectives nowadays * High Moral Yes. * Money - Rich Usually. * Women Not many of the detectives favour women. * Very clever Yes. * Loner Not many friends * Has a drug problem Many drink, and abuse alcohol etc. This table shows how many detectives nowadays are still very much like Holmes. Holmes was very popular too many people in the Victorian era. He was a brake from normal life, an escape from reality. Many of the men had to perfect and where find it too difficult so would take a break and read Conan Doyle's stories on Holmes. Victorian people needed a break from the hustle and bustle of the streets and daily life so turned to the stories of Sherlock Holmes. At this time in the Victorian era the police didn't have much control. There were many people on the streets and there was a lot of crime. Jack the Ripper was also on the loose and people didn't feel safe. They turned to Holmes to reassure them and comfort them. There was also a rise in middle class educated people. This meant more people were reading so would be more interested in finding good books. As more and more people enjoyed them the word spread, so many more people would by his stories, of Holmes. The first story that I am going to talk about is The Speckled Band. The Speckled Band This is a story about heartless widower, Dr Roylott. He returns with his twin step-daughters to Stoke Moran, to his family's old and country house, where wild animals and gypsies wander on its grounds. One of the girls, Helen, visits Holmes after the death of her sister. She comes to Holmes and tells him the story. She exclaims to Holmes that she came out of the room screaming "the band, the speckled band." Holmes notices livid spots and marks on Helen's wrists made by her stepfather, and agrees to go with Watson to Stoke Moran to investigate. They occupy the bedroom of her dead twin which is located next to Dr Roylott's. Late at night they hear a noise which proves to be a speckled snake going down the bell-pull from Roylott's bedroom.