Principles of Business Communication

Every customer is entitled to the best quality product and service.   We, at Stovall Home Products, realize this and constantly strive to uphold product excellence and innovation. It was therefore   with considerable concern that we recently learned about your unfortunate experience in connection with the   use of our flagship brand, White-n-Brite Liquid Bleach.As you may have read from reputable consumer product rating publications which have given the brand the thumbs-up, it is our common practice to carry out   rigorous testing, quality control measures, and regular updating of directions to guide consumer usage and care.We thank you for bringing the matter directly to our attention. After careful assessment by our Laundry Products Laboratory, we find that the item you had requested Stovall Home Products to refund was made of material not compatible with either dry or liquid bleaches. Moreover, we have publicly stated, and indicated in the label directions on White-n-Brite Liquid Bleach, that this product is not to be used as a local spot remover.Nonetheless, we understand the aggravation the incident may have caused you.   If you so wish, you can send your personal item, postage-free, to Stovall Home Products and we’ll see what we can do about it.Stovall Home Products definitely does not compromise its integrity, regardless of whether it concerns the flagship brand or new product innovations. As a token of goodwill, we are enclosing introductory single-use packets of White-n-Brite Bleach: Delicates suited for your lingerie and hosiery, as well as in-store coupons of our new Air Fare Home Air Freshener aromas, entitling the bearer to $1 off for every purchase of any three new aromas that include Sea Air, Autumn Spice, Fresh Pine and Spring Flowers.Allow us to do as much as we can for you, as our valued customer.   Let us know if you need further informational details, such as those contained in our free booklets on caring for delicate fabr ics, air freshener or tough stain tips, or any help we can offer on our new products.Yours sincerely,  Carol Smith  Applying the Principles of Business Communications  to Writing Negative MessagesUsing the principles of business communications gleaned from the readings, I made a conscious effort to avoid phrases that may possibly strike the reader, in this case the customer, as rude, hostile, uncaring, condescending or arrogant (Locker, 2000, p. 67).It struck me that when the customer wrote Stovall Home Products to refund her for her stained jacket, she has somehow already made up her mind that it is the product which is defective, and not her misuse or oversight to check both her garment care tags and the White-n-Brite Liquid Bleach label directions. The likelihood that the customer may be resistant to views not supporting hers counts as one obstacle to be overcome (Locker, 2000, p. 68).   I, therefore, used an opening line with an area of agreement or a common ground I obv iously share with the reader (Locker, 2000, p. 68).To make my writing sound like friendly face-to-face discussion, I used words such as we, you, and   our for readability, as well as contractions in cases when it will come out more naturally than two short separate words (Burne, 2006, para. 27-29).   I likewise took into consideration â€Å"the seven Cs of business letter writing† which are: clear, concise, correct, courteous, conversational, convincing and complete (Burne, 2006, para. 4).I avoided stating the negative message outright at the start of   the letter, and I agree with one of the main readings on conveying negative information that when the reader’s ego is on the line, â€Å"opening with the negative message would violate the reader’s expectation and damage rapport† (â€Å"Writing Negative Messages,† 2002, para. 4). I likewise agree that â€Å"the more the negative information concerns the reader as a person, the greater the nee d for psychological preparation† (â€Å"Writing Negative Messages,† 2002, para. 4).I therefore   built up the brand and the long-held tradition of product testing and updating of directions. Soon afterwards, I   incorporated a brief buffer (â€Å"Writing Negative Messages,† 2002, para. 7) leading to the finding that negates the customer’s claim and which forms the key subject or specific concern.   I was especially careful to avoid negative transitions like however, but, and even though just before conveying the company’s findings that show that the customer’s demand was off-tangent, because such transitional words signal a turn for the worse (â€Å"Writing Negative Messages,† 2002, para. 8).I also avoided blaming the customer, who is the reader of the letter, for instigating the problem even if all signs point to it (â€Å"Writing Negative Messages,† 2002, para. 9). Instead of â€Å"spotlighting† the bad news, I po sitioned it strategically, and since â€Å"explicit refusals may be unnecessary and at times cruel† (Guffey, 2000, p. 290), I opted to imply or indirectly refer to the negative reply without seeming unclear about the company’s decision, which is not to grant the refund to the customer because the product was not used according to the stated directions.â€Å"Implication is often an effective way of transmitting an unpleasant idea, that is, the idea is not expressed, yet the receiver understands† (â€Å"Writing About the Unpleasant,† n.d.) based on the facts and explanations presented.   In stating the legitimate reasons for turning down the customer’s request, I have implied that negative reply and I did not dwell too much on the created problem anymore, proceeding, instead, to further cushioning the impact on the customer and offering a workable alternative.By including the line â€Å"we understand the aggravation the incident may have caused yo u,† I wanted to show empathy, or placing oneself in the customer’s shoes to understand how upset she may be and to understand how natural her reaction was to write the company and request for a refund.   On the other hand, I also took note of the fact that there is a â€Å"fine but clear line between being sympathetic about the customer’s problem, on the one side, and implying or taking responsibility for it, on the other† (Erdman & Hildebrandt, 1998, p. 157).It is in this light that I suggested to the customer to send over to Stovall Home Products the stained piece of clothing, and I phrased it to sound non-committal.   I tried to be mindful or â€Å"careful not to take responsibility in circumstances where it’s not appropriate† (Erdman & Hildebrandt, 1998, p. 158). I realize that saying no or refusing a customer’s undue request serves my organization’s welfare and needs (Locker, 2000, p. 214), preventing the setting of   a precedent for company liability (Erdman & Hildebrandt, 1998, p. 158).   I also tried to show that while the offered course of action may not be perfect,   it is â€Å"the best solution currently available† (Locker, 2000, p. 68).At this point, my overriding objective, alongside cushioning the impact of the negative reply to the request, has now turned to educating the reader and reselling the product in question, where a problem spot was encountered, or for new product innovations of the company (â€Å"Writing Negative Messages,† 2002, para. 24).   Because I am also trying to change the customer’s brash judgment about the company’s flagship brand and attempting to correct this customer’s understanding of company policy, I deemed it best to let the reader â€Å"save face† by hinting that changed circumstances â€Å"call for new attitudes or action† (Locker, 2000, p. 68).I then closed on a positive note by offering a counterprop osal (â€Å"Writing About the Unpleasant,† n.d.) Maintaining goodwill is very important, especially in the light of the thrusts of a company like Stovall Home Products, which has relied for many decades on customers’ loyal support.At no part of the letter was an apology extended, because in so doing, it will serve, not just to trigger future company liability but highlight the company’s   â€Å"acknowledgment of the mistake or wrongdoing, acceptance of responsibility, expression of regret, and assurance that the offense will not be repeated†Ã‚   (Kellerman 2006). Except for accepting a measure of   responsibility in order to maintain positive relationship with the customer, and the expression of regret as a sign of empathy, none of these apply in connection with the Anne Thompson’s case.ReferencesErdman, K. & Hildebrandt, H. (1998). Stovall Home Products: Practicing prudence to avoidliability. Business Communication Quarterly, 61, 152-163.Guffe y, M. (2000). Business communication process & product. Ohio: South-Western CollegePublishing.Kellerman, B. (2006). When should a leader apologize and when not? Retrieved May 12, 2008,from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16579415Locker, K. (Ed.). (2000). Business and administrative communication. New York: McGraw-HillCompanies.Writing Negative Messages. (2002). Retrieved May 9, 2008, fromhttp://homepages.wmich.edu/~bowman/badnews.html

Dementia: Cerebrum and High Blood Pressure

DEMENTIA AWARNESS 1. Understand what dementia is 1. 1 Explain what is meant by the term ‘dementia' A syndrome due to disease of the brain, usually of a chronic progressive nature in which there are multiple disturbances of higher cognitive function. These include impairment of memory, thinking and orientation, learning ability, language and judgement. 1. 2 Describe the key functions of the brain that are affected by dementia The key functions of the brain that are affected by dementia are the temporal lobe, frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital, cerebrum lobe and the hippocampus.Temporal lobe- responsible for vision,memory, language, hearing and learning Frontal lobe- responsible for decision making, problem solving, control behaviour and emotions Parietal lobe- responsible for sensory information from the body, also where letters are formed, putting things in order and spatial awareness. Occipital lobe- responsible for processing information related to vision Cerebrum lobe- i s responsible for for the biggest part of the brain its role is memory, attention, thought and our consciousness, senses and movement.Hippocampus- responsible for memory forming, organizing and storing and emotions 1. 3 Explain why depression, delirium and age-related memory impairment may be mistaken for dementia Because they both manifest with similar symptoms. Depression coupled with age related memory impairment looks the same as dementia to the untrained eye. The difference is that depression delirium responds to treatment with anti depressants, once you get on top of the depression you can put age related memory loss into perspective.If it is genuine dementia it won't get any better. 2. Understand key features of theoretical models of dementia 2. 1 Outline the medical model of dementia The medical model focuses on the impairment as the problem and focuses on a cure, these may be dependency, restriction of choice, dis empowering and devaluing individuals 2. 2 Outline the social model of dementia This is personal centred, focusing on the rights of the individual, in turn empowering the individual, promoting independence, giving choice and looking at what the individual is able to do. . 3 Explain why dementia should be viewed as a disability Individuals who have dementia are not aware of requirements for living, they can forget to do the essential things that are vital. Taking medication,hygiene and even eating are often forgotten. They can get lost or hurt and not understand what is necessary to correct a situation. Individuals cannot act in the manner of a responsible adult which is why dementia should be viewed as a disability 3. Know the most common types of dementia and their causes 3. List the most common causes of dementia Alzheimer disease This is the most common cause of dementia, during the course of the disease the chemistry and structure of the brain changes, leading to the death of brain cells. Vascular dementia If the oxygen supply to the brai n fails, brain cells may die, this can happen from a strokes or over time through series of small strokes Lewy body disease This form of dementia gets its name from tiny spherical structures that develop inside nerve cells, there presence in the brain cells leads to the degeneration of brain tissue. . 2 Describe the likely signs and symptoms of the most common causes of dementia Alzheimer's disease is a progressive condition, symptoms include minor memory problems, difficulty saying the right words, disorientation personality changes and behavioural changes Vascular dementia may develop suddenly and quickly, symptoms include memory loss depression, visual hallucinations, low attention span and periods of mental confusion.Lewy bodies develop gradually and gets more severe over the years, symptoms include memory loss, visual hallucinations, delusions, muscle stiffness. 3. 3 Outline the risk factor's for the most common causes of dementia The risk factor's for Alzeheimers is age, famil y history and genes Vascular dementia is increasing age, history of heart attacks, strokes or mini strokes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes Lewy bodies is advanced age, it appears to affect more men than women, having a family member who's had it and a unhealthy lifestyle 3. Identify prevalence rates for different types of dementia The established prevalence rates for different types of dementia are 40-64yrs 1 in 1400 65-69yrs 1 in 100 70-79yrs 1 in 25 80+ 1 in 6 4. Understand factors relating to an individuals experience of dementia 4. 1 Describe how different individuals may experience living with dementia depending on age, type of dementia, and level of ability and disability Depending on the form of dementia people's ability and disability will be different. People with ementia may not necessarily always be forgetful, their memory may remain intact but their personality and behaviour could be noticeably changed. However the level of ability and disability depe nds on an individuals age and condition of dementia, people who are living with dementia in earlier age such as 60's-70's are less likely to be as dependable on others than people living with dementia at the age of over their 70's-80's. People also have different levels of stamina at different ages so their ability and disability may vary and the level of support they require will be varied as well. . 2 Outline the impact that the attitudes and behaviours of others may have on an individual with dementia People who suffer from dementia can feel excluded if people aren’t giving them enough time to finish there conservation or tasks, which can lead them to being treated differently and can cause more illness such has anger, depression and frustration , so therefore there is good combination of general awareness of the existence of dementia but poor detailed understanding of its causes, progression and implications tends to lead to inaccurate assumptions.

Analysis of a work of art with a contemporary advertisement Essay

Analysis of a work of art with a contemporary advertisement - Essay Example Initially, these pieces had been applied to communicate on the ethical values or offer a reflection required within the society. Art has been evolved to represent ideology based on selling an idea to a market. This provision has been included in advertising with the created pieces holding powerful visual messages to the consumer. Art styles are applied in advertising, in the contemporary society, to highlight the message under consideration to give a piece meaning. With advertising, the key method applied to sell brand identity, and product description, art has emerged as a powerful communication tool within the contemporary society. An added provision within the art has been the application of advanced mediums to strengthen the image quality and buffer message reliance. The modern technology has produced advanced paints and mediums to be included in advertising that relate to the artistic style that had been developed. Pop art has been adversely used in advertising since the inventi on in Britain in the year 1955. Pop art was a movement of art that found the origin in Britain in the 1950s and the trend spread to the US who modifies the definition of style, to fit the pieces that had been established (Gibbons 53). Pop artists challenged the principal conception of the known artistic movements to present ideologies that would popularize a piece. The style incorporated existing forms and to those created in the artist’s mind to give the shape of the layout. The style developed on the movement known as abstract expressionism to explore the provision issued by the artist. The style is characterized with the provision that is accorded in utilizing a combination of shapes and images with found material incorporated within a piece. This provision has linked the movement to Dadaism utilizing highly expressive images. The style behind the creation of a pop artwork involves the application of famous images

Organizations Mission, Vision, and Core Values Research Paper

Organizations Mission, Vision, and Core Values - Research Paper Example According to Martires & Fule (2000), the concept of organizational culture encompass the atmosphere that the personnel is accustomed to practice as a result of adherence to the policies, rules, mission and vision statement, as well as the existing protocols that are being applied in the conduct of offering the products or services to their clientele. From continued patronage and established bond with the organization due to being one of its identified stakeholders as a loyal customer, one has observed that the culture of the organization is known from observation that they abide by the requisite to doing the right thing (McDonald's: Getting to Know Us, 2012). There is also the conformity to the identified McDonald’s System, which, upon further research indicated that commitment to high quality, innovation, and techniques that achieve sustainability embody the organization’s culture (McDonald's: McDonald’s System, 2012). It has been observed that encompassing the organization’s culture is the fast way of ensuring that their food products are served wtihin a stipulated time frame and meeting the highest standards of sourcing raw materials from their best suppliers. Each aspect of the organization’s operations are evaluated to conform to concepts of social responsibility, conformity to environmental protection and conservation, addressing nutritional components of the ingredients that they use in their products, and in educating their varied personnel to emphasize that other aspects deemed crucial in the organization’s thrust to achieve their goals include the participation and collaborative contribution of a diverse pool of human resources (McDonald's: Inclusion & Diversity, 2012). However, when one visited McDonald’s restaurants, it could be observed that there is inconsistencies in applying customer service protocols, in conformity to the highest standards of ingredients or raw materials used for their food products, and in their supposed commitment for social responsibility. Section 3: Recommendations In linking the organization’s mission and value statements to the perceived organizational culture, it could be deduced that all crucial components to ensure leadership and success have already been set in place. However, as organizations continue to evolve, like McDonald’s, the organization acknowledges the need for continued growth through thinking outside the box and by soliciting customers’ feedback and responses with the aim for further improvement and development in customer service, in conformity to social responsibility and environmental protection, and in consistency of practicing or applying the theories learned in operating and managing a global organization. In this regard, the four recommendations proposed regarding the application of theories to actual experiences, as manifested and exemplified through their various personnel’

Childhood Obesity on the rise Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Childhood Obesity on the rise - Essay Example The cyber culture where the dream imaginations are virtualized to create the thrill made children to stick to their desks playing online and video games on computer and T.V that made them to be more addicted to their Computers wiping thoughts of venturing out in the open skyes to sweat their energy deposited in their bodies. The ready-to-eat high calorific valued food served induces more of fat and carbohydrates into the body than required. As the children lack the physical exercise to spend these calories the body weight increases rapidly. Parents in this growing mechanical culture have no time to monitor the food habits of their children. The new generation has no time to spare for preparing food for their family members in turn their inability has created a new business opportunity in the form of Ready to eat packaged food. The food items were mixed and processed with chemicals and preservatives which create adverse effects on the bodies of the children who consume the same. Ready-to-eat packaged food and snack items that were packed with high calorific contents, the average intake of these food items leads to high deposits of carbohydrates' and proteins that leads to Obese. Obesity, a per the dieticians can be an hereditary symptom which carries over to their next generation. The majority of adults in developed countries were suffering obesity which clearly indicates the negligence on their part to be fit. The unawareness of the parents with respect to fitness made them perceive the child health in the same ignorant lines which lead to child obesity. Mechanical life styles in the developed countries lacking time to concentrate on the physical fitness of the parents

Swot analysis of BP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Swot analysis of BP - Essay Example The company is responsible for converting natural resources into power energy. Now British Petroleum is trying to find fuel resources that reduce carbon footprint and greenhouse gases. The company is trying to accomplish its sustainability mission by finding alternative fuel resources like wind power, solar power, fossil fuels, hydrogen, and natural gas. On the basis of market capitalization British Petroleum is the second largest operating oil and gas company of United State and has number of strengths. First, the strength of the company lies in its successful operations and ability to generate high revenue. Just after a year of the most annihilating oil explosion occurred at British Petroleum’s oil resource in the Gulf of Mexico, the company successfully earned profit of $5.3 billion Stonaker, (2011). This shows the strength of the company because it recovered very soon. It has been argued by many researchers that the oil spill occurred due to mismanagement and poor safety precautions but the quick recovery and ability to bounce back shows how efficient the company is in its operations. Second, important strength of BP is its increasing demand. Bob Dudley in his speech said that the demand of British Petroleum’s products is continuously increasing day by day due to our efficient production and supply, and our search for oil and gas reserves is one of our greatest strength. He further said, 96% of our demand growth comes from developing countries like India and China, this shows we are still market leader in oil and gas industry around the globe. One, criticism on Mr. Dudley’s speech is that he disguised the potential problems that BP is facing in setting up its operations in emerging countries due to their poor law and order situation and terrorism. Petroleum is leading deep-water company because it possesses largest deep-water oil spills and these oil spills

Marketing Research Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Marketing Research Plan - Essay Example with dependable services can be the best available means to capture the market well in time when the idea is still new to capture the cell phone users’ attention by a successful company like JF Electronics. What is a customizable mobile phone? A customizable mobile phone is a built-to-order phone that comes with the feature of snapping the unwanted functionality or adding the functionality as per the customer demand. It could be a GSM phone to be customized or the other. The customer will decide whether the phone should be touch screen, bar, flip or smart phone; whether it has a keyboard or the customer prefers a mobile phone without a keyboard. The customized mobile phone to be introduced by JF’s Electronics will offer the customers the choice to select the operating system of their choice from Google Android, apple, OS X or Microsoft and others. It has been the JF’s Electronics unique selling point to offer custom-made computers of high quality in affordable price range, which has helped it expand throughout the US Northeast. The marketing research plan for the customized mobile is going to follow the same USP of providing a cost-effective mobile phone of high quality. Customers would have the freedom to choose their preferred service provider; no need to subscribe to a particular service provider. The custom-ordered mobile would be available with warranties, after-sale service and repair (Elgan, 2008). The research objective of my marketing plan is to know the response of the customers if a customized mobile phone is offered for sale in the company’s store and on the company’s website. As the idea of a customized mobile phone has been not just in the offing, customers have been purchasing through online stores, so it means ours is not the only company; other companies are there for our company JF’s Electronics to compete with. Considering the current market situation at macro level, research needs to be made first of all at legal level to know

Strategic analysis of Porsche AG Research Paper

Strategic analysis of Porsche AG - Research Paper Example analysis of the firm is provided aiming to indicate the policies that should be adopted by the firm in order to increase its competitiveness within its industry. Porsche is one of the key competitors in the automotive industry worldwide; the competition in the specific industry is extremely strong; however, the recession seems to have influenced the performance of the sector’s firms; in accordance with a relevant report certain firms, like Honda and Mazda, have standardized their profits, while others, like Chrysler and Toyota face severe financing or operational problems (BNET News, 2010). The firms that operate in this industry are likely to face five different ‘forces’- as indicating in the Porter’s five forces model in Figure 1- Appendix; these forces are: a) the customers – their preferences on expensive and advanced-technology cars are likely to continuously increased, b) the suppliers – certain materials required for the production of the firm’s products are unique, a fact increasing the power of the firm’s suppliers to bargain for increased prices, c) substitute products – cars with similar characteristics with those of the specific firm continuously appear in the market; the difference in their quality is the only element for ensuring the superiority of the firm towards its rivals, d) threat of new entrants; periodically, new firms enter the automotive industry, a fact that could threaten the firm under the terms that these firms’ products could reach the level of quality of the firm’s automobiles and e) the competition, which is likely to be continuously increased as each firm fights to standardize its performance securing its position in the automotive industry. At the next level, the survival of firms in the specific industry is depended on the following factors: a) the demands and the preferences of customers (in terms of quality of products but also of the time required for processing the customers’ orders/ availability of

Computer Forensic Tools Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Computer Forensic Tools - Term Paper Example The program recovers files in various operating systems such as vista, windows 7, Xp and different server. Recuva enables the recovery of files with sheer minimal footprint on the disk. The program can be downloaded freely from the internet and is easy to install and run. In addition, the software is able to recover the files that have been emptied from the recycle bin. The program can also be used to recover files in tablet computers. Pandora on the other hand enables the recovery of files that are in NTFS and FAT-formatted volumes. It works by scanning the hard drive and creating an index both existing and deleted files and directory on the logical drive of the computer. The scanning will provides retrieve all the deleted files where you will choose one’s to recover. Unlike the Racuva, Pandora provides a preview of the files in case you can to refer to it shortly. The software is also downloaded freely. However, a version with more robust function is obtained by subscribing $500. The software is exceedingly straightforward to use. Glary undelete is a hybrid file recovery software that enables recovery of files in NTFS, NTFS + EFS, FAT, compressed files, encrypted files, compressed, fragmented and files in removable devices. The program has a remarkably easy user. The software supports both dynamic and basic volumes. Like the other two, the software can be obtained free by downloading from the internet. The most prevalent tools used to extract forensic evidence from mobile phones are Flasher Box and PmExplorer. The devices are extremely effective and therefore used by the security agencies such as the police. According to Heiser & Kruse (2011), the two devices are hugely expensive. In addition, one requires a personal computer such as a laptop to use the device. The latest model of Flasher Box cost approximately $10000. This cost does not include the other supporting hardware and software. You also have to buy a set of cables that are used to connect to different mobile phones. A laptop that runs remarkable software for analysis the evidence is also needed. In total, price of a complete Flasher Box system is almost 12000 dollars. PmExplorer is relatively cheaper. It comes with an ensuite of all required software and hardware. According to Solomon & Barrett (2012), the total price is approximately $8000. This explains why the system is more common compared to Flasher Box. The cost hiring a professional computer forensic expert is extremely high. A profound trial lawyer and Technologist computer forensic examiner based in UK charges between 500 to 1000 dollars per hour to examine a computer system that contains digital evidence. The expert charges the client according to the magnitude of the crime committed and the size of the company. To perform the operation for a large business organization, the expert can charge over a thousand dollars. In addition, the expert also charges some extra $500 for his security. Research has shown tha t the expert has experience in the field. In fact, he has been conducting several government investigations (Vacca, 2005). The investigations were successful and he has helped the government deal with cyber criminal. Though there are other forensic experts, the quality of services they offer is low. I would recommend any organization which needs to hire a forensic expert with experience. In addition, they should be registered with HTCIA. There was a case in the court which involved

Human Population and the Environment - Urbanization Essay Example for Free

Human Population and the Environment Urbanization Essay Urbanization can simply be seen as the movement and concentration of large populations upon an urban area at the detriment of the rural populous. This is due to a complex set of economic, demographic, social, cultural, technological, and environmental processes (P. Knox, 2009). Our topic narrows down to the correlation of urbanization and the environment. To start with, a number of environmental benefits can be realized due to urbanization; For instance urban areas concentrate large populations in a relatively small area thus there is more free forestry land. Plus a compact, concentrated urban area means more people walking and less number of cars on the road, consequently fewer carbon emissions from usage of cars. Conversely, there are a number of challenges posed to the environment due to urbanization. The mass exodus of people into urban areas have had a strain on infrastructure and led to poor sanitation and housing that leads to environmental degradation. Poor planning leads also leads to air, water and noise pollution due to industries and community settlements. We see this issue addressed in the Moroccan Shelter upgrading in Agadir. Faced with substandard housing and shanty towns inhabited by an ever increasing populous, three projects are set up, one of which is the Tikiouine project that comprises of three housing areas being developed and integrates community participation and responsibility concerning their sewer lines and tertiary water. In addition, the Tilburg city management model offers a sustainable five step integrated approach to administration of social, economic and environmental policies in a city. The Tilburg model implements these policies up to the neighborhood level. Thus ensures that a â€Å"Basic Quality† is maintained and thus minimizing environmental deprivation.

Developing a Moral Community with Limited Resources

Developing a Moral Community with Limited Resources Dwayne Potenteau During one of my experiences in hospital I was assigned to a nurse in Telemetry. The nurse (we will call her Susan) had been on shift for about an hour and was already working at a torrid pace. In addition to the clients she had to monitor which were 8 in total, the Rn was also assigned 6 patients to care for. Most of the clients were from ICU or had been assigned to her due to the overflow from the emergency department. One patient in particular (Mrs. Smith) had multiple symptoms starting with hepatic encephalitis with ascites and varices, diabetes, and had been admitted due to atrial fibrillation which had been downgraded to a controlled rate of atrial fibrillation when the nurse came on. The time needed to care for this complex client had to be somehow scheduled into the nurses’ duties to care for the clients on telemetry in conjunction with the other 5 clients. The new order for Mrs Smith had also been changed and a new large dose of 22 units of rapid and 42 units of NPH i nsulin had been modified by the physician. The nurse questioned the order and stated her concerns over the dosage but was told to administer and monitor the client. The dosage along with the limited amount of time to monitor the client posed a larger concern for developing hypoglycemia. The nurse then called in her manager stating the issues of providing care with limited time and nursing complex patients. The manager stated that the nurse just has to deal with it as there was no help available at this time. Reflecting on the experience I felt stressed and a little overwhelmed at the idea of being responsible for so many patients with little time, resources and support. I responded to the situation by providing some relational practice as this was a community experience and I could not actually do much but shadow the nurse. The nurse did not have the time or adequate support in staff to care for the clients other than their immediate urgent needs. The biggest ethical issue I had was determining how could a nurse fulfill their nursing duty to provide safe, compassionate competent care with limited resources. The rising costs of health care have increased the number of clients the nurses must care for and are under stress to keep costs down. As a future nurse, this means taking on a larger workload. When resources are low nurses face the problem of fulfilling the ethical responsibility of prioritizing care while trying to maintain a high professional standard of client centered care for all patients(Canadian Nurses Association[CNA], 2008). The other ethical concern is where do we go to express our concerns when issues such as limited resources prevent us from performing our ethical duties? The last is the amount and quality of care we give when our nursing values are compromised by limited resources. Rationing Care The aforementioned issue revolves around the allocation of resources also known as rationing of care. In nursing, rationing of care can be defined as the withdrawal of necessary components due to the lack of resources (Carryer, 2014; Tonnessen, Nortvedt, Forde, 2011).The reasons for rationing of resources for health care can be linked to 3 main levels. Societal where funding for health care is provided from the government, Institutional, where health authorities and agencies determine which programs receive funding, and individual where professionals determine how to treat individual clients (CNA, 2000). Nurses face the scarcity of resources on a daily basis. This type of infrastructure pressures have forced nurses to make ethical decisions such as distributive justice(Tonnessin et al. 2011). Tonnessin et al. (2011) states that distributive justice is the allocation of resources to those who need it most. The In order to decipher who receives care nurses often need to make these deci sions quickly and effectively. To make these decisions, nurses often call upon their own prioritize their clinical judgements. The hastened assessments and interventions increase the chance of reduced patient care outcomes (Papastravou, Andreou, Vryonides, 2014). The imbalance between time to care for the client and the stresses of limited resources leads to moral distress in deciding what is best for the client as the individual or community as client. Susan had shown that she was torn between serving all her clients and attending to the most critical. Corporate Influence Allocation Utilitarianism is defined as the benefit of the whole outweighs the benefits of the individual. By maximizing time allotted for in caring for the client, the nurse performs only the most necessary procedures. This process deviates from the individualistic care that is required in nursing. Reduction in time allocated for patients, reduced beds, and lengths of stay all lead to reduced care and capacity for choice in a client’s health (CNA, 2000). Part of the reason for the stresses can be linked to the health care system that determines allocation of resources. According to the CNA, corporate values and resulting policy are determine resource allocation through the ideology of economics and scarcity (CNA, 2000). The ideology revolves around the notion that economics and unattainable resources contribute to and justify limited resources for nurses(CNA, 2000). Urban (2014) furthers the corporate culture of scarcity by noting that nurses have come to accept the idea of reduced time , staff, and resources as part of their normal working environment. The fact that nurses had to work with inadequate resources while still being fiscally responsible and giving safe effective care had to has lead many nurses to a state of moral/ethical distress. Moral/Ethical Distress The concept of moral/ethical distress is changing. Even the Code of Ethics which is the governing body for assisting nurses in their decision making has modified over the years. According to the CNA the word â€Å"expectation† had been removed in the 2008 definition of ethical/moral distress (CNA, 2002). Although the definition encompasses what nurses feel when working with limited resources the removal of the word shows an acceptance of the changing culture. The actual definition for ethical/moral distress has changed so has the duty to â€Å"assist persons to achieve their optimum level of health in situations of normal health, illness, injury, or in the process of dying† (CNA, 1997, p.8). The removal of this component of nursing duty clearly shows the effects of limited resources. In particular the omission of the word â€Å"optimal† has been removed from the standards, and only found in the definition of global health (CNA, 2008). The removal of the word opti mal contradicts the actualization of limited beds for patients and bedside care. The contradiction can heighten the difference in how nurses have been educated in providing care and the care they actually give. The discrepancy in giving care due to limited resources leads directly to moral distress. The leading element of moral distress is the lack of time spent with the patient (CNA, 2000). Limited time leads to reduced care, opposing ethical values of how a patient ought to be treated. Moral Community for Nurses Moral Community is defined as a community where values are understood and used to guide ethical actions of the community (CNA, 2008). Although the actual issue of limited resources may not be directly addresses at the nursing level within a hospital, setting up a moral community in the department is a good first step. Nurses have knowledge in direct patient care and the education to determine what role and working environment they want to participate in. In order to address moral distress due to limited resources nurses need to work with their fellow nurses, managers, and policy makers to make these changes. Examples are nurses communicating on ethical issues through their unit and ethical committees in the hospital. Park notes that nurses tend to deal with ethical issues using their own beliefs and values rather than using ethical committees. In addition Kalish (2009) notes that repercussions on speaking about on ethical issues may deter nurses from participating in ethical discussi on or committees. To have the courage to face the stresses of the current nursing environment nurses must embrace moral courage. Moral courage is the ability of a nurse to remain loyal to their moral belief or principle when faced with fear or threats (CNA, 2008). The role of moral courage and ways to address ethical concerns, and moral ethical dilemmas can also be found in nursing associations such as ARNBC (Association of Registered Nurses of BC), and CRNBC (College of Registered Nurses of BC). Since 2005 CRNBC had moved from an association towards a regulatory body and in doing so, had left gaps in how nurses can communicate ethical issues such as limited resources. One of the resources that has been available since 2013 is ARNBC. ARNBC’s mandate to provide communication and act as a voice for the nurses of BC, and also work towards sustainable practices and support structures for nurses (ARNBC, 2015). Since 2005, nurses had no real place to communicate ethical issues such as limited resources and although they had the union, no real avenue to tackle the policy issues or to influence change in their community. In order to improve working conditions ARNBC can support nurses through inter collaboration, and supporting professional prac tice and advancement of the profession. Through these avenues, nurses now have a way to address their ethical concerns not solely focused on limited resources. Another avenue to address limited resources is through CRNBC. Through crnbc nurses can address the limited resources by defining the issue, communication, documentation, and intercollaboration. Defining the issue in the case with susan, claritfication on allocation of 6 patients which is more than the standard amount of patients. Nurses should communicate their problems with their managers and coordinators. Conclusion When providing patient care, observation to what is present and what is influencing nursing practice is crucial to improving overall care. Limited resources leads to rationing of care resulting in less bedside care for patients and presents and ethical dilemma in upholding our References Association of Registered Nurses of BC. (2015). Retrieved February 24, 2015, from http://www.arnbc.ca/about-us/about-us.php Burston, A., Tuckett, A. (2012). Moral distress in nursing: Contributing factors, outcomes, and interventions. Nursing ethics (20).3. 312 324 Canadian Nurses Association. (2008). Code of ethics for registered nurses. Retrieved from http://www.cna-aiic.ca/ CNA/documents/pdf/publications/Code_of_Ethics_2008_e.pdf Canadian Nurses Association. (2000). Working with limited resources: Nurses moral constraints. Ethics in practice. ISSN 1480 – 9990. Ottawa. ON Carryer, J. (2014) The consequences of rationing care. Kai tiaki nursing new Zealand. (20). 6 Kalisch., B. Landstrom., G. Hinshaw., A. (2009). Missed nursing care: A concept analysis. Journal of advanced nursing (65) 7, 1509 1517 Papastravou., E. Andreou., P. Vryonides., S. (2014). The hidden ethical element of nursing care rationing. Nursing ethics. (21) 5 583 – 593 Park, M. (2009). Ethical issues in nursing practice. Journal of nursing law. (13).3. 68 77 Tonnessin., S. Nortvdet., P. Forde., R. (2011). Rationing home based nursing care: Professional ethical implications. Nursing Ethics (18), 3. 386 – 396 Urban, A. (2014). Taken for granted: Normalizing nurses’ work in hospitals. Nursing inquiry. (21). 1. 69 78

Philadelphia :: essays research papers

This movie caused a lot of hoopla when it was released back in ’93, for it was the first Hollywood studio movie to fully tackle the subject of AIDS. Now, I don’t want to take anything away from the film, because it is still quite entertaining, but it certainly doesn’t come off as a groundbreaking film anymore. Even back when it was released, I personally didn’t think it was that big of a deal because by that time we’d already seen the subject matter covered for years, in news reports, documentaries and independent films; so when PHILADELPHIA finally came along, it seemed like it was just a little overdue†¦ What the film does succeed in doing is taking a deep look at a new kind of discrimination that grew as AIDS became more prevalent in the minds of the general public and how some people’s hatred towards gays got even more fueled as this new disease became a harsh and frightening reality in the world. I was a bit surprised to see the qu ote â€Å"An emotional powerhouse!† on the back cover of the DVD because as it does have its share of emotional scenes, they’re far from overwhelming and it isn’t likely that that is what you’ll take away from it in the end. The most memorable, powerful scenes, in fact, are those awkward moments that are examined as we see how people around Andrew react upon learning of his illness – the most famous ones being Washington’s reaction to Hanks in his office and the confrontation in the public library between Hanks and an employee there. Demme also does an admirable job in making the City of Brotherly Love a real presence in the movie. The opening credit sequence is a beautiful montage of all the great sights of the city and its people, giving us a real sense of the metropolis. From the rich neighborhoods to the slums, from the working class to the homeless sleeping on the streets – it all plays wonderfully as we witness many of them waving to the camera, all from different backgrounds, cultures and races, and all very proud to be Philadelphians. To me, it’s one of the best opening credit sequences in recent memory. Bruce Springsteen’s â€Å"Streets of Philadelphia† plays over it all and it’s still as emotionally involving as it was back when it was ruling the airwaves in ‘93.

Looking at Eyewitness TEstimony :: essays research papers

Assignment #2 Article #17 Looking Askance at Eyewitness Testimony   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The use of eyewitnesses has been a constant in of criminal justice system since its very beginning. Unfortunately, people do not make the best witnesses to a crime. The person may not have seen the actual criminal, but someone that looks similar to them. The witness may lie about what he or she may have scene. Also the witness can be influenced by the police as to who or what they saw at the time of the crime. The witness or victims memory of the person may have faded so that they don’t remember exactly what had seen, which could be disastrous for the accused.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  With all these possible flaws in the testimony of witnesses and victims why do they continue to use them as primary evidence in criminal cases? The answer is simple; until recently there was no other way to prove whether or not a person was actually at the scene of a crime unless someone saw them or they left some finger prints behind that the police were able to link back to someone, which may have not been left on the victim but in the general vicinity. Until recently, with the recent breakthrough in DNA testing which allows police and investigators to gain an exact match as to who committed the crime.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I personally feel that this is a much more reliable and accurate than relying on the testimony of witnesses. I believe through the use of science we as a society can now make sure that the guilty are caught and punished while the innocent are protected from wrongful prosecution. However the eyewitness should not be completely left out of the case against the possible offender. After it is determined through scientific evidence, in this case DNA, that the physically involved in the crime then witnesses can be brought in to give testimony that the offender was present at the crime scene or the victim can be sure that the accused was truly the one involved in the actual crime.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Also the procedures for recording eyewitnesses testimony have to be revised.

Huckelburry Finn Essay -- essays research papers

Huckleberry Finn’s Journey Through Life The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn takes the readers through many different twists and turns as well as emotions. A stunning tale about a young boy who is looking to over come his father and make it on his own. Here, I set out on a task to find the hero’s journey as expressed throughout this story. The story begins off with the main character, Huck, planning to break out of his ordinary world. Huck is living with the Widow Douglas upon the disappearance of his father. His father, whom most have presumed to be dead, is a character that comes in later in the story and leaves the readers with a feeling of disgust. When the story takes a turn and the readers realize Huck’s father is indeed alive, we are given the chance to meet him. â€Å" I used to be scared of him all the time, he tanned me so much†(20). His Father has come back into town upon learning that Huck has come into a great deal of money. A series of events lead to Huck’s father, Pap, kidnapping Huck and taking him far away from the Widow Douglas to a place where no one could find them. Huck shows himself to be a smart boy using his â€Å"Tom Sawyer like skills† to runaway from his father and that’s where his call to adventure begins. Recognizing Pap’s patterns, Huck waits for the proper time when his father leaves to get to the busy work in planning his own escape. When Huck finishes up his clever plan he realizes Pap is on his way back to the cabin in which they stayed. He gets in his canoe and heads to Jackson island. From there he watches the next day as the people in the town come and look for his missing carcass. After a few days Huck begins to explore the island and to his surprise he finds Jim, one of Miss Watson’s slaves. Jim has escaped and is on the same island as he is! Immediately, strings begin to tug on his heart as he battles with his conscience. He has to decide whether or not to turn Jim in! After all, he was sure happy to see Jim. This is where the refusal of the call comes into place. Huck, someone who’s always seen Jim as a slave now sees that Jim, like everyone else is a real person with feelings. He can’t take him back to Miss Watson without turning himself in as well. Jim and Huck's friendship begins to blossom as Jim turns into Huck’s mentor. â€Å"Jim said if we had the canoe hid in a good place, and all the traps in the cavern, we could rush t... .... Tom then yells that Jim isn’t a slave! Jim has been free ever since Miss Watson died and freed him in her will. Apparently Miss Watson was so ashamed about planning to sell Jim that she felt it best to set him free. Return with treasure, and what a treasure indeed. Jim, now a completely free man. They were free from the King and Duke and free from the Phelps’ as well. Tom gives Jim forty dollars for putting up with them the entire time and for being such a good prisoner. Jim turns to Huck and tells him he was right about being a rich man one day. The story comes to an end when Huck learns that Aunt Sally wants to adopt him. Huck wants nothing to do with the civilized life again. He needs to start planning on heading west since he already tried to become civilized once before and did not like it. Huckelberry Finn, truly a good story that captures the hearts and minds of readers everywhere. â€Å"But I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me and I can’t stand it. I been there before†(229). A few of the very last words in the book. Here expresses the events of the hero’s journey throughout Huckelberry Finn.

Enlightenment Values In Europe Essay

The focal point of this paper is to evaluate and analyze the reasons behind the opposition to enlightenment values in Europe between the mid-18th and mid 20th centuries and who identify the section of the society that objected to progress, science, reason, liberty, happiness, etc. It can well be stated that the main aspect of this enlightenment was chiefly based on openness to religion, racism and civil rights along with freedom of thought process. These are all highly acclaimed values of today but back in mid-18th and mid 20th centuries, which are stated as Modern society, there were enough opposition in this context and this opposition was mainly economical. The idea of Modern Society is more of a concept than actuality. For this reason it is essential to define Modern Society. There are several notions regarding the concept of modern Society but most acceptable is the period dating from 1800s. Therefore, it is obvious that the era after 1800 (specifically after Industrial revolution) could be termed as Modern. However, when conceptualized, it can be stated there are several distinguishing features. It can well be stated that the industrial revolution brought the concept of modernism into existence during the mid-18th century. The most distinctive features of Modern society could be enumerated as Universality, development of Political thought, advent of technology and science, different inventions, approach towards Arts, Specified Cultures, distinctive warfare and industry. There are several social and economic factors that make the Modern society different from the Pre Modern Society. These social and economic factors are development of concepts like secularization, decontextualization, totalitarianism, mechanization, democratization, centralization, hierarchical organization, individualism, linear progression, homogenization, diversification, , hybridization, unification, industrial society, reductionism, , universalism, subjectivism, alienation, rationalization, and bureaucracy making the Modern society a complex and intricate civilization. Another distinctive feature of Modern society from its Pre modern counterpart is that during the modern era the advent of capital as a means of power came into existence. Previously this place was occupied by land in general. Alongside the advent of capital one of the most interesting feature that came into existence was the high volume of goods movement at a given state of time. In the Pre modern Society this phenomenon was unimaginable and Modern society only made it possible with help of capital and industrialization. (Kar, 2006) Yet another interesting feature of the Modern society is the availability of information. This became more easily available due to development of roads and other transportation and similar communication systems that made information abundant. Formerly, the areas that were separated by geographical barriers were broken down after the Pre modern Society and thus people became more aware of things happening around them. However, it should be taken into account that one of the most distinguishable aspects of modern society is its attitude towards sexuality and marriage. Given the many problems that are associated with marriage, it is not so surprising that many young people in Modern societies- which, to a great extent, now values individual fulfillment over traditions – have become disillusioned with the institution of marriage. This has resulted in the surging of non-traditional social structures. This could be termed as an extended approach of freedom of sexuality that flourished in the latter stages as one of the aspect of the civil right movements. This was predominantly an economy related factor as the voting rights of women and human rights of colored population were fallout of payment equality and right of work. All these factors instigated a complete openness to a number of aspects that was not only seen as immoral during the earlier period but also deem as sacrilege. It is obvious a section of the society was not in favor of the changes that were going around. The problem with these traditionalists was more economical than anything else. The lack of devotion towards the concept of God certainly displease the church as lesser interest in religion resulted into lesser amount of revenue and lower power in the sociopolitical perspective. The medieval period had the church at the center of all political and social structure and it gained huge authority over every aspect of life. Industrialization and economic independence certainly constricted the power and jurisdiction of the aspects of church and religion and thus made the religious authorities extremely unhappy about the proceedings. It was no surprise that the church openly opposed the progression of the European society. It was during this time slavery was banned first in United Kingdom and then the abolition was practiced all over Europe. This also was subjected to protests from certain part of the society, particularly from the commercial agricultural product manufacturers. These were the chief population that supported slavery in the different colonies of the Asia, Africa and Latin America under the imperialist banners of countries like UK, Germany, Spain, Portugal and France. Abolition of slavery was a huge attack on their profit margin and no wonder they protested with social and political influence and sometimes with financial and brute forces. (Lamb, 2004) The concept of civil rights developed as a logical fallout of these aspects. People were becoming aware of their position in the society through better mode of education and communication systems. The general mass was able to see the misgivings of the upper classes towards the rest of the population and identified the problem parts of the system and thus started to look for solution. The next step was rights for further participation into political arena and manifestation of political rights. Labor unrest and labor movement became a regular feature of the 19th century Europe and particularly in UK. These were movements that influenced the economical stability of the patricians of the society and hardly any of them was willing to part with their profit margin with the labors without a fight. Thus opposition in this case too was evident. It could also be stated that all the development of the era started from the openness of the thought process. The ultimate result was the combined force of religion and patricians worked overtime to resist this improvement of human dignity but eventually failed. King, 2006) In conclusion it can well be said that the driving force of history is predominantly economy and it is the different aspects and approach towards economy that give rise to conflicts and revolutions. It was true during the time of the crusades and it certainly relevant to the reasons behind the opposition to enlightenment values in Europe between the mid-18th and mid 20th centuries and objection of certain parts of the society against the aspects of progress, science, reason, l iberty and happiness.

Representation: How Have the Youth of Today Been Portrayed in Documentaries Essay

The youth of today are viewed as being an uncontrollable generation; events such as the London Riots have created a shift of perspective of youths in the United Kingdom. This uncontrollable generation is depicted through social issues such as binge drinking, drugs, smoking; as well as violence and unemployment. Most of the representations in the media today are exaggerated to an extent for entertainment purposes; such as documentaries, news and reality television shows. I will be looking into documentaries to view how the youth of today are being portrayed whether it is positive or negative and if it conforms to cultural stereotypes of society. The image of teenagers has changed over the many years with Stanley Cohen’s Folk Devils and Moral Panics: The Creation of Mods and Rocker (1972); has led the innovative discussion on the constantly growing image of the teenager. He used moral panics to describe the emergence of individuals or groups to become defined ‘as a threat to societal values and interests’ [1]. His book has been evolutionary to the perspective of teenagers and his inspection of youth gangs; most notably the ‘Mods and Rockers’. This links to the London riots of 2011 that had shook the nation, the tension between gangs and the police grew resulting into chaos. Such a social issue is viewed as a taboo of the current era and the media took a pivotal role to generate facts and spread anxiety and fear; thus creating a Moral Panic in the UK. The first documentary that I will be analysing is Channel 4’s documentary ‘Educating Essex’. The Passmores School in Harlow, Essex, is a successful school in a challenging area. The documentary exposes what life is really like for today’s students and teachers. The school had been rigged with 65 fixed cameras – from the corridors to the canteen, and from the head teacher’s office to the detention hall – to reveal every detail of daily life. The first programme of the series joins the deputy head at Passmores School in Essex and sees how he deals with emotional teenagers. The depiction of teenagers in this documentary varies and the audience views a lot of head on confrontation between students and teachers. The young adults in this documentary are all shown to be underachievers who hassle teachers, and cause problems within the classroom. The portrayal of teenagers in the series is progressively negative, due to their constant confrontations with teachers and their actions in lesson. The dress code of the adolescence in this documentary is disordered. This is shown to the public to allow viewing what teenagers look like at school and the deteriorating education system. The documentary also displays the binary oppositions between the student and teacher, and soon it becomes the centre of attention of the documentary. Channel 4’s documentary making is heavily edited (also mediated) and shows only the points of commotion throughout the day at the secondary school. The target audience is identified through the documentaries use of colloquial language. The target audience is teenagers and young adults/ parent with the ages ranging from 14- 24 years. Most will watch as to identify with the students, but some may watch for information. The media plays a key role in the representation of teenagers as well as influencing their young minds. In the research paper: The Influence of Media Violence on Youth; ‘violent television and films, video games, and music reveal unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behaviour in both immediate and long-term contexts’[2]. The research paper goes on to describe how reality television, gaming and music are leaders in the influence of youngsters minds. In Dr Kate Orton-Johnsons talk on Youth Culture, Media and Society she describes how ‘Mass media plays a crucial role in shaping public opinion about youth culture and the various forms of social practices that young people engage in’ [3]. Albert Bandura’s: Bobo-Doll Experiment highlighted the role of social imitation of aggression. Thus, the more you are exposed to violence the more you are prone to repeat the same acts that you as the individual have witnessed [4]. The second documentary I will be analysing is Ross Kemp on Gangs: Liverpool where he visits Liverpool to investigate the infamous postcode L11 gangs. The murder of an 11-year-old boy in a Liverpool suburb alerted the country to the city’s escalating gang culture. Rhys Jones was an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire of gang war. Ross Kemp goes in search of the youth gangs said to be causing mayhem on Liverpool’s streets and asks whether this area is becoming a reputation of a hub of gun and gang crime. Ross Kemps documentary style is investigative and it involves one of ‘the six types of modes of documentary’ [5] that Bill Nicholas identified. This documentary in particular involves the participatory mode of documentation in which the film maker is directly involved with the subject, while all events are recorded. The youngsters in this documentary are portrayed as being violent, ignorant and unemployed. This conforms to the cultural stereotypes of the ‘teenager’. The guardian newspaper wrote an article on the cultural stereotypes that young adults face and tries to show the two ends of the spectrum. The article allows youngsters to have an input to the stereotypes that they face and express their view on the issue at hand. ‘It doesn’t matter how you look, speak or dress, the only criterion required is whether you’re a young person’ [6]. The newspaper highlights a binary opposition between youths and adults. Ross Kemps approach to the youngsters in this documentary appears to be welcoming. As he interviews them he climaxes the fact that young men from deprived, and that neglected areas are failed by the state and thus, these youngsters resort to violence, drugs and overall suffer from unemployment as a consequence. These young adults are not only failed by the state but also on behalf of the education system and their parent. This documentary is revealed to be somewhat sympathetic towards the youth of today reiterating the fact that youngsters are victims of the adult world.

English as a Second Language Essay

Originally, England’s linguistic changes made English the second language and over the years, second language teaching has undergone a lot of erratic changes. Religious schools have greatly influenced the moral and cultural framing of English at this point in time. UK was also the center of developmental English teaching during World War II. Pioneers such as Harold Palmer, Michael West and Lawrence Fawcett triumphed in founding principled basis for teaching English as a second language. These strategies and methodologies derived from teaching of English on Great Britain were adjoined with other existing forms from overseas settings. In general, English is the first and widely taught foreign or second language and is considered as a medium language for education. Today, it is a common context to learn or study more than two languages. Pope stated, â€Å"English represents access to specific knowledge and skills and tends to be identified with the technology and science as well as the economic and cultural models of the modern 32). Different approaches such as communication, vocabulary and grammar are used in teaching English as a second language. Learning also depends on the fluency level aim, if it is purposely learnt for specific tasks or if the learner wants to achieve a native speaking tongue. English and other foreign languages can be mastered through live encounters or cross-cultural communication and study or technical translation. Early introduction of English in schools poses an academic advantage when it comes to learning the language. Basically, background knowledge of English and other foreign language is one of the most important things to consider. Reading is a cardinal skill in learning. It enhances metalinguistic awareness but for some reason, it can become a hindrance and a false knowledge. Students tend to enjoy meaningful conversation more than teachers’ theoretical strategies of detailed vocabulary and grammar lessons and this causes the problem in comprehension. Since some students do not deliberately concentrate on their reading skills and focus more on conversing, complete understanding is not achieved and it is merely viewed as a plain reading. Children at a very young age study two or more foreign languages and sometimes, English is rather a third language. Schools and educators sometimes forget to pay attention over the verity that it could be too much for young children to learn multiple languages all at the same time. For universities that use English for substantial academic paper works and materials, reading is crucial. But every teacher and learner should focus on the remaining language skills: listening, speaking, writing, and assessment, even if these are all adjunct to the capital skill that is reading. It is important for the teacher to have a considerable degree of attention towards the native language of the learner because native language plays a vital role in understanding a foreign language. English is the universal language. In some instances, teachers also experience difficulty expressing thoughts in English and this indicates that it is hard to achieve proficiency even if an individual has the basic and complex knowledge of the language. Teachers and educators’ goal should not be for the learners to achieve a native speaking tongue that flawlessly pronounces tones and speaks vocabulary and grammar perfectly. The ultimate goal is for students to learn how to listen, speak, write and read in English in a manner of complete comprehension and not necessarily to acquire a native speaking tongue. Works Cited Pope, Rob. â€Å"The English studies book: an introduction to language, literature and culture. † 2002). Routledge. 420 Smith, Richard C. â€Å"Wren and Wyatt†. 2003). Routledge.

What makes a true community

Catholicism and Community Presentation T: According to the secular definition of community; Is It a group of people living In the same area with particular characteristics In common. Within the community there Is a feeling of fellowship for others, common attributes, Interests and goals. Communities are everywhere and they have a big Impact when shaping who we are. That Is why It Is Important to surround oneself with communities that reflect and lead us to who we really are. In terms of Catholicism, as humans we are very social which is part of our vocation.Therefore a community in the Catholic view is defined by the following†¦ G: A community is a gathering of a group of people that come together in solidarity to shape the world through the common good. For example, around the world the Red Cross supplies areas suffering from various disasters with relief. This picture exemplifies the community of volunteers that have come together to do the common good of helping out the less fortunate. This group of people represent the visual aspect of community. Without everyone's contribution people stand In isolation and Individualism.Plus even through group members can come from different backgrounds they work and put their deliverables aside to become equal. That Is why everyone's role Is essential when working toward the common good. T: A community gives loyalty and respect to the commitment of the community and positive actions. The quote that we choose to represent this is â€Å"Loyalty has its roots in respects, and respect is the fruit of Love† by Paulo Cello. This quote means to us that loyalty comes from the respect of the community. So therefore when people are respectful they show this through love.When a community is respected and you omit your time to it; it is another way to show love towards it and when you do this ultimately with the right guidance the community will develop positively. G: A community helps, supports and loves one another to d evelop social aspects. Knowing that we are social beings it is important to strengthen our social qualities. A community will support and help each other through thick and thin. In result from all of these encounters with one another we are developing our social valuables. Just like In the picture with all of the people communicating and Interacting with one another.The more we help the more we will be able to love and comfort each other and feel belonging to our social surroundings. Which overall will help what our call to be social. T: A community develops values and receives true happiness from doing the right thing. Whether by exercising rights, opinions, or sharing knowledge to understand perspectives and concepts one must develop values to do the right thing. Our values and morals inspire us to do good and true happiness will follow our actions. Life can be considered like a ladder, at different rungs comes new experiences and new values are learned.When new values are learned and applied within the community or outside of it, a true sense of happiness follows from doing the right thing. And a key thing to remember Is that climbing a ladder can't be accomplished alone Instead with a community to hold and steady the ladder for you. G: A community grows together and develops ones Identity, Through displaying talents and surrounding yourself with positive people you will learn more about interests. A community will teach you more about yourself than you could ever. By being with similar people to you, over time you will be able to reveal you own identity.This is part of the spiritual aspect of community and how we develop our conscious. To represent self revelation we showed this through a mirrors and the community holding them up. From the help of others to self reveal the whole community benefits and grows. T: A community takes responsibility for each other's happiness. The people within a true community with the same values will take responsibility to ma ke sure that everyone is having a similar feeling and understanding to take away from the experience. Kids are always full of Joy and happiness, primarily when they re around a group of friends.They always look out for each other and pick each other up when they are done. Communities have the same responsibility as kids do for their group of friends. They have to look out for each other's happiness and take responsibility that everyone is happy. G: Community is very important too Catholic's life and they are everywhere and began right at the beginning with the creation story of the Earth and Adam and Eve. This includes their responsibility to have dominion of the Earth. Therefore our tree in the background of our collage represents the Garden of Eden.In fact, a tree acts as community too; every part of a tree from the bark, roots to leaves and fruit must function for the community-based structure to work properly. This sense of community is very similar to modern day communities and our need of relationships. T: In conclusion, a community is a group of people in solidarity to shape the world through the common good, it is given loyalty and respect to complete these positive actions, it develops us into social beings through support, we receive happiness and values from the good, by working together we reveal our true identity and responsibility is taken for others happiness.

Hotel Concept Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Hotel Concept - Essay Example A brand represents the core of the customers awareness of the hotel, its services and products. Keller (1997) explained that the positive or negative perceptions that are created and persuade a customer to avail or not to avail services at a certain hotel stand for the brand equity. A customers excellent experience with a certain hotel brand creates a strong representation of that hotel brand, whereas an awful experience wears away that strong brand. A prospective customer does not require first-hand experience with a certain hotel brand to create an impression of that hotel brand. Brand equity makes use of the media or other marketing techniques to strengthen mass exposure of their hotel brands. This means that people are aware of which among the hotels are classified excellent and poor even if they haven’t experienced being guests in those hotels. So, a strong need for hotel management is formed into creating the best and strong brand of hotel for business longevity as well as increase in profit. Creating strong hotel brands is believed to be one of the key factors in considering the success of the business. Hotel managers therefore need to study what composes brand equity in the hotel industry and exhibit a technique for how do they effectively measure hotel brands offering a decision-making tool for them in order to take full advantage of the value of their brands. The main rationale for building brand equity as the keystone for the success of the business is that it aids counterbalance competition by distinguishing their product, permitting hotel owners of a premium charge, and promoting customer loyalty. Aaker (1991) argued that defining precisely what composes a brand, nonetheless, is not as easy a job as stating what a brand should bring about. At some point, the concept of a brand is that a brand comprises a name, a symbol, a logo, and a trademark. However, pointing out brand

How strong was Tsarism in 1914 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

How strong was Tsarism in 1914 - Essay Example If one looks at Russia before 1914 it may be possible to come to some ending about these various views. In the course of 1905 to 1907 there had been significant peasant unrest intended mainly at the gracious landowners. ‘’A lot of this had been put downward by oppression but the government also approved a number of measures intended to alleviate the circumstances, including the elimination of redemption duties and the addition of credit via the Peasant Land Bank’’ (Wade, 2005.p.25). ‘’Once he became Prime Minister, Stolypin set himself the job of pacifying the peasantry as the key to Russia’s long-term stability’’ (Gatrell, 1994.p.461). During the conflict, the administration had observed that the community had not been a warranty of rural steadiness. Indeed, it gave turbulence their consistency and organization. Thus, the solution was to support peasants to leave the community and to become confidential landowners. ‘ ’Stolypin’s plan was to make a group of peasant administrators with a stake in sustaining the regime (Polonov, 2005.p.50)’’. They could then be relied on to hold their radical neighbours in check. The rationale Stolypin surrendered the Duma for the agrarian reorganization was his wish to make a class of small, free farmers a gamble on the abstemious and the strong, which would be hard working and innovative. It was felt that the presented system encouraged the rising disintegration of the land because of the rise in population, and did not give the incentive to make advancements because the land did not stay in the family. In quintessence, what Stolypin planned was privatization. In August 1906, Stolypin prepared 6 million hectares of state and crown land obtainable for peasant buying and in October, the new management eliminated all limitations on peasant movement. Nevertheless, ‘’the key measure was his Land Law of 9 November 1906’⠀™ (Geary, 1989.p.17).’’The verdict passed this and Duma did not approve until June 1910’’ (Gatrell, 1994.p.78). ‘’It stated that in the third duma (1907-12) the main position was held by the Union of 17 October , the date of the regal manifesto of 1905, which was dedicated to working with the administration for improvement in the agrarian civil rights , field, worker’s insurance, education, justice and local regime’’(Mendum & Waugh,2001.p.47). They approved Stolypin’s agrarian improvement, passed unevenly under disaster verdict in 1906. ‘’The graciousness, which had endorsed Stolypin’s agrarian improvement, opposed him on a number of other problems where they felt their welfare or that of the realm threatened and they used their central location’’ (Saul, 1997.p. 45). If the duma had a small number of successful changes to its credit, it did alter extremely the climate of Russi an government by bringing bureaucrat mistreatments out into the open, and by empowering public talk of contentious problems. ‘’From 1912 there was a renaissance of workers’ actions following the slaughter of activists at the Lena gold mines in Siberia’’ (Bagnall & McGonigle, 2004.p.481) ‘’. Ultimately, this caused the erection of blockades and to street hostility in St Petersburg on the eve of the First World War’’ (Saul, 1997.p.34). ‘’Visions of a latest era of industrial harmony and prosperity were rudely shattered by a fresh wave of Labour complaint that began in April, 1912, once

Learning outcomes of Statistics for Managers Research Paper

Learning outcomes of Statistics for Managers - Research Paper Example It is important for people to put statistics in practice even if they do not understand statistical methods well (Anderson, Sweeney & Williams, 2011). Descriptive statistics are numbers that are used to explore data in a more meaningful way such that a person can understand the data with no need of explanation. In descriptive, data more explained in such a way that images or patterns may emerge from the data presented. This helps those that cannot read and understand what the data means to study the image or patterns well so that they can be able to understand the data well. Descriptive statistic is of more importance if the data was to presented in a raw data it could be difficult for some of us to understand the data especially if one has a lot of data to go through. According to Leblanc (2004), descriptive statistics enables people to present their data in a more meaningful way for easy interpretation of the data. For example, a certain number of students in school sit for an exam then their teacher want to take the overall performance of those students. He or she will have to apply descriptive statistics to get the overall of his or her students. Inferential statistics is more concerned in making inference or predictions of a give population through analyses and observation of the sample. In inferential statistics the data is generalized together as opposed to descriptive statistics where data is more interpreted in a meaningful way. As such, analysts can take the results obtained from an analysis using a study sample, and then generalize this information for use in the larger population represented by the sample. Silverman (1986), argues that it is imperative to use a representative sample of the group being generalized in order to achieve this fete effectively. Some of the key tests of significance considered under the issue of generalization include a T-test or a Chi-square, which explores the probability of the results

Successful implementation & methodology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Successful implementation & methodology - Essay Example When implemented with these elements in mind, BPR can be successful and may be absolutely vital to the health of an organisation. The factors that impact a successful Business Process Reengineering (BPR) fall into the categories of implementation and environmental. The first factor to consider in the implementation is the design of the project. The project should be visionary and realistic. The design of the BPR needs to take into account the strategic goals of the business and consider the direction of the organisation. Timeframes must be adequate to allow for the team to accomplish its goals. There are key questions to be asked during project design phase. Will it provide any competitive advantage Will it remain competitive in the long term These questions require knowledge of the business environment. Grover et al. (1995 p. 112) asserts that " A major finding of the planned change approach indicates that implementation success occurs when commitment to change exists; commitment to the project exists; and the project is well defined and plans are clearly specified". The design team will need to know the product, the market, and the customers to complete a successful design. The redesign phase is one of the most important factors in any methodology. To be of any value, the redesign needs to be accompanied by a cost/benefit analysis. Is the redesign worth the cost of reengineering What are the risks involved with the redesign Radical change involves cost cutting measures that may impact vendors, suppliers, and employees. Stoddard & Jarvenpaa (1995 p.105) warns that, "... revolutionary change process might not be feasible given the risk and cost of revolutionary tactics". Companies need to assess the risk and evaluate the degree of change tolerance that they may be subjected to. Communication is another key factor to aid in the success of BPR. Management needs to communicate with the staff the scope and the motivation of the project. Communication is also essential to get employees to think about the new way of doing business. If the project involves downsizing, the workforce needs to be aware of the plans and the alternatives that will be provided. The design phase should include a Human Resources strategy. The major threads that run throughout the successful implementation of BPR are, "...communication, empowerment, people involvement, training and education, creating a culture for change, and stimulating receptivity of the organisation to change are the most important factors related to change management and culture" (Al-Mashari & Zairi, 1999 p.88). These issues revolve around the human resource issue. It is imperative that communication with the employees be

Persuation paper regarding Family Therapy in school setting Essay

Persuation paper regarding Family Therapy in school setting - Essay Example Also, student needs are being met by career counselors and nurses, so it would be a good idea to have family therapy added. Family therapy would help families stay together. There are many problems that families have that students have to deal with on a daily basis. When they come to school they may be tired, upset, or angry and they have no where to go to talk about their feelings. A family therapy program could help them by allowing them to talk about their feelings. The therapist could then bring the entire family in during school hours and everyone would be helped. Although many parents would have to work during school hours, they may be able to get off for an hour or two in order to do therapy. Family therapy would be free in school. Many families do not have money to go t a therapist in the community and some people do not have insurance that will pay for them to go. By having a family therapy program in school, the cost could be paid for through a grant or other educational fu nd. There might also be people in the community who would contribute to the program. When there is a problem with a student and there is no place in school for them to go, they have to find someone outside of school to help them. If they do not have the resources to find someone, they do not get the help they need. A family therapy program would accomplish two things in this situation: The first thing it would do is help them have a therapist they already know. During the school day, a family therapist could get to know students and begin to understand their problems. The second thing that this would accomplish is that it would give parents a person who already knew their child from school. Bothe the parents and the child would have a therapist they were already comfortable seeing. Some parents might be afraid to go to family counseling because they would feel they would not want to have the school know their family business. However, if their child was having problems in school, th ey should be encouraged to help their child in any situation. Some parents might feel that going to a therapist means they are mentally ill or that people would think they were crazy. A family therapy program could encourage parents to come in for events that were geared just for them. As an example, a tea or a luncheon to tell parents about the program would be an ideal way for them to get to know more about the family therapy program. The therapist and the principal could make sure that all students take home information about the counseling program that would encourage parents to come to these events or stop in if they needed to talk to someone. Many schools have school psychologists but they are not the same as a therapist. The school psychologists usually do a lot of testing and they do not really do counseling. The therapist would be able to be the one to do the counseling and they may also get some ideas from the psychologist about what issues students need to address in thei r studies. Some of the issues that a counselor could help students with would include: adjustment to school, adjustment to divorce, any abuse issues that might happen at home, alcohol or drug abuse, and peer pressure. These are just some of the issues a skilled counselor could help with and by talking about these issues students may be able to do better in school. Counselors could also do group counseling. There would be students who have the same issues and they could come together as a group and talk about their problems. Maybe

How can the Nurses collaborate to prevent and manage Pressure ulcers Research Paper

How can the Nurses collaborate to prevent and manage Pressure ulcers (bed Sore) - Research Paper Example The panel came up with recommendation on preventive strategies such as patient education, clinician training, development of communication and terminology materials, implementation of toolkits and protocols. Behavioral aspects like adherence of the healthcare provider as well as the patient were also given recommendations. The collaborative effort of the learned American healthcare professionals who have the resources and determination has transformed the impending challenge of the CMS policy to an opportunity for the improvement of the hospital system and its patients. The Pressure Ulcer Collaborative project, coordinated by the New Jersey Hospital Association (NJHA), was conceptualized based on the negative effects of pressure ulcers such as pain and disfigurement on patients, the burden of care to the healthcare industry, and the state and federal reporting requirements – the U.S. Health and Human Services in particular calls for a 50% reduction in pressure ulcers among nursing home residents by 2010. A comparative method to analyze data based on the guidelines developed by the NJHA Quality Institute Department and the Department of Continuing Care Services was used by the 150 organization who participated in the project. After a 12-month period (October 2005 to October 2006), the incidence and prevalence of pressure ulcers among the participating organizations showed a 30% decrease. By May 2007, the end of the second year of the Pressure Ulcer Collaborative project, a 70% decrease was achieved. The skin assessment, Braden assessment, and frequency of skin assessment requirements to meet the guideline criteria were not sufficient at the onset, thus the project was rolled out in all organizations who participated by April 2006 only. The project was able to give the healthcare staff a more detailed and comprehensive focus on patient care improvement, access to guidelines and protocols, and commitment to consistency and standardization in

Business and organizational aspects of HCI (HW) Research Paper

Business and organizational aspects of HCI (HW) - Research Paper Example IBM’s HCI research is the most extensive to date. The company has designed its business agenda around HCI. The challenge that IBM faced was to treat their employees as the most valuable asset that can be turned into the company’s competitive edge. The design of IBM is visualized on the belief that future social collaboration functions will be sophisticated making consumer access and commercial services cost-effective over the internet. Since at IBM, design is the vital component for products and services to be successful, the affects of the design directly impact the product use, service cost and customer loyalty. For this purpose, the designs of IBM are focused on providing user experienced services to the customers. The designs at IBM are built to tackle the architectural issues of large-scale information portals and cities that are opened for social and economic commerce. The IBM Services such as Dojo Globalization, IBM Lotus Sametime 8.5, and Dojo Enhanced Grid help the businesses for integration of people is based on the HCI. The development of technologies that allows for speech recognition, and interaction designs, the HCI research at IBM is there since 20 years. IBM designs it HCI technologies from disciplines of computer science, sociology, industrial design, anthropology and psychology to provide on-site collaborations with its users and other customers. Some of the research projects of IBM on HCI are Koala which uses the HCI technology to record and share business processes over the Web between different users; Unified Activity Management is used to understand how the employees plan, manage and share their activities amongst themselves; and Shape Writing technology is the new and latest in HCI technology which highlights the importance of users’ interaction with mobile phones, PDAs, and handheld devices. As IBM is a business and consumer solution provider, it

Chinese Nationalist Party Essay Example for Free

Chinese Nationalist Party Essay On 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong, leader of the Chinese Communist Party declared victory over the Nationalist Party (Guomindang) and brought an end to four brutally long years of Civil War. The Communist victory in the Civil War has however, created significant debate among historians, namely: was a Communist victory inevitable and if so is it more sensible to see the Chinese Civil War as a Communist victory or as a Nationalist defeat?When researching these questions it becomes blatantly obvious that the Guomindang government led by Chiang Kai-Shek was riddled with problems and they are very much the cause of their own downfall. Widespread government corruption, spiraling inflation, loss of public confidence and intractable poverty are just a few of the failings the Guomindang afflicted upon the Chinese people. These monumental failings make a Communist victory seem almost inevitable, in that they just happened to be there to assume power as the Nationalists lost support and drowned in their own mistakes. In this sense it is more sensible to view the Civil War as a Nationalist defeat, rather than a Communist victory. On the other hand, the Communists were able to turn dismal rural poverty and the Japanese invasion into assets, using them to convince villagers that radical change was imperative and that the Communist Party was best qualified to bring about this change. Seen in this light, superior strategy and organisational methods allowed the Communists to achieve victory and not just move into a vacuum as suggested by Barnett (Barnett, 1965: 1). There is certainly an element of inevitability with regard to the Communist victory, however, in this essay I will argue that not only was the outcome of the Chinese Civil War not preordained, but I will also critically evaluate the reasons the Guomindang lost the Civil War and explain that given their policy mistakes, the Civil War should be seen as a Nationalist defeat rather than a Communist victory. If the Nationalists had been willing to adapt and had they initiated some changes in their strategies, the Communist Party, no matter what its internal organisation or external strategies, would not have been able to bring revolution to China. This theory is not supported by Kubek, who argues that the cause of the  Nationalist defeat was due to a lack of aid from the United States, declaring sovietisation of China and Manchuria could be the only logical outcome of post-war United States policy in China (Kubek, 1965: 62). This view point is unduly simplistic and overvalues Americas role in China, an opinion supported by Chang, who believes the Guomindang governments failure was due not so much to lack of American support, but to its inherent defects (Chang, 1965: 40). Before analysing these inherent defects and the reasons that the Nationalist Party lost the Civil War, it is important to understand the fundamentals of the situation in China at the end of World War Two; specifically the consequences of the eight year war with Japan that totally exhausted the Guomindang militarily, economically and spiritually. Hsu argues that the war with Japan is the single most important cause for the downfall of the Nationalists and had there been no Japanese war, the situation in China would have been very different (Hsu, 1990: 734). Many of the Guomindangs problems such as factionalism, corruption and leadership were prevalent prior to the Sino-Japanese War; however it was during the last phases of the Sino-Japanese War that these problems reached crisis proportions and in hindsight it seems impossible that the Guomindang could have overcome these problems to defeat the Communists (Service, 1965: 29). Chang also believes that the Guomindang faced insurmountable problems prior to the Civil War, stating that the government of Chiang Kai-Shek was built on quicksand and clay. How can it stand? Is it any wonder that it fell like a house of cards when it had to face the Communist crisis? (Chang, C. 1965: 41). Westad, (2003: 7) however argues that in spite of the Guomindangs weaknesses, the outcome of the post-war conflict with the Communists was no way predetermined in 1945. At the end of the Sino-Japanese War the Guomindang held significant advantages over the Communists, with its widely recognised legitimate government controlling China, giving it the power to tax and conscript. On the other hand, the Communists could not match the Guomindangs troops in terms of training and equipment and could be  outgunned and outmanoeuvred in all major regions of the country (Westad, 2003: 8). Furthermore, the Communist party was hardly represented in the cities at all, which of course was the power base of the Guomindang. However, the Communists also had successes resulting from the war with Japan including increasing their area of control and practiced evolving their strategies of protracted guerrilla warfare against the Japanese which in turn generated public support. Despite this the partys main forces were still located in North-west China and they were not in such a powerful position that a civil war with the Guomindang would be a mere formality in securing control of the country. The Civil War is therefore simply not a case of the imminent decline of the Guomindang and the Communists irresistible rise. Rather the Sino-Japanese War provided the framework for the decisions and strategies that would ultimately lead to Nationalist defeat. The war with Japan left the Guomindang decimated and they did need to undergo reform in order to survive; however the factionalism and corruption within the Guomindang resulted in increasingly repressive controls being implemented upon the war weary Chinese people. At a time when new strategies were needed, the government instead continued its repressive controls and when war again broke out, the government lost even more support and collapsed with cataclysmic speed. This was due in no small part to the leadership of the Guomindang, whose perpetuation of their own power dominated over all other considerations (Service, 1965: 28). The arrogance and mismanagement of the Guomindang alienated the Chinese people and caused a loss of public confidence and respect. This loss of respect not only resulted in the Nationalists losing influence in their own power bases, but made it easier for the Communists to exploit this public disharmony and encourage the Chinese people to think that a change in administration would bring about a change in their fortunes. An example of the Guomindangs poor leadership strategies can be seen in their occupation of former Japanese colonies (Service, 1965: 29). The Chinese citizens within these Japanese occupied territories had waited eight  years for the return of Nationalist rule, but instead of being treated as victims of war, they were exploited. The Guomindang leaders did not return their land but acquired it as their own property; moreover, they virtually eliminated the monetary assets of these people. This was caused by the currency in the occupied territories going through extreme inflation as the government only offered the exorbitant exchange rate of two hundred to one; when a more reasonable rate would have been half that much (Phillips, 1996: 158). Furthermore, the puppet leaders that had been installed by the Japanese often kept their positions or became members of the Guomindang. Poor policy decisions such as this would lead to the downfall of the Guomindang, as it is impossible to fight a n effective war without the support of the people and the economic policies of the government alienated millions of suffering people. The Guomindangs economic problems were not limited to the territories formerly occupied by the Japanese. All over China inflation was an exceptionally large problem, for as the increases seen during the Japanese War were allowed to spiral out of control during the Civil War. Service, (1965: 29) argues that this is a direct result of corruption within the Guomindang, and that they refused to take any effective steps to check inflation or implement agricultural reforms for fear of losing the support of the landlord class in China. In view of this, the Guomindang developed urban industry at the expense of agricultural and financed this by simply printing more bank notes. Their economic mismanagement was disastrous for the majority of the Chinese people and meant that by 1948 government expenditure had become thirty times larger when compared to its pre-war level; the budget deficit had also blown out to thirty times it pre-war level and inflation was increasing at the rate of thirty per cent a month (Chang, K. 1965: 23). The Nationalist government faced imminent financial doom and the Chinese people were becoming aware of the selfish nature of their government whose economic policies and financial mismanagement destroyed the livelihood of hundreds of millions of Chinese. The failings of the Guomindang would provide the Communist party with ample opportunities to exploit the discontent of the Chinese people. This was one of the reasons for the Communist victory in that they were able to gain the support of people from the rural areas who the Guomindang had alienated. An example of this can be seen in the rural land reforms implemented in newly gained territories. In these areas the Communists promoted production and ensured supplies by creating a self-sufficient economy. To rouse the productive enthusiasm of the peasants, they launched a campaign to reduce rent and interest. Peasant associations and other organisations were urged to demand and enforce a 25 percent rent reduction, with a rent ceiling set at 37.5 percent of the crops. The interest rate on loans was limited to 1.5 percent a month, or 18 percent a year, much lower that the excessive rate formerly charged by the landlords (Westad, 2003: 11 and Fielding, 1999: 134). They were able to achieve these reforms without confiscating large amounts of land, as considerable redistribution of land to the peasants was accomplished by impo sing graduated taxes in such a way that larger landholders voluntarily sold land because it was no longer profitable. It is arguable that the Communists had no intention of eliminating the economic power of the landlords, but instead they showed the peasants that they could exercise their power locally and play an active role in the war against a government that some had come to despise. The Communists gave the peasants what they wanted: an army of friendly troops who not only did not steal their crops but helped them bring in the harvest and who implemented popular but gradual economic reforms (Ebrey, 1996: 289). This is in stark contrast to the Guomindang who did not understand the peasants and showed no interest in aiding them. They failed to see the revolutionary potential of the peasant masses and unlike the Communist Party never attempted to organise them. This situation was best summarised by Hsu: the stone that one builder had rejected became the cornerstone of the others house (Hsu, 1990: 738). However, many of the most important cause of the Nationalist defeat during the Civil War were military ones. Despite emerging from the Japanese War better equipped and trained, the Nationalist Army was a tired force (Hsu, 1990: 734). This war-weariness was felt throughout China and there was  widespread recognition that full scale civil war would be a tragedy for the country. It is therefore, not surprising that the Guomindangs persistence in military aggression towards the Communists, who were Chinese after all, failed to arouse the same patriotic loyalty as when the enemies were Japanese (Stuart, 1965: 19). Given this situation the Nationalist Army needed good leadership and to gain the support of the people; they were unsuccessful on both counts. This was largely due to the leadership system created by Chiang Kai-Shek that was a congerie of conservative political cliques concerned primarily with maintaining their own power (Service, 1965: 30). Furthermore, the highest military posts were reserved for those who like Chiang Kai-Shek had graduated from the Whampoa military academy and this often meant that more talented officers were turned away. General Barr of the United States said of the Guomindang leadership in 1949 that, their military debacles in my opinion can all be attributed to the worlds worst leadership and many other morale destroying factors that lead to a complete loss of will to fight (Barr, 1949: x quoted in Bianco, 1971: 180). In fact, many battles were lost by the Nationalists without a fight, as hundreds of thousands of troops simply defected or surrendered to the Communists (Barnett, 1965: 5). An example of this may be seen during the Huai-Huai Campaign, where poor military leadership caused the Nationalist troops to become surrounded and resulted in an irreparable loss of manpower without a fight (Phillips, 1996: 158). Rather than undertaking offensives to seek out and destroy the main mobile guerrilla units of the Communists, they holed up for the most part in isolated, vulnerable, defensive positions allowing the Communists to concentrate their forces and attack and overwhelm Nationalists positions one by one (Barnett, 1965: 5). This strategy played into the hands of the Communists whose primary goal was to reduce the numbers of the Nationalist army. They were not concerned with holding specific geographic areas and this allowed them to be a lot more flexible in their attacks. Moreover, the Communist troops were ordered to avoid large battles and to engage the enemy only when there was a high probability of victory. Mao Zedong argued that the only way guerrilla warfare could succeed  is if the army had the support of the people, and the Communists certainly had this (Mao Zedong, 1940: x cited in Bianco, 1971: 184). The Communists successfully achieved this through the use of propaganda. They portrayed themselves as defenders of the nation and the Guomindang as enemies of all levels of society, from peasant to scholar (Chang, C. 1965: 40). Chiang Kai-shek himself admitted that the Nationalists failure in propaganda was a major defect in our struggle against Communism (Kai-shek, 1965: 77). Despite this, the Nationalist army had many opportunities to seriously weaken the Communists. However, their leadership too often committed crucial tactical mistakes, which were the result of lack of communication and disputes within the party caused by the factionalism that riddled the Guomindang leadership (Westad, 2003: 11). Clique politics and factionalism would eventually lead to the situation where unified action to either solve the problems in Nationalist held territory or to fight against the Communists became virtually impossible (Barnett, 1965: 6). This is in stark contrast to the leadership of the Communist armies, whose generals were not concerned with personal gain, but instead co-operated with each other and gained the support of the Chinese people and worked towards a united goal (Westad, 2003: 9). These superior military tactics and aforementioned economic reforms brought the Communists wide spread support and ultimately victory. However, this victory would never have been achievable were it not for the military, economic and social failings of the Guomindang. Chiang Kai-Shek himself admitted major defects in organisation and technique in the Nationalists war against Communism, however he argued that these defects were remediable, so long as our strategy and policy were correct, I believe we still could have won (Kai-Shek, 1965: 82). It is in this light that the Chinese Civil War should be viewed not as a Communist victory, but as a Nationalist defeat. There is no doubt that the war against Japan was a crushing blow to the Nationalists economic and military power, however it was not fatal. The  Nationalist government could have continued to consolidate its power and authority by the sheer weight of its military strength and financial resources (Tsou, 1965: 28). Even though the Nationalist government was far from popular, it was the most powerful military and economic force in China and could have survived if it had been willing to regain the support of the people. Defeat to the Communists was therefore, far from inevitable, and the Nationalists were very much the engineers of their own demise. BIBLIOGRAPHY Barnett, A. (1965), Multiple factors, in Pichon Loh (ed.) The Kuomintang Debacle of 1949: Conquest or Collapse? D.C. Heath Company, BostonBianco, Lucien. (1971), Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915-1949 Stanford University Press, StanfordChang, Carsun. (1965), Chiang Kai-shek and Kuomintang dictatorship, in PichonLoh (ed.) The Kuomintang Debacle of 1949: Conquest or Collapse? D.C. Heath Company, BostonChang, Kia-Ngua. (1965) War and Inflation in Pichon Loh (ed.) The Kuomintang Debacle of 1949: Conquest or Collapse? D.C. Heath Company, BostonEbrey, Patricia. (1996), Cambridge Illustrated History: China, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, EnglandFielding, Mark Morcombe, Margot. (1999), The Spirit of Change China in Revolution McGraw Hill Book Company, Roseville, NSWHsu, Immanuel C.Y. (1990), The Rise of Modern China Oxford University Press, New YorkKai-shek, Chiang 1965, Communist designs and Kuomintang blunders, inPichon Loh (ed.) The Kuomintang Debacle of 1949: Conquest o r Collapse?, D.C. Heath Company, BostonKubek, Anthony 1965, Communist subversion and American appeasement, inPichon Loh (ed.) The Kuomintang Debacle of 1949: Conquest or Collapse?, D.C. Heath Company, BostonPhillips, Richard. (1996) China since 1911 St Martins Press, New York. Service, John S. 1965, The enthronement of reaction, in Pichon Loh (ed.)The Kuomintang Debacle of 1949: Conquest or Collapse?, D.C. Heath Company,BostonStuart, John L. (1965), Popular Discontent and Creeping Paralysis, in Pichon Loh (ed.)The Kuomintang Debacle of 1949: Conquest or Collapse?, D.C. Heath Company,BostonTsou, Tang 1965, Contradictions between program and practise, in PichonLoh (ed.) The Kuomintang Debacle of 1949: Conquest or Collapse?, D.C. Heath Company, BostonWestad, Odd Arne 2003, Decisive Encounters: the Chinese Civil War 1946 -1950, Stanford University Press, California