Allowing Gays To Adopt

In most cases, the legality of adoption is based very strongly upon the principle of consent. Consent refers to the agreement by the child’s parents or the child’s guardian (the person or the agency under whose custody the child is) to accede the child for adoption and to expel the rights and duties with regard to the child. The process of consenting requires that the birth parents of the child notify a judge or court officials in writing.Alternatively, a part from the biological parents, other people issuing their consent can be the agency in charge of the child, the guardians, the court of law, or a close relative or the next friend who has already attained the legal age. In some states such as the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia for instance, the child should issue consent when or when above 14. Sometimes this may be abnegated if the child is mentally ill. The execution of the consent normally takes 13 days while cases with the fastest ratification speed may take 12-24 hours.Heretofore, the next stage may differ since rules are state-specific. In most states, the written consent is notarized to the concerned public, while in other states; the consenting parents are taken for counseling as touching the matter. A provision for the revocation of the consent is normally very limited but in most cases, the adoption process is irrevocable. States in which there are absolutely no provision for the revocation include; Mississippi, Samoa and the Nebraska.The limited provision come in when the parents or guardians were defrauded, coerced or were under duress when issuing their consent. Some states also issue a time frame within which any case of disgruntlement can be aired by the parents. Conversely if the application to revoke the consent has been found to be in the interest of the child or if both the biological parents and the adoptive parents have reached this consensus, it will be the duty of the court of law to consider the petition.The 14th amendment of the American constitution, a post civil war judicial reconstruction, was originally intended to bolster the 13th amendment which in turn had brought slavery to a grinding halt. This amendment was to promote the rights of the former slaves. When it was proposed in the June 13, 1866, it spelt out equal protection of all by the law, birthing the â€Å"Separate but equal† doctrine. This amendment placed all persons on the same pedestal since all became under one law. It is upon this concept of equality that the marginalized groups began to come out for equal recognition.Privacy rights such as abortion, homosexuality became subject to debates. Currently perhaps the most heated form of debate is the one touching on the prospects of gay adoption (Ricketts, 1991). The laws for the best interest of the child assume that for any normal child to develop well, this should happen under the jurisdiction of the two parents. It is on this backdrop that in the best interest of the child, the law has come up with regulations which are geared towards the child’s protection for instance, in case of a divorce.By default, the law stipulates that upon divorce, both parents should have equal access and responsibility to and over the child. This can only be negated upon a parent being found to be harmful to the child. As far as the issue of the best interest of the child in relation to gay parenting is concerned, the law is not yet unified and therefore varies from one state to another. For instance gay parenting is prohibited in Florida but reconstructions are underway to recognize it in Alabama, Georgia, Ohio and Tennessee.The pro-gay parenting legal practitioners argue that it is better for a child to have a two parent family than a one parent one, and that it will be furthering the interest of the child since a two parent family can easily fend for the child’s needs than if the child had one or no parent at all. A case these lawyers have bro ught to the fore is the fact that there are presently (Clifford, Hertz, Doskow, Curry 2007)119,000 needy children in the US alone waiting to be adopted. Furthermore, they posit that children have more serious concerns than their parent’s sexual orientation.Discrimination against children raised by gay parents is not so far fetched compared to the discrimination encountered by gay parents. In America, this is not much of a problem compared to Australia where the parents are discriminated against in areas touching on taxation, social security, and workers’ compensation. The only case of discrimination against children with gay parents witnessed in Australia is limited to the peer groups and is always manifested in schools and in the neighborhood.This is because the Article 2 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child which was ratified in the 1990 sternly warns against child discrimination of any kind (Ricketts, 1991). Although some maintain that there is no strong bas is for the prohibition of the adoption by gay parenting, yet children rights and welfare agencies cite the child bearing studies on the other hand to maintain that children raised in heterosexual marriages thrive best emotionally, physically and mentally.They maintain that spates of violence are 2-3 times higher in homosexual marriages when compared to the heterosexual ones. In addition to this, they posit that homosexual marriages are always susceptible to dissolution with the normal gay marriage lasting 2-3 years and that homosexual activities are often marked with substance dependence, mental illnesses, suicidal tendencies and a shortened lifespan in comparison to heterosexual marriages.The proponents of same sex marriage and the adoption by the same sex parents have countered that these dysfunctions accrued by this group are as a result of the US socio-economic pressure, to which the opponents of adoption by the gay parents rebutted that the same pressure rests on the normative/ conservative form of marriage without yielding such results (Lerner and Nagai 2001). They further deliberate that children adopted or reared under the same sex marriage are highly vulnerable to sexual confusion, homo sexual behavior and premature sex.Nevertheless, it must be kept in mind that numerous strides have been made to entrench gay adoption and this has also produced gradual acceptance of the practice. A testimony to this is Florida which since 1977 had proscribed gay adoption but as per now efforts are in the offing to abrogate this law due to the push by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on the Supreme Court. In the same vein, the 1997 ACLU fact sheet, â€Å"the gay parenting statistics† to confirm this discloses that approximately, 6-14 million children are living under gay parenting.This could still be an understatement since most gays and lesbians are always reserved about disclosing the structure of their families due to fear of losing children (Mc Gurry , 2003). These changing prospects can be attributed to the fact that the emphasis on traditional form of marriage is gradually waning, and the subsequent overturning of state laws to assimilate gay marriages is in force. A case in point is when the then president Bill Clinton, signed the Defense On Marriage Act (DOMA), thus giving way to same sex marriage in Hawaii (Rimmerman, Wald, Wilcox, 2000).Gay adoption is also growing because of the fast rate with which gay parenting is spreading. Gay parenting, apart from the normal procedure of adoption occurs when one partner pulls out of a heterosexual marriage while still maintaining the custody of a child and moves into a gay marriage or, through lesbians opting for an artificial insemination upon siring a child enters into an agreement with gay partners for adoption. The co-parent adoption occurs when one gay who has an adopted child with him moves in with a partner who automatically assumes the role of a co- parent.This practice is co mmon in Washington, District of Columbia, Vermont, California, Minnesota, Alaska, and Oregon (Tonnerson, Andenaes and Wintemute, 2001). As touching on the stability of the children, the children grow up healthy and well adjusted compared to those who have one or no parent at all. This scores highly with the concept of the best interest of a child since the child’s financial and material needs are met. Conversely, the children under gay adoption turn out successfully just as the ones under heterosexual care.The American Psychological Association (AMA), out of its research maintained categorically that there was no evidence that children brought under gay adoption and parenting were susceptible to maladjustment or that they turned out less intelligent or suffered low self esteem; neither was there a connection between homosexuality and pedophilia or direct influence in the child’s sexual orientation in future. On the contrary, the AMA observed that 90% of child sexual ab uses were carried out by heterosexual men (Baker, 2005).To further dispel the misgivings on gay adoption, both the parents who want to adapt a child undergo a screening procedure which is a meticulous exercise meant to filter out those who have less prospects of making good parents. The fact that many potential gay parents navigate successfully these enchanted waters is a testimony of the type of parents they would make. Bibliography. Baker P. Public Discourses of Gay men. Rutledge: United States, 2005. Clifford D. Hertz F. Doskow E. Curry H. A Legal Guide for Lesbian and Gay Couples. Nolo: United States, 2007. Lerner R. Negai A.No Basis: What studies don’t tell us about parenting. Marriage Law Projects /Ethics and Public Policy Center: United States, 2001. Mc Garry J. K. Fatherhood for Gay Men: Emotional and Practical Guide to becoming a gay dad. Haworth Press: United States, 2003. Ricketts W. Lesbians and Gay men as foster parents. Wendel/ Ricketts: United States, 1991. Rim merman A. C. Wald D. K. Wilcox C. The Politics of Gay Rights University of Chicago: United States, 2000. Tonnerson M. Andenaes R. Wintemute M. Legal Recognition of Same Sex Partnership: A Study of National and European Law. Hart Publishing

Human Nature Essay

Over time, there have been numerous portrayals of the war between good and evil that has forever existed in society. However, very few have come forth that have shed light upon the tussle between the tendency to indulge in either one of good and evil that exists inside the human mind and continues to do so throughout the course of one’s life. It is essential to understand that works such as these are not mere contribution to literature but are in fact in depth insights into the human mind and present a picture of the nature of the perceptions that exist within it. This is so because of the fact that no matter how much man chooses to evolve in his society and surrounds himself with monuments to sophistication, there will always be the desire to break free of moral boundaries and to indulge one’s self in the free and uncontrolled activities of evil. This paper shall consider Robert Louis Stevenson’s The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as a depiction of the fight between good and evil that ensues within the darkest of depths in the human mind, then one can see how there is a continuous battle that perseveres within these depths and that there are instances when the suggestion to be evil becomes so strong that there is no longer any degree of possible control that can be attained on the rampage that evil engages in (Colvin, Adcock and Stevenson). The novella was first published in 1886 and has served as one of the most clear and concise insights into the intricate workings of the human mind. If one was to consider the character of Dr, Jekyll, it is evident that Robert Louis Stevenson has chosen to portray that all people are not inherently either completely good or completely evil by nature, rather they hold a frame of mind that comprises partially of a tendency to good, and partially of a tendency to indulge in evil. However, if one was to refer to the bigger picture that is visible in Robert Louis Stevenson’s The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; it is evident that Robert Louis Stevenson has chosen to use his characters to reflect upon particular dimensions of human nature. For instance, one can see that in contrast to the elusive Dr. Jekyll there exists firstly, Mr. Hyde who is a severe contrast to the principles and morality that Dr. Jekyll stands for. Further on, Mr. Enfield appears to be the continuously probing element of curiosity that is ever present and active in the human mind. Lanyon appears to be a vessel that holds logic and a desire for life to be composed of a series of events that are in no way out of the ordinary or do not comply with the rudiments of logic. Also, the degree of loathing that develops amongst the common man towards this dark side of the human mind once it becomes exposed comes out to be nothing more than prevalence and broadening of the element of hatred and evil. An example of this fact can be seen in the very first few pages of The Strange Case of The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when Mr. Enfield states in a reply to the lawyer’s question about the appearance of the suspected criminal: â€Å"I never saw a man I so disliked†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ I can’t describe him. And it’s not want of memory; for I declare I can see him this moment† (Stevenson 5). From this line, we can surmise that Mr. Enfield develops a loathing towards the creature that lurks in the darkness of the night and indulges in actions out of the pure loathing to all that is good, pure and honest. By giving personalities such as those mentioned above to each individual character and taking the traits that form these personalities to their natural extremes, Robert Louis Stevenson has taken a stance that shows how each individual holds his/her own set of good and evil traits, both of which come together to form the mind of the ordinary every day person. An aspect that should be highlighted at this point is that Dr. Jekyll is perhaps in no way different from the rest of the characters in the plot, and the only distinction that exists between Dr. Jekyll and the rest of the characters is that Dr. Jekyll crosses a threshold of sorts and enters a state of mind where his evil bent of thinking dominates over him. We can therefore surmise that Dr. Jekyll is not an individual person who manages to experiment with his own perceptions and allows his evil side to roam free, but is in fact an example of the form that any normal every day character from the plot would have taken, had it been allowed to roam free and unattended. However, if one was to raise a question concerning the value of friendship or the loyalty towards it that exists with regard to the revelation of different sides of the human mind, then one can see from Robert Louis Stevenson’s The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde that there is hardly any element of loyalty or commitment to friendship that remains when a part of the concerned party enters into the absolution of evil. It is perhaps because of the very same illustration of the forces of good and evil that exists within each individual that The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has been subjected to not only numerous forms of adaption over time, but has also been the center of numerous interpretations for the same reason. According to an interpretation by The Guardian, Robert Louis Stevenson’s The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde can be seen in more perspectives in modern times than it could have been possibly seen in the earlier days (Campbell). This is because of the reason that the tendency to submit to the desires of evil or the desire to adhere to the principals and morals that define all that is good can be replaced by numerous other tendencies that lurk within the depths of the human mind and it is for the same reason that Robert Louis Stevenson’s The strange case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde holds more relevance now than it did at any other point in time. Works Cited Campbell, James. The beast within. 13 December 2008. 21 May 2009 . Colvin, Sidney, Arthur St. John Adcock and Robert Louis Stevenson. Robert Louis Stevenson: his work and his personality. Hodder and Stoughton, 1924. Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Courier Dover Publications, 1991.

Operations & Process Mgt Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Operations & Process Mgt - Assignment Example Expected inventory level is the stock held by a business more than its obligation for the lead-time. Firms hold Expected inventory level to guard against â€Å"stock-out† (Shah, 2005:227). Average inventory is utilized to approximate the quantity of inventory that a company naturally has on hand more than a longer time period than just the last period. Since the balance of inventory is computed at then end of the last dealing day of a month, it can vary significantly from the average quantity over a longer period of time, depending upon whether there was an unexpected decline of stock or possibly a big supplier delivery at the ending of the month. â€Å"Average inventory† (702) is also helpful for assessment to revenues. While revenues are naturally accessible in the statement of profits and loss not only for the most recent month, but also for the â€Å"year-to-date† (Bragg, 2011:151), it is helpful to also compute the average stock for the â€Å"year-to-date† (151), and then match the inventory average balance to the revenues of year-to-date in order to see how much stock investment was required to support a specified sales level. The company considers the average costs connected with â€Å"placing, processing and receiving† (Sabri, Gupta & Beitler, 2007:34) a replacement order for any part amounting to  £40. It also estimates the standard cost of holding a particular unit of every component in inventory for an entire year at 6% of the unit cost of the item. An â€Å"alternative inventory policy† (Fu, 2014:46) that denotes the quantity of units of inventories, which should be held to decrease costs is proposed. We can reduce the total annual stockholding costs by recognizing average inventory and decreasing â€Å"safety stock† (Minner, 2000:35). By reducing overall lead time and lead time variability, estimating investment cost and having a clear awareness of real possible investments

Technology-based implementation in the context of the small retail Research Paper - 1

Technology-based implementation in the context of the small retail business - Research Paper Example This research is being carried out to evaluate and present the scenario of the business which is that the researcher’s best friend has bought a small retail business in Central Florida and its name is Bright Moon Store. The business has been doing fairly well but my friend has just found out that the accounting system consists of cash and receipts in a shoe box and there are no reports of anything since everything was kept in the prior owners head. So in this project, the researcher’s friend has hired him as a consultant to help get things organized. The Bright Moon Store deals in general household products that are used in our daily lives. The basic intention of this store is to provide customers with more convenient and easy access to daily used products. Bright Moon Store has a long business history in the market and with the passage of time, its overall reorganization has improved. As a result, Bright Moon Store wants to improve its overall market reorganization and performance. With the passage of time, the business customers are increasing so the business needs to adopt some effective tools and techniques to deal with these growing requirements. In order to run its business effectively, Bright Moon Store has to fulfill its basic business needs. The effective fulfillment of these needs will effectively support all business areas. In this scenario Bright Moon Store’s basic business needs are outlined below: Bright Moon Store is currently completing its business tasks using manual ways. In such scenario, the overall workload and working style are more rigid, which ultimately causes less effective business performance. The present business data is paper-based or semi-automated. In this scenario, problem is that the amount of data is huge and it cannot be handled without using an appropriate information system.

The effect of perception of social roles on depression Research Paper

The effect of perception of social roles on depression - Research Paper Example Depending upon the level of the intensity of role involvement, there will be some correlation to the level of depression or other life-altering mental illness for the aged after a decrease in role functionality. Newman and Newman (2009) state specifically that there are four dimensions of which social roles are analyzed, and we will propose that the higher the intensity of the identification of the role will produce a higher probability of depression or other types of mental illnesses. We will broaden our scope to include of the number of roles as part of our study. Elderly. For the purposes of this study, the term elderly will be used to define an individual who has reached a point of life where significant changes in social roles has placed them in the last stages of their life. This is defined this more closely as being age 60 and above. Nuclear family system. A group of people joined through legal and familial means consisting of a single adult, a partnered couple, or a partnered couple and their children (Taqui, Itrat, Qidwai, & Qadri, 2007). Reciprocal role. A role that is defined by a matching role within the social order. Examples include student and teacher, parent and child, and the salesperson and the customer (Newman & Newman, 2009, p. 71). Social role. A loosely defined set of behaviors within which a social function has been defined with an accepted code of what is considered normal within that role. (Newman & Newman, 2009, p. 70). In searching for answers to the questions that relate to the relationship between social roles and depression, a thorough research of relevant literature will provide a framework within which to answer the research questions. This study has been conducted through the use of research that has been done and reported by those who have developed conclusions through their own studies. The studies are analyzed for relatable content and the information is connected in order to define answers

The use of Algae in the Mediterranean Research Paper

The use of Algae in the Mediterranean - Research Paper Example Biodiesel is produced from oils and fats of animals and vegetables such as sunflower oil, palm oil, jatropha as well as algae. Sustainability of feedstock could be ensured in the case of algae fuel due to fast growth of algae. Development of technology for manufacturing biofuel using algae at lower cost and higher productivity assumes importance in this backdrop. High initial investment is an important barrier to the growth in this industry. This is expected to come down in the future through R&D efforts in the industry with the active support of governments and research institutions. Climate in Mediterranean and other sub-tropical countries is suitable for growing algae for producing algae based biofuels. Since the country of Cyprus is surrounded by sea with good port facilities, growing marine algae for producing biodiesel and the by-products based on this type of algae is considered. Also, increase in demand and good prices for the by-products and can reduce the overall cost of pr oduction of algae biofuels to make it more competitive in the markets. Conservation of natural resources Depleting fossil fuel sources of energy and growth in energy consumption over years cause serious threat to energy security of the world in the future. According to Scot et al. (277) â€Å"Microalgae offer great potential for exploitation, including the production of biodiesel, but the process is still some way from being carbon neutral or commercially viable. Part of the problem is that there is little established background knowledge in the area.† For achieving the desired progress in this area for the purpose of conservation of fossil fuels and for mitigating the effects of climate change, concerted efforts for the development of this industry on international scale is very important. McDonald (2012) stated that Biologists at US San Diego have made researches to establish that marine algae can be just as capable as fresh water algae in producing biodiesel. According to Kothari and Gujral (272) biofuels derived from algae and microalgae or genetically modified algae and genetically modified co-cultures of Shewanella and Synechococcus have been commercialized. It is further pointed out that algae fuel yields considerably more energy than fossil fuels and biofuels under development include Cellulosic ethanol, Algae fuel, BioDME, Fischer-Tropsch diesel, DMF, bio-hydrogen and biohydrogen diesel. The superior fuel efficiency of algae fuel compared to fossil fuel has been proved in driving Algaeus, a modified Toyota Prius car. "It got 147 miles per gallon in the city," says  Fuel  director Josh Tickell of the converted to plug-in  Prius hybrid  that he drove on a mix of battery power and algae fuel blended with conventional gasoline. (Biello) Project profile In a project for producing algae fuel several factors have to be taken into account such as capital investment involved, availability of suitable space for growing algae for the project, envi ronmental clearances by the local bodies and the governments, infrastructural facilities available, growth, research and development in the industry, marketability of the products and availability of managerial skills and skilled labor. The country of Cyprus is considered ideal for the project to grow marine algae for various reasons. The government of Cyprus has taken initiatives for development of microalgae as an alternative fuel by partnering with leading institution in the region. â€Å"To foster the development

Lenin and Bolshevik Revolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Lenin and Bolshevik Revolution - Essay Example Throughout Russia had only one leader, Lenin, who planned, plotted, propagated and executed the task of bringing down the monarchy to replace it with the communist rule. Even after coming to power through a bloody path that eliminated ordinary people, the noble class including the royal family, most of which definitely must have happened under his direction, Lenin, unlike Stalin, tried hard to bring justice to the sufferers and wholeheartedly tried to make his dream a practical reality. There are no two opinions about his intentions or the way in which he conducted himself even after becoming the ruler. There were many leaders in Russia of the day; but they were followers of Lenin, and it was only Lenin who dreamt of the revolution, worked for it, planned every move, executed it flawlessly and created a communist society for the first time in the world. Lenin was very aware of the right timings for every action especially so, after the brief and un-prepared coup became unsuccessful. "The Bolsheviks became involved in an abortive coup in July, from which Lenin deduced the importance of the precise timing for any future attempt," says Stephen J. Lee1. After a very long and frustrating life of a fugitive, Lenin was very keen that all his carefully laid out plans should not lead to a disaster. When the first abortive coup happened, he became more careful about the timings and preparations. Even his enemies and critics are impressed by his hard work, planning capability, practicality and the capacity of taking all the circumstances into focus before making any decision. Very few of his decisions went wrong and whenever they did, he took great pains to either correct them or to terminate them. There were no doubt, many leaders and visionaries. But it was he, who guided every step of the revolution, though his successors ruined his achievements to a very large extent. "Lenin is the key to understanding the Russian Revolution. His dream was the creation of the world's first Socialist state. It was a short-lived dream that became a nightmare when Stalin rose to absolute power in 1929. Lenin was the avant-garde revolutionary who adapted Marxist theory to the practical realities of a vast, complex and backward Russia2". It is very difficult to find a historian who could undermine the role Lenin played in the revolution. People might agree or disagree with him; but they could never ignore him and all historians know that there could not have been a better leader under those circumstances, and anyone other than him, would have been a dismal failure, in throwing out a very powerful monarchy and uniting, modernising a country of the size of a continent. He, according to the requirement of the circumstances, could show the idealistic, modernistic, communist, educationist, heroic and totally committed facets of his personality as a leader thus to find support and sympathy from almost all the sections of Soviet Russia. What he achieved single-handedly would be very difficult to

Developing the Professional Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Developing the Professional - Coursework Example Reference List 15 Appendices 17 Appendix A 17 Appendix B 18 Skills and Character Audit In this essay, I will shed light on my personal skill set and try to create a framework with which I can develop my existing skill level up to a greater extent. This document will also try to analyze my character and skill set that I developed during Masters Programme. After auditing my present skill set, I will conduct a personal SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) in order to identify critical skill areas which I need to improve in order to ensure my academic and professional development. Before going to the discussion about my skill level, I will try to shed light on the question that why personal skill development is an essential part for a management professional or for a student pursuing management course? Wilson (2009) pointed out that students in the management course should be encouraged to write reflective essays and such reflective writing helps them to identify their skill gaps. Ertmer and Newby (1996, p. 18) defined importance of reflective skill auditing as â€Å"reflection is critical for transforming the knowledge gained in and on action into knowledge available for action.† ... halyi (1996) and Maani and Maharaj (2004) defined intellectual skills as the combination of linear thinking approaches such as empirical testing, analytic thinking, imagination and visualization, creativity, intuition, holistic evaluation and emotional intelligence. However, I cannot boast myself for having all the above mentioned linear intellectual skill sets but I believe that at present, I am complemented with certain level of intellectual skills. Losada and Heaphy (2004) and Vance et al. (2007) stressed on the fact that modern managers use non-linear dynamic pattern of intellectual thinking in order to solve complex business problems. Hence, it is evident from the discussion that developing intellectual skill plays vital role for a modern day managers. In such context, auditing my intellectual skill set will definitely help me to judge whether I am competent enough to handle corporate world challenge or not? Intellectual (thinking) skills Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly D isagree 1. I am a creative person who can adapt my thinking to circumstances 2. I am able to organise my thoughts, analyse, synthesise and critically appraise situations 3. I can identify assumptions, evaluate statements in terms of evidence, detect false logic or reasoning, identify implicit values, define terms adequately and generalise appropriately The first skill set is identifying my capability of being flexible and creative enough to adapt to the situational demand. I believe that my instinct works in well balance manner when it comes to being creative or develop new thinking. For example, during my MSc program in Management from University of Glamorgan, I got the opportunity to showcase my creative when it comes to preparing project with team members or solving a business case study

Public Relation (Proposal) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Public Relation (Proposal) - Essay Example When looking at Draco Corp, an electronic store, it can be seen that specific changes need to be made with the website to begin altering the ways in which it is able to grow. The website can be enhanced to reflect the brand identity of the business while creating a sense of press relations through interactions, image and the presentation of the business. Examining the best approaches that Draco Corp can use for enhancing the website for larger consumer interactions, brand loyalty and trust will begin to change the associations which this business has for online transactions. Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦4 1.1 Problem Statement†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦.4 1.2 Aims and Objectives†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..5 2.0 Strategy†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..6 2.1 Redeveloping and Redesigning the Site†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦6 2.2 Web Site Content†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...7 2.3 Security and IT†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...8 2.4 Promotional Plan†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦9 2.5 Comparison to Competitors†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.11 3.0 Conclusion and Recommendations†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..12 4.0 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦14 1.0 Introduction The ability to have a strong web presence is one which is able to provide a difference in functioning to businesses. The expansion into a global market and the legitimacy of a professional company is one which is specifically based on the alternatives to build an online portal where indi viduals can determine what is needed. When looking at various companies, it can be seen that there isn’t the ability to create the right image, leaving to a lack of representation with the online company. Draco Corp is an example of a company which has several branches and business interests worldwide. It works as a multinational company that is able to product and sell consumer electronics to a global market. However, the lack of a website is one which is creating difficulties when working against competitors and into an international field. Finding a different way to manage and change the online presence will also make a change in the functions of Draco Corp while allowing their global presence to move forward internationally. 1.1 Problem Statement Draco Corp is known internationally for selling consumer products with the focus of electronics. However, the world is now turning to technology and online portals to gather information, order from portals and to define what is n eeded from a business. It is now known that the basic business dynamics are located and expanding to move online, specifically because of the consumer demand to find the level of legitimacy of a company and to evaluate the products which are used from those that are online. At the same time, most consumers are aware of the needed elements of a website to ensure the proper growth and to understand what the reputation of a company is. If the right standards aren’t met, then most consumers will continue browsing to another website for the same products (Neumark, Zhang, Wall, 2006: p. 79). 1.2 Aims and Objectives For Draco Corp to keep up with the competition and to find the needs of the consumer awareness and growth there is also the need to expand the website so it is able to

Student Misconceptions in Secondary Science Dissertation

Student Misconceptions in Secondary Science - Dissertation Example This topic is significant as it connects research to practice. The paper interviews 9 science teachers from three different high schools, and observes two of them in class while introducing a new concept. The research found that there exists a considerable alignment between research and practice with quite a considerable number of teachers employing researched recommendations to deal with student misconceptions. This is despite the fact that in comparison not many teachers have extensive knowledge of research report recommendations. Introduction When teachers instruct students on various concepts from a wide array of subjects, they often encounter students who already have their own preconceived ideas about the theories and concepts on how things work. This is more so in science subjects where children get to understand various aspects of science in their own ways before they are taught on such concepts. For instance some science students before being taught about the galaxy may think that the earth is the biggest planet there is and exists on its own, or they may think that the moon has its own light, or that it is the sun that moves around the earth rather the earth since they can see the sun move and not feel the earth tilt. Indeed research shows that when students come to class to learn they often have their own prior rich knowledge on how science works based on their own experiences, peer interactions, and also based on some science knowledge they have attained or the based on erroneous concepts taught by previous instructors (Yip, 1999:207; Bulunuz, Jarrett, & Bulunuz, 2008:32-33). Such prior knowledge or preconceptions may impact positive or negatively the learning process of a student. Guzzetti (2000:89) in her research report supports this impact by noting that that prior conceptions has on learning experiences by noting that students who hold prior views concerning a given concept do not easily give up these notions. This implies that breaking down misconceptions held by students so as to build correct is noted as one the toughest parts in teaching students of all ages. A mass body of knowledge in research has been dedicated in studying various science misconceptions held by students and recommendations passed forward on how teachers can deal with such misconceptions in order to ensure effective knowledge transfer to the students (Bulunuz, Jarrett, & Bulunuz, 2008; Guzzetti, 2000; Yip, 1998). No known study to the author though has so far reviewed and analysed how the use of such recommendations have been in class, or the degree to which such recommendations put down in research are adopted by secondary school teachers in dealing with misconceptions in science subjects. This research report seeks to cover this gap in knowledge and investigate by how far research meets practise by seeking to answer the research question: how well do science teachers us e research recommendations to deal with student misconceptions in science? Literature Review Student Science Misconceptions Guest (2003:2) defines student misconceptions as student’s viewpoints that are different from the conventionally known science knowledge where such beliefs are as a result of previous experience. Others such as Bulnuz, Jarret and Bulunuz (2008:32) and Thompson and Logue (2006:553) view student misconceptions as ideas that provide a crooked and incorrect way to understand about scientific concepts and which may be as a result of personal experiences, everyday language, media or even incorrect instructional material or incorrect ideas from some instructors. These misconceptions are often deep-rooted and tend to be difficult to change (Thompson and Logue, 2006; Guest, 2003: Chi, 2005).

Marriages and Families Essay Example for Free

Marriages and Families Essay Course Description Welcome to Marriage and the Family Online (SOCIO 210-IN1/IN2)!! As the course title suggests, we will explore key sociological concepts related to the social institution of marriage and the family. Individual success in this online course will come to those who are self-disciplined and work collaboratively to make the course a success. I look forward to working with all of you as we try to make sense of the world’s social forces and their impact on individual lives within marriages and the family. The College’s formal course description for SOCIO 101 states: â€Å"This course provides an understanding of sociological concepts, theories, and research methods in relation to marriage and family issues. It focuses on the ever-changing dynamics of relationships and the influence of contemporary society on family life. Special emphasis is placed on communication in relationships, dating and mate selection, love, parenting, balancing work and family, violence in relationships, and divorce† (Official Course Description, Prairie State College 2012-2014 Catalog). Course Objectives Students who complete SOCIO 210 will be able to: 1. Apply the major sociological perspectives to marriage and family issues. 2. Discuss the importance of communication, power, and gender in shaping relationships and family dynamics. 3. Explain the diversity of experiences for couples and families, with attention to issues of social class, race/ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, and the life course. 4. Describe the impact of other social institutions—such as the economy, education, religion, and the legal system—on marriages and families. 5. Identify the key issues related to family violence, divorce, and successful marriages. 6. Discuss the trends involving single-parent families, remarriage, and blended families. 7. Demonstrate skills of public deliberation within context of on-line classroom discussions. 8. Demonstrate critical thinking skills through writing. 9. Articulate viewpoints on contemporary sociological issues affecting marriages and families. Classroom Policies Absence Policy: As stated in the Prairie State College Board policies: â€Å"Regular class attendance is an essential component of successful learning. Students are responsible for prompt attendance and participation in all class meetings of every course for which they are registered. Students have the responsibility to contact professors in case of unavoidable absence.† Attendance in this online course is linked to your consistent and meaningful participation in online discussions and timely completion of assignments and chapter quizzes. Late or Missed Work/Plagiarism: In order to receive full credit, all assignments must be completed and submitted by the due date. Partial credit may (or may not) be accepted for work submitted after the deadline. Plagiarism, or other forms of cheating, will not be tolerated and students in violation will fail the assignment and face possible failure of the course. Meeting deadlines is an essential element of this online course. Once a deadline passes, there is no longer access to the course assignment. For example, if a student fails to complete an attempt on a 45-point Chapter Quiz, then that student earns zero points for that assignment. Missing 45 points may have significant negative consequences on a final grade. Evaluation of Student Performance Online Chapter Quizzes (630 points) Our text includes 16 chapters. For each chapter, there is a Chapter Quiz. Each Chapter Quiz includes 15 multiple choice or true/false questions and each question is worth 3 points (45 points/quiz). For the first half of the course, which covers Chapters 1-8, I count the best 7 Chapter Quiz scores toward your final grade. The Chapter 8 Quiz is an opportunity to improve on an earlier quiz score on one of the previous seven quizzes. For the second half of the course, which covers Chapters 9-16, I also count the best 7 Chapter Quiz scores toward your final grade. The Chapter 16 Quiz is an opportunity to improve on an earlier quiz score for Ch. 9-15. In total, I count 14 quiz scores, each worth 45 points for a total of 630 points. Please note that there is a time limit of 15 minutes (with a 2-minute grace period) to complete each Chapter Quiz. The purpose of this is so that students do not rely on their textbooks for answering all of the questions. You may use your book, but you must read the chapter prior to taking the quiz so that you can move fairly quickly through the 15 questions and finish within the time limit. In fact, given the high value of these Chapter Quizzes—accounting for over 60% of the total points in the course—I strongly recommend that you read the chapter closely twice prior to taking the quiz. Points will be deducted for going past the 2-minute grace period (one point deduction for each minute over). I do allow two attempts, with the highest score counting toward a student’s final grade. I encourage reading the chapter a third time if you are disappointed with the outcome of your first attempt. Deadlines for Chapter Quizzes are typically on Sundays at 11:59 p.m. Examinations (200 points) There is a Mid-Term Examination covering Chapters 1-8 and there is a Final Examination covering Chapters 9-16. Each exam includes 40 questions, worth 2.5 points apiece. Each exam is valued at 100 points. There is a 45-minute time limit with a 5-minute grace period. For each minute taken beyond grace period, one point will be deducted from score. Online Class-based Discussions (170 points) For this part of the course, students participate in weeklong online conversations about the textbook material or about sociological assignments that are connected to the course material. The intent of these conversations is to encourage a close reading of our Henslin text and to reach a deeper understanding the sociological perspective on human behavior. Past students have really enjoyed hearing the thoughts and perspectives from their fellow classmates. There are several class-based Discussions throughout the course. The first one involves Student Introductions and takes place during Week 1 (worth 20 points). The next five Discussions are spread out over the course of the semester (Weeks 3, 5, 7, 11, and 13). Each of these Discussions is valued at 30 points and takes place across a 7-day period running from Monday-through-Sunday. The Discussion forum is split into two stages, with the first stage ending on Thursday (11:59 p.m.) and the second stage ending on Sunday (11:59 p.m.). First stage posts of 300 or more words are due on Thursday (worth 15 points), and at least three second stage posts of 50-75 words each (5 points each; 15 points total) are due on Sunday. Your first stage posts will respond to the writing prompt I post for each Discussion, typically a question or set of questions. Again, as with the completion of chapter quizzes, the key challenge is meeting the deadlines. I will do my best to post points earned for the Discussions on the Monday morning following the Sunday night deadline for second stage posts. There will be a make-up Discussion offered during Week 15 of the semester. Here is a breakdown of the components of the course and point value: Online Chapter Quizzes (14 at 45 points each)630 points Online Discussions (5 at 30 points plus 20 points for Intros)170 points Mid-term Examination (40 questions at 2.5 points each)100 points Final Examination (40 questions at 2.5 points each)100 points   When assigning Final Grades, I will use the following point ranges: A=900-1000 points B=800-899 points C=700-799 points D=580-699 points F=0-579 points Some Final Thoughts: One of the challenges of online learning involves the issue of communication. In a traditional face-to-face course, everyone meets on a weekly basis and those meetings are reminders of our course commitments. In the online environment, communication is different. I communicate frequently via email, with Email Updates almost every week and sometimes more than once a week. The D2L system links your PSC email accounts to the class so when I send an email to â€Å"all users† the information is sent to the PSC email accounts of the 40+ students enrolled in this course. This information is very important and your accessing it is essential. Please note that it is possible to have your PSC email forwarded to another email address—maybe even to your mobile phone—but I want to make clear that it is your responsibility to access the information I send to you. Whenever you have questions, contact me by email ([emailprotected][-1]) or by phone (709-3625). Keep in mind that it is essential that you participate on a consistent basis throughout the course in order to be successful. Good luck, hold on to you hats, and enjoy what I hope will be a challenging and meaningful learning experience!

Tele Health And Tele Care Health Health And Social Care Essay

Tele Health And Tele Care Health Health And Social Care Essay Telehealth and Telecare are both advocated as a means of delivering social health and services effectively and economically in peoples home. By using these two technologies, monitoring activities and safety, providing virtual home visiting, and activating reminder system can be done quickly. Therefore, most of the consumers are elderly people .This paper compares Telehealth and Telecare technologies and highlights the popularity of each technology. The literature review of the paper has focused on defining each technology and looking to the users satisfaction from each technology. The SWOT analysis has been used to demonstrate the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats of each technology. To find the popularity of each technology some questionnaire forms has been used which distributed between 40 elderly people of Toronto by random. The results show that people between ages 66-75 are the highest consumers of telehealth and telecare and more satisfied. The overall analysis show ed that telecare satisfaction percentage is higher than telehealth satisfaction percentage however it is recommended for more advertisement for telecare products due to facing lots of people who were unfamiliar with telecare products. Future recommended research is an investigation on elderly and telehealth and telecare technology and focusing on telecare and telehealth interactions and requirements. INTRODUCTION 1.1- Introduction During the past few years there have been growths in possibilities of technical developments in smart environments. Developing the life quality for young, elderly and disabled people has become more and more vital task for todays societies all around the world. What is a smart home? According to the (Smart home, 2009) The terms smart homes, intelligent homes, home networking have been used for more than a decade to introduce the concept of networking devices and equipment in the house. According to the Smart Homes Association the best definition of smart home technology is: the integration of technology and services through home networking for a better quality of living Other terms that are related to smart homes are aware house changeable home, attentive house and ambient intelligence These terms are used to emphasize that the home environment should be able to respond and modify itself continuously according to its diverse residents and their changeable needs According to (Allen, 2001) Assistive technologies (AT) which can be known as a branch of Smart homes is applied to any kind of system or device, which has been designed to help disabled or elderly to overcome their individual disabilities. In other word Assistive technologies are broad range of devices and services that are designed to increase the functional abilities of disabled people. Assistive technology enables disabled and elderly people to become independent and participate more actively in their daily life. Telecare and Telehealth are two effective extensions of smart home technology as the concern is to use of technology to monitor the health of the users. Both telecare and telehealth systems rely on telephone lines or broadband internet as means of transferring information from the source which can be house to the receiver who maybe a doctor or a nurse. 1.2 -Background Telehealth, which is a part of information and communication technologies introduced for delivering health care services and it is considered as a way to answer lots of essential changing in healthcare systems in current years. Many of telehealth projects are taking place to targeting countryside and remote the population. So far, different kinds of telehealth applications have been implemented in developing countries and have shown the outcomes. However telehealth technologies have increased the availability of technology and telecommunication around the world. As (Gagnon et al , 2006) argue in their research, the execution of telehealth still faces major barriers, typically barriers related to structural, organizational and finally professional imperatives. Furthermore the structural barriers related to licensure, information technology developments and settlement of telehealth. Also, issues about health care organizations are also important to ensure the telehealth adoption. More over the adoption of telehealth technology by an individual is considered to be difficult which is determined by a large set of physical factors. According to (Perry et al, 2009) Telecare also is a part of telecommunication and technology which can provide care and support people in their homes. There are three kinds of people who can benefit most from telecare service, elderly people, disabled and those with mobility impairments. The use of this technology is determined to reduce the inappropriate or unnecessary admissions to the hospital especially for falls or any kind of accidents at home. To increase the benefits of telecare, it is necessary to know the opinion of the users about this technology. As (Crump, 2010) discusses, telecare services provide opportunities for technology to replace people in some roles. Although it is a rapid and effective technology for supporting services but it is necessary to have some training before using this technology. In other word this technology can be useful only if you know how to use it correctly otherwise it could be harmful. According to Nation health executive (NHE, 2006), by increasing an ageing population and prevalence of chronic disease a challenge for the management and integration of health care is growing. The need for new care models and new technologies for long term illness is more visible and clinical partnerships and networks supports the care strategies within home Environment. Therefore emerging telecare and telehealth have the potential to enable long term medical care in peoples own homes. Many studies indicate that telecare and telehealth technology has a positive effect on the clinical outcomes, user independencies, reduction in emergency visits and lower admission to hospital. However there is a lack of evidence to execute that these two technologies are cost effective-whilst there is a belief about assistive technologies exists that they should help to reduce costs in long terms and supports for faced problems. 1.3- Research The main focus of this research is to comparing telecare and telehealth and their consequences in medical business. The aim of this paper is to find out the popularity of these two technologies between elderly and finding their good and bad consequences on people, society and business. According to ( Sixsmith ,2000) Many people in the field trial reported enhanced feelings of safety and security, which could help to stimulate independence and help them to remain living in their own homes The monitoring system increased the care choices available to elderly people and supported and enhanced the cares role Technical perspective of telehealth and telecare concerns the use and development of ICT based systems. The marketplace of these technologies continues to see rapid developments. Therefore telecare and telehealth can make a real difference to the lives of elderly and disabled people. In this research the author is going to define telehealth and telecare separately and talking about the advantages and disadvantages of each of these two technologies as well as cost analysis of them due to the several studies over the years executes that these two systems achieved a considerable cost saving. Furthermore telecare and telehealth satisfaction is going to evaluate. 1.4- Research Aim and objectives The major significance of this study is to probe deeply in to the comments and analysis of several authors conducting their research in the subject of telecare and telehealth, to identify evidence of advantage or flaws and weaknesses that may or may not exist in the present exploitation of the services and related devices technology as well as evaluating the comments of elderly about telecare and telehealth, and finally evaluating the telecare and telehealth satisfaction between elderly. Therefore, the major objectives of these investigations are: * To provide necessary response to questions arising from the comparisons between telecare and telehealth. * To evaluate the popularity of telecare and telehealth between elderly and possible flow that may or may not exist in the present use of telecare and telehealth * To criticize and analyze the results. * To make some recommendation for future development of telecare and telehealth REVIEW OF LITERATURE Telecare and Telehealth ; as a part of the collection smart home play a major role in the comfort and quality of life of all people. This role is even more important when these technologies and services are contributed to a special group called elderly. (BBC news, 2008) produces program about chronic disease patients and elderly to use telehealth and telecare products at home and monitor their health by mobile phones. As declared in (BBC , 2008) Patients with high blood pressure and chronic lung disease will be initially recruited to test new technology that allows them to measure their blood pressure,and oxygen levels at homeThe readings will be sent via mobile phone into a central computer and collated into an online health record that can be accessed by both the patient and their GP. As BBC announced ; it is expected that project of telehealth and telecare to be expanded between 1500 patients by 2012. However the question is that how well do elderly people know these products? 2.2 -What is meant by Telehealth? As American (telecare, 2009) argues Telehealth is a revolutionary medical tool that affordably expands and improves health care services for patients regardless of age, race, gender or economic status Generally Elderly patients living in remote areas and individuals suffering from a chronic disease are best suited for telehealth services In another word telehealth plays an integral role in the management of long-term conditions. As healthcare professionals begin their health services from pilot to mainstream provision your telehealth partner must help you step by step to go through the transition. These services are usually provided when a Tunstall telehealth projects is started. Tunstall is a founder member of the continua health Alliance. Their policy of ongoing development means that products specification and appearance could change without prior notice. In general, telehealth is general term that includes many various activities. Many of components of telehealth integrated have been presented in the Telehealth Pyramid (figure 2.1). Figure 2.2.1 The Telehealth pyramid, ( Elford , 2004) Although all parts of the pyramid should be coordinated to gain the best result, each section could exist independently. On the basis of past successful telehealth experience, the components of telehealth should be placed in one physical center. In Figure 2.2.1 which has illustrated Telehealth levels in Health care system of USA, various parts of the pyramid will be delineated from the bottom to top. The size of each section could hardly present the number of people involved. The base section is 1-800 health call center. This center is active day and night for 24 hours, 7 days a week. The staff working in this section includes: health professionals, for most parts nurses. When clients call in , the staff would respond major health questions, assist patients with minor health problems and if needed guide the patient to the proper healthcare resource. The next layer (Medical Data and Telemetry call center). Has been set up similar to 1-800 call center, however in spite of receiving telephone calls, would also receive telemetry and medical information such as: blood pressure, EKG, Blood sugar and other types of blood chemistry, weight and pulmonary function test. This information could be sent on a daily basis or upon urgent request. The next section, Internet Health Information and Education provides health information websites for healthcare professional and patients. The patients website includes information on different topics, response to common health questions to choice of e-mailing a health professional on a special health problem, chatting with groups for the patients with special conditions. The health professional website has more complete information for various health conditions and provides access to the health education endeavors. The Tele-education layer is using all the telecommunication technologies and information to provide health education for both patient and health professionals. Some of the website functions of the former level could be used in this section. According to (Elford ,2004) The next layer includes Teleconsultation, Telenursing and Telehome care. Teleconsultation is defined as the provision of any medical services occurring between physician and patient such as: Telepsychiatry, Teledermotology, and Tele ENT All activities mentioned involve a health professional providing a health service a patient. Finally the last layer of pyramid (administrative center, research unit and training center) includes a number of key components that are crucial for the proper operation and long term maintenance of the telehealth. This center would manage and coordinate the following endeavors: a research unit will help in the design implementation and evaluation of telehealth project s and could also be involve d in technical test projects or evaluation. At last, a curriculum in Telehealth and a place for hands on training could be providing for the students. ( Elford ,2004) believes that Professionals (physicians, nurses, technicians) can also take non-credit courses could also take non-credit courses for education or training. Some organizations such as (Department of National Defense) contracting the training center, could provide health training to their personnel. Whilst the telehealth pyramid of NHS (national health center) , which belongs to the UK , shows using telehealth at three levels. Looking through the pyramid from bottom to top will show that 70 -80 % of the population are supported self-care which is possible by web based- tools, and self monitoring. At the second level which is high risk disease, some home monitoring is possible but the availability of doctors and nurses are necessary at this case. And finally at the third level of the NHS telehealth pyramid , because of the highly complex case management , home monitoring of patient, using assistive technology and computerized decision support system can be using all together. Figure 2.2.2 , NHS Pyramid , (Procter , Azarmina , 2007) Telehealth can connect people with one another and by various health organizations as follow: * Wireless mobile devices According to (Hinz ,2010), wireless mobile devices in this study will only be utilized in the context of healthcare. these devices include: consumer mobile phones, medical devices that work in the next generation of consumer mobile phone, and medical devices operates within a home premise and can transmit information through land-line , mobile phone or internet. * Basic mobile phones According to Hinz ,(2010) over the last ten years, the most accepted technology in day to day communication is the mobile phone. Even the most outdated mobile phone can make and receive both calls and text-messages .text messages and specially 3G mobile internets is a suitable media for the health system when we try to connect to patients. Also the appointment reminder alert is a very valuable tool. * Remote care clinical devices (Remote medical care, 2010) argues that In relation to vital signs, medical devices are different in size and complexity and the interaction with ill people. Many of these medical devices have software that could operate as a PC and mobile phone. High performance semiconductor chips which are highly integrated will expand personal medical devices. Whether these devices are a blood glucose meter, digital blood pressure meter, blood gas meter, digital plus/heart rate monitor or a digital thermometer are five system level blocks that are common for each device: * Power battery management * Data processing and control * Amplification and A/D conversation of the sensor input * Some type of Display * The sensor element(s) itself These devices are controlled by a handle, which are activated by battery power and using different biosensors and take measurements. The real performance topology of these blocks is quite different with the sensing, processing and information display demands of the type of meter and the chronic condition it measures. 2.2.1 -Telehealth satisfaction As (Ellis,2009) argued patient satisfaction influences on patients values and expectations from telehealth services therefore by measuring telehealth satisfaction more information and more positive and negative affect will be gained. On the other hand according (Ellis, 2009) the researches on patients satisfaction about quality of interactions and telehealth services are pretty low therefore there is more requires going in depth of this topic. According to the (Clinical evaluation, 2008) which evaluated the telehealth satisfaction from different aspects, most of the users of telehealth were between the ages of 65 to 80. The Pie chart in appendix 2 shows the age dividing in detail. The overall satisfaction level with Telehealth experience shows that 85 % of the users are very satisfied from this technology where only 15 % were satisfied and no one were not satisfied of it. The details of users satisfaction is shown in the pie chart in appendix 3. On the other hand the evaluation shows only 5% of people were disagree about the cost saving of Telehealth whilst 95% were agree about the cost saving. Appendix 4 shows the pie chart of the agreement and disagreement. 2.2.2 Consequences of Telehealth for the patients * Immediate utilization of care specifically for the patient who live in rural environments. * Patients receive care and health from a distance and do not have to go to doctors office to receive attention from their health provider. * Early detection to reduce emergency room visits and hospitalizations * To discharge early from hospital * Patient and family can have access to care from the comfort of their home. * Patients anxiety is reduced. * Increased conformity and ownership to their individual health care plan * Old patients can stay independent rather than going in to assisted living situation * Patients feel thesaurus to take part in their care program. * Increased patients satisfaction in received care In general Telehealth is a very effective tool to handle patients that need the most care and attract the most cost, especially patients with chronic and terminal conditions. The following patient conditions were successful with Telehealth program: 1- Chronic disease which includes: * HIV Aids * Cancer * Asthma * Diabetes * Congestive heart failure 2- Elderly patient cares which includes: * Post stroke * Therapies * Post operative states * Medical compliance 3- General care which includes * High risk pregnancy * Wound care The Telehealth advantage for healthcare providers, administrators and institutions are: * It can improve quality of care and clinical outcome * It can increase productivity for healthcare provider * It is a cost saving method that can advance profitability and business growth There are also some other advantages for doctors and nurses can schedule for patient visits without leaving the office. In this way productivity of the number of patients that can be visited per day could increase. Clinicians can expand their office geographically. Patients can be visited regularly. Healthcare will be able to spend more time with patients and can monitor and regulate their patients care better. Healthcare providers have the advantage of attracting managed care contracts and also will be able to manage cost effective service. (Darkins and Cary, 2000) believe that since healthcare expenses are rising, providers while maintaining good quality care and patients satisfaction .lower their costs. The related technologies help providers to produce their own effective healthcare by maximizing their human and capital resource. 2.3 -What is meant by Telecare? Telecare is to monitor a patients real-time emergencies and his life style changes from a distance in order to manage the risks associated with independent living. Telecare is needed since: As (Camarinha-Matos, Afsarmanesh, 2004) argue It is a highly flexible tool which can be employed by the needs of new users. This technology can be utilized in learning disabilities, physical disabilities and mental health. Telecare can contribute to independent living and quality of life for people and their family significantly. (Tunstall , 2007) believes that The major activity of Telecare services is to manage Telecare assets more effective to guarantee that service remain more productive. According to (Tunestall ,2007) Telecare overlay has been developed to allow the effective implementation of radio Telecare sensors into supported housing communities It enables the monitoring of wandering and bed occupancy as well as environmental issues such as smoke, flood and gas within a sheltered setting (Tunstall, 2007) also argues that the telecare overlay system includes a telecare manager unit and a radio receiver, this equipment is added to the existing communicable vision system and enables staff using a variety of sensors receive alarm calls. These receivers are located around scheme. When a receiver receives the radio signals of a sensor, it will be forwarded to the communicational vision system and then raises the alarm call on the handset carried by onsite staff. Therefore, the onsite staff will be able to talk to the resident. The system can alternately sound on alarm at the responding center. According to James Buckley, the chief executive officer of Telecare times in (Tunstall , 2007) , Telecare will make the cares able to go back to their work, will promote these services to more number of audience, and support people who have learning disabilities. In another word Telecare describes any services that bring health and social care directly to a user, generally in their homes, supported by information and communication technology. It covers social alarms, lifestyle monitoring and Telehealth (remote monitoring of UTIA signs) for diagnosis, assessment and prevention. Telecare covers a wide range of equipment (detectors, monitors alarms, pendants and etc) and also services for monitoring call centers and response. ( Camarinha-Matos , Afsarmanesh ,2004) believes that In the UK Telecare alarms acts as a mediator through call center, however in the US you are able to purchase devices that connects directly to emergency response services. The sample lists of Telecare devices are include: * Safety confirmation phones * Movement /non-movement sensors * Fire/smoke alarms * Food / water alarms * Window/door sensor * Bed/ chair occupancy sensor * Falls sensor * Wrist worn wellbeing monitors * Automatic lighting sensor * Carbon monoxide sensor * Temperature range sensor * Medication reminder sensor 1- Devices for predicting problem: This prediction depends on software that receives signals from sensor and analyses the frequency and severity of monitored event such as minor falls. 2- Devices that reduce the chance if problems occurring: For example a bad sensor can prevent falls by turning a light on when a person gets out of bed. This helps because does not need to move around and search for the light switch in the dark room. if the person does not return to bed it can raise an alarm. If the helps received quickly, problems do not rise. 3- Devices that mitigate harm These devices send an alert signal to a call center, therefore, a help can arrive quickly before harm is done .an extreme temperature device is activated when the temperature rises quickly or reaches a low point . 4- Personal safety confirmation: (Camarinha-Matos , Afsarmanesh ,2004) argues that The owner of this phone based device pushes a bottom on an agreed time everyday to inform the call center that they are well and alive. This considered as an alternative for independent people who are not interested in wearing a pendant alarm button or those who may fall and become unconscious and cannot pull an alert themselves. 2.3.1- Telecare satisfaction There were two types of telecare units that were developed. One of them is based on pc setup and video conferencing and another one off- the- shelf video conferencing units. According to (Guillen et al , 2002) there is high satisfaction for the patients who used telecare devices also the medical staff were satisfied due to the improvement in quality of health services. The result of their research shows that medical staffs believe that telecare system is a trustworthy system for patients and there is low risk for patients while using telecare system. However there are more researches needs to be done in this area because of the short duration of previous experiments. 2.3.2-Consequences of Telecare * It can help to maintain independence for people * Safety and confidence could be increased * It could support careers along with traditional healthcare support and housing initiatives. * It could ease the transfer from traditional models of residential care to supporting people at home. The pressure on the NHS can be reduced the environmental risks such as fire, flooding, carbon monoxide , natural gas , high and low temperatures and personal risks such as wandering , falling , inactivity , burglary , bogus callers and many more could protect users. (Camarinha-Matos , Afsarmanesh ,2004) * According to the (department of health ,2010) Telecare could prevent 160.000 people from entering residential care per year, indicating potential cost saving of 20 Billion pound . 2.4 -Comparison of Telecare and Telehealth A high increment in the cost of care or nursing homes is the main reason of inventing new methods of supporting people in their homes. Since according to (Doughty et al ,2007,p.6) the dependency ratio which is defined as( number of working people to those who are retired) is about to fall from 4:1 to 2.1:1 in the next 40 years, so the demands for the care services will increase and services that are based on technologies can replace. (According to Doughty et al ,2007, p.7) The term telecare was selected to cover all electronic technologies of a preventive or supportive nature because it had the necessary buzz and because it implied a modular approach and a need for a developing telecommunications infrastructure As (Doughty et al, 2007, p.7) argued Although the fundamental purpose of the technology is to avoid unscheduled care incidents and, in particular, the management of long-term conditions, it can support Independence because it is capable of overcoming the need for people to move prematurely into a nursing home environment Such technology would appear to be a medical application of telecare, which would be consistent with the new definition of telecare described above However, remote and regular (but not continuous) vital signs monitoring may be fundamentally different to existing UK telecare systems because the purpose is to collect data rather than offer an automated alarm Whilst in the USA, the remote vital signs monitoring system are known as telehealth. The term of telehealth in the Europe has been the Umbrella term which is used for grate range of technologies which includes telemedicine as well. The telehealth and telecare umbrella model will show the alternatives for adoption or rejection. As the figure 2.4.1 shows there are three components of telehealth exist which shows a growing range of assistive technologies. Also there are some disabled facilities has covered .covering number of comparatively expensive fixed assistive technologies like level access showers can be known as effective versions. However consequent removal while the service user moves on is more difficult with the result that the venture is left in the property. This means that following architects to follow the lifetime homes and using free access for the standards is necessary. Telehealth somehow has higher weight than telecare because health is necessary for everyone but maybe not everyone need care. Figure 2.4.1 Telehealth Umbrella model (Doughty et al ,2007, p.9) As figure 2.4.2 shows telecare is term which is used for all defensive technologies which are using electronics, telecommunication and information system. Thats why they can cover some applications such as alarms through monitoring the vital signs either in the home or on the move thus when a term such as Telehealth covers all forms of information and medical monitoring then the advanced form which is telecare could be expanded from environmental to medical areas. In another word According to (Doughty et al ,2007,p.8) the use of community / social alarm system to support independent living as a form of telecare was both a consequence of change in community care but also it produced a valuable service that did not have doctors and nurses as the gatekeeper Figure 2.4.2 umbrella model of telecare (Doughty et al ,2007,p.9) 2.5 -Impact of telecare and telehealth on cost saving There are lots of comparative studies in telehealth and telecare which demonstrate the economic benefits of these technologies. These studies show that improved access to suitable healthcare services, increased patients satisfaction and cost savings. Many of pre- reviewed researches consistent in finding that telehealth and telecare saves the patients, providers and payers money in compare of traditional healthcare system. According to (Jennett et al, 2003), Cost saving of telehealth services can be done by reduction in use of hospitals, nursing home services and transport costs. In other word reduction in transporting patients to emergency departments and therefore to physician offices will cause a reduction in cost of emergency department visits. 4.5- SWOT Analysis Since in primary data , the author couldnt noticed the presented data completely relevant to the research questions and couldnt answer all the objectives of the research therefore she decided to do the SWOT analysis .SWOT Analysis is a kind of evaluation by defining the Strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of the defined subject. 4.5.1- Telehealth SWOT Analysis The SWOT analysis of telehealth is focusing on what the strength of the telehealth are, what can be known as the weaknesses, what opportunities telehealth has and finally what are the threats o

Youth Subcultures And Its Influence On Youth Media Essay

Youth Subcultures And Its Influence On Youth Media Essay About: This report intends to analyze the complex relationship between media and youth subculture and argues that subcultures can reproduced and constructed through the media. It therefore, states that the national media should take responsibility in the discourses that are used to represent youth groups and youth subcultures as they impact on the activities of broader youth communities worldwide. The cultural universe of young people is a complex and dynamic one (White, 1999) and there has always been a tendency among youth researchers to investigate the significant social changes that are being revealed through the experiences of contemporary youth (Leccardi Ruspini, 2006). Some of the earliest sociological researches on youth can be linked to the emergence of new forms of consumptions and distinct youth cultures that began to rise in the late 1950s. The changes in youth at this era were highly visible through music and fashion the young populations were consuming. This was viewed both as a result of the increase time available for leisure and personal resources (Leccardi Ruspini, 2006) as well as an attempt to create some symbolic meaning for self (White, 1999). In times of high unemployment where youth were caught in between the ideology of spectacular consumption promoted by the mass media and the traditional ideology of capitalism and the meritocratic work led to a pro liferation of empirical studies across a wide range of diverse issues from homelessness to unemployment, youth crime to street gang violence that engages in research relevant to both empirical and theoretical matters in order to stretch the conceptual boundaries in the contemporary society (White, 1993). Youth subcultures can be viewed as a response to the interaction between these different areas. This response is seen by some as an identity seeking reaction between resistance to consumerism created by the production based Puritanism and the new hedonism of post war consumption (White, 1993). This paper looks into the contemporary youth subcultures and the media discourse used in the representation of these subcultures. It is argued that such negative representations of youth subcultures would result in the popularization and re enforcement of activities rather than limiting or controlling such deviant behaviors and thereby confirming the labeling of a demonized and at risk youth groups. Further, reports supports the idea that the media interventions in crime and social problem areas can lead to misplaced reactive political resources in mythic rather than real social problem areas resulting in amplified and exacerbated social problems generating moral panics (White, 1999). A culture can be defined as designs for living that constitute peoples way of life (Macionis Plummer, 2008:128). The five components of culture identified by Macionis and Plummer (2008: 130) include; symbols, language, values, norms and material culture. Culture has several, often contradictory meanings that carries ambiguity that can be traced in its different uses throughout history (Brake, 1985). While the classical perspective views culture as a standard of excellence (high culture), others view culture as a way of life which expresses certain meanings and values attached with a particular way of life known as the low culture'(Williams, 1961, p. 57). It is this conceptualisation of low culture that is central to the development of subcultures as an analytical concept (Brake, 1985). Subcultures can be defined as a cultural pattern that set apart some segment of a societys population (Macionis Plummer, 2008: 139) or a social group which is perceived to deviate from the normative ideals of adult communities (Thornton, 1995: 2). The earliest use of subcultural theories within sociology can be linked to its application as a subdivision of a national culture (Gordon, 1947). Culture in this context was viewed as learned behaviour with emphasis on the effects of socialisation within the cultural subgroups of a pluralist society (Brake, 1985). In most of the Western world, studies of youth subcultures have been dominated by a tradition associated with the 1970s work of the Centre of Contemporary Cultural Studies, University of Birmingham, England (Thornton, 1995). The Birmingham subcultural studies tend to banish media and commerce from their definition of authentic culture seen media and commerce as incorporating subcultures into the hegemony and effectively dismantling them (Hedbige, 1978). Chicago School sociologists on the other hand were concerned on researching empirical social groups by taking precedence over their elaboration of theory and were mainly focused on the shadier recesses of polite society (Thornton, 1995). This report will look at subcultures as cultures that are labelled directly or indirectly by the media with a problematic authenticity and as media and commerce integral to the authentication of its cultural practices. Supporting this, A.K. Cohen states that a major determinant of subcultures among th e youth as what people do depending upon the problems they contended with (Cohen, 1955, p.51). Cultural theorists argue that what it means to be young should be seen in the context of its cultural significance indicating that it is the context of cultural significance that makes been young so distinctive and not the structural focus of society (Alan, 2007). That is, the context the youth are exposed to and the issues that their exposures carry play a significant role in the construction of a youths culture. When understanding the conflicts surrounding young people and the way they use public space, the media plays a central role by constituting and shaping the principal form of the public sphere and by gathering and distributing important public information (Thompson, 1994 in Sercombe, 1999). One may argue that there is no certain measure of the direct effects of media coverage on the public. However, there are often negative and powerful cultural effects of media produced by the constant flow of its commercialized imaginary fictions and stereotypical coverages that socially construct a moral and narrative set of offerings upon which the youth attempt to build their identities on (White, 1993). Not only in building identities, the youth tend to use these social constructions by the media also as a measure for their achievements and personal worth by simply deriving an identity from a set of meanings drawn on the basis of media constructed stimulations instead of their local experiences (Baudrillard, 1983). It is important to note that the notion of identities are constructed across and by differences, and the social construction of youth identities though historically varied is tightly bound with the media representations made available at the time (White,1999). Therefore, we can argue that media is a critical component of the development and maintenance of the representation of young people which often feeds into the fears and negative attitude surrounding the presence of young people in public space as problematic or threatening (Sercombe, 1999). Moral panics in relation to youth, music and subculture are not uncommon in the news and other current media (Goode Ben-Yehuda, 2008, pp. 124-145 in Journal of Media Culture). Most cities in Australia like many other cities around the world housed for a large number of subcultural activities ranging from skateboarders occupying the steps and benches in the Melbourne streets to Goths congregating the inner city suburbs (Gelder, 2007). It also has a number of drag night clubs, gay and lesbian bars, a remarkable graffiti subculture; in which Melbourne has been claimed as a stencil graffiti capital (Smallman Nyman, 2005). Australia has several times witnessed its teenage subcultures clash in the streets; like the Mods and Sharpies in August 1966 (Sparrow Sparrow, 2004: 73-77). Stan Cohens classic Folk Devils and Moral Panics (1980) and the centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies Policing the Crisis (Hall et al. 1978) both indicate how mainstream media contributes to the public anxiety about youth subcultures and youth groups that are deemed to be deviant. Cohen, in his work looks at the development of conflict between mods and rockers, in a British seaside town, and particularly the escalation of conflict that arose as a result of the medias representation of these events. He argues that the media were responsible for amplifying the perception of deviance arising from a few of small-scale disturbances, which ultimately led to an escalated interventions from the police and judiciary, with the demonization and over-typification of young people involved in the mod or rocker styles. Similarly in Australia Cunneen et al. 1989, carried out a study on the disturbances at the Bathurst motorcycle races concluding that it was the over representation of the small di sturbances that led to the large scale conflicts and that the press concentrated on authority opinion while sensationalizing the material published (Cunneen et al., 1989). When analysing the literature published on the media representations of youth and youth subcultures it is evident that communications media create subcultures in the process of naming them and drawing boundaries around them in the act of describing them (Thonrton, 1995). The way media is inextricably involved in the meaning making and organization of youth subcultures will be discussed through the analysis of the representations of many recent incidents related to youth subcultures, particularly the ravers, Goths and Emo subcultures. The rave subculture emerged worldwide in the late 1980s as a musical subculture and was a phenomenon in the area that attempted to invert the traditional rock n roll authenticity by remixing and creating a cutting edge disk culture with a warehouse party format and was established in Chicago, Detroit and across Britain (Thornton, 1995:4). Soon groups of young people were clustered in sites conventionally aligned with musical performance to listen and dance to electronic dance music played by djs in Sydneys alternative rock scene Unlike other musical subcultures such as alternative rock scene where performances generally took place in formal environments such as pubs and clubs the raves in Australian cities began to use spaces such as old warehouses, factories and train stations for their activities (Gibson Pagan, 2006). Since the late 1980s rave culture worldwide has increased their members and was diversified and fragmented in many aspects becoming more contradictory with various s ubcultures emerging such as the Doofs, Drum and Bass and Happy hard core. Mean while controversies and public moral panics were starting to generate over the diverged more politicized illegal party culture that were shifting itself from the mainstream (Gibson Pagen, 2006). Associations were made between these part scenes and illegal drugs such as ecstasy by the media providing the basis for a moral panic. Ravres were described as new age hippies where their activities summed up to no sex, but drugs and rock roll (Benette, 1999). Dance parties in Sydney eventually became associated with tropes of youth deviance and illegality making the rave space in the public consciousness as a site beyond the domain of mainstream, and thereby causing strong reactions from the public and a need for increased control over their events (Gibson Pagen, 2006). A major shift in the perception of the public of youth subcultures could be related to the ecstasy related death of teenager Anna Woods from Sy dney at an Apache party in 1995. Her death was magnified within the media creating an unprecedented wave of media attention and public panic. With headlines such as Ecstasy agony and Ecstasy secret world running on the front pages for nearly two weeks, dramatically altering not only the rave culture but the perception of youth subcultures as a whole (See Sydney Herald Sun, 4/3/2007). The initial response of sympathy by the public to the incident soon turned into fear and anger that progressed from tension and social anxiety to a full blown social and political crisis (McRobbie, 1994) with scapegoating not only the ravers but creating fear against many youth subcultures (see Daily Telegraph, 27/3/2007:73). The death of Anna was interpreted as a symptom of the malaise affecting many young Australians (Daily Telegraph, 5/11/1995:8), with the NSW state government taking actions to close down clubs and bars which have promoted drugs in parties (Gibson Pagen, 2006). For a few months in 2007, the dangers of emo and computer use were significant themes in Australian newspaper coverages (Phillipoy, 2009). Emo is an abbreviation of the terms emocore and emotional hardcore which is a musical subgenre of punk rock music, characterised by emotional or personal themes. They adopt a look that includes black stovepipe jeans, dyed black hair and side-parted long fringes, which might merely have been one of the many tribes (Bennett, 1999) that characterise this contemporary youth culture(Phillipoy, 2009). Following the deaths of Melbourne teenagers, Jodie Gater, Stephanie Gestier and Carly Ryan in 2007, over an approximately five months period the media portrayed the two separate incidents linking the suicide and the murder to the emo subculture and to the social networking site MySpace, presenting both as dangerous and worrying developments in contemporary youth culture (Phillipoy, 2009). These media discourses surrounding the deaths included many features of moral panic uncluding a build-up of concern disproportionate to real risk of harm (see Goode Ben-Yehuda, 2002, pp.33-41). While the emo youth were viewed as straightforward folk devil (Cohen, 1972) or the enemy, the problem of emo was also framed as a product of much broader problems of youth culture (Goode Ben-Yehuda, 2002). The connections between emo and the deaths of these young girls were tenuously published over the mass media and was seen as symptomatic of what John Hartley (1998) describes in the context of reporting o n young people more generally as a profound uncertainty in the textual system of journalism about where the line that defines the boundary of the social should be drawn by the broader groups of non-subculturaly affiliated youth. The result of this according to Phillipoy, is a cultural thinking out loud (Hartley, 1998) where broader cultural anxiety are expressed and explored that can be described as anxiety about disclosure. The newspaper coverages on the deaths focused on the dangers of young peoples disclosures that made them inaccessible to adult authority that otherwise could have prevented the tragedies. Though some of these concerns were connected to the specificities of emo subcultural expression, with excessive emotions on display and the enigma associated with subcultural imagery respectively, they were on the whole linked to a broader problem in contemporary youth culture that was seen to apply to all young people, irrespective of any subcultural affiliation. The expressio ns of anxieties that the private lives of young people were becoming increasingly unknowable to adult authorities, and, hence, that youth culture itself was increasingly unknowable were popular statements made by the media (Phillipoy, 2006). Reportings such as bizarre teenage goth and emo world world constructed both as dangerous (in the sense that her apparent involvement in subcultural activities was presented as disturbing and something that put her at risk of harm) and impenetrable (in the sense that subcultural imagery was understood not simply as harmful but also as bizarre). In conclusion, the representations of young people in the media directly or indirectly depend on the interest of the newspapers and the discourse of its source. Language used by these media allows painting young people in different colors (Sercombe, 1999) and as youth subcultures are prime fare for the news media as in terms of news value they are both exotic and familiar (White, 1993) media and youth subcultures have a complex and symbolic relationship where young people are devoted consumers and producers of media and engage with media in the approval and adaptation of subcultural forms for their own context. Therefore, many of the subcultures can be argued to be reproduced and constructed through the media (White, 1999). The mainstream media however tend to represent youth subcultures mythologically as they often attempts to represent not the real world but the world that suits the advertisers, owners and the government. This leads to the constant stereotyping, reinforcing and exa ggerating issues, particularly in relation to the youth (White, 1993). Youth was portrayed within the media as the mindless hedonism of lost youth and were categorized as a careless generation that was only concerned with seeking pleasure and satisfaction from personal risk taking and drug use (Brown, 2005 in Allan 2007). By constructing notions of deviance and illegality, commercial media not only position youth and youth subcultures but are implicated in defining authentic underground activities that further strengthen subcultural practices that are deemed deviant (Gibson Pagan, 2006). Therefore, it is clear that media have been and is today, a major influence in fuelling and reinforcing perceptions of problem youth. Subcultures are constructed and stereotyped by the media as deviant and the media representations linked to the issues around subcultures have created an image of uncaring, hedonistic and self centered youth (Alan, 2007). Hence, this report suggest that the media is directly or indirectly responsibility for the fuelling and reinforcing of such deviant activities that they have constructed aligned to youth subcultures and that youth subcultures are a social construction mainly influenced by the national mass media. Therefore, the national media, particularly newspapers as the most commo nly used news media has a responsibility in the a discourses that are used to represent youth groups and youth subcultures as it carries an impact on the broader youth communities worldwide.

Contradictions of Character in George Bernard Shaws Pygmalion Essay

â€Å"Manners are the happy way of doing things† according to Ralph Waldo Emerson.   According to Emerson people use manners as a front to make themselves look better.   Inherently, this will lead to a contradiction of the front and the reality.   One such man who is most concerned with manners is the protagonist of Shaw’s Pygmalion, Professor Henry Higgins.   Higgins is a man who displays contradictions within his character.   He is in the business of teaching proper manners, although lacks them himself.   In addition, Higgins is an intelligent man, and yet he is ignorant of the feelings of those around him.   Another apparent contradiction is that Higgins’ outer charm serves to hide his bullying nature. He manipulates Eliza and others around him to serve his own purposes, without any regard for her feelings.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Higgins, a teacher of proprietary manners, lacks those very manners which others pay to learn from him.   Ironically, Higgins believes that he is the greatest teacher of manners.   He announces that in â€Å"three months [he] could pass [Eliza] off as a duchess.†Ã‚   Higgins thinks that he can take any lower class girl and pass her off as a duchess.   He truly believes that he is capable of transforming Eliza.   Once the teaching begins, Higgins shows no respect for others in his life.   When he goes to see his mother, she reminds him that â€Å"[he] promised not to come on† her days when she is having guests.   He ignores this promise to his mother because he believes that his newest experiment is more important than his mother’s insignificant visitors are.  Ã‚  Ã‚   This behavior continues throughout the ... ...ulative experiments on life.   Higgins tries to use his charm to manipulate people into giving him what he wants, but when this tactic fails he resorts to brute force and abuse.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is amazing that a man with such great qualities and characteristics can also have the bad qualities that are opposite of those great ones.   How these traits can coexist in one person does not make sense.   One of the traits must be a false front.   This is the nature of the world.   When two opposites come together in the same place and do not alter each other, then one of them is kept up as a faà §ade.   At any moment in time this faà §ade can move or crack and the true nature of the person will come to light.   People who display too many contradictions in character are usually true hypocrites.