The European Union Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The European Union - Essay Example As relevant in any social scenario, when the disintegrated resources of different European nations united under one single label, it turned out to be mighty force in terms of economy and politics. The primary impact that the European Union has had on the global economy is that it has turned out to be a huge bargainer. This should be read together with the fact that whole of the European Union has a population of 500 million. This very fact makes it a huge consumer society. Contributing to the economic control this unified force can have, the consumer needs and the trade related issues of the whole European Union is controlled by a standardized and single window regulation system. This means that the every trade within the European Union will be controlled through a unified system of trade polices and laws. Considering these facts together, a unified demand of such a big population cannot be considered loosely by any business entity. Thus the European Union will have a great bargaining capacity. On the other side as far as the production is concerned, the European Union produced 30% share of the nominal gross world product in the last year. Thus in terms of production also, th e European Union becomes a vital force in the global market. This would highly influence the trade both bound inward and outward. The sourcing process so as to have the resources to maintain the high production level will distinguish the European Union as an important market. The importance as a vital force in global production and consumption thus would leave the European Union with the luxury to have control over competition. The unified regulations can very well check the possibilities of monopolistic economies and trade developing within its jurisdiction. The global giants will have to amend their business strategies as liked by the Union. As the economic system encourages highly the free movement of manpower, goods, capital and services

Does the globalisation of culture effectively mean the westernisation Essay

Does the globalisation of culture effectively mean the westernisation of culture - Essay Example It is a process of transformation that is affected by several changing factors at the global level. The main factors that promote globalisation are technology, economy and culture. Politics has been widely influenced by globalisation; and the political institutions, such as the nation – state have been significantly transformed, on account of globalisation (Shaw 1999: iii). There are a number of concepts involved in the globalisation process, which vary according to the circumstances. It has been argued that globalisation is a symbol of capitalism that is controlled by the market forces. Globalisation legalises transnational capitalism, and establishes international governmental institutions to supervise the world. As such, it brings about global domination, thereby depriving sovereign nations of their power of self – determination (Kellner). Culture can be defined as a combination of diverse features, such as spirituality, materialism, intellectual pursuits and emotions in a society. It incorporates art, literature, lifestyles, social forms of living, value systems, traditions, and belief in a social group or society. Culture can also be construed as communication. Civilisation developed on the basis of the cultural features of society. In the past, the development of dominant societies in a specific region established unique cultural identities for that region. The development of culture resulted in civilisation (Effects on Globalization in Culture Differentiation 2009). In the aftermath of globalisation, cultural identity, in some societies that depict cultural diversity, will emerge stronger. The determining factors, in relation to cultural identity will change, after globalisation. Consequently, diversities in culture will coexist with globalisation. However, the criteria that underlie culture differentiation will undergo transformation, due to globalisation (Effects on Globalization in Culture Differentiation 2009). Western

Homelessness Act 2002 Analysis

Homelessness Act 2002 Analysis Assessing the new homelessness strategies introduced by the Homelessness Act 2002: are the housing needs of the young homeless in the UK closer to being adequately addressed? Chapters 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‚¬ ¦ Page 3 Homelessness Act 2002 Young People†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Page 5 Distinctive Qualities of ‘Youth Homelessness’†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Page 10 Local Authorities and Discretion Post-2002:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..Page 12 Lack of Monitoring Procedures / Inadequacy of Performance Indicators†¦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‚¬ ¦.Page 12 Diversity or Chaos under the Homelessness Act 2002†¦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‚¬ ¦.Page 15 Priority Need†¦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‚¬ ¦Page 18 Conclusion†¦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‚¬ ¦. Page 20 Bibliography†¦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‚¬ ¦Page 21 ‘We have weapons of mass destruction we have to address here at home. Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction. Homelessness is a weapon of mass destruction. Unemployment is a weapon of mass destruction.’ Dennis Kucinich[1] Introduction Property, as a jurisprudential concept, holds a lot of sway in liberal philosophical thought. We see property as a central theme for such institutional writers as Locke, Hegel, Kant and Nozick who see Property Rights as going to the centre of ‘sanctioned behavioural relations among men’[2]. Thus in a purely philosophical manner the Homeless are truly disenfranchised from the underlying rationale of law. This pervasive attitude also leads to a disenfranchisement across a number of important social spheres such as voting, raising money and unemployment benefit However, we recognise limits on all property rights in order to help disadvantaged, for example the Family Law Act 1996 recognises rights for a spouse who suffers domestic abuse[3]. This work is concerned to look at the quantitative and qualitative outcomes for young[4] homeless people achieved by the statutory framework, how does this demographic fare given their no-property status? The importance of this review cannot be underestimated. In the U.K. it is a general problem which ‘despite economic prosperity, a private housing market boom, and a raft of legislation and homelessness initiatives, recorded levels of homelessness in the U.K. remain stubbornly high’[5] and in recent years the problem was more prosaically described as ‘taking us back towards the deep social divisions of Victorian society a moment in history than no one wants to see repeated’[6] However, despite it’s persistent nature and damaging social effects there is a dearth of real academic research on the topic as a whole. This work hopes to contribute to an area which desperately needs quality academic attention. Secondly, this review is prompted by similar government observations that suggest a review of the legislative apparatus is timely: ‘It is our view that there should not be homeless people in the UK in 2004. A home is a fundamental right which should not be denied to anyone living in as affluent and ambitious a society as our own.’[7] The Select Committee then goes onto argue that ‘a review of the workings of the 2002 Act would identify the weak spots for the government’[8]. This work will carry out such a review. However, given the limitation of space it focuses on the young homeless. In recent years this demographic has been receiving more academic and media attention than others simply because of the prevalence of youth homelessness within England – in 2004 it was estimated that up to 52,000 young people between the ages of 16-25 were homeless and at any rate that this demographic accounts for a quarter of all the homeless throughout the U.K.[9]. However, whilst there may be a reasonable degree of peripheral awareness of this subject as a social problem which has particular risks and difficulties associated with it there has been no current published research on the effectiveness of the homeless strategies, implemented under the Homelessness Act 2002, as it applies to this demographic. This work will attempt to fill this void and give some guidance on the direction of any review or reform of the legislative apparatus. Homelessness Act 2002 Young People The Homelessness Act 2002 was the culmination of a significant policy from New Labour which, obviously, therefore provides the underlying rationale of the statute. If we are to understand what reforms to the content or rationale are required from our qualitative and quantitative analyses of the operation of the statute we need to first understand what the existing structure represents. Whilst it is fair to say that ‘the UK has a lengthy history of voluntary and statutory provision for homeless people’[10] statutory intervention on a large scale was not comprehensively implemented until the introduction of the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977. However, for many commentators this legislation was seen as ‘an ineffective and inadequate means of resolving the problems of many homeless persons’[11]. There were numerous problems with the legislation which we will briefly prà ©cis so as to provide a comparator to the 2002 Act. A large degree of discretionary decision-making was left in the hands of local housing authorities[12] which meant that groups of homeless people who didn’t satisfy the ‘priority need’ criteria or other statutory requirements for other groups of homeless people had virtually no protection[13]. The 1977 Act setup a two-tiered approach which imposed different duties on the local authority at each level. Its initial duties operated when an individual made an application to the local housing authority which indicated a possibility that the person may either be homeless or threatened with homelessness[14]. Accommodation would then only be provided if the local authority had done an investigation and had reasonable grounds for believing the facts of the application and the person fell into a category of ‘priority need’. Otherwise the duty was one of advice and appropriate assistance[15]. Furthermore, the extent of the duty to provide accommodation only covered a ‘period of time reasonable to enable the applicant to secure housing on his own’[16]. The system setup had a narrowing effect in that there were large groups of people, typically non-parent single individuals[17], who had to rely on charity or voluntary services to provide any kind of accommodation. This system was argued to have lead to ‘an unprecedented increase in street homelessness in the U .K.’[18]. The period between the 1980’s and 1997 was mirrored by an exponential growth in NGO agencies providing support to the homeless in stark contrast to the complete lack of statutory change, although consolidation did occur in the Housing Act 1996. There were Government sponsored programmes such as the ‘Rough Sleepers Initiative’ and ‘Supporting People’ which transcended many professions such as housing, health, social work, education and employment. These multi-agency initiatives have been seen as vital to the ending of homelessness however there was always a fear over the disjointed and inefficient nature of these many statutory and voluntary agencies as well as confusion to the individual faced with homelessness[19]. As of 5th May 2006 there is a new UK government department for Communities and Local Government, taking over from the Homelessness Directorate within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which is now in charge of overseeing the current framework. The Labour Government came to power in 1997 on the back of a manifesto pledge that they would ‘impose a new duty on local authorities to protect those who are homeless through no fault of their own and are in priority need’[20]. The DETR[21] published the Housing Green Paper in April 2000 which outlined the intention of the government this was then introduced in the form of the Homes Bill which fell because of the proroguement of parliament for the general election. However, this was quickly followed by another bill that in time became the Homelessness Act 2002 that received Royal Assent on 26th February 2002 The 2002 Act made some very significant changes to the pre-existent statutory framework detailed above[22]. The central provision was a requirement placed upon local authorities to carry out a review of homelessness in their area and publish strategies to overcome this within 12 months of the passing of the Act and to be renewed every five years[23]. These included audits of current levels of homelessness, programs for combating, preventing or alleviating homelessness. The information gathered under the review was then to be scrutinised and the strategy would build upon any strengths and remedy weaknesses[24]. This was part of a clearer focus on devolving responsibility for tackling homelessness at a local level however the Act did also modify the pre-existent law by amending the Housing Act 1996. Whilst not implementing a duty it did give local housing authorities the discretionary power to give unintentionally homeless applicants not in priority need accommodation whereas the duty before was advice and assistance. The latter duty still exists but is more clearly defined and requires an investigation into the individual’s circumstances and needs. The hope of the government was that these ‘two provisions combined†¦can be used by applicants to argue that local authorities should consider referrals of applicants not in priority need to registered social landlords’[25]. There was formerly a two year time limit on the duty to provide housing but the Act now requires more than simply time lapsing including refusal of unsuitable accommodation, intentional homelessness or a change in circumstances[26]. This provision will introduce a lot more equity into the law and its arbitrary time limits. The largest change to the law was undoubtedly wrought through ss.13 – 16 which completely change the rules on allocation of a property in particular the power of the local authorities to power to exclude specific groups from priority need and reduce other priority[27]. Exclusion is permitted to individuals subject to immigration control or those deemed unsuitable by reason of their ‘unacceptable behaviour’[28]. Behaviour in general is also permitted as a reason for reducing the priority of an individual[29]. Local Authorities are still provided with discretion to create an allocation scheme but in determining preferences to be given in that scheme the definition of homelessness was widened to include all homeless, even those who are intentionally so or are not in priority need. The idea here is that in allocating available housing to all homeless people, rather than those that the local authority has a pre-existent duty to provide accommodation to, will clearly be more equitable[30]. For the sake of brevity the other main changes are bullet-pointed: Local authorities are able to offer assured tenancies and assured short-hold tenancies provided by private landlords in order to meet their duty to provide accommodation. However, refusal of such an offer doesn’t discharge the duty of the local authority as it normally would. The protections surrounding domestic violence are extended to those not only actually suffering but also those threatened with violence. A requirement that social security services’ cooperate with housing authorities this is to combat those families that are intentionally homeless with children. In summary the 2002 Act placed a much higher emphasis on the responsibility of local authorities through the review and strategy requirements whilst also making relatively minor amendments to the pre-existent structure which were principally designed to extend local authorities duties and powers regarding the homeless. A large part of this work will concentrate on the discretion of local authorities as detailed above in particular looking at whether the Act had created disparity between local authorities and a lack of meaningful monitoring of the operation of discretion or whether the approach by local authorities has lead to more flexibility and choice for individuals. This will be a qualitative assessment of the impact of the Act however we will also have regard to substantive aspects and ask whether the definitions of ‘priority need’ and ‘homelessness’[31] adequately cater for the urgent need of young, 16-25 year old, persons. It is worth just noting at t his point that the Act and the surrounding government publications do not mention youth homelessness as a target but homelessness in general. It is therefore accepted that we may be critiquing the Act for things outside its original remit however given the importance of this demographic any failing will be considered a large one. Distinctive Qualities of ‘Youth Homelessness’ The fundamental question for this work is to assess whether or not the Homelessness Act 2002 has to any degree moved the U.K. closer to addressing the needs of young homeless persons. However, in doing this what we have to be aware of is that ‘homeless people are a heterogeneous group with diverse social, economic and health needs’[32]. The exposition of these particularistic needs has not always been made explicit but to some degree it needs to be done so for this work to be of any importance. In other words, what are the specific needs of the youth homeless demographic? This is a difficult question and in itself could form the basis of a much larger work however it is possible to glean from some sources that there are a few predominant needs of the youth demographic which we can use to evaluate the effectiveness of the measures under the 2002 Act. One clear need is that of information, whilst always important the issue is more acute in youth homelessness given their relative inexperience and lack of social awareness[33]. As a logical corollary to this it would include training staff and volunteers on how to relate such information to children[34]. In general this is necessary because unlike other demographics there is a lack of self-sufficiency or financial resources[35], extremely high emotional and financial exploitability leading to higher risk of mental illness or disease of some form[36]. The problems with self-sufficiency and financial resources are explained because a youth group will tend to have little education, qualifications or job exper ience. This is coupled with the fact that they will have little or no experience of independent living which prevents them from doing even the most basic of things[37]. This has been recognised by a number of commentators who argue that ‘the problems of long term homelessness are to an extent due to lack of skills, knowledge and social development’[38]. Finally, another prominent need for the youth homelessness is not just the provision of accommodation but is the need for further support after the allocation of accommodation, of any kind. It has been argued that this is a particular need of youth homeless and that provision of such support must be ‘flexible, appropriate and geared to need’[39]. The foregoing is not meant to be an authoritative statement but a guide to what we will be analysing in the rest of this work. In order to assess the Homelessness Act 2002 we will be looking at how local authorities and the statute are capable of meeting some of these needs that we have outlined above. Local Authorities and Discretion Post-2002 As we saw, above, the local authorities have a great deal of control and discretion in publishing a strategy and creating there own allocation criteria. The importance of this is that the young homeless tend not to fall into an explicit category of those in ‘priority need’, as we shall see, and therefore the operation of local authorities under the Act become of the utmost importance to assessing the effectiveness of the legislative structure. In determining this we are looking at three separate but inter-related areas that might impact on the effectiveness of providing a coherent approach to youth homelessness. Thus if we look at needs such as information provided to the young – there is a clear danger that if there is a disjointed approach across local authorities then the quality of life enjoyed by those young people who fall into homelessness will become a post-code lottery. Lack of Monitoring Procedures / Inadequacy of Performance Indicators The first specific area that this research wants to uncover is whether or not the lack of monitoring provisions leads to an inconsistent application which consequently fails young homeless people. Furthermore, are the indicators used by government to monitor local authority initiatives helpful? The joining up of local authorities under the 2002 Act was a specific aim and the government stated ‘While the Government will join-up policy at the national level, local authorities will need to do so locally’[40]. This was supposed to be achieved by an alliance between supra-local bodies such as the Housing Corporation, Local Government Association and National Housing Federation[41]. They all recommended the adoption of a partnership between housing associations and local authorities to help implement the strategies required under the 2002 Act. However, with this many bodies involved it is hard to monitor the success of the Act especially as the local authorities are under no d uty to monitor the success. However, in an indirect way a lack of monitoring will cause severe difficulty for the Local Authority in reviewing current and future levels of homelessness in accordance with their strategy. This is because the raw information will not be in an accessible form, it will be spread across many different agencies or it may not be gathered at all[42] Shelter has campaigned for the wider introduction of ‘multi-agency monitoring’[43] which derives from governments ‘Homelessness Strategies: A Good Practice handbook’[44]. The idea of a MAM is that a lead agency, usually a local authority, will take charge of running the scheme and have a department dedicated to the maintenance of it. The scheme operates as follows: ‘All agencies use common forms to collect information, asking the same questions, and using the same data entry codes. A MAM scheme uses a unique identifier for each individual when recording the information onto a central database’[45]. The advantages of this are the ability to identify demographics and look at how policy and initiatives impacts on them. In that way the local authority can look at numerous independent variables such as person of first contact, place of first contact, popularity of various services and many other incredibly important pieces of information. However, th e handbook is a recommendation and is not mandatory by any means and it is therefore unsurprising that the Housing Quality Network Services (HQNS) recommended in 2004 that more guidance on the ‘minimum requirement for monitoring to ensure best practice’[46] be introduced by the government. The HQNS service highlighted that producing an action plan including plans for monitoring and having performance indicators was ‘a weak point in many strategies’[47] who failed to set out in any substantive detail how they were going to go about monitoring homelessness. However, in fairness there are other councils who have mentioned MAM’s[48] in their strategies but even there these are prospective and thin on detail[49]. The difficulty for this work is in assessing the effectiveness and the dedication to these limited stated aims without direct access to primary resources. Thus this work must defer to the conclusions of the quantitative research done by the HQNS that makes explicit that whilst many strategies mention monitoring few have much detail or concrete plans for how a MAM would be set-up The picture that arises, therefore, is that the lack of mandatory minimum monitoring requirement’s is not being counteracted by pro-active councils around the country therefore in that way it fails to achieve the goals of having effective reviews and strategies. As the Bath North East Somerset strategy stated ‘A strategy is only as good as the information that supports it’[50]. The fact that a government produced report which generally heralded the whole process of producing a review and strategy as a success mentioned data collection and monitoring as a problem on several occasions highlights that this could be a significant problem in targeting the strategies in any meaningful sense at youth homelessness. This has a knock-on effect on performance indicators. The government had encouraged local authorities to introduce performance indicators[51] and in 2005 they introduced The Local Government (Best Value) Performance Indicators and Performance Standards (England) Order 2005[52]. This followed a wide consultation on the issue. It applied this to all local authorities and measures performance by reference to five criteria: Average length of stay in bed and breakfast or hostel accommodation by households including dependent children or pregnant women. Number of rough sleepers on a single night within authority’s area. Percentage increase / decrease from year to year of statistic 1. Number of families for which housing advice casework intervention resolved their homeless situation; and Proportion of repeat homeless people.[53] Quite apart from the fact that, on a formal level, none of these mention youth homelessness but at another level the performance indicators will be useless if the monitoring procedures are as inadequate as the HQNS review suggests. Whilst it is impossible to be specific about the impact in quantitative terms we can discuss the issue in qualitative terms. We can see that there is an almost blind-spot by the government of youth homelessness in relation to monitoring information and how that translates into performance indicators. Diversity or Chaos under the Homelessness Act 2002 As we saw in our description of the Act the basic framework set-out is that ‘strategy is led from central government departments†¦but local housing authorities are key to planning and service delivery, irrespective of their political complexion’[54]. The reason for this was made clear in the government green paper which eventually lead to the 2002 Act: ‘Central Government can set the framework for housing policies. But the delivery of those policies must be tailored to a variety of local circumstances.’[55] This devolving of responsibility for implementation of strategy to local authorities is clearly designed to avoid a top-down homogenous approach to community-sensitive issues such as homelessness however the question for this work is how this has worked in relation to young people. It is integral to see whether this devolution has lead to innovative solutions which fit the needs of young people and also to see whether this leads to a post-code lotter y because of regional discrepancies. Primarily, we can draw comparative conclusions from a very useful survey of Scottish Local Authorities carried out in 2004 which looked at which authorities were addressing youth homelessness specifically as a problem[56]. The study was carried out only one year after The Homelessness, etc. (Scotland) Act 2003 and thus many strategies were in draft format and some weren’t available at all but the conclusions are stark. As far as having clear aims and objectives in relation to young people the survey only found one strategy that had these specifically stated. There was a much larger emphasis on prevention rather than aiding those already homeless thus twenty-seven strategies dealt with provision of information on services for homelessness in schools. Worryingly there were no strategies that assessed the general availability of affordable housing for young people but as we mentioned one of the major needs of young homeless people was provision of ongoing support and this was ide ntified as an objective in the strategies of twenty-six of the local authorities however only six took this any further and proposed aid in relation to education, training or employment. We will recall that lack of those skills is seen as endemic to youth homelessness and it seemed it was poorly addressed. The conclusions of the SCSH as a whole were that ‘†¦youth issues are generally not well addressed in the homelessness strategies, aside from one or two exceptions’[57] and worryingly one of the least well addressed issues was having a specific youth homelessness policy within the general homelessness policy. It is hard to make direct generalisations to England with regard to this study but it is suggestive that youth-specific issues are not as high in the list of priorities of many local authorities as perhaps other demographics such as those suffering domestic abuse or pregnant woman. In a similar study, which had a much wider remit, the ODPM had argued that in English Homelessness Strategies ‘†¦Young people, either single or in families, are a key priority in most parts of the country.’[58] However it noticed a disparity in other demographics such as single people and gypsies / travellers. However, what is worrying about this can be highlighted in a study of the strategies of Bromley and Lewisham Councils. In Bromley it is true to say that ‘Vulnerable Young People’ is one of the specific client groups that were included in their strategy and included plans for the development of specific support services[59]. Thus it created a new team within the council to specifically deal with young people and their needs as well as arranging funding for new supported accommodation facilities as a form of initial accommodation for young people[60]. However, the problem is that such services are de-limited and targeted solely at 16 and 17 year old s. However, our review of young people’s needs indicated that 16 – 25 years olds all felt similar disadvantages. This was also the case in Lewisham Council[61] who talk about vulnerable young people as a group including those leaving care and 16 / 17 year olds. This, as we shall discuss below, is largely in response to the government’s widening of ‘priority need’ in the Homelessness Act 2002 to cover 16 and 17 year olds. This is undoubtedly a step-forward but the approach is undermined because it skews focus onto these two age groups. The other thing that is striking about both of these strategies is the lack of plans specifically to provide information to young people[62], statistics about youth homelessness and nothing about education, training or employment opportunities or schemes for young people. Having looked at these two large councils, Scotland and the overall review carried out by the ODPM there are a number of conclusions that we can make. Firstly, disparity between the councils doesn’t seem to be a large problem as far as young people are concerned. However, the approach does seem homogenous and inadequate to cater to the wider 16 – 25 demographic all of whom experience similar needs[63] as well as making up 25% of all homeless rough sleepers in the U.K.[64]. There seems little of this sensitivity to local issues and the government’s focus on 16 and 17 year olds has skewed the debate to a degree and in fact lead to poorer recognition of the needs of 16 – 25 year old homeless people. The major problem with this is that following the abolition of housing lists and the qualifying / non-qualifying groups division that existed pre-2002, above, local authorities have discretion to target groups. Those groups seem unlikely to be a holistic treatment of 16 – 25 year olds. Priority Need The importance of being categorised as homeless and in priority need is extremely high. It is the difference between having the possibility of interim accommodation offered and the council having a duty to provide long-term accommodation, as we saw in the second section. Thus for all demographics qualification into these categories will be keenly contested and we must see to what degree young people are catered for. We don’t have the space to carry out a thorough review of both subjects however a brief prà ©cis will again highlight the impact

How To Enter A Nine-ball Tournament :: essays research papers

How to Play Tournament Nine-ball   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  People may think that spending eight dollars on a tournament is a waste of money. Every Sunday I go to Millertime Billiards and enter a nine-ball tournament. I never go in thinking that I’m going to win at least my entry fee back, although it would be nice. On the other hand, I always go in knowing that I will walk out understanding more about the game then the night before. The tournament starts at 7:30 p.m., but the entry fee must be paid before that. After paying, all there is to do is wait. When they call your name and table it’s time to play. It’s a race to four wins. To keep track of the games place a coin under the middle diamond. Every game won constitutes a move of the coin one diamond. The winner goes to the front counter and gives them the results. The loser of the first game doesn’t have to go home. The tournament is double elimination. After the first game is lost, the player goes down to the loser’s bracket. One loss in there means it’s time to go home, or at least sit down and wait for the nine-ball break. The winner of the loser’s bracket is guaranteed second place. To get first place the winner of the loser bracket will have to beat the winner of the winner’s bracket twice. After they establish and record all the winners and losers for the forth round they call all the people who entered the tournament down to table 5 for the nine-ball break. The racks are usually set up by an A player or better. Three names are drawn out of a box. Everybody that got there name picked gets two chances to drop the nine-ball on the break unless the person before them already hit it in. Two dollars of the entry fee go toward the pot for the winner.

Environment as Effective Support for Speech Essay

How our setting uses the environment to provide effective support for speech, language and communicating. As adults caring for children it is important to support and encourage them in their speech, language and communication skills. As babies they begin with cooing at about 6 weeks and then move onto babbling at about 6 months. At about 9 months this progresses so you can begin to differentiate different languages and children begin to interact with adults. During these stages we use exaggerated facial expressions and point to things and begin to use simple words to label things. We simplify our language to suit their needs. At about 12 months babies start using words and by 18 months have about 10 words or so. As they move towards 2 years old they start to put words together to form sentences. And the biggest development is between 2 and 3 when it can be hard to keep up with them as new words are learnt every day and real speech starts to begin. Around now as adults we start to simplify less and start to help enrich a child’s vocabulary. Between 3 and 4 longer sentences are formed and children start to socialise and interact with each other although grammatical mistakes will often be made. By 5 or 6 the basic skills of speech language and communication are mastered. At the Kings School we have children entering our setting with all sorts of different levels of S.L.C. some will be quite proficient while some may need extra support. Being able to communicate and be able to use and understand speech will assist a child’s overall development. For a Childs cognitive learning being able to understand the teacher and to see something new and label it and say what is happening aids their understanding and memory. Emotionally being able to share thoughts and feelings, to be able to say when they are happy or not and to know when someone else is unhappy. It will also impact on their behaviour. There may be less outbursts and upsets if they can express themselves and clearly understand instructions and any rules given. Friendships are vital to a child’s development and if they can interact with each other they can develop social skills which will carry through to adult hood and assist future development. At the Kings School we try to make sure we are providing a supportive environment to encourage the children’s S.L.C. needs. Many factors can affect this including; The physical environment. The child needs an interesting environment so they are kept stimulated and have something to talk about. We have a different letter each week to help us to plan activities so they are ever changing. To encourage the children to talk about that letter. To discuss the Characters and introduce new words and sounds and get them thinking about sounds. We make sure that we keep an eye on the noise levels and that although it’s fine to be loud sometimes it is also important to have quiet times and spaces. Like the book corner to hear stories and be able to discuss them. Also learning to be quiet when someone else is talking. Especially the teacher. That it is important everyone is heard. That when instructions are given they are clearly heard and understood. Staff roles and responsibilities. It’s important that no child’s slips under the radar and that the quiet ones who are no trouble and self sufficient are also noticed. That is why we have a Keyworker system and that each child has an appointed adult who has responsibility for that child and their development, including their speech and language and communication. Also sometimes when the staff carry out duties we get the children involved in helping, like tidying up especially after lunch. The children get a chance to interact one on one with an adult. Training needs and opportunities. When the chance arises we will engage in training for specific aspects of our work. Recently most of us undertook some training in the use of Makaton. The views of the child We are always interested in what the child wants. We ask them what stories they like or what activities they like to do. They can choose what toys to get out. The other day some of them saw some soil and requested to make mud. This was a great (if messy) activity that had plenty of opportunity for discussion and interaction with an adult. Involvement of carers. We are always encouraging parents and carers to get involved most of our staff are parent volunteers. We have a couple who are Speech therapists and are willing to help us and parents to assist the children in their development. As Early year teachers we are always implementing the NEW 7 areas of learning, within each of these there are always ways of supporting S.L.C. Communication and Language Once a week we do show and tell. This is a perfect opportunity to encourage children in their SLC they are given the opportunity to share with each other about an item of their choice. They also learn how to listen to their friends. The adults give support by asking questions and using appropriate words to increase vocabulary. This also includes any form of mat time or assembly where the children have to listen to us and begin to learn when to be quiet. They also get the opportunity to pray which is good for their confidence in speaking out loud in front of their peers. Whatever their level of speech they will all pray at some point which is great. Physical Development This can be outside or inside so different levels of speech can be involved. Recently we did an activity where a story was read to the children, then they were encouraged to come outside and build an obstacle course to re-enact the story. Throughout this they were talking to us and hearing words from us about movement. Like up, down, under, through. They had to convey to us what they wanted. Also have listened to the story and understood it. Also sometimes at snack time and lunch time we take the opportunity to discuss healthy eating and how exercise is important. Personal, social and emotional development Children are always encouraged to share things with us and other children. If a child is upset by another child we try to engage them in talking about it and how each other were feeling. And to apologise to each other. We often split children into groups for things to encourage interaction with children they don’t usually play with and get them to talk to each other. Literacy We are always reading books to the children and encouraging interaction within this getting them to talk about the story and discuss it. We have the Alphabet Kingdom characters who are always introducing the children to new words and sounds. We try to use that sound all week to make sure children are hearing it and using it. Mathematics We will use maths activities to teach children words relating to it. Numbers, shapes etc. Getting children to count out loud playing games that involve numbers or shapes. Always talking to them though any activity. Also in this category for instance a child may be role playing shops and we would then encourage them in talking about money and the use of correct terms Understanding the world This could be as simple as being involved in the children’s games especially role play. If they are being doctors or nurses. We can encourage their SLC skills by using appropriate words and talking about things these people do. WE are also in the process of developing a wall display about the world and people we know in different parts of it. We can use this to talk about other languages and teach the children new words and get them to talk about their experiences of other countries. Expressive arts and Design When we are being creative there is always plenty of opportunity for talking about what we are doing. Getting them to share ideas with us and to use language associated with the activity. Into this area also comes music and singing. Which is great for SLC? Whenever we are singing we use Makaton which helps those who need it join in with us, and teaches the children the signs which they can then use to communicate with others.

Prejudice in Mr Sumarsono Written by Roxana Robinson Essay

Stereotype is a largely false belief, or set of belief, concerning the characteristics of the members of a racial or ethnic group (McLemore, 1983). Stereotype may be positive or negative in mind which is based on limited and minimal knowledge about a group of people. Incomplete information, mistaken perceptions, isolation and segregation have resulted many stereotypes. Viewing of a person with oddity based on the stereotype will limit what we expected and how we respond to them. Prejudice is an unfavorable attitude towards people because they are members of a particular racial or ethnic group. Discrimination is unfavorable action towards people because they are members of a particular racial or ethnic group. (McLemore, 1983). These both are negative manifestations of integrative power. A prejudiced person may not act on their attitude. Therefore, someone can be prejudice towards a certain group but not discriminate against them. Also, prejudice includes all three components of an attitude (affective, behavioral and affective), whereas discrimination just involves behavior and involves some actions. Prejudice and stereotyping parallels attitudes and opinions or beliefs (Stroebe & Insko, 1989) Prejudice also sustains stereotype, while stereotype is a generalization or interpretation toward a person or group of some physical, behavior, belief or other factors. For a 10-year-old girl, she must have got a first bad impression to a stranger, especially a foreigner. She spontaneously thought that someone newbie in another country is a kind of alien with different skin, face structure or another physical body. In that point, this attitude includes a racial stereotype which provokes a prejudice side. Roxana Robinson is a biographer and scholar of nineteenth and early twentieth century American art. She graduated from Buckingham Friends School, in Lahaska, and from The Shipley School, in Bryn Mawr. She attended Bennington College and studied with Bernard Malamud and Howard Nemerov. She received a B.A. degree in English Literature from the University of Michigan. Roxana Robinson is the author of the four novels Cost, (2008) Sweetwater, (2003) This Is My Daughter, (1998) and Summer Light (1988); the three short story collections A Perfect Stranger, (2005) Asking for Love, (1996) A Glimpse of Scarlet, (1991) and the biography Georgia O’Keeffe: A Life, (1989). Mr. Sumarsono is listed as one of the best American Short Stories at 1994. Statement of Problems: 1. Why do Susan and her sister give bad impression toward Mr. Sumarsono? 2. Why did Mrs. Riordan welcome Mr. Sumarsono warmly? 3. What is the cultural aspect of this short story? What is the connection with it? Discussion Mr. Sumarsono is a worker in UN which involved many Western people in it for a long time. Because of the environment, he tried to adapt the style like an American. According to the story, both daughters of Mrs. Riordan, Susan and Kate, with Mrs. Riordan herself fetched Mr. Sumarsono in a Trenton Station in New Jersey and they saw him for the first time with bad impression and underestimate toward Mr. Sumarsono. However, at that time, he was clothed as an American businessman. â€Å"Mr. Sumarsono was wearing an neat suit and leather shoes, like an American businessman, but he didn’t look like an American. The suit was brown, not gray, and it had a slight sheen. And Mr. Sumarsono was built in a different way from Americans: he was slight and graceful, with narrow shoulders and an absence of strut.† (Page 265 line 1) â€Å"Kate and I stood next to my mother as she waved and smiled. Kate and I did not wave and smile†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Page 265 line 11) In this case, it proved that both sisters didn’t like and give bad thought for Mr. Sumarsono because they didn’t know who actually Mr. Sumarsono was, since Mr. Sumarsono had an Asian figure with pale brown skin. Besides, there were few Indonesian that came to America, or else almost never. Mr. Sumarsono was the only Indonesian who arrived in New Jersey. â€Å"It was 1959, and Mr. Sumarsono was the only Indonesian who got off the train in Trenton, New Jersey.† (Page 264 line 25) Next on, the displeasure of the sisters continued until they were in way home. They were acting like they didn’t need a middle-aged Indonesian in where were they belong to. Moreover, they avoided the lunch time which their mother prepared for them and Mr. Sumarsono. And also, they showed an impolite attitude toward Mr. Sumarsono in the table. â€Å"We were going to watch the mallard nesting, and I hope we didn’t have to include a middle-aged Indonesian in leather shoes†(Page 267 line 1) â€Å"Dev-il,† Kate said, Speaking very loudly and slowly. She pointed at the eggs and then put two forked finger behind her head like horns, Mr. Sumarsono looked at her horns. (Page 269 lines 25) Another evidence occurred at the dinner time when Susan saw her mother wearing a pink dress. She thought her mother’s dress was overlooked just for dinner with a stranger who can not understand their language. â€Å"I was irritated to see that she had put it on as thought she were at a party. This was not a party: she had merely gotten hold of a captive guest, a complete stranger who understood nothing she said.† (Page 270, line 12) Although they kept underestimate him, they were quite surprised that Mr. Sumarsono wasn’t someone like usual Asian guy they were thinking about. He was different in presence. Not only the appearance of him but also his gesture was shown when they were already at home. Somehow, The stop! gesture was making the sisters wondering what makes that Indonesian was different. This gesture is shown by Mr. Sumarsono when he tried to prevent his suitcase as Susan offered to pick up upstairs. â€Å"What struck me was the grace of his gesture. His hand extended easily out cuff and expose a narrow brown wrist, as narrow as my own. When he put his hand up in the Stop! gesture, his hand curved backward from the wrist, and his fingers bent backward from the palm. Instead of the stern and flat-handed Stop! that an American hand would make, this was a polite, subtie, and yielding signal, quite beautiful and infinitely sophisticated, a gesture that suggested a thousand reasons for doing something, a thousand ways to go about it.†(Page 267 line 13) On the other hand, Mrs. Riordan was greeting him cheerfully. She showed an excessive behavior since Mr. Sumarsono decided to spend his weekend in New Jersey. Furthermore, he stayed in Riodan’s as well. Mrs. Riordan tried to catch attention from Mr. Sumarsono. Apart from being dressed in pink, she treated him as best as she can. â€Å"Oh, I’m glad we’re having rice!† she said suddenly, pleased. â€Å"That must make Mr. Sumarsono feel at home.† She looked at me. (Page 273 line 7) She also thought that Mr. Sumarsono was far from his family and being lonely, Mrs. Riordan conclude that he was missing them and she tried to give something that Mr. Sumarsono would feel like he came back to the warm atmosphere when a family was gathered supposed to be. It is shown when Mrs. Riordan asked Mr. Sumarsono to show his wife and children photograph. She saw a strange condition on Mr. Sumarsono with complicated and unfinished look when she asked and he even wanted to take a picture with them. â€Å"The poor man, he must miss his wife and children. Don’t u feel sorry for him, thousands of miles away from his family? Oh, thousands. He’s here for six months, all alone. They told me that at the UN. It’s all very uncertain. He doesn’t know when he gets leaves, how long after that he’ll be here. Think of how his poor wife feels.† (Page 272 line 24) As from the both sisters misjudged all about Mr. Sumarsono and what they have done, they thought that they would feel ashamed, instead of underestimating him. Their prejudice has made them blind to not know who actually Mr. Sumarsono was. Beside it was from their mother, they also felt embarrassed him because they can not be an appropriate hostess to him while Mr. Sumarsono showed his unruffled courtesy. Although Mr. Sumarsono couldn’t speak English well and only responded all Mrs. Riordan and her daughters with simple nodded and smile, at least he knew what attitude he supposed to do when he was visiting people’s house in other country. â€Å"I was embarrassed not only for my mother but also for poor Mr. Sumarsono. Whatever he had expected from a country weekend in America, It could not have been a cramped attic room, two sullen girls, voluble and incomprehensible hostess. I felt we had failed him, we had betrayed his unruffled courtesy, with our bewildering commands, our waving forks, our irresponsible talk about lizard. I wanted to save him. I wanted to liberate poor Mr. Sumarsono from this aerial grid of misunderstandings.† (Page 274 line 24) This story is pertaining aspect of prejudice side. Therefore, prejudice has both cognitive and affective components. Affective component is the positive or negative attitude or feeling while cognitive component contains stereotypes. Stereotypes are beliefs about people based on their membership in a particular group. Stereotypes can be positive, negative, or neutral. Stereotypes based on gender, ethnicity, or occupation are common in many societies. Stereotypes often results from, and leads to, prejudice and bigotry. The reasons appearing of stereotype is variable, It occurs When people encounter instances that disconfirm their stereotypes of a particular group, they tend to assume that those instances are atypical subtypes of the group. Second, People’s perceptions are influenced by their expectations. And last, People selectively recall instances that confirm their stereotypes and forget about disconfirming instances. As a branch from stereotype, prejudice is a destructive p henomenon, and it is pervasive because it serves many psychological, social, and economic functions. It allows people to bond with their own group by contrasting their own groups to outsider groups. Conclusion This short story which Roxana wrote showed about an experience of Indonesian immigrant who visited and spent the weekend at one of New Jersey’s families, Riordan’s house. Based on discussion above, it is described that the two daughters, Susan and Kate had first bad impression toward Mr. Sumarsono as a strange foreigner. This signs that their attitude showed the prejudice aspect of the racial differences.

Free Essays on Gullivers Travels

Without a doubt, the greatest achievement of Jonathan Swift, the master of irony and satire, is his satirical masterpiece Gulliver’s Travels. Swift wrote his â€Å"travel novel† not to entertain the world, but to inform it. The satirical work was written to show the follies, vices, and the stupidity of mankind, by comparing it to the follies, vices, and stupidity of Swift’s mind’s machinations. It was the belief of the author that by comparing ourselves to others, we might be able to see our own true nature, enabling us to see the foolishness and idiocy in our own lives. The text that best addresses Swift’s thought on seeing who we truly are through comparison can be found in the first chapter of the second book where Lemuel Gulliver is lamenting his second voyage in the light of discovery that men are in fact Lilliputian to other races. Gulliver downheartedly says that, â€Å"nothing is great or little otherwise than by comparison.† In the Voyage to Lilliput, Swift begins comparing the political situation of that tiny, island nation to that of England, and how the political structures of both islands have become corrupted, ridiculous, and petty. In Lilliput, much like in England, the offices of courtiers and ministers were not appointed based upon achievement or skill in public service, but upon trivialities, nepotism, and favors. The cruel and ambitious Emperor of Lilliput has no greater desire than to totally destroy Blefescu, the land across the sea, in a war that has long lost any meaning, and enslave its population. This situation is extremely comparable to the long, bloody history between France and England. In Swift’s day, the two European states were on unfriendly terms whenever not at war. The ambition of enslavement can also be compared to the great European powers’ policy of manifest destiny, colonization, rule, and ownership of the â€Å"savages.† In Lilliput the heir to t he â€Å"Delight and Terror of th... Free Essays on Gulliver's Travels Free Essays on Gulliver's Travels Without a doubt, the greatest achievement of Jonathan Swift, the master of irony and satire, is his satirical masterpiece Gulliver’s Travels. Swift wrote his â€Å"travel novel† not to entertain the world, but to inform it. The satirical work was written to show the follies, vices, and the stupidity of mankind, by comparing it to the follies, vices, and stupidity of Swift’s mind’s machinations. It was the belief of the author that by comparing ourselves to others, we might be able to see our own true nature, enabling us to see the foolishness and idiocy in our own lives. The text that best addresses Swift’s thought on seeing who we truly are through comparison can be found in the first chapter of the second book where Lemuel Gulliver is lamenting his second voyage in the light of discovery that men are in fact Lilliputian to other races. Gulliver downheartedly says that, â€Å"nothing is great or little otherwise than by comparison.† In the Voyage to Lilliput, Swift begins comparing the political situation of that tiny, island nation to that of England, and how the political structures of both islands have become corrupted, ridiculous, and petty. In Lilliput, much like in England, the offices of courtiers and ministers were not appointed based upon achievement or skill in public service, but upon trivialities, nepotism, and favors. The cruel and ambitious Emperor of Lilliput has no greater desire than to totally destroy Blefescu, the land across the sea, in a war that has long lost any meaning, and enslave its population. This situation is extremely comparable to the long, bloody history between France and England. In Swift’s day, the two European states were on unfriendly terms whenever not at war. The ambition of enslavement can also be compared to the great European powers’ policy of manifest destiny, colonization, rule, and ownership of the â€Å"savages.† In Lilliput the heir to t he â€Å"Delight and Terror of th...

Services Marketing Case Study Essays

Services Marketing Case Study Essays Services Marketing Case Study Essay Services Marketing Case Study Essay These customers vary in terms of their requirements and expectations. It is important for the carriers to leverage the available data to get insights into the passenger behavior Getable operated in the low-fare category of the industry, but unlike other low-fare airlines, Getable wasnt a no-frills airline Offerings Getable experience Bring humanity back to Air travel and make the experience Of flying happier and easier for everyone Wider leather seats More legroom and storage space In-flight entertainment (24 channels) Dedicated service personnel Free co-branded amenities Touch screen check-in Pre-assigned seats It offered a unique flying experience due to its Humanity touch The airlines tapped in on caring for its customers in an industry that lacked compassion, a missing human touch. It offered to better the lives of its customers, creamers and the communities. This commitment to inspiring humanity was their differentiator. The airline also flew its planes from point to point. It did not use the hub system of other airlines. By using the point-to point system, Getable was very selective when picking the geographic markets where it wants to compete. VALUE CHAIN Inbound Logistics Internet presence and web-based ticketing Operations crew scheduling, no meals, automated baggage handling Outbound Airports chosen carefully, less congested Make. ND sales work from home call centers, attractive pricing Service customer-focus, CEO who interacts Service Value : Highly productive people, productive aircrafts, caring culture of he organization Hard standards: On time performance Customer support Complaint handling time Bill of Rights Time for boarding Soft Standards: Friendly personnel Cleanliness on-flight Getable understood its internal environment, the external environment, competition, as well as its own customers and potential customers. Nonins ured behavioral segmentation and competitive advantage to be ahead of its competitors. Service Marketing Triangle: External Marketing: Jet blues external marketing promises to the customer were low cost and high service quality. The service facilities like Spa, Live TV, Dunking Donuts Effie, Satellite radio were examples of the same. Internal Marketing: Jet Blues was able to enable its promise by inspiring its employee. Jet Blue had a humble CEO who cultivated the sense of team work in its employees. The CEO had the ability to connect with its people. The Jet Blue involved its employee in every aspect of the business. The Supervisors in Jet Blue attended the Jet Blue University to learn the company principles of team work. The inculcated the sense of We in the Jet Blue crew members. They increased the work force productivity through better training and smarter business processes. The internal marketing in Jet Blue helped the airlines to keep its employees motivated and they were actually seen defending the airlines during the time of the crisis. Interactive Marketing: Jet blues CEO used to frequently travel in the airlines and used to connect with the customers to take the feedback on the services provided and also requested them to provide suggestions on the improvement of the airline service as a whole. This was an example of CEO leading its employee by example. Jet blue won lot of awards, In 2007 Jet Blue was named as number three most admired airline by fortune and best in customer satisfaction by Market Matrix in 2006. They were also picked as best domestic airline by Coned NASA Travel and Travel + Leisure. They had a fleet of highly motivated employees as a result of which they enjoyed the second lowest rate of customer complaints among the 10 Largest U. S. Airlines. Service profit Chain Jet Blue internal marketing let to employee satisfaction, which led to customer satisfaction and increased revenue growth and profitability for Jet Blue. Jet Blue employees considered themselves as an integral member of the airlines. There were instances wherein the employees were responding to the customer on the complaints raised by them during the time of crisis, this is one classic example of high internal service quality in Jet Blue. The employees in Jet Blue were highly satisfied which led to employee retention and employee productivity; in addition to that this led to high external service value to the end customer. The customer were satisfied with their jet blue experience, in addition to that Jet Blue also had a loyal base of customer which came out in defense of the airline during the time of crisis. As a result of overall value chain Jet Blue experienced year on year revenue growth from 000 to 2004 and which led to profitability for the firm. Q. What challenges did David Melanin and his executive team face in managing the customer experience as the airline grew rapidly? How did they respond to those challenges? We have used the McKinney as Framework to analyze the steps taken by David Melanin after the first crisis of 2005. as Framework is used for auditing the current state of the organization and it can also be used to implement new strategy. S framework consist Of hard and soft Gs. All the as have to align for the strategy to work. If the as are aligned then the short- term strategy also works. Strategy: Jet Blue short-term strategy was to scale up to increase the revenue by market development. They planned to expand their services to medium and small sized cities. They believed that since the carriers in medium and short run cities are less they can charge a premium on the t ickets leading to better revenues. Structure In order to implement the strategy the firm also has to restructure its organization chart. There is no information present in the case on the change on restructuring of the organization. The people involved in the organization structure were CEO, David Melanin and Chief Operating Officer, Dave Barge. There are instances in the case were it is highlighted that CEO was involved in every aspect Of the business. We believe that they should have hired people from the local area upon expansion so that the load on the CEO and Chief Operating Officer should have been reduced and better handling of the on ground resources could have taken place by quick decision making. They should have restructured the organization. This was one S, which was not aligned with the company strategy. Systems: In order to implement the new strategy it is important for the organization to improve upon the systems and current processes. Jet Blue moved towards automation and smarter business processes; however Jet Blue did not pay any emphasis on customer support and capacity of the system. This led to increased chaos during the time of the crisis. Jet Blue should have load tested there system for the maximum calls and maximum bookings. The system went down when people tried to reschedule or cancel their flights during the time of the crisis. This was another place where Jet Blue strategy was not in line with the existing capacity of the system. Skills Jet Blue did improve the productivity of its workforce upon implementation of the new strategy. The employees were trained to be more productive to handle additional traffic. The Skills were aligned with the strategy. Style The management was actively involved with the customer and employee. The employees also responded positively to the management style. The Style was aligned with the strategy. Shared Value The shared value among the employees of the Jet Blue was to provide the end customer with Jet Blue experience. The Jet Blue experience was high service quality at low cost. The strategy was to expand but not at the expense of shared values. Jet Blue employees were living up to the promise of providing he same-shared values. Staff The staffs of Jet Blue were not increased on scaling up there was a gap between the resource and the demand of the employee. The prefect example of same was when the Jet Blue went through the crisis in 2007 the pilots and ground staffs were not enough to handle the situation on ground. The Style was not aligned with strategy of the company. The model clearly highlights the Gap in the Jet Blue new strategy were in by auditing using as framework we came to know that Staff, System and Structure were not in line with the Jet Blue strategy as a result Of which Jet Blue Was not able to provide prompt covers to people during the time of crisis and hence failed miserably. 3. What exactly went wrong?

Job Likes and Dislikes Listening Comprehension Quiz

Job Likes and Dislikes Listening Comprehension Quiz In this  listening comprehension  you will hear a man speaking about what he likes and dislikes about his job. Listen to what he says and decide whether the following statements are true or false. You will hear the listening twice. Try to listen without reading the listening transcript. After you have finished, check your answers below the  to see if you have answered the questions correctly. Job Likes and Dislikes Quiz The first thing he does is go to the common room.He cleans the rooms when they are empty.He always helps out in the canteen.He usually washes the stairs.He finishes in the afternoon.He likes the routine nature of his job.He feels that it is degrading picking up cigarette butts.He is a millionaire.He likes the flexibility of his job.He enjoys the company of the students.He learns a lot on his job about other cultures.What is the name of his job? Listening Transcript Well, I come into work at eight oclock, and the first thing I do is collect my keys. Then I go to the common room. I sweep up and I do the floors, and I also check the toilets. And when there are no students in the classrooms, I empty the waste bins, and clean the rooms. And I also help in the canteen when the girl is ill to do the teas and coffees. And I usually sweep the stairs and then give them a good wash over. I usually finish at about two oclock.   What I particularly hate about my job is having to be at work for a specific time and leave off at a certain time and have to follow a certain pattern all the time. And another thing I hate doing is picking up cigarette ends and dirty tissues. Its really degrading picking things up that have been in peoples mouths. God, if I were paid for every cigarette end and tissue Id picked up, Id be a millionaire.   What I really like about my job is that I can work on my own, and I can decide when I do something. If I dont feel like doing it today, I can do it tomorrow. I also find the students extremely friendly. They will come and talk to you in their breaks or their free time. They tell you all about their country, customs, habits, etc. and its ever so interesting. I really enjoy it. Job Likes and Dislikes Quiz Answers False - He gets his keys.TrueFalse - Only when the girl is ill.  True - He cleans and washes the stairs.True - He finishes at two oclock.False - He doesnt like being at work and leaving at a certain time.True - He really hates it.False - He would be if he were paid for every cigarette end and tissues he has cleaned up!True - He can choose when he does the various tasks.True - They are really friendly.True - They tell him about their native countries.Janitor, Sanitary engineer

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic - Essay Example Ownership of many airline companies is shifting from government to private hands British Airways (BA) is a leader in airline industry which carries more than 27 millions passengers a year. This company obtains strong market position maintaining high standards of performance. It becomes possible because of improvements and innovation strategy provided by the company recent years. BA delivers scheduled passenger services which accounted for approximately 83% of all its operations. It is flying to over 550 destinations, and a fleet of 340 aircraft. "Its mainline fleet also currently includes 7 Concordes, 71 Boeing 747s, 38 Boeing 777s, 21 Boeing 767s, 48 Boeing 757s, 83 Airbus A318/319/320s in service or on order, and 52 Boeing 737s" (British Airways: Short description 2001). As airline industry becomes mature, BA has focused on market share and how it can be gained. Contracting out of services including aircraft handling, ticketing, baggage handling to third parties are the main difference between BA and other companies. The company employs about 65,157 people. Th e company offers four classes of service: World Traveller (Economy Class) and World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy), Club World (Business Class) and FIRST (First Class) (British Airways: Short description 2001). Virgin Atlantic is also a UK-based company operatin... Virgin Atlantic Virgin Atlantic is also a UK-based company operating on the market since 1982. It attracts its customers by exceptional service and standards. It is the second largest UK carrier and the third largest European airline. The marketing strategy applied by Virgin Atlantic is essentially a matching process between the needs and expectations of customers, and the organization's ability and capacity to satisfy them. For this matching process to take place successfully, Virgin Atlantic understands who is the customer and what value is required, and how best to deliver this value on a sustainable basis in line with the organization's overall corporate objectives. The company proposes three classes of service: Economy, Premium Economy and Upper Class. It invested in development of customer service in order to optimize performance and deliver customer satisfaction. (Virgin Atlantic. Students Information Pack. 2006) Approaches to Marketing Both companies are dynamically evolving entities operating within a dynamically evolving environment influenced by political changes and economic fluctuations: fuel prices, trade union policies and terrorist attacks. For BA and Virgin Atlantic marketing depends upon effective marketing system. Both companies employ different approaches to marketing and a business philosophy to sustain strong position of the market and compete with each other (Johnson, Scholes, 1998). Marketing Mix Product (Service) BA business philosophy includes reward strategies and insensitive schemes for regular passengers with free flights and services. The main target group of BA under this program is Business Class and First Class passengers. In

Comparison of U.S. and Other Healthcare System Assignment

Comparison of U.S. and Other Healthcare System - Assignment Example Government provides insurance through Medicare and Medicaid. Private or government covers the cost of healthcare depending on individual plan. Despite provision of insurance by government and private sector, significant numbers of people in the U.S. remain uninsured. Riegelman and Kirkwood (2014, pp. 217-218) point out that close to 15% of the U.S. population do not have insurance. The study further reveals that, 20 million people in the U.S. will remain uninsured. The delivery services provided by the US healthcare system are dominated by private practice with close to 33% primary care physicians and 66% specialist. The healthcare system of other advanced countries such as Canada and the UK are a bit different. The state of Canada spends close to 10% of the gross domestic product, GDP financed by 30% individual private insurance and 70% government taxes. Canadian state provides insurances for critical and basic services. They are also subsidies services for poor individuals. The similarity between the US and Canadian healthcare system is that both are dominated by private practice. However, the Canadian system has a balance primary care physicians and specialist accounting to 50% each unlike the U.S. healthcare system indicated above (Riegelman & Kirkwood, 2014, p. 218). Canada healthcare system provides a wide range of insurance; both government and private insurance are accessible to the population. The government funds necessities in healthcare and preventive measures with the assurance that all individuals have access. Additionally, private insurers are not permitted by the government to provide insurance for basic medical services. The Canadian government subsidies insurance medical services such as homecare, long-term care and drugs. Private insurers are also allowed to insure such medical services. Additionally, the state keeps the cost down by negotiating the cost of bulk purchases of medical necessitates such as

Documenting the Media revolution. Books, Version 2.0 Research Paper

Documenting the Media revolution. Books, Version 2.0 - Research Paper Example sers typically search e-books for discrete bits of information, a behaviour summed up by the formula "use rather than read."† (Staiger) History of e-books The earliest and most basic e-book format is the PDF (Portable Docment Format). It is a print-friendly format that shares a few common features with standard word-processing software. The layout is fixed and editing is not possible. It is easy to convert a Word file into PDF format by using the ‘print’ or ‘export’ commands. The next most famous format is the EPUB, which is widely compatible across many devices. Some of the hand features are ‘reflowable’ text, dynamic font size and style. Word files can be saved into EPUB formats. Likewise, programs such as â€Å"Adobe's InDesign, Apple's Pages, and OpenOffice, have EPUB as a "save-as" or "export" option.† (Brunsell and Horejsi 8) In recent years diverse array of e-book formats have risen. The major e-book formats as of today inclu de PDF, EPUB, MOBI, KF8, iBook, and others. Though some of these formats are tied into specific devices, they can be easily converted into one another using software programs like Calibre. For example, any of the above formats can be converted into the format compatible with the iPad with a conversion software. Most Android tablets have the capability to read formats used by Kindle, Nook, and Google Play Books. What’s more, these formats can also be read on computers running on conventional Windows or Mac operating systems. For instance, Adobe Digital Editions, which is free to download, allows PCs to read EPUB format. Apple’s own e-book reader iBooks â€Å"can display movies, interactive widgets, and movable 3-D objects. When the reading device is held vertically, iBooks has a traditional book appearance. Multimedia extras appear in the horizontal orientation.† (Brunsell and Horejsi 8) The two main advantages of e-books cited by library patrons were â€Å"sear chability and around-the-clock availability. The most frequently cited disadvantages were difficulty of navigation and loss of ability to perform customary research practices such as perusing and shelf-browsing because of e-books' lack of physicality.† (Abram 32) Describe the various devices, past and present, the e-books are read on The technology behind the design and creation of e-book devices is always undergoing change. Brands such as Nook and Kindle have established themselves as market leaders. Despite their impressive garnering of market share, the market is relatively nascent as the idea of e-book devices if gradually catching on. E-book devices are not competing against conventional PCs and laptops, for the e-books usually read through them are seldom read on computer screens. A prime example are novels and other fiction, which people show little inclination to read off a computer screen. Here, the e-book reading device fills an existing void in the reading preferenc es of users. Though at this point, it is difficult to predict how indispensible e-books and the devices would become, a few recent

Letters about Wars and Trade (1760) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Letters about Wars and Trade (1760) - Essay Example The team comprised of skilled men from all lifestyles. They included soldiers, farmers, and artisans with one mind to find readily exploitable land and use its inhabitants as slaves. John Smith was admitted to the colony in 1608 with the main purpose to consolidate the colony, subordinate the natives, and make the colony profitable. This was a hard task for Smith who quite the operation after he suffered a wound. Additionally, his harsh leadership did not work well to consolidate the natives but alienated even his own subordinates (Lankford 18). The task of consolidating colonies did not end after Smith quit in 1609 but continued under Captain Christopher Newport. The team managed to meet some of their targets including getting slaves for cheap labour. However, the team with slaves acted defiantly and its work productivity was much lesser compared to the settlers. The natives worked unwillingly producing very low results in the tasks delegated to them. In addition, not all settlers e ngaged in real work because others proved superior. One major hindrance to consolidation of colonies the threat other colonies posed to it. For instance, a colony could abduct a ship from a rival colony after a trade harvesting and steal form them all they had gathered. This resulted to weak colonies without the necessary material support. Ancient Trade Trade started under the leadership of Newport who took some men on an expedition in Peninsula. Newport had one goal in mind to find mineral resources and to open up trade with the natives in the land. Normally, the trade involved was barter trade that included exchange of goods for other goods. At first, it was neither possible to convince the natives to trade with them, nor find the goods that the team had targeted to collect from the inhabitants. The natives had prior knowledge of attacks from previous colonies, which made them hide their corn. Trust between traders did not exist those days that would enable flow of goods form one colony to another or form one place to another. Previous colonies that visited the inhabitants had done more harm than good, which made the inhabitants targeted to trade with withdraw and refuse to trade (Lankford 18). Poor means of transport hindered trade in this era. When Newport and his men arrived Jamestown, they were half-sick, complaining, tired with toil, and hungry. This describes the poor means of transport that made them spend thousand of hours travelling to their destinations. Additionally, the types of goods described for barter exchange include logs, corn, tar, pitch, soap ashes, cheese, far, and animals. Poor transport hindered progress in trade and encouraged colonies to war. In addition, ancient trade lacked professionalism. Nations who refused to trade with another had to be threatened or made pay in another manner to comply. For instance, after president returned from amongst the woods and discovered that the ship laid idle with no goods for trade, he opted to thr eaten the community to a revenge mission of his imprisonment. The nation complied by making peace through giving of their corn, fish, and fowl. The leaders of trade crews seemed knowledgeable and were willing to go an extra mile to ensure that their ships were loaded on their way back. However, this type of trade in these ancient times was not sustainable because it included trading of animals,

Critically discuss how ratio analysis can help in the prediction of Essay

Critically discuss how ratio analysis can help in the prediction of bankruptcy - Essay Example t on the basis of financial ratios and used for predicting company’s bankruptcy are: logistic regression, multiple discriminant analysis, and probit models (Ramana, Azash, Ramakrishnaiah, 2012). By analyzing and interpreting financial statements using different ratios and techniques shareholders, potential investors, bankers, analysts and all other potential stakeholders can gain valuable information about the financial status of a company, its borrowing power and solvency position (Yap & Yong, 2010). Financial ratio variables are used for assessing the financial information and historical trends of financial performance of a business, which in turn serve as good indicators of financial troubles ahead (Yap & Yong, 2010). However, there are also some criticisms of accounting-ratio-based models. Some researchers suggest that the accounting ratios have limited capacity for predicting bankruptcy as accounting information is usually formulated to describe the financial condition of the company, assuming that it will not go bankrupt (Hillegeist, Keating, Cram & Lundstedt, 2004). Thus, for example, Hillegeist, Keating, Cram & Lundstedt (2004) have concluded that traditional accounting-based measures (such as accounting ratio analysis) are not sufficient enough for predicting the probability of bankruptcy. Ramana N, Azash S, Ramakrishnaiah K, 2012. ‘Financial performance and predicting the risk of bankruptcy: A case of selected cement companies in India’, International Journal of Public Administration and Management Research, vol. 1(1), pp. 40-56. Yap B, and Yong D, 2010. ‘How well do financial ratios and multiple discriminant analysis predict company failures in Malaysia’, International Research Journal of Finance and Economics, 54,

Rational persuasion Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Rational persuasion - Term Paper Example The bargain wilds intensely as the teachers are seriously on the neck of the government terming them not serious about the lives of the children who are not being taught, as the government is quite reluctant about their issues (Hoch 2004 pg 64-9). Through out the bargains, the government given the tough economic times tries to use rational persuasion to try to sway the angry teachers to class. This evident since the government has directed their negotiations towards the influential minorities that is the teachers’ consultees; they are trained and given non-factual promises by the government (Hoch 2004 pg 97). The promises are non- factual given that they do not give any timelines and are not giving any statistical figures in form of percentage increase of the mentioned benefits. The limitation of this is that the method would not suppress the angry teachers are they are already aware of the conning that the government is likely to direct to them. Faced with such a situation in the future, an integration of both factual and rational would be considered to relay quite convincing information. Scenario 2 Rational persuasion for security of a country There is a terrorist group, which is seriously terrorizing the citizens’ of the country jeopardizing the role of the government of protecting its citizens. Though power is held by the state, the group is reckless and does not mind hurting any individual as they have nothing much to lose. The government on the other hand is not in the position of attacking those head on, as this may lead to the group unleashing its potential on the innocent civilians through their poisonous biological weapons. The government has therefore the option of engaging... There is a terrorist group, which is seriously terrorizing the citizens’ of the country jeopardizing the role of the government of protecting its citizens. Though power is held by the state, the group is reckless and does not mind hurting any individual as they have nothing much to lose. The government on the other hand is not in the position of attacking those head on, as this may lead to the group unleashing its potential on the innocent civilians through their poisonous biological weapons. The government has therefore the option of engaging the group in a discussion for a negotiation, which cannot be factual as the terror group, cannot be promised facts given that this would be against the sovereignty of the state.   In the persuasion efforts, the government presents on the table goodies for the terror group and promises them to be integrated in the running of the government. They are therefore, invited to select their top officials or the individuals they entrusts with t he promised positions and the intention of the government inviting them to this table is to peacefully detain the officials without the followers awareness. This is a divide and rule technique of running the government as the result is directed towards making the followers realize that soon they are likely to be detained as their leaders hence scaring their activities and the harms they are likely to create to the government. The rebels on the other hand purpose a negotiation through representatives.

Critically discuss how ratio analysis can help in the prediction of Essay

Critically discuss how ratio analysis can help in the prediction of bankruptcy - Essay Example t on the basis of financial ratios and used for predicting company’s bankruptcy are: logistic regression, multiple discriminant analysis, and probit models (Ramana, Azash, Ramakrishnaiah, 2012). By analyzing and interpreting financial statements using different ratios and techniques shareholders, potential investors, bankers, analysts and all other potential stakeholders can gain valuable information about the financial status of a company, its borrowing power and solvency position (Yap & Yong, 2010). Financial ratio variables are used for assessing the financial information and historical trends of financial performance of a business, which in turn serve as good indicators of financial troubles ahead (Yap & Yong, 2010). However, there are also some criticisms of accounting-ratio-based models. Some researchers suggest that the accounting ratios have limited capacity for predicting bankruptcy as accounting information is usually formulated to describe the financial condition of the company, assuming that it will not go bankrupt (Hillegeist, Keating, Cram & Lundstedt, 2004). Thus, for example, Hillegeist, Keating, Cram & Lundstedt (2004) have concluded that traditional accounting-based measures (such as accounting ratio analysis) are not sufficient enough for predicting the probability of bankruptcy. Ramana N, Azash S, Ramakrishnaiah K, 2012. ‘Financial performance and predicting the risk of bankruptcy: A case of selected cement companies in India’, International Journal of Public Administration and Management Research, vol. 1(1), pp. 40-56. Yap B, and Yong D, 2010. ‘How well do financial ratios and multiple discriminant analysis predict company failures in Malaysia’, International Research Journal of Finance and Economics, 54,

Hip Hop’s Problem Essay Example for Free

Hip Hop’s Problem Essay From its birth, Hip Hop is consistently argued about between black and white America, and among the young and old. Usually, it is the negative of the subject that receives the most attention from this topic. The main problem with Hip Hop is its negative aspects, Re creation, and the unrealistic goal of achieving the American Dream. Hip Hop today is more concerned with commercializing and what sells, which takes away from the culture that was established early on. With the newly evolving era of technology, the four pillars can be looked at as mp3, music video, mix tape, and commercialism. Music is the main focus that defines Hip Hop today and continues to become even bigger than before. Music is able to connect many different people on so many levels and influence fashion, cars, speech and attitude. This is an example of how Hip Hop has gone through many generations and is still going strong. As it grows among the youth, both black and white, it is definitely taking a positive role in the African American despite contrary belief. However as the growth of Hip Hop continues the negative aspects are focused on more than anything. To solve the negative aspects of Hip Hop stricter ratings need to be put on the music, bigger fines for re creation of previous songs, and have people realize that everybody can’t be a rapper. The negative aspects of Hip Hop are a more predominate feature that are more glorified in the media than the positive ones. One prime example would be the televised daily reports of gun related issues such as school shootings or elementary students that bring weapons to school. The media immediately begins to criticize the music for being the driving force behind the violence that occurs within today’s youth. If a child brings a weapon to school, there is an assumption made immediately, by the media, that he or she has heard this on a Hip Hop song. But there are many more instances where Hip Hop is said to influence acts of violence. In the Duval county public school system, there have been over 12 gun related arrests this year. In this area, this is not a new occasion, but a reoccurring event. Even though the problem starts in the households, it seems to be blamed on Hip Hop instead. Chief Officer David Coffman, who heads the school resource officers, places the blame on Hip Hop and music videos for making youngsters feel that it is cool to carry a gun. Another great example is the event which occurred between Don Imus and the women’s basketball players of Rutgers University. Although he did use his freedom of speech and press, he used sexually and racially derogatory comments to describe the women’s basketball team. For his poor choice, consequently the media did embark on the language used in the Hip Hop culture. In my English 101 class 85% of my classmates felt Hip Hop objectify women in a negative way. In Hip Hop, the image of women is not as positive as it should be. The culture of Hip Hop chooses to degrade women continuously, which does not go unnoticed by the American population and therefore is looked down upon for it; creating yet another reason for society to discriminate against this culture. One artist that displays this negative behavior towards women is Ludacris. Though he has many uplifting songs, his creation of the song â€Å"Ho† has no other purpose than to give an explanation of the negative perception of women. Despite some negative aspects of Hip Hop it is not fair to say that Hip Hop is a leading factor in increasing violence and social problems when it is so much more than that. To establish a stance on Hip Hop saying that it is only a bad thing should not be the method that is taken. These assumptions show that the culture of Hip Hop is frequently misunderstood. Such assumptions are made because of accounts that previously occurred. Hip Hop culture now is not an explanation for those parents that neglect their children or those parents that have problems with discipline towards the children. Hip Hop is not a cause of the increase of violence this but it may be a reflection of what the artist grew up seeing. Hip Hop record labels need to have stricter ratings and parents need to be more cautious about what their kids are listening to. The media causes the image of Hip Hop to be tarnished into what we see today. Since this image is embedded in our minds, the idea and culture of Hip Hop is not as encouraging as before. The experiences and their way of expressing their life are done with the use of Hip Hop. Re creation is not a concept that is popular, but has been around for many years. The act of taking an original invention or idea and mastering it in another way shows how creative a person can be. Though it is not a simple task, it is a frequent practice in Hip Hop. This exposes the ability of a young person’s mind. Nelson George comments on the topic, stating that â€Å"We love to take things that were once out of reach†¦and reinvent the technology in our own image† (George 52). This quote is saying that anything can be turned into an aspect of Hip Hop. Its original use is meant for another purpose, but that does not limit the abilities of it. One example is the use of ability to recreate music. Most people see this as plagiarism and stealing somebody else’s song. The process involves taking a part of an original song and developing a new use for it. This can be thought of as a pastiche. This has also assisted in opening the possibilities of music that could not be explored before by simple instruments. Now, the music makers of Hip Hop are able to extend the tradition of sampling music. Instead of just an instrument and some lyrics, there is a collection of sounds that have not been heard before. In today’s society, it is difficult to be your own person. Many artist see re creation as a means to survival in the Hip Hop Industry. The music industry should make it illegal for artist to use somebody else’s work and fine artist a penalty for doing so. Many artists see re creation as a necessity and will most likely keep on doing it. The culture of Hip Hop makes the idea of self definition a necessity for survival. For African Americans of all ages, it is hard to survive in this society. The development of pride and confidence in oneself is a key in self definition. To have just enough confidence may not be suitable. There is no limit to how much you should love yourself. These words are seen as bad for a person’s characteristics. To have an indulgence in self importance can destroy a person in the eyes of others. Instead, it can be a source of power. In any person’s lifetime, he or she may pursue the â€Å"American Dream†; the idea of a big house, luxury cars, and money. In the society of today, the dream is about being a young millionaire (Kitwana 46). Hip Hop continues to glorify this unrealistic fantasy. This dream is neither achieved by everyone, nor is it handed freely. It takes long hours and hard work to accomplish the dream. Many young people in the black community want to be rich like the rappers they look up to without the hard work. In Hip Hop, the dream is the motivation for any person in any aspect of the culture. Because of this, hard work is an expectation. This dream is leading to the downfall of lower class African Americans as well as Hip Hop its self. The majority of Hip Hop is focused on those living in lower class poverty level who wants to change their situation. What they hear and see is what they use to base their future on. The American Dream is not the only motivation for young Americans to increase their work ethic. Many others have no other choice but to work extra hours daily or an extra job. This is how they grow up and what they see in Hip Hop. Sometime it is not the preferred method, but it is a necessity for survival. Bakari Kitwana gives insight on this topic, saying â€Å"Everyone wants to make it big†¦many of us can’t wait until we’re 40, or even 35†¦Although such attitudes existed in previous generations, with the Hip Hop generation, it is nearly an obsession† (Kitwana 46). The youth that are growing up seem to understand that they will not be given anything. The determination to get millions of dollars is the driving force that makes them want to work. They see the benefits of having money but also experience the downfalls of not having it. Due to the experiences, they sometimes turn to illegal activity such as selling drugs. This should not be the case, but it does give the same results. You have to create cliental, gather product, and find ways to get the most profit from it. This is similar to a kid who becomes successful in the e-commerce industry. With the e-commerce business, you must find something that interest people, create a cliental, and be able to advertise. Both of those methods are different but share one thing: the development of an entrepreneur. Along with that, hard work is forced on those that are involved in activities such as drug sales or web development for example. The tactics are not easy, but they lead traits which become very valuable later on, and can take them to their millions. As a result, Hip Hop has been a big contribution to the youth of America in negative and positive ways. The main problem with Hip Hop is its negative aspects, Re creation, and the unrealistic goal of achieving the American Dream. Although there are negative aspects stand out the most, it has influenced the youth in a way that their parents are not able to. Hip Hop is able to open their minds and help them to become more creative. The idea of sampling a song and producing a new, unheard of instrumental is a very complex practice. It does take effort to do, but it is a great exercise of the brain. Hip Hop also helps to instill confidence and pride among the youth. This is a hard lesson to learn at a young age, but it is something that can be carried on through life. Finally, it helps to change the idea of kids being lazy. Now, there are more youth that are willing to work and establish themselves financially. They are able to set goals for themselves and strive for it. Hip Hop has been around for many years. During its time of existence, it has been able to change each generation that has grown through it. Among this generation, it has had the biggest and most positive impact of all. Work Cited Cobb, William. To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic. London: NYU Press, 2008. George, Nelson. Hip Hop America. Boston: Penguin (Non-Classics), 2005. Hip Hop Speaks to Children. Ebony 1 Nov. 2008: 55. Kitwana, Bakari. The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture. New York: Basic Ci

Risk-based Access Control Model for the Internet of Things

Risk-based Access Control Model for the Internet of Things Developing an adaptive Risk-based access control model for the Internet of Things Hany F. Atlam a, c Gary B. Wills a, Robert J. Walters a, Joshua Daniel c a Electronic and Computer Science Dept., University of Southampton, UK b Security Futures Practice, BT Research Innovation, Ipswich, UK c Computer Science and Engineering Dept., Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Menoufia University, Egypt Abstract The Internet of Things (IoT) is creating a revolution in the number of connected devices. Cisco reported that there were 25 billion IoT devices in 2015 and modest estimation that this number will almost double by 2020. Society has become dependent on these billions of devices, devices that are connected and communicating with each other all the time with information constantly share between users, services, and internet providers. The emergent IoT devices as a technology are creating a huge security rift between users and usability, sacrificing usability for security created a number of major issues. First, IoT devices are classified under Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) that blows any organization security boundary and make them a target for espionage or tracking. Second, the size of the data generated from IoT makes big data problems pale in comparison not to mention IoT devices need a real-time response. Third, is incorporating secure access and control for IoT devices ranging from edge nodes devices to application level (business intelligence reporting tools) is a challenge because it has to account for several hardware and application levels. Establishing a secure access control model between different IoT devices and services is a major milestone for the IoT. This is important because data leakage and unauthorized access to data have a high impact on our IoT devices. However, traditional access control mode ls with the static and rigid infrastructure cannot provide the required security for the IoT infrastructure. Therefore, this paper proposes a risk-based access control model for IoT technology that takes into account real-time data information request for IoT devices and gives dynamic feedback. The proposed model uses IoT environment features to estimate the security risk associated with each access request using user context, resource sensitivity, action severity and risk history as inputs for security risk estimation algorithm that is responsible for access decision. Then the proposed model uses smart contracts to provide adaptive features in which the user behavior is monitored to detect any abnormal actions from authorized users. Keywords Security, Internet of Things, Risk, access control, Adaptive, Context. The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing in different ways. The adoption rate of the IoT is at least five times faster than the adoption of electricity and telephony [1]. Moreover, it is becoming the backbone of the future of the Internet that encompasses various applications and devices. The IoT devices are interconnected using different communication technologies such as wireless, wired and mobile networks [2]. The concept of the IoT was first mentioned by Kevin Ashton in 1999 [3]. He has said, The Internet of Things has the potential to change the world, just as the Internet did. Maybe even more so. Later, the IoT was formally presented by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in 2005 [4]. The ITU defines the IoT as: a global infrastructure for the Information Society, enabling advanced services by interconnecting (physical and virtual) things based on, existing and evolving, interoperable information and communication technologies[5]. The IoT faces many challenges that stand as a barrier to the successful implementation of IoT applications. The security is considered the most difficult challenge that needs to be addressed. This challenge is more complicated due to the dynamic and heterogeneous nature of the IoT system [6], [7]. Authentication and access control models are the essential elements to address the security issue in the IoT. They can prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to system resources, prevent authorized users from accessing resources in an unauthorized manner and allow authorized users to access resources in an authorized manner [8], [9]. The main purpose of the access control is to reject unauthorized users and limit operations of authorized users using a certain device. In addition, it tries to prevent the activity that could cause a security breach [7]. A powerful access control model should satisfy security requirements of confidentiality, integrity, and availability [10]. Traditional access control approaches are static in nature as they depend on predefined policies that always give the same outcome regardless of the situation. They are context insensitive. Furthermore, they require a rigid authentication infrastructure [11], [12]. So they cannot provide for distributed and dynamic environment as the IoT systems [13]. Dynamic access control approaches are more appropriate to the IoT. This is because they are characterized by using not only the policies but also environment features that are estimated in real-time to determine access decisions. The dynamic features can include trust, risk, context, history and op erational need [14], [15]. This paper presents an adaptive risk-based access control model for the IoT. This model can dynamically estimate the security risk associated with each access request to make the access decision. It uses real-time user context attributes, resource sensitivity, action severity and risk history as inputs to estimate the security risk value of each access request. In addition, the user behavior is monitored to detect any abnormal misuse. This paper will start by discussing concepts of access control in the IoT in section II; Section III presents access control challenges in the IoT; Section IV introduces different access control models; Section V discusses the concept of risk-based access control model; Section VI presents the proposed model; Section VII illustrates the process flow of the proposed model; Section VIII presents the related works, and Section IX is the conclusion The IoT devices send and receive a variety of information about owners behavior. Therefore, it is important to protect not only the communication process between IoT devices but also authentication and access control of IoT devices [16]. The access control process works with many layers of the IoT reference model that is shown in figure 1. The control process flows from top to down. Therefore, the access control works with different data whether at storage, at motion, or at IoT device itself. Therefore, the access control is a big issue in the IoT that need addressing. Fig. 1. The IoT reference model [16] The main function of access control is to grant access rights only to authorized users. Also, it prevents authorized users from accessing system resources in an unauthorized manner [7]. A powerful access control model should fulfill security demands of confidentiality, integrity, and availability [10]. In the IoT, the access control is required to ensure that only authorized users can update device software, access sensor data or command the actuators to perform an operation [17]. There are three ways to implement access control in the IoT systems; centralized, centralized and contextual, and distributed [18]. In the centralized approach, the access control logic is implemented at a central entity. This entity could be a server with direct communication to IoT devices that it manages or another entity in a different location. Therefore, IoT devices send their data to the central entity that is responsible for making access control decisions [18]. In the centralized and contextual approach, IoT devices are not completely passive entities; this is because they participate in the access control decisions. The access control logic is implemented at a central entity as in centralized approach, but the contextual features from IoT devices are sent to the central entity. These features are used to make access decisions [18]. In the distributed approach, all the access control logic is embedded into IoT devices. These devices are being provided with necessary resources to process and send information to other services and devices. Therefore, IoT devices have to have the ability to perform the authorization process without the need for a central entity [18]. Due to the distributed and dynamic nature of the IoT, there are many challenges that should be addressed when implementing an access control model. These requirements include; Interoperability with multiple users: Access control policies should be designed to support multiple organizations. For instance, each organization creates its own policies and respect other collaborating organizations policies [24]. Dynamic interaction: Access control policies should be predictable and specified in a dynamic and continuous way by considering context changing during the access control process [25]. Context awareness: The context is considered one of the core features since it enables intelligent interactions between users and IoT devices. Using the context will make access decisions dynamically determined based on surrounding environment features [17]. Usability: The access control model should be easily administrated, expressed and modified. It also should provide suitable easy to use interfaces for both consumers and devices needs [26]. Limited resources: The resources associated with IoT devices such as energy, memory, and processing power are limited due to devices lightweight. Therefore, the access control model designed for the loT should support efficient solutions [17]. Scalability: The IoT connects billions of devices. The access control model should be extensible in size, structure, and number of devices [17]. Delegation of authority: In many IoT scenarios, there are many devices that are operating on behalf of a user and other scenarios where a device may operate on a third partys behalf for a specific period of time. The access control model should implement delegation of authority to provide more usability and flexibility to the IoT system [24]. Auditability: Any and every access control needs to be auditable. Hence, collection and storage of evidence necessary for context awareness. This becomes a challenge when utilizing a distributed approach [17]. To ensure confidentiality and integrity of system resources, the access control is used to guarantee that only authorized users granted the appropriate access permissions. There are several access control models which can be divided into two classes; traditional and dynamic access control models [19]. Traditional access control approaches are based on policies that are static and rigid in nature. These policies are predefined and always give the same outcome regardless of the situation. Therefore, this static approach fails to adapt to varied and changing conditions during making access decisions [20]. There are three main traditional access control models; Discretionary Access Control (DAC), Mandatory Access Control (MAC) and Role-based Access Control (RBAC). DAC model was designed for multi-user databases and systems with a few previously known users. All the system resources are under full control from the user. DAC grants access depending on the user identity and authorization, which is defined for open policies. The owner of the resource can grant the access to any user [19]. While MAC model is concerned with confidentiality and integrity of information, so it mainly used in military and government applications. In MAC, the security policy is controlled by a security policy administrator and the user does not have the capability to override it [19]. RBAC model is consists of three elements: users (subjects requesting access), roles (collection of permission) and operations (actions on target resource). Access permissions are related to roles and the appropriate role is granted to the user. A single user can be associated with one or more roles, and a single role can include one or more user. RBAC provides a classification of users bas ed on their roles [21]. Dynamic access control models are characterized by using not only the access policies but also dynamic contextual features which are estimated in real-time at the time of the request [22]. These real-time features can include trust, risk, context, history and operational need [23], [14]. In this paper, we propose a risk-based access control model that uses the security risk as the main criterion for making the access permissions. The risk can be defined as the possibility of loss or injury. Generally, the risk is about some event that may occur in the future and cause losses. One such risk is the leakage of sensitive information by users. The access control is one of the approaches used to mitigate against the security risk [27]. Risk-based access control model permits or denies access requests dynamically based on the estimated risk of each access request [20]. This model performs a risk analysis on each user access request to make the access decision [7]. Mathematically, the most common formula to represent the risk in quantitative terms is: (1) Where likelihood represents the probability of an incident to happen while impact represents the estimation of the value of the damage regarding that incident [20]. Quantified risk-based access control models are divided into two types: non-adaptive and adaptive. The fundamental distinction between adaptive and non-adaptive approaches is that the adaptive model requires a system monitoring process and the risk estimation module adaptively adjusts user permissions based on the users activities during access sessions. While non-adaptive approach only calculates the risk during each session creation and does not have run-time monitoring and abnormality detection capability [11]. Dynamic access control approaches use real-time environment features to make the access decision. One of these features is the security risk associated with the access request, which will be used in our proposed model to make the access decision. The proposed model is shown in figure 2. The proposed model has four inputs: user/agent context, resource sensitivity, action severity and risk history. These inputs/risk factors are used to estimate the security risk value associated with each access request. The final risk value is then compared with risk policies to make the access decision. To make the model adaptive, the user behavior is monitored to detect any abnormal actions from authorized users. This model can provide an appropriate security level while ensuring flexibility and scalability to the IoT system. Fig. 2. The proposed adaptive risk-based access control model As shown in figure 2, the user/agent context represents the environmental features that are embedded with the user/agent at the time of making the access request. These contexts are used to determine the security risk value associated with the user requesting the access to the system. Location and time are the most common user contexts [28]. Resource sensitivity represents how valuable the resource/data is to the owner or to the service provider. Data is assigned a level of sensitivity based on who should have access to it and how much damage would be done if it were disclosed. A risk metric is assigned to each resource in the IoT system depending on how valuable the resource data is to the owner. For instance, the higher the data sensitivity, the higher the risk metric associated with the resource. Action severity represents the consequences of a certain action on a particular resource in terms of security requirements of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Different opera tions have different impacts and so have different risk values. For instance, the risk of a view operation is lower than the risk of a delete operation. The user risk history is used to estimate the risk value of each access request. This is because the risk history reflects previous users behavior patterns. Moreover, it is used to identify good and bad authorized users and predict the user future behavior. Risk estimation module is responsible for taking the input features to quantify the risk value that is associated with the access request. The ultimate goal is to develop an efficient risk estimation process. The access decision determines whether access is granted or denied according to the risk policies. Risk policies or access control policies are mainly used by the risk estimation module to make the access decisions. These policies are created by the resource owner to identify terms and conditions of granting or denying the access. The overall risk value is examined with the risk policies to determine the access decision. The proposed model is trying to improve the flexibility of access control by monitoring the user behavior during the access session. In current access control models, if the decision is to grant access to the user, then there is no way to prevent any abnormal and unusual data access from the authorized user. So a monitoring module is needed to adaptively adjust the risk value based on the user behavior during the access session. Applying smart contracts to accomplish this process is a big challenge especially it will be the first time to use the smart contracts in this context. Smart contracts are treated as a software code that runs on a blockchain [29]. It can force a functional implementation of particular demands and can confirm that certain conditions or terms were met or not [30]. Hence, the monitored user behavior information will be compared with the smart contract to ensure that the user acts according to the terms of the smart contract so as to prevent any potential securit y breach during the access sessions. The process flow of the proposed model is shown in figure 3. The flow starts when the access control manager receives an access request from a user. After that, the access control manager asks for the system contexts (user/agent, resource, and action) of the requested user in addition to the user risk history. The risk estimation module uses these contexts with the risk history to estimate the overall access risk value related to the requested user, then the estimated risk value is compared with risk policies to determine the access decision. At this point, we have two decisions: a) If the access is granted, then the monitoring module will track the user behavior. The smart contract will use the monitored data to determine if the user follows the contract terms or not. If yes, then it will keep monitoring the user behavior, while if not, then it will return to the risk estimation module to reduce user permissions or terminate the access session to stop any security breach. b) If the access is denied, then the system asks the user to provide additional proof of identification so as not to block an authorized user and reduce the false-positive rate. If the user provides the required identification, then the access is granted and the flow continues as in the first decision, while if not, the system denies the access. Fig. 3. The process flow of the adaptive risk-based access control model This section provides a brief summary of the models that are related to the proposed model. A number of studies have been conducted the security risk for dynamic access control models. The JASON report [31] proposed three main elements for a risk-based access control model: estimating the risk value associated with each access request, identifying acceptance levels of risk in a certain domain, and controlling information sharing based on the estimated risk and access control policies. Risk Adaptable Access Control (RAdAC) model has been proposed by McGraw [32]. It is based on estimating the security risk and operational needs to grant or deny the access. This model estimates the risk associated with each access request then compares it with the access control policy. After that, the system verifies the operational needs; if the associated operational needs and the policy are met then access is granted. However, the author did not provide details about how to quantitatively estimate risk and operational needs. Also, Kandala et al. [33] have provided an approach that identifies different risk components of the RAdAC model using attribute-based access control approach. A dynamic and flexible risk-based access control model has been proposed by Diep et al. [12]. This model uses the risk assessment to estimate the risk value depending on outcomes of actions in term of availability, confidentiality, and integrity. However, this model did not provide a standard about how to evaluate the risk value for each state of the environment and for each outcome of action, did not use user context, and lacked risk adaptive features. A framework proposed by Khambhammettu et al. [34] that based on estimating object sensitivity, subject trustworthiness, and the difference between object sensitivity and subject trustworthiness using a risk assessment. However, the model did not provide how to estimate the risk value for each situation of the environment. Besides, the model requires a system administrator to give a reasonable value for each input feature in the early state of the risk assessment process and lacked risk adaptive features. A fuzzy Multi-Level Security (MLS) access control model has been proposed to manage risk information flows based on estimating its operational needs, risk possibility and environment features [20]. It estimates the risk based on the difference between subject security level and object security level. Similarly, Ni, Bertino, Lobo [35] have proposed a risk-based access control model that based on fuzzy inferences. It showed that fuzzy inference is a good approach for estimating access security risks. However, both models ignored the past behavior of users in the risk estimation process, lacked risk adaptive features and time overhead of fuzzy inference system is high. A fuzzy-based risk access control model has been proposed by J. Li, Bai, Zaman [27] to estimate the risk of healthcare information access. A risk metric is associated with data sensitivity, action severity, and risk history as a fuzzy value to determine the appropriate control of healthcare information access in a cloud computing. However, this model did not provide how to quantitatively estimate the risk. Also, no clear risk boundaries are defined and lacked risk adaptive features. A dynamic risk-based decision method has been proposed by Shaikh et al. [14]. This method is based on using the past behavior to identify good and bad authorized users. It depends on granting reward and penalty points to users after the completion of transactions. However, the past user behavior (reward/penalty) values are not enough to decide the access decision. Besides, no risk prediction technique is used and lacked risk adaptive features. A risk analysis approach has been proposed by Rajbhandari Snekkenes [36] to provide access decisions dynamically. This approach is based on preferences or values of benefit which subjects can provide rather than subjective probability using the game theory. A simple privacy scenario between a user and an online bookstore is introduced to provide an initial perception of the concept. However, using only benefits of the subject to determine the access decision is not enough to develop a flexible and scalable access control model. Also, it lacked risk adaptive features. A task-based access control model has been proposed by Sharma et al. [37] to estimate the risk value using functions that based on the action a user wants to perform. The risk value is computed in terms of different actions and corresponding outcomes. The outcomes and the risk probability are determined along with the level of data sensitivity. The previous users behavior patterns are then used to estimate the overall risk value. The estimated risk value is compared with the risk threshold to determine the access decision. However, it lacked risk adaptive features. A contextual risk-based access control model has been proposed by Lee et al. [13]. The model gathers all useful information from the environment and evaluates them from the security perspective. Risk assessment with multifactor evaluation process (MFEP) technique is applied to estimate the associated risk value. The risk value is based on outcomes of actions in term of availability, confidentiality, and integrity. This model is evaluated to manage the access control in a hospital. However, this model ignored the past user behavior and risk adaptive features as well. A risk-based access control model has been proposed by Dos Santos et al. [7]. This model employed the notion of quantifying risk metrics and aggregating them. It is based on the idea of risk policies, which allow service providers and resource owners to define their own metrics, allowing greater flexibility to the access control system. However, this model requires a system administrator to ensure the minimum security is achieved. Table 1 provides a summary of the related risk-based access control models. It contains the risk estimation technique used to estimate the risk value in each model, risk factors used to estimate the risk value and the limitations of each model regarding our proposed model. In summary, one can say that the problem of the access control, especially in the IoT, needs more investigation. Current access control models concentrate only on providing access decisions without providing any way to prevent any abnormal and unusual data access from authorized users, whereas our approach is based on providing the access decision and monitoring the user behavior to detect any abnormal actions. The novelty of our approach is based on providing the adaptive features and requesting user context attributes to the risk-based access control in the IoT system. To the best of my knowledge, using smart contracts to monitor the user access behavior will be the first try. Table 1. Some of the risk-based access control models Previous work Risk Estimation method Risk factors Limitations [20] Fuzzy MLS Model Difference between subject security level and object security level The user past behavior has not been used to detect user future behavior and lacked adaptive features. [27] Fuzzy Model Data sensitivity, action severity, and user risk history No clear risk boundaries are defined and lacked adaptive features. [35] Fuzzy Inference Object security level and subject security level Time overhead of fuzzy inference is high and lacked adaptive features. [34] Risk Assessment Object sensitivity, subject trust and difference between them User risk history has not been used and lacked adaptive features. [14] Risk Assessment History of reward and penalty points Limited risk factors, no risk prediction technique is used and lacked adaptive features. [36] Game Theory Access benefits of the subject Limited risk factors and lacked adaptive features. [37] Mathematics Functions Data Sensitivity, action severity, and risk history No risk prediction technique has not been used, lacked adaptive features and user context. [13] Risk Assessment Outcomes of actions Limited risk factors, lacked adaptive features and user context. [12] Risk Assessment Outcomes of actions Limited risk factors, no risk prediction technique has been used, lacked adaptive features and user context. [7] Mathematics Functions Risk policies Limited risk factors and lacked adaptive features. The IoT has become a widely examined subject that takes the attention of many researchers, specialists, and experts. Due to the dynamic nature of the IoT, traditional access control approaches cannot provide required security levels as they are based on a static and complex authentication infrastructure. Therefore, the scope of this paper is to develop a dynamic and adaptive risk-based access control model for the IoT. This model can adapt to IoT changing conditions. The proposed model can be realized by estimating the security risk using IoT real-time features at the time of the access request to make the access decision. The model uses user context, resource sensitivity, action severity and risk history as inputs to estimate the overall risk value associated with each access request. The model provides adaptive features to monitor user behavior and prevents any misuses from authorized users using smart contracts. The above work is still in the first stage. In future work, choosing the most appropriate risk estimation technique for a specific IoT context is our highest priority to proceed to implement the model as well as creating different IoT access control case studies with data to evaluate the model. Acknowledgment We acknowledge Egyptian cultural affairs and mission sector and Menoufia University for their scholarship to Hany Atlam that allows the research to be undertaken. References [1]S. Li, L. Da Xu, and S. Zhao, The internet of things: a survey, Inf. Syst. Front., vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 243-259, 2015. [2]M. Elkhodr, S. Shahrestani, and H. Cheung, The Internet of Things: Vision challenges, IEEE 2013 Tencon Spring, TENCONSpring 2013 Conf. Proc., pp. 218-222, 2013. [3]K. Ashton, That Internet of Things Thing, RFID J., p. 4986, 2