Research Technique Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Research Technique Study - Essay Example This research options must be clarified in the early stage of the research planning. In this period of globalization, innovations has introduced the Internet that have generated new methods in conducting surveys, these surveys are done through electronic mail or e-mail and the World Wide Web. In e-mail surveys, the content of the survey is in the original message of the e-mail, in this case the respondents can complete the survey just by answering the original e-mail (Bradley, 1999). While Web surveys, are powered by host websites, in this case the respondents can just click on the website then complete the survey. Internet surveys are presently in trend mainly because of four accepted statements about how they pile up against more-conventional survey methods (Coomber, 1997): (1) the responses are quick; (2) they are equally even better than conventional surveys (3) they are much economical to perform; and (4) they are easier to implement. On the other hand, these statement may be true or not, depending on the individual conditions of the survey. In the most common sense, conducting market survey research using the Internet engages performance one or more events and examining the outcomes. Researchers perform testing for a broad range of basis, series from pre-testing a research design to challenging to process a measuring instrument. A widespread application engages examining fundamental hypotheses. Once suitable, a prescribed testing gives the most reliable proof of causation possible (Deacon ET. Al.:1999). To perform one, researchers must employ two things. First, researchers must influence at least one independent variable. One does not just watch and calculate an independent variable as it obviously takes place. As an alternative, it is restricted and diverse as part of the design of the study. Second, opportunity practices must decide whether or to what extent a person investigational contributor is depicted to the independent variable. This is also

Consumer law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Consumer law - Essay Example One of the problems, which will be analyzed using General Product Safety Regulations (GPSR) 2005 for guaranteed safety of a product bought will do with Kingsley purchasing a luxury coffee machine for Miriam’s mother from Home Appliances Limited (HAL). There is also the case of Kingsley, engaging the services of Ben to provide a specified kind of wallpaper for his room, which had been advertised on television. Under the Sale of Goods Act, 1979, a buyer is entitled and has the right to receiving exactly what he or she prefers from a seller2 but it turns out that this is not what happened to Kingsley. In the last case, which talks about Consumer Protection Act, Kingsley had gone to purchase a dog, which was advertised to be a pedigree dog. The dog was also said to be a very friendly dog that would make a wonder companion of the family as a family pet. However, two months after buying the dog, it turns out that the dog is not a pedigree but a crossbreed; turning out to be a very d angerous dog. LUXURY COFFEE MACHINE As part of consumer law and practice and by statutes in the General Product Safety Regulations, 2005, consumers are given maximum protection from defective products, such that the mere fact that a consumer shows that a product was faulty and thus caused damage should be enough to guarantee a substantiated claim3. Before, consumers had to prove negligence by the manufacturers of the products before their claims could be substantiated4. In relation to the case of the purchased made by Kingsley, it would be noted that the safety of the product purchase was not fully guaranteed because it caused both damage and harm. The product became damaged in the course of its usage, whiles the user of the product suffered physical harm. Clearly, the level of damage caused is only possible in electrical appliances that have faults because of the level of hotness that was recorded5. In Abouzaid v. Mothercare (UK) Ltd., 2001, claimant’s mother purchased a Cos ytoes sleeping bag, which was designed to be attached to a child’s pushchair with elastic straps but whiles fixing the product with his mother, one of the elastic straps slipped and lashed back, causing permanent eye damage to the user. Though the claim of damages in negligence was overruled by the court, it was held that Mothercare Ltd was still liable under the Consumer Protection Act strict liability provision because defect in the product is always a major consideration over the level of care exercised by the consumer and in the case of defect in the product, exercise of care may not necessarily protect the manufacturer from ensuring that there are no defects with their products6. Based on the case law available and the binding legislation, a number of considerations will be made when giving advice for the case of Kingsley and Miriam. In the first place, the fact that the product purchased is electrical equipment means that the case comes under the range of goods covered by safety regulations. Secondly, safety regulations are binding on both new and second hand products and so the product is also covered in this case. Specifically, the fact that the luxury coffee machine caused damage and harm by becoming excessively hot means that the product was not well insulated7. Meanwhile, under both the General Product Safety Regulations (2005) and Consumer Protection Act, 1987, it is required that electrical equipm

Choicepoint and Sony, an Ethical Analysis Essay Example for Free

Choicepoint and Sony, an Ethical Analysis Essay Ethics refers to what comes off as right or wrong to an individual’s conscience .The internet age has brought about new ethical issues, not only for an individual but for the society as well as it has eased anonymous manipulation and distribution of information, creating new and easier paths for committing crimes like piracy, identity theft, infringement of an individual’s privacy etc. In this paper we will be analyzing the Choice-point case and the ‘Sony data breach ‘case from an ethical point of view. (Laudon Laudon, 2010, p.128) Background: The ChoicePoint Data breach: On September 27 of 2004, ChoicePoint,a company that aggregates and stores personal information, suspected that some of its small business customers were involved in suspicious activities and informed the police. (Paine, Phillips, 2008)On February of 2005, ChoicePoint only notified those residents of California whose data had been leaked to the illegal customers, since a certain law in California requires it. A protest from the public, however, forced the company to notify the details of the breach to the other involved parties residing in the other states. The swindlers who scammed ChoicePoint had created over 50 accounts with previously stolen identities over the course of a year or even longer. (Pantesco, 2006) Look more:  the issues concerning identity theft essay Changes in business practices (Otto, Anton Baumer, 2007): ChoicePoint made numerous changes after the 2004-2005 data breach. The company closed the 50 fake accounts and made a policy to refuse any faxed business licenses in the future .The Company formed a new policy, that all nongovernmental organizations need to be re-credentialed in order to do business with it, and increased its procedures in verifying the identity of the company. More stringent and better business policies in ensuring the safety of their customer’s data, for e.g. partial masking of social security numbers were employed. The company continued its investigations of its databases for further indications of foul play and brought in outsiders to assess and rectify their practices. The Sony Data Breach: The Sony data breach was a result of an intrusion from an outsider party, causing an outage in the PlayStation Network and Qriocity’s services between 17th April 2011 and 19th April, 2011.A confirmation from Sony revealed that pieces of personal information had been stolen from each and every 77 million accounts. This breach resulted in Sony shutting off the PlayStation Network for 23 days. (Hirai, 2011) Sony stated that the chairman of the company had submitted explanations wanted by United States House subcommittee regarding the attack and that they were taking some measures to prevent further breaches. When questioned about the delay in making the breach public, Sony explained that they’d sought help from outside officials to conduct an investigation in order to comprehend the nature and magnitude of the incident; and hence forensic analysis and investigation had caused the delay since they wanted to have all the necessary details before making the breach public. On May 14, 2011, Sony released a security patch called PlayStation 3 firmware version 3.61 requiring users to change their password upon signing into their account in the PlayStation Network. (Seybold, 2011) Compensation: In compensation for this outage, Sony announced hosting of special events for their users. Sony wanted to appreciate the loyalty of the customers who stuck to using Play Station network and didn’t look for other alternatives. Hence Sony announced an extension of free 30 days of its various services for its existing users. Also, few of their games in the PlayStation network were made free, though these games are available only in some regions or countries. In addition to that Sony also offered one year’s worth of â€Å"free identity theft protection’ to all of its customers. (Wesley, 2011) Ethical Analysis According to Culnan and Williams (2009, p.679),the two aspects of morality that are principal to the relationship between information aggregators and information providers are vulnerability and avoiding harm. Aspect of Vulnerability Analysis: Since the customer gives away his data in exchange for something in return, he loses control on how that information would be used in the future.(Culnan Williams, 2009, p. 681) The firm that is aggregating the data has the duty to exercise caution in protecting the consumer’s vulnerability, not only for the sake of the customer but also to build its own reputation. However, in the cases of both ChoicePoint and Sony breach, the consumers were vulnerable. Individuals whose data ChoicePoint and Sony stored lacked knowledge about the risks posed by Choice Point’s credentialing procedures or the way personal information was stored by Sony. Aspect of â€Å"Do No Harm† Analysis: Most ethicists are of the opinion that data aggregators have the minimum duty of doing no harm whenever there is an issue concerning information privacy rights (DeGeorge 2006; Goodpaster 1987; Marcoux 2003; Valesquez 2003 as cited in Culnan Williams, 2009), even more so when their treatment of the consumer’s sensitive personal information makes the consumers unnecessarily vulnerable. (Culnan Williams, 2009, p. 682) In both the cases of ChoicePoint and Sony Data breach however, the ‘DO NO Harm’ principle was violated and moral responsibility was clearly absent in the behavior of the officials of these firms. (Culnan Williams, 2009, p. 682)ChoicePoint’s questionable intentions in delaying the notification of the breach to the public and the fact that ChoicePoint only bothered to search records that were leaked within 15 months to the date of the search ,until pressurized, were criticized heavily.( Evers, 2005)Further investigations revealed that ChoicePoint had been subjected to a similar scam in 2002.( Paine, Phillips, 2008) The fact that ChoicePoint could be duped so easily within two years proved that ChoicePoint hadn’t done anything to improve its practices since the last breach. Similarly, Sony also had a delay in notifying the users of PlayStation network about the breach. The public disputed Sony’s reason for its delay by speculating that, if Sony judged the situation to be so grave that it felt the need to shut down its PlayStation network, then they should have warned the public without any delay as well. Moreover, Sony failed to give any concrete reports regarding the breach and merely stated that they cannot rule out the possibility of a ‘username or password ‘leak. One more thing to be noted is that the fiends could have possibly gotten information like email addresses and first names of the customers who had consented to receiving information about new deals or products from Sony or its partners.Now, there is a pretty good chance that the fiends might send emails in the format of a Sony webpage template and extract valuable information from those customers. Hence this breach indirectly paved the way for more unintentional breaches in the future. (Eddy, 2011) According to, (Laudon Laudon, 2010,p.135),the basic Concepts of ethics are as follows: Responsibility: where the individual or the organization should accept the duties, costs and obligations for the decisions that it made. Accountability: where the organization should be aware of what decision is taken by whom. If it is impossible to find out who was responsible for what action then that organization is basically incapable of ethical analysis. Liability: this basically extends the concept of responsibility to legal actions where the affected individuals should be able to get compensation for their damages. Analysis : In my opinion, both ChoicePoint and Sony showed half-hearted ethics on these incidents as a whole. While Choicepoint did inform officials about the breach as soon as it found out, yet it only felt necessary to inform the public because of the California law. The people in the other states were notified because of public outcry. Also limiting the search results for leaked records to only 15 months prior to the date of the search just because it was necessary by the law was another mistake on ChoicePoint’s part. Thus ChoicePoint violated the ethical concepts of responsibility and accountability yet they seemed to have understood their mistake when they were making changes in their policies and practices after the 2004-2005 breach, and were willing to take corrective actions. But it is debatable whether ChoicePoint’s corrective measures were taken to save its own business or whether it genuinely cared for the affected individuals. Similarly, though Sony did do necessary investigations, it failed to concretely identify which parties had been affected or what kind of information have been stolen. Similar to ChoicePoint, there was a delay in notifying the public regarding the breach. Hence, there is a dearth of responsibility and accountability from Sony’s side as well .The compensations given can similarly be argued to be a ploy for keeping itself in the market. While, ChoicePoint and Sony offered free credit monitoring and free identity theft protection respectively for one year, they disregarded the possibility that the thieves might lie low and take advantage of the stolen information after the passage of a year. Hence these companies showed half-heartedness in being ethically liable as well.

Social Service Intervention Of Family Life

Social Service Intervention Of Family Life Social services play a vital role in the prevention of cruelty to children, and their actions have been controversial in the past and will continue to be in the future. They have an immense amount of power in their hands and are able to tear apart a loving family as well as save an endangered childs life. The aim of this study is to analyse the extent to which social services should exercise their power in order to fulfill the duties they owe to society. In order to explore this subject, it will be necessary to critically analyse the pre existing legislation that has governed this area, and study how the law has evolved over the last century. It is an area of law that has and will continue to develop. There are also major problems within the social services organisation itself, such as underfunding and significant staff shortages, and it will be necessary to analyse and critique its current effectiveness through the use of a number of reports. Whilst the lack of resources is undoubtedly affecting the effectiveness of the social worker, recent reports in the media have suggested that there is a vast amount of bullying and degrading treatment within the organization itself. A case highlighted is that of Substantial changes have been necessary in the law surrounding child abuse over the past century as high profile and prolific cases of neglect have been brought to the attention of the public by use of the media. This is a necessary area of study due to the fact that cases are continuing to come to light. The recent case of Khyra Ishaq Chapter One: Background to the Children Act 1989: A common theme that seems to occur throughout history is that it takes a major event to shock the nation in order for dramatic change to occur within the law, rather than the law changing in order to prevent such occurrences in the first place. During the 1980s, professionals were becoming increasingly aware of the existence of child abuse in society as a result of cases such as those of Jasmine Beckford and Tyra Henley. Jasmine Beckford had previously been placed in the care of Brent Social Services for a period of two years prior to her death. However, she had only been seen by a social worker once during a period of ten months, and was left in the hands of her stepfather who battered and starved her, consequently resulting in her death at the age of four years old. Supervision orders for children at risk were first introduced in The Children and Young Persons Act 1932. Previously, there was precious little legislation available to protect children in need. This was a substantial addition to the law and granted protection to children who were experiencing abuse The Children and Young Persons Act 1933 was the first attempt in statute in order to curtail the effects of child abuse and make it clear the obligations and duties of a carer. Part 1 of the Act details the role of the parent that a child is deemed to be neglected in a matter likely to cause injury to his health if he has failed to provide food, clothing, medical aid or lodging for him, or if, having been unable to otherwise provide has failed to take steps to procure it to be provided under the enactments applicable in that relief. In addition to this, the statute also states that it is the responsibility of the court to ensure the welfare of an abused child by taking proper steps for removing him from undesirable surroundings, and for securing that proper provision is made for his education and training. According to Lord Diplock, under the 1933 Act, the parent must neglect the child intending, or at least foreseeing, that the probable consequence of neglect is that the child will suffer injury to his health. This statement causes confusion in cases that involve neglect, however. It is clear that the 1933 Act places great importance over how the offence was committed and whether it was wilful and deliberate. One of the failings of the act is that it gives full discretion to the courts in protecting abused children and gives them no direction whatsoever in making such a life impacting judgement. More investigation into the circumstances and needs of those at risk was needed in order to find a suitable home for such children, and the courts did not have the knowledge or abilities to re-house them. The case of Dennis ONeill highlighted the failings of the 1933 Act and brought further radical change to the law surrounding child abuse. Dennis, together with his younger brothers were taken into the care of their local authority on the grounds that they needed attention. He died after being taken into foster care and was found by a pathologist to be undernourished and physically abused. Dennis ONeill was subjected to horrific attacks at the hands of his foster parents and these attacks took place on a regular basis. This case shocked the public and political figures, who were particularly alarmed to find out that the foster father, Mr Gough, had been known to the police and had a conviction for violence. It was therefore deemed necessary for a public enquiry to be held in order to determine the exact failings made by the authorities involved, and it blamed the two local councils that dealt with the case. It was evident that the provisions of the 1933 Act were vastly inadequate in their role of protection and that major change to this area was needed. With this in mind, the Children Act 1948 established a Childrens Committee in each local authority to carry out the functions detailed in The Children and Young Persons Act 1933. A Childrens officer also had to be appointed who had relevant experience and be assisted by an adequate number of staff. In effect, this Act established social services as it divulged responsibility away from the courts and placed it with the local authority. The Childrens Committee was supposedly staffed by those who had experience with children and would be able to cater to their needs and find them new homes where they would be loved and cared for effectively. However, events over the past 40 years have shown that the there is a great level of difficulty in providing effective protection for children at risk. Following Jasmine Beckford were further shocking cases of child abuse that displayed obvious neglect by social services, and this led to a difficult period for workers in this profession, who were unsure as to which approach to take upon dealing with children at risk. A balance was clearly needed, and enough information had to be acquired quickly in order to determine whether to remove a child from their home, which could have devastating consequences upon family life if the risks of abuse were unsubstantiated. the threat of child abuse appeared to be on the increasing. The John Patten Guidelines were released in order to provide professionals with advice during a period of unrest with regards to child neglect. The Cleveland scandal of 1987 shocked the nation to the core, and led to further changes and major additions to the law in the form of the Children Act 1989. This case differed in that it was an example of the state causing the abuse to the infants rather than their parents or guardians. A total of 121 children were diagnosed as being sexually abused by Dr Marietta Higgs and her assistant Dr Geoffrey Wyatt. Together, they used a controversial and unproven test known as RAD reflex anal dilation. Children had to undergo an invading and degrading test on their buttocks, and the memories of which have scarred some for life. A girl who was taken into care after being diagnosed with RAD continued to have nightmares about her ordeal twenty years after the event, and claims that the two doctors ruined her childhood. The children diagnosed under Dr Higgs regime were removed from loving families and placed into care, whilst in some cases the parents were sent to prison. This had devastating results, and destroyed happy families. Even once the parents had been cleared by the courts of any wrong doing, many felt reluctant to show their children affection once they had been returned. The Children Act 1989 originates from two reports. In 1984, the Parliamentary Select Committee on the social services recommended that the government should enable a review of child law to take place. This led to the formation of a government committee known as the Child Care Law Review who produced a report titled Review of Child Care Law. During the same period of time, the Department for Health and Social Security carried out a review of the law relating to child care and made a number of recommendations relating to child care, foster homes and child minding. Most of these recommendations were accepted in to a government white paper regarding child care and these proposals were brought before Parliament as part of the Children Bill. Second Chapter Provisions of the Children Act 1989 and the legislation in practice The Children Act 1989 brought major change to the law regarding child abuse, and introduced a number of new principles to the legal system. Its main priority was protecting the welfare of the child, which was granted paramount importance in any dispute over care or parentage of an infant. The 1989 Act stated that it was the responsibility of the local authority to safeguard and promote the welfare of any child that was in need within the area, and must provide a range and level of services appropriate to those childrens need. Therefore, social services must be sufficiently staffed and have a reasonable amount of funding in order to fulfil its role. Whilst considering a childs welfare, their feelings and wishes must be taken into consideration together with any effect removal will have upon the family including the parents. The Act gave further guidance to local authorities once they had taken the child into care, and their duties and responsibilities in ensuring the welfare of the child is maintained. The local authority has a responsibility to house any child taken into care in a healthy environment, and ensure that the wishes of the child are taken into account when making such decisions. It was therefore not always best to remove the child from their home if suppor t could be provided in the form of monetary relief in order to sustain the childs welfare. In order to keep a child with its family, it was made clear that those in need of protection together with their families should be offered support under part three of the Children Act. Only when voluntary methods of helping are unable to protect those at risk should the powers under parts four and five be used. According to June Thoburn and Ann Lewis in Partnership with parents of children in need of protection, these powers should only be used when actual or suspected significant harm or likely significant harm is at risk. A positive element of the 1989 Act is the establishment of the Family Assistance Order, which granted support to families experiencing a difficult change such as divorce and separations in order for the child in question to remain with its family. However, this order is only to be used in exceptional circumstances and consent must be obtained from each person involved with the order. An order of this kind would provide an example of the state providing a positive intervention into family life. Unfortunately, as it can only be used in exceptional circumstances, a Family Assistance Order is granted rarely despite the benefits it could potentially afford a family in need. In addition to the Children and Young Persons Act 1933, the 1989 Act gave further definition as to what a child in need is. It states that a child should be taken into care if he is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or have the opportunity to achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision of him of services by a local authority. Furthermore, a child whose health could be impaired without the intervention of social services should be taken into care. This also extends to disabled children. If social services believe that a child is in danger of significant harm, they are entitled under a new provision of the 1989 Act to seek a child assessment order( CAO). The courts must be satisfied that the applicant has reasonable cause to suspect the child is at risk, that the assessment will be able to determine to what extent that risk applies, and that the applicant will not be able to carry out such assessment without an order being made If the risk of harm is deemed to be an immediate danger to the child, an emergency protection order (EPO) can be applied for. Unlike the CAO which is a non-urgent remedy, the EPO is an order which enables a child to be restrained in or removed to a place in order to protect their welfare. The court is only likely to make such an order if they are satisfied that there is reasonable cause to believe that the child is likely to sustain significant harm if not removed to accommodation by the local authority or does not remain in the place they are currently being accommodated in. Whereas a CAO order needs the belief of the applicant, an EPO requires the court to be satisfied that the child is in danger, and they will therefore sufficient evidence will need to be provided to convince the courts of this and that urgent action is needed. Whilst the above orders may seem to contradict the principle that a child is best cared for at home, the orders must be carried out with this element in mind. Therefore, a child should not be removed from parental care longer then is strictly necessary and can be returned home even if the EPO is still in force. As well as the above orders, the court can also make care and supervision orders in order to ensure protection of a child in need. These may only be made if the court is satisfied that the child concerned is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm and that the harm or likelihood of harm is attributable to the care given to the child, or likely to be given to him if the order were not made. However, as the courts are under a duty to promote the upbringing of a child with its family, local authorities are under duty to fully explore alternative methods before applying for an order to be made under this Act. Furthermore, the welfare checklist must also be adhered to for an order to be made. Whilst the wishes and feelings of a child may have some influence, they will not override any of the other provisions of the welfare checklist, and the courts will need to assess whether the child is of the maturity to make any judgment at all. The 1989 Act makes apparent the courts intention that a child is best cared for at home with their families. However, whether this is the most suitable option is certainly a major issue in society, and is very much dependent upon the circumstances surrounding each individual case. It is arguable that the Act should not place emphasis on this belief as professionals who follow this rule and take the childs wishes into account could come to a conclusion that is not in the best interests of the child. It places social workers in the mindset that taking a child into care is not in the best interests of the child, and this could perhaps provide an explanation as to why further horrific cases have occurred following the Cleveland scandal. Residential family centres were also created by the 1989 Act which allowed social workers to assess the relationship between the family outside of the marital home. The parents stay at the centre for a period of time with the children and are assessed by social services as to how capable they are in their role. Parents are also given the help and guidance they need in order to look after them. The Children Act 1989 acknowledges that the relationship between the local authorities is of great importance when dealing with a child in need, and they must act in partnership. The Act places a duty on the relevant children agencies to provide information and assistance to the local authorities and also places them under duty to assist with the care plan formulated in respect of children. Following the Cleveland inquiry, it was apparent that the relationship between the relevant authorities was lacking, and the 1989 Act appears to acknowledge and remedy this situation by placing them under duty to act in order to safeguard children. In order for a child to remain with their family during a difficult period, a service was established under the 1989 Act that was provided to the child in order to meet their needs in all aspects. Parents need to receive help in bringing up their children if they experience difficulties rather than taking them straight into care. This is a useful addition for professionals, as it gives them the opportunity to assess the family in a different environment and also provide help and guidance to a family in need. There are arguments to suggest that the removal of a child from their home can be mitigated by providing frequent access, and that there must be a presumption that a parent will be able to see their child unless they have acted in such a way that makes contact heavily detrimental for them. However, this could potentially cause distress and upset to a child who has experienced abuse, and may also distort their true wishes and feelings. Access was denied to the parents and carers in the Cleveland scandal. Further developments arrived in favour of keeping the child with its family from the European Courts of Human Rights and the Human Rights Act, In particular, article 8 the right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence. Article 8 offers protection for a persons family life from arbitrary interference by the state. This right was framed extremely broadly. However, this is a qualified right which means that there can be an interference with a persons family life providing it is lawful, serves a legitimate purpose, is necessary in a democratic society and is not deemed to be discriminatory. Whilst Article 8 may appear to be restrictive upon social workers, one could argue that they must be able to justify their actions before intervening in a family environment, and certain aspects of privacy must be upheld. A recent case highlighted this aspect, as social workers placed a CCTV monitoring system in the bedroom of a couple with learning difficulties in order to determine whether they were fit parents. This forced the couple to cite the Human Rights Act in order for the surveillance to be removed. Chapter Three: Failings of the Act Victoria Climbie and Baby P, The Children Act 1989 was not a cure for child abuse, and cases continued to come to light for many years after the implementation of the Act. Arguments exist to suggest that the aim of the 1989 Act for children to remain in their families is incorrect when dealing with those that are severely abused. There is much emphasis on professionals to work with the family and improve the level of care they offer in parenting. This places social workers under pressure to work therapeutic miracles with the family, and failure to do so makes their job harder to carry out. Social workers were expected to work in partnership with families who were often uncooperative and unwilling to allow them access into their family, and the law itself placed the families under no obligation to be honest and work with them. Society did not make them feel empowered to act on their powers and make calls for action. Furthermore, it was far more difficult for social workers to obtain a care order then it was prior to the 1989 Act being implemented. Social workers needed a higher level of evidence in order to satisfy a court that a care order was appropriate, and they had to return to the courts for scrutiny in order to make any decision. As a result of this, social workers were more likely to carry out a lengthy assessment of a child at risk rather than immediately remove them from their home. It took a great deal of time to carry out the necessary assessments and apply to the courts, the child at risk was often in a more abused state by the time they had reached care and this was obviously not in the childs best interests. To some extent, this goes against the welfare principles as stated in the 1989 Act, and is somewhat contradictory. There is also a great amount of expense involved when applying to the court, and as a result of this, social workers were under pressure to carry out their assess ments extensively and leaving the child in a potentially harmful environment for a longer period of time. The Children Act 1989 to some extent gave social workers an excuse when failing to act in a case of child abuse. It could be argued that this was the case with Rikki Neave, whose drug addicted mother had repeatedly called social services for help, and had even asked them to take her son away into care. She had abused her son by burning him, throwing him across the room, and had even told a social worker that she would kill her children if they were not taken from her. Social services failed to remove the child from his mothers care and he was found dead. Theoretically, social services could argue in their defense that they complied with the 1989 Act with regards to keeping the child with its family, and that they needed to compile an assessment in order to be granted a care order by the courts. In 1991, there were a total of 60,000 children in care. This figure had fallen dramatically to 40,000 by 1995. This decline in figures shows the effects that the Children Act 1989 had on the number of children in care, and could perhaps be viewed as a positive result of the Acts implementation. However, it could also be argued that the number of children being abused had not reduced so significantly, and therefore there were simply more children living at risk. The provisions of the Children Act 1989 were not enough to prevent the failure of professionals to safeguard Victoria Climbie, and this case of horrifying abuse was brought to public knowledge after her death in 2000. It is clear from this case that despite the legislation in place to deal with child abuse, it was the authorities themselves who acted negligently and failed to act on their duties as detailed in the 1989 Act. Haringey social services were made aware of Climbie after her first admittance to hospital. The doctors warned social services of her injuries as a precautionary measure, but the social workers assigned to the case failed to take adequate measures to investigate how the injuries had occurred. An inexperienced social worker had been assigned to Climbie, and despite her making two visits to the family home, she failed to realise that her carers were putting on an act and the child was in grave danger. Social services were yet again alerted to Climbie after her aunt reported her partner for sexually abusing the infant. However, she later dropped the allegations. Social workers had a meeting and decided to make further contact with the family, but failed to take the adequate steps needed in order to do so. After making three visits, a social worker reported that the family had most likely returned to France, and the case was closed on the same day that Climbie died. There were a number of organizations that were involved with Victoria Climbie prior to her death. Climbie was known to local authorities, including Haringey, Ealing, Brent and Enfield. She was also known to three housing departments and two hospitals, two Metropolitan police child protection teams and a centre run by the NSPCC. It could only be concluded that there was a complete lack of communication between the agencies, despite the Children Act 1989 placing emphasis on the importance of agencies working together and sharing information In total, social services missed twelve chances to save Victoria Climbie. The Victoria Climbie Inquiry found that there was a total absence of good professional practice. The interventions that should have occurred would not have required any exceptional skill and neither would it have placed heavy demands upon the staff involved. It is therefore evident that the failures of the services to act in this case represented serious professional misconduct. As will be detailed in chapter four, further legislation arose from the Victoria Climbie inquiry, with Lord Lamings report making a total of 108 recommendations for fundamental change to the way social care, healthcare and police child protection services are organised and managed at a national and local scale. The report led to the foundation of the Every Child Matters programme together with the Children Act 2004. Haringey council found themselves in trouble once again when the baby Peter case occurred in 2007. Baby P sustained over 50 injuries during an eight month period and had been on Haringey councils child protection register throughout this time. His family had been seen a total of 60 times by agencies including social workers from the council. Baby P was first removed from his mothers care after he was taken into hospital with severe bruising, and the paediatrician judged that the injuries were not likely to have been accidental. She wrote in his notes that he should not be allowed home, and a police protection order should be sought if necessary. He was discharged and placed informally in the care of a family friend whilst social workers and police investigated the cause of his injuries. This resulted in Baby Ps mother being arrested and the toddler was put on the child protection register. He returned back to the care of his mother a month later and she promised to cooperate with social workers and ensure she cared for her baby in order for his named to be removed from the register. However, she continued to neglect her son and her partner abused the baby. Baby P was taken into care in April 2007 but was released back to his mother once he had the all clear from the hospital. His mother continued to deceive professionals into allowing her to keep the baby and tried to conceal further injuries by smearing chocolate over his face. Senior police officials decided that Baby P should not be allowed to live with his family, and sought legal advice to see whether he could be taken into care, but staggeringly, Haringey councils lawyers decided that there was not enough evidence to meet the relevant thresholds. Here is proof that the emphasis on keeping a child with its family as established under the 1989 Act leads to difficulties in removing a severely abused child from their home when it is necessary. Chapter Four: Further legislation as a result of these cases It became evident following the case of Victoria Climbie that further radical change was needed to protect the lives of endangered children and that the Children Act 1989 was not sufficient legal governance in this area. A public inquiry was established in order to find the exact causes of Climbies death, and following this was a report headed by Lord Laming. He reported that none of the government funded agencies can emerge from this report with much credit. Lord Laming claimed that the problem with child protection did not lie with the legal framework but its implementation and that there were major discrepancies with the staff that work with children. Lord Laming made a total of 108 recommendations in his report. The most significant recommendations include the every child matters initiative. This government initiative was introduced in 2003 and its main aims are to ensure that a child has the support needed to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve economic well-being. It was the responsibility of the multi-agency partnerships to work together in order to meet the detailed framework surrounding each theme of the initiative. Lord Laming also reported that the failures of the police, social workers and hospital staff were partly due a lack of accountability. Lord Laming suggested that the only way to address this issue would be to create a childrens minister who would be held accountable to the cabinet. Partly in response to the Lord Laming report, Margaret Hodge was appointed as the minister for children in 2003. Her role was to oversee the policies governing children at risk as well as other significant child governance. The Every Child Matters green paper was published by the government in response to Lord Lamings inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie. This green paper recommended policy changes backed up by legislation, and the Children Act 2004 was designed to respond to the findings of the Lord Laming inquiry. The 2004 Act established a childrens commissioner. Under S2 of the Act, the childrens commissioners role includes promoting awareness of the views and interests of children in England. The Childrens commissioner has a wide role, which includes encouraging persons exercising functions or engaged in activities affecting children to take account of their views and interests; advise the secretary of state on the views and interests of children; consider or research the operation of complaints procedures so far as children are concerned; consider and research any other matter relating to the interests of a child and publish a report on any matter from the above list. The Childrens Commissioner role is to be concerned with the views and interests of children relating to a number of aspects of their well being. These include their physical and mental health and emotional well being; protection from harm or neglect; education, training and recreation; the contribution made by them in society and their social and economic well-being. They may also conduct an inquiry into an individual child if they feel it may raise issues of relevance to other children. As well as establishing the Childrens Commissioner, the 2004 Act provided a response to Lord Lamings report which heavily criticised the lack of co-operation between the services that deal with children. The Act places a duty to cooperate in order to improve the well being of a child at risk. This was designed to prevent further cases of children falling through the gaps such as Victoria Climbie, and ensure that all services such as the police, doctors and social workers are under a specific duty to communicate and work together to promote the well-being of an endangered child. A key instrument in the enforcement of cooperation between agencies was the creation of electronic records for every child in the country. This record made it easier to trace a child who had moved to a new area and was therefore transferred between local authorities. It could be argued that keeping details of children on electronic record is a breach of article 8 of the Human Rights Act, and critics have made clear their view that these files will destroy the confidentiality of medical and legal records. Doctors, teachers and the police will have to alert the system to a wide range of concerns, and two reports on a childs record could be sufficient to provoke an investigation. Whilst the electronic records system may appear to be an effective provision in order to ensure that child mistreatment is monitored, there was a great deal of confusion as to what would be deemed as a concern. Dr Eileen Monro of the London School of Economics said that if a child fails to make progress towards state targets, detailed information would be gathered and this would include judgements such as whether the parent is providing a positive role model as well as sensitive information such as their mental state. This could mean that parents are forced to bring up their child in line with what the state deems is best rather than as they themselves see fit.It c

Beauty :: essays research papers

Beauty   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Summary of The Biology of Beauty   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many articles are written by modern psychologists and psychoanalysts that stress the importance of beauty in human and animal breeding as well as survival. One such article The Biology of Beauty suggests this importance and backs it up with many facts and figures as well as surveys on normal people. The article states many theories and hypotheses and also tries to explain why beauty plays such an important role in sexuality and power. What is beauty? According to this article, beauty is a combination of symmetry, special qualities, and traits.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Symmetry is perhaps the most supported part of beauty in this article. The article states that symmetry shows abundance of sexual hormones, health, and strength of the immune system. They support their hypothesis of symmetry's affect on the abundance of sexual hormones with various scientific evidence. Two psychologists, Steven Gangestead and Randy Thornhill measured the symmetry of hundreds of men and women in college. They also asked them to complete a personal confidential survey that gave information on their health and sex lives. What they found was that the men and women with better symmetry had started having sex 3-4 years before the people with average symmetry. Gangestead and Thornhill also completed another survey involving women's responses to symmetrical men and men with average symmetry. The results were as expected. The women with symmetrical partners responded twice as much compared to the women with men having average symmetry. The rate of contraception was also much higher. Animals are much more severe in their choosing. Female penguins won't accept males who aren't plump and symmetrical, and female scorpion flies only accept males with symmetrical wings, as they are better at hunting and protecting. Also, less symmetrical men and women surveyed had more ailments and more frequent accounts of illnesses compared to symmetrical men and women who were overall much healthier.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Special qualities also play a role in beauty. A person with normal features is not considered as beautiful as one with a few outstanding features. New Mexico State University's Victor Johnston conducted a computer survey called FacePrints in which participants of all ages and ethnic groups were asked to give their accounts of a perfect face into the computer. What they came up with was very surprising. Instead of selecting a female with average facial features, the men leaned toward a girlish face consisting of many outstanding features. Their ideal face consisted of a small chin and jaws as well as large eyes and luscious lips. Women value the opposite of the face constructed by men: a face consisting of a strong jaw and chin, prominent

Executive Summary Of Pepsico :: essays research papers

Executive Summary of Pepsico Through my research of Pepsico, I have calculated the cost of capital. A firm's cost of capital is imperative because it represents the funds used to finance the firm's assets and operations. First you have to estimate the cost of capital in order to minimize it. In estimating the cost of capital, you first have to find the cost of each capital component and then combine the component costs to find the weighted average cost of capital. First, I calculated the cost of debt. Pepsico's bond consisted of 7 5/8 coupon rate, maturing in 1998 at a price of $1023.80. I figured the payments to be $38.15(.0763*1000/2). I then used my financial calculator to find the bond yield of 5.16% by entering in 1023.80=PV, 1000=FV, 2= N, 38.15=PMT. The bond was calculated semi-annually, therefore I multiplied the answer for I/Y times 2 to get 5.16%. The next step would be to calculate the preferred stock, however my stock had none. I then went to the third step of calculating cost of retained earnings. First I found the three growth rates which were historical, forecast, and sustainable growth. The historical and forecast annual rates I simply pulled directly from Value Line under Past 10 years and estimated years of the dividends. They both were 14.0%. The sustainable growth is calculated by taking the retention rate (b) and multiplying it by the return on equity (r ). To find b, I first calculated the dividends payout ratio which is DPS/EPS. I pulled DPS and EPS from value line under 1997. Then to find the retention rate, I subtracted the ratio from 1. Next, I calculated r, by taking net income and dividing it by net worth. These figures I also pulled from Value Line. My b= .352, and r=28.68%. Then the third growth rate was 10.10(.352*28.68). Still calculating the cost of retained earnings, I then calculated my cash flows by the discounted cash flow approach. For the first three cash flows, I took the dividend of the stock over the price of the stock, and then added the growth rate to it. My first cash flow equaled to 15.38%, second was also 15.38%, and the third one was 11.45%. To find the cash flow four, I used the CAPM approach. This formula is Ks=Krf + (Km-Krf)bs. I found beta on Value Line which was .95. The risk free rate was found by obtaining the current yield on a 20yr. T-bond from the Wall Street Journal. It equaled 6.60%. The Km-Krf was found in the book, and equaled 7.

Film about “Cleopatra” Essay

Cleopatra is depicted as a strikingly beautiful, loyal but manipulative temptress, oozing femininity as she seduces the two most powerful men in Egypt, Marc Antony and Julius Caesar. A question this raises is, was she an insecure Queen who felt that she needed a more powerful man to help secure her place on the throne of her beloved Egypt, rather than lose it to one of them? As shown in the 2005 TV production ‘Rome’ Cleopatra is seen wanting to get pregnant by Caesar to secure her position, but in the end she didn’t have any qualms if someone else fathered the child, she would pass it off as Caesar’s. Cleopatra is shown on film as an almost caring being and an intelligent woman. In the 1934 production, Cleopatra tells Antony as she kisses his hand â€Å"I am no longer Queen, I am a woman.† This suggests that in that particular moment, she is allowing her emotions to rule, perhaps even going as far to say that as a Queen she is quite a stony and hard character, but as an ordinary woman, she is allowing herself to love. In the 1963 film, Cleopatra speaks of â€Å"One World, one nation, living in peace.† This again shows her caring nature that she wants the world to live in harmony. In real life, this could be a rather obvious reference to the UN and stopping war. Again, in the 1963 production, a rather sexist remark is made about Cleopatra â€Å"If she wasn’t a woman, one might think she’s an intellect.† This Roman depiction shows Cleopatra to be a clever and smart Queen, but as she is female, she is not given full credit. In most TV and film productions of Cleopatra, she is seen as a beautiful ‘Goddess’ with lashings of make up and dressed in extravagant costumes and jewellery to show her wealth. This portrayal of her makes her look almost high maintenance and authoritative. However, the Roman coins, which reveal her portrait, decipher Cleopatra as less of a beauty but almost hag like. As these coins are the only piece of history that show what Cleopatra may have looked like, I think it is a case that this is one depiction that has been glamorised by TV and film. Throughout the years as various productions have been filmed, the actresses playing Cleopatra have changed in appearance e.g. their ethnicity, which may show a change in how society sees her. This shows how the world has changed by allowing more ethnic groups into the world of  acting. TV and film seem to develop the depictions of Cleopatra to fit in with the world in which we live at the time of which the production was made. It would appear that the Roman depictions of Cleopatra seem accurate in terms of her character, wealth and extravagant lifestyle but not her looks, as this is the only inconsistency against the historical artefacts we have. As time and society change, we may never know the true identity of Cleopatra.