Imagine you are Candy lying in bed, unable to sleep at the end of the day Essay

Lying on my bunk bed in my barn I stared at the wooden ceiling finished by brown boards joint together. The brown boards were filled with deep cracks, weathered and old, reminding me of my aged, ailing, sheepdog who was infested with rheumatism. As I thought of him, I unconsciously plunged into a deep depression and waves of emotions swept over me. My eyes blurred with tears as I thought of my old dog. Again and again, I tried to fall asleep, tossing and turning on the bed, but the task seemed unattainable. I leaned up and turned my face to the window, staring out at the pale crescent moon which shone like a silvery claw as well as the blanket of stars that stretched to infinity, and let an audible sigh. Today was a very disheartening day for me. I have never felt as despondent and fatigue before. Not only was my heart filled with sorrow, it was filled with pangs of guilt. I had allowed Carlson to shoot my own dog Bingo, which I had own since he was a puppy. Bingo was innocent, and had done nothing wrong. Although he was diseased with rheumatism, did that give Carlson the right to kill Bingo? Was it right to do that? Bingo was not just a dog to me; he was like a friend, a best friend. We spent many cherished and unforgettable moments together, including herding sheep together. He was my long life companion, and without him, life would never be as complete as it used to be. Even though Bingo was now toothless, foul smelling, brittle with age and would never run as fast as my herd sheep like he did when he was younger, my love for him remained unchanged. I valued all of the elation and devotion that my once splendid dog had brought to me in my life. Did I make the right choice? I could not comprehend why nobody understood me. Did Slim and Carlson really think that another dog could substitute Bingo? Did they not have any feelings for Bingo? Bingo was one of a kind, and nothing would be able to supplant him. Now that Bingo was gone, life feels so empty and insecure. Being a faithful dog Bingo was, he used to follow me everywhere. Bingo was there during my ups and downs. Even though he was incapable of speaking, it was as if his eyes were able to communicate every single thought of his. The sound of the gunshot played repeatedly in my mind. I knew that my companion did have limited time left in his life, and that he would pass away eventually even if it were not for the advance killing of Bingo. However, tears started rolling down my cheeks as I pondered over whether the shot had caused any pain for Bingo. Though Carlson promised that the shot would not hurt Bingo in anyway, I could not restrain myself from thinking about it. I would rather have taken care of Bingo than cause any pain for him, even if it might be a burden. Then again, I thought through about the fact that it might have been better that Bingo died, because it might be better to terminate his life since he was in so much pain. I started regretting about letting Carlson kill Bingo, instead of killing the dog himself. I realized the responsibility to kill my own dog. â€Å"I’m sorry. I love you, and I would never forget you† I whispered. Calming myself down, I started envisaging what he had discussed with George and Lennie, the two new workers, about our dream house, visualizing and fascinating at the inspiration of how our house would be like after we manage to buy it and started to feel much more relieved. Ripples of excitement burst through me as I thought of how our future house would be like, and I became even more determined to chip in $350 to buy the house. My final decision was made; I would chip in to buy the house. Thinking of Lennie, I recalled being so astonished that he and Curly gotten into such a big fight. I had never seen Curly that infuriated before. Lennie had stood rooted to the ground helplessly not knowing what to do, receiving all the punches by Curly, staring and requesting George for help. He could not make the decision for himself and only after George told him to fight back did I truly realize how strong Lennie was. I had never imagined him being capable of grabbing onto one’s hand especially till there would be a need for him to be sent to see the doctor. I started wondering how Lennie was feeling, and hoped that he was not regretting it too much. Lennie most probably did not mean to do that deliberately. Nonetheless, I prayed that Curly was healthy and that nothing serious had come over him.

Dramatic Successes In Eradicating Small Pox Environmental Sciences Essay

Over the last 30 old ages the reversal in the worsening decease rate due to infective diseases has alarmed international wellness experts. Dramatic successes in eliminating little syphilis, commanding infantile paralysis and TB, and extinguishing vector-borne diseases such as xanthous febrility, dandy fever and malaria from many parts convinced most experts the epoch of infective diseases would shortly be over. Unfortunately this optimistic forecast was premature as a figure of diseases have dramatically reemerged. Tuberculosis, cholera, dandy fever, pestilence, Avian grippe and malaria have increased in incidence or geographic scope, as have new drug-resistant strains of bacteriums. In add-on freshly recognized diseases, such as AIDS, SARS, Drug Resistant Tuberculosis, Cryptosporidiosis, e.t.c. hold emerged. Dr. Mark Woolhouse and his co-workers at University of Edinburgh noted in the diary SCIENCE that â€Å" humanity is presently plagued by 1709 known pathogens ( from viruses and bacteriums to fungi, Protozoa and worms ) † . They concluded that 49 % of those are zoonotic and farther it was noted that zoonotic diseases are three times more likely to be emerging diseases than non-zoonotic diseases ( Cook, 2003 ) . The present planetary outgrowth of infective diseases is clearly associated with the societal and demographic alterations of the past 50 old ages, peculiarly urbanization and globalization, with the attendant spread of pathogens ( agents doing disease ) via septic worlds, hosts, vectors or trade goods. The alteration in the environment caused by human activities is besides evident in the transmutation of much of our landscape and transition of regional systems one time dominated by natural ecosystems. Factors include enlargement into urban or peri-urban home ground, deforestation, and the spread of intensive agriculture. The environment ‘s function in the outgrowth of diseases is evident in the connexions between the direct effects of human alterations to urban and rural landscapes and ecosystems, and the secondary effects on disease outgrowth factors. Developing irrigated agribusiness, for illustration, can make breeding evidences for mosquitoes, a vector for malaria. Likewise the unequal storm drainage and sewage systems frequently associated with rapid urbanization non merely increase the genteelness home ground for disease vectors but facilitate the spread of waterborne pathogens doing cholera and swamp fever. Overwhelming grounds points to human demographic alterations as the major direct and indirect factor lending to the addition in infective disease, with slightly different kineticss and mechanisms at work in urban and rural environments. In the first instance the increasing figure of people crowded into dense colonies has dramatically increased chances for nutrient, H2O, gnawer and vector-borne pathogens to â€Å" colonize † and prevail in human populations. Each pathogen has alone transmittal and adaptative features that determine a minimal population for endurance ( the threshold for rubeolas is about 250,000 people ) . Whether the threshold is 100,000 or a million the figure of big urban colonies and the mean colony size has been turning fast in recent decennaries. The figure of metropoliss of one million or larger was 76 in 1950, 522 in 1975, 1,122 in 2000, and is set to transcend 1,600 by 2015. This 20-fold addition translates to a approximately similar addition in planeta ry infective disease exposure due to this one factor entirely. This type of growing has indirect societal and environmental effects that contribute to multiplying the existent addition in population. Poverty, hapless life conditions, including deficiency of sanitation and substructure for waste-water and solid waste direction, increases chances for vector- borne diseases and others go throughing from animate beings to worlds. The geographic spread and enlargement into peri-urban countries of the mosquito Aedes albopictus, finely adapted for engendering in discarded plastic containers and used car tyres, is a good illustration of how a possible vector of viral diseases has taken advantage of environmental alteration. Lack of sanitation and waste H2O intervention, and industrialscale intensification of carnal production systems the universe over, contribute to alien species, and the proliferation and spread of H2O and food-borne pathogens. Increasingly frequent eruptions of infections are caused by these and other beings, many of which may eat alo ngside or quarry on wild mammals and birds as natural parasites. The taint of surface Waterss and spread of pathogens is farther promoted by the change of catchments and water partings attach toing urbanization, and intensive farming around metropoliss. Imparting watercourses, taking flora on the Bankss, and make fulling in wetland – all of which accompany unplanned urbanisation – extinguish the natural keeping and alimentary recycling systems, every bit good as barriers to come up run-off contaminated with enteric pathogens. Nutrient pollution taking to oxygen depletion in estuaries, lakes, watercourses and even stretches of ocean, such as the Gulf of Mexico, helps such pathogens survive excessively. In rural countries population and ingestion play a less direct function in lending to disease outgrowth, peculiarly as rural out-migration is fuelling the demographic detonation in metropoliss. It is more that urban countries are driving a sustained addition in the lumber trade, agribusiness, stock elevation and excavation, ensuing in bend in deforestation and alterations in land usage that are transforming rural landscapes and natural countries in ways that frequently facilitate the outgrowth of disease. Deforestation or even â€Å" patchy † re-afforestation leads to ecological alterations such as increased border home ground and local extinction of marauders that favour some disease vectors and reservoir species. Invasion of persons and colonies on natural ecosystems brings worlds into contact with known and fresh pathogens. The spread and intensification of farming consequences in the development of irrigation systems, ideal genteelness sites for mosquitoes and a home groun d for timeserving insects and gnawers that may be vectors or reservoirs for disease. Dams provide a favorable home ground for other vectors. Climate alteration represents a possible environmental factor impacting disease outgrowth. Shifts in the geographic scopes of hosts and vector, the consequence of increasing temperature on generative, development and mortality rates on hosts, vectors, and pathogens, and the effects of increased clime variableness on implosion therapy and drouths all have the possible to impact disease incidence and outgrowth positively or negatively. At present there is deficient grounds to bespeak what the net consequence will be one time climate alterations begin to hold a major affect on ecosystems. However, a dominant subject emerging from research on the ecology of infective disease is that accelerated and disconnected environmental alteration, whether natural or caused by worlds, may supply conditions conducive to pathogen outgrowth: pathogen version, host shift, and active or inactive or dispersion. The revival of infective diseases worldwide reflects our quick-fix outlook, with hapless development planning, a deficiency of political finding and institutional inactiveness. It is non the inevitable consequence of development, environmental alteration, or even incremental population growing. On the contrary much can be done to change by reversal the current tendency. Equally good as reconstructing the public wellness substructure for infective diseases, there is significant grounds and a turning figure of illustrations of how regional planning and development, including urbanization, agricultural enlargement, and the direction and preservation of woods and other ecosystems can understate and even cut down eruptions of infective disease every bit good as environmental harm. Basically we need an incorporate attack to pathogen control. This attack will affect engaging societal and economic development programmes, environmental and natural resource direction, with intercession based o n the fresh field of disease ecology and methods affecting community engagement ( Bruce and Gubler, 2004 ) .HUMAN AND EXOTIC SPECIES IMPACTSAdverse human impacts on biodiversity occur in really different ways, such as: habitat-destruction ; overharvesting ; climatic alteration ; environmental pollution ( air pollution, eutrophication, acid rain ) ; commercial trade of ( rare ) workss and animate beings ; debuts of species ; and familial technology.Habitat devastationDestruction of home grounds for al sort of intents, building of roads, canals, dikes and houses is likely the most of import threath to biodiversity. Illustrative are the side effects of some well-meaning international development undertakings. These are sometimes sponsored by international bureaus concerned with such personal businesss and sometimes by the foreign-assistance sections of single giver states. Normally the undertakings are intended to profit one section of the economic system of the recipient state ; but, because ecological advice by and large is non sought and because of the wide consequence of the proposed development on other resources or on the entire environment, the side effects of some of these activities frequently far outweigh any benefits that are derived. An illustration is the Aswan High Dam of Egypt, where the demand to increase the supply of H2O for irrigation and power was considered paramount. The environmental side effects, nevertheless, have been tremendous and include the spread of the disease bilharzia by snails that live in the irrigation channels, loss of land in the delta of the Nile River fro m eroding once the former deposit burden of the river was no longer available for land edifice, and a assortment of other effects. The duty of bureaus concerned with international development to seek the best environmental advice is now by and large accepted, but execution of this duty has been slow.OverharvestingOverharvesting, overcultivation or over-exploitation of natural resources is besides a large menace to biodiversity. This human activity refers to a rate of development or use that exceeds the cycling capacity of the natural resource. Classifying natural resources it has been traditional to separate between those that are renewable and those that are unrenewable. The former were considered to be the living resources — e.g. , woods, wildlife, and the similar — because of their ability to renew through reproduction. The latter were considered to be inanimate mineral or fuel resources, which, one time used, does non replace themselves. Because all natural resourc es in fact organize a continuum, from those that are most renewable in the short term to those that are least renewable, they do non readily impart themselves to a individual system of categorization. It is utile, hence, to analyze the assorted types of natural resources in relation to their cycling clip ; i.e. , the length of clip required to replace a given measure of a resource that has been utilized with an tantamount measure in a likewise utile signifier. From this point of position, renewable resources can be considered as those with short cycling times ( grass, lumber ) and unrenewable resources as those with really long cycling times ( coal, oil ) . Any resource can be unrenewable, nevertheless, if the demand and rate of use exceed its cycling capacity. Illustrative is the international development of life resources, peculiarly the tropical woods of the universe. These woods, which contain many 100s of species of trees turning in diverse mixtures, were spared from development in earlier decennaries because of their unavailability, the comparatively low value of most of the trees for lumber intents, and the limited universe demand. Heavily exploited for particular utilizations were a few species of high value, such as teak, coal black, sandalwood, mahogany, and other furniture forests. Most tropical woods were non greatly disturbed, nevertheless. This state of affairs has changed, and a broad assortment of forests antecedently considered worthless are used for mush, hardboard, and fibreboard or as cellulose for plastics production. With new machines and better transit, it has become profitable to take trees from antecedently remote countries and to transport logs, bolts, wood french friess, or other partly processed stuffs to foreign markets. Faced with a high demand for their wood merchandises, most developing states have been willing to subscribe over lumber rights to foreign companies, trusting thereby to increase their national incomes and to progress the general stuff public assistance of their people. Unfortunately, most of these lumbers contracts contain few or no commissariats for preservation. Forest industries that have first-class direction and preservation records in their place states behave otherwise in other lands. Great countries of tropical wood have been laid waste, dirts bared to erosion, and the wildlife within them destroyed. Because no Torahs are violated in either the exploited or the place state, there is no effectual damages. General international understandings regulating the preservation of such living resources would supply an reply to this job, but they are improbable to be implemented in clip to forestall the desolation of big countries of the tropical universe.Global Climatic Chan geClimate alteration is likely to hold considerable impacts on most or all ecosystems. The distribution forms of many species and communities are determined to a big portion by climatic parametric quantities, nevertheless, the responses to alterations in these parametric quantities are seldom simple.A At the simplest degree, altering forms of clime will alter the natural distribution bounds for species or communities. In the absence of barriers it may be possible for species or communities to migrate in response to altering conditions. Vegetation zones may travel towards higher latitudes or higher heights following displacements in mean temperatures. Motions will be more marked at higher latitudes where temperatures are expected to lift more than near the equator. In the mid-latitude parts ( 45 to 60 ° ) , for illustration, present temperature zones could switch by 150 A ­ 550 km.A In most instances natural or semisynthetic barriers will impact the natural motion of species or communities. Arctic tundra and alpine hayfields may go squeezed by the natural constellation of the landscape, while these and many other natural systems may be farther confined by human land-use forms. Many national Parkss and protected countries are now surrounded by urban and agricultural landscapes which will forestall the simple migration of species beyond their boundaries.A Rainfall and drouth will besides be of critical importance. Extreme implosion therapy will hold deductions for big countries, particularly riverine and valley ecosystems. Increasing drouth and desertification may happen in tropical and sub-tropical zones, and at least one theoretical account has predicted a drying out of big parts of the Amazon.A Ratess of alteration will besides be of import, and these will change at regional and even local degrees. The maximal rates of spread for some sedentary species, including big tree-species may be slower than the predicted rates of alteration in climatic conditions. In many instances farther complications will originate from the complexness of species interactions and differential sensitivenesss to altering conditions between species. Certain species may quickly accommodate to new conditions and may move in competition with others.A Changes in seasons are already being noticed in many temperate parts. Birdsong is being reported earlier and spring flowers are emerging when it was one time winter. In agricultural landscapes alterations in the length of turning seasons may better productiveness in mid-latitudes and increase the possible for cultivable harvests at high latitudes.A Negative impacts may include increased scopes of insect plagues and diseases, and failure of harvests in some parts from drouth or implosion therapy. On the comparatively narrow home grounds of the coastal borders, particularly where these are backed by countries of intense human usage, lifting sea degrees may take to the squashing out of of import coastal habitats.A Rising sea temperatures will farther impact the distribution and endurance of peculiar marine resources. Corals have already shown an highly high sensitiveness to minor additions in temperature, while other surveies have shown dramatic alterations in the distribution and endurance of the Pacific salmon in the late 1990s.A In add-on to doing a warming consequence, increased concentrations of atmospheric C dioxide are known increase rates of photosynthesis in many workss, every bit good as bettering H2O usage efficiency. In this manner the clime alterations may increase growing rates in some natural and agricultural communities.DesertificationAbout 3,6 billion of the universe ‘s 5.2 billion hectares of utile dryland for agribusiness has suffered eroding and dirt debasement. In more than 100 states, 1 billion of the 6 billion universe population is affected by desertification, coercing people to go forth their farms for occupations in the metropoliss. Desertification takes topographic point in dryland countries where the Earth is particularly delicate, where rainfall is nil and the clime harsh. The consequence is the devastation of surface soil followed by loss of the land ‘s ability to prolong harvests, farm animal or human activity. The economic impact is awful, with a loss of more than $ 40 billion per twelvemonth in agricultural goods and an addition in agricultural monetary values. Climatic alterations can trip the desertification procedure, but human activities often are the proximate cause. Overcultivation exhausts the dirt. Deforestation removes trees that hold the dirt to the land. Overgrazing of farm animal strips the land of grasses. Harmonizing to a UN survey, approximately 30 % of Earth ‘s land – including the 70 % of dryland – is affected by drouth. Every twenty-four hours, approximately 33,000 people starve to decease. Desertification create conditions that intensify wildfires and stirring air currents, adding to the enormous force per unit area to Earth ‘s most cherished resource, H2O, and, of class, the animate beings dependant on it. Harmonizing to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the universe lost about 30 % of its natural wealth between 1970 and 1995. Dust from comeuppances and drylands are blown into metropoliss around the universe. Dust from Africa reaches Europe through the Pasat air current, and even reaches US metropoliss. Dust atoms, which are less than 2,5 millionths of a meter in size, are inhaled, doing wellness jobs and have been shown to hike decease rates.Environmental pollutionEnvironmental pollution or pollution is the add-on of any substance ( foods ) or signifier of energy ( e.g. , heat, sound, radiation ) to the environment at a rate faster than the environment can suit it by scattering, dislocation, recycling, or storage in some harmless signifier. A pollutant demand non be harmful in itself. Carbon dioxide, for illustration, is a normal constituent of the ambiance and a byproduct of respiration that is found in all carnal tissues ; yet in a concentrated signifier it can kill animate beings. Human sewerage can be a utile fertiliser, but when concentrated excessively extremely it becomes a serious pollutant, endan gering wellness and doing the depletion of O in organic structures of H2O. By contrast, radiation in any measure is harmful to life, despite the fact that it occurs usually in the environment as alleged background radiation. Pollution has accompanied mankind of all time since groups of people foremost congregated and remained for a long clip in any one topographic point. Crude human colonies can be recognized by their pollutants — blast hills and rubble tonss. But pollution was non a serious job every bit long as there was adequate infinite available for each person or group. With the constitution of lasting human colonies by great Numberss of people, nevertheless, pollution became a job and has remained one of all time since. Cities of ancient times were frequently noxious topographic points, fouled by human wastes and dust. In the Middle Ages, insanitary urban conditions favoured the eruption of population-decimating epidemics. During the nineteenth century, H2O and air pollution and the accretion of solid wastes were mostly the jobs of merely a few big metropoliss. But, with the rise of advanced engineering and with the rapid spread of industrialisation and the attendant addition in human popul ations to unprecedented degrees, pollution has become a cosmopolitan job. Of all the pollutants released into the environment every twelvemonth by human activity, Persistent Organic Pollutants or POPs are among the most unsafe. They are extremely toxic, doing an array of inauspicious effects, notably decease, disease, and birth defects, among worlds and animate beings. Specific effects can include malignant neoplastic disease, allergic reactions and hypersensitivity, harm to the cardinal and peripheral nervous systems, generative upsets, and break of the immune system. These extremely stable compounds can last for old ages or decennaries before interrupting down. POPs released in one portion of the universe can, through a repeated and frequently seasonal procedure of vaporization, sedimentation, vaporization, sedimentation, be transported through the ambiance to parts far off from the original beginning. In add-on, POPs dressed ore in life beings through another procedure called bioaccumulation. Though non soluble in H2O, POPs are readily absorbed in fatty tissue, where concentrations can go magnified by up to 70,000 times the background degrees. Fish, predatory birds, mammals, and worlds are high up the nutrient concatenation and so absorb the greatest concentrations.Depletion of the Ozone LayerScientists besides fear that the ozonosphere ( or ozone bed of the ambiance ) is being depleted by the chemical action of CFCs emitted from aerosol tins and iceboxs and by pollutants from projectiles and supersonic aircraft. Depletion of the ozone bed, which absorbs ultraviolet radiation from the Sun, would hold serious effects on life beings on the Earth ‘s surface, including increasing frequence of skin malignant neoplastic disease among worlds.Acid RainAnother climatic consequence of pollution is acerb rain. The phenomenon occurs when sulfur dioxide and N oxides from the combustion of fossil fuels combine with H2O vapor in the ambiance. The ensuing precipitation is damaging to H2O, wood, and dirt resources. It is blamed for the disap pearing of fish from many lakes in the Adirondacks, for the widespread decease of woods in European mountains, and for damaging tree growing in the United States and Canada. Reports besides indicate that it can eat edifices and be risky to human wellness. Because the contaminations are carried long distances, the beginnings of acid rain are hard to nail and therefore hard to command. Acid rain has been reported in countries as far apart as Sweden and Canada. The drifting of pollutants doing acid rain across international boundaries has created dissensions between Canada and the United States and among European states over the causes and solutions of the precipitation. The international range of the job has led to the sign language of international understandings on the restriction of S and N oxide emanations.Eutrophication and OligotrophicationFreshwater ecosystems go through eutrophication or oligotrophication. Eutrophication is an aging procedure in the life rhythm of a lake, pool or decelerate traveling watercourse. When this occurs a batch of dead organic affair settees at the underside of the H2O. It all decomposes and signifiers an evergrowing bed of silt. This can take many thousand old ages to finish. The other aging procedure is known as oligotropication. This is a the entire antonym of eutrophication, it is alimentary hapless. Lakes face to basic sorts of environmental jobs which are: menaces to H2O quality and the impairment of shoreland. Pollution by industries, transportation and hapless agricultural patterns have led to toxic condition of the H2O. Besides changes in temperature lead to accelerated eutrophication. Eutrophication is an overload of different foods in the H2O which put an inordinate demand on the O content of the H2O, ensuing in the chemical-biological decease of a lake. Some of the universe ‘s major lakes presently suffer from such jobs. The effects of pollution on land ( and in H2O ) are to favor small-bodied, quickly reproducing beings that do non depend on complex nutrient webs. The procedure of simplification and poverty is now planetary and affects tellurian and aquatic communities likewise. It is the continuously spread outing consequence of chronic invasions on natural systems by human influences. The poverty threatens all life because it reduces consistently the capacity of the Earth to back up workss. The writers of Foods in European Ecosystems say natural lakes, unreal reservoirs, rivers, coastal Marine Waterss and tellurian ecosystems are all affected to changing grades of badness by alimentary surpluss. In most instances, the harm varies merely by geographic part. Many reservoirs functioning indispensable utilizations such as public H2O supplies and irrigation are among the most affected by eutrophication because they are, of necessity, located near to countries of intense human activity. The study says eutrophication is a major issue in still H2O environments but, even after decennaries of scientific research, there are really few monitoring programmes in being. In rivers, the most widespread pollutant in geographic footings is P, which consequences in the development of big measures of seasonal works growing, taking to other types of impact such as flustered O and pH rhythms, organic pollution and monolithic growing of toxic algae. The study besides confirms that extra ammonium is present in many rivers. Excessive degrees of nitrates, observed in many old surveies, represent a widespread debasement of river H2O and, locally, nitrate concentrations may forestall human utilizations of H2O. In coastal Marine Waterss, the frequence and geographic extent of eutrophication phenomena are increasing, even in marine countries antecedently believed to be unaffected. In tellurian ecosystems, alimentary impacts appear to be serious because of the uncertainness of recovery of the land-based systems, taking to losingss of species and ecosystems. The application of alimentary decrease policies is patchy, says the study. But the writers found it hard to measure the effectivity of these policies because of the general scarceness of informations refering primary causes, emanations and the position of ecosystems. All the necessary datasets are non available at European or national degree, and do non even exist at all in some states. It was merely possible to obtain a little fraction of the bing informations, and this fraction was deficient to bring forth a full appraisal.Commercial trade of works and animate being speciesCommercial trade of life animate beings and workss every bit good as in the merchandises derived from them is besides a terrible menace to biodiversity. Demands by affluent states for certain animate being and works merchandises create peculiarly terrible jobs in less flush states. The trade in endangered species of wildlife is exemplifying. The demand for pelts and teguments of rare carnal species is unnaturally created in the manner Centres of the universe. Monetary values paid by affluent people for these points in flush states exceed the lifetime income of most people in the states from which the leopards, crocodiles, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelams, and other wild species come. Poachers go to great lengths to obtain these animate beings wherever they can be found, including inside national Parkss and militias. Because effectual policing is virtually impossible, legal and illegal trade in wildlife Begin to overlap, and both become steadfastly established. Exporters of wild animate beings and their merchandises are the terminal links of profitable concern ironss that include far greater Numberss of huntsmans and trappers in distant countries. Furthermore, for each animate being or tegument that reaches a foreign market, many more are destroyed in hunting, caparison, and transporting.Introductions of non-native ( foreign ) speciesA major subscriber to depletion and extinction, 2nd merel y to habitat loss, is the debut of species into new environments. These transplanted signifiers are called exotics. Every debut of alien species that become established consequences in alterations to the having ecosystem. Unfortunately, most of the ascertained effects have been damaging and irreparable by displacing native species, and changing trophic degree construction. Introduced species frequently prey on many parts of an already established nutrient web or compete with autochthonal species for resources such as nutrient or infinite. Without any natural marauders, encroachers can endanger or even extinguish autochthonal species. They besides carry with them the menace of new diseases which can destruct vulnerable native dwellers. In some countries, native species are on the threshold of extinction due to the debut of an alien species. Speciess have sometimes invaded new home grounds of course ( e.g. when land Bridgess have become established ) but human geographic expedition and colonisation has dramatically increased the spread of alien species. Whenever adult male has settled far off from place, he has tried to present his familiar animate beings and workss. Many other species ( e.g. rats ) have been by chance transported around the universe. The first instances were from European adventurers, who frequently released caprine animals and hogs so that later colonisers had an abundant beginning of familiar carnal protein, and colonisers so brought more of the same. Some of our most abundant wild animate beings and workss, particularly those that do good in urban or disturbed countries, are introduced species that have become established. For illustration, the starling, cabbage-white butterfly, eucalyptus tree, mustard, many grasses, etc. Most insect and works plagues are alien species. It is estimated that at least 4,000 alien works and 2,300 alien animate being species are now established in the United States. Many exotics have black effects on native vegetations and zoologies. They frequently leave behind the factors that have evolved with them and that control their population and spread. In their new home ground there may be fewer marauders or diseases, so their populations grow out of control. Prey beings may non hold evolved defence mechanisms and native species may non vie successfully for infinite or nutrient, so are frequently pushed to extinction. Since alien species are self-perpetuating, they can hold permanency unmatched by other menaces to biodiversity including overuse and habitat loss. Exotics are a factor lending to the endangered or threatened position of 42 % of animate beings and workss on the U.S. endangered species list. The spread of exotics replaces healthy, diverse ecosystems with biologically impoverished, homogenous landscapes. For illustration, topographic points with a Mediterranean clime in southern Australia, the U.S. west seashore, Chile and South Africa antecedently had few works species in common ( although they did demo many illustrations of convergent development, taking to similar landscapes ) . They now portion 100s of weedy alien species, chiefly from the Mediterranean part.Familial technologyThe term familial technology ab initio meant any of a broad scope of techniques for the alteration or use of beings through the procedures of heredity and reproduction. As such, the term embraced both unreal choice and all the intercessions of biomedical techniques, among them unreal insemination, in vitro fertilisation ( e.g. , â€Å" test-tube † babes ) , sperm Bankss, cloning, and cistron use. But the term now denotes the narrower field of recombinant DNA engineering, or cistron clonin g, in which DNA molecules from two or more beginnings are combined either within cells or in vitro and are so inserted into host beings in which they are able to propagate. Genetic technology has advanced the apprehension of many theoretical and practical facets of cistron map and organisation. Through recombinant DNA techniques, bacteriums have been created that are capable of synthesising human insulin, human growing endocrine, alpha interferon, a hepatitis B vaccinum, and other medically utile substances. Plants may be genetically adjusted to enable them to repair N, and familial diseases can perchance be corrected by replacing â€Å" bad † cistrons with â€Å" normal † 1s. Nevertheless, particular concern has been focused on such accomplishments for fright that they might ensue in the debut of unfavorable and perchance unsafe traits into ( micro ) organisms that were antecedently free of them — e.g. , opposition to antibiotics, production of toxins, or a inclination to do disease ( De Valk, 2005 ) .

HYDROCEPHALUS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

HYDROCEPHALUS - Essay Example Hydrocephalus is a pathological state in which the amount of the cerebrospinal fluid rises from the normal amount in the ventricular system (Mitchell et al 2007). Hydrocephalus can result due to many causes which mainly result in altering the normal pathway of the cerebrospinal fluid. The mechanisms include a rise in the formation of the fluid from the choroid plexus or if the re-absorption of the fluid becomes altered. These two reasons are not very common and hydrocephalus is more frequently associated with a blockage in the normal circulation of the cerebrospinal fluid (Govan et al 1995). Hydrocephalus mainly results due to other diseases that affect the human body. The causes may be associated with pathologies of the ventricular system or they may be due to causes outside the ventricular system. Meningitis associated with bacteria, sarcoidosis, trauma to the head and hemorrhages within the subarachnoid space are highlighted as the causes not within the ventricular system that result in the blockage of cerebrospinal fluid. Tumors, colloid cysts, and formation of abscess within the cerebellum, formation of hematomas within the cerebellum or the brain-stem and Arnold Chiari malformation are the intra-ventricular causes that result in hydrocephalus (Davidson et al 2009). Hydrocephalus can affect people from all age groups. It affects infants, people in their old ages as well as adults. Women with increased weight have a risk of developing this condition and these women do not present with any other underlying cause. If a young child is affected with hydrocephalus, the head increases in size. This is owing to the fact that the sutures in the child are open which provides space for the spread of the cerebrospinal fluids. In adults, the sutures are closed and it is because of this that the patient does not present with an increase in head size (Davidson et al 2009; Mitchell et al

The Impacts Of Technology Toward Human Resource Practices Essay

The Impacts Of Technology Toward Human Resource Practices - Essay Example One thing for sure is that technology has had a lot of impact on human resource practices and this will be the subject of discussion. First, the paper will discuss what technology is and the various types of technology that have come up over the years. Then the paper will analyse how these new technologies have impacted on the way HR professionals carry out their jobs or in general human resource practices such as recruiting, selection, training, performance management, knowledge management and how work is organised and lastly, the challenges faced by HRM. Technology is liked by some as well as dreaded by others especially conservatives who do not like changes. What is technology? Waddill and Marquardt (2011: 4) define technology as â€Å"any innovations humans have developed, any tool that aids us in extending and interacting with our environment.† The first technology to be developed in the fifteenth century was the printing press (Parry & Tyson, 2007; Waddill & Marquardt, 2 011). This technology enabled publishing, communication, and distribution of knowledge. The computer was the next big thing in the twentieth century followed by the web 2.0 in the twenty first century (Strohmeier, 2007). These will be discussed in the rest of the paper. Technology continues to make HRM more efficient and effective especially in the information age. It also enables access to information and to join people electronically through groupware. Costs of doing various HR activities have been reduced through use of e-HR such as self service, e-selection, e-recruiting, and Human Resource Information Systems (Hendrickson, 2003). It also saves time and increases efficiency by standardizing routines and enabling the HRM to focus on strategic issues rather than administrative tasks as well as enhancing communication and collaboration. When the printing press was introduced in fifteenth century, the HR work was made easier. Instead of writing a lot of information using pen and pap er such information could be typed and published thus saving time for other purposes. Furthermore, communication was enhanced as employees and stakeholders could access published material easily (Dessler, 2008). However, it was the invention of the computer and the internet in the twentieth and twenty first century that revolutionalised the field of work. Before computers, HR professionals handled files and documents manually thus a lot of paperwork. This made it difficult to access information when required and wastage of time and money as such costs of maintenance were high. Now professionals just need to feed information on the computer and create files for easy access (Benson et al. 2002). Information required can be printed and paper work was minimized. Information technology through use of the internet has completely changed human resource practices. The use of e-HR has enabled the professionals to conduct most of their work efficiently and effectively. One practice that has b een affected is staffing. Traditionally, HR professionals put adverts on the media for potential candidates to apply for positions through written applications. Today e-recruitment and e-selection has eased this process. Candidates now access the information on the internet and apply online hence reducing paperwork (Dessler, 2008). Information gathered is kept on database and can be accessed in future. The internet also allows HR to conduct online tests and select candidates thus making the process more efficient. Computer-networked technology has enabled learning in

Relationship Marketing and Ethical Standards Essay

Relationship Marketing and Ethical Standards - Essay Example ess) in addition to a tarnished reputation in the market because the business customer has also customers who are dependent to its products and/or services. In addition to quality, competitive price and promptness of delivery, the seller has to be reliable also that the same product of service can be had for as long as there is a demand. It is important that the company must have code of conduct that governs the ethical practice of all its employees. This removes the ambivalence and difficulty of determining which conduct is unethical and which is not. Having a clear standard of what is ethical and what is not, it would be easier for the marketing manager to ensure that ethical standards at the micro or macro level of marketing is present because all he has to do is to implement the company’s code of ethical conduct. The employees concerned also know the guidelines that should govern their acts in the company making it easier for the marketing manager have ethics in his

Art in south afric Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Art in south afric - Essay Example The information acquired through this research will be shared with the black community in the South African ghettos for the purpose of reminding them of their fight for freedom and peace. It will be shared through community projects that will aim at fostering peaceful relations among the black communities living in Soweto and other ghettos in the country. The information will be vital in promoting their peaceful coexistence and their eventual prosperity. The aspects of the topic that will be interesting for the research are resistant literature, the period’s poems, and dances performed by the Zulu and the Nguni communities. This will be carried out in an effort to determine their influence in the fight for freedom and equality among the different races in the country (Harlow 98). The literature, poems, and dances were previously written and performed in the native languages though this changed in the early twentieth century when some of them were translated into English. Their translations led to the exile of many writers and performers in the country who had been accused by the white’s regime of influencing the black communities into war. During the Mfecane period, many tribes and the Nguni among them were pushed from the country by the Zulu who had become increasingly aggressive. These events are expounded on well by their literature, poems, and their dances which have been documented for future generations (Singh 228). Researching these three issues will help in providing insight into how their literature has affected the current literature and how it helped them in their struggle for liberty. The poems provided by poets like Miriam Tlali and Mothobi Mutloatse who were from the two tribes greatly helped in influencing events like the 1960 Sharpeville which raised the awareness of black suffering (Chandler 47). Their works

Managing people Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Managing people - Essay Example In the current business environment, organizations encounter stiffer competition from rivals. This is because of globalization and free markets. To counter competition, firms have enacted various strategies. Efficient utilization of employees denotes one of the numerous strategies that firms apply in countering rivals. The human resource is the most imperative resource that an entity has at its disposal. Therefore, increasing efficiency in its utilization will enable an entity improve its competitive advantage and realize its targets. Managing of the workforce is a tough challenge to human resource (HR) managers. Managers encounter various constrains owing to the firm or the environment. The internal constrains would entail reducing overheads associated with the workforce. It is vital that any profit-motivated business maintains its profitability. Irrespective of an entity’s motivation, one of the key managerial obligations entails ensuring that remuneration expenses do not sp iral out of control. The organization and the HR department encounter various challenges from the external environment in managing this vital resource. The challenges relate to recruitment, remuneration, and maintaining employees. Companies invest heavily in the employees through training and refresher courses to improve their productivity. Subsequently, an entity that invests heavily on its employees will seek to ensure that it retains such employees. However, this may be challenging owing to the presence of organizations that offer better terms. The above situation denotes one among the countless external challenges that organization encounter in management of personnel. (Deckop & Deckop 2006, p. 78). The challenges that the HR departments encounter fall into various distinct categories. These categories include political, economic, technological, and legal. These denote broad categories, which contain various distinct challenges. The political category contains various factors, s uch as the government policy on workers and industrial actions. Entities are always aspiring to increase their profitability. Thus, they adopt employment terms that will reduce the costs. As such, most entities prefer to employ on casual or contract bases. This has been a factor, which has triggered legal battle between companies, governments, and labour unions. Hiring employees on a permanent basis will results in higher costs since the company will have to pay numerous costs. These costs include health care contributions and union charges. Consequently, most corporations will opt to employ on contract basis or casual terms. The government’s directives, which lean towards permanent terms for employees, affect HR departments significantly. The HR departments have to enact such governmental directives. This may require the company to adjust various departments to accommodate changes. This may culminate in reduction of employees. As such, companies may opt to realign department based on the work force constrains. Employment conditions are key external factors, which affect entities in a massive way since some entities will opt to mechanize. This would require massive initial capital outlay. Nonetheless, the entities will reduce their overheads on the long run. Mechanization also results in criticism since it shows that entities are unwilling to hire human labour owing to their profitability ambitions. However, the company can address these costs in various ways (Werner, Schuler & Jackson 2012, p.90). In the tasks that require high human labour, the entities can outsource. This would ensure that specialist who will deal effectively with human labour intensive activities undertake tasks. Outsourcing would ensure increased efficiency in the entity since it would reduce employees in the entity. Additionally, outsourcing may increase the quality of work. Companies can adopt organizational structure which will reduce the volume of employees required. Under the political categ

Hollywood Science Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Hollywood Science - Research Paper Example The film presents the scenario of doing a spacewalk extremely well. Notably, the visual impact of the astronauts to possess only the glass of their helmet between them and the Earth is legitimate in scientific terms. Similarly, the director renders the physicality and movement during the spacewalk in an accurate manner. Many scenes reveal the challenging attempt of the astronauts to start a motion and stop it in the vacuum place. It is scientifically correct that stopping motion in the vacuum is difficult. Although the execution of realism by detailing the real danger of the space travel is evident in the film, the closer examination of Gravity shows minor scientific flaws. Largely, the film Gravity violates the laws of physics. Notably, it is difficult for the astronauts to hop from a particular spacecraft to another easily. The shift from one station to the other demands tremendous energy, as well as, careful planning in order to change the orbits. The capturing of the simplicity to navigate in the space evokes questions about the plausibility of the application of the laws of physics. Hence, the film makes a notable error in presenting the shifting as an easy endeavor in the space. Similarly, the film fails to utilize the fundamental facts of science when the director presents a character struggling out in a vacuum. It is a mystery for Clooney to release Bullock’s tether, and the attempt makes the two characters to drift away from each other. In reality, the space has zero gravity. Thus, the scientific laws should dictate that a single tug would automatically bring bodies together instead of separating them. Efthimbiou and Ralph contend that a failure to incorporate fundamental scientific facts render sci-fiction films less informing. In essence, the film recreates the shuttle, the spacesuits, and space station perhaps to add drama or extend the plot. Arguably, overemphasis of the simulation of the physics about thrusts and counter-spin is noticeable in

English and English Literature Coursework Dubliners Essay Example for Free

English and English Literature Coursework Dubliners Essay These stories are all about escape and how characters are unable to escape. In the light of this quotation, I am going to discuss Dubliners, with close detailed reference to two of the stories, Eveline and The Boarding House. There are many similarities between these two stories, as well as contrasts. In Eveline, her father is a drunkard and is also the head of the house, whereas in The Boarding House, Pollys father, was a shabby stooped little drunkard who lives separated from his family. Pollys father has been cut-off from her life, and Evelines mother is dead. The similarity here, is that each child has had one of their parents cut off from a period of their life. Eveline wants to escape to Buenos Aires, to get away from her poverty in Dublin. Mr Doran wants to escape from the prospect of marriage. This brings us to one of the main points of the book, the characters inability to escape. Eveline has been given the chance to escape from her life, where she had to work hard both in the house and at business. Poor Eveline, however, finds that she is unable to move forward. She lacks the courage and strength to make that leap that will free her of her oppressive situation. . Shes sees her lover as a possible source of danger: All the seas of the world tumbled about her heart. He was drawing her into them: he would drown her. Instead of an uncertain but hopeful future, her paralysis will make a certain and dismal future that may well repeat her mothers sad life story. In Mr Dorans case, the theme of powerlessness is conveyed his situation. As with many other characters in Dubliners, various social pressures, like his job and his reputation, combine to rob him of choice. Mrs Mooney wants her daughter to escape her current poverty and the possibility of a working life for marriage, while Mr Doran wants to escape the tying down of marriage and enjoy his free life. Mr Doran nonetheless cannot escape. At the end of The Boarding House, Mrs Mooney tells Polly, Come down, dear. Mr Doran wants to speak to you. The reader is struck by the tremendous irony of the situation, since it is clear that Mr Doran does not really want to speak to Polly. He has been bullied and terrified into proposing marriage to her. These simple words are the hallmark of Mrs Mooneys accomplishment. Frank wants to take Eveline away, but Eveline is unsure. It was hard work-a hard life-but now that she was about to leave it she did not find to a wholly undesirable life. Polly wants to settle with Mr Doran, but Mr Doran is unsure, however he does not have a choice: What could he do now but marry her or run away? He could not brazen it out. Mr Doran has the choice to run away, but this is not an option for Dublin is such a small city: everyone knows everyone elses business. Both Frank and Mr Doran can be seen as saving the two girls from poverty. Mr Doran and Eveline are both described as helpless. Mr Doran himself says, I felt helpless, while Eveline is described as passive like a helpless animal. At the end of each story, an iron railing is mentioned. Eveline gripped with both hands at the iron railings, using them as an anchor, preventing her from drowning into the seas of the world. The railings help Eveline think of thoughts which keep her from leaving. Polly uses the iron railings as an anchor to clear her thoughts. There was no longer any perturbation visible on her face. Both Mr Doran and Eveline feel that it is their duty to stay and face the consequences. Mr Doran longed to ascend through the roof and fly away yet a force pushed him downstairs step by step. Eveline finds that she is paralysed by the needs of her father and her promise to her mother to keep the home together as long as she could. Eveline starts a series of stories dealing with various kinds of marriage and courtship. In Eveline, marriage presents the possibility of escape. The Boarding House gives us marriage as a social convention and a trap. Two Gallants reduces marriage and courtship to its animal. Two Gallants gave us men taking advantage of a young woman. The Boarding House gives us a more respectable social setting, but the basic cynicism about love and relationships between the genders remains. The economic conditions are also expressed in Eveline and The Boarding House. To save money in The Boarding House, pieces of broken bread are collected to help make Tuesdays bread-pudding. The sugar and butter is kept safe under lock and key. In Eveline, there is an invariable squabble for money on Saturday nights. Evelines dead mum controls her while Mr Doran is controlled by Mrs Mooney. Mrs Mooney and Evelines mum are both very different people in the sense that Mrs Mooney is strong and independent and Evelines mum is weak and dependent. Evelines love for Frank leads her to escape whereas Mr Dorans love for Polly leads him to confine his life with marriage. Eveline is forced into making her decision to stay by duty to her family. Mr Doran has put himself into his situation and it driven further by Mrs Mooney. Both Eveline and Mr Doran have occupational restrictions. Mr Doran had been employed for thirteen years in a great Catholic wine-merchants office and publicity would mean the loss of his sit. All his hard work would be gone for nothing. Eveline, however, is oppressed by her employer and would not cry many tears at leaving the Stores. One of the striking elements of The Boarding House is Mrs Mooneys silence. Her daughters respect is not really a concern, because she knows about the affair from the start. What matters to her is trading on her feigned outrage to get a social arrangement that will benefit her daughter. Mrs Mooney manipulates the weaker Mr Doran, using his concern for his job and his fear of scandal. The story concludes with the fact that Mr Doran has spoken to Mrs Mooney and now wants to speak to Polly. This probably suggests a proposal of marriage, and the trap is implied in the final line: Then she remembered what she had been waiting for. Marriage is the price which Doran must pay in order to keep his job, since Dublin is such a small city: everyone knows everyone elses business The stages-of-life structure continues in Eveline. In previous stories like The Sisters and Araby, children had been main characters. Eveline is an adult, a young woman old enough to get married. Joyce gives us the terrible poverty and pressure of her situation. The weight of poverty and family responsibilities bear down on this young woman heavily and her financial situation is far worse than that of the three boy narrators of the previous stories. She is trapped in an ugly situation, responsible for her siblings and the aging father who abuses her. In conclusion, it can be said that Joyce presents the themes of escape and paralysis in Dubliners. They show how Joyce sees the city of Dublin.

Hobbes VS. Locke VS. Rousseau Essay Example for Free

Hobbes VS. Locke VS. Rousseau Essay â€Å"I am at the point of believing, that my labor will be as useless as the commonwealth of Plato. For Plato, also is of the opinion that it is impossible for the disorders of the state ever to be taken away until sovereigns be philosophers . . . I recover some hope that one time or other this writing of mine may fall into the hands of a sovereign who will consider it for himself, for it is short, and I think clear. † -The Monster of Malmesbury (Thomas Hobbes), Leviathan1 Thomas Hobbes was born at Westport near Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England. 2 A wealthy uncle paid for his education and sent him to Magdalen Hall, Oxford. 3 Hobbes lived at a time of immense intellectual excitement, and the universities of his day were far from being at the cutting-edge of intellectual advance. 4 The Oxford curriculum still consisted largely of scholastic logic and metaphysics, which he regarded as sterile pedantry and for which he had nothing good to say. 5 Leaving university with a degree in scholastic logic and, it has been said, several more degrees of contempt for Aristotle in particular, and universities in general, Hobbes obtained a post as tutor to the Earl of Devonshire. 6 He travelled widely with the Duke, moving in increasingly aristocratic circles and even meeting the celebrated Italian astronomer Galileo, in 1636. 7 Hobbes also met another important figure, Sir Francis Bacon. Francis Bacon was a philosopher who rejected the Aristotelian logic and system, which basically was a speculative system, started out from some major assumptions and through deductions developed his philosophical system. 8 Thomas Hobbes has a more cynical and realistic, view of human nature than the Greeks. 9 Whilst he agrees that people have regard for their self-interest, there is little else Hobbes will accept from the ancients. 10 Hobbes was considered by many of his contemporaries to be, if not actually an atheist, certainly a heretic. 11 Indeed, after the Great Plague of 1666, in which 60,000 Londoners died, and the Great Fire straight afterwards, a parliamentary committee was set up to investigate whether heresy might have contributed to the two disasters. 12 The list of possible causes includes Hobbes’ writings. 13 Hobbes’ books are a strange mixture of jurisprudence, religious enthusiasm, and political iconoclasm. 14 Hobbes’ political theory, then is that of someone who experienced both the English Civil War and the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. 15 This fact is important to our understanding of it. 16 He formulated his political ideas several times, but it is in Leviathan that they find their most complete and influential statement. 17 His approach to politics is self-consciously scientific. 18 His technique of enquiry is delivered partly from the ‘resolutive-compositive’ method associated with Galileo and Bacon, and partly from the deductive reasoning that had so impressed him in Euclid. 19 If we are to arrive at a sound understanding of politics, we must first analyze or resolve social wholes into their smallest component parts: namely, individual human beings. 20 Then, having studied the properties and behavior of those parts in isolation, we can deduce from them, as it were from first principles, rational conclusions about social and political organization. 21 He breaks down (by analysis) social phenomena into their basic constituents, and only then synthesizes these to produce a new theory. 22 It is this technique, as much as his theory of power as the motivating spring of mankind, that makes Hobbes a distinctly modern thinker. 23 His materialism is central to his account of human behavior. 24 The body of each human being is, he thinks, only a complex mechanism, somewhat like a clock. 25 Hobbes has a mechanistic Weltanschauung. We are bodies in constant motion. 26 He seems in other words, to have a kind of materialistic psychology in which human behavior exhibits the same, as it were, mechanical tendencies as billiard balls that can be understood as obeying, again, geometric or causal processes of cause and effect. 27 Before we proceed to his account of the state of nature, we will explore first some of his important ideas. First, is his skeptical view of knowledge. Hobbes was obsessed with the question about what can I know or, maybe put a different way, what am I entitled to believe, and there are many passages in Leviathan that testify to Hobbes’ fundamentally skeptical view of knowledge. 28 He is a skeptic not because he believes that we can have no foundations for our beliefs, but he is skeptic in the sense that there can be no, on his view, transcendent of nonhuman foundations for our beliefs. 29 We cannot be certain, he thinks, of the ultimate foundations of our knowledge and this explains you may have wondered about this, this explains the importance he attributes to such things as naming and attaching correct definitions to things. 30 Knowledge, in other words, is for Hobbes a human construction and it is always subject to what human beings can be made to agree upon and that skeptical view of knowledge or at least skeptical view of the foundation of knowledge has far reaching consequences for him. 31 This argument of Hobbes resembles the thesis of Berger and Luckmann’s book. The ongoing process of objectivation-externalization-internalization to construct, reconstruct, and deconstruct the world. In other words, knowledge and human reality is ‘socially constructed’. 32 If all knowledge, according to Hobbes, ultimately rests on agreement about shared terms, he infers from that our reason, our rationality, has no share in what Plato or Aristotle would have called the divine Noos, the divine intelligence. 33 Our reason does not testify to some kind of inner voice of conscience or anything that would purport to give it some kind of indubitable foundation. 34 Such certainty as we have about anything is for Hobbes always provisional, discovered on the basis of experience and subject to continual revision in the light of further experience, and that again experiential conception of knowledge. 35 Next, is his idea of the laws of nature. Fear is the basis, even of what Hobbes called the various laws of nature. 36 The laws of nature for Hobbes are described as a precept or a general rule of reason that every man ought to endeavor peace and it is out of fear that we begin to reason and see the advantages of society; reason is dependent upon the passions, upon fear. 37 The natural laws for Hobbes are not divine commands or ordinances, he says, but they are rules of practical reason figured out by us as the optimal means of securing our well-being. 38 Ignorance of the law of nature is no excuse. 39 According to Prof. Bacale-Ocampo LlB, there are two doctrines of the natural law: everyone must seek peace and follow it, and man being able, if others were too. 40 Hobbes also said that there can be no unjust laws. There are two reasons for this proposition, according to Prof. Bacale-Ocampo LlB: law precedes justice, and the sovereign is the embodiment of all the people’s rights. 41 This argument justifies Hobbes’ defense of the absolute and authoritarian power of his sovereign. The power of the sovereign, Hobbes continually insists, must be unlimited. 42 This notion also resembles Art. XVI, Sec. III of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, that, â€Å"The State may not be sued without its consent. † In a very real sense, a suit against the State by its citizens is, in effect, a suit against the rest of the people represented by their common government – an anomalous and absurd situation indeed. 43 Now, let’s go to his notion of the state of nature. The state of nature, a shocking phrase calculated to arouse the wrath of the Church, directly conflicting with the rosy biblical image of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before the Fall. 44 Hobbes thinks the ‘human machine’ is programmed to direct its energies selfishly. 45 He doubts if it is ever possible for human beings to act altruistically, and even apparently benevolent action is actually self-serving, perhaps an attempt to make them feel good about themselves. 46 Hobbes tells us, â€Å". . . in the first place, I put for a general inclination of all mankind, a perpetual and restless desire of Power after Power, that ceaseth only in Death. †47 The desire for power is the cause of human strife and conflict. 48 Finally, Hobbes most quoted statement, that in the state of nature, â€Å". . . there is no place for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the Commodities that may be imported by Sea; no Commodious Building; no instruments of moving, and removing such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. †49 The state of nature is simply a kind of condition of maximum insecurity. 50 Hobbes continues, â€Å"Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called War; and such a War, as is of every man against every man . . . the nature of war, consisteth not in actual fighting; but in the known disposition thereto, during all the time there is no assurance to the contrary. †51 There are three principle causes of quarrel. The first is competition, for gain; the second is diffidence and a compulsion for safety; whilst the final one is the compulsion for glory, and for reputation. 52 Yet they all precipitate violence. 53 Hobbes tells us, â€Å"The first use violence, to make themselves Masters of other men’s persons, wives, children, and cattle; the second, to defend them; the third, for trifles, as a word, a smile, a different opinion, and any other sign of undervalue either direct in their Persons, or by reflection in their Kindred, their Friends, their Nation, their Profession, or their Name. †54 Hobbes also asks the readers, â€Å"Let him, the reader, therefore ask himself, when taking a journey he arms himself and seeks to go well accompanied. When going to sleep, he locks his doors even when in his house, and even when in his house he locks his chest and this, when he know, he says, there be laws and public officers armed to avenge all injuries shall be done to him . . . Does he not therefore as much accuse mankind by his action as I do by my words? †55 In short, the members of the Hobbesian state of nature employs the classic prisoner’s dilemma. The strategic interests of the two individuals are antithetical to each other, and that keeps them from forming a social solidarity that would be best for them altogether. 56 The prisoner’s dilemma is analogous to a social world in which public goods would be quite valuable to have, but in which individuals would lose something from contributing to the public good as long as other people do not. 57 There has to be an assurance that the other side will live up to the bargain; but there is no way of knowing that, and in fact one can figure out that other people will act just like oneself. 58 Whether one assumes that the other person is ultimately selfish, or merely distrusting, the outcome is the same. 59 Rational selfish individuals dealing with other rational selfish individuals will never sacrifice anything to the public good, since it would be a waste. 60 That is what makes the situation a dilemma. 61 Hobbes constructed his state of nature, using logic, not using historical data. The state of nature, for him, is rather a kind of thought experiment after the manner of experimental science. 62 Hobbes is the, again, the great founder of what we might call, among others, is the experimental method in social and political science. 63 How can we escape the horror of the Hobbesian state of nature? By establishing a sovereign by means of a social contract. He would understand (1) that it is rationally necessary to seek peace; (2) that the way to secure peace is to enter into an agreement with others not to harm one another; and (3) that having entered into such an agreement, it would be irrational, in the sense of self-defeating, to break it for as long as the others kept it. 64 By this chain of reasoning, society would be created. 65 It would be created by an agreement – a ‘compact’, as Hobbes calls it – made by individuals no one of whom has interest in anyone else’s good per se, but each of whom realizes that his own good can be secured only by agreeing not to harm others in return for their agreement not to harm him. 66 But, there must be an enforcer, because Hobbes argues that, â€Å"Covenants without the sword are but words, and of no strength to secure a man at all. †67 So the people will have to, â€Å"Confer all power and strength upon one Man, or upon one assembly of men, that may reduce all their wills, by plurality of voices, unto one Will . . . This is more than Consent, or Concord; it is a real Unity of them all, in one and the same Person, made by Covenant of every man with every man . . . that Great Leviathan, the Commonwealth, and it comes about when either one man by War subdueth his enemies to his will, or when men agree amongst themselves, to submit to some Man, or Assembly of men, voluntarily, on confidence to be protected by him against all others. †68 The sovereign is created by, but not a party to, the compact. 69 He therefore cannot be got rid of because he is in reach of the compact. 70 If he could be, his power would not, after all, be sovereign. 71 Hobbes remains one of the most impressive and influential of English political theorists. 72 He is also, though he several times twits himself on his own timidity, a writer of considerable intellectual courage, who expressed unpopular views at a time when it was dangerous – mortally dangerous, indeed to do so. 73 He also â€Å"provides an antidote to the high-minded reasoning of the schoolmen and indeed the Ancients. †74 Starting from a pragmatic assessment of human nature, he strengthens the case for a powerful political and social apparatus organizing our lives. 75 And with his interest in the methods of geometry and the natural sciences, he brings a new style of argument to political theorizing that is both more persuasive and more effective. 76 But from Hobbes we also obtain a reminder that social organization, however committed to fairness and equality it may be intended to be, being motivated by a struggle between its members, is also inevitably both authoritarian and inegalitarian. 77 Virtually all subsequent attempts to treat politics and political behavior philosophically have in some sense had to take Hobbes into account. 78 â€Å"Though the water running in the fountain be everyone’s, yet who can doubt but that in the pitcher is his only who drew it out? † -John Locke, Second Treatise79 John Locke was born into a Puritan family in Somerset, England. 80 His father was a country lawyer who raised a troop of horse and fought on the parliamentary side in the Civil War. 81 Locke went up to Christ Church, Oxford, in 1652. 82 Like Hobbes before him, Locke found the old fashioned Scholastic curriculum uncongenial, though his association with Christ Church was to last, with interruptions, for more than thirty years. 83 He became a senior student – that is, a Fellow – in 1659. 84 In 1667 he became medical adviser and general factotum of Anthony Ashley Cooper, created first Earl of Shaftesbury in 1672. 85 When Shaftesbury was appointed Lord Chancellor in 1672, Locke became his secretary. 86 Earl Shaftesbury went on to three notable political achievements: he led the opposition to Charles II, he founded the Whig Party, the forerunner of the Liberals, and he pushed Locke into politics. 87 John Locke is a kind of ‘lowest common denominator’ of political philosophy, the intellectual forebear of much of today’s political orthodoxy, a role that befits a thinker of a naturally orthodox turn of mind. 88 He also â€Å"fitted the times very well (Bertrand Russell even described him as the ‘apostle of the Revolution of 1688’). 89 His philosophy was actively adopted by contemporary politicians and thinkers; his influence was transmitted to eighteenth-century France through the medium of Voltaire’s writings, and inspired the principles of the French Revolution. 90 And his views would spread still more widely, through the writings of Thomas Paine, eventually shaping the American Revolution too. 91 Although Locke’s reputation as a philosopher rests almost entirely on the epistemological doctrines expressed in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, he made a great and lasting contribution to political thought. 92 This contribution consists mainly in his Two Treatises of Government, especially in the Second Treatise. 93 It is usual to regard the First Treatise as being mainly of antiquarian interest. 94 It is in the Second Treatise that Locke presents his own ideas. 95 The proper title of the treatise is ‘An Essay Concerning the True, Original, Extent, and End of Civil Government. ’96 The master of Locke’s own residential college at Oxford, Balliol College, described Mr. Locke as the ‘master of taciturnity’, because he could not discover, through questioning and so on, Locke’s opinions on religious and political matters. 97 Before we proceed to his notion of the state of nature, we will first explore some of his major ideas. First is his account of the law of nature. There is no modern thinker that I’m aware of who makes natural law as important to his doctrine as does Locke. 98 The law of nature, Locke tells us, â€Å"willeth the peace and preservation of all mankind. †99 Locke adds, the â€Å"law of nature . . . obliges everyone; and reason which is that law, teaches all mankind who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions. †100 Locke also offers the three fundamental rights: life, health, and property. These three rights can never be overruled even by the government. They are also our natural rights, they are pre-political, it means that they are already our rights even before the establishment of the government. The interesting thing about these fundamental rights is that it is paradoxical. There are two reasons for this paradox. The first is that, â€Å"our rights are less fully mine. †101 Our rights were given by God. Locke tells us, â€Å"For men, being all the workmanship of one Omnipotent and Infinitely Wise Maker, they are his property whose workmanship they are, made to last during his, not one another’s pleasure. †102 The second reason is that, â€Å"because our rights are unalienable, they are more deeply mine. †103 These three Lockean fundamental rights influenced the famous 1776 U. S. Declaration of Independence, â€Å"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. †104 It’s like the ghost of John Locke who wrote this declaration, not Thomas Jefferson. Every sentence of this declaration has something like a Lockean spirit or fingerprint. This Lockean principle also influenced our present Constitution. Art. III, Sec. I of the 1987 Constitution states that, â€Å"No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws. †105 Next, his theory of private property. Locke’s â€Å"account of property; certainly, in many ways, one of the most characteristic doctrines of Lockean political thought. †106 In the beginning the whole world was America, explains Locke, meaning that the world was an unexploited wilderness, before, through the efforts of people, there came farms and manufactures and buildings and cities. 107 With these come trade, and money. 108 But although property is the foundation of political society, Locke traces its origin back not to commerce, but to ‘the conjugal union. ’109 The first society was between man and wife, and later their children. 110 Locke’s view of human nature is that we are very much the property-acquiring animal. 111 Locke tells us, â€Å"Every man has a property in his own person, this nobody has any right to but himself. The labor of his body and the work of his hands, we may say are properly his. †112 This is one of the major premises of Robert Nozick and other libertarian thinkers, that we own ourselves. Locke continues, â€Å"Whatsoever then he removes out of that state of nature has provided and left it in, he has mixed his labor with, and joined to it something that in his own and thereby makes it his property. †113 Locke anticipates Marx’s Labor Theory of Value. Locke continues, â€Å"For this labor being the unquestionable property of the laborer no man but he can hence a right, to what that is once joined to, at least where there is enough and as good left in common for others. †114 Locke adds, â€Å"As much land as a man tills, plants, improves, cultivates and can use the product of, so much is his property. He by his labor, does as it were, enclose it from the common. †115 One of the most famous passages in the Second Treatise is that, â€Å"God gave the world to men in common, but since He gave it to them for their benefit and the greatest conveniences of life that they were capable to draw from it . . . it cannot be supposed He meant it should always remain common and uncultivated. He gave it to the use of the industrious and the rational and not to the fancy or covetousness of the quarrelsome and contentious. †116 Locke seems to suggest, that the state will be a commercial state, that the Lockean republic, the Lockean state will be a commercial republic. 117 Labor becomes, for Locke, his source of all value and our title to common ownership and in a remarkable rhetorical series of shifts, he makes not nature, but rather human labor and acquisition the source of property and of unlimited material possessions. 118 The new politics of the Lockean state will no longer be concerned with glory, honor, thumos, virtue, but Lockean politics will be sober, will be pedestrian, it will be hedonistic, without sublimity or joy. 119 Locke is the author of the doctrine that commerce softens manners, that it makes us less warlike, that it makes us civilized. 120 On the ground of Locke’s claim of self-ownership as the foundation of rights and justice, I will offer one of the major criticisms to this view. This is the ‘difference principle’ of one of my favorite political philosophers, John Rawls. First, â€Å"Lockean theory of justice, broadly speaking, supports a meritocracy sometimes referred to as ‘equality of opportunity’, that is, what a person does with his or her natural assets belongs exclusively to him, the right to rise or fall belongs exclusively to him. †121 Rawls’ principle â€Å"maintains that our natural endowments, our talents, our abilities, our family backgrounds, our history, our unique histories, our place, so to speak, in the social hierarchy, all of these things are from a moral point of view something completely arbitrary. 122 None of these are ours in any strong sense of the term. 123 They do not belong to us but are the result of a more or less kind of random or arbitrary genetic lottery or social lottery of which I or you happen to be the unique beficiaries. 124 No longer can I be regarded as the sole proprietor of my assets or the unique recipient of the advantages or disadvantages I may accrue from them. 125 Rawls concludes, I should not be regarded as a possessor but merely the recipient of what talents, capacities, and abilities that I may, again, purely arbitrary happen to possess. 126 The difference principle is a principle for institutions, not for individuals. 127 This is not to say that the difference principle does not imply duties for individuals – it creates innumerable duties for them. 128 It means rather that the difference principle applies in the first instance to regulate economic conventions and legal institutions, such as the market mechanism, the system of property, contract, inheritance, securities, taxation, and so on. 129 The direct application of the difference principle to structure economic institutions and its indirect application to individual conduct, exhibit what Rawls means when he says that the ‘primary subject of justice is the basic structure of society. ’130 The basic structure of society consists of the arrangement of the political, social, and economic institutions that make social cooperation possible and productive. 131 These institutions have a profound influence on individuals’ everyday lives, their characters, desires, and ambitions, as well as their future prospects. 132 The difference principle also â€Å"requires that economic institutions be designed so that the least advantaged class enjoys a greater share of income, wealth, and economic powers more generally, than it would under any other economic arrangement (with the important qualification that the final distribution is compatible with equal basic liberties and fair equal opportunities). 133 We should follow the principle that would be chose under ideal conditions not because it is rational for us to use such a procedure (in the narrow sense of rationality), and not because doing so would maximize total overall utility, but because doing so embodies fundamental values to which Rawls thinks, we are already committed, the values of freedom and equality. 134 In structuring a just society, we must also employ what Rawls called ‘the veil of ignorance’. The situation where you don’t know who you will be. 135 Using the DP and the veil of ignorance, we can assure that the cake will be sliced equally. There are other important Lockean ideas, that I wish to address, but for the main reason of limiting my paper, I won’t discuss them anymore. These important ideas are the Lockean idea of a limited government (which resembles our present form of government), his ‘Appeal to Heaven’ doctrine or the right of the people to rebel against an unjust government (this doctrine is also embodied in the Art. II, Sec. I, of the 1987 Constitution), and his famous doctrine of consent. Now, let’s proceed to the Lockean version of the state of nature. Like Hobbes, Locke makes use of the idea of a state of nature as an explanatory conceit which to build his political theory. 136 As with Hobbes, and despite some ambiguity of language, the argument is not really a historical one. 137 Locke does not take Hobbes’ pessimistic view of how ungoverned human beings would behave in relation to each other. 138 Unlike Hobbes, he does not depict the state of nature as an intolerable condition in which the amenities of civilization are impossible. 139 The drawbacks of Locke’s state of nature would be no worse than ‘inconveniences’. 140 The ‘continous inconveniences’ is that men in the state of nature were both the judge and executor of the law of nature. Locke tells us, â€Å"The execution of the law of nature is, in that state, put into every man’s hands, whereby everyone has a right to punish the transgressor of that law to such a degree as may hinder its violation. †141 Everyone can enforce the law of nature. Locke adds, â€Å"One may destroy a man who makes war upon him . . . for the same reason that he may kill a wolf or a lion; because such man . . . have no other rule, but that of force and violence, and he may be treated as beasts of prey, those dangerous and noxious creatures, that will be sure to destroy the, whenever he feels into their power. †142 How can we escape the ‘inconveniences’ of Locke’s state of nature? Civil government is the proper remedy for the inconveniences of the state of nature. 143 Just like his great predecessor Hobbes, we must mutually agree to give up our enforcement power by means of a social contract. Locke tells us, â€Å"Men being, as has been said, by nature, all free and equal and independent, no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his own consent . . . when any number of men have, by the consent of every individual, made a community, they have thereby made that community one body, with a power to act as one body, which is only by the will and determination of the majority . . . to move . . . whither the greater force carries it. †144 Locke has no particular view about the form of government should take, as long as it is based on popular consent. 145 It may be a republic, but it could be an oligarchy and there might still be a monarch. 146 But whatever form the government takes, Locke says, it does need to include some ‘separation of powers’, and sets out fairly precisely the distinction to be made between the law-making part of government – the legislature – and the action-taking part – the executive. 147 The executive must have the power to appoint and dismiss the legislature, but it does not make the one superior to the other, rather there exists a ‘fiduciary trust’. 148 According to Locke’s view of government, there are only two parties to the trust: the people, who is both trustor and beneficiary, and the legislature, who is trustee. 149 The principal characteristic of a trust is the fact that the trustee assumes primarily obligations rather than rights. 150 The purpose of the trust is determined by the interest of the beneficiary and not by the will of the trustee. 151 The trustee is little more than a servant of both trustor and beneficiary, and he may be recalled by the trustor in the event of neglect of duty. 152 Locke also tells us that, â€Å"The great and chief end, therefore, of men’s uniting into commonwealths and putting themselves under government is the preservation of their property. †153 Property here is the general term for life, liberty, and estates or possessions. This Lockean idea is also embodied in the famous The Federalist No. 10 of James Madison, â€Å"The diversity in the faculties of men from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government. †154 Locke – jointly, perhaps, with Hobbes – is the most influential of all English political theorist. 155 His political writing, like all political writing, is a response to the issues and events of a specific time and place, and reflects a particular perception of those issues and events. 156 Locke creates a picture of the world in which ‘rationality’ is the ultimate authority, not God, and certainly not, as Hobbes had insisted brute force. 157 He insists that people have certain fundamental rights and also attempt to return the other half of the human race, the female part, to their proper, equal, place in history, the family and government. 158 Locke’s legacy is the first, essentially practical, even legalistic, framework and analysis of the workings of society. 159 That is his own particular contribution to its evolution. 160 â€Å"Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains. † -the citizen of Geneva (Jean-Jacques Rousseau), The Social Contract161. Rousseau was born in Geneva in 1712, the son of a Calvinist watchmaker. 162 It was his father who brought him up, his mother having died in childbirth. 163 His father also gave Rousseau a great love of books, but otherwise he had little formal education. 164 At the age of fifteen he ran away from home and began a life of solitary wandering. 165 His was a difficult, hypersensitive personality, with a towering sense of his own genius. 166 Although capable of intense friendship, his relationships never lasted. 167 After leaving Switzerland, Rousseau lived in Savoy and worked in Italy, before gravitating to Paris, at the time the leading intellectual centre in Europe. 168 There he associated with the Enlightenment thinkers – the philosophes – and particularly Diderot. 169 Rousseau contributed articles (mainly on musicology) to their great project, the Encyclopedia, but although he subscribed to some of their beliefs he was never a committed member of the group. 170 He developed his own ideas that differed radically from their fashionable cult of reason and from establishment orthodoxy. 171 Indeed, Rousseau’s most striking characteristic is his originality. 172 He changed the thinking of Europe, having an impact on political theory, education, literature, ethics, ideas about the self and its relationship to nature, and much else. 173 These influences, together with his elevation of emotion and will above reason, make him the major precursor of the Romantic movement. 174 His early ‘Discourses’ offended the philosophes, while his two most famous works, Emile and The Social Contract (both 1762), outraged the authorities, particularly because of their.

Importance of Communication in Social Work | Essay

Importance of Communication in Social Work | Essay People continually communicate with each other in one form or another whether it be through spoken or written language. Communication is fundamental to social work enabling interactions with service users, carers, communities, professionals and organisations. The following assignment discusses how social workers communicate with a variety of individuals, how this can positively or negatively affects individuals and legislation which affects communication. The assignment will also look at barriers which affect communication and how this can affect individuals, the role self-awareness has ensuring social workers have an understanding of themselves and the effects of personal and professional values on communication. Finally the assignment will look at skills required for effective communication and ways in which these enable empowerment of individuals. Barker (2003) defines communication as ‘the verbal and nonverbal exchange of information, including all ways in which knowledge is transmitted and received.’ (Cited in Trevithick 2005: 116). Everyone communicates something, social workers need to understand how to and how people communicate enabling relationships, gaining understanding of personal circumstances and experiences through carrying out assessments, writing reports, access resources to address need e.g. multi-agency collaboration. If individuals experience a negative communication the individual may become suspicions, doubt and mistrust the social worker leading to a loss of belief in the possibility of change, however positive experiences can result in individual’s being left with a feeling of hope. (Trevithick 2005). When communicating social workers require knowledge of legislation regarding the transfer of information, the Data Protection Act (1988) controls how individual’s personal information is used by organisations and government, who are required to follow a set of ‘data protection principles’ including ‘information used fairly and lawfully’ (www.gov.uk). The Wales Accord on the Sharing of Personal Information (WASPI) framework provides protocols and agreements enabling effective collaborative working throughout organisations, enabling barriers to be overcome for ‘sharing information legally, safely and effectively’, while still ensuring the safeguarding individuals. (wales.gov.uk) some individuals experience barriers which disenable communication, individuals with learning disabilities or specific communication issues including hearing loss or visual impairment experience social issues such as being ignored, treated as stupid, shouted at or people losing patients if they require more time, resulting in individuals being excluded from communication interactions leaving people isolated from society (Cree and Myers 2010). Thompson (2007) suggests age as a barrier stating Children and young people can be seen as unable to ‘legitimately participate in decision making’ being on the ‘periphery of what are seen as adult matters’, some older individuals state they feel the same as becoming ‘elderly’ they are no longer adults having a valid point. An individual’s language is not just a means of communication it is part of their culture and identity, being able to use a preferred language can impact on professional relationships. Some people feel languages such as English are more important than others, however for Individuals with Welsh as their first language are unable to express need clearly in English due to the issue being discussed or lack of confidence, resulting in a need to swap from English to Welsh, being unable to may leave individuals feeling disempowered and oppressed as needs are not identified. Welsh Language Act became law in 1993 ensuring Welsh became equal to English enabling individuals to access services in Welsh (Davies 2011). This also impact individuals from ethnic minorities whose first language is not English. To enable effective communication social workers need to become aware of how they interact and communicate with individuals. Burnard (1992) defines self-awareness as ‘the process of getting to know your feelings, attitudes and values [and] learning about the effect you have on others’ (Cited in Thompson 2002: p3). Thompson (2002) suggests self-awareness is gained by understanding own strengths and weaknesses in different situations, recognising any prejudice and accept diversities within individuals enabling confidence in own practice. If self-awareness is not acknowledged there is a risk of creating barriers between themselves and individuals by concentrating on their issues not the issues presented by the individual e.g. traveller communities may require a female social worker to request permission from a senior male to work within their community, the social work may not agree with this but they need to understand the cultural requirements to enable engagement. Thompson (2009) suggests personal values develop from ‘upbringing, experiences and learning’, impacting attitudes, practice and ability to empower individuals. These values impact us with or without our knowledge and influence every decision social workers makes. Warren (2007) suggests social workers need awareness of own value base for two reason, firstly for awareness of ‘manipulation and control’ which may disenable social workers to fully empower service users. Secondly to enable social workers to identify conflicts which may arise between their and the service users values, such as social workers valuing a good work ethic and the service user not working claiming benefits. Service users and carers also have individual values which impact on how they engage with the social worker. Professional values are core values within codes of practice and organisations grounded in anti-oppressive practice. The care council for Wales has a set of 6 core values which impact the practice of social workers and employers including ‘strive to establish and maintain the trust and confidence of service users and carers’, social workers need to use good verbal skills such as interviewing skills to enable this (Care Council for Wales 2011) . Biestek (1961) suggests seven traditional social work values which can be reflected in how social workers communicate with individuals. Four of the suggested values link directly to social work engagement with individuals to ensure ensuring a ‘non-judgmental attitude’ which does not including professional judgements which are made by social workers, while showing the individual ‘respect’ and ‘acceptance’ of individual’s strengths and weaknesses as an individual. Social workers need to react appropriately in a sensitive and supportive way understanding the uniqueness of individual and their feelings about situations, acknowledging individuals have knowledge and experience of need, if social workers fail to acknowledge this they are at risk of treating everyone the same and not meeting the individual need. Two values relate to individuals ensuring ‘Client self-determination’ and ‘Purposeful expression of feelings’ by encouraging individuals to discuss and express their feelings openly, enabling partnership working and individuals making decisions about their lives. The final value ‘Confidentiality’ enables the individual to discuss sensitive and personal issues in a confidential environment recognising confidentiality to the organisation not the individual, which social workers need to make service user and carer aware of in the initial meeting as this may impact on relationships making individuals feel deceived if they are no t informed. (Cited in Thompson 2009: 127) Society also portrays values which are reflected in political policy and implemented in legislation, such as how individuals act within society, if individuals do not comply with societies norms they could be arrested, taken to court and issued an ASBO, however there are some values held by certain sections of society which cause the oppression of certain members of society such as people who claim benefits seen as work shy. (Warren 2007) Thompson (2007) states social workers need to understand communication can oppress individuals, to ensure communication is anti-oppressive and empowering social workers need to ensure they use appropriate communication skills to enable individuals to give their views through involvement in planning, developing and evaluating services resulting in a positive impact on individuals who engage and highlight any barriers which include issues of discrimination and oppression. Communication skills required depend on the situation and individual e.g. using basic language for a child or adults with learning disabilities would differ to giving evidence in court where more professional language is required (Trevithick 2005). Social workers need an awareness of words including gestures, meanings and understanding which may accompany them. The words a social worker uses can create relationships with individuals, but if the wrong words are chosen it can also have a negative impact on the individua l, such as using large complex words with individuals could cause feelings of inadequacy and reduce engagement. Good communication involves the use of tone, timing, body language and choice of words which convey information and meaning to what needs to be communicated. Without clarity of purpose and language to describe what is being done social workers are not able to see clearly what individuals’ needs are and if interventions are working. Thompson (2002) states verbal communication can be separated in to two different areas which are what is said and what is heard. Social workers need to be aware of the speed a conversation is conducted, if they speak to fast it can appear they are feeling angry or anxious which the individual may reflect, it can also be hard to follow especially if the person has a hearing impairment or they are not speaking their first language. However if the social worker speaks to slowly it can portray the social worker is unmotivated, very cautious o r defensive. Hanley (2009) states having good communication skills is central to empowering and anti-oppressive practice. Social workers need to ask a wide range of questions as part of interviews which have a wide range of functions including stimulating self-reflection and returning individuals to their knowledge base where self-determination and empowerment can be located. Open questions enable service users to express their thoughts and feelings in their own words, in their own time, this type of questioning forms a major part of an initial interview, however some individuals feel intimidated by this type of questions and might guess the answers. Closed questions are usually answered by yes, no or short answers such as name or age, this sort of question is good for fact finding, where time is limited and keeping the individual focussed. However this type of questioning can lead the service user away from what they perceive as the main issues leading to frustration (Trevithick 2005). Thompson (2002) states empowering interviews are built on strengths to overcome weaknesses or turn weaknesses into str engths. Appropriate interviewing can make an important contribution to empowerment however inappropriate interviewing can cause great harm. Good listening skills are required in a variety of situations such as carrying out assessments, requiring the social worker not only listen to what someone says but how it is said, when they say it and if certain themes occur. Social workers need to create an environment free from distractions to enable the social worker to listen appropriately. Trevithick (2005) states social workers need to be able to listen to what is not being said which is referred to as a ‘third ear’, being aware of the wider social and cultural context of the individual. By adopting a non-selective approach to listening the intention is to minimise the social workers bias and stereotypical assumptions and follows the lead of the individual to create an opportunity for change. Non-verbal communication accounts for two thirds of meaningful communication, there can be miscommunication between messages sent and what has been received. Egan (1982) suggests the mnemonic ‘SOLER (Straight position, Open body, Leaning, Eye contact, Relaxed) as a model for non-verbal communication through body language (cited in Hanley 2009:177). The body language of a social worker in relation to what is being said can be confusing if they do not convey the same message e.g. sitting slumped in a chair, avoiding eye contact while carrying out and assessment of need can be perceived as disinterest (Hanley 2009). Trevithick (2005) suggests observational skills are important in understanding non-verbal interactions, enabling social workers to gain understanding of a situation. Observation skills can be used as a general or specific part of an intervention to gain an understanding of the environment as well as the individual. Koprowska (2005) states by using silence this can give people the opportunity to speak, but the social worker needs to appear to show interest in the individual to encourage them to fill the silence. Lishman (1994) states symbolic communication is important to practice, being ‘punctual, reliability and attention to detail can show the social workers ‘care, concern and competence’ which can make the individual feel they are important. (cited in Trevithick 2005) The way a social worker dresses can also reflect something about the social worker and have a lot of influence on individuals depending on their age, culture and social standing. Returning phone calls can communicate a lot and can start or stop creating a working relationship. Fanon (1967) states ‘Language is a central aspect of discourse through which power is reproduced and communicated’ (cited in Thompson 2007:5). Social workers have power through decision making and statutory powers, through using effective communication skills, knowledge of value bases and legislation social workers empower individuals to gain equivalent power where appropriate. Social workers collaboratively work with individuals through sharing information, opinions and asking questions based on information and ideas of the individuals to ensure engagement is positive ensuring goals set are specific and achievable, empowering individuals to make positive changes within their lives. References Adams, R., Payne, M., Dominelli, L., (eds) (2009) Social Work themes, issues and critical debates, third edition. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan Care Council for Wales (2011) Code of Practice for Social Care workers and Employers of Social Care Workers. Cardiff. Care Council for Wales. Cree, V. and Myers, S. (2008) Social Work: making a difference. Bristol: Policy Press Gov.uk, Data Protection. Available from www.gov.uk [accessed on 01/02/15] Koprowska, J. (2005) Communication and Interpersonal skills in Social Work. Exeter: Learning matters Ltd. Thompson, N. (2002) People Skills. Basingstoke: Palgrave Thompson, N. (2007) Power and Empowerment. Dorset: Russell House Publishing Ltd. Thompson, N. (2009) Understanding Social Work, third edition. Hampshire: Palgrave macmillan Trevithick, P. (2005) social work skills: a practice handbook. United Kingdom: Open University Press Welsh Government, Wales Accord on the Sharing of Personal Information (WASPI). Available from wales.gov.uk [accessed on 13/02/15] Warren, J. (2007) Service User and Carer Participation in Social Work. United Kingdom: Learning Matters Ltd Williams, C. (eds) (2011) Social Policy for Social Welfare Practice in a Devolved Wales. United Kingdom: British Association of Social Workers