Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Mental health & Illness-Free-Samples for Students-Myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about the Mental health and Illness. Answer: Mental health and illness Recovery from mental illness is portrayed as a personals journey of an individual. The journey requires not only the medication from the nurses but also individual's efforts in fighting against the horrors of mental illness (Drake Whitley, 2014). Support from the community is also essential as it affects the psychology of the sick person. Mental health can be defined as the well-being of persons way of thinking associated with his or her ability to maintain the daily activities (Halter, 2017). Other researched disorders are mood disorders and anxiety disorder. The disorders are caused by the biological, psychological and sociological factors. Some of the causes which trigger illness include; lifestyle, chemical balance, genetics, attributes, life experiences and personal stress (Townsend Morgan, 2017). The essay covers the concept of lived experience on mental illness and examples from Sandy Jeff illustrations in the argument about mental health. Elaboration of the concept of recov ery and outline of main ideas depicted from the framework of national recovery on mental health practices. Sandy Jeff used poetry as a way of expressing her lived experience with the schizophrenia. The concept of lived experience on mental illness is important today as it provides valuable knowledge to medical professionals. Mental disorders incidences are on the rise globally. The illness affects anyone regardless of ethnicity, gender, age and class (Rogers, Pilgrim, 2014). Sandy Jeff was diagnosed with Schizophrenia at the age of 23 years .So, it was about 17 years suffering from psychotic disorder without nothing happening. No hope to get out of bed and no meaning of life. Discrimination and stigmatization from the society is the challenge experienced by mentally challenged people. For instance, they are abandoned by family members as well as most of their friend. As a result, they are left with nobody to talk to or to share with. This results in loneliness and later making them even more depressed (Perry Pescosolido, 2015). Sandy Jeff was full of phantoms and spooks in her mind that further led her into the miasmic chaos that partially obscured her actual life. According to Sandy Jeff, mentally ill people will not employ you because you are mentally ill. They stigmatize you and you feel that stigma within the community (Jeffs, 2002). Living with mental illness poses a number of challenges they faced daily livelihood. Sandy Jeff, mentioned in the madwoman in this poem', personal hygiene, food, finance, isolation, addiction, rape, loneliness and lowered self-esteem are some of these challenges. The madwoman lived alone she was isolated from her husband and children. She was lonely and often missed her family as she kept waiting to receive a letter from her family members. Since she never had anyone to support her, she opted to beg for money in the streets. She was traumatized and involve herself in drug abuse. As a result, forced to drink beer from the discarded bottles and also begs on the streets to get some money for buying cigarettes. The family never responded while her troubles persisted even more. Eventually, she had nobody offer food, therefore she had to scrounge the garbage bins to collect some (Jeffs, 2002). With respect to Sandy Jeff, isolation and loneliness will decrease the confidence of a mentally challenged person. She claimed that most of her recovery was boosted by some of the members in the society like her close friends. These people gave her a home, comfort and supported her when she was struggling her recovery journey. She believed that creating awareness will significantly help to dissolve the isolation feeling experienced by mentally sick individuals (Jeff Leggatt, 2014). During nursing care, family members and friends are important since their support will have a significant impact on mental health. (Goldberg Huxley, 2012). According to the Council, A. H. M. A. (2013) the recovery-oriented principle practices were formulated to enhance the recovery process. These principles serve as the guidelines for mental health nursing. The principles that are currently put into practice in recovery-oriented practices are personal uniqueness, real choice, respect, recovery evaluation and creation of a partnership. The process of recovery chiefly concerns the uniqueness of an individual. As illustrated by Sandy Jeff, the individuals' self-determination is vital in self-discovery process. Medical practitioners should, therefore, focus on building the self-confidence of the individual, thus nurturing their efforts toward the recovery process. Sandy Jeff explained that psychiatric professionals focus on attempt several medications so as to estimate the most effective one in the treatment of mental illness. She claimed that the basis of recovering from mental illness is the creation of identity. The identity is created in numerous ways, for example, having a good relationship, participating in cultural and sports activities, working and interacting with people. Self-worthiness gives innate feeling to certain individuals. Identifying oneself will empower an individual to persevere the difficulties face every day (Slade Longden, 2015). Sandy Jeff said that before finding her identity, she used to feel invisible when no one talked to her or even noticing her presences. Consequently, she would find herself in the misery of madness then subsequently hospitalized. She elaborated that identity makes the inner world to flourish since it determines how one relates to others as well as view yourself (Jeffs, 2002). Respect enhance self-worthiness as well as creating the identity. Effective treatment should help in identification of the captive spirits and facilitate understanding and respect. Sandy Jeff in her stories, she insisted on the treatment that enables individuals to overcome illness and regain the ability to contribute to the community. She found purpose in life through poetry. Poetry was her means of expressing her mind to the world. She found a friend how continuously supported her in publishing the written poem. Poetry was the tool she used in discovering her identity (Jeff Leggatt, 2014). Medical practitioners should allow the individuals to make their own and real choices. Since they undergo a unique recovery process, the choices on setting goals and having ambitions are personal. Sandy Jeff was unique and in her own way she chooses poetry to facilitate her recovery journey. The mental health practitioners should establish good communication and partnership with the mentally challenged people. Effective communication enables the nurses to understand the need of the sick people. Sandy Jeff wept in the day room when the woman came late in the night brushed her hair and comforted her. She felt sense of love and wished she never embarrassed her self during the mental disease experience (Jeff Leggatt, 2014). Evaluation of the individual's recovery process is monitoring at every stage, to evaluate whether or not the individual is recovering progressively (England, 2016). From the Sandy Jeff's story, personal recovery is unique to every individual. She claims recovery is measured in different ways. Getting out of the bed was part of progress to her. The document of Recovery-oriented practices in the national framework combined a number of recovery-oriented practices. The practices are meant to improve mental healthcare service delivery in Australia. The document has elaborated a number of practices which are important to recovery. Such practices are like interacting with a set of capabilities for recovery-oriented practices. Among the recovery-oriented practices in the national framework is the language that gives hope and aids in the growth of culture, prioritizing the clients, providing support, enhancing commitment as well as diversity in the organization to address mental health and recovery (council, 2013). For instance, the empowerment to Sandy Jeff was through hope and support from her friends who natured her attitude and helped her to prioritize her work in the poetry. The recovery-oriented practices provided support and facilitated her with rehabilitation through which her medication was closely monitored. In conclusion, mental illness and recovery encompass efforts applied by the individual, medical practitioners and the community support. Lived experiences of people with mental health problems such as Sandy Jeff have significantly added value to recovery practices. Such knowledge has enlightened medical practitioners on how to solve mental illness since they can now understand what goes on in the minds of their clients. References Baer, R. A. (Ed.). (2015). Mindfulness-based treatment approaches: Clinician's guide to evidence base and applications. Elsevier. Council, A. H. M. A. (2013). A national framework for recovery-oriented mental health services: a guide for practitioners and providers. Canberra: ACT. Drake, R. E., Whitley, R. (2014). Recovery and severe mental illness: description and analysis. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 59(5), 236-242. England, N. H. S. (2016). Implementing the five years forward view for mental health. London: NHS England. Goldberg, D., Huxley, P. (2012). Mental illness in the community: the pathway to psychiatric care. Routledge. Halter, M. J. (2017). Varcarolis' Foundations of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing-E-Book: A Clinical Approach. Elsevier Health Sciences. Jeffs, S.., (2002). Poems from the Madhouse. Spinifex Press. https://youtu.be/AG14Kqmry38 Jeffs, S., Leggatt, M. (2014). Schizophrenia: a dialogue on progress. Gavin Mooney Memorial Essays 2014, 41. https://youtu.be/q-MS4Sbv8Ng Perry, B. L., Pescosolido, B. A. (2015). Social network activation: the role of health discussion partners in recovery from mental illness. Social Science Medicine, 125, 116-128. https://youtu.be/pEszvWRsgZg Rogers, A., Pilgrim, D. (2014). A sociology of mental health and illness. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). Slade, M., Longden, E. (2015). Empirical evidence about recovery and mental health. BMC psychiatry, 15(1), 285. Townsend, M. C., Morgan, K. I. (2017). Psychiatric mental health nursing: Concepts of care in evidence-based practice. FA Davis

Sunday, May 3, 2020

Social Enterprise Designing Products and Services

Question: Discuss about theSocial Enterprisefor Designing Products and Services. Answer: Product Lifecycle: An Introduction Every product has four stages in its lifecycle namely, introduction, growth, maturity and decline stage. Product lifecycle management model is a model used by companies to introduce their products in the markets. The locations of products on the cycle direct companies like banking and construction to make marketing strategy and also tells them when to introduce new products (Osborne et al., 2014). The paper is a study of the model taking the ADCB as an example showing its strategies in these stages. Introduction: A new product is introduced at this stage into the market. The main concern of the producer at this stage is to gain market penetration through aggressive promotion in order to get consumer base (Ko Chen, 2014). Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank was founded in the year in 1985 as a public limited liability company by merging of Emirates Commercial Bank and Federal Commercial Bank with Khaleej Commercial Bank. The new bank, headquartered in Dubai aimed at serving the customers of its predecessor banks at this stage as it did not have any market of its own ("Personal, Online Business Banking Services UAE - ADCB", 2017). Growth The new product at this stage has a customer base that it serves and aims at expanding it. The companies increases prices for their products and also aim at building a brand image of it. Profits rise more than the introductory phase and the company also increases its promotional activities (Huertas Consolacin, 2009). ADCB sponsored an entrepreneurial event called Emirati entrepreneurs in 2010 to promote business banking products. The bank got enlisted in Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange. It also takes to expansion of its business beyond the borders of UAE and toady has presence in North America, the UK and India. Maturity: Products reach their highest market position at this stage and earn the highest revenue. Products at this stage already enjoy the advantage of their high brand value and concentrate on niche marketing to get deeper market penetration and overseas expansion. The producers decrease the value of their products and also offer discounts to get competitive advantage. A bank at this stage is a famous financial institution and has various verticals and also takes to providing banking services by using the latest technology. ADCB provides personal and business banking and Islamic banking with through mobile and internet banking. Today, the bank has matured and evolved into an international banking brand providing bank services backed by innovation and excellence. Its official website acts a powerful tool to promote its products and provides the stakeholders sand investors with financial data. Decline: A product at this stage cannot attract new customers and losses heavily on revenue. A company usually withdraws such a product and introduces a new product or an upgraded version of the earlier product. A bank at this stage introduces new products and strengthens its digital presence to retain its market. Banks at this stage are also taken over or merged with other banks. Conclusion: It can be summed up that every product has a lifecycle through which it passes. It holds true for all organizations even for international brands like ADCB. References: Huertas Garcia, R., Consolacin Segura, C. M. (2009). A framework for designing new products and services.International journal of market research,51(6), 819-840. Ko, W. C., Chen, L. H. (2014). An approach of new product planning using quality function deployment and fuzzy linear programming model.International Journal of Production Research,52(6), 1728-1743. Osborne, S. P., Radnor, Z., Vidal, I., Kinder, T. (2014). A sustainable business model for public service organizations?. Personal, Online Business Banking Services UAE - ADCB. (2017). Adcb.com. Retrieved 28 January 2017, from https://www.adcb.com/default.asp

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Worldviewwhat Is It Essay Example For Students

Worldviewwhat Is It? Essay All across the United States Christians are talking about this term called Worldview. What is it anyway? Many times, we release our guard and end up allowing society to change our thinking into what the rest of the popular culture thinks of our very being. As Christians, we should be giving scriptural backup for whatever conclusions one makes about this culture. Every society has a culture. Each culture has a different method of thinking. One of the major issues each culture eventually deals with is their basic theology. If I were to ask someone who God was, the answer would vary depending on which part of the country I was in. This is where the development of worldview begins. People within that culture begin to migrate towards those who have the same beliefs in fellowship. Those people who have the same beliefs begin to form a culture. After a culture is formed, cultural studies begin taking form. We will write a custom essay on Worldviewwhat Is It? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now In a religious community, the members of that community begin to form a standard of ethics to live by. After the individuals form a religious community, start a culture that culture begins to do cultural studies. Those cultural studies are a basis for the individuals to set boundaries of accepted ways to produce or consume culture in their community. The next step in this process deals with aesthetics. Aesthetics are the ways in which the culture communicates their beliefs and values. After all these concepts have taken their course, the individual has developed a worldview. Starting back at the very beginning of this process is the most dangerous aspect of this entire process we follow to gain a worldview. In todays society there is a variety of versions of God. Depending on which God you believe in, your community and culture could be very far fetched from what the truth is. The overlying theme behind every formation that coincides with any worldview can be asked in one question. What is the purpose of my life? As Christians, we should be involved in societys version of popular culture. We are called in the Bible to be the salt of the world, as the salt we shouldnt be merely consuming the culture in which we live in, we should be part of it, adding everything we can. Speaking about worldview does not make you automatically a believer of Christ. This topic has been discussed many times within the last five years at colleges, seminaries, and many other knowledgeable institutes around the world. We not only need to discuss what our worldview is, but we need to practice it as well. Many people dont even know what a Biblical worldview is. Discussing it with intelligent people at major debates will only help. We are merely sitting around and letting the culture change around us. That is not salt. Words / Pages : 502 / 24 . Worldviewwhat Is It Essay Example For Students Worldviewwhat Is It? Essay All across the United States Christians are talking about this term called Worldview. What is it anyway? Many times, we release our guard and end up allowing society to change our thinking into what the rest of the popular culture thinks of our very being. As Christians, we should be giving scriptural backup for whatever conclusions one makes about this culture. Every society has a culture. Each culture has a different method of thinking. One of the major issues each culture eventually deals with is their basic theology. If I were to ask someone who God was, the answer would vary depending on which part of the country I was in. This is where the development of worldview begins. People within that culture begin to migrate towards those who have the same beliefs in fellowship. Those people who have the same beliefs begin to form a culture. After a culture is formed, cultural studies begin taking form. We will write a custom essay on Worldviewwhat Is It? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now In a religious community, the members of that community begin to form a standard of ethics to live by. After the individuals form a religious community, start a culture that culture begins to do cultural studies. Those cultural studies are a basis for the individuals to set boundaries of accepted ways to produce or consume culture in their community. The next step in this process deals with aesthetics. Aesthetics are the ways in which the culture communicates their beliefs and values. After all these concepts have taken their course, the individual has developed a worldview. Starting back at the very beginning of this process is the most dangerous aspect of this entire process we follow to gain a worldview. In todays society there is a variety of versions of God. Depending on which God you believe in, your community and culture could be very far fetched from what the truth is. The overlying theme behind every formation that coincides with any worldview can be asked in one question. What is the purpose of my life? As Christians, we should be involved in societys version of popular culture. We are called in the Bible to be the salt of the world, as the salt we shouldnt be merely consuming the culture in which we live in, we should be part of it, adding everything we can. Speaking about worldview does not make you automatically a believer of Christ. This topic has been discussed many times within the last five years at colleges, seminaries, and many other knowledgeable institutes around the world. We not only need to discuss what our worldview is, but we need to practice it as well. Many people dont even know what a Biblical worldview is. Discussing it with intelligent people at major debates will only help. We are merely sitting around and letting the culture change around us. That is not salt. Words / Pages : 502 / 24 . Worldviewwhat Is It Essay Example For Students Worldviewwhat Is It? Essay All across the United States Christians are talking about this term called Worldview. What is it anyway? Many times, we release our guard and end up allowing society to change our thinking into what the rest of the popular culture thinks of our very being. As Christians, we should be giving scriptural backup for whatever conclusions one makes about this culture. Every society has a culture. Each culture has a different method of thinking. One of the major issues each culture eventually deals with is their basic theology. If I were to ask someone who God was, the answer would vary depending on which part of the country I was in. This is where the development of worldview begins. People within that culture begin to migrate towards those who have the same beliefs in fellowship. Those people who have the same beliefs begin to form a culture. After a culture is formed, cultural studies begin taking form. We will write a custom essay on Worldviewwhat Is It? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now In a religious community, the members of that community begin to form a standard of ethics to live by. After the individuals form a religious community, start a culture that culture begins to do cultural studies. Those cultural studies are a basis for the individuals to set boundaries of accepted ways to produce or consume culture in their community. The next step in this process deals with aesthetics. Aesthetics are the ways in which the culture communicates their beliefs and values. After all these concepts have taken their course, the individual has developed a worldview. Starting back at the very beginning of this process is the most dangerous aspect of this entire process we follow to gain a worldview. In todays society there is a variety of versions of God. Depending on which God you believe in, your community and culture could be very far fetched from what the truth is. The overlying theme behind every formation that coincides with any worldview can be asked in one question. What is the purpose of my life? As Christians, we should be involved in societys version of popular culture. We are called in the Bible to be the salt of the world, as the salt we shouldnt be merely consuming the culture in which we live in, we should be part of it, adding everything we can. Speaking about worldview does not make you automatically a believer of Christ. This topic has been discussed many times within the last five years at colleges, seminaries, and many other knowledgeable institutes around the world. We not only need to discuss what our worldview is, but we need to practice it as well. Many people dont even know what a Biblical worldview is. Discussing it with intelligent people at major debates will only help. We are merely sitting around and letting the culture change around us. That is not salt. .

Friday, March 6, 2020

Greed and Taxation Led to the Fall of Rome

Greed and Taxation Led to the Fall of Rome Whether you prefer to say Rome fell (in 410 when Rome was sacked, or in 476 when Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus), or simply morphed into the Byzantine Empire and medieval feudalism, economic policies of the emperors had a heavy impact on the lives of the citizens of Rome. Primary Source Bias Although they say history is written by the victors, sometimes its just written by the elites. This is the case with Tacitus (ca. 56 to 120) and Suetonius (ca.71 to 135), our primary literary sources on the first dozen emperors. Historian Cassius Dio, a contemporary of Emperor Commodus (Emperor from 180 to 192), was also from a senatorial family (which, then as now, meant elite). Commodus was one of the emperors who, although despised by the senatorial classes, was loved by the military and lower classes. The reason is mainly financial. Commodus taxed the senators and was generous with the others. Likewise, Nero (Emperor from 54 to 68) was popular with the lower classes, who held him in the kind of reverence reserved in modern times for Elvis Presley- complete with Nero sightings after his suicide.   Inflation Nero and other emperors debased the currency in order to supply a demand for more coins. Debasing currency means that instead of a coin having its own intrinsic value, it was now the only representative of the silver or gold it had once contained. In 14 (the year of Emperor Augustus death), the supply of Roman gold and silver amounted to $1,700,000,000. By 800, this had dwindled to $165,000. Part of the problem was that the government would not permit the melting down of gold and silver for individuals. By the time of Claudius II Gothicus (Emperor from 268 to 270), the amount of silver in a supposedly solid silver denarius was only .02 percent. This was or led to severe inflation, depending on how you define inflation. Especially luxurious emperors like Commodus, who marked the end of the period of the five good emperors, depleted the imperial coffers. By the time of his assassination, the Empire had almost no money left. The 5 Good Emperors Leading to up Commodus 96 to 98: Nerva  98 to 117: Trajan  117 to 138: Hadrian  Ã‚  138 to 161: Antoninus Pius  161 to 180: Marcus Aurelius177/180 to 192: ​Commodus Land The Roman Empire acquired money by taxation or by finding new sources of wealth, like land. However, it had reached its furthest limits by the time of the second good emperor, Trajan, during the period of the high empire (96 to 180), so land acquisition was no longer an option. As Rome lost territory, it also lost its revenue base. Romes wealth was originally in the land, but this gave way to wealth through taxation. During the expansion of Rome around the Mediterranean, tax-farming went hand-in-hand with provincial government since the provinces were taxed even when Romans proper were not. Tax farmers would bid for the chance to tax the province and would pay in advance. If they failed, they lost, with no recourse to Rome, but they generally made a profit at the hand of the peasants. The diminishing importance of tax-farming at the end of the Principate was a sign of moral progress, but also meant the government couldnt tap private corporations in the event of an emergency. The means of acquiring crucial monetary funds included debasing the silver currency (seen as preferable to increasing the rate of taxation, and common), spending reserves (depleting the imperial coffers), increasing taxes (which was not done during the period of the high empire), and confiscating the estates of the wealthy elite. Taxation could be in kind, rather than coinage, which required local bureaucracies to make efficient use of perishables, and might be expected to produce reduced revenue for the seat of the Roman Empire. Emperors deliberately overtaxed the senatorial (or ruling) class in order to render it powerless. To do this, the emperors needed a powerful set of enforcers- the imperial guard. Once the wealthy and powerful were no longer either rich or powerful, the poor had to pay the bills of the state. These bills included the payment of the imperial guard and the military troops at the empires borders. Feudalism Since the military and the imperial guard were absolutely essential, taxpayers had to be compelled to produce their pay. Workers had to be tied to their land. To escape the burden of tax, some small landowners sold themselves into slavery, since slaves didnt have to pay tax and freedom from taxes was more desirable than personal liberty. In the early days of the Roman Republic, debt-bondage (nexum) was acceptable. Nexum, Cornell argues, was better than being sold into foreign slavery or death. It is possible that centuries later, during the Empire, the same sentiments prevailed. Since the Empire wasnt making money from the slaves, Emperor Valens (ca. 368) made it illegal to sell oneself into slavery. Small landowners becoming feudal serfs is one of the several economic conditions  responsible for the fall of Rome. Resources and Further Reading Barnish, S. J. B. â€Å"A Note on the ‘Collatio Glebalis.†Ã‚  Historia: Zeitschrift Fà ¼r Alte Geschichte, vol. 38, no. 2, 1989, pp. 254-256.  JSTOR.Bartlett, Bruce. â€Å"How Excessive Government Killed Ancient Rome.† Cato Journal, vol. 14, no. 2, 1994, pp. 287-303.Cornell, Tim J. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome From the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 B.C.). Routledge, 1995.Hammond, Mason. â€Å"Economic Stagnation in the Early Roman Empire.† The Journal of Economic History, vol. 6, no. S1, 1946, pp. 63-90.Heather, Peter. Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians. Oxford University, 2014.Hopkins, Keith. â€Å"Taxes and Trade in the Roman Empire (200 B.C.-A.D. 400).† Journal of Roman Studies, vol. 70, Nov. 1980, pp. 101-125.Mirković Miroslava. The Later Roman Colonate and Freedom. American Philosophical Society, 1997.West, Louis C. â€Å"The Economic Collapse of the Roman Empire.†Ã‚  The Classi cal Journal, vol. 28, no. 2, 1932, pp. 96-106.  JSTOR.Wickham, Chris. â€Å"The Other Transition: From the Ancient World to Feudalism.† Past Present, vol. 103, no. 1, 1 May 1984, pp. 3-36. Woolf, Greg. â€Å"Imperialism, Empire and the Integration of the Roman Economy.† World Archaeology, vol. 23, no. 3, 1992, pp. 283-293.

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Protection and Security of a Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Protection and Security of a Company - Essay Example Securitization of information helps the organization to achieve its goals in an effective and efficient manner. If an organization fails to securitize information then it would face difficulties in both the short and the long run. Organizational efficiency suffers in scenarios where data is lost, destructed or fabricated. Hackers and malicious codes might affect the overall performance of the data and this affect the organization. Viruses are not only a threat for data security but in order to protect and secure an organization's data a solution or an effective data recovery and backup plan must be maintained by an organization. Security analysts are hired to maintain security in an organization both internally and externally. Security control procedures are essential to every organization and every organization usually devises a strategy on how to monitor and control its security issues. The element of data security involves a request message at a network node and on the intermediate level (Lehtinen & Gangemi, 2006). Then this request message is linked with the total number of data packets that are emitted from a communicating device. Organizations must develop a comprehensive set of instructions and procedures in order to assess the effectiveness of security controls that are implemented in the computer systems. ... In order to securitize the data all the security procedures must be implemented effectively and they should fulfill all the security requirements. Security control procedures must continuously check the changes that are taking place in the information systems and should frame the security procedures accordingly. Proper planning and strategy must be developed when preparing the procedures of security within an organization. Disruption can cause serious threats to security and it might result in data loses and malfunctioning of information. Lack of retrieving valuable information or data errors can create havoc for any organization and it might result in losses to the company in the long term. Security control procedures must be designed in such a way that they must provide a proper backup to the data (Carr & Snyder, 2006). A firewall must be installed for eliminating external threats like hacking, viruses etc. Disruptions are the most dangerous threat to data security because data can be damaged and fabrications in the data can be lethal to an organization. In the scenario of destruction a proper back up plan on storage devices is the ultimate remedy of this problem. Moreover, data backup should be placed online and to secure places. Security control procedures of nearly all the organizations revolve around the idea of maintaining backups for data prior to destruction. However, conventional organization s rely heavily on data backups through physical devices but this won't stop data from destructing in the long run because a disaster like flood or an earth quake can ruin all the devices and storage capacity of the data (Bishop, 2002). Therefore, organizations must maintain

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

'In company reporting, the measurement of the amount of impairment of Essay

'In company reporting, the measurement of the amount of impairment of many types of assets is so subjective as to be meaningless - Essay Example For that financial activity, they are totally free to judge, determine and allocate their impairment estimation. The International Financial Reporting Standards, which are commonly known as IFRS, are unable to provide any guidance for the purpose of having an authorised and agreed way of judging and assigning the level of fixed assets impairment. After determining and issuing the International Accounting Standards number 36, in short IAS 36, the management of IFRS has become satisfied that they have successfully played and performed their job in the most positive way. Unfortunately, this level of contribution from the management of IFRS has only increased the use of subjectivity for the purpose of determining and assigning impairment for fixed assets. A huge amount of possible implications cannot be avoided. Many companies use this type of freedom to determine and allocate that level of impairment that may only support the interests of management at the cost of real owners-the shareh olders. By determining the level of impairment for different types of assets, many companies become successful in engineering the type of financial statements that they want to show and declare in the public. Multiple impacts can be appeared on the financial statements. For example, for the statement of comprehensive income, the impact of impairment would be that it would show less net profit than it could have shown in case of no loss of impairment. Furthermore, this would directly and negatively show its effects on dividends of the company as well. Due to the occurrence of the impairment loss, the company is required to reduce the amount of profit. Consequently, less amount of dividend would be announced and given to the shareholders of the company. The shareholders could have given more dividends if the company had not shown the occurrence of the impairment loss. Additionally, if the amount of impairment is substantial and material, then undoubtedly, this would negatively impact on the valuation of the business of the company; aggregately, company may experience a reduced level of confidence by shareholders, individual and institutional investors as well. In the same context, the announcement of material impairment could impact on a share price of the company. And this impact would show its presence by forcing the share price to reduce its current level of price to the level of reduced amount. All in all, the use of subjectivity for the purpose of determining a particular amount of impairment has put a considerable amount of impact on the financial statements, share price, reduced amount of dividends, tax saving, and other short term and long term impacts. International Accounting Standard 36: Impairment of assets The main and fundamental aim of this standard is to ensure that the long term fixed assets are carried and incorporated into the financial statements at no more than their recoverable amount. Before going to further understand and analyse the conc ept and application of impairment, it is highly important to define and understand the meaning of assets which come directly under the ambit of impairment loss. International Accounting Standards Board has defined the concept of asset as â€Å" an asset of an entity is (a) cash held by the entity; (b) a present right of the entity to cash; or

Monday, January 27, 2020

Growth of LGBT Images in Popular Culture

Growth of LGBT Images in Popular Culture Recent years have witnessed a proliferation of images of LGBT people in popular culture. Discuss this growth in visibility with reference to queer theory. In recent years we have witnessed a proliferation of images of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people (LGBT) in popular culture. An indication of why this has occurred can be found in the historical context from which modern homo-viability arose. Furthermore I will look at how this increased homo-visibility has challenged heteronormativity thus producing social changes through collective social action and innovation, furthermore I will look at examples of LGBT images in television and film and gay representation. After mapping changes I consider the positive and negative implications associated with the increase in images of LGBT people in popular culture and the effects of modern homo-visual representations with reference to Queer Theory. After mapping changes I consider whether Queer Theory offers an adequate account of changes or whether [other theories] give a more comprehensive analysis of why these developments occurred and whether they explain the positive and negative implications of the increase of visibility. Societal attitudes towards same-sex relationships vary over time and place; according to constructionists the meanings of sexual acts are historically, culturally and contextually specific. This is demonstrated when observing historical social changes in sexual orientation. Constructionists hold that sexual orientation is fluid and dynamic, and that sexuality is constructed by social factors and influenced by social changes. In some ancient societies sexual orientation was not subjected to the binary constraints that are used to define categorize and segregate those of difference in more recent times, therefore sexuality was ambiguous. Historically we have witnessed the regulation of sexual orientation through formal societal controls enforced through law and judicial mechanisms, demonstrated historically by the sodomy laws prohibited homosexuality and made a capital offence in Britain in 1810. Even today homosexuality is illegal and punishable by death in some countries. This essay will look primarily at western societies and the historical context in which recognition of LGBT has become apparent. In modern western cultures, gay and lesbian people have been subjected to frequent prejudice and discrimination. This oppression often caused LGBT people to repress their true identities and sexual preference. 1973 was an important year for the LGBT community as the American Psychiatric Association removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders their definition of homosexuality. As a result homosexuality was no longer classed as a clinical mental disorder as something abnormal that needed medical treatment. Homosexual acts were decriminalized in the Western world by the 1970s but it was not until the mid-1970s that the LGBT community became visible because of active protest to gain social recognition, which was vital for the minority to fight for their civil rights. The Stonewall Riots in 1969 contributed to the increase in LGBT visibility. The Stonewall Riots were a series of violent conflicts between the LGBT community and New York City police officers. These riots lasted several days and were centered at the Stonewall Inn New York. These riots were widely recognized at the catalyst for the modern-day movement towards LGBT rights never before have the LGBT community acted collectively to forcibly resist police harassment. The activist movements of the 1960s and 70s inspired events such as pride parades and dyke marches, it also caused large numbers of gay men and lesbians to protest against repression, police entrapment, and other forms of discrimination. Howvever this was transformed by the AIDS epidemic that struck the gay community so devastatingly in the 1980s. The AIDS epidemic affected both heterosexuals and homosexuals; however it was largely portrayed in media representations and pubic spheres as a homosexual disease and attempts were made by homophobes to restrict media representations of homosexuality, the only representations of the LGBT community were negative and reinforced this negative stigma. Due to the homophobic past LGBT individuals were particularly vulnerable to the AIDS virus. Due to inadequate education LGBT individuals were not as aware of the precautions needed for safe sex in same-sex relations, and due to homo-invisibility only heterosexual safe-sex advice and education was available in schools. However, this horrific epidemic did provide the LGBT community with a public voice, increasing public visibility. Through collective action they struggled against this discrimination and organized campaigns to promote efforts in AIDS education, prevention, research, patient support, and community outreach. One important influential figure in AIDS activism through art is American pioneer Gran Fury. He formed a gay activist group called ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) This group aimed to inform a broad public and provoke direct action to end the AIDS crisis. His works include, the street-spanning banner announcing that All people with AIDS are innocent, The collectives image of three interracial homosexual and heterosexual couples kissing above the caption Kissing Doesnt Kill: Greed and Indifference Do In addition to the work of Gran Fury, caused several other significant public projects to arise in response to the AIDS crisis including SILENCE=DEATH Project and the Red Ribbon Project. This collective effort transformed the AIDS epidemic from a syndrome that many were reluctant to speak about to a subject that could be raised sympathetically in popular news magazines and on television programs. Old stereotypes were seen to be inappropriate and, while much coverage of the epidemic was homophobic, some ignorance was dispelled and as a result, AIDS awareness has now spread into the mainstream, creating its own sphere of community-based organizations, charitable institutions, and even magazines for those who are HIV-positive. During the 1980s and 1990s the LGBT community gained some legal protection and public recognition thorough collective action and protest. Laws decriminalizing homosexual behavior and prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing, and services were introduced. These were all positive achievements essential for the LGBT battle for equality and social acceptance; however, due to the increase in public visibility the LGBT community were affected by increased homophobia; LGBT individuals were victims of servere discrimination and hate crimes. Coming out still involved courage, indicating that negative implications of increased visibility persisted. Historically LGBT have had to face many struggles in order to become visible but due to collective action of the LGBT community, however their struggles have had both positive and negative consequences, today the gay community are visible in public, political domains, this increased visibility has allowed the gay community to express their gay culture through gay prides, rainbow flags, LGBT events and gaining increased visibility in many areas of visual popular culture including, magazines film, music and television The prevalence of LGBT representations in cinematic art and media representations prevailing in western culture has had positive contributions in challenging the dominance of heteronormativity through the increasing awareness of LGBT community. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have been have been slowly gaining recognition by through collective action they have challenged and helped reconfigure notions of what had been compulsive normative homosexual representations. This challenge has changed peoples perception of categories of difference (masculinity and femininity) and (homosexuality and heterosexuality). However not all gay representations are a positive, some media representation of LGBT individuals are distorted stereotypes. Typical media representations portrayals of gay men are sometimes negative, gay men are portrayed as ill from aids as demonstrated by the media representations of Freddy Mercury Effeminate These forms of stereotypes can cause negative implications for young gay men because they could see these representations as an ideal type. Lesbians are often portrayed in the media as butch man haters, or over feminized â€Å"lip-stick lesbians† these representations similarly to gay men are stereotypes and does typically not apply to all lesbians. Controversially lesbian visual representations are usually a fictional account distorted through a heteronormative lens of heterosexual males and capitalists self interest this is demonstrated in the picture below The power and dominance of heteronormative ideals has caused many past gay and lesbian film actors to feel the need to conceal their true sexual identity. Some feel they need to conform to heteronormative ideals in order to fulfil the fantasies of the heterosexual mainstream audience. Many gay actors wish to remain closeted, for example Rock Hudson Hudson said he would rather die before fans discovered he was gay he even misled magazines by posing with glamorous female stars. In 1985 that Hudson had AIDS, and a brief lover publicly outed him to the media. For most film stars open homosexuality, or even rumours of homosexuality, could end their careers. Therefore, it is not surprising that some gay and lesbian actors disguise their sexuality. However contemporary modern western societies we are slowly seeing changes in societal altitude, due to the fragmented nature of modern societal structure people no longer share common norms and values, this is due to the break down of social solidarity, this has caused people to fight the restrictive nature of heteronormativity. The British actor Rupert Everett came out publicly in 1989. Rather than ruining his career his openness of his sexual identity seems only to have made him more interesting to audiences. After his success in My Best Friends Wedding (1997), in which, however, he played a gay character, he landed a very big role as the voice of the heterosexual character prince charming in the famous film series of Shrek. Challenging this normative heterosexuality by broadening the range of identities and desires represented through the visual media has been a central concern in works created by independent lesbian/gay/ bisexual/transgender television and film makers, these films aim to centre and normalize homosexual identity. Many people see the success of Queer as Folk as evidence that TV shows can still be enormously popular and profitable due to the growing demand in the market for an un-distorted true representation of LGBT individuals lives. I have mapped out the historical context which has explained some of the social changes that have occurred that could have contributed to the proliferation of images of (LGBT) people in popular culture. I will now look at the views of Queer Theorists and their position and influence on the increase of LGBT images in popular culture. Queer theory was developed a response to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, which promoted a renewal of radical activism. This theory contested against the increased homophobia brought about by public responses to AIDS. Queer theory became occupied in part with what effects put into circulation around the AIDS epidemic necessitated and nurtured new forms of political organization, education and theorizing in queer. Queer theory developed out of unexamined constraints in the traditional identity politics of recognition and self-identity. Queer identity, unlike the other categories labeled lesbian or gay, has no interest in consolidating or stabilizing itself. It maintains its critique of identity-focus by understanding the formation of its own coalition; this may result in exclusionary effects in excess of those intended. Queer theory challenges heteronormativity by providing recognition to a wide array of non-normative sexualities and sexual practices therefore not only applying to lesbian and gay men, but transsexual, bisexual, intersexual individuals. Queer theorists aim to challenge the cultural notions of straight ideology by the deconstruction the constraints of gender and sexual categorization, through challenging heteronormative ideals they wish to de-stigmatize those affected by segregation and repression. Queer theorists hold that sexuality is fluid and therefore should not be restrained by categorization. The fragmentation characteristic of modern societies that has occurred has caused a decline in social solidarity therefore people do not share the same cultural norms, beliefs, or sexual orientation many people in modern societies have multiple identities therefore cannot be homogenized for the purpose of categorization. They focus on the individual subjective nature of gender and sexual identity and respect the meanings of these identities are only valid in that particular space and time. This perspective contrasts the essentialists theory, essentialists hold that gender and sexuality is an essential part of an individuals biology which is determined at birth this notion is rejected by queer theorists. Hollywood film productions pursues the straight theme as being the dominant theme to outline what masculine is. This is particularly noticeable in gangster films, action films and westerns, which never have weak (read: homosexual) men playing the heroes, with the recent exception of the film Brokeback Mountain. Queer theory looks at destabilizing and shifting the boundaries of these cultural constructions. Queer theory was originally associated with radical gay politics of ACT UP, Outrage! and other groups which embraced queer as an identity label that pointed to a separatist, non-assimilationist politics.[5] Queer theory developed out of unexamined constraints in the traditional identity politics of recognition and self-identity. Queer identity, unlike the other categories labeled lesbian or gay, has no interest in consolidating or stabilizing itself. It maintains its critique of identity-focus by understanding the formation of its own coalition; this may result in exclusionary effects in excess of those intended. Foucault theories contributed to the formulation of queer theory in his publication The History of Sexuality, he follows the social fluidity of gender and sexual orientation and the categorization of those of difference. He demonstrates how labels are created through different discourses and power relations therefore meanings reflect the social attitudes of that particular context E.g. Sodomy and homosexuality. According to Foucault he term homosexual was created through the discourses of medicine and especially psychiatry. But the consequences of this discourse transformed a previously socially accepted form of sexual expression to a sinful, mental condition. Foucault holds that prior to the invention of these labels of difference people were just people. Queer culture in general is intertwining with the common normative culture, with people being exposed to the ideas of gay pride and becoming more educated about queer studies in schools and society. Queer theorists focus on problems in classifying every individual as either male or female, even on a strictly biological basis. For example, the sex chromosomes (X and Y) may exist in atypical combinations (as in Klinefelters syndrome [XXY]). This complicates the use of genotype as a means to define exactly two distinct genders. Intersexed individuals may for many different biological reasons have ambiguous sexual characteristics Conclusion By the middle of the second decade of the twentieth century, the conception of homosexuality as a distinct identity category, with implications of mental and physical illness, homosexuality was no longer defined as a mental disorder Although homosexuality would not be categorized as a distinct type of deviant personality until the beginning of the twentieth century, heterosexual values were effectively imposed throughout western society during the nineteenth century In the new millennium, gay activism has increasingly become less galvanized by the specter of AIDS and has seemingly splintered into dozens of micro-movementsfocusing on issues ranging from gays in the military to parenting, same-sex marriage, workplace fairness. Yet others raise questions about the stigmatization of the gay body in those media that treat AIDS as a sign of the perversion of gay sexual practices and reinforce prejudices and stereotypes that contribute to homophobia. Some represent the gay body in terms of its erotic and sensual power, while others, in the hope of raising awareness, inscribe it within the structure of their art as a positive model of affirmation and sexual liberation. In contemporary visual representations, the gay body manifests itself through the presentation of iconographic codes and semantic referents constituted in the objectification of sociosexual and cultural actions of the gay community. Whether active or passive participants in this community, gay artists express themselves by proposing their sexuality as a locus for learning and communicating real experience, all the while critiquing media-promulgated stereotypes which they dispute, reject or adopt. For more than two decades, precipitated by the feminist movement, the gay/lesbian liberation movement, and the AIDS crisis, discourses of gender, sexuality, and sexual identity have been central to visual representation. As closet doors protecting compulsory heterosexuality(6) are opened and the sight lines of those constrained within are expanded our system of difference/s is seen at every level to bear traces of coerced subordination. Bibliography Halperin, David (1990) in Jagose, Annamarie (1996) Queer Theory. An Introduction. New York University  Press. Original emphasis . Foucault, Michel (1981) The History of Sexuality, vol. 1, An Introduction. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Harry Benshoff and Sean Griffin, Queer Cinema: The Film Reader. New York and Oxford: Routledge.  (2004): 6. Thomas Waugh, The Fruit Machine: Twenty Years of Writings on Queer Cinema. Durham and London: Duke University Press. (2000): 239. Paul Lee, â€Å"Directors Notes,† CFMDC archives. 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