Quality Special Education Program Essay Example for Free

Quality Special Education Program Essay Recent reforms in education have emphasized the need for sensitivity and responsiveness to students social contexts. This is to increase not only the effectiveness of educational programs but also to create individual relevance to the student learning. Behavioral management is critical in special education programs because students behavior are often used by the public to determine the social roles and value of special-needs children. This can prove to be challenging for special education programs since social standards may vary in communities and therefore behavioral and social integration requirements will vary as well (Kopelowicz et al, 2006). Therefore, there is a need for special education teachers to have the means to evaluate individual student socialization requirements to ensure that they accomplish not only academic and behavioral educational goals but also to enhance their social integration and empowerment. Proposal The development of academic and behavioral programs that highlight socialization requires educators access to relevant research and the capacity to both research and their individual experience in developing interventions. In either case, Williams and Reisberg (2003) point out that teachers depend greatly on institutional support of such objectives and often have little direct participation in program development. This may be because of the need to develop general policies, procedures or methodologies but it also limits social context input thus diminishing the social relevance of interventions (Sailor et al, 2007). Therefore, there is a need for individual educational programs to develop their own evaluation methods to determine the socialization and social integration requirements of their students Recognizing the limitation on resources and manpower common to special education initiatives in public schools, the researchs target population will be limited to its existing students and extent of integration will only range from family to the school community interactions (Kopelowicz et al, 2006). It should be noted that the project should emphasize community and professional collaboration to create awareness and collect to multi-dimensional perspectives in improving socialization components to currently implemented academic and behavioral programs. Moreover, the evaluation or assessment programs must be easy to replicate so that it can be utilized in other educational settings and provide a baseline for socialization component evaluation. Rationale The assessment will then serve to develop high-impact low cost interventions, each intervention or program having a duration of twelve weeks. According to the studies conducted by Barry and Burlew (2004), Smith and Gilles (2003) and Koh and Robertson (2003), educators level of commitment to educational programs is often used as an indication of institutional commitment and concern to an issue. Thus, it is important for educators to take an active role in initiatives particularly where external stakeholders are involved. This is not only to utilize the social recognition of teachers role in education but also to utilize their professional practical experience. This becomes even more critical in special education programs since there is a limitation to public awareness and understanding of the socialization requirements of special needs students (Sailor et al, 2007). Even more critical is that without direct involvement in the evaluation or assessment program, educators will diminish their capacity to rational research and study results which in turn will impair the development of individual interventions and programs. Considering that the component of concern is socialization, the degree of sensitivity and relevance of the programs to specific social contexts will directly impact the level of social competency developed by students (Kopelowicz et al, 2006). More importantly, the assessment or evaluation program will be able to create a means to discuss perceived limitations in special education programs in addressing social stigmas and misconceptions regarding special education students, curriculum and requirements (Sloan et al, 2003). This will afford educators insights to the socialization impediments not only in education settings but society as a whole. In addressing such issues, programs will not only be able to sustain the relevance of programs after school but also initiate long-term social support systems for students. Conclusion In the case special education, this has become even more critical as the advocacy for social recognition and participation become critical to policies and treatments (Kam et al, 2004). Furthermore, research suggests that social skills development has been linked directly with perceived quality of special education and overall social acceptance of conditions being addressed by special education curriculum (Koh Robertson, 2003). This has translated to the inclusion of social integration objectives in both academic and behavioral interventions. This has increased the demand for collaborations between schools, parents and community (Sailor et al, 2007). However, to be able to fully meet this need, education stakeholders must not only develop programs but also institute evaluation and feedback systems to ensure the fulfillment of not only program objectives but also create opportunity to develop competencies, collaborations and public knowledge about special education concerns and issues. References Barry, Leasha M. and Burlew, Suzanne B. ( 2004). Using Social Stories to Teach Choice and Play Skills to Children With Autism.Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, Jan; 19: 45 51. Kam, Chi-Ming, Greenberg, Mark T. and Kusche, Carol A. ( 2004). Sustained Effects of the PATHS Curriculum on the Social and Psychological Adjustment of Children in Special Education. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, Jan; 12: 66 – 78. Koh, Myung-Sook and Robertson, Janna Siegel ( 2003). School Reform Models and Special Education. Education and Urban Society, Aug; 35: 421 442. Kopelowicz, Alex, Liberman, Robert Paul and Zarate, Roberto ( 2006). Recent Advances in Social Skills Training for Schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull, Oct; 32: S12 S23. Sailor, Wayne, Stowe,Matthew J. , Turnbull, H. Rutherford and Kleinhammer-Tramill, P. Jeannie ( 2007). A Case for Adding a Social—Behavioral Standard to Standards-Based Education With Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support as Its Basis Remedial and Special Education, Dec; 28: 366 376. Sloan,Morris, Hughes, Marie Tejero, Elbaum, Batya and Sridhar, Dheepa ( 2003). Social Skills Interventions for Young Children with Disabilities: A Synthesis of Group Design Studies. Remedial and Special Education, Jan; 24: 2 15. Smith, Stephen W. and Gilles, Donna L. ( 2003). Using Key Instructional Elements to Systematically Promote Social Skill Generalization for Students with Challenging Behavior. Intervention in School and Clinic, Sep; 39: 30 37. Williams, Gregory J. and Reisberg, Leon ( 2003). Successful Inclusion: Teaching Social Skills Through Curriculum Integration. Intervention in School and Clinic,

Environmental Degradation: Causes and Effects

Environmental Degradation: Causes and Effects Introduction Thesis statement and Purpose statement Nowadays, the development of urbanization, which causes concentrated human population and habitat in small areas, has occurred at a very quick pace. Urban standard of living has risen roughly on the basis of technical innovations and changes in social structure. However, at the same time, there is a widespread concern about unsustainable city development and infrastructure due to the inequality between the progress and the environmental threat (Boyce, 1994, 18). The economic development brings both prosperity for people and damage to the environment, which includes air, water and soil pollution. Lovejoy (1993, p.125) argued this common occurrence is rampantly increasing all over the world, particular in developing countries. With limited time and resources, this paper will explore some common features of urban environmental degradation based on the authors experiences and geographical perspectives of Vietnam. The aim of this paper is to identify what urban environmental degradation is, and then understand the reasons and effects of this issue. From this basis, the research will refer to some assumptions and implications of other authors work and examples before suggesting some possible solutions to ensure the sustainability for new urban developments as well as the environment. Definition of urban environmental degradation Recognition of an environmental degradation is essential for the management of urban environment. Hackett (1993, pg. 116) writes that urban degradation is a result of the rapid growth in urban population and industrialization which causes many negative impacts on the urban landscapes and living quality of cities, such as poor quality housing, inadequate infrastructure and industrial pollution. Simultaneously, some factors seriously affect the environment as well as the balance of nature. According to Bolay et al. (1997, p. 185), urban environmental problems such as air and water pollution and solid wastes are becoming more serious in developing countries, and Vietnam in particular. Most cities in Vietnam have a high level of population density compared to other countries in the world. There are, for example, more than 23,000 inhabitants per square kilometers in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). The shortage of infrastructure and urban services in those cities has become alarming, which has led to the city amenities not being able to meet the enormous population demand (Bolay et al. (1997, p. 189)). Therefore, pollution of surface and underground water, soil and air by households and production has increased roughly these days. It is expected that the Government would take immediate measures in this issue by identifying and suggesting possible solutions to reduce these effects in order to improve the quality of the urban environmental. As can be seen in the Figure 1, urbanized area in HCMC has been expanding rapidly in the past five years. The population has roughly increased in the fringe areas of HCMC, while decreased in the city center (particular in District 1, 3 the centre Business district (CBD)) from 1999. This partly reflects the changes in the land prices. Higher land prices in the city center are affecting population decrease in that area and population increase in suburban areas. Besides, we can predict that the housing development of HCMC would increase in the West and Northwest directions and start occurring in East and South directions in the next ten years. Problem analysis Urbanization causes an overload on infrastructure, particularly in road network, water supply systems and drainage. As Lovejoy (1993, p. 126) referred, the sudden increase in population puts the city under pressure of basic infrastructure demand. There are many requirements for the expanding urban areas, rising food, water and infrastructure quality as well as offering more jobs. To cater for these demands, industrial companies have to increase products and exploit resources as fully as possible. This creates many environmental problems because the natural resources and urban amenities are limited (Satterthwaite, 2009, p. 546). The major problem of urban degradation is air and water pollution. In urbanized cities, air and water pollution is mainly emitted through industrial activities, especially from the production of electricity generated by fossil fuels. Transportation, households, hospitals, laboratories and pesticide used for crops are also responsible for the release of these pollutants into the environment (Satterthwaite, 2009, p. 546-547). Consequently, this dumping of dangerous waste on open sites produces poisoned air and water probably makes people living around the site suffer from diseases simultaneously increasing the incidence of allergies and other symptoms. In HCMC, due to the progress of urbanization, the quality of air and water gradually decrease these years. It can be seen from Figure 2, since 2003, the index of air pollutions has dropped dramatically and the water quality has been below the standard of Vietnam (TCVN). Especially, because the city residents are accustomed to using motorbike, the emissions from motor vehicles contribute high concentrations of air pollutants and smoke. Therefore, pollutions from traffic congestion are becoming one of the most serious environmental issues in HCMC. In addition, urbanization causes population density and increases the demands on urban amenities. Lovejoy (1993, p. 124) states most new dwelling places have no civic facilities, such as water supply, drainage, roads People living in these places discharge rubbish and dirty water directly to channels and rivers as they used to in rural areas. This condition leads to establish the new slums with many environmental and social problems. There are two basic reasons for the disordered urbanization for the past few years which involve the roles of local Government and residents. The first reason is the lack of specific urban planning. The urban planning management is rather passive and mainly depends on experiences (Lovejoy, 1993, p. 124). In many countries, local governments do not know exactly what the function of a specific land will be and how to control this issue effectively. Investor demands hardly meet government approval, and even worse, several projects have not been able to persuade local residents to accept and be carried out (Satterthwaite, 2009, p. 559). The other factor is the awareness of community about environment problems. Majority of residents are just aware of the visual environmental problems in short-term such as noise pollutions and smoke while the solid wastes and underground water pollutions are actually the elements destroying the natural systems in long-term. As a result, it is necessary to establish more and more education programs for citizens in attempt to rise the understanding of community in the quality of urban environment (Bolay et al. (1997, p. 192). Solutions: In my point of view, to improve the living quality and solve the environmental degradation, the government should establish a comprehensive planning system which includes socio-economic development plan, urban construction plan and land use plan. Planning should regulate where it is appropriate to have certain functions located, where it is necessary to have waste disposal sites or green areas and where is suitable to build industrial zones Besides, urban planning should take into account many other factors such as infrastructure and relevant works, making it favorable for development of an area where urbanization is taking place. As an illustration, Figure 3 shows an example of land use plan which respects the natural principles and probably leads to a sustainable development area. An establishment of laws, regulations and guidelines is also necessary in implementation of the Urban Master plans in each level, such as General plans and Detailed plans. For example, policy makers should establish specific socio-economic characteristics in each local area in order to make new and specific policies for urbanizing areas, which should be different from policies for districts already urbanized. Besides, apply indirect tools such as economic measures, including penalties that a production or company have to pay whenever it causes pollution, is also useful in avoiding the increase of urban environmental degradation. Conclusions Urbanization has clearly caused impacts on the city economic structure, especially in urbanized areas. There are positive changes in many social aspects. There is also environmental deterioration and pollution. If people are not noticed and properly solved, this issue will result in extremely consequences and cause negative impacts on the citys urban sustainable development. References Bolay, J.C Cartoux, S Cunha, A Du, T.T.N Bassand, M 1997, Sustainable Development and Urban Growth: Precarious Habitat and Water Management in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam, Habitat INTL., Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 185-197, Elsevier Science, viewed 14 Dec 2009,. Boyce, J-K 1994, Inequality as a Cause of Environmental Degradation, Ecological Economics, vol. 11, pp. 1-20, Political Economy Research Institute, viewed 12 Dec 2009,. Chiapponi, M 1992, Environmental management and planning: The role of spatial and temporal scales, Ekistics 356-357, pp. 306-310. Hackett, B 1993, A landscape basis for planning, Ekistics 360 361, pp. 116-118. Lovejoy, D 1993, The vital role of the landscape architect in solving environmental problems, Ekistics 360 361, pp. 124 126. Satterthwaite, D 2009, The implications of population growth and urbanization for climate change, Environment and Urbanization 2009, vol. 21, pp. 545, Sage, viewed 17 Dec 2009,http://eau.sagepub.com >

Marketing Strategy 4. Recruiting Foster Carers

Marketing Strategy 4. Recruiting Foster Carers More foster carers are needed in the UK today. Official statistics from the Fostering Network indicate that over 10,000 foster families are needed. Another research by Fostering Network found 82% of local authorities saw a rise in the number of children coming into care and needing foster homes in 2009-10. Family foster care provides substitute planned family care for children who cannot be adequately cared at the own home due to various reasons. 4.1 Foster children: The number of children coming into foster care has become overwhelming over the years. But the fact is that it has become very difficult to find the families who are ready to meet the challenges of increasing complex behavioural, emotional needs these children experience. SHORTAGE OF FOSTER HOMES England: 8,200 Scotland: 1,700 Wales: 750 Region Shortage England 8200 Scotland 1700 Wales 750 Source: Fostering Network Website Chart 1a: National Breakdown: Shortage of Foster Homes in England, Scotland and Wales SHORTAGE OF FOSTER HOMES IN ENGLAND North West: 1700 North East: 1300 East: 650 South West: 600 South East: 850 London: 2000 West Midlands: 650 East Midlands: 450 Region Shortage North Wales 1700 North East 1300 East 650 South West 600 South East 850 London 2000 West Midlands 650 East Midlands 450 Source: Fostering Network Website Chart 1b: Regional Breakdown: Shortage of Foster Homes in England 4.2 Motivations for foster carers: Much research has been conducted on this issue as what motivates people to foster. It is very important to understand this key component because this may help to understand their needs and can be used as a tool in the marketing mix to recruit more carer. In 1996, Denby Rindfleisch conducted a research on children and youth services. The research was conducted in order to understand what motivates a person to become a foster carer. Some of the findings were, fulfilling the need for foster homes in the community, enjoying and wanting to help children, providing a companion for an only child and for oneself, increasing family size, obtaining substitute for a child who has died or who has grown and left home, religious reasons and supplementing family income (Denby Rindfleisch, 1996). Based on the findings of this research it is very clear that there are various factors that are involved for a person to become a foster parent. 4.3 Foster carer recruitment: In the recent years, there has been a decline in the number of families able to provide foster care. When a child is identified in need of foster care, the problem of finding placement homes still remains very high. Some of the factors that are related to the shortage of foster carers may be due to the following reasons: Greater difficulty in meeting the increasing complexity needs to become a foster carer Lack of public awareness The poor public image of faster carer. With these issues, it has become difficult to recruit foster carer and has become an important and yet a challenging task. Recruitment of quality foster carer in an on-going demand for the agency. 4.4 Productive approaches 2008 till date: For the past 2 years, the enquiries generated by fostering solutions using the current marketing strategy have increased. Fostering solutions uses different methods of advertising to attract potential carers. These include bill board, bus, community care, exhibition, flyer, internet, job centre, jobs fair, local community booklet, national magazine, newspaper advertisement, passed office, post office, radio, tv, recruitment event, taxi, website, word of mouth, yallow pages etc (Fostering solutions). Over the past few years, the recruitment focus was on the following factors: To recruit carers through using fees, and other allowances. Using messages such as show you care to reach the carers. 4.5 Recruitment outcome: Table 3: FOSTER CARE RECRUITMENT ENQUIRIES SOURCE OF INTEREST BETWEEN 01/09/2009 AND 04/08/2010 SOURCE TOTAL ENQUIRIES Advan 4 Fostering Network 2 Banner 1 Bill board 1 Bus 38 Current carer 8 Flyer 41 Internet 10 Job centre 3 Jobs fair 1 Local community booklet 30 National magazine 2 Newspaper Advertisement 761 Not specified 1 Passed office 78 Radio/TV 28 Recommended 156 Recruitment event 419 Recruitment poster 102 SMS 13 Van 1 Website 1071 Word of mouth 494 Yellow pages 22 TOTAL 3289 Source: FSDocument Out of these, the most successful advertisement medium for fostering solutions has been website with a total of 1071 enquiries followed by newspaper advertisement with a total enquiry of 761, followed by word of mouth with 494 enquiries between 01/09/2209 and 31/08/2010. From the above table it is evident that the total number of enquiries during the period 2009-2010 is 3289, but the no. Of approval are only 126 out of 3289 enquiries. This is just 3.82% of the total enquiry. It is evident that 3289 people are interested to know about the fostering care. But the approval rate is very low. Table 4: FOSTER CARE RECRUITMENT ENQUIRIES SOURCE OF INTEREST BETWEEN 01/09/2008 AND 31/08/2009 SOURCE TOTAL ENQUIRIES Fostering Network 3 Bill board 4 Current carer 1 E-invite 1 Flyer 19 Internet 1 Local community booklet 47 Newspaper Advertisement 591 Not specified 13 Passed office 108 Radio/TV 32 Recommended 173 Recruitment event 168 Recruitment poster 130 Taxi 1 Van 4 Website 1347 Word of mouth 535 Yellow pages 106 TOTAL 3284 Source: FS document The total no. Approval between 01/09/2008 and 31/08.2009 was 163 and total enquiries received during that period was 3284. When Comparing the current year enquiries and approval rate with the previous year (i.e.) recruitment enquiry between 2008 2009 which was 4.96% of the total enquiry, it is clearly evident that there is a decrease in the approval rate when compared with that of the previous year. But we just cannot come to a conclusion that there is a decrease in the approval rate because some of the enquiries may still be in the approval process. Table 5: Conversion rate Year Enquiries Approved Conversion Rate % 2008-2009 3284 163 4.96 2009-2010 3289 126 3.83 Source: FS Document Over the past two years, the conversion rate is found to be reasonably constant with 4.96% in the year 2008-2009 and 3.83% in the 2009-2010. Chart 2: Enquiries in different region From the above chart it can be seen that the number of enquiries received from each region varies to a greater extent. For example the highest number of enquiries was received from the midlands with a total of 396 enquiries. Where as on the contradictory there were lower enquiries from various other regions. The reason for so many enquiries in the midlands is because of the strong advertisement campaign with additional newspaper advertisement. Fostering solutions should focus on all the regions equally. This will help to increase the enquiry from different region. The major problem which is to be considered right now is that the approval rate is very low despite there was 3289 enquiries between 2009-2010. This may be due to various reasons. Advertisement Æ’Â   Enquiries Æ’Â   ROI Æ’Â   Approval With reference to the above given table, when an advertisement is made and when it is able to attract 3343 enquirers who have even the slightest idea of fostering has enquired the agency, it is clear that people are interested to know more about fostering. But somewhere as they move further in the process (i.e.) from enquiry to the next stage, the number gets reduced to a greater extent. This can be viewed as a result due to 2 reasons. There may be a problem in the process from the enquiry stage until the next stage which is the registration of interest. Or The agency is not targeting the right people. In order to identify the problem in the process from the enquiry stage until the ROI, a study maybe conducted as what is going wrong in that process. It is very important to focus on this issue right now because the time and cost involved in marketing is very high. Considering that fact, the marketing strategy maybe of good type, but due to some bottleneck in the process, the marketing strategy may seem to be unsuccessful. 4.6 STRATEGY Objectives: To successfully recruit the carers, the following objectives must be considered to meet the challenges that are associated with the recruitment activities. They are, To recruit carers for different age group To recruit carers for children with disability To recruit a diverse range of carers to place the children to meet their best needs. Recruit carers based on categories long, medium and short term carers. In addition to these objectives to recruit the carer, the fostering solutions should be the best choice for carers. In order to achieve such a position, the following factors plays important role Benefit packages for carer- what fostering solutions can offer for both carer and young people. Competitor awareness versus brand awareness of the agency. Services provided before and after approval. Raising awareness through advertisement that carers are still needed , that fostering solutions values the carers, and to create a sense of feeling that they have made the right decision in selecting fostering solutions. 4.6.1 Plan of action: In order to reach both regional and national audiences, the agency should continue to advertise a multi-layered approach of marketing. The message which the agency tends to convey to its audience must be clear and focused. The agency may use tools ranging from traditional to establishing its own marketing strategy through various opportunities that are available to raise the awareness of the people. The traditional method includes the regular media advertising which the agency is currently involved and it has delivered results. It is now the right time to think of new opportunities of marketing through using the internet media such as web tools like Linked-in, Facebook, twitter, etc. By using both the traditional and new methods, the agency can reach and cover a wide range of people from different regions, which will help to educate the people about the basic awareness and understanding about the need for fostering. This also helps to reach the target audience by giving them the information which they require. 4.6.2 Factors influencing the decision making: There are several factors that influence the decision making of the marketing strategy. These factors help the agency to be alert by keeping them informed about the decisions of the potential carer and the way they react to the recruitment strategies and approaches that are used by the agency. A research maybe conducted in this area so as to find out the following: What ultimately actuated the potential carer to pick up the phone and enquire about the services that are offered by the agency. This can be done through introducing marketing questions in the initial home visits. Checking closely the effectiveness of all the resources that are used in marketing and making sure it is being efficient. Look into the key areas where the potential carers drop out of the process. It is very important to understand this because, this will give an idea as the reasons why they drop out. This will in turn help to influence the potential carers to identify the drop out points. Through identifying the drop out points time and cost that are involved in retaining the potential carers can be kept under good control. 4.6.3 A change in the current communication tools The information that are offered by the current communication tools are limited. That is the current communication tools which is paper based (information pack) gives idea from where the information is obtained. Chart 3 : communication route Enquiry Information Follow Up Resultant Website Phone Information Pack Phone Call Postcards Drop Out Proceed This is the normal route through which the information flows from the agency to the prospective carers. This route does not offer flexibility for the carer. Which means the carers contact type preference, individual decision process are not considered in this route. Moreover, the person making a call to the agency maybe quite intimidating. There should be a change in the current communication routes and channels whereby the routes are open up through which the prospective carer can gather information and be informed about the follow-up and the application process right from registration of interest until the approval. Information Search Enquiry Informed Decision Follow up Resultant Recruitment Stands Newspaper Word of mouth Flyer Website Face to Face contact at event Phone Website Information Pack (Delayed decision) Direct phone and postcard Drop Out Proceed Un-persuaded Un-persuaded Prospecting Proceed or Informed Influencer Participants or Informed Influencer 4.6.4 ENGAGING THE COMMUNITIES: To target the right carer, I suggest increasing the chances of finding successful foster carer through designing a planned strategy to engage the communities in foster care. By involving with the community there is more scope to create awareness and recruit many carers. To come up with such a strategy, it is very important to know the agencys needs and lay down its priorities, thumb rules on how to come up with a specific message for the general public. By engaging with the communities, it helps to inform the public and the potential foster carers about the need for foster care. The ultimate goal of the agency is to increase the number of qualified foster carers. In any business concept, designing an effective marketing strategy is a means of trial and error. For a strategy to be successful, it has to be analyzed from various perspectives before it can be implemented. In such a way, before reaching a community for help in recruiting the foster carer, we have to know in particular the needs of the agency and the ways in which the public might be of help to the agency. By needs of the agency here refers to the big question who is our target customer?. To kick start this process of finding the target customer the following assessment maybe done by the agency. Identifying the foster care population in a community How many foster children are there in the community? Their age group Age group under one year No. Of children (between 1-12) No. Of teenager (between 13-18) No. Of youngsters (over 18) Based on the agencies past experience say for example previous 2-3 years, how many children does the agency expect will require foster care during the next year? The racial composition White Mixed race Asian Black Other Identifying the foster carer population in a community How many qualified foster carers are there in the community Identifying the children in the community Up to what extent the following elements contributed to placement of children in foster care LOW Moderate HIGH Substance abuse Poverty Mental illness of parent(s) Poor parenting skills Incarceration of parents Childrens emotional or behavioral health needs Knowing the needs: After the above mentioned needs assessment is reviewed by the staff, the agency can come to a specific needs conclusion. The next step may be to rank the needs. The rankings should be based on their priorities as shown below Example needs Ranks To provide more adequate support for foster families. 3 To recruit foster parents for teenagers. 1 To provide better training for foster parents so they can handle childrens special needs. To recruit foster parents for teenagers. 2 To educate the public about the impact of welfare reform on children in foster care. Once the needs are prioritized, the next step is to develop a community action plan. This can be done through the following ways 4.6.5 Engaging the wider public : At the national level, the foster care fortnight event is conducted by the Fostering networks helps to engage the wider public and to spread the awareness about the need for fostering and the young people at care. However, this may help to engage the wider public, the major drawbacks in these kinds of events is that the agency does not get the chance to engage directly with the wider public on the assumptions and views to inform how we move ahead to spread the awareness. In order to overcome this problem the agency may preferably engage with the residents from the communities to inform them about the messages and the promotional approaches of the agency through which the awareness of the need for foster care can be increased. This can be done through engaging services in a county wide arts and photography competition. This helps the agency to find out more ways to engage with the communities and encourage them to take part in fostering. The photography competition can be conducted through collecting pictures from different age group categories young people in care, people who have experienced foster care. The competition must be judged by the agency; the winning photography must tour around the county and be visible in libraries and other common places for short period. A separate budget maybe required for this competition. 4.6.6 Working with the mass media: Mass media is the most common and effective medium of advertising. However, for an advertisement to be effective through mass media, it is very essential for the agency to know what kind of information or message should be conveyed to the public. For example in the case of targeted recruitment, the focus is on the families where they can accommodate children and teens with specific needs. In this case community based recruitment would be very effective rather than a general media campaign. However, media campaign may be very effective and most suitable for general outreach. Strategies for getting the message out to the public and spurring the community to take action. 4.6.7 Invite community leaders to help you get the message out: Engaging with community leaders to spread the awareness is one of the best ways to reach the people in a particular community. This is due to the fact that the leaders may approach the public with a message which would be very effective rather than the agency conveying the message by itself. The community leaders may not have the special knowledge about the system of foster care as that of a social worker. However, what they do have is the ability to attract the public and press. It is very advantageous for the agency to form a link of network with the community leaders for they be very sympathetic the cause and would come forward to help the agency. These leaders may be invited to speak at the campaign events and they may be requested to mention about Fostering Solutions in their own events. In such a way the community becomes aware and lot of people might come forward to foster. The main advantage is that a minimal support from one community councillor or a child advocate can quick ly raise the status of the issue. 4.6.8 Using the help of current foster parents: The most effective means of advertising is to get help from the current foster carers to recruit more new foster carers. Gratified foster care parents are the better tool for recruitment and retention. The advantage of Working in with foster parents to increase recruitment will help to improve the retention as well. Foster parents can be of great help in the following ways: Through sharing their personal experiences, the current foster carer may help the new foster carers to explain as what takes to be a good foster carer. This will also give an opportunity for the new foster carers to meet the children in care even before they get placed with a child. The current foster care parents may help the new carers to complete the applications by way of providing pre-service anf training in collaboration with the agency. The current foster carer may act as a middle man between the agency and the prospective foster carer by way of following-up with a phone call or a personal visit. Through engaging with the current foster carers, the new carers may get individualized mentoring and it may in turn be a great motivation for both the new and the current foster carers. 4.6.9 Carer benefit package: Carer benefit package may help to attract more carers. It is great way to communication through which the awareness can be increased. A detailed list of benefits and opportunities maybe listed, this will in turn help the prospective foster carers to take up fostering. The fact is that the more we offer and promote ourselves as the agency, the satisfied and happier will be our carers and are more likely to stay with us. This maybe one of the retention strategy. This strategy helps to gain competitive advantage over the competing agencies because, the carers are very happy with the benefit package. Regardless of whether the benefits are being used by the foster carers or not, the list of available benefits on the website maybe seem real and more tangible. 4.7 Resources In order to implement the above mentioned strategies effectively, resources are very important keys. 4.7.1 Human Resources: In the current organizational structure, the marketing department is very centralized. With the ambition of developing the marketing strategies for both the national and regional level, it is very important to increase the hierarchy level as shown in the above chart. In order to strengthen the regional marketing strategy a new post namely marketing assistant may be appointed region wise. The main work of this job will be to spread the awareness of fostering in their region and attract more carers. They will be reporting directly to the Marketing and public relations manager. The main reason to implement this change in the organization structure is because just having a marketing department at the head office will not work. Division of work is very essential in such cases. But for time being with limited resources, the main challenge is to stay focused in the priorities of the service that are provided by the agency. Chart 4: Organizational Structure Marketing Department. 4.7.2 Financial Resources: To corroborate the current level of enquiries and conversion, it is essential to continue to invest funds in recruiting advertising. A sustainable budget allocation will help the agency to be efficient and effectively plan the time and resources which are very valuable. This will also help to improve response rate, and to reach all communities as well as effectively plan the response resources. For long term planning, a planned annual budgeting will help to place the agency in a better position to cope up with the increasing preferential rates and spends of the promotional activity. There is also a need for the agency to invest in high profiled activities such as web advertising, website development and so on in order to maintain the profile of Fostering Solutions as the agency of choice for the carers. Currently, Fostering solutions uses all feasible media which will enable the agency to touch the hearts and minds of many potential carers and make them aware about the need for fostering. More funds should be invested in the areas of community publications, editorial media and recruitment campaigns. 4.8 Recommendations: Considering the above discussed strategies the following maybe summarized as the strategic recommendations 4.8.1 Short term recommendations: Maintain year round awareness for the need foster carers across England, Scotland, Wales and in communities. As discussed in the strategy using the current carers and their positive stories of children will help to attract more carers and it also helps to retain the existing carers.(refer 4.6.8) -Work with the community leaders to spread the awareness(refer 4.6.7) With reference to the conversion rate issue raised in this report, it is essential for the agency to conduct a study on the effective procedures that are implemented by the agency in the process of responding to enquiries and registration of interest with prospective foster carers. Because, this is where lot of people drop out. So it is essential for the agency to conduct a research and find out the reasons as why the conversion rate is very low. (refer table 5) As discussed in the resources, it is essential for the agency to have dedicated marketing staff at each regional office to make advertising more effective.(refer 4.7.1) With the help of the demographic information and analysis of the community assessment by the agency a better targeting of recruitment and advertising can be achieved. 4.8.2 Long term recommendations: As discussed in the short term recommendations, statistical data on foster carers maybe collected using the community assessment in order to make better recruitment decisions. This will help the agency to have a continued sustainable investment at national and regional level in the recruitment of foster carers. Have ongoing high quality campaigns across England, Scotland and Wales on both national and local level to attract more foster carers which will help to maintain enough carers to meet changing demands The agency should put as much effort in order to retain the foster carers as in recruitment. The agency should work on the factors such as carer benefit package, and other benefits that can improve the retention of foster carers. (refer 4.6.9) Develop a comprehensive foster care recruitment website to promote awareness and interest in fostering and permanent care -Focus should be to improve local capacity through working in close relation with the communities in order to recruit locally

LED :: essays research papers

Q: What is LED (Light Emitting Diode)? A: LED (Light Emitting Diode) is the most commonly used backlight for Cellular phones. The LED backlight offers some benefits over the EL backlight. To start, the LED backlight does not require an inverter, just a DC source of +3VDC~+5VDC. Secondly, depending on the backlight configuration, the brightness can very bright, and thirdly, the life of the LED exceeds 50K hours. http://www.microtipsusa.com/content/Products_FAQS.asp#17 Abbreviation of light emitting diode, an electronic device that lights up when electricity is passed through it. LEDs are usually red. They are good for displaying images because they can be relatively small, and they do not burn out. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/L/LED.html http://www.edgesystem.net/LED_light_therapy.htm A small indicator light most often used to show the power is on or the device is being used. LEDs are found on your computer case, monitor, printer, modem, CD-ROM drive, and hard drive. What is Inside an LED? LED's are special diodes that emit light when connected in a circuit. They are frequently used as "pilot" lights in electronic appliances to indicate whether the circuit is closed or not. A a clear (or often colored) epoxy case enclosed the heart of an LED, the semi-conductor chip. LED leads side lead on flat side of bulb = negative The two wires extending below the LED epoxy enclosure, or the "bulb" indicate how the LED should be connected into a circuit. The negative side of an LED lead is indicated in two ways: 1) by the flat side of the bulb, and 2) by the shorter of the two wires extending from the LED. The negative lead should be connected to the negative terminal of a battery. LED's operate at relative low voltages between about 1 and 4 volts, and draw currents between about 10 and 40 milliamperes. Voltages and currents substantially above these values can melt a LED chip. The most important part of a light emitting diode (LED) is the semi-conductor chip located in the center of the bulb as shown at the right. The chip has two regions separated by a junction. The p region is dominated by positive electric charges, and the n region is dominated by negative electric charges. The junction acts as a barrier to the flow of electrons between the p and the n regions. Only when sufficient voltage is applied to the semi-conductor chip, can the current flow, and the electrons cross the junction into the p region. In the absence of a large enough electric potential difference (voltage) across the LED leads, the junction presents an electric potential barrier to the flow of electrons.

Community Values Essay -- Medicine College Admissions Essays

Community Values Imani. Broken windows carelessly hidden by weather-tormented wood, chunks of bricks randomly sprawled across dry plots of grass and doors barely hanging onto one hinge create the backdrop for a bright yellow sign with the Swahili word for faith painted in large red letters. Old tires, pipes, waste material and junk cars are unfortunately not the only residents of the New Orleans housing project, as it initially appears. Without any warning, underneath all of the public health hazards small chocolate faces emerge with big smiles completely oblivious to their dangerous surroundings. Although their playground lacks a swing, monkey bars, slides or even a hopscotch area these children continue to play with makeshift toys. Being outnumbered by junkyard waste forces them to create new games with the debris that coexists in their safe haven. While viewing this housing project, I realized the trigger for change lay deep within the heart of the community. I was also reminded of the words I heard during the address given at my high school graduation speech, "a community can only be as strong as those who build it." Therefore, I joined Mobilization at Xavier, which created an outlet for me to share my excitement about learning wi... ...the remarkable mechanisms within the human body that work towards fighting off this disease. My future is centered on being a changing force in my community through the gift of medicine. A medical education will equip me with a powerful tool to improve health disparities in underserved communities. A physician is not solely a provider of medical care but a source of faith and a symbol of reassurance. Each activity I have been a part of has fostered and nourished my motivation towards becoming a part of a sector of society focused on renewing and maintaining strength within families, which are the core unit of a community.

Cisco Networking 1 Chapter 6.1.2 Ws

IT Essentials: PC Hardware and Software v4. 1 Chapter 6 Worksheet/Student 6. 1. 2 Worksheet: Research Laptops, Smartphones, and PDAs Print and complete this worksheet. In this worksheet, you will use the Internet, a newspaper, or a local store to gather information, and then enter the specifications for a laptop, smartphone, and PDA onto this worksheet. What type of equipment do you want? What features are important to you? For example, you may want a laptop that has an 80 GB hard drive and plays DVDs or has built-in wireless capability. You may need a smartphone with Internet access or a PDA that takes pictures.Shop around, and in the table below list the features and cost for a laptop, smartphone, and PDA. Equipment Laptop Computer:MacBook Pro Features ? 2. 6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 ? Turbo Boost up to 3. 6GHz ? 8GB 1600MHz memory 1 ? 512GB flash storage ? Intel HD Graphics 4000 ? NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1GB of GDDR5 memory 2 ? Built-in battery (7 hours) Cost $2199. 0 Smartp hone:Galaxy S III ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 2100 mAh Lithium Ion Battery Dimensions 5. 4† x 2. 8† x . 3† 4. 8†³ (1280Ãâ€"720) HD Super AMOLED touchscreen 4. 7 oz 1. 5 GHz dual core processor 16GB or 32GB ROM / 2GB RAM.Supports up to 64GB MicroSD card. A2DP, AVRCP, GAVDP, HFP 1. 5, PBAP, HSP, HID, GOEP, SDAP/SDP, OPP, SPP, PAN, Stereo Streaming, MAP, AVDTP, OBEX (CR) Andriod Market 4G LTE Internet GPS Navigation Wifi 8. 0 megapixel camera $549. 99 ? ? ? ? ? PDA:HP iPAQ 110 Classic PDA Batteries Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) 1200 mAh Standard Battery 1 x 4-pin Mini-phone Headphone 3. 5†³ QVGA Transflective TFT Touchscreen 240 x 320 PDA $323. 70 Ports 1 x USB 2. 0 – Mini USB Display Screen Display Resolution Product Type Manufacturer FA980AA Part Number Manufacturer www. hp. comWebsite Address Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard Product Model 110 Product Name iPAQ 110 Classic PDA Product Line Brand Name Standard Memory Memory Technology Package Contents iPAQ HP 64 MB SDRAM ? iPAQ 110 Classic PDA ? Mini USB Synchronization/Charge Cable ? Documentation ? Companion CD-ROM ? Standard Battery ? AC Adapter ? Power Cord ? Slip Case ? Stylus IEEE 802. 11b/g Wi-Fi Product Series 100 Flash Memory 256 MB Network Bluetooth 2. 0 Bluetooth Weight 3. 68 oz (Approximate) Height Width Depth Processor Operating System Limited Warranty 4. 6†³ 2. 7†³ 0. 5†³ Marvell PXA310 624 MHz Windows Mobile 6 Classic 1 Year

Othello’s Tragic Flaws Essay

William Shakespeare creates dynamic and complex characters in his tragic play, Othello. Othello, Iago, Desdemona, and Emilia each display a tragic flaw. Shakespeare’s subtle descriptions of the characters allow for varying interpretations of each character. The tragic flaws can truly alter perspectives as the story transitions. A tragic flaw can begin as a positive character trait, yet spiral into the downfall of the respective character. Shakespeare thoroughly expresses the importance of tragic flaws in the play Othello. Shakespeare provides the title character with the tragic flaw of inherent trust in others, particularly in Iago. Iago’s ambition, Desdemona’s love for Othello, and Emilia’s loyalty in Iago and Desdemona are also tragic flaws. These tragic flaws are imperative to the play, and without them there would be a lack of plot, conflict, and climax. Othello’s tragic flaw of inherent trust haunts him throughout the play. Othello is easily pe rsuaded and this leads him to put his trust in the wrong people. He unfortunately gets ensnared into Iago’s devious plan. Othello treats Iago as a trust-worthy friend who he has known for a long period of time. When Iago realizes that Othello believes the story about Cassio’s relationship with Desdemona, Iago decides to take the scheme further. Iago places horrid images in Othello’s mind that turn Othello into a rash man. Othello’s tragic flaw ultimately leads to his destruction. Othello’s personality vastly transforms due to the madness. Othello ironically mistrusts his loyal wife Desdemona and good friend Cassio. When Othello places Desdemona on her deathbed, he states, â€Å"Be thus when thou are dead, and I will kill thee/And love thee after† (V.ii.20-21). At this moment in the play, Othello’s actions are ironic. Originally, Othello worried that Desdemona would stab him in the back, but he is the one who betrays his beloved wife. Othello is brought to this action because Iago places extreme jealousy within him. Emilia enters Othello’s room and discovers that she has walked into another murder. Othello still has a degree of trust in â€Å"honest† Iago, but Emilia informs Othello of her husband’s lies. Othello may subconsciously realize the mistakes he has made, but he does not want to believe Emilia and face the truth. In response to Emilia, Othello states, â€Å"I say thy husband. Dost understand the word? My friend, thy husband; honest, honest, Iago† (V.ii.188-189). Although Iago’s plan is obvious to the audience, Othello refuses to believe it. Iago’s actions have already destroyed Othello’s marriage, but Iago continues until Othello ruins his entire life. Iago is a dishonest and devious character, but his main tragic flaw is his undying ambition to take down Othello and Cassio. In the play, Iago manipulates several characters and tends to extend his actions too far. Iago constantly manipulates his wife Emilia and treats her as his pet. He continuously disrespects her and uses her to advance his plans. However, Emilia has a growing sense of suspicion towards her evil husband as the play carries on. When Iago is planning to overthrow Cassio with the handkerchief, he states, â€Å"A good wench! Give it to me† (III.iii.359). Emilia finds this very suspicious. She wonders why this handkerchief is so vital to Iago as it belonged to Desdemona. At this moment, Emilia realizes something is brewing and notices that this is the time to act upon her disrespectful husband. Emilia knows how devious Iago can be, and how important it would be to earn a stronger position. She knows Iago will do anything to get his hands on the lieutenancy by ta king it from Cassio. For instance, Iago is jealous of Othello’s power and is determined to steal his throne as well as his wife. When Iago learns that Othello is very trusting, he becomes very eager to take advantage of this overthrow Othello at a rapid pace. However, instead of being patient, Iago includes Cassio, Emilia, and Roderigo in his agenda to gain power. Involving several people in his plan backfires and interferes with his plan because all his actions eventually catch up to him. For example, Emilia becomes very suspicious of her husband’s desperation to possess the handkerchief. Emilia dislikes the way her husband treats her and becomes very anxious to catch him doing something devious. By the end of the play Emilia says, â€Å"You told a lie, an odious, damned lie! Upon my soul, a lie, a wicked lie† (V.ii.216-217). Emilia finally confronts her two-faced husband. Due to Iago’s extreme desire for power, his reckless actions eventually catch up t o him. His wife turns on him and tells people about his recent actions. Iago is finally held responsible for his actions and taken away for a long period of torture. Throughout the story, Desdemona relies heavily on Othello and his love for her. She believes that she and Othello have an everlasting relationship. Unfortunately, she is clueless about Othello’s trust in Iago. She does not know that he is feeding Othello appalling lies about her and Michael Cassio. Although Othello is the love of Desdemona’s life, his tragic flaw causes him to become extremely jealous. In the beginning of the play, Othello and Desdemona openly display their love for each other for others to see. Iago knows that in order to disrupt their passionate love, he is going to have to convince one of them that the other is cheating on them. Iago chooses to convince Othello of Desdemona’s â€Å"affair† with Cassio, and Othello does not hesitate to trust Iago’s statements and immediately believe that Desdemona is cheating on him. Othello knows that she betrayed her own father, Brabantio, and therefore conceives that Desdemona could potentially to the same to him. Othello starts acting as a demon is inside of him, but Desdemona does not understand the reason. As Othello’s jealousy starts to build up, Desdemona states, â€Å"Why ten tomorrow night, (or) Tuesday morn, on Tuesday noon or night’ on Wednesday morn† (III.iii.68-69). Othello shows obvious anger about Cassio to Desdemona. Instead of attempting to fix the situation, Desdemona hopes this side of Othello will pass. This is the key factor in the start of Othello’s envy towards Cassio due to Iago’s fatal lies. Desdemona continues to believe that nothing stands a chance of interfering with her and Othello’s relationship. Meanwhile, Othello fails to look at Desdemona the same way believing that she has been seeing Cassio behind his back. As the play progresses, Othello’s jealousy is getting increasingly worse and Desdemona does not act in response to Othello’s harsh behavior. As Desdemona lays hopelessly in her dea thbed, she does not panic, however, she acts as if Othello is not going to kill her. As Othello smothers Desdemona, she eventually states to Emilia, â€Å"Nobody. I myself. Farewell. Commend me to my kind lord. O, farewell† (V.152-153). Desdemona expresses her undying love for Othello by explaining to Emilia that she took her own life away. She cannot believe that Othello would kill her because her love blinds her. Therefore, love is Desdemona’s tragic flaw. Emilia contains the tragic flaw of loyalty. She exhibits this loyalty particularly to her husband and to Desdemona. Although Emilia receives disrespect from her husband, she perpetually shows Iago loyalty throughout most of the play. When Emilia picks up the handkerchief that Desdemona drops, she hesitates to give it to Iago. However, she does give it to Iago because there is some loyalty that exists in her towards her husband. As Iago demands the handkerchief from Emilia, she questioningly states, â€Å"What will you do with ‘t, that you have been so earnest to have me filch it?† (III.iii.360-362). Emilia knows her husband is up to something and it is up to her to stop it. Although for most of the story Emilia is loyal to Iago, she also has loyalty to Desdemona. Emilia discovers that Iago uses the handkerchief to frame Cassio and destroy the relationship between Othello and Desdemona. When Emilia walks into the murder of Desdemona, she knows she has missed her opportunity to catch her husband in the act framing Desdemona. Her minimal amount of remaining respect for her husband is eliminated at this moment, a nd she tells everyone that it is Iago that has stolen the handkerchief in order to blame Desdemona. Emilia’s secret strength is evident. Emilia states, â€Å"O thou dull Moor, that handkerchief tho speak’st of I found by fortune, and did give my husband—For often, with a solemn earnestness (More than indeed belonged to such a trifle), He begged of me to steal’t† (V.ii.267-272). Emilia explains to Othello that he has fallen into Iago’s trap. Emilia tells everyone in the room that Iago asked for the handkerchief, and shows her loyalty to Dedemona by proving her innocence. When Emilia displays her loyalty towards Desdemona this way, it angers Iago thoroughly and ruptures his plan completely. In response to Emilia’s actions, Iago takes out his rapier and stabs her. She dies on the same bed as Desdemona. The two innocent female lives are lost in the same spot. Overall, the tragic flaw of loyalty that Emilia expresses is her downfall. Tragic flaws are a critical component of Shakespeare’s Othello. Each character displays a tragic flaw as the play unravels. The play would have no action without these tragic character flaws. Shakespeare provides these flaws to the characters to create dimension and suspense. Othello, Iago, Desdemona, and Emilia would be unrealistic, boring, and static characters without these flaws. The tragic flaw leads a character to downfall, and it is an integral part of a tragedy.