HIPAA Research Paper Essays - Law, Health, Data Security

HIPAA Research Paper The HIPAA history starts on 21st August 1996, when the Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was signed into law as an Act to "improve the portability and accountability of health insurance coverage" for employees between jobs. Other objectives of the Act were to combat waste, fraud and abuse in health insurance and healthcare delivery. The Act contains passages to promote the use of medical savings accounts by introducing tax breaks, provides coverage for employees with pre-existing medical conditions and simplifies the administration of health insurance. The procedures for simplifying the administration of health insurance became a vehicle to encourage the healthcare industry to computerize patients' medical records. This particular part of the Act spawned the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) in 2009, which in turn lead to the introduction of the Meaningful Use incentive program - described by leaders in the healt hcare industry as "the most important piece of healthcare legislation to be passed in the last 20 to 30 years". PHI stands for Protected Health Information and is any information in a medical record that can be used to identify an individual, and that was created, used, or disclosed in the course of providing a health care service, such as a diagnosis or treatment. ePHI is Electronic Protected Health Information and is All individually identifiable health information that is created, maintained. This includes PHI on desktop, web, mobile, wearable and other technology such as email, text messages, etc. This information is protected with Electronic Protected Health Information. The HIPAA Privacy Rule protects the privacy of individually identifiable health information, called protected health information (PHI), as explained in the Privacy Rule. The Security Rule protects a subset of information covered by the Privacy Rule, which is all individually identifiable health information a covered entity creates, receives, maintains or transmits in electronic form. The Security Rule calls this informati on "electronic protected health information" (e-PHI). The Security Rule does not apply to PHI transmitted orally or in writing. The Privacy Rule sets the standards for, among other things, who may have access to PHI, while the Security Rule sets the standards for ensuring that only those who should have access to EPHI will actually have access. The Privacy Rule requires covered entities to have in place appropriate administrative, physical, and technical safeguards and to implement those safeguards reasonably. As a result, covered entities that have implemented the Privacy Rule requirements in their organizations may find that they have already taken some of the measures necessary to comply with the Security Rule. The Security Rule provides for far more comprehensive security requirements than 45 CFR 164.530 of the Privacy Rule and includes a level of detail not provided in that section. As covered entities begin security compliance planning initiatives, they should consider conducting an assessment of the initiatives implemented for privacy compliance. The HITECH Act extends the imposition of both civil and criminal penalties under HIPAA to Business Associates, not just Covered Entities. As a general message of caution, this component of the health care industry should also take on the self-evaluation of existing policies, procedures and safeguards. Another aspect to the impact of HITECH on HIPAA is that OCR (Optical Character Recognition) was given the authority to enforce HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules and has been systematically investigating situations involving data breaches by health care providers. Since the enactment of HITECH thousands of breaches in the health care industry have been reported. Although penalties exist under current law, imposition is rare at this point. That said, two significant penalties were assessed in 2011 in excess of $1m and involved large health care organizations; it is expected that the occurrence will only increase in the future. The HIPAA violations can be expensive. The penalties for noncompliance are based on the level of negligence and can range from $100 to $50,000 per violation (or per record), with a maximum penalty of $1.5 million per year for violations of an identical provision. Violations can also carry criminal charges that can result in jail time. Fines will increase with the number of patients and the amount of neglect. Starting with a breach where you didn't know and, by exercising reasonable diligence, would

Hill House essays

Hill House essays Ever do something stupid to impress someone? Throughout a persons life they will do something very ignorant or say something very stupid hundreds of times. Most of the time it is because they are trying to impress somebody or change their ways to make someone or others accept them. The story Haunting of Hill House has great examples of people changing just to fit in. The author Shirley Jackson, who died in 1965, was one of the most brilliant writers of her time. She was widely acclaimed for her hair-raising stories and novels of the supernatural. Although the Haunting of Hill House fits this description perfectly with its eerie description of supernatural tales of the happenings of Hill House; there is a more to it than hauntings. The story starts out with three guests being invited to the house to monitor any out of the ordinary occurrences in Hill House. Throughout the story the guests experience some ghostly moments. However during this one of the guest named Eleanor cha nges her ways to fit in with the guests. Her actions show that societys views on a person can lead that person to things they would never have thought of. One example would be when Eleanor told lies about herself and her past. Another example would be when Eleanor went around the house alone having no fear. Finally Eleanor became open and spoke out what was on her mind. An example of societys views on a person leading them to things they never thought of was when Eleanor became a liar and lied about her past. Today a lot of people are pressured so much by society to be a certain way they will lie about themselves to fit in with those certain people. In the story Eleanor feels that she does not fit in with the group of people who are staying at Hill House. She is a person with a lack of confidence so she feels she has to lie to feel accepted. Theodora came through the bathroom door into Eleanor...

Social and Community Entrepreneurship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Social and Community Entrepreneurship - Essay Example Social entrepreneurs look to market products to meet the human needs as much as possible, distinguish themselves from other social venture players by doing real things. The importance of social entrepreneurs is called by their ability to be relentlessly focused on influence and society’s changes and implementations of innovations that would help to build platforms for many people in order to enable them to think about positive impact on the global move (Osberg and Martin, 2007). The purpose of study of social entrepreneurship is to suggest factors associated with changes and how societies renew themselves. It will investigate the role of social entrepreneurs, challenges and pathway that made them move into social entrepreneurship. Since, the potential of social entrepreneurship is beyond human thought, the concrete example of such man, as the founder of Toms Company will be investigated and its nature and social impact will be studied. A concept of social entrepreneurship is already a widespread thing, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM Global Report, 2014). The GEM network conducted a global survey on the adoption of social entrepreneurship among forty-nine countries. The results showed an more than one adult in forty participants were already involved into some social entrepreneurship activity (see Appendix A). In modern time, more companies become social entrepreneurs to be able to puzzle upon such social issues as increasing college enrollment rate for students with low-income and fighting with poverty by using numerous innovative nonprofits, social-purpose ventures and hybrid organizations to generate social value for the society (Noruzi, Westover and Rahimi, 2010). Wealth creation is a part of entrepreneurship, but is not the end in itself. What is more important, it is the promotion of social change that sees the opportunities to improve systems, create solutions and develop new approache s for creation of social value (see

Theoretical explanation of Environmental Biology Essay

Theoretical explanation of Environmental Biology - Essay Example We should also plant more trees each time we cut one for an essential usage. Biodiversity should be extremely high in our surrounding. When done with books of a lower level, we should donate them to libraries so as to avoid over exploitation of more trees being brought down for paper. Animals and plants, humans included, all rely on each other and the environment for survival. Some even share vital resources and when some of these resources become scarce, some end up migrating, changing feeding habits, dropping in population and even becoming extinct. There are predator-prey relationships, parasitism, mutualism and commensalism. A predator-prey relationship is whereby the predator relies on the prey as food while the prey relies on other preys like birds as an alert system in case of danger. In parasitism, a certain organism relies on another by living in or on it and feeding on it. The host is harmed while the parasite benefits. Mutualism is where everyone benefits through unintentional exploitation of each other. In commensalism, one organism benefits from another without affecting the other. Therefore, we should always use the gifts of the environment sparingly to avoid unnecessary ecological succession. Overconsumption of the earth’s resources has cont ributed to extreme ecological growth and consequent exhaustion of resources, environmental damage as well as declined ecological wellbeing.... s with all ranges of benefits such as vital goods such as timber and medicinal products, and essential services such as carbon cycling, clean water and pollination. Our daily bread, fish, meat, flowers, books and building timber materials are all gifts of nature. I think building from stone bricks and not timber will be a big step in saving our environment. We should also plant more trees each time we cut one for an essential usage. Biodiversity should be extremely high in our surrounding. When done with books of a lower level, we should donate them to libraries so as to avoid over exploitation of more trees being brought down for paper. Animals and plants, humans included, all rely on each other and the environment for survival. Some even share vital resources and when some of these resources become scarce, some end up migrating, changing feeding habits, dropping in population and even becoming extinct. There are predator-prey relationships, parasitism, mutualism and commensalism. A predator-prey relationship is whereby the predator relies on the prey as food while the prey relies on other preys like birds as an alert system in case of danger. In parasitism, a certain organism relies on another by living in or on it and feeding on it. The host is harmed while the parasite benefits. Mutualism is where everyone benefits through unintentional exploitation of each other. In commensalism, one organism benefits from another without affecting the other. Therefore, we should always use the gifts of the environment sparingly to avoid unnecessary ecological succession. Overconsumption of the earth’s resources has contributed to extreme ecological growth and consequent exhaustion of resources, environmental damage as well as declined ecological wellbeing. Ecological footprint,

Women's Rights. Kathy Peiss Book Cheap amusements Essay

Women's Rights. Kathy Peiss Book Cheap amusements - Essay Example Apart from being an important step towards the feminist movement, these indicators were also powerful and important with regards to the future of the Civil Rights movement within the United States and seeking to integrate all of society into what had previously been a club dominated by old, white men. One of the authors that best elaborates on this particular situation within American history is Kathy Peiss in her book, Cheap Amusements. As a function of this understanding of womanhood that Kathy Peiss puts forward in her book, this brief analysis will seek to answer the following questions: what changes around work and leisure occurred during the progressive Era, how did women’s embrace of style fashion romanced and mixed sex fun create new opportunities for independence for these women, and how did working class women’s embrace of those very same things also contribute to their being oppressed or discriminate against. Accordingly, by examining each of these determinan ts, it is the hope of this author that the analysis will be able to point to the greatest strengths and aspects of definitions that Peiss puts forward. Furthermore it is the hope of this author that through analysis of Peiss’ writing, the individual can gain a more clear and complete understanding of the means by which societal change and cultural change integrates itself within the modern era. One of the greatest changes that place during the Progressive Era was the integration of women into the workforce. Although many individuals might be led to believe that this did not take place until the Second World War, the fact of the matter is that the First World War offered a wealth of opportunities within the labor force provided by the vacancies left by men in the armed services. As a result of this change within the Progressive Era, the women within society were able to enjoy a great degree of liberalization with regards to both professional opportunity as well as cultural int egration that had previously not been realized. With regards to the realities that existed for women within society prior to this point, Peiss notes the following: â€Å"the working class woman discussed in the following pages typically were immigrants or daughters of immigrants, lived in†¦tenement districts, and labored for wages while unmarried† (Peiss 9). As a result of this rigid stratification that existed, women were utterly unable to penetrate the cultural constraints that previously defined their existence. As a result of the changes that were realized, not only were labor opportunities made available but also the style of fashion and clothing came to represent a more manly and boyish dynamic that had previously been unheard of. Accordingly, the most popular woman’s hairstyles became bobs whereas with regards to the style of clothing, flapper fashion came into existence; representing a unique and noticeable divergent from the Victorian era where full lengt h dresses were the norm. Whereas many people would seek to disregard fashion as indicative of any greater level of independence or feminism within the population, the fact of the matter is that the changes that were enjoyed an experienced during the Progressive Era had a noticeable impact on the level of freedom, culture, and social mobility that the women of that time were able to experience within society. Moreover, the changing norms of the time, alongside the differential that was experienced with regards to the degree that women and men could spend time together and mixed company without the horse societal judgments that it previously existed, allowed for a great liberalize ancient with

Regeneration By Pat Barker Analysis English Literature Essay

Regeneration By Pat Barker Analysis English Literature Essay The story takes in the past. The entire story is in 1917. You can know that because it is during the First World War. In the beginning Rivers is reading a poem of Sassoon from July 1917 and in the end he wrote a date on a file of Sassoon which said: Nov. 26, 1917. In total I think the story takes a couple of months. In the beginning of the story Rivers reads a poem of Sassoon what is written in July 1917. So it will be in July or later. The story ends at November 1917 because that is what Rivers writes down on Sassoons files. So in total it will probably take a couple of months S. Sassoon July 1917 He drew the final page towards him and wrote: Nov. 26, 1917. Discharged to duty. The story takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland. Nearly always at Craiglockhart. Craiglockhart is a mental hospital. Its a standard, boring hospital with long hallways. On every room there sleep two patients and there is door of a patients room that has a lock except the one of Sassoon. Not even the shower. The town itself is hardly described. The only things they talk about are the restaurants and pubs in a street. This is you room. Youre lucky; its the only one which has a lock. Plot Sassoon is against the war and is being send to Rivers to cure him. They talk about the war and why Sassoon doesnt want the war to continue. Sassoon wants to go back to the war to help his friends when he is cured. At the end he is inspected and declared fit and goes back to the front. Characters Siegfried Sassoon, Dr. W.H.R. Rivers, Billy Prior As reader, you follow Sassoon the most. Sassoons father left him when he was a child. He is against the continual of the war and writes poems about it. He was a very good soldier and hes being loved by his men. Hes been diagnosed as Shell-shocked. River is his doctor at Craiglockhart. Although he is against the war, he still wants to fight because he does not want to leave his friend behind. River is a doctor at Craiglockhart. His patients never have any physical problems, but always mental problems. By talking with his patients hes trying to find out why they are ill and he tries to help them recovering from it. Sassoon is a special case because he is not really ill. Hes just against the war, but they thought he was shell-shocked. Prior is a lieutenant in the military. Hes been send to Craiglockhart because he couldnt speak. He also suffers from asthma. Prior is difficult patient for Rivers because he doesnt want to talk about his memories of the war. He falls in love with Sarah, a girl who works in a munitions factory. They are main characters because these are the people who you constantly follow during the book. Sassoon: Sassoons the best platoon commander Ive ever known. The men worship him if he wanted German heads on a platter theyd get them. And he loves them. Being separated from them would kill him. Rivers: One of the nice things about serving afternoon tea to newly arrived patients was that it made so many neurological tests redundant. Prior: Prior reached for the notepad and pencil he kept beside his bed and scrawled in block capitals, I DONT REMEMBER. Nothing at all? Prior hesitated, then wrote, NO. Wilfred Owen, Anderson, Sarah Lumb, Dr. Lewis Yealland, Callan, Robert Graves Message As reader of the book you can learn what the effect of a war can haven on people. That it doesnt only gives a lot of casualties and wounded people, but also lots of men who get a nervous breakdown because of the things theyve seen and experienced. I think the writer wrote this story to let the people see and know what a tremendous impact war can have on people. Because war is not only about brave men fighting, but also about young men who die and get crazy because of what theyve seen. The message is conveyed to you through the patients. Every patient has a different disease, but all of them are caused by the war. Throughout the book you discover the reasons why they are ill and those reasons are arguments of why the war should not continue. After being thrown into the air and landing head first in the ruptured stomach of a rotting dead soldier by a shell, which causes him to vomit whenever he eats anything. B: YOUR OPINION I think Rivers and Sassoon are sympathetic. Rivers is sympathetic because he helps all the patients. He could also say: bye, Im not going to help you. Especially mental patients, because they require a lot of attention and time to cure them. Sassoon is sympathetic because he loved him man at the front and they loved him. He was a good leader and bomber. I want to help you, I really do. But in order to do so, youve got to corporate. Sassoons the best platoon commander Ive ever known. The men worship him if he wanted German heads on a platter theyd get them. And he loves them. Being separated from them would kill him. I disliked Dr. Yealland. I disliked him because he uses shock therapy to his patients and he even pushes lighted cigarettes to their tongues. The patient had been strapped to a chair for periods of twenty minutes at a time, and very strong electric current applied to his neck and throat. Hot plates had been applied repeatedly to his neck and throat, and lighted cigarettes to the tongue. Sadness and anger. I felt sad when I read about Burns who landed into the stomach of a dead soldier and the stories of the other patients. I was angry when I read about the methods Dr. Yealland used to cure his patients. After being thrown into the air and landing head first in the ruptured stomach of a rotting dead soldier by a shell, which causes him to vomit whenever he eats anything. The patient had been strapped to a chair for periods of twenty minutes at a time, and very strong electric current applied to his neck and throat. Hot plates had been applied repeatedly to his neck and throat, and lighted cigarettes to the tongue. Then the electrode was applied to the back of his throat. He was thrown back with such force that the leads were ripped out of the battery. Yealland removed the electrode. Remember you must behave as becomes the hero I expect you to be, Yealland said. A man who has been through so many battles should have a better control of himself. He fastened the straps rounds Callans wrists and feet. Remember you must talk before you leave me. Dr. Yealland is trying to cure Callan. Callan is similar to Prior. He cant speak anymore. Through electro-shock therapy hes trying to let him talk again. Hes willing to go on as long as needed. At the end Dr. Yealland manages to let Callan speak again. I think this is the best part of the book because its nearly the only part in the book where something really happens. Nearly everything that happens in the book is people talking with each other. This part has the most action of the entire book. I do not really to read about people talking with each other, I want action. Yes. The write succeeded to convey a message to me. I now realize how bad wars can be for those who fight in it and what the effects can be. The writer makes the message clear by showing all the patients who suffer from the war, which got traumas because of it. It shows you what the effects are. Yes. The message is very important. People must realize how horrible wars are so that we do anything to prevent them. A war will not only kill people physically, but also mentally. Have you ever had any mental problems because of the war? Have you been a doctor who worked with patients who have had mental problems? Why did you wrote the book? I would like to know the answers to these questions because Im curious why he wrote the book and how he got his inspiration, his stories of the patients. C: THE SUMMARY Part I 2 hours Sassoon is against the war. He wants it to stop. Because of that, the military authority has labeled him as shell-shocked. Rivers is a doctor at Craiglockhart. It is a mental institute. Rivers has his doubts about Sassoon coming to Craiglockhart, because he thinks Sassoon is not shell-shocked. Robert Graves is a friend of Sassoon. He thinks Sassoon should stop protesting against the continual of the war, because he cant stop it. Even though he has the same opinion as Sassoon about it. Sassoon wanted to get a court-martial, because then his opinions would in the publicity. But Graves manages to get Sassoon to Craiglockhart instead. When Sassoon meets Rivers they start talking. Rivers finds out that religion is not the reason why Sassoon isnt fighting. He has nothing against fighting. Sassoon has problems with the idea that while others are dying at the front, he is safe at Craiglockhart. At Craiglockhart there is also another patient, Prior. Hes not able to speak, but not physically. He communicates with Rivers via a notepad. After a while he manages to get River talking again, but he still doesnt want to talk about what happened in France. Part II 2.5 hours At Craiglockhart Sassoon meets Owen. Just like Sassoon he also writes poetry. He asks if Sassoon could sign some of his poems. When Sassoon finds out hes also writing poetry he asks to read his poems. Prior, another patient at Craiglockhart goes to Edinburg. There he meets a girl called Sarah. They start walking and at a graveyard they nearly have sex, but at the last minute she pushes him away. Because Prior wasnt at Craiglockhart during the night he was grounded for two weeks. Rivers wants to try hypnosis on Prior to retrieve some memories. It works a little bit, because he remembered how two soldiers in his platoon died. There arrives a new patient at Craiglockhart. Willard. He was injured to the spine while he was under heavy fire at a graveyard. He keeps telling that he cant walk because of pain in the spine, while there is nothing that causes it anymore. Sassoon and Owen start talking in Sassoons room. Sassoon gives Owen some poems to publish into the hospitals magazine. In exchange for that, Sassoon will mentor Owen on his poetry. Prior meets Sarah again in Edinburg. They take the train to the sea. They talk with each other about the war and what his function was in it. Suddenly a storm comes up and they have to take shelter into a bush. There they also have sex. Rivers is ordered to take a three week holiday because he is so exhausted from work. Part III 2 hours At Craiglockhart Sassoon helps Owen with his poem: Anthem for doomed Youth Sarah and her friend Madge got to a hospital to look up Madges fiancà ©, who is wounded. Sarah decides to walk around alone in the hospital and find a tent where are soldiers who are missing limbs. She is angry, because they hide these people away. Prior is being examined by a doctor. He is afraid that they will think he is faking his illness, so that he will be sent back to war. River is meeting some old friends. They are discussing about Sassoon. Rivers realize that Sassoon is free to think about the war he wants, but that it is his job to get Sassoon back to war. At the end, Rivers got offered a top job in London. Although its good for his career, he is not sure if he wants to take it. Burns is an ex-patient of Craiglockhart. He invites rivers to come to his house at the sea for a couple of days. Rivers expected that burns wanted to talk about the war, but Burns hadnt said a thing about it. At a night, there is a heavy storm. Burns walks outside and goes into a cave that floods a high tide. Rivers finds him there suffering from flashbacks of the war in France. When theyre safe home, Burns tells everything to Rivers about the war. Once back at Craiglockhart Rivers meets Bryce and tells him that he is going to take the job in London. Rivers has an appointment with Sassoon. Sassoon tells him that he sees hallucinations of dead friends. Sassoon feels guilty that he is not helping his friends at the front, so he decides that he should return to the front. Part IV 2.5 hours Sarah has told her mother about Prior. She is angry at her because she had sex so soon. She also doesnt believe in true love. Sassoon talks with his friend Graves. Graves thinks that Sassoon should not go back to war and that he must maintain his word. He also tells Sassoon that a friend called Peter has been arrested for prostitution. The military now sends Peter to Rivers to cure him because they think he is homosexual. Sarah works at a munitions factory. They talk about the war and Sarah asks why a girl called Betty is not at work. Lizzie tells her that she is in the hospital because she tried a home abortion using a coat-hanger. Rivers talks with Sassoon. In a while, Sassoon will be send back to France. They discuss about homosexuality and that especially during war the authority is hard against homosexuality because it does not benefit the soldiers. The medical board is reviewing a couple of patients at Craiglockhart to decide whether or not they are able to go back to war. Prior is send home and gets permanent home service because he has asthma. He doesnt like it because he thinks that the people will see him a coward and that he cannot find out what type of soldier he would be. Sassoon is tired of all the waiting before its his turn to meet the board, so he decides to leave and have some dinner with a friend. River is angry at Sassoon. Sassoon apologizes and tells River that he still wants to go to France. When Rivers is at his new job in London he meets his colleague Dr. Yealland. Dr. Yealland works very differently than Rivers does. He uses electro-shock therapy to cure his patients. When Rivers joins one of Dr. Yeallands treatments he is shocked by his methods and doubts whether he can work with him. Sassoon is send back to war and River is thinking about the effect Sassoon and last few months have had on him. I did not really had any expectations while reading. There was also not much to expect I think. They talk and thats it. Theres nothing thats going to happen of that someone is going to do something. The end ended as I expected it. Sassoon got back to war. But that is also what he always wanted and said he was going to do. I dont think there should be a different ending. I did not really liked the book. I prefer books with action in it. This book has nearly no action at all. Lots of dialogues and sometimes difficult language. In my opinion there were also no reasons to keep on reading. I can understand why there would be reasons for other people, but not for me. For me there were no things that I really wanted to know, so that I had to keep on reading. In overall I think it wasnt a bad book, but I also did not enjoyed reading it. I prefer different types of books.

Type of Business

P1 – Describe the type of business, purpose and ownership of two contrasting business Help for heroes is a charitable company that was founded by Byrn and Emma Parry in 2007, they started Help for Heroes. They raise money for the servicemen returning from war, in Afghanistan and Iraq. Help for heroes have 5 different campaigns that have been done , these are; swimming pool complex at Headley court, Relative’s houses at Headly Court and Selly Oak hospital, battle back, troop aid, combat stress and the patients welfare fund. They are a national company based in England only. The Help for Heroes Company are a registered UK charity, but also have a profitable gain, they do exactly what is stated and all donations are given to the charity. But they also sell Help for Heroes merchandise such as wristbands etc. these go towards the running cost of the company and to the owners. The donation that Help for Heroes have received since October 2007 is ? 105. 377M. Help for Heroes have about 250 employees worldwide Help for Heroes is a tertiary business and the purpose of the business is to help wounded service men and women through donations and fundraising, the ownership of Help for Heroes is a partnership, owned by Bryn Parry and Emma Parry. The mission statement for Help for Heroes is ‘Help for Heroes supports any serviceman or woman who has been either wounded in conflict or injured in training since 2001. We are raising millions of pounds to create facilities to help their rehabilitation and support existing service charities to deliver the expertise needed. Help for Heroes have an unlimited liability, this mean if they were to go into debt, they could lose more money than was put into the business. Topshop is a British clothes retailer, it is known worldwide. Topshop is a part of the Arcadia group which is a group that owns a lot of different retail outlets. Topshop was founded in 1964 by ‘Peter Robinson’s Ltd. â€℠¢ Topshop has physical and online stores in over 20 countries. They employ over 200+ employees each year. They are an International company with flagship stores in Europe, the Americas and the Middle East. The Topshop in Oxford Street is the world’s largest fashion store it is roughly about 90,000 square feet and covers five floors, it attracts 30,000 customers a day. Topshop is a tertiary company; the purpose of the business is to sell fashionable clothes and accessories to the younger age group (15-25). Topshop is a company owned by the Arcadia group so it’s a PLC. As Topshop is a PLC, they have limited liability, and they would only lose the money that they put into the company. P2 – Describe the different stakeholders who influence the purpose of two contrasting businesses A stakeholder is an individual that has a direct or indirect stake in an organisation because it can affect or be affected by the organisation’s policies, actions or objectives. All stakeholders are entitled to different considerations, and have different rights. Stakeholders can range from customers, to government. I will be describing the impact that key stakeholders have on my two selected organisations, Topshop and Help for Heroes. Customers: Customers have an impact on Topshop as they buy the products; they are entitled to a fair price on products and high quality goods. The influence they have on Topshop is that they are expecting them to keep high-quality goods, which last for an extended period of time so they get their value for money on these products. Help for Heroes customers influence the company by expecting them to make good use of their donations, in products brought and to achieve projects that are promised to be made. Employees: Employees have an internal impact on Topshop as they are part of the company; employees expect security of their job, opportunities to progress in the business as they gain more work experience and a fair pay. As employees are so vital to Topshop, the employee’s expectations must be met by Topshop. Help for Heroes have two set of employees they have volunteers and regular set staff. They both have the similar employees but the volunteers do not expect pay, and expect projects to be achieved. Suppliers: Suppliers have an external impact on Topshop as they are not part of the company; suppliers expect a fair price for goods or services that they are offering to the company. They would also expect a fast if not instant payment and some suppliers would expect to feel valued by the company. This influences Topshop to get payments done quickly, and for prices to be fair to the suppliers, suppliers will also influence the company to prosper as they will want to feel proud of the company. The Help for Heroes suppliers will also have an external impact on them. They will expect them to pay them a reasonable price for the goods they are providing them, and they will expect regular orders to be made. Owners: The Owners of Topshop will have an internal impact on Topshop as they are part of the company and will some decisions for the company; owners are regarded as the principal risk takers. Owners would expect to see profits increase, and see values of the business to rise. Owners will influence the organisation to maintain high standards of work and to try and keep employees for a long period of time, and to maximise profits of the company. The Owners of Help for Heroes also have an internal impact of the company; they would also like to see the business increase in size, but not necessarily value. They would also expect to sell products and bring in a reasonable amount of donations. Trade Unions: Trade unions represent the interests of groups or employees. In Topshop and Help for Heroes they would expect fair wages based on experience and qualifications, fair working hours and acceptable working conditions for their members. This will influence both businesses to maintain high quality working facilities, making sure all staff is given a fair pay and are given reasonable hours. Employer Associations: Employer associations are the governing body of organisations. They have an external impact on Topshop as they are not part of the organisation. They would expect Topshop to abide by rules that they have set; they will also encourage them to give producers of their products to receive a fair wage. This will influence them to offer fair prices to suppliers and to abide by the set rules they have given. Help for Heroes will also be impacted by the employer associations. They will be influenced in making sure they pay their suppliers a fair price. Government: The government have an external impact on Topshop as they are not part of the business. They expect businesses to provide jobs for the public, and pay taxes; they will also expect Topshop to be successful. This will influence Topshop to maintain healthy sales figures and employ a suitable amount of people based on the business size. The government will have less of an impact on the business; they will expect them to provide jobs, but it is not vital as only some are paid. They will expect them to be successful. Local Communities: Local Communities have an external impact on Topshop as they are not part of the business. They would expect them to respect the local customers and area, to keep their waste to a minimum and to give back to the community. This would influence Topshop to try and recycle more often and offer excellent customer service. Local communities would also influence Help for Heroes as they build many buildings and the local community would expect them to keep their waste to a minimum and offer events for the local community. P3 – Describe how their style of organisation helps them to fulfil their purposes The purpose of an organisational structure is to keep control of a group of people and to keep communication between different employees quick and smooth as possible. An organisational structure also distinguishes a clear line between different types of jobs in certain departments. Topshop is a large organisation with a tall hierarchical structure. It needs this because it has over 100 international destinations. Topshop has chosen this structure because it needs to keep different employees in different departments of the business; this keeps the organisation together but also divides work between departments. Topshop also this structure for communication, they are such a large business, so they need to make sure that if problems or queries need addressing employees know who their superiors are and who exactly to report to. Topshop would not want a shop floor employee speaking to the CEO for a simple query as that would take too long for the problem to be addressed. The span of control in Topshop would be fairly small; a manager would normally be in charge of about 15 employees, this is a good figure as it allows communication between employees and managers to be efficient. Example of a Tall Hierarchal Structure Topshop have many different functional areas these are; Finance, Marketing, Production, Sales and Human Resources. Finance keep all records of any type of financial activity, they also work with other managers of different departments to give them any sort of financial information that they need e. g. working with Sales to give them predictions of stock turnover. Marketing are responsible for monitoring competitors such as River Island and Zara. Identifying, anticipating and satisfying any requirements that a customer or potential customer may have and to create new ideas within the business. They do this in Topshop by making sure they know what are the latest trends are and send out when new stock is available to subscribing customers. Production is in charge of how the stock is made, how much stock is made and when it is made. Production keep under Topshop ‘code of conduct’ this states that goods must not be made through any forms of child labour or forced labour. Production work closely with finance in keeping sure they have the most cost effective production, Production also works closely with Marketing as they decide when stock is made and Marketing tells them how much stock they will need for new seasons. Sales are responsible for getting customers to buy whatever Topshop produce. Sales work with the Marketing department. Marketing will find out what the customer want and Sales will normally find potential customers to ‘open’ from here marketing will keep them interested and hope for Sales to ‘close’ the deal. Human Resources managers are responsible for people management in Topshop; this is for mainly customers and employees. They will advertise, hire, train and fire employees. They will also take any sort of customer complaints. They will also make various policies for people in the organisation, administrative roles and supportive roles. Topshop make strategic plans by getting the CEO of Topshop to write up a set of aims with other senior partners. These are then dissected by the second in charge and presented in a department meeting from here they will then decide on how will they meet these aims with strategic plans and different plans are given to different managers. P4 – Explain how their style of organisation helps them to fulfil their purpose For this task I have been asked to explain how organisational structures and strategic planning helps Topshop to achieve its aims. Organisation structures help a business reach their aims by how dividing the company into smaller units, where companies have specialists in their specialised areas such as having a financial clerk in the finance department and not in the marketing department. The organisational structure will also establish clear communication routes making it communication efficient by having it only when necessary. Strategic planning is an organisations process of defining the direction that the company is going in; this involves making decision and providing the relevant resources to pursue the strategy that will be taken. Performance measures are established early on to measure the success of the plan. Heads of organisations need to do strategic planning so they can check at any investments are worth the time and money. Strategic planning helps a business to achieve its aim in various methods; * Helps organisations prepare for the future – This helps businesses to achieve aims by allowing them enough time to plan in the present so they can analyse for the future, giving the business enough time to run trial and error through different ideas and methods, this is so they can decide on what will bring profit and what will bring a loss of profits of the business. * Bring clarity and agreement on a mission statement – This helps businesses to achieve aims by letting everyone know what the ultimate goal of the business is and to reinforce this goal in everyone’s heads. It is also helpful for the staff and board members to have a ‘path’ to follow; this puts everyone on the same page. * Educate participants on changes to be made – This helps businesses to achieve aims by giving everyone that is in the business the suitable information and resources to allow them to understand how changes will be made so that they can accommodate the business aims. If employees also understand the business history and be able to see what has worked in previous year and what hasn’t, they will be able to identify successful methods to move the business forward. Gives opportunity to analyse the organisations systems and processes – This helps the business to achieve aims by giving board members the opportunity to be able to analyse the processes that and systems that have been used, and then they can identify the strengths and weaknesses, and eventually be able to improve these where necessary. M1 – Explain the points of view of d ifferent stakeholders seeking to influence the aims and objectives of two contrasting organisations A stakeholder will always influence a business. This depends on the amount of power that they have the larger power that a stakeholder has the more interest that an organisation will have on that certain stakeholder. The interest that organisations take on stakeholders can influence the decisions that they take and ultimately this will affect their aims and objectives. I will be covering 5 different stakeholders that may influence my two selected organisations; Topshop and Help for Heroes, the stakeholders I will discussing will be customers, employees, owners, trade unions and local communities. Customers: Customers will have a large amount of power towards the business as they will be expecting Topshop to keep competitive prices with other businesses that sell similar products; customers will also be expecting to receive seasonal deals from Topshop. This will change their aims in certain seasons such as Christmas as they will aim to sell much more, but for cheaper prices. Help for heroes on the other hand will have customers who will be buying stock because they want to make an impact and make sure the company is getting income so that they can continue to execute projects. Help for Heroes will have their aims changed depending on many donations they receive per month, because if a suitable amount of projects aren’t complete in a suitable time then donations can be stopped from customers. Employees: Employees also will have a great amount of power towards the business. Both companies Topshop and Help for Heroes will aim to keep them happy as they will need them in the business so tasks can be completed. The Employees will fair wages and reasonable hours, they will also expect performance evaluations, and this will influence the company to keep a sustainable amount of employees as they will have to provide them with training from the HR department, this could influence their aims as they might want to expand but may not be able to due to not being able to afford to staff new staff and train them to expectations. Employees in Help for Heroes are voluntary so will expect a good environment to work in, flexible hours and necessary training. Owners: Owners are a key part of the company and their decisions will always influence the company and will normally impact in with other stakeholders. In Topshop the owner will expect to see the company increase and their share of the profit to increase, they would also hope to see the value of the business increase in case they decide to sell. His/hers views would influence the company greatly because if he decided to start trading with freetrade goods, the marketing team would have to increase the price and launch new adverts and would lose customers from their customer base and try and persuade new customers to shop at Topshop. In Help for Heroes, there are two people that control the business; they expect the company to increase in size and to launch a certain amount of projects every year. If the owners decided to launch an additional 3 projects in one year, this would change the organisations aims as they would have to sell more stock and hire more employees. Trade Unions: Trade unions are an external stakeholder to a company as they represent a certain party in the business. Trade unions expect that customers are treated fairly, wages are sufficient and working conditions are of a high quality. This will affect a business as they will want to keep employees happy so may have to spend more on facilities instead of on stock, changing their spending patterns. Topshop and Help for Heroes will have to make sure that they keep high standards of working conditions and that employees are paid fairly and are treated in an acceptable manner. Local Communities: Local communities are normally affected by organisations. Organisations try to keep local communities happy and will run various events or give back to them as they need their area. Topshop tend to keep their shops in cities, but have various factories in the countryside. The local communities will expect them to input money into the community and try and be as energy efficient as possible, this will influence Topshop’s aims as they may want to expand their factories but the local community may not want them too, so they may have to change locations. Help for Heroes build a lot of projects, the community expects them to use methods of building that cause less pollution. This influences the company’s aims by making them spend more and making them wait longer for completion of projects or for the prices of good to be raised.

A Current Issue of Global Concern

A Current Issue of Global Concern: The Significance of Education for Peace and Stability in Afghanistan  © Over 30 years of war and instability have ruined the infrastructure of all spheres of Afghan life. Education has probably been the sector that has sustained the most devastation in Afghanistan. Educating the Afghan populace – especially the young generation – is a critical facet toward engendering enduring peace and stability, alleviating endemic poverty, and resuscitating economic growth in the country.From this writer’s personal awareness, in Afghanistan today most schools lack proper teaching facilities and materials (apart from the usual facilities this would include current library holdings, computerized language labs, computer labs etc) . But perhaps most important of all †¦in Afghanistan †¦there is a critical shortage of qualified teachers. Teachers with current qualifications reflective of those which would be demanded, at a minimum, in n eighboring states †¦let alone the rest of the world.Beyond the issue of availability of adequate educational opportunity however, the educational crisis in Afghanistan is further acerbated by societal circumstances. This writer is certain most readers will be aware of the circumstances which prevail in Afghanistan but, according to a report by Surgar (2011), Afghan parents are reluctant to send their children to school buildings which – because the populace is aware of the grim inadequacy of the schooling facilities – are strikingly empty of activity and children.The Surgar report underpins this writer’s own research on the ground in that it reveals that the quality of Afghan education is â€Å" low† and in most cases a striking non-existence of textbooks and of proper curricula and syllabi is evident. Another issue that has a bearing – but which has not figured prominently in discussions about the re-engineering of the Afghan educational syst em – relates to the socio-cultural bias that many Afghans have toward the education of females, especially in the conservative and remote areas of the country.This is another challenge that the Afghan government needs to wrestle with. According to a report by the United Nations Children’s Fund the disparity between the enrollment (at schools offering even the most basic educational facilities) of girls’ and boys’ is enormous. In 2009 the enrolment of young Afghan girls constituted only 35% of the total primary school enrollments (UNICEF, 2009). This percentage swells in some rural provinces in the south of the country such as in Zabul Province. Due to growing instability 90 out of 100 girls are not in schools in that province.As an average only 50% of all children receive schooling in Afghanistan (IRIN, 2011). Beyond early School education †¦in Afghanistan today there are other significant education related challenges that need to be addressed. Among them is the desperate circumstance surrounding availability of higher education opportunities   (certificate, diploma   and degree programmes)   for those Afghans who have actually made the difficult, and sometimes perilous, journey through early school †¦to qualify with a High School qualification.Part of the issue is an epidemic of despair that, for those who complete early schooling †¦high school †¦ and do not have the resources to proceed further with their education, there are virtually no employment opportunities upon graduation. This situation, obviously, only lends to the damaging environment of thought that education does not do anything to better ones lot in life. Further looming education related problems continue to surface in Afghanistan. According to the Ministry of Higher Education of Afghanistan (2010), the number of high school graduates will reach 600,000 students by 2014.These are young eager Afghans on the brink of adulthood who should be ab le to look to their own country for the provision of further, higher education opportunities with which to prepare themselves to compete in a world filled with others of their own age who are forging ahead armed with modern further education qualifications. Under normal circumstances the half a million or more Afghans who will seek admission to college or university should not – if proper strategic planning had been evident †¦if the governmental will had been evident – have been a problem. Unfortunately such is not the case in Afghanistan.As of this time of writing – in January 2011 – the currently existing public and private universities do not have the capacity to cope with such a huge number of potential new applicants (MoHE, 2010). Although, the Afghan government sponsors higher education of some Afghan students by sending them to countries such as the United State and India,   in a nut-shell this alternative is disastrously expensive for Afgha nistan, and, in most cases, futile. Most Afghan students studying abroad – upon earning whatever qualification they had sought – often do not return to Afghanistan after completion of their education.This writer is personally aware that many seek asylum in the host countries (personal research, 2010). Despite the fact that – since the fall of Taliban in 2001   – the Afghan education sector has – according to the nation’s Ministry of Education – witnessed substantial progress in, for instance,   the amount of overall enrolment in some form of educational pursuit (7 million),   the training of teachers, and the construction of over 4,500 schools (Afghanistan Ministry of Education, 2010); Afghanistan sustains the highest illiteracy rates in the world for both men and women.More than 11 million Afghans over the age of 15 still cannot read or write. In rural areas, where the majority of Afghans live, 90 percent of the women and more than 60 percent of the men are illiterate (REAC, 2010). This situation has created a perfect opportunity for the opposition of the Afghan government to exploit the unawareness of the locals and use them for political and personal agendas (Time, 2010). It is this writer’s strongly-held personal belief that Education has a pivotal impact on peace and stability.If the Afghan government – and the international community which spends billions in Afghanistan facing the enemy militarily – want to bring peace and security to Afghanistan, they must play a strong, supportive role in pressing the Afghan authorities to focus upon educating Afghans. In essence there needs to be a sea-change in the much promulgated strategies we fall victim to so often from supposed experts. The essential need is that there MUST be greater and better educational opportunities inside the country.It is patently obvious that in this vital period of national re-building the authorities have many other vital imperatives to address. Hospitals, transportation infrastructure, etc. But in ignoring the country’s precious resource – its young.. its youth †¦and their education †¦Afghanistan is breeding further problems. The high rate of unemployment and crisis-level –lack of availability of opportunities to higher educational institutions simply means more foot soldiers for the enemy (Associated Content, 2007).The opposition †¦ fighting in Afghanistan†¦ easily recruits disaffected, disgruntled, under-educated, and under-utilized young Afghans and uses them against the Afghan government and coalition forces. Even the encouraging strides to provide more schools, colleges and universities, made by the Afghan education authorities are, to this writer, insufficient. Far too often (public, state-funded) Universities from the Coalition countries float into Afghanistan and enter into arrangements with local government universities.This is not necess arily what is needed. The Afghan Education authorities should not – in this era of resuscitation – try to go it alone. They should encourage private higher educational organizations – who may be more apt to develop genuine long-term relations – given their personal investment not garnered from government coffers – to invest in the country †¦to open degree programmes in discipline areas which will train Afghans to take their place in the global arenas of business, commerce, international trade, international relations, and leadership.The Afghan Education authorities should encourage international private education entities to invest in the nation and its people by making the currently extraordinarily- difficult approval process much leaner and rational. As the new school year begins in Afghanistan, The Human Rights Research and Advocacy Consortium (HRRAC) released Report Card: Progress on Compulsory Education. The new report urges policymakers to work harder to address urgent and long term education needs in the country. Oxfam International is one of the Consortium members.The report card (for grades 1-9) recognizes that Afghanistan has made progress in enrollment, but finds key gaps in school completion rates, policy management, quality of education and available resources. * Despite the increase in school enrollment, more than half of Afghanistan's children don't attend primary school. Less than 34% of those enrolled are girls. * Drop-out rates are high, particularly among girls. Of those attending primary school, only 9% go on to secondary school. * Female teachers are scarce. In one province there is one female teacher for every 152 male teachers.Increasing the number of female teachers is essential to increase the enrollment of girls. HRRAC recommends that international donors honor their commitments to provide sufficient and long-term funding for Afghanistan and ensure adequate steps are taken to increase the enroll ment of girls and improve the quality of education. The Human Rights Research and Advocacy Consortium is a group of Afghan and international organizations working in the fields of humanitarian relief, reconstruction, human and women's rights, peace promotion, research, and advocacy.It was established in early 2003 to engage in proactive research and advocacy on human rights issues over a sustained period. Opposition within Afghanistan to girls’ participation in education predates the Taliban. Historically, education for girls was rare in rural Afghanistan and almost exclusively confined to the capital. In 1919 King Amanullah seized the Afghan throne and began a rapid development of the country’s secular education system, with a particular focus on expanding education for women.During this period shortly following independence from Britain, women and girls were encouraged in their scholarly pursuits. This shift, however, directly threatened the centuries-old practice of traditional male-oriented madrassa (religious) education among many of the ethnic tribes in Afghanistan. Amanullah’s experiment with a secular approach to education, along with other reforms prohibiting polygamy and bride price — the provision of money to the wife’s family upon marriage — aroused protest from the country’s religious establishment, who eventually supported the overthrow of the king.Nadir Shah, who took power following Amanullah, was more cautious in his attempt to introduce educational opportunities for women. Nevertheless, over the course of the twentieth century, and in particular during King Mohammed Zahir’s long reign between 1933 and 1973, Afghanistan’s education system steadily expanded even as it continued to be influenced by demands from the country’s conservative cultural and religious authorities. By the 1970s, women made up over 60 percent of the 10,000 students who studied at Kabul University.The ri se of the Soviet-backed People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan in 1978 brought large-scale literacy programs for men and women, again alongside the abolition of bride price and other reforms beneficial to women. During this period leading up the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, reforms in areas such as education stirred resentment among religious and tribal leaders in the rural areas. Although full implementation of these reforms were limited by political exigencies, women were able to experience expanded access to education and also the opportunity to actively participate as university faculty staff.During the Soviet occupation from 1979 to 1989, Afghans lived through a devastating war fueled by external forces and funding from multiple countries, among them the United States, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and China. Islamic militants, or Mujahideen, thrived in rural areas and constructed their own revolutionary army with the goal of overturning all socialist policies suc h as those governing women’s rights in general, and access education in particular. With the fall of the Communist government in 992, the country was divided among warring factions, many of them religiously inspired Mujahideen groups ideologically opposed to modern education and to education for girls. Millions of Afghans, particularly the educated, emigrated to other countries. Many of the schools not destroyed by war were closed due to lack of security, the lack of teachers and teaching material, or simply because of dire poverty. Education under the Taliban went from bad to worse. The Taliban focused solely on religious studies for boys and denied nearly all girls the right to attend school.During the Taliban’s rule, only about 3 per cent of girls received some form of primary education. The prohibition of female education, coupled with the cultural mandate that women receive their health care from female health care providers, resulted in a vulnerable population re ceiving care from poorly-educated providers. Twenty-three years of war have destroyed the infrastructure of the education system and further increased the illiteracy rate in Afghanistan. Since 2001, the participation of children and adults in education has improved dramatically and there is great demand.Afghanistan has one of the youngest populations on the planet. Unexpectedly large numbers showed up when schools reopened in 2002, and enrollments have increased every year since, with the Ministry of Education reporting that 5. 2 million students were enrolled in grades one through twelve in 2005. This includes an estimated 1. 82-1. 95 million girls and women. An additional 55,500-57,000 people, including 4,000-5,000 girls and women, were enrolled in vocational, Islamic, and teacher education programs, and 1. 24 million people were enrolled in non-formal education programs.These numbers represent a remarkable improvement from the Taliban era. More Afghan children are in school today than at any other period in Afghanistan’s history. In 2003, in response to the lack of educational opportunities in Afghanistan for the general population and especially for females, the United States Agency for International Development funded the Afghanistan Primary Education Program (APEP). APEP offers emergency access to accelerated elementary education for out-of-school youth between 10 and 18 years of age, focusing on females.Between 2003 and 2005, APEP supported accelerated learning programs for 170,000 over-age youth in more than 3,000 villages in Afghanistan. Located at Kabul University, the Women’s Teacher Training Institute opened in September 2004. The institute is currently operating programs that aim to teach basic literacy to Afghan women in rural areas and to reduce maternal and child mortality. Despite numerous positive steps forward in education for Afghan women and girls, persistent violent attacks on schools by resurgent Taliban and other forces co ntinue to force some schools to close.In a statement released in June 2006, Ret. U. S. Gen. Barry McCaffrey stressed the comparative superiority of the Taliban’s equipment and tactics to those of the NATO-trained Afghan National Army (ANA). â€Å"They are brutalizing the population,† wrote McCaffrey of the Taliban, â€Å"and they are now conducting a summer-fall campaign to knock NATO out of the war, capture the provincial capital of Kandahar, isolate the Americans, stop the developing Afghan educational system, stop the liberation of women, and penetrate the new police force and ANA. Summary AIL works to empower Afghans by expanding their educational and health opportunitites and by fostering self-reliance and community participation. What is the issue, problem, or challenge? Afghan women and children had no access to education for a decade. After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the Afghan Institute of Learning organized Educational Learning Centers (ELCs) to bring women life-saving healthcare and education. AIL helps local leaders start ELCs and decide where and what services to offer.AIL has requests for ELCs from many communities that have not historically been open to education for women. AIL now supports 44 ELCs in Afghanistan and refugee camps of Pakistan. How will this project solve this problem? AIL’s ELCs serve 350,000 women and children each year with medical and reproductive healthcare, health education, skills training, teacher training, leadership/human rights classes, pre-school through post-secondary education, and fast track classes. Potential Long Term ImpactBecause AIL is run by Afghan women and respectful of Afghan culture, conservative villages trust AIL to begin services for thousands of isolated women in dire need. Other NGOs and the Afghan government now use this model for women’s services. Project Message Our eyes are opened. Now we can read and write. Actually, now we have come to know the value of an edu cated person in a society. We thank AIL for enlightening rural areas with the lights of education. – Salma, woman in a literacy class in a rural ELC

Creating Compelling Characters

Creating Compelling Characters Creating Compelling Characters Creating Compelling Characters By Guest Author This is a guest post by Ali Hale. If you want to write for Daily Writing Tips check the guidelines here. The success of a story rests on its characters. We remember truly compelling, vivid characters long after weve finished reading a novel or watching a movie: Im sure you can recall characters from books you read in childhood. Great characters can compensate for a weak plot or a so-so writing style – but if readers dont care about your characters, theyll put your story down. That clever plot twist or beautiful passage of writing might hook them briefly, but without characters that leap off the page, readers wont stay engaged. If you need more evidence that characters are crucially important, search Google for fan fiction. Many, many books, TV series and movies have spawned a huge amount of creative writing by fans – and this writing is all about the characters. The plots and sometimes even the settings are different from those in the original, but the characters remain the same. Simply knowing how important characters are doesnt help you much, though. You need to figure out how to create truly compelling characters who readers care about, laugh about, even cry about. Heres how: What Does Your Character Need? All compelling characters have a strong need, longing or desire. They should have a problem to overcome. They may not recognise this need (and indeed, many stories are about person coming to understand themselves better – for example, learning that they need companionship). I picked up a great tip on figuring out what characters need from Holly Lisles Create a Character Clinic. Use Maslows hierarchy of needs. Pick a level on the pyramid (you can find all you need to know on Wikipedias page) and then figure out what your character is seeking. At the most basic, physical level, your character might be in a survival situation and need food and water. Going up a level, you might have a character whose security is threatened: perhaps shes lost her job, or hes facing a health crisis. Quirks Dont Equal Character Many beginning writers make the mistake of thinking that giving a character a set of mannerisms or physical quirks is characterisation. It can be amusing and diverting, certainly. Sure, you can give your character a habit of whistling a particular tune, or jangling his keys, or peering over her glasses. But these alone dont make your characters compelling. When your characters do have unusual quirks, these need to be relevant to their back story – the things which happened to them before they appeared in your book. (Compelling characters need to be like icebergs: the reader has to have the sense that theres a lot more under the surface: characters shouldnt feel like they didnt exist before page one.) For example, Harry Potters scar is an important feature because it relates to his history and to the broader plot of the stories. Giving your character a mysterious scar which has no relevance to your story, however, isnt a shortcut to becoming as popular as J.K. Rowling In general, focus on who your character is rather than what they look like. Draw From Life – But Not Too Much So where do powerful, vivid characters come from? Often, the best place to start is yourself. What do you dream about, fear, desire? What secrets do you have? What are you most ashamed of – and most proud of? If youre trying to convey a characters internal thoughts, then you must be willing to draw on your only source of direct experience: the inside of your own mind. Dont go too far in drawing on real life, though. Beginning writers sometimes make the mistake of writing a version of themselves into their stories – often a perfect, flawless character who theyd quite like to be! While this might be emotionally satisfying to the writer, its either very irritating or very boring for readers. Some other tips when drawing on your life are: Were all complex people who may, at times, behave in contradictory ways. Dont make your characters too one-dimensional Most of us have quiet, even boring, lives. Your characters need to do more exciting things in order to engage the reader. Dont worry about describing your characters physically. Mention anything thats important (eg. a characters physical size may have a bearing on the plot and on their self-confidence) but dont burden the reader with details. Watch people when youre out and about, and make up stories about them. Let the Reader Empathise Your reader doesnt necessarily have to like your characters, but they should be able to feel a sense of empathy for them. Even your villains shouldnt be purely evil: there needs to be some explanation for why theyre such awful people – this often forms part of their back story. On the flip side, your heroes shouldnt be too perfect. We like to read about people with flaws, doubts and struggles – because when we read, were imagining ourselves in their place. Characters are compelling when we can share their struggles and cheer on their victories. Some quick ways to build empathy are: Show a character suffering (either mentally or physically) Include a brief flashback to an unhappy childhood or traumatic incident Write about your characters thoughts – especially if their actions might be hard for us to understand or treat sympathetically Use the first-person or third-person limited (deep) point of view Show a character being misunderstood by others Frustrate a characters attempts to meet their need Finally, have fun with creating your characters! If you find yourself writing about a character who bores you, then rewrite them – or recast them as a new character entirely. When you write characters that are truly compelling to you, theyll be compelling to the reader. Ali Hale is a writer whose posts getting more from life at Aliventures have been called so true, exactly what I need and exactly at the right time for me (click to grab the RSS feed here). When shes not blogging, shes working on her novel and other projects, including an MA in Creative Writing. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:30 Synonyms for â€Å"Meeting†The Possessive Apostrophe5 Examples of Misplaced Modifiers

The Black Panthers Influence On Reform And Society

The Black Panthers Influence On Reform And Society The Black Panthers Influence on Reform and Society Oswaldo Ortiz Introduction to Sociology In a time when blacks were considered the inferior species, a civil rights movement was forming. The pieces were falling into place as the masses came out to fight for the cause to live freely and equally to their white counterparts. Each day a new gathering was held in order to secure the future of all people. Many of the gatherings helped to spark the creation of activists groups. Already, the NAACP, CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), NUL (National Urban League), and SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) were highly involved in the fight to unify a broken land. Many others, such as church groups and community groups, were also joining in on the cause. Then in 1966 a group out of Oakland, California was formed. The Black Panther Party was a militant group that was formed by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale (Redding N-104).Co-founder of the Black Panther Party, Huey P. New...The group had its own style and influence on the way that the civil rights movement was going to be fought.The Panthers preached a revolutionary Marxist philosophy with the goal to achieve justice for Black Americans. The Panthers felt that society had built a wall around its economic and political system to disallow blacks from achieving higher goals than what they were (Downey B-247). They helped to preach self- determination and self-empowerment to their people. They felt that African- Americans had a right to run their own lives. They had to better themselves and prove to the government that they had the right to be free of all the corruption that took place against their people (Gober). The Black Panthers were not just into the preaching aspect of the movement. They were also into taking action. Many in the Party...

The role of technology in global crime Research Proposal

The role of technology in global crime - Research Proposal Example Just like when youve bought the latest model of cell phone, before you know it, its obsolete. Okay, that was quite an exaggeration, but you get the point. Alongside its being fast-paced is price cutting, which is probably the reason why technology became so conventional, of course next to its main purpose—that is, to make mans life easier. However, though men are said to be good in nature, we always had the weakness for wealth, luxury, power, etc. Also, another sad fact that we have to put up with is that, technology cant choose its user, good or bad; it would facilitate his or her life all the same. Looking on both edges of the sword, "in the right hands, technology has the power to transform our lives in ways that only a generation ago we could never have imagined, but, in the wrong hands, technology can lead to identity theft, online auction fraud, child abduction, and many other crimes" (NCPC 2008). Yes, in a worse case scenario, technology could bring about such felony. The question is whats the role of technology in global crime? Does it resolve crime or only make it worse? Well, according to the Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA), technology played an increasing role in the serious crimes they handled, that groups of criminals worldwide are collaborating over the web (Heath 2008). In line with SOCAs view, last August 11, 2008, Brad Stone of The New York Times reported on "Global Trail of an Online Crime Ring" that Albert Gonzalez, 27, and his two Miami-based accomplices, Christopher Scott, 25, and Damon Patrick Toey, 23, were storing millions of stolen credit and debit card numbers on servers in Latvia and Ukraine, which they got from a server-breach of a Dallas-based restaurant chain together with other members of a ring that extended from Ukraine to Estonia, and imprinting some of those numbers on blank A.T.M. cards supplied by collaborators in China for use in cash machines. Furthermore, this

Final Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Final - Essay Example Mothers have always been perceived as the ones responsible in the raising of children but as researches are conducted on children; their need for fathers stands out. Father involvement then is a goal that social welfare is trying to work on. Bunting and McAuley wrote in their article the results of their research that, fathers often point to financial problems as the reason for their little or non-involvement in child raising. Money is indeed an important matter to consider and even though modern families now accept mothers working and earning money for the family instead of fathers, the males often feel they are supposed to be the ones providing the needs of the family and not their spouses. Their research shows that there seems to be some misconceptions of some fathers about their responsibilities. In addition, these misconceptions are coupled by conflicts inside the family. Whether is a problem on communication with the wife or the wife’s parents, the problem poses as a bar rier that distances the father from his child. Bunting and McAuley focused on familial relationships that could be deterrent or beneficial to fatherhood. If the wife’s parents can sometimes get in between father and child relationships, the husband’s parent can do otherwise. The article mentions that â€Å"Miller’s review of the literature on adolescent fathers indicate that as with teenage mothers, paternal grandparents, in particular grandmothers, are an important source of support for young men. This information could be valuable to social workers who can encourage paternal grandparents’ involvement in child-rearing if they are able to. This will not only boost the father’s morale but will also give him the time to work and the chance to see more of his child/children. With the increase of young men fathering children without even having any idea about their responsibilities, guidance should be available from social workers. For this reason, so cial workers should be well-informed with similar information that will guide them on how to help the fathers. Huebner et al. on the other hand gave the result of their interviews and surveys about the reactions of fathers towards social services. From the results, it is shown that 8.3% of the 185 participants gave positive reactions while 48.3% were neutral or have given suggestions and 43,3% gave disappointed comments. This reflects that services for fathers either are not performing well, badly designed or are simply available or known to a few. Some fathers shared their grievances and it is indeed heartbreaking that even in such matters, the problem on prejudice still exists. As one father said, â€Å"The system is biased against fathers and favors mothers.† This is in response to his claim that â€Å"the worker never calls me directly nor tells me what is happening in the case.† Another says that he pays child support and therefore should have the chance to be a f ather. Knowing about these, it should be noted well by social workers to set aside perceiving fathers collectively as bad or unable to competently perform their duties to children like their mothers can. This writer agrees to the idea that mediators should be trained to work with the parents to resolve their differences and not make the situation worse, to guide them in focusing on the needs of