Ipremier and Denial of Service Attack †Case Study Essay Example for Free

Ipremier and Denial of Service Attack – Case Study Essay In a recent Information Management lecture we went through the case of iPremier (read the full case) which is a popular case study from Harvard Business School. It was a made up case but the recent high profile hacking stories (such as Gawker) show that companies are not taking security seriously. The background is that iPremier suffered a DOS attack in the middle of the night which caused chaos in the company. After an hour the attack stopped and the company went back to business as normal. Two weeks later another DOS attack was spawned from the company’s server directed at a competitor which proved that their server had been compromised. The FBI became involved, the competitor threatened to sue and the city analysts were thinking of downgrading the stock. Our role was to come up with recommendations as to how the processes and plans could be improved for the future. Keeping in mind that the security is about more than just technology we needed to brainstorm around people and processes as well. 1. People and processes Develop a business continuity plan (test it end to end including suppliers and keep it updated) Develop an IT governance framework that includes security in its remit Develop clear reporting lines Better training for emergencies Trust your technical leaders and make sure they have the resources to lead in a crisis Make security part of strategy Hire an independent audit team who report into the board Hire a security and risk expert Develop a better relationship with your hosting provider 2. Technology Avoid single points of failure. Separate the server stack so that database, web and file servers are not on the same network Use a reputable hosting provider with a world class infrastructure and support Make sure all your software is up to date Use a combination of hardware and or software firewalls Backup and redundancy planning and testing Active monitoring Strong one-way encryption of passwords Use open auth systems such as Facebook connect

Causes of Construction Site Accidents

Causes of Construction Site Accidents The construction industry is not only known as an industry which is developing rapidly but it is known for its highly dangerous activities as well. In Malaysia, hazardous works on construction sites that cause accidents are taken as a crucial matter. Every single year, construction workers are among the people who are always to get caught in accidents. This serious problem has caused them to involve in fatal injuries and some of them also have been killed. In the past few years, the construction industry has gained a lot of profits by buildings that have been constructed using latest advanced technologies, but somehow the safety measures on site still being neglected. Despite of delays of the construction progress and difficulties in repairing of works and machineries that cost lots of money to be spent, but of these are incomparable to the loss of the human life. The implementation of a proper and effective health and safety policy on construction site is very essential for a builder. The hazards must be clearly understood by all the personnel working on site especially those who hold a high position in a project. Proper commitment and attention by every personnel can help in reducing hazards and accidents in the working environment other than knowing their own responsibilities on site. Every party in the construction industry also should put safety measures as their main priority during the preliminary stage until the completion of a work or construction project. The construction industry is often portrayed with negative images such as dirty, dangerous and difficult or commonly known as the 3D. Whenever a construction related matter is being discussed, people will have these thoughts embedded in their minds. This will make people feel uninterested to be involved or working in the construction field and finally resulting in lack of workforce in this industry. Thus, the safety measures on site need to be improved in order to eliminate this mindset and to achieve a safer working environment. Each party also needs to make drastic actions in ensuring an effective safety and health measures are being practiced on site to preserve the good image of the construction industry in the future. 1.2 Problem Statement The standard of safety measures in construction industry in Malaysia has lagged behind if compared to any other industries. This scenario makes it hard to achieve zero accidents and developing a safety culture among the personnel working on construction site. In the real construction practice, it was found that the safety program implementation by majority of construction companies were only at the early stage. This clearly shows that these companies do not have a safety program driven by a safety culture (Abd Hamid Abd Majid, 2006) Although a lot of contribution to the national economy comes from construction industry, the number of accidents, incidents, injuries and fatalities are still reaching a higher rate (Hinze, 1997). For some employers or clients, the implementation of safety management system is often believed to cost more in a project and they make it as a less concentrated matter on construction site. This is why safety records are often being focused because of its unsatisfactory performance due to safety being neglected and has not been taken systematically. Safety aspects are considered very crucial especially in a construction project but unfortunately there are still many employers do not feel that it is one of the keys to the success of companies. It is also known that the nature of the construction industry requires physical demand and harsh works, make it an industry with higher risk of injury other than the lack of awareness on the responsibilities of each parties involve in a project to mai ntain the safety performance. Hence, the implementation of safety measure should not be taken lightly as it is an important element in keeping the construction site a better and safer place to work. In order to decrease the jobsite risk and improve safety measures, this research will be carried out to identify the common causes of accidents that contributing to the high rate of accidents on construction and to emphasize on the roles and responsibilities of parties involved in this industry. Research Aim and Objectives 1.3.1 Aim The aim of this research is to know the significance of practicing and applying safety measures so that it can create awareness to the people who are working in the construction industry especially the management on how safety plays an important role in reducing accidents on site. 1.3.2 Objectives The three objectives are to be achieved in this research are listed as below: To study the various causes of accidents that occurred on construction site This objective is to find out the causes of this problem so that it can be solved from the root more easily and efficiently. To assess what are the roles and responsibilities of each parties in construction industry on improving the standard of safety on site and how they can reduce the number of accidents This objective is to know the relationship between their roles and responsibilities with safety performance and how it ensures the site safety is implemented. To find the ways to improve the site safety practice involved in the construction site in Klang Valley. This objective is generate ideas, ways and methods to improve the safety measures on site 1.4 Scope and Limitation of Study This research will only focus on the construction sites based around Klang Valley. Areas of study are limited to identifying the causes of accidents on construction site like unsafe equipment and machineries, job site conditions, human factor and others. Besides that, a study on the roles and responsibilities of various parties involved in the construction industry will also be done. The parties to be included in this study are from the paymaster of a project or the employer and up to the professional bodies of this industry such as Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). 1.5 Research Methodology In order to gain data for this research, various methods to extract necessary information regarding safety and health measures in the construction industry will be done. The information gathered is used to assist in the understanding of the causes that lead to the effectuation of accidents on construction site and the roles and responsibilities of various parties in the construction industry. The methods that will be used for this research are surveys, literature review and analyzing the information. Stage 1: Topic selection In this stage, the first matter that needs to be done is to identify problems occurring in this industry. Problem which is popular and most frequently arise will be chosen as the research topic. Then, literature review based on the topic selected is carried out by getting information from the previous research done by other people. Stage 2: Study proposal During the second stage, determining the aim and objectives of this research is important. It allows the research to achieve the target so that the main problem can be solved and eliminated. Besides that, the scope of the study is also specified to let the readers know the area of study that will be covered and not to be covered in this research. Stage 3: Data gathering and processing Primary Data In order to get practical information that can contribute to this research, surveys will be conducted. Survey questionnaires will be distributed to personnel working on site such as project manager, safety officer, site supervisor and others to get valuable insight into the risk and hazards involved on construction site. A practical view from them is of utmost importance to obtain information which is not available in books. This is also an opportunity to interact with the people involved in the construction field. The information that need to be obtain in the survey are like the causes of accident to happen in the construction site, what accident cases are often being reported and the role and responsibility of each parties to improve the site safety in construction. Secondary Data Secondary data can be obtained by finding sources and information in a library. Some of the libraries that will be the place to conduct this method are the library in Tunku Abdul Rahman College and the public library. The sources that will be used in the library are articles, textbooks, journals and magazines. The authors name, year of publication, title, place of publication and publisher of the book will be indicated in the research for referencing purpose. Internet is also one of the best sources to get information about safety on construction site. Relevant materials and information can be easily obtained in the internet because the application is wide and unlimited. Information such as statistics of accidents occurred on site and latest news on the construction safety and health issues also may be obtained from internet searching. Chapter II CAUSES OF CONSTRUCTION SITE ACCIDENTS 2.1 Introduction On the construction site, workers are exposed to hazardous works and dealing with such works everyday is something common for them. Safety First is a very popular phrase that can be found on most construction site but it does not being put under first priority as it is stated in signboards and posters. There is no wonder why the accident rates on construction sites are getting higher each year. Statistics also have proven that the number of deaths caused by accidents in construction industry has surpassed all other industry. The chart below shows the number of victims involved in death cases that have been investigated by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) up until December 2010. In this chapter, identifying the various causes of accidents will be the primary objective as it helps in generating ideas in improving safety measures on site. 2.2 Definitions 2.2.1 Accident Accident can be defined as an unplanned, uncontrolled event which has led to or could have led to injury to people, damage to plant, machinery or the environment and/or some other loss. The controlling of work situation by providing safe conditions and insisting on the use of safe working method and procedures is the way of accident prevention. 2.2.2 Hazard Hazard is a source, situation or occurrence in the workplace that has the potential to harm the health and safety of people or to damage plant and equipment. The situation could involve a task, chemical or equipment used. 2.2.3 Safety Safety can be defined as the quality of being safe and the freedom from danger or risk where people are protected against physical, occupational or other types of harm, error, failure, accidents or any event which is non-desirable. The controlling of hazards to achieve an acceptable level of risk also can be the definition of safety. 2.3 Unsafe Acts and Conditions 2.3.1 Unsafe Acts Usually, accidents at work occur either due to unsafe acts and unsafe conditions. There is no general agreement on the definition of an unsafe act. However, it has been defined in similar focus on unaccepted practices which have the potential of producing future accidents and injuries. Other definition of unsafe act that given by previous researcher is unsafe act is an action deviates from generally recognised safe way of doing a job and increases the chance of an accident (Stranks, 2000). Unsafe acts can be classified into two types either as errors or violations (Reason, 1990). According to most accident reports, the errors are to be found as a major contributor to accidents. Meanwhile, violations are less common. There are two conditions where unsafe acts may occur. Firstly, workers do not know while they are acting unsafely. Secondly, they know while they are acting unsafely. For the first situation, the problem can be easily solved by providing safety training to the worker, supervise them closely, providing good work system design, etc. The reasons for the workers to act unsafely for the second case is more complex because it could be due to various factors like personality of the workers, influence by coworkers, the extent of managerial support and the nature of the job being undertaken. Although workers are fully aware that they are working unsafely, they still want to carry on with such unsafe acts. There are various acts that are considered unsafe. Those acts are: Working without authority on the job can cause accidents since unauthorized workers may lack of skills and unfamiliar with the job process. Failure to secure coworkers or to warn about the danger is an unsafe act because many accidents occur while workers are paying less attention to warn and secure coworkers who are exposed to accidents occurrence when working. Working at improper speeds, exceeding the prescribed speed limits or unsafe speed actions could cause accidents. Not placing and stacking the materials properly in dangerous locations will cause unpredicted accidents to happen. The usage of tools and equipment, hand tools, power tools and machinery which is done inaccurately may result in accidents. Executing work by using defective equipment and tools. Refusing to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) will increase the probability of getting injured. Smoking which creates sparks in areas where flammable materials are stored could cause explosions. Throwing or accidentally dropping objects from high levels could expose other workers being struck by the object and cause head injury. Improper posture for tasks like workers making shortcuts by climbing or jumping from high levels instead of using ladders. Servicing equipment which is under operation. 2.3.2 Unsafe Conditions An unsafe condition is a condition in which the physical layout of the workplace or work location, the status of tools, equipment and material violate the safety standards. Some examples of unsafe conditions include open sided floors, defective ladders, improperly constructed scaffolds, protruding ends of reinforcing rods, protruding nails and wire ties, defective equipment, ungrounded electrical tools and many others. In most accidents occurred on construction site, unsafe conditions are the main cause contributing to an accident. It is distinguished that that unsafe conditions are divided into two types according to when they occurred during the sequence of work and who caused them to exist and develop (Abdelhamid Everett, 2000). The unsafe condition may exist in different situations which are before an activity is started and another one is develop after an activity is started. The occurrence of these two types of unsafe conditions is due to some other causes like actions and inactions by the Management Team and worker or coworker unsafe acts. 2.3.2.1 Actions and Inactions by Management Team Among the example of Management Team actions and inactions that lead to unsafe condition on site are they fail to provide proper and adequate personal protective equipment to the workers, fail to maintain or safeguard tools and equipment, violating the workplace standards such as ignoring slippery floors that can cause someone to fall, insufficient ventilation leaving the workers to choke, poor housekeeping and others. Workers are also sometimes requested to perform tasks that exceed the human capabilities or violate the human factors, ergonomics and the principles of industrial hygiene. This request which made unintentionally by the Management Team will expose the worker to unsafe condition of the site and eventually leads to injuries and illness. 2.3.2.2 Coworker Unsafe Act Inexperienced worker or coworker in working on the site will tend to act unsafe when handling a task which may lead to unsafe conditions for other workers. Unsafe condition will exist when these inexperienced workers doing their job recklessly like removing machine safeguards, working while intoxicated where they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, working with less concentration due to insufficient sleep, neglecting the housekeeping rules, executing works where they do not have the authorization to do so, etc. 2.3.2.3 Site Layout Poor site layout in construction site is also contributing to the unsafe condition factor. It was reported that insufficient working space was a problem in a number of accident studies (Hide et al., 2003). Sometimes, the commencement of the build prior to the completion of demolition is blocking the space allocation on site resulting in number of reorganizations of site layout to fulfill the changing of the build plan. Other than that, space constraints can restrict the allocation of floor area for workshop placement, footpaths, storage, parking provision and adequacy of space transport routes. This will cause constriction to the room for vehicle to access the drop-off points and effect on the traffic flow on site and interrupt the ease of receiving deliveries where it leads to a subsequent need for double handling materials. It also will make the routes to become narrow and may cause accidents where vehicles can overturn and hit the workers in the surrounding area. 2.3.2.4 Ground Conditions Ground conditions are one of the risk factor for accidents. The common problem that is always found is raised structures on the walking surface that can create trip hazards. Some examples of trip hazards are electrical cables, ply board used as a temporary manhole cover and raised setting out points. It is hard for the workers to be aware of these hazards because most of the time they were coloured black, grey or brown instead of being marked or coloured. 2.3.2.5 Poor Housekeeping Good housekeeping is upmost the important thing to be considered to ensure the site is safe. Unfortunately, many sites found these days did not put housekeeping into their priority. Everyone on the site must do their part to ensure that the site is clean and orderly. Although, there are workers that felt that clearing up the site is the responsibility of other people who had created the mess or up to the Contractor to undertake it. This situation will make good housekeeping hard to achieve. As we know, the most common types of injuries that occur on site are slips, trips and falls which are also contributed by poor housekeeping. Accidents happened due to unorganized material will result in workers suffer cuts from materials and materials fall down striking workers head resulting in head injury. 2.4 Accidents by Equipments and Machineries On construction site, workers are required to use different types of equipments and machineries to ease the work that need to be done. By using these equipments every day, workers tend to put themselves at great risk for injury when they are using construction equipments. The equipments also can be defective and will cause the person using them or another person on site to be injured or killed. The defective equipments and machineries are required to be immediately tagged to indicate that they are damaged and remove from the construction area. However, the tags will sometimes come off and workers will not usually stop to walk away from their working area. Finally, someone may pick up and use back the defective equipments or machineries that make them involved in accidents. 2.4.1 Scaffolding The usage of scaffolding is essential in a construction project to get workers to a higher level of the building structure when they are executing a work. As much as it is useful to workers, it is also very dangerous and hazardous. Statistics reported that 28% of the accidents involving scaffold are caused by construction deficiencies. Among the deficiencies happened are because of the usage of substandard components, omitting essential components and failure to complete the assembly of scaffold. (OSHA, 2003). The people who are exposed to the scaffolding hazards are the ones who erecting the scaffold themselves, the workers that are going to use it when doing works and the general public near the scaffold. Scaffolding accidents usually will involve either people falling, incorrect operating procedures, environmental conditions, the scaffold collapse and/or people being struck by falling objects from the scaffold itself (Berry, 2011). There will be objects that fall to the ground because workers who work using scaffold will bring along some of equipment together with them such as paint and other related supplies, tools like hammers, screwdriver and also widow cleaning equipment. When there is a worker on the scaffold, it will not only cause harm to that worker but also to those who are on the ground with serious injury by getting hit by the scaffolding or other falling objects. Scaffoldings are usually kept outside which exposed to the environment. This can cause the scaffoldings to deteriorate. Scaffolds are often being reported to be in good condition by inspection and maintenance before they collapsed. This is because it is hard to detect corrosion of the internal surface of tubular scaffolds. Other causes of accidents of scaffoldings are: Unsecure scaffolding Poor or careless construction Use of poor quality of damaged material Missing or malfunctioning brakes Missing or malfunctioning fall safety systems Lack of or poorly conducted safety inspections 2.4.2 Crane The usage of crane is one of the major causes of fatalities during constructing a building and accidents often happen when lifting operation is executed. The occurrence of fatalities during crane operation still continue to increase although ongoing research and recommendations to reduce this problem have been done for the past several decades (Beavers et al., 2006). The most common types of crane accidents involve the crane coming into contact with electrical power lines. Overhead electrical power lines present a serious electrocution hazard to workers on site. The most common means of electric power transmission and distribution is the overhead line which normally made of uninsulated conductors supported on tower or poles. It is likely to come in contact with a crane because it is placed in a high position. When a crane is contacting with energized overhead line, it becomes elevated to a high voltage that can cause harm to the crane operator (Sacks et al., 1998). Severe injury or death from electrocution is the risks that need to be faced by the operator and anyone standing nearby if this catastrophe happens. The crane rigger also can contribute to an accident. Workers or bystanders are exposed to rigging crane accidents when the material connected to the load block or headache ball fall onto them. Besides that, heavy loads that exceed the limitations and stability of a crane will result in structural failure, causing the crane to tip and collapse over the operator and other workers below it. 2.4.3 Excavator The massive size, weight and power of an excavator will place an operator or workers at high risk of serious injury when there is an accident happens caused by excavator. The most common accident caused by excavator will involve quick-hitch. A quick-hitch is device used to make connection and removal of attachment such as buckets and rock breakers of the excavator. The risk arise from the quick-hitch is the disconnection of the attachment resulting works to be loose and falls from the excavator (Edwards, 2007). This incident can cause crucial injury or even worst, death, if the attachment such as heavy buckets are detached and fall onto the workers nearby. Other causes of quick-hitch accidents that involve unintentional release of the attachment are: the failure to engage the quick-hitch properly due to carelessness failure to use any secondary locking device poor maintenance of locking mechanism attachment being overloaded. Even though the cause of an accident can be obvious at first, there are also some root causes of excavator accidents that need to be identify such as: lack or inadequate training given to the operator inadequate supervision by supervisors during excavation works are executed poorly trained ground workers workers encroach the excavator operating area while it is working 2.5 Poor Management System It is necessary to have a good management system in a construction project as it can generate an organizational setting in which workers will be trained and motivated to perform safe and productive construction work. Unfortunately, many management systems fail to be responsible in creating outline procedures to identify and eliminate hazards and eventually letting personnel involve in undesired accidents. 2.5.1 Poor Safety Policy Nowadays, it is common to see Site Management not establishing an effective safety policy. Safety policy is important in a construction company stress on the principles and goals to show the companys commitment to workplace health and safety (CSAO, 1993). Less awareness on the importance of having safety policy is why there are big numbers of management did not implement it. When there is no effective safety policy made by the management, personnel on site tend to execute their work in a dangerous way because they do not have a proper guideline in safe working methods which may lead them to be exposed to risks and hazards in the construction site environment. By not having a safety policy, accidents that occurred will not only harm the personnel, but it will make the company bare a high financial risk. This situation is likely to happen because the management fails to provide support for safety programmes where it is considered as a need since an accident were proved to be costly. A better safety performance is also hard to achieve because management system does not have the responsibility to provide a safe work site for all personnel because the key in achieving that is to have viability and participation by the management (Sawacha et al, 1999). 2.5.2 Poor Organising Among all of the functions safety management, the most important one is to designate individual with responsibilities so that the construction safety programme and plan can be implemented successfully. Without having a well planned organisation, the management will find it hard to execute monitoring on policy implementation, to determine the roles of safety committees and safety representative, and to portray health and safety responsibilities in every individual job descriptions. The unsatisfied involvement and commitment by both management and workers also makes the safety policy to be less effective (Holt, 2001). Undertaking fault and correcting action being taken can hardly be done causing less improvement to the safety performance because the safety representative is also not well-trained due to poor organisation (Sawacha et al., 1999). The safety performance will only be at the same level without any improvement when companies with poor organisation fail in providing effective safety committees where they play a positive role in this matter (Sawacha et al., 1999). 2.6 Other Factors 2.6.1 Personal Factors 2.6.1.1 Laziness Taking shortcuts in doing works that being assigned are done by most workers because they want to avoid extra activities (Hall, 1995). Sometimes, workers feel that it is troublesome for them to choose the right tool during work so it is preferable to them to work with the wrong tools. 2.6.1.2 Past Experience For workers that have been working in a company for a long time and having to perform a similar job, it is hard for them to change or give up the way they do things. This is actually not recommended because the old habit can increase the possibilities of accidents to happen by preventing them from noticing the hazards (Kittleson, 1995). 2.6.1.3 Doing Works in a Hurry Sometimes supervisors want the works to be done as fast as possible which gives pressure to some workers and leading them getting the works complete in a hurry. In order for the workers to save time finishing the works, he or she may abandon the good safety practices (Stice, 1995). 2.6.1.4 Being Angry Angry is sometimes uncontrollable and makes someone not to be caution, leading him or her to be involved in accidents. To identify when someone is angry is by noticing that person is sweating, tremble and grinding the teeth. Anger that cannot be resolved will cause distraction, proneness to accidents, anxiety, rage and violence (Kittleson, 1995). 2.6.1.5 Overconfidence Having confidence is important for every worker and it is a good thing, but overconfidence can bring more harm than good. A person with an attitude of thinking that he or she will never involve in an accident will lead to wrong procedures or methods and cause injury (Hirsch, 1998). 2.6.2 Job Factors 2.6.2.1 Work Overload Workers can develop high stress especially when they are asked to do works more that what they could handle together with the pressure due to deadline. Work overload can be divided into two different forms which are quantitative overload where workers are asked to do more works, and qualitative overload where the workers lack of belief that they do not have the skills to get the work done (Greenberg Baron, 2000) 2.6.2.2 Work Underload Stress can also arise when someone is being asked to do too little work. There are two types of work underload which are quantitative underload where a person feels bored from having little work to do, and qualitative underload where a person is lack of mental stimulation like routines and repetitive jobs (Greenberg Baron, 2000). 2.6.2.3 Time Pressure Workers will get overwhelmed and worry once they felt that they are unable to finish a work before the deadlines (Stranks, 2000). Moreover, when there is a change in the work process and workers are not given sufficient time to complete it, they will easily become stressed.

Consider Two Theories Of Child Development Psychology Essay

Consider Two Theories Of Child Development Psychology Essay There are many theories taken from the disciplines of sociology, biology and psychology that explain human development from the each disciplines perspective. Baltes (1987) cited in Crawford and Walker (2010), states that human development is multidimensional. Human development is approached from several theoretical perspectives which may be classified as psychoanalytic, learning, cognitive, sociological, biological or ecological theories. Broadly, theories of human life course development can be categorised into three disciplines namely; sociological, biological and psychological. Sociological theories emphasise social and environmental factors as having an impact or influence in human development. Biological theories focus on the physical development, genetic influence, human growth stages and instinct. Biological theorists would argue that human behaviour for example, is genetically determined. On the other hand psychological theories focuses on what goes on in the mind, emotional development, personality development and related behaviours. This school of thought describe human development as stages or phases that individuals go through. According to Crawford and Walker (2010), human development theories can contribute our understanding of people and their situations. Different theoretical approaches lead to different approaches to social work practices. It is important that social workers access apply and critically evaluate these theories when working with children and their families. As a social worker, one should understand the origins, underlying assumptions, strengths and limitations of these theories in practice. The following is a discussion of two theories of child development and their usefulness in safeguarding the welfare of children. Bronfenbrenners theory of bioecological development This is a bioecological theory as defined by Boyd and Bee (2009). It explains human development in terms of relationship between people and their environments as illustrated in the diagram below. ` Adapted from http://edwinchartfellow.wordpress.com/research-project-2/ Case Study: John is 14 years of age and lives is a large deprived housing estate with a reputation for anti-social behavior. He does not attend school and spend most of his time with a gang of older teenagers. He has a history of theft and he misuse substances. He has lived most of his life in the care of relatives. His father Paul and grandfather have criminal records. His father is currently in prison. His mother Eve gave birth to John when she was 16 years and she uses drugs and alcohol. Johns aunt and her husband lives a few miles away and have offered to look after John. They are committed Christians and wish to support John and would like to support him to change his behaviour. According to Bronfenbrenner, human development is influenced by biological, socio-economic-political and cultural environment one grows in. Bronfenbrenner. (1979) bioecological theory states that there are four domains that influence child development and these are biological factors within the child, the family, the immediate surrounding such as school and the community, and the socio-economic environment in the wider world. The contexts of development are like circles within circles. It is therefore imperative that social workers understand the environment that the child grows in to be able to safeguard the welfare of children. The inner circle is the biological context which caters for the childs genetic makeup and development. Such factors may include genetic inheritance, sex/gender and healthy all contributing to an extent in the childs development. The next levels encompass the role of nurture. This viewpoint argues the environment, experiences and the way a child is brought up influences the childs development. Social workers have to take this into account in safeguarding the welfare of children. According to Boyd and Bee (2009), the microsystem relates to variables which children are exposed directly, such as their families, schools, churches, and neighbourhoods. The culture in which the child in born and grows is influenced by the immediate environment. The family values which may include religious upbringing and influences, classroom peers, and neighbourhood has a strong impact on the character and values of an individual. In Johns microsystem, we need to consider the influences of his parents and immediate family members. Parents involvement with the school and the response of the school to their involvement are part of the mesosystem. Shaffer and Kipp (2010), refers to mesostystem as the connections and interrelationships among microsystems such as home, school and peer groups. The childs development is likely to be optimized by strong supportive links between microsystems. For example, the childs ability to learn at school depends on the quality of instructions that his teachers provide and also on the extent in which the parents value, support and co-operate with teachers. On the other hand none supportive links between microsystems can spell disaster (Steinberg, Dornbusch and Brown, 1992 cited by Shaffer and Kipp (2010)). The next level is the exosystem (the socioeconomic). This consists of institutions of culture that indirectly affect the development of children. These include the community, school, parents work place, extended family, neighbourhood, and mass media. The exploration of Johns exosystem leads us to look at the local deprived community associated with anti-social behaviours in which John lives. The macrosystem represents the wider cultural context within which all the other systems are located. This includes the economic, social, cultural, history and laws in which a child grows. This wider context may refer to a country or state a child is brought up. For example, education funding exists in the socioeconomic context. A specific country may strongly believe that children should be educated (cultural context), but the ability to provide universal education can be limited by the countrys wealth (socioeconomic context). The macrosystem in which John lives, include social factors such as the economic and political factors in the country that may impact upon John and his family. Social workers must understand and appreciate that the development of the child encompasses biological, the role of the immediate environment like, parents, siblings, classroom peers and in the wider context involves the extended family, neighbours, and also the socio-economic condition in which the child lives. For example, the development of the unborn child may be affected by the impact of drug use of the mother. Crawford and Walker (2010), states that the Bronfenbrenner approach is based on the principle that the development and behaviours of individuals can be fully understood in the context of the environment in which they live. Attachment theory: Bowlby (1969) defines attachment as; A deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space It does not have to be reciprocal. Furthermore, Bowlby (1969), states that attachment in children is characterised by specific behaviours like seeking to be in touch or proximity with the attachment figure whenever one is threatened or upset. Attachment behaviour in adults is displayed with how they respond to the childs needs. Attachment theory provides understanding to how parent-child relationship emerges and has a bearing in subsequent years. Children need to feel secure in their relationship with adults or care giver. Early relationships are important as they are viewed as having critical role in the childs emotional well-being throughout their life development. Regarding this later life, Payne, 2005 p81 cited by Crawford and Walker (2010), p43 states that; How we are depends on how we experience early relationships. Warmth, mutuality, support, and security are qualities of relationships that tend to produce coherent and well organized later selves. Bowlby believes that child development personality lay in the early years of childhood and that any failure in the early relationships would permanently influence the development of the childs personality. Bowlby (1969) believes that attachment develops through four attachment phases as briefly described below. Pre-attachment phase (birth to 3 months): This is often referred to as indiscriminate attachment phase. A baby can be attached to any care giver. An infant forms attachment to whoever feeds it. Focus on one or more figures (3 to 6 months): Infants learn to distinguish between primary and secondary care givers and would accept care from anyone. Secure based attachment phase (6 to 24 months): True attachment develops in this phase. Infants look to certain care givers for security, protection and comfort. Fears of strangers and unhappiness when separated from attached care giver known as separation anxiety, is a characteristic of this phase. The reciprocal relationship phase (24 months and beyond): In this phase a child becomes increasingly more independent and forms several attachments. These several attachments can include attachments to siblings, grandparents, neighbours and friends. The attachment phases leads to the following types of attachments and social workers need to understand these if they are to effectively work with children and families. Attachment can be described as secure. As long as the care giver is present a securely attached child will play comfortably and react positively to strangers and will become visibly upset when their mothers leave. Attachment can also be described as avoidant. This is for example; a child avoids contact with the mother at reunion after an absence. The child does not show any preference to mother over a stranger. The insecure/ambivalent attachment type is where the child shows little exploration and is wary of strangers. The child gets very upset when separated from the mother. The child may show anger at reunion and resist comfort from the mother and stranger. The last type is the insecure/disorganised attachment which is characterised by confusion, disoriented behaviour. Boyd and Bee (2009), states that social workers should understand that early emotional relationships shape late ones in life. Securely attached children in infancy are later more sociable, positive in their behaviour towards friends and siblings, less dependent on teachers, less aggressive and disruptive, more empathetic and emotionally mature in their interactions in school and outside the home. If attachment is not made between 0-3 years from birth, the child may never form an attachment with anyone. A securely attached child is able to develop resilience, independence, compliance, empathy, control over their feelings, and health self-esteem. Taylor, (2010) argues that for healthy and secure attachment to develop, a child needs to experience both proximity and separation. On the other hand, insecurely attached children tend to have difficulties in establishing relationships, appear indiscriminately friendly to whoever is around, extremely withdrawn and little or no interest in othe r people. Social workers can use attachment theory in assessment of children and families. For example, the social worker can use attachment theory to understand how past experiences relate to present difficulties. Gambie et al (1992) cited by Daniel et al (2010) assumes that a traditional nuclear family provides a superior child rearing environment. The majority emphasis is on a western model of the nuclear family which may not be experienced by children who may be cared for by extended family members who are part of their attachment network. Social workers need to be respectful and sensitive towards varied patterns of care giving and attachments within different communities. The key consideration should be the assessment of whether or not basic needs are being met. The majority of children encountered by social workers working with child safeguarding have difficulties which can be attributed to attachment issues. Attachment theory can therefore offer insight to guide intervention. For childr en in care, attachment theory can help to understand both the impact of separation from important people and the process involved in making new attachments. Conclusion: Dworetzky et al (1989), states that our understanding and knowledge of human development are limited by the fact that no two human beings are ever exactly the same. Because of this, theories of human development will never be 100 per cent or even close to it. Furthermore, Lightfoot et al (2009) states that there is no single theory that can fully explain human development. Social workers work with vulnerable people. Of the two theories described above, each has its own strengths, weaknesses and context in which it is useful. According to Shaffer and Kipp (2010), families are complex social systems that are dynamic. Every family member is constantly developing and their relationships change with time. The complexity nature of family life and its influence on human development can best be described by Bronfenbrenners bioecological theory. Boushel 1994, p.179 cited by Daniel et al (2010) states the following regarding Bronfenbrenners bioecological theory and what social workers need to take into account when safeguarding the welfare of children and families; The framework for assessment of a childs protective environment will need to acknowledge the part played by the state and society in general, the part played by the community within which the child live and the part played by the individual family. The African proverb it takes the whole village to raise a child is true for this theory. This approach recognises that children do not grow up in a vacuum. In the case study above, Johns behaviour has been influenced by the microsystem (family) and also the exosystem (neighbourhood). In assessing Johns needs, the social worker will need to use these aspects of Bronfenbrenners bioecological theory. This approach requires that the child never be assessed in isolation. Daniel et al (2010) argues that the bioecological approach to child development suggests that detailed assessment of all aspects of the childs situation include considerations of all levels that are immediate and of wider impact and is essential to the planning of intervention with children and families by social workers. This theory provides understanding that each lifespan is unique as each individual in influenced by their unique environments. This theory helps in influencing government policies and programs that can b enefit a given community. In the case of Johns environment, resources can be channelled in developing the estate and proving facilities for young people to get busy and occupied. On the other hand, Shaffer and Kipp (2010), argues that bioecological theories are inadequate in giving account of human development. The inner individual level encompasses the role of nature in child development. This viewpoint argues that our genes predetermine who we are and our characteristics are inherited. We have in born biological characteristics that are hereditary from our birth parents at a point of conception. This position suggests that change is not possible and we are what we are and we cannot do anything about it. This argument has the potential to stereotype people which leads to support prejudice and oppressive behaviour and social workers should be aware of this in safeguarding the welfare of children. Despite it being a bioecological theory, it has little to say about specific biological contributions to human development. The emphasis is on the developing person and the constant changing environment. Attachment theory may be important for work with children but its application to adults is less evidenced. Konstantinos and Georgios (2006)s research supports Bowlbys conclusion that cross culturally; attachment has an influence on ones socio-emotional development as well as emotional well-being through life course. There are many limitations that have been cited on attachment theory. Attachment theory does not account for some people who had insecure attachment relationships with their mother but however went on to form secure romantic relationships with their partners in adulthood. Attachment can still occur in adulthood. The attachment approach ignores the temperaments and personalities of individuals. Harris (1998), argues that parents do not shape the personalities and characters of their children. He believes that their peers have more influence in personality and character building than the parents. Take for example, a child whose parents are immigrants. The child can continue to speak the parents native language at home, but at the same time learn new language and speak it without a foreign accent. Harris (1998) argues that children learn these from their peers so as to fit in. Following from above, social workers should understand that parents are not totally responsible for the way the children develop. They can be held responsible to a certain degree, because after all they did give them their genes and therefore do have some influence. However, children rely more on their parents. Another limitation of attachment theory stated by Field (1996) is that the mother is viewed as the primary attachment figure and fails to include the father and siblings who can also be attached to the child at the same time. Another limitation is that attachment is confined to infancy and early childhood as defined by Bowlby. This does not account for attachment that occur in adolescence (first love), adulthood (spouse) and later life. In conclusion, there is no single theory that can fully explain human development. Attachment theory is more suitable for explaining infancy development despite its limitations. On the other hand, Bronfenbrenners bioecological theory is more suitable for explaining child development in their adolescence for they do interact more with the microsystem, exosystem and macrosystem than the infancy do.

In chapter 5 a lot of different ideas come out about the beast. :: English Literature

In chapter 5 a lot of different ideas come out about the beast. Lord of the Flies In the lord of the flies there where a lot of things happening on the island but one thing that was mentioned through out the story was the beast, there where a lot of different sightings and mentioning of it. The firs time the beast is mentioned is in chapter 2 when a younger child asks Ralph what he is going to do about the beast, he asks Ralph through piggy as the child is to scared to say it in front of everybody. Piggy says to Ralph â€Å"He wants to know what you are going to do about the snake-thing† he the n goes on to say â€Å" the beastie thing came in the dark†,† in the morning it turned into them things like ropes in the trees and hung in the branches†. The child seems anxious to know whether it will return. Although all this information is coming from a small child and he might just be making up there is always a possibility that its true so they cant afford to just laugh it off. Although all this is at the back of Ralph’s mind he tries to put confidence into the group by saying â€Å"but there isn’t a beastie† the group seems to take Ralph’s word for it. Then as things start to settle jack jumps up ands says â€Å"Ralph’s right of course but if there was a snake we would hunt and kill it† this is the best thing to say because it is leaving the minds open to think that there is a beast and it puts everybody’s minds un easy again. In chapter 3 they decide that they need homes for shelter and security. They all say its in case it rains just to give them some shelter if need be, and give them somewhere to sleep. At the back of all there minds is still the beastie so they are doing it for protection, it will be like there home because everybody feels safe at home so they are trying to get some security between them selves like that. In chapter 5 a lot of different ideas come out about the beast. The first person to bring it up is jack he says there isn’t no beast and fear cant hurt you, and all everybody is doing is fearing fear so you are all a bunch of babies, jack is partly correct in what he says but he isn’t think like it really is he is just trying to prove that he

A Nightmare On Elm Street :: essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At a time when the stalker movie had been exploited to all ends and the image of mute, staggering, vicious killers had been etched into society’s consciousness to the point of exhaustion, a new kid entered the block. The year was 1984 and it was time for a new villain to enter into the horror genre. A villain that was agile, intelligent, almost inviolable yet viscous, and by all means deadly. A Nightmare on Elm Street introduced the distinctive presence of Fred Krueger to the horror industry and to the audience. Freddy Krueger took the center stage and with him a new era of horror films began. This horribly scarred man who wore a ragged slouch hat, dirty red-and-green striped sweater, and a glove outfitted with knives at the fingers reinvented the stalker genre like no other film had. Fred Krueger breathed new life into the dying horror genre of the early 1980’s. Horror films are designed to frighten the audience and engage them in their worst fears, while captivating and entertaining at the same time. Horror films often center on the darker side of life, on what is forbidden and strange. These films play with society’s fears, its nightmare’s and vulnerability, the terror of the unknown, the fear of death, the loss of identity, and the fear of sexuality. Horror films are generally set in spooky old mansions, fog-ridden areas, or dark locales with unknown human, supernatural or grotesque creatures lurking about. These creatures can range from vampires, madmen, devils, unfriendly ghosts, monsters, mad scientists, demons, zombies, evil spirits, satanic villains, the possessed, werewolves and freaks to the unseen and even the mere presence of evil. Within the genre of horror films falls the sub-genre of teen slasher/stalker films. These teen slasher/stalker films take the horror genre film characteristics into account, however they add more to the formula. More violence, sadism, brutality, and graphic blood and gore are used to increase the terror factor. Sexuality and gratuitous nudity are also key characteristic of many of these films. Imitations and numerous sequels are also a common characteristic of teen slasher/stalker films as well. A Nightmare on Elm Street and all of the following six sequels fall into its own sub-genre of the teen slasher/stalker sub-genre as well, know as the Nightmare on Elm Street Series. This series of films adds a new dimension to the typical teen slasher/stalker film, depth of character and story.

Marriage Is Private Affair Essay

Nnaemeka sees the marriage as an affair as her wife does not belong to his husband’s race and some of her actions contradicts with their race religion and his father will surely disapprove the marriage. Nene believed the marriage was not an affair as she believe marriage is a happy thing and parents will be happy about their child’s marriage. 2. Religion is everything during the time the story happens. It’s not only a belief, it represents good and evil of a person’s character : if a person follow the religion, he’s a good man. People become superstitious in religion and their free wills were robbed from them. 3. The tribesmen allowed only marriage within their tribesmen because they thought their tribes were strong and allowing other tribes to marry their tribesmen will make their bloodline impure and thus imperfect. One trumps the other means believing one better than all the others. In here, the tribes believed their bloodline was the strongest and therefore forbid other tribes to mix into their bloodline. Marriage is private affair 1. Nnaemeka sees the marriage as an affair as her wife does not belong to his husband’s race and some of her actions contradicts with their race religion and his father will surely disapprove the marriage. Nene believed the marriage was not an affair as she believe marriage is a happy thing and parents will be happy about their child’s marriage. 2. Religion is everything during the time the story happens. It’s not only a belief, it represents good and evil of a person’s character : if a person follow the religion, he’s a good man. People become superstitious in religion and their free wills were robbed from them. 3. The tribesmen allowed only marriage within their tribesmen because they thought their tribes were strong and allowing other tribes to marry their tribesmen will make their bloodline impure and thus imperfect. One trumps the other means believing one better than all the others. In here, the tribes believed their bloodline was the strongest and therefore forbid other tribes to mix into their bloodline.

IT for education and learning Essay

As we all knew, Information Technology has been well-developed for years. Nowadays, lots of youngsters would study online via the Internet, such as finding academic materials for doing project, submitting assignments to the online learning environment of their schools and so forth; therefore, people started to think what features of information technology can facilitate with education and learning. In particular, people would call this kind of learning as â€Å"e-learning†. According to D. R. Garrison (2011)1, e-learning is â€Å"formally defined as electronically mediated asynchronous and synchronous communication for the purpose of constructing and confirming knowledge. † The foundation of this technology is the Internet associating with communication technologies. So how would e-learning affect our education and learning? My ideas are as follows. First and foremost, online games are suitable for using within a learning environment as they are based on the theories of situated learning, motivation and learning by doing. What is online game? A. Rollings and E. Adams (2006) 2 introduce online game is a technology for connecting players together over computer networks like on the Internet. Online games can provide large simulated conditions in the real world for learners to solve problems and deal with others. They not only increase learners’ motivation and engagement but also enhance the learning experience and recognition. Additionally, they also provide free trainings that allow mistakes and errors so that the cost can be lowered. They can also increase the chance of communication such that they would have better coordination and communication skills. Take military and emergency services as an example, like America’s Army, it offers soldiers a virtual but real environment to have trainings. To be more specific, the soldiers are required to work as a team and accomplish the missions. It can build up the team spirit and let them enter into the real situation. Secondly, in accordance with Athanassios Jimoyiannis (2012)3, online game is beneficial for people to learn languages. Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) is one kind of the online games that involves multimedia and gaming elements to act as a story to let learners contribute their own ideas and action as if they took place in real time. ARGs are usually built around social networking system, which is an online platform, with Web 2. 0 technology, that focuses on building up social networks or social relations among people by sharing posts and doing real-life connections, like Facebook and Twiiter, in which learners can interact with others and form alliances. Therefore, through these kind of games, learners are able to gain appreciations for colloquial meanings, verbs and so forth. Thirdly, there is another technology that cannot be omitted – Learning Management System (LMS), like OUHK Online Learning Environment. It works as a platform for students to access multi-media study materials and participate in a wide range of learning-related activities through the use of a computer and an Internet access. Furthermore, students can obtain updated information about courses and programmes that they attend to, participate in online discussions with their peers and tutors, submit assignments, do exercises and self tests and monitor their own study progress through the web-based instruction. As a result, we can see that online learning environment can facilitate with E-learning for people to enhance their studies. And the advantages that LMS brings us – management of personal knowledge and learning resources, collaboration and instructional support – can enhance people’s critical thinking and decision-making. As a final point, people like youngsters, not like the previous generation, would not only receive what their teachers give them but find other sources through search engines, such as Google and Bing, themselves. They prefer videos, audios and interactive media; in the meanwhile, some scientists claimed that using graphics and colours can stimulate people’s brains to memorize and strengthen this ability. That’s why tutors would love to express their ideas through PowerPoint to their students nowadays. Simple and clear structure of PowerPoint slides can offer the content ideas with few lines in bullet form to students. Moreover, visual and auditory media can be added to make the materials more appealing. It not only improves the audience focus, but also engages multiple learning styles, for instance, students can read the materials through their mobile phones. However, if people get addicted to Internet uses, e-learning might become a severe obsession that they would get lost in the real life, like virtual world is â€Å"pulling† them from the real life. Dr. Charles O’Brien, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, claimed that getting addicted to Internet uses like online games will become an official disorder because more and more people are going to do studies on it. There was a case last year in South Korea, where the couple, who had a real baby, was so involved with the virtual baby and doing things with the virtual baby, thus they neglected their real live baby and the baby died. Therefore, people’s self-restraint and the cooperation between teachers and parents (for youngsters) are undeniably required if e-learning becomes more and more popular in the world. (870 words) Reference list: 1. D. R. Garrison (D. Randy)(2011), E-learning in the 21st century a framework for research and practice, New York : Routledge 2. Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams (2006), Fundamentals of Game Design. Prentice Hall. 3. Athanassios Jimoyiannis (2012), Research on e-learning and ICT in education, New York : Springer 4. Alan J Daly (2010), Social network theory and educational change, Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard Education Press 5. John D. Sutter,† Is ‘gaming addiction’ a real disorder? †, CNN, linkage retrieved from: http://www. cnn. hk/2012/08/05/tech/gaming-gadgets/gaming-addiction-dsm/index. html 5. http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=NdDmp_Ak1no.