History and Story Telling in Graham Swifts Waterland Essay -- Waterla

History and Story Telling in Graham Swift's Waterland Waterland uses history, theory, and fictional biography to address the question of history. The blurring of boundaries between history, story, and theory questions the construction of those boundaries as well as the closure and linear nature of traditional narrative. If Waterland has a beginning, it is far in the geologic past, at a time when the continents began their slow journey to the positions they now occupy; however, the novel itself does not begin at this beginning. Waterland moves forward and backward through geologic, historic, and biographic time. By denying the linearity and absolute authority of historical narrative, Swift leaves room for rupture and revision, for stories and nostalgia. The historical and biographical accounts provide a context for the philosophy and theory that the narrator interjects throughout the novel; the philosophy and theory facilitate the leaps in time between geologic, historic, and biographic past. Swift's mingling of (what appears to be) a "r eal" geologic history of the fens and the fictional accounts of the Crick and Atkinson families blurs the boundaries between reality and fiction, turning history into fiction and placing fiction within a "real" historical account. (footnote 1) Waterland, as a novel, makes the same proposal that Tom Crick makes to his class: to discover and reveal the purpose of history by telling a story. The study of semiotics shows that language is the primary mediator in the construction of reality. All systems of signification are dependent on language, and the development of subject position is determined through the act of speaking. (footnote 2) In a discussion of language functions, Fredric Jameson d... ... Tom Crick are purely fictional; however, the possibility remains that they may be fictionalized biographical incidents based on events that occurred to or are known by the author, Graham Swift. This further complicates the blurring of boundaries between fiction and "reality." footnote 2 See the work of Jacques Lacan and Emile Benveniste. footnote 3 I am not limiting Tom Crick's subject position to only three possibilities; I only offer these as three possibilities from a multiplicity. footnote 4 I am fascinated by the idea of Sarah Atkinson's stories and have been telling myself her possible stories. Were her mysterious "appearances" Sarah's stories come to life because she could not "tell" them? Did she find another way to articulate her stories? Did she hear the stories others told and (re)tell them, inserting herself into the narrative?

Collaborative Working †Case Study Essay

The aim of this essay is to examine the significance of collaborative working to achieve positive outcomes for service users. â€Å"Collaboration is a dynamic inter-professional process which two or more professionals make a commitment to solve problems and to learn from each other in order to accomplish identified goals, purposes or outcomes† (Hamric, Spross and Hanson, 2000, p.318). Since the publication of Every Child Matters (2004), social care, health, voluntary sectors and other children’s services have been joining forces to work more collaboratively around an early intervention and preventative agenda (Department for Education and Skills, 2004). This essay will focus on the National Childhood Measurement Programme (NCMP) and by drawing on the author’s experiences as a Nursery Nurse in the School Nursing team it will demonstrate the skills and knowledge required for successful implementation of this service and how to promote seamless working. The NCMP was established in 2005 and involves weighing and measuring all eligible children aged 4-5 years and 10-11 years. Research shows that it is difficult to visually tell if a child is overweight, which is why an objective measure if essential (Department of Health, 2012). The data gathered provides a picture about how children are growing nationally, therefore this information is used by the NHS to plan and provide better health services for children (NHS Choices, 2012). According to the NHS Information Centre (2010) one in four, 4-5 year olds, are overweight or obese; furthermore, these rates are higher among some black and minority ethnic communities and lower socio-econo mic groups. Although the Primary Care Trust (PCT) oversee the delivery of the programme effective partnership working is essential, therefore this essay will explore what partnerships are required and the factors that facilitate or hinder collaborative working in this area of work. Finally, this report will provide evidence from literature and published papers to support the identified barriers and benefits of collaborative working throughout this process. Setting The School Nursing team comprises of a range of skill mix which consists of a Head of Service, one team leader, seven School Nurses, five of which have obtained the Specialist Community Public Health Nurse qualification (Degree or Masters Degree) and three Nursery Nurses evenly spread in three different localities around the City. The team covers fifty two Primary Schools and ten Secondary Schools, mainly in the inner City but also in the rural surrounding areas, therefore an extremely diverse region with varying socio-economic backgrounds. This City has a very large Asian population, however recently there has been an increase in Eastern European, Afro-Caribbean, Chinese and travellers all presenting a multitude of cultures, values and beliefs. Measuring the children takes place in the school setting. Each individual school will be contacted to arrange a suitable date and time as well as organising a private area with adequate space for the ease of measuring and comfort for the children. Every school in this district has its individuality, not only do they vary in size but numerous schools have a large proportion of pupils with English as an additional language (EAL). There three special needs schools, furthermore schools with varying socio-economic backgrounds such as families experiencing poverty within the inner city and in contrast more affluent areas where the school attainment is generally higher. Knowledge and Skills of the Health Professional in the Setting The Knowledge and skills discussed in this section relate to the author’s role as a Nursery Nurse within the School Nursing Team and the planning, implementation and follow-up work required for the growth measurements of all eligible Reception and Yr 6 children as required by the Governments National Childhood Measurement Programme (NCMP). The skills required for successful delivery of this program not only depend on accurate weighing and measuring children but several other elements such as engaging with various professionals, inputting data, maximising the effective delivery of the program which is dependent on excellent communication skills, administration management, IT skills and clinical knowledge. These skills are required from the very beginning at the planning stage; high-quality organisational skills are essential when planning and booking in the measurement sessions with the schools. The Nursery Nurse requires good organisational skills as it is her responsibility to organise the logistics of these sessions; by liaising with the School Nurses a timetable is generated to complete the programme over the year, ensuring there is sufficient staff available for each school. Following this, the Nursery Nurse will contact all the Primary Schools to book in the sessions, good communication skills are necessary to request a suitable room to maintain the privacy and dignity of the children and ensure the session creates as little disruption as possible to the educatio n of the children. Generally, the booking is made with either the School Secretary or the Head Teacher who then cascades this information to the relevant teachers and staff. It is crucial to acquire the knowledge and understanding of the NCMP protocol regarding consent and confidentiality. Parents and children are issued with information prior to the session, subsequently the NCMP operate an opt-out basis, and therefore the parents are given the opportunity to withdraw (Department of Health, 2011). The refusal notification is sent to the Child Health Department who then records this on the specific child’s medical record; therefore communication and information sharing skills are essential for this to be implemented successfully. It is paramount to respect the parent’s choice to refuse and ensure that no pressure is placed on the family to participate (Schwab and Gelfman, 2001), by possessing the knowledge of the ethical considerations of children will assist situations where a child decides they would not like to be measured. According to Lord Scarman, children have the right to make their own decisions when they reach sufficient understan ding and intelligence to be capable of making up their own mind (Children’s Legal Centre, 1985). Annual training is mandatory which ensures competency in the accurate measurement of children to obtain reliable results. It is the Nursery Nurses responsibility to supply the relevant equipment to the sessions ensuring that the height measure is complete, clean and in good working order, furthermore the scales are required to be calibrated as required by the trusts policy therefore good time management and organisational skills are beneficial. Upon arrival, the school will direct the team to a suitable area to perform the growth checks and notify the relevant staff members of our arrival. The team normally consists of a School Nurse and two Nursery Nurses, however if the School Nurse has been requested to attend a Safeguarding issue then the Nursery Nurses will complete the task, so having the ability to adapt to different situations is fundamental. Being able to work as part of a team as well as work independently is a major requirement not only to this particular task but working within the School Nursing team in general. Normally the School Nurse will discuss the process with the class teacher and then talk to the children, explaining what will happen and that the measurements will be confidential and not shared with teachers or other children, furthermore any concerns they have will be addressed. However, if the School Nurse is not in attendance the Nursery Nurse will complete this task, therefore excellent verbal and non-verbal communication skills (Philippot, Feldman and Coats, 2003), empathy and an understanding on how to reduce anxiety is imperative to ease any worries or concerns. Knowledge of the health implications from being overweight or obese would be beneficial, furthermore a general knowledge of how to achieve a healthy lifestyle by eating a balanced diet and regular exercise would be necessary to provide advice if requested. Accurate recording of the measurements is paramount and knowledge of the correct procedure for information sharing is imperative. The trust adheres to the Data Protection Act (1998) furthermore to keep up to date with this information and gain the relevant knowledge, Information Governance training is completed annually. Normally the School Nurse will input the information onto each child’s medical record and send the records off to the Child Health Department via secure internal mail, however according to the trusts policy it is compulsory for the information to be inputted within 24 hours after the measurements have been taken. As School Nurses have more medical responsibilities they might ask the Nursery Nurse to complete this task therefore good IT skills to input accurate and concise information is essential as well as the ability to prioritise workload according to the needs of the project are essential. The final component of this process is responding to calls from parents after they have received the results letters from the NCMP department. Excellent communication skills and being able to calm a conversation if the parent gets upset, angry or has taken offense to the information in the letter is vital (Whitaker and Fiore, 2001). Additionally, it is important to understand the implications of different cultures and the impact they may have on diet and size of children. Knowledge of the programs of support available will enable the Nursery Nurse to advise the parents so they can seek the relevant help and support not only for their child but for the whole family. Obtaining this extensive knowledge is fundamental to ensuring that parent’s receives the correct information, help and support to contribute to understanding the necessity of healthy lifestyles for the long-term well-being of their child. Finally, it is important for the Nursery Nurse to refer any concerns or compla ints to the named School Nurse who will then either contact the parent or report the situation to the specific organisation (Lynn, 2010). There is a plethora of professional’s whom the Nursery Nurse may collaborate with throughout the NCMP process, several of which will be liaised with on a regular basis, such as the one’s named above. HHHnnjjjnjnjnslfjfljjjfieiedddeeergggggeeee333e3e3owever, further interagency working may be required to meet the needs of the children and families, these may include Dietician, Paediatrician, Social Workers, Leisure Centre Staff and MoreLife Weight Management staff. Legislation Legislation has the impetus for collaborative working, transformation in the structure and delivery of services for children and young people initiated new alliances between statutory, public and voluntary agencies (Children Act, 2004). There are numerous Government and Local policies stating the importance of implementing interagency, partnership or collaborative working and that practitioners are required to work more closely together and form integrated teams around children and families (Department for Children, School and Families, 2007). The Governments green paper, Every Child Matters (2004) emphasised that for each child to fulfil their potential there must be a greater deal of co-operation, not only between government agencies but schools, GP’s, sports organisations and voluntary sectors. To help meet the Government strategy of multi-agency collaboration, the Common Core of Skills and Knowledge (HM Government, 2006) was introduced to work alongside the Every Child Mat ters agenda. This emphasised six areas of expertise that are expected to be put into practice by all practitioners who work with children and families. Factors that facilitate or hinder collaborative working Collaborative working is a complex and multi-faceted concept, the Latin translation â€Å"together in Labour† signifies that to meet the individual needs of children and families, successful joint working between services in a more streamlined way is required. However, although collaborative working is regarded as desirable, nevertheless, it is difficult to attain. When the NCMP was established in 2005 the PCT set up a NCMP agency to oversee the programme with joint working with the School Nursing service, therefore clarity of the aims and objectives were to be recognised and understood by all parties for this programme to be successful (Denman, 2002). Lack of formal structure and agreed outcomes may cause confusion and can result in blaming others for inaction and lack of progress (Cameron et al, 2009), therefore clarity of roles and expectation were defined by producing a clear and comprehensive policy based upon the shared vision of all organisations (Rushmer and Pallis, 2002). The Children Act (2004) gives all statutory partners wide powers to pool their budgets in pursuit of improved outcomes for children, furthermore sharing resources reduces cost and prevents unnecessary duplication of work (Atwal and Caldwell, 2005). However, time constraints due to other work commitments by the School Nursing team make it difficult to achieve the 85% participation rate (NMCP, 2012) particularly when children are absent and parents or children refuse. This may cause conflict due to NCMP’s ignorance of the School Nursing complex role and other significant priorities such a safeguarding (Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2010). Working in partnership with Schools is essential for the successful delivery of the programme, maintaining high participation rates by pupils and robustness of data (NCMP, 2012). A good system of communication and information sharing is required to book a convenient date and time to complete the measurements which will enable smooth running of the program with little interruption to the teachers or pupils (Integrated Care Network, 2003). Howeve r, when office staff fails to relay this information to the relevant teachers disruption to class activities, failure to provide suitable facilities and time constraints may occur which impact on the quality of service provided to the children. Factors that aid multi-agency working between schools and health services are willingness to work together, acknowledgement of professional differences, mutual respect and sharing a common purpose. Overall, the collaboration between the schools and School Nursing team is extremely good. However, occasionally conflict of interest may occur when teachers see the measurement programme as an interruption to education rather than acknowledging that children’s health status is related to their ability to learn and that children with unmet health needs have difficulties in engaging in the education process (Board et al, 2011). Therefore, creating a common purpose and employing a whole system approach (Miles and Trott, 2011) will facilitate ea rly intervention for childhood obesity will reduce health implications such as diabetes and heart disease, improve self-esteem and enhance well-being which contributes to better educational achievement. Therefore, mutual respect for each profession is paramount for successful collaboration and better outcomes for children. The Child Health Department works closely with the NCMP, School Nursing team, schools, parents and other professional bodies. Their main responsibility during the NCMP process is distribution of information to parents to explain the purpose of the programme and give parents the opportunity to withdraw. This information is recorded onto each child’s medical record and then highlighted on the lists issued to the School Nurses prior to the sessions. If the withdrawal of consent is not forwarded to the School Nurse in time for the session, then errors may occur, leading to legal and ethical issues, therefore to facilitate collaborative working improved communication and improved information sharing is vital for co-ordinating safe provision of care (Samuel, 2011). It is also the responsibility of Child Health to input the data onto each of the children’s medical record, however due to the NCMP agency possessing a different IT systems this task is duplicated therefore integrated services are hindered (Atwal and Caldwell, 2005). Within the School Nursing team roles and responsibilities are established, the School Nurse takes the lead role in the programme, however the Nursery Nurse will ensure that all the necessary equipment and paper work is present, both will perform the accurate weighing and measuring and recording of the data. According to Rushmer and Pallis (2002) positive joint working relies upon the merging of skills, knowledge and expertise from different professional hierarchies and reliance on team members can contribute to positive attitudes to other professionals. Dilemmas arise when there is a shortage of staff due to staff turnover, lack of trained staff to perform the task or competing priorities which may result in poor staff morale and impact on the accuracy of the task (Maguire and Trustcott, 2006). Furthermore, challenges may occur when there are status issues and blurring of professional boundaries, according to Wall (1998) when staff operates outside their area of expertise there will be loss of efficiency. The author recognises her role in the NCMP process; therefore any queries will be referred to the named School Nurse to respond to. Health and Clinical Excellence, NICE (2006) and Cochrane Collaboration (Summerbell et al, 2005) state there is an urgent need for evidence of effective strategies for reducing childhood obesity, therefore annual weighing and measuring data collected can be shared at National and Local levels to analyse the efficacy of the regional weight management programmes to receive continued funding to sustain the initiative to provide better health services for children (NHS Choices, 2012). Parents will be provided with feedback of their child’s weight status from the NCMP, effective information sharing raise awareness of potential associated health risks and provides parents with the opportunity to seek advice and support if they choose to (NCMP, 2012). However, complications arise when policies and guidelines differ; the School Nursing team employ a different guideline to the NCMP resulting in complex telephone conversations regarding the letter sent by the NCMP stating their child is overweight. Subsequently, for competent collaboration to exist, clarity of referral criteria’s is needed to be standardised across boundaries (NICE, 2013). The Laming Report (2009) stated a need for significant shifts in working relationships between schools, health services and parents and engaging with parents to enabling them to feel valued and encourage decision making will engage parent participation which is essential for positive outcomes to be achieved (Every Child Matters, 2004). Parents are important influences on children’s eating and physical activity behaviour (Golan, 2006) therefore collaboration with parents is vital (Whitaker et al, 1997). School based interventions such as MoreLife are effective when the whole family participate, furthermore NICE Clinical guideline 43 (2006) states that school based interventions engage families regardless of socio-economic status, cultural background and ethnicity, this is evident with the number of participants for this weight management programme in this diverse region. In contrast, barriers may occur with the lack of partnership working, power struggles, lack of commitment an d lack of equal representation, these will decrease opportunities for working together, therefore creating a shared responsibility to reduce obesity will increase the health outcomes for children. Multi disciplinary team work will identify children at risk from obesity and promote quicker and easy access to services (ECM, 2004). Additionally, the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) can be shared between practitioners to refer children to appropriate services, promote information sharing and reduce duplication of and streamline assessments (CAF, 2012). However, collaboration with other professionals can be hampered when there are variations in working conditions, such as the School Nursing team and Schools working on term time only contracts. Furthermore many GP’s and Paediatricians have a professional hierarchy and delegate work to other agencies which in turn may have an effect on job satisfaction. Conversely, working with other professionals can be rewarding, stimulating, improve working relationships and increase knowledge and understanding of specialist practitioners.

Defence Mechanisms in Guajiro Personality and Culture Essay

Defence is all efforts of the ego to render inoperative and instinctual wish or impulse. The instinctual object choice produces neurotic anxiety because it clashes with the superego, which arises from the internalisation of the parent’s moral values. Defences protect the individual from experiencing anxiety either by detaching the forbidden wish from conscious awareness or by distorting or falsifying its true meaning. Several methods were used in collecting data for this study. Structured methods of observation and interviewing were used to gather information relevant to behavioural systems having transtructural significance, such as sex, aggression, and responsibility. Rorschach and TAT tests were administered to supplement these data and to aid in uncovering elements and relationships in the personality that were not readily observable, especially in the areas of affective behaviour, cognitive organization and defensive functioning. This study called â€Å"Defence Mechanisms in Guajiro Personality and Culture† by Lawrence C. Watson conducted with Guajiro Indian subjects came up with exceptional results. Some general characteristics of defence mechanisms in the Guajiro society were found: * All of the basic defence mechanisms are present but some are more important than others. * All defence mechanisms assume a well-defined culturally defined form. * Defence mechanisms cluster around a few systems of behaviour that are most conflict-ridden culture. * Variations in the deployment of psychic defences are, to a degree, a function of a person’s age, sex, occupation and class position. * There is a basic continuity in defence functioning from one stage to another in the life cycle of the individual. This study shows that defence mechanisms formulated by Freud have widespread, if not universal occurrence in human personality processes, irrespective of variations in cultural context. It also shows that in every unique social setting, cultural factors determine the form in which defensive behaviour comes to be expressed. This study also gave the result which says that defence functioning must be studied in relationship to other prevailing modal personality factors (e.g., superego strength, level of emotional control, etc.), since it is quite  likely that certain defensive properties will be found only if they are compatible with these other elements.

The Role of Ipcc in Climate Change Essay Example

The Role of Ipcc in Climate Change Essay Example The Role of Ipcc in Climate Change Essay The Role of Ipcc in Climate Change Essay The Project The Role of IPCC in Setting Climate Change Policy This essay will critically evaluate the role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in setting climate change policy. In order to do this, its latest assessment report (IPCC 2007) will be highlighted. The physical science basis of climate change that IPCC relies on in influencing policy on climate change will be reviewed. IPCCs view of climate change will be shown to be the main stream view of climate change. The essay will also review alternative argument on climate change by other scientists such as Svenmark and Calder (2006). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an organization that was established in 1988 by two organizations namely the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) UPI)(IPCC 2008). Its mandate included the assessment of scientific information related to climate change, evaluation of the environmental and socio-economic consequences of climate change and the formulation of realistic response strategies (IPCC, 2007). Based on its mandate, it can be seen that IPCC was to act as the scientific powerhouse to generate evidence based information on climate change that United Nations and other countries and regional bodies will rely on to formulate their climate change policies. Since its formation, IPCC has produced assessment reports (AR) of the scientific evidence related to climate change and formulated response strategies on actions the international community need to take in order to minimize the impact of climate change. It produced the first assessment report (AR 1) in 1990, AR 2 in 1995, AR 3 in 2001 and the latest one AR 4 in 2007. The 2007 report (AR 4) was the most comprehensive of its reports. It was produced in four different volumes and each volume was launched separately at different times throughout 2007 at different locations under the banner ‘Climate Change 2007. AR 4 confirms most of the conclusions in its earlier documents including : climate change is due mainly to greenhouse gases notable carbon dioxide which is released into the atmosphere by human activities and responsible for global warming; addressed issues of concern to policy makers in national , regional and multinational agencies; the impact of global warming is real and will continue into the foreseeable future; there is the need for societies to adapt to reduce vulnerability and an analysis of the costs, policies and technology required to minimize the impact of climate change. It claimed that its AR 4 report was produced by 500 lead authors and reviewed by 2000 expert reviewers. There is no doubt that IPCC in its publications since 1990 has profoundly affected climate change policies at all the different levels of government. Smith and Stern (2010) have argued that IPCC provide the science of climate change and the causes and in the process highlights the risks of the phenomenon. It is the information about the risks that enables national governments to formulate policies to manage the risks either unilaterally or multilaterally. There is an international consensus that the challenges posed by climate change is best handled through multilateral agreement because climate change will affect all the countries of the world irrespective of whether or not they contributed to the problem. Hence the United Nation has played a pivotal role in bringing the nations of the world together for discussions on appropriate strategies based on reports by the IPCC. The Kyoto Protocol and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC can all be traced to the version of the science of climate change by IPCC. In fact the contributions of IPCC have been recognised as highly significant by the Nobel Prize Committee which named it as joint recipient of the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. It was a seal of approval for its vital role in influencing the world climate change agenda. One of main highlights of The Kyoto protocol is the requirement for industrialised nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emission as way to mitigate the impact of climate change. This requirement can be traced to IPCC because mitigation strategy is a major strategy advocated by its Working Group 111 (mitigation of climate change). Although many of the nations of the world have signed the protocol, some industrialised nations notably the United States under President George Bush Jnr refused to sign the protocol on the grounds that the protocol did not commit significant polluters such as China and India to compulsory emission limits (Singer 2007). Both China and India have rejected any attempt to limit their emission of greenhouse gases. Singer (2007) has suggested three reasons why both countries are adamant to any mandatory limits. First, these emissions of greenhouse gases were caused by the industrialised nations in the first place during the industrial revolution and hence it is their responsibility to sort it out. Secondly even if the pas t history is discounted, at the present rate of greenhouse gas emissions, the industrialised nations still produce these gases per citizen than the rest of the world. For example, the average US resident produces six times more greenhouse gas than the average Chinese resident and about 18 times than the average India resident. Thirdly, the industrialised nations are much richer and hence better placed to bear the cost of adjusting their lifestyle to climate change without serious impact on their citizens. Perhaps in addition to these reasons there is the underlying perceptions in developing countries that limiting their CO2 emissions will slow down their rate of economic development which can impact on their other social and political policies especially with respect to poverty reduction and employment. The industrialised countries are equally apprehensive of the impact of mitigation policy of climate change on their economic growth. The three main areas of human activities identified by IPCC as responsible for greenhouse gas emissions are energy use in industrial production and transportation where fossils fuels are burnt, agriculture and deforestation. As Stern (2006) argued any mitigation policy will require some forms of action on all these three areas. For example, energy reduction programmes will require the design of a package of mixed economic activities geared towards energy efficiency. He argued that better technology will be required such as energy saving technology and fossil fuel alternatives for cars and vehicles to reduce their carbon input. Innovations will be imperative from the governments and private sectors in the development and deployment of relevant technologies to move economic activities towards low carbon economies. For developing countries to be involved in mitigation policies, they will need external financial assistance for the development of new technologies (Stern 2006). Closely aligned with IPCC strategy on mitigation of climate change is the strategy of adaptation to climate change. This is within the remit of IPCC Working Group 11 (climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability). IPCC is of the view that although the bulk of greenhouse gases are produced in the industrialised countries, the impact of climate change is and will in the future be felt more in the developing countries (IPCC 2007). Due to their greater vulnerability, developing countries will need to adapt their technology and production processes towards better and cleaner environment. Adaptation policies will also involve diversification of opportunities especially in the areas of agriculture and deforestation. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at its meeting in Cancun (UNFCCC 2010) agreed to provide developing countries financial assistance to enable them address the problems of adapting their technology and increasing capacities and opportunities so that they can cope with the impact of climate change. The Convention agreed to strengthen the Kyoto’s protocol on clean Development mechanisms to drive major investments and technology into environmentally sound and sustainable emissions reduction projects in developing countries. Towards this end, the Convention agreed to provide $30 billion from industrialised countries developing countries to support climate change actions up to 2012 and the objective to increase this to $100 billion by 2020 (UNFCCC 2010). IPCC has continued to be at the forefront in defining the scientific basis of climate change that informs climate change policies all over the world. In AR 4, IPCC stated that ‘warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea level (IPCC –SPM 2007 : 2). It went further to declare that ‘ most of the observed increase in global average temperature since the mid – 20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic GHG concentrations’(IPCC SPM 2007 : 5). This would suggest that it has resolved the dilemma over the cause of global warming because its earlier assessment report in 1990 had expressed that the cause could be anthropogenic (human activity) or due to natural variability of the earth’s temperature. This shift from human activity as the cause of global warming rather than natural variability has dominated the discourse on climate change in the last decade. It seems to be the mainstream view and the scientific basis of much of the strategies it has proposed to tackle the impact of climate change. Stern (2006) has alluded to this mainstream view when he stated that ‘ there is now an overwhelming body of scientific evidence that human activity is causing global warming, with the main sources of greenhouse gases, in order of importance being electricity generation, land use changes (particularly deforestation), agriculture and transportation; the fastest growing sources are transport and electricity’ Stern 2006:1). Another influential source that has supported this mainstream view is the UK based Royal Society. The society has more than 1400 outstanding members from all areas of science, mathematics, engineering and medicine organised in a global scientific network of the highest calibre (The Royal Society 2010). The society’s position seems to endorse the IPCC’s position when it stated that ‘there is strong evidence that changes in greenhouse gas concentrations due to human activity are the dominant cause of the global warming that has taken place over the last half century’( RS 2010 :13). Despite these endorsements of IPCC views on global warming and climate change, there are some criticisms about the organization. The latest assessment report, AR 4 in 2007 was alleged to contain some errors. One of such errors was highlighted by Foley (2010) writing in The Independent newspaper where it was reported that IPCC latest report stated that the Himalayan glaciers would be melted by global warming by 2035 instead of the correct figure 2350. That is a large difference of about 300 years. The IPCC relies on the reports it gets from affiliated research centres such as the Climate Research Unit (CRU) based in East Anglia. The anonymous hacking into the dataset and email of CRU in 2009 in what has been described in the mass media as ‘climategate’ has highlighted some form of manipulation of data by the unit in order to support a particular viewpoint. For example, the raw data used by the CRU in projecting Russian temperature was found to have omitted some data sent to it by some Russian Meteorological stations. Page ( 2009) pointed out that there is an argument by some Russian climate sceptics that if those missing data were included it would have significantly reduce the estimate of Russian temperature. This is a serious error especially when Russia accounts for 12. 5 % of the world’s total landmass and against the backdrop that CRU has always resisted demand for the raw data it uses for its climate change computer modelling (Page 2009). It is doubtful if they had not done the same to other countries in order to strengthen their arguments and position on climate change. There were some other damaging revelations that surfaced in the hacked email released. These have been summarised by Watts ((2009). Firstly, there was the revelation that scientists at the CRU consistently colluded to thwart any Freedom of information requests that would have obliged them to release their raw data and hiding source codes from requests. Secondly, they admitted privately not to use journals that published opposing views and refused to publish such articles in journals that they controlled. Thirdly, it was apparent from their email exchanges that they were privately concerned that there had been no increase in global average temperatures in the last decade and yet they could not explain it because it is contrary to their projections. Data that suggested decrease in temperature were manipulated to hide the decline. Ways were devised to discount warming trends that did not occur in the past when greenhouse gases were increasing. What these revelations suggest is that some of the collaborative institutions that IPCC relies on for scientific evidence for its decisions may actually be feeding it with selective and manipulated data in order to pursue a pre-determined agenda without any regard for opposing views no matter how compelling the arguments. As observed by Calder (2007), there is a tendency for events such as heat waves that supported global warming to make headlines while opposing events like prolonged snow and frost during winter not given the same coverage because it is contrary to the mindset of mainstream views on climate change. Calder (2007) also noted that global air temperatures from America satellites suggest a wobbling or fluctuations between hot and cold with no overall change in temperature since 1999. This levelling pattern he argued is the exact pattern that the rival hypothesis – natural variation of atmospheric temperature by the sun would predict. This antithesis to the greenhouse thesis suggests that the sun is a major driver of climate change than greenhouse gases and that when active it can drive atmospheric temperature up and when lazy down. Hence the earth passes through cycles of hot and cold periods. It would appear that proponents of the climate change due to greenhouse gases produced by human activity are not very enthusiastic about this because the mechanism of how the sun changes the earth’s temperature is not well understood and have categorised sceptics as climate change deniers. Svensmark and Calder (2007) both sceptics have demonstrated experimentally how this can happen. The main postulate of natural variation of weather by the sun is that the degree of cloudiness in the air depends on the number of atomic particles arriving at the solar system from exploding stars. The more they are, the more cloudiness. If the sun’s magnetic field is able to deflect much of the cosmic rays, there will be less cloud in the atmosphere and this will result in global warming. The converse holds. Many journals refused to publish his findings presumably because they were not politically orrect. The Royal Society (2010) while agreeing in broad terms with the position of IPCC, however argued that there are not enough data to understand the mechanisms of cloud formation and its impact on climate change. To complicate this, projections of climate change are sensitive to the way the impact of clouds is represented in computer models of climate change. The society noted that currently ‘individual clouds are represented by more approximate methods. Since there are various ways to make these approximations, the representations can vary in climate models developed at different institutes. The use of these different approximations leads to a range of estimates of climate sensitivity, especially because of differences between models in the response of clouds to climate change’ (Royal Society 2010:14). This would suggest the need for more extensive research on the contributions of natural variations to climate change than is hitherto the case (Coren 2006). Blackman (2009) has noted that in his interview with Hulme, an eminent climatologist and a sceptic of IPCC, did question the almost infallible status given to IPCC in the face of other compelling evidence in favour of alternative theories of the causes of global warming. In the interview, Hulme advocated for a more robust debate on all the possible causes of climate change. It is difficult to understand why a scientific body like IPCC could have made itself so vulnerable to criticisms. Perhaps the clue to the controversies surrounding IPCC may be due to the structural problems within the organization. For a start, IPCC has only a core staff of 10 people. It has thousands of volunteer scientists who contribute to the work of IPCC. They are not paid by IPCC (IPCC 2011). Authors, contributors, reviewers and other experts are selected by IPCC from a list of nominations received from governments and participating organizations. The three Working Groups of IPCC are hosted and financially supported by the Government of the developed country co – chair of the working Group. The plenary session that approves reports and budgets is made up of government representatives from all member countries, agencies and research institutions that probably have some links with governments. This sort of structure makes IPCC to be heavily politicised at the expense of good science. Governments’ vested interest in climate change debate can be interpreted as self serving because IPCC findings give them the perfect excuse to tax individuals for their carbon footprint. Motorists may find themselves targeted by all manner of taxes on the excuse of climate change. So it is in the best interest of the politicians to exert pressure on IPCC even when such pressure has the potential to lead to bad science. There are indications that some of the scientific evidence they rely on are published in carefully selected journals and commissioned reports by some pressure groups without any form of peer review. It is not surprising therefore that they have been criticised for being economical with the truth by making vague and imprecise statements they know will be difficult to refute but nonetheless accord them with ‘high confidence’ status That was the allegation made by the Inter-Academy Council that was set up to investigate errors in the IPCC assessment report 4 (Foley 2010). IPCC as a scientific organization has no laboratory of its own but has to rely on specially designated centres such as the CRU involved in ‘climategate’. In conclusion, the role of IPCC in setting policy on climate change is commendable. It has advocated policies of mitigation and adaptation as strategies to avert the anticipated effects of global warming. It was highlighted that it structure is too tied to national governments and agencies and this is politicising its scientific evidence base. There is the need to have on board sceptics and promote robust debate instead of labelling them as deniers. References Blackman S (2009) Top British Boffin : Time to ditch the climate consensus. Online : www. theregister. co. uk. Accessed on 5/4/2011. Calder N (2007) An experiment that hints we were wrong on climate change. Online : www. timesonline. co. uk. Accessed on 5/4/2011. Foley S (2010) IPCC feels the heat as it is told to get its facts right. Online : www. independent. co. uk/environment/climatechange. Accessed on 3/3/2011. Coren M (2006) The science debate behind climate change. Online: www. articles. cnn. com. Accessed on 10/4/2011. Watts A (2009) Climate ‘Men behaving badly – a short summary for laymen. Online: www. wattsup. com. Accessed on 10/4/2011. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC (2007) Climate Change 2007. Synthesis for Policymakers. Summary for policymakers. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC (2008) Climate Change 2007. Synthesis Report. Geneva : IPCC. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC (2011) structure: how does the IPCC works? Geneva : iPCC. Page L (2009) CRU cherry picked Russian climate data. Online: www. theregister. co. uk. Accessed on 9/4/2011. Singer P (2007) A fair deal on climate change. Online: www. policyinnovations. org/ideas. Accessed on 10/4/2011. Smith L and Stern L (2010). Uncertainty, ambiguity and the risk in forming climate policy. In : Discussion Meeting on Handling uncertainty in science. London: The Royal Society. Stern N (2006) What is the economics of climate change? World Economics. 7 (2): 1-10. Svensmark H and Calder N (2007) The chilling Stars. A new theory of climate change. Cambrdge: Icons Books Ltd. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (2010) United Nations climate change conference in Cancun. Bonn: UNFCCC. The Royal Society (2010) Climate Change: A Summary of the Science. London: TRS. Watts A (2009) Climategate ‘Mem behaving badly’ – a short summary for laymen. Online: www. wattsup. com Accessed on 11/4/2011.

Mandarin Chinese Names of North American Cities

Mandarin Chinese Names of North American Cities Mandarin Chinese has a relatively limited stock of phonetics compared with other languages. When it comes to translating Western geographical names into Chinese characters, a close phonetic match is attempted. Consideration must also be given to the meaning of the chosen Chinese characters. Most geographical names are chosen as phonetic approximations of the Western names, but a few place names are descriptive. San Francisco, for example, is Jià ¹ JÄ «n ShÄ n, which translates as â€Å"Old Gold Mountain,† reminding us of the California gold rush. Most Mandarin Chinese geographical names sound strange to Western ears. This is because there is usually not an exact phonetic equivalent to the sounds of the English names. North American Cities Click on the links to hear the audio. English Name Chinese Characters Pinyin New York ç ´ Ã§ ´â€ž niÇ” yuÄ“ Boston æ ³ ¢Ã¥ £ «Ã©  â€œ bÃ…  shà ¬ dà ¹n Montreal è’™ç‰ ¹Ã¥ ©  mà ©ng tà ¨ là ³u Vancouver æ º «Ã¥â€œ ¥Ã¨  ¯ wÄ“n gÄ“ hu Toronto Ã¥ ¤Å¡Ã¥â‚¬ «Ã¥ ¤Å¡ duÃ…  là ºn duÃ…  Los Angeles æ ´â€ºÃ¦ â€°Ã§ £ ¯ luà ² shÄ n jÄ « San Francisco 舊金å ± ± jià ¹ jÄ «n shÄ n Chicago èŠ Ã¥Å   Ã¥â€œ ¥ zhÄ « jiÄ  gÄ“ Seattle è ¥ ¿Ã©â€ºâ€¦Ã¥Å"â€" xÄ « yÇŽ tà º Miami é‚ Ã©Ëœ ¿Ã¥ ¯â€  mi Ä  mà ¬ Houston ä ¼â€˜Ã¦â€" ¯Ã©  â€œ xiÃ… « sÄ « dà ¹n Portland æ ³ ¢Ã§â€° ¹Ã¨Ëœ ­ bÃ…  tà ¨ ln Washington è  ¯Ã§â€ºâ€ºÃ©  â€œ hu shà ¨ng dà ¹n New Orleans ç ´ Ã¥ ¥ §Ã¨â€° ¯ niÇ” o ling Philadelphia è ² »Ã¥Å¸Å½ fà ¨i chà ©ng Detroit Ã¥ ºâ€¢Ã§â€° ¹Ã¥ ¾â€¹ dÇ  tà ¨ lÇÅ" Dallas é â€Ã¦â€¹â€°Ã¦â€" ¯ d lÄ  sÄ « Atlanta ä ºÅ¾Ã§â€° ¹Ã¨Ëœ ­Ã¥ ¤ § y tà ¨ ln d San Diego è â€"Ã¥Å" °Ã§â€°â„¢Ã¥â€œ ¥ shà ¨ng dià © y gÄ“ Las Vegas 拉æâ€" ¯Ã§ ¶ ­Ã¥Å   Ã¦â€" ¯ lÄ  sÄ « wà ©i jiÄ  sÄ «

Central Engineering and Research Group (CERG) Essay

Central Engineering and Research Group (CERG) - Essay Example This approach means a move from a traditional 'control' type approach which accepts, implicitly, that defects will occur. Joseph M. Juran proposes the tools of control including the Bell system of sampling, the Shewhart control charts and inspection plans. These models could be successfully applied to CERG, but they will be replaced by modern theories of quality and cost control. The human dimension (training, education, cultural diversity management) proposed by Juran helps to motivate and inspire employees. For CERG, Juran's human approach help to create continuous motivation to achieve quality improvements, supported by appropriate education and training. Place emphasis on education will affect attitudes and motivation to achieving quality improvements. Also, Juran identified such threats as resistance to change and cultural resistance as important areas of concern. If staff are informed of changes, are encouraged to adopt a positive attitude and have personal involvement in the implementation of the change, there is a greater likelihood of their acceptance of the change (Beckford, 2002). Juran applied the Japanese philosophy on quality into Western management practices emphasizing the role of human resources and control. New quality programs should comprise a quality plan which offers a structured, disciplined approach to quality and incorporates a numbe r of tools and techniques. Particular emphasis is given to the collection and analysis of information and to employee training. It is culturally based with involvement as a core philosophy. W. Edwards Deming identifies '14 Points' which have a great impact on productivity and profitability of the company. His theory is based on process orientation which means a product quality throughout production. "It is not enough to just do your best or work hard. You must know what to work on" (Beckford, 2002). Deming creates a four step approach to quality and productivity which can be applied to CERG: plan-do-check-act. Also, he introduced Statistical Quality Control. This theory cannot be applied to CERG, bit it can be used by other departments in order to support CERG activity and increase output. Customer orientation is important for CERG, so the quality program should apply quality control principles to design/specification activities to formalize the mechanism for ensuring that customer requirements are incorporated (Arogyaswamy, Simmons, 1993). Philip Crosby marked a new era in quality management and control. His concept, "doing it right the first time" (DIRTFT), is successfully used by different industries and companies. The main principles of quality include: (1) quality is conformance to requirements; (2) the management system is prevention; (3) the performance standard is zero defects; (4) the measurement system is the cost of quality. CERG can use these principles as a core of quality philosophy. Following Crosby, quality is based on goals, measurements, and cash incentives for employees and management. It also has some aspects of quality circles. In order to make the program work, CERG should introduce: a motivational package, a prevention package (reducing management controlled defects), procedures to provide for feedback. Within CERG, low motivation results in high level of mistakes and 'defects'. For this reason, these elements of zero defects and the cost of qualit

Should the U.S. intervene in the Syria conflict Essay

Should the U.S. intervene in the Syria conflict - Essay Example Also, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon remarked, â€Å"After nearly two years, we no longer count days in hours, but in bodies. Another day, another 100, 200, 300 dead,† (p.4). The rapid death rate has also been abundantly documented by Human Rights Watch, the U.N. Independent International Commission on Inquiry on Syria and Amnesty International. All have charged the regime of Assad with a state sanctioned policy ‘crimes against humanity’ and ‘war crimes. Besides, the UNHCHR and Navi Pillay have appealed to the U.N. Security Council several times to refer the country to the International Criminal Court (ICC) (Hashemi and Postel, p.4). Syria’s ghost of conflict has been on the limelight of the world for about two years but there seems to be no consensus on how to address the disaster completely. The U.S., the E.U., the U.N. and the Middle East nation-states are mystified on how to cease Syrian conflict (Hashemi and Postel, p.5). Several politics and moral arguments have emerged lately concerning the intervention of the U.S. in addressing conflict of Syria. This paper will justify the involvement of the U.S. in Syrian conflict and refute some of the opposing arguments against the intervention. First, through sending of its forces to Syria, the U.S. could alleviate massive slaughtering of Syrian civilians. The U.S. has to intervene for humanitarian purposes and to prevent a similar occurrence in the future. Morgan-Russell (p.1) argues that in 1994, the international community watched as Rwandan Hutu group armed with machetes massacred the Tutsi community across the country. Despite the fact that the U.S. and human rights observers provided evidence on the heinous acts, the U.S. came to a decision that it had no permanent interests in the African Great Lakes Region and that deploying few soldiers would be extremely risky. After three months, about 900,000 Rwandans were massacred. The international community blamed the U.S.