Ignominy in the Puritan Community Essay

The title of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter refers to the literal symbol of ignominy that Hester Prynne’s community forces her to wear as a reminder of her sin. Though the word â€Å"ignominy† is used in sympathetic passages that describe Hester Prynne’s disgrace as an adulteress and out-of-wedlock mother, its use at the same time reveals an extremely critical description of Hester’s community; Hawthorne finds that what is truly disgraceful is the way the community relishes and exploits the opportunity to punish one of its members. Through powerful diction and imagery describing Hester’s sin and through saintly representations of Hester’s beauty and wholeness, Hawthorne reveals his sympathy toward Hester. The narrator commiserates with Hester when the reader first encounters her walking to her daily public shaming upon the marketplace’s scaffold. He writes, â€Å"her beauty shone out and made a halo of misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped† (50). The word â€Å"halo† suggests an angelic, even saintly quality, compared to the sin for which she is being publicly disgraced as punishment, making her circumstance more complex than simply one of punished sin. That she is â€Å"enveloped† by disgrace implies that her shame derives more from her surroundings than from her sin; Hawthorne’s use of â€Å"misfortune† also demonstrates the narrator’s sympathy toward Hester, again suggesting that her disgrace comes as much from the community’s display of her sin as from the sin itself. Hawthorne portrays Hester sympathetically yet again in her encounter with Chillingworth in the prison. The disguised physician declares Hester to be â€Å"a statue of ignominy, before the people† (68). Ironically, Chillingworth, in the role of a healer, here admonishes rather than helps Hes ter. His words, intended to threaten and punish Hester, in fact, spark sympathy for her in the reader. Similarly, later in the novel, while Hester and Dimmesdale talk in the forest, briefly away from the opprobrium of the Puritan community, Hawthorne describes how â€Å"Hester Prynne must take up again the burden of her ignominy† (170), on her return â€Å"to the settlement.† The use of the words â€Å"must† and â€Å"again† reveal Hester’s continual forced obligation to wear and be a symbol of shame in her community, and show again the narrator’s sympathy toward her. The fact that she is â€Å"burden[ed]† by disgrace illustrates the extreme weight of her painful, shunned experience, thus establishing the cause for the narrator’s sympathy for Hester. As Hawthorne shows empathy regarding Hester as she leaves the prison, he also condemns the harsh experience inflicted on her by the community, â€Å"The very law that condemned her†¦had held her up, through the terrible ordeal of her ignominy† (71). The words â€Å"terrible ordeal† not only reinforce the narrator’s sympathy toward the protagonist, but also suggest that the narrator is judging the community, not Hester. By revealing the community’s enjoyment and cruelty in punishing Hester, Hawthorne criticizes the Puritan’s ideas of justice and mercy through both assertive diction and direct communication with the reader. When â€Å"A crowd of eager and curious schoolboys† stare â€Å"at the ignominious letter on her breast† (52), the reader sees the â€Å"eager† pleasure and excitement witnesses experience from Hester’s circumstance. Here Hester’s disgrace has become both an entertainment and an educational device. The narrator continues with, â€Å"she perchance underwent an agony†¦as if her heart had been flung into the street for them all to spurn and trample upon† (52). With this description, Hester’s humanity is maintained, even when the comm unity, â€Å"all† of it, objectifies her as a teaching tool. The image of her heart â€Å"flung†, â€Å"spurn[ed] and trample[d] upon† demonstrates both the narrator’s sympathy toward Hester and animosity toward Puritan society, regardless of the age of the member. Shortly after his description of the schoolboy’s callous treatment of Hester, the narrator continues with a harsh account of the scaffold and pillory once employed upon it, â€Å"that instrument of discipline† that represented â€Å"the very ideal of ignominy† (52). The pillory reflects the nature of the community’s sense of justice, and the narrator finds it extremely harsh. The word â€Å"ideal,† often associated with perfection, suggests that the pillory signifies the ultimate desired effect of â€Å"ignominy:† public shame from which the sinner cannot turn away. Next, it would seem that Hawthorne speaks out directly and emotionally to the reader, declaring, â€Å"There can be no outrage, methinks, against our common nature, whatever be the delinquencies of the individual, – no outrage more flagrant than to forbid the culprit to hide his face for shame† (52). Hawthorn’s use of word â€Å"methinks† suggests his forceful personal address on this issue of cruelty; he weighs in powerfully against the malice of the Pilgrim community that punishes Hester, even if it has not subjected her to the pillory. The word â€Å"no† implies Hawthorne’s view that this punishment is an absolute violation of human decency on the part of any community that turns a criminal into a victim by inflicting the use of a pillory. The letter â€Å"A† Hester must wear shows that the Puritans have depersonalized Hester as part of her punishment for committing adultery. The Puritan community is again portrayed as disgraceful when â€Å"John Wilson, the eldest clergyman of Boston† (60), steps forward above the scaffold where Hester continues to stand. He â€Å"had carefully prepared himself for the occasion† (63). Clearly, the words â€Å"carefully prepared† show Wilson relishing the public opportunity to punish Hester. He delivers to the community â€Å"a discourse on sin, in all its branches, but with continual reference to the ignominious letter† (63). His repeated reference to the scarlet letter underscores his depersonalization of Hester in her disgrace, without any consideration of her human suffering. The word â€Å"ignominious† reflects as much about the opportunistic clergyman and the punishing Pilgrim audience as it does about Hester’s sin. The narrator continues, â€Å"So forcefully did [Wilson] dwell upon this symbol, for the hour or more during which his periods were rolling over the people’s heads, that it assumed new terrors in their imagination† (63). The length of this sermon, and the nature of Wilson’s â€Å"rolling† delivery show the clergyman’s intention to hammer his message into the crowd and fire up its punishing judgment. Hawthorne continues to criticize the community as he places Hester historically at the site where she was first disgraced. The narrator notes, â€Å"If the minister’s voice had not kept her there, there would nevertheless have been an inevitable magnetism in that spot, whence she dated the first hour of her life of ignominy† (211). Implied is the idea that the power of public shaming by the community causes her to remain. Specifically, by noting that the scaffold is where â€Å"the first hour of her life of ignominy† began the author criticizes the community by revealing that Hester did not experience â€Å"ignominy† until being publicly disgraced on the scaffold, even though her sin had been committed many months prior. With his use of the word â€Å"ignominy,† Hawthorne repeats throughout The Scarlet Letter the cruelty, judgmental attitude, and narrow-mindedness of Puritan society. He portrays Hester’s community as condemning sinners mercilessly, refusing to accept ideas that are foreign to their ways of living or thinking. In this way, the townspeople depersonalize Hester, suggesting that she and her disgrace are one. Hester is seen as her sin, not as a complex human being with complicated, still unknown, circumstances.

Understand the Principles and Requirements of Assessment

LEVEL 3 CERTIFICATION IN ASSESSING VOCATIONAL COMPETENCE LED BY CAROL SMOUT LESSON 1 26TH SEPT 2011 THE ROLE OF AN ASSESSOR ASSESSING PERFORMANCEGIVING FEEDBACK CONTRIBUTE TO A PAPER TRAIL ROLE OF AN ASSESSOR ROLE OF AN ASSESSOR WRITE EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT PLANS 1. ASSESSING PERFORMANCE = A range of assessments, I am making a judgement on 2. GIVING FEEDBACK = Verbal feedback, Written Feedback. {Try to be positive, Don’t be negative candidates find this demoralising} 3. CONTRIBUTE TO a PAPER TRAIL = I have to write on a least 3 pieces of paper all of which are auditable Assessment plans. I need to contribute to a paper trail. As an Assessor I assess a Candidate/Student then someone {IV OR EV} then checks my assessment decision. This is called THE QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEM. When I am audited as an experienced Assessor I need to be able to demonstrate that I understand Quality Assurance. I have to be able to write effective assessment plans. 4. WRITE EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT PLANS= Example: â€Å" I have met with blah blah blah and she/he has said she/he wants to do a shampoo & blow dry & a semi-permanent next week. â€Å"We plan to do this in this time on this date with this candidate & I am going to orally question her/him to check her/his underpinning knowledge. THIS EQUALS A PLAN !!! LEVEL 3 CERTIFICATION IN ASSESSING VOCATIONAL COMPETENCE LED BY CAROL SMOUT LESSON 2 3RD OCTOBER 2011 STAGES OF THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS PLANNING. STAGES OF THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS STAGES OF THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS REVIEWING JUDGING RECORDING QUALITY ASSURANCE 1. PLANNING = Assessment plannin g sheets & Consultation Sheets. 2. REVIEWING. Straight from SCHOOL TO COLLEGE no work base knowledge. First meeting with my candidate check if the candidate has any prior learning (APL= ACCREDITATION FOR PRIOR LEARNING) â€Å"What qualifications do you currently have† Do they relate to what they are currently doing now. I may find that some elements of the assessment may have already been done. When a candidate joins the college straight from school they still may have some prior learning. Some schools send their students to college to learn about hairdressing as part of their learning at school, some of this learning can be taken into consideration as prior learning. REVIEWING WORK BASE. If the candidate is joining college and is work based and is now coming to college for apprentership they may have been shampooing for 3 years so will not need to do their level one because of their prior learning they can go straight on to level 2. It would be unfair to make them do it all over again; they don’t need to be taught again. It’s all about taking the candidate forward. 3. JUDGING STAGE. This stage is the most difficult. Assessors find it most difficult as to â€Å"Am I Judging this right? † â€Å"Am I being really harsh or am I being a lenient? † So I have to follow 6 steps to ensure that I am doing this correctly. I have to check the Assessment by: IS THE ASSESSMENT 1. VALID Can be done using the Methods of Assessment. OBSERVATION, I can Observe it’s valid I can see it being done by that candidate. ORAL/VERBAL, I can ask questions and check their underpinning knowledge and check its validity EXAMS. Exams are obviously valid as there done under strict conditions, examiners are present their not allowed to talk etc. PROFESSIONAL DISCUSSION I Can talk to them in a professional capacity to check validity PROJECTS & ASSIGNEMENTS Are valid make sure signed dated good way at checking their knowledge. Although could have been done by someone else again ask oral questions and ask them to reference and put in a bibliography for me to refer and check if I feel not valid WITNESS STATEMENTS. An employer can provide a witness statement that a candidate has competently passed an assessment. It Valid if signed by their employer but still need to check validity could discuss how they achieved this pass what did they do how did they do it. PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE Valid I can see the photographic evidence try to get the candidates to get a picture that shows them doing the work. Still a little grey though as someone else could have done the work but just taken a photograph of the candidate with the client doesn’t mean necessarily that they have done the work. IS THE ASSESSMENT 2 RELIABLE. How sure am I that the above are reliable, how do I know for sure that the work I am assessing is that candidates own work, some are obviously reliable e. g. observation because I can see it being done. IS THE ASSESSMENT 3 SUFFICIENT. Has the candidate done enough to pass all elements of the unit being assessed. For example the candidate is being assessed to shampoo and condition a client’s hair and to sell a product. She/he may well have used all the correct products and massage movements but during the assessment She/he may not have been given the opportunity to sell a product in which case the candidate will have passed some elements of the unit chosen but because she couldn’t sell a product that part of the unit will have to be referred to another assessment but the candidate will have passed the other two elements of the unit. ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE CANDIDATE READS THROUGH THEIR PC’s (Performance Criteria’s) WHICH IS IN THEIR LOG BOOKS FOR EACH UNIT THERE ARE ELEMENTS OF THAT UNIT THAT THEY HAVE TO PASS TO ACHIEVE A FULL PASS IN THAT UNIT !!! IS THE ASSESSMENT 4. AUTHENTIC I have to know that every assessment they are doing is that candidates. How do know that that assessment is that authentic and reliable ? The best way to find out if not observed by me is to orally question them. IS THE ASSESSMENT 5. CURRENT Is the candidate demonstrating up to date skills? Is the candidate using up to date equipment? Example if the candidate is doing a colour & we haven’t got a roller ball or a climazon & they have to place the client under a hood dryer with a cap on the clients head. The service with that equipment is NOT CURRENT to industry. IS THE ASSESSMENT 6. SAFE Is the assessment taking place safe for all Are they working safely. I can stop an assessment at any time if there is a danger to the client, to anybody else in the room or to the candidate themselves. RECORDING STAGE Recording takes place in the log books for hairdressing. I record assessment decisions on consultation sheets. Also recording takes place for an assessment if it’s on a written paper on a marking front sheet. The awarding body gives us these marking sheets and it is my job to make sure that the candidate signs it & that I sign it & I put their marks on it. It is the evidence as to whether the candidate is competent on that written paper. There will be a written paper from C. H. E. A. T. When I mark assignments there will also be an assignment front sheet that I would record their feedback on. Whether it is passed or referred the candidate would sign it and date it, I would sign and date it to validate that assessment { THESE PAPER FORMS ARE VITAL FOR ME TO BE ABLE TO DO MY ROLE AS AN ASSESSOR FORMS ARE AVAILABLE FROM CAROLE AND VIA KERRY I NEED THESE FORMS AS SOON AS I START TO SHADOW} QUALITY ASSURANCE When I assess a candidate and I have already recorded it all on the previous documents. I also have to track a student candidate throughout their qualification, so if they have completed one whole unit I would need to sign off the tracking document, this document forms part of the tracking paper trail for Quality Assurance I also need to attend Standardisation Meetings. Usually done twice a year at the beginning and the end of a course. At these standardisation meetings I have to interact and share my views and contribute to these meetings. When we attend the meeting we all should bring along one or two units that we have marked, we can then shuffle them around between each other and look at them to make sure that the students are all being marked equally and that we haven’t been too harsh on them with a marking or too lenient on them. We all need to be marking to the same standard. This is what standardisation is all about & that forms part of this Quality Assurance Process. External verification officers come in they check and look at our tracking, they look at all our minutes and meetings, they come and look at the candidates log books, they look at their consultation sheets, they look at all their written papers & their assignments. They are checking that there was some sort of assessment in place & then they are making sure that I as an assessor planned the assessment. Health & Safety Legislation Sourced from HSE The Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 The Education (School Premises) Regulations 1999 The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2006 The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 Disability Discrimination Act 1995 The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 The Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 The main piece of legislation affecting the management of health and safety in educational establishments across all sectors is the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 (HSWA). This Act provides a framework for ensuring the health and safety of all employees in any work activity. It also provides for the health and safety of anyone who may be affected by work activities in eg pupils/students and visitors to educational sites, including parents and contractors. In Northern Ireland, similar provisions are made by the Health and Safety at Work (NI) Order 1978. Employers and employees (as well as manufacturers, suppliers and the self-employed) must comply with the duties set out in the Act, which are summarised as follows. * Section 2 places a duty on employers to ensure the health, safety and welfare of employees as far as is reasonably practicable. It also requires employers to consult with trade union safety representatives on matters affecting health and safety in the workplace. Moreover, employers of more than five people must prepare a written health and safety policy and bring it to the attention of employees. Section 3 requires employers to ensure that non-employees (eg pupils/students) who may be affected by work activities are not exposed to risks to their health and safety. Where young or vulnerable persons may be affected, the duty of care is greater. * Section 4 places a duty on anyone responsible for the workplace to ensure that the premises, plant and machinery do not endanger the people using them. * Section 5 requires emplo yers to prevent and control harmful, noxious or offensive emissions into the atmosphere. Section 6 places duties on designers, manufacturers and suppliers to ensure that articles and substances are safe for use. * Section 7 states that it is the duty of every employee while at work to take reasonable care of him or herself and of any other person who may be affected by his or her actions. This section also requires employees to cooperate with their employer in relation to health and safety issues. * Section 8 requires employees not to interfere with or misuse anything provided in the interest of health and safety. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 The main requirement of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations is that employers must carry out risk assessments to eliminate or reduce risks. Employers with five or more employees need to record the significant findings of a risk assessment – it is not necessary to record risk assessments for trivial or insignificant risks. In addition, employers also need to: * make arrangements for implementing the health and safety measures identified as necessary by risk assessments * monitor and review those arrangements appoint people with sufficient knowledge, skills, experience and training to help them to implement these arrangements * set up emergency procedures and provide information about them to employees * provide clear information, supervision and training for employees and ensure that suitably competent people are appointed who are capable of carrying out the tasks entrusted to them * work together with any other employer(s) operating from the same workplace, sharing information on the risks that other staff may be exposed to, eg cleaning, catering or maintenance contractors * take particular account of risks to new and expectant mothers. A risk assessment is a careful examination of the work activities that could, whether on or off site, cause harm to people so that your employer can weigh up whether they have taken adequate precautions or should do more to prevent harm. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 require employers to assess the risks arising from work activities to both employees and non-employees (eg students, visiting parents). Employees have a right to see the results of risk assessments. Who can do risk assessments? Employers are responsible for ensuring that risk assessments are carried out by competent people (ie those who have sufficient knowledge, skills, experience and aptitude). These people may be current employees, provided they have been suitably trained, or external health and safety professionals. Safety reps have a legal right to be consulted and can assist on risk assessments. However, the risk assessment remains the legal obligation of the employer and therefore should be signed by the employer once complete. Activities that should be assessed All work activities that could present a potential hazard should be risk assessed. ‘Hazard' means something with the potential to cause harm, including ill health as well as injury. ‘Risk' is the likelihood of that hazard actually causing harm during the course of work activities. In an education setting, there are particular situations that typically require risk assessments: * the work activities of all new and expectant mothers require a specific risk assessment under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, with any necessary adjustments made to their working conditions a risk assessment should be conducted before taking students off site * workplace stress and stressors should also be included within risk assessments The Education (School Premises) Regulations 1999 These regulations set out minimum health and safety standards for all maintained schools in England and Wales, covering issues such as temperature, toilet facilities for pupils, ventilation and lighting. Some of the standards also have to be met by non-maintained special schools and independent schools. The regulations operate in conjunction with the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations, as outlined below. The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 These regulations deal with physical conditions in the workplace and require employers to meet minimum standards in relation to a wide range of matters, which include: * maintenance of buildings and equipment * lighting * provision of drinking water * temperature * rest facilities * ventilation * toilet facilities * first aid. The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 These regulations require employers to minimise the health risks associated with manual handling, a term used to describe activities which involve lifting, carrying, moving, holding, pushing, lowering, pulling or restraining an object, person or animal. Employers should: * avoid the need to lift, carry, push, pull, lower or support loads wherever possible * mechanise tasks where they cannot be avoided by the use of trolleys, barrows, lifts or hoists * carry out risk assessments, which take into account the work task, the activity involved, individual capacity, working environment and other factors. The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2006 The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations place specific duties on employers, owners and those in control of buildings to manage the risks from asbestos fibres that may be released when building or maintenance work takes place. The regulations require the following steps to be taken to manage the risk: * find out if there is asbestos on the premises, its amount and what condition it is in * presume materials contain asbestos, unless there is evidence that they do not * make and keep up to date a record of the location and condition of the materials containing asbestos or which are presumed to contain asbestos * carry out a risk assessment on materials containing asbestos * prepare and implement a plan that sets out in detail how the risk from this material is going to be managed * review and monitor the plan and the arrangements provide information on the location and condition of the material to anyone who is liable to work on or disturb it (including staff). Specialist help is ge nerally required to determine the presence of materials containing asbestos and to remove asbestos. The HSE advises that if asbestos is in good condition and is not likely to be disturbed or damaged, it is usually safer to leave it in place and manage it. The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 These regulations oblige employers to assess the workstations of staff who use display screen equipment (DSE). The workstation is the equipment itself, its accessories and the surrounding work environment. The minimum requirements of employers are to: * identify â€Å"users† of display screen equipment, ie those who habitually use DSE as a significant part of their normal work * assess workstations to ensure that they meet minimum standards * provide information, instruction and training on the potential hazards of using DSE equipment * offer free eyesight tests to users of DSE equipment at regular intervals and to pay for spectacles that are required for the work * review assessments. The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 These place a duty on employers to assess all foreseeable risks associated with work activities involving electricity. Employers are required to install safe systems of working, with well-maintained equipment, covering everything from power lines to kettles. All installation and repairs should be undertaken by a qualified electrician or those who have appropriate technical knowledge, though some minor repairs, inspections, fitting of plugs, etc may be under taken by suitably trained staff. The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations R. I. D. D. O. R 1995 Under these regulations (often referred to as RIDDOR), certain work-related accidents are reportable by law to the Health and Safety Executive or the local authority. The following must be reported: * death of any person * a ‘major injury' to any person at work * hospital treatment of any person who is not at work (eg pupil/student) * an accident which results in a person at work being incapacitated for more than three consecutive days (excluding the day of the accident) * specified dangerous occurrences, eg building collapse * specified work-related diseases, eg mesothelioma and hepatitis. Educational establishments should have clear guidelines on incident reporting and this should be conveyed to staff on the first day of their employment. Accident reporting An accident is an unplanned event that results in injury, damage to property or some other loss. The law requires that certain work-related accidents are reported to the local authority or the Health and Safety Executive. All accidents to employees, however minor, should be recorded. This is a requirement under social security legislation. As a result of a workplace injury an employee may need to claim for benefits in the future, and the relevant checks will be made to confirm that the accident occurred at work. Reporting and recording procedures vary. Employers need to be sure that they satisfy all legal reporting requirements for employees and non-employees, and take measures to monitor accidents. As part of the reactive monitoring process, accident records are needed to assess whether the existing controls are adequate or to identify if trends are developing and to implement new procedures. Records may also have to be produced for the Health and Safety Executive, to parents/guardians, or in the course of civil proceedings if a claim is brought following an incident. How to report an accident All accidents can be reported to the Incident Contact Centre (ICC), Caerphilly Business Park, Caerphilly CF83 3GG. Alternatively, call on tel: 0845 300 9923 on Mondays to Fridays between 8. 30am and 5. 30pm, email  [email  protected] om  or report via the internet at  www. riddor. gov. uk. The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 These regulations (often known as the COSHH regulations) require employers to asses s and prevent (or at least adequately control) the risks to health from the use of any hazardous substances used in the workplace. A hazardous substance is one which has, by law, to be labelled as ‘very toxic', ‘toxic', ‘harmful', ‘irritant' or ‘corrosive'. It therefore includes many chemical substances such as paints and cleaning materials, as well as wood dust. The obligations to employers are to: * assess the risks * decide what precautions are needed take steps to reduce or adequately control exposure to hazardous substances * ensure that control measures are utilised and maintained * monitor exposure * carry out health surveillance of employees who have been or are likely to be exposed * have in place emergency procedures to deal with accidents/incidents * ensure that employees are properly informed, trained and supervised. Educational establishments must have in place appropriate measures to ensure that the risks to the health and safety of pupils /students from exposure to hazardous substances are minimised. COSHH and hairdressers – key messages * Frequent contact with water and shampoo can irritate the skin leading to dermatitis. Some hairdressing and cleaning products can cause dermatitis and skin allergies. * Some dusty products like persulphates and henna can cause asthma. * Some hair sprays can make asthma worse. There are simple things you can do to prevent dermatitis and asthma: * Keep the workplace well ventilated. * Wear disposable non-latex gloves for shampooing, colouring and bleaching. * Dry your hands thoroughly after washing with a soft towel. * Moisturise your hands as often as possible. * Change your gloves between clients. * Check your skin regularly for early signs of skin problems. The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 These regulations set out minimum standards for the use of equipment at work. The main requirements are for employers to: * take account of working conditions and hazards when selecting equipment * provide work equipment which conforms to relevant safety standards * ensure that the work equipment is suitable for its intended purpose and used only for that purpose * maintain and keep the equipment in good working order * ensure that appropriate safety devices are available, if required * issue staff with appropriate instructions, training and supervision to use the work equipment safely * make sure that equipment is inspected after installation or after assembly at a new location. The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 These regulations cover the planning and management of construction projects. An essential part of a project's development is health and safety. Consequently, there is a duty on those involved in a construction project, such as the controller of buildings (ie the LA/governing body/headteacher/principal), contractors and designers to cooperate with each other to identify risks early on, and to report matters that are likely to endanger health and safety. There is also a duty to take appropriate measures to prevent the risk of injury to any person during the construction, which would include staff, pupils/students and visitors to the premises. Disability Discrimination Act 1995 The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 defines a disability as a â€Å"physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities†. To be substantial, the disability must last or be expected to last for at least 12 months. However, those with cancer, MS or who are HIV positive are deemed to be disabled from the point of diagnosis. The act requires employers to ensure that disabled persons have safe access to premises and safe egress in the event of evacuation. They must also make any reasonable changes to the physical features of premises, hours of work, etc that may be necessary to accommodate the needs of disabled employees. Disability discrimination The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 requires employers to make ‘reasonable adjustments' to premises or working practices to ensure that employees are not disadvantaged because of their disability. In order to have rights under the Disability Discrimination Act, an employee must show they are defined as disabled under the act. This means suffering from a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on the person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Any adverse effects must last for at least a year to be considered ‘long-term'. Impairments must affect at least one of the following: * mobility * manual dexterity * physical coordination * continence ability to lift, carry or otherwise move everyday objects * speech * hearing * eyesight * memory or ability to concentrate, learn or understand * perception of risk of physical danger. Under the act, people with cancer, MS and those who are HIV positive are deemed to be disab led from the point of diagnosis. Other impairments that employment tribunals have considered a disability include depression, epilepsy, ME and asthma. This does not mean, however, that all people who suffer from these impairments are disabled under the act – much depends on their ability to carry out at least one of the day-to-day activities listed above. Duty to implement reasonable adjustments Employers are obliged to make reasonable adjustments to premises or working arrangements to prevent a disabled person from being placed at a substantial disadvantage compared with persons who are not disabled. In educational establishments, adjustment to premises can include the following: * providing wheelchair-accessible toilets, ramps and automatic opening doors * allocating classrooms on ground floors * providing a designated car-parking space * widening doorways and re-arranging furniture to allow wheelchair-users to move around * providing ergonomically designed chairs or adapted keyboards * acquiring specialist equipment with magnifying facilities. Changes to working arrangements may be made by: employing an assistant to undertake administrative tasks * providing a reader or signer for a visually impaired person * adjusting the timetable or allowing extra non-contact time * allocating some duties to another employee * altering working hours to allow part-time work or job-shari ng * providing additional training. While the potential cost of adjustments often concern educational establishments, many are relatively inexpensive. Moreover, under the Employment Service's Access to Work Scheme, funding is available for human support and adaptations to premises and equipment. Disability employment advisors in Jobcentres offer free independent advice on adjustments to the workplace. Many LAs also employ disability officers. Other forms of discrimination under the Act Failure to make reasonable adjustments is one of the five ways in which an employer can discriminate on the grounds of disability. The others are: Direct discrimination: this occurs where a person discriminates against a disabled person if, on the ground of that person's disability, he or she is treated less favourably than a person not having that particular disability has been or would have been treated. There is no justification defence to a claim for direct discrimination. Disability-related discrimination: this occurs where the employer, for reasons relating to a person's disability, treats that employee less favourably than the employer treats or would treat others to whom that reason does not apply, and that treatment is not justified. Harassment: occurs where the disabled person is subjected to unwanted conduct which has the purpose or effect of violating his or her dignity or creating an intimidating, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for him or her. Victimisation: essentially occurs where the disabled person is treated less favourably because he or she has commenced a claim under the Disability Discrimination Act; or has given evidence/information in proceedings brought by someone else; or has alleged that a person has contravened the act. A claim for disability discrimination must be presented to the Employment Tribunal within three months beginning with the date of the act of which complaint is made. The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 These regulations require employers to provide: * adequate and appropriate first-aid equipment and facilities * an adequate number of qualified first aiders * an ‘appointed person', if a first aider is absent, to take charge of first-aid arrangements, including looking after the equipment and calling the emergency services. The Approved Code of Practice to the regulations stresses that the employer must make an assessment of first-aid needs. Educational establishments should therefore take account of risks to pupils/students on and off site when considering their provisions for first aid. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 Under this order, the ‘responsible person' in the workplace (ie the employer/owner/person in control) is required to take general fire safety precautions to ensure the health and safety of staff and others, such as pupils/students. These precautions include: * assessing the risk of fire, paying particular attention to those who may be especially vulnerable, eg children * ensuring that there are effective means of escape * making sure the workplace is well-equipped with appropriate fire-fighting equipment/detectors/alarms * adopting appropriate fire-fighting measures * nominating an adequate number of suitably trained and equipped competent persons to implement these measures. The order contains duties relating to safety drills and emergency routes/exits, which employees must be made aware of at their induction. Fire risk assessment Risk assessment is at the heart of fire safety management. A fire risk assessment follows the same principles as any risk assessment: * Step one: Identify the fire hazards, eg what could start a fire, combustible materials, etc. * Step two: Identify people at risk (look at numbers of people, vulnerable groups and the likelihood of the fire spreading). * Step three: Evaluate the risks and implement control measures to remove or reduce the risk. * Step four: Record the findings and inform staff and safety reps. Step five: Review and revise the plan as and when there are changes in work activities, the use of the building, etc. Safety representatives should request a copy of the school or college fire risk assessments. Further guidance on fire risk assessments and precautions is available from the Department for Communities and Lo cal Government at:  www. firesafetyguides. communities. gov. uk What every staff member should know Fire safety procedures should be a part of induction for every new member of staff. In particular, staff should be informed of the following: * the fire risk * what to do if they discover a fire * raising the alarm * recognising the fire alarm and acting on it * calling the fire brigade. Discovering a fire If a fire is discovered, the first action is to raise the alarm so the occupants of the building know there is a fire and that they must leave. This is usually done by locating the ‘break glass' call point. There are many types of fire extinguishers used in schools and colleges. Staff that are not trained to use fire-fighting equipment should not waste time trying to make them work. Those who have been trained and nominated to use the equipment should not attempt to put out large fires. If a fire cannot be put out, the door should be closed and the building evacuated RECOGNISE GOOD PRACTICE IN ASSESSING CANDIDATES IN RELATION TO ASSESSMENT. As Assessors we should be demonstrating good practice in relation to equality and diversity ; equal opportunities Equality = Treating everyone as an individual, not the same as everyone else, we are not all the same, we are all very different individuals. Eg there may be limitations to someone with a disability. They cannot be treated the same as myself as her/his disability may limit them in what they can do, so they need to be treated individually. Diversity. Is about the diverse nature of the industry. The clients, different hair types, textures etc. Diversity means all different sizes, shapes, ages, dark hair, light hair, black, white. It is good practice to ensure Health ; Safety to make sure that we adapt working environments for different clients, different candidates, and different students. It is good practice to encourage our candidates and students to use technology, encourage them to use computers, internet, submit assignments electronically etc. We have to be seen to be embracing this in our assessment processes. Reflective Practice Demonstrate a proactive approach to self-reflection, â€Å"How do I feel I am doing? † C. P. D {Continual Professional Development} is key to good practice. I need to keep myself up to date with my skills. I need to keep up to date with new equipment being introduced to the industry. I should always be in-front of my candidates/students, I should never be in a situation where a student is telling me about new trends, new equipment that I have never heard of. It is good practice that I am always seen to be keeping ahead in the industry that I am assessing. It is not good practice if I do not know what is going on in the industry I am assessing I should get feedback from others too on how I am doing. Each year I have to obtain 30 hours of evidence of hands on C. P. D. This is achieved {if I am working for the college} in July C. P. D week it may be that the college sets up 2 days where a company comes into the salon and demonstrates new equipment trains us on up to date styles. They will also open up a commercial salon so that we can work commercially for a day. The college may also send us out for training for instance to Saks. I have to upload all of my work to I. F. L to ensure my C. P. D.

Comparing Linear Graphs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Comparing Linear Graphs - Essay Example However, in case of linear inequality graph, there will be more than one (infinite) value of y for one value of x. A linear equation graph can be easily plotted if some points (x, y) are known. Similarly, a linear inequality graph can be plotted if the points for linear equation of the linear inequality are known. The above two examples of linear equation and linear inequality have same expression (only difference is = and ≠¤ or ≠¥) and therefore can be plotted (graphed) similarly. If there are several linear equations than they can be plotted by choosing different colors, line types and size. Similarly, if there is more than one linear inequality (various supply and demand graphs) than for each linear inequality different types of color and shades can be used for differencing them. In addition, intersection (combined shaded area) of all the linear inequality will be solution area (for supply and demand graphs) and the points of intersection of linear inequality will be the break-even

Language of Art and Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Language of Art and Design - Essay Example We must learn to do this before we can learn about interpretation and the meaning of various art works.1 We have to know how to walk before we can know how to run very fast. Firstly, we need to look at the physical parts of a work of art – how do we name and describe the visual facts? To do this we need a basic vocabulary. These are terms that can be applied to a work of art in any of the forms of art, be it photography, sculpture, or painting—these are the things we first see.2 The first thing we see is the medium, the material used in the work of art. Medium also refers to dimension as well. Is it two dimensions or three dimensions? Is it a painting on a piece of canvas or on a wood? Is it a sculpture in clay or charcoal? What kinds of paints are used? Acrylic, oil, watercolour? These factors all add to the effect of the creation. To understand the creation we must understand the many parts that make it up. Another important building block: One of the first rules of geometry is a line. A line the â€Å"path of a point moving through space.† It can be used to draw the eye to important parts of a composition. Lines also mark divisions between different spaces. You could say they are the basic â€Å"building blocks† of shape and form.3 Colour is another important one. Everything that we see from nature to fashion to our favourite football team impacts our brain with the exciting colours available in our world. Colour effects our emotions in both subtle and unsubtle ways. Without it, our daily life experiences would be dull as dishwater. Think how much our eyes are more drawn to a colourful magazine than to a black and white newspaper. The artist is sensitive to these issues and takes the use of color seriously, making serious choices for a various effects. For example, Matisse was a master of using colour and created some of his best paintings using the colour red. As with colour, light makes

Screening the Business Idea and Business Model Assignment

Screening the Business Idea and Business Model - Assignment Example The most fascinating feature of this restaurant service is that unlike any other hamburger restaurant, the Redneck’s Gourmet will cook burgers right in front of the customer. In addition, customers are encouraged to order their burger and demand whatever they want mixed in the meat. The well decorated surroundings, a full bar, and a stage for live music will be some other notable attractions of this restaurant. There will be uniqueness even in staff dress code. Even though it is mandatory for the staff to wear uniforms, they are permitted to personalize the uniforms to an extent. In short, all the settings and facilities of this restaurant service will be based on redneck lifestyle and values. Today there are not many places to sit down and eat a hamburger other than fast food facilities. Although many other restaurants have burgers on their menu, it is not the major focus of their menu. Most restaurants offer burgers only as a substitute product if their primary meals are not much demanded by customers. By giving primary emphasis to burgers, Redneck’s Gourmet will have a clear edge over fast food places and other similar facilities. Unlike a fast food restaurant, the Redneck’s Gourmet can promise customers great atmosphere to sit down and enjoy their meals. In addition, as Dupas (2011) points out, today’s people are increasingly concerned about their health and the dreadful repercussions of consuming foods prepared in dirty kitchens and surroundings. Hence, many people are reluctant to visit restaurants. In this context, Redneck’s Gourmet burgers can better serve the needs of health-conscious customers because burgers are prepared right in fro nt of the customer in this restaurant. Thus, no customer needs to worry whether or not his/her burger was cooked in a clean kitchen as he/she can witness the entire cooking process from start to finish.

Report for Advance Software Engineering for Stage Two Essay

Report for Advance Software Engineering for Stage Two - Essay Example As discussed earlier in stage 1 reflection that all of us were working on pair level and it was not easy for us to conclude the best idea therefore we suffered a lot during project planning. Through mashwara, we felt better understanding because every one was only giving his opinion instead of dictating his strategy. Instead of working on the project in isolation we also experienced and enjoyed the pair programming strategy. It was really an amazing approach which reduced the development time errors quite significantly. The incremental approach also helped quite significantly as it enabled us to abstract the future details of the project and allowed us to focus on the issues at hand. Specifically speaking during the thread management and usage of patterns it was very much effective to keep concentrating on the local issues rather than thinking upon the 'unseen challenges of the later aspects of the project'. To me, planning the whole project and then breaking it down into modules cou ld be useful and beneficial approach for all experienced managers and for a team with a higher level of communication, support and trust within them. However, for groups like ours, I found it better to set some short terms goals, complete them and then proceed towards the later parts of the project. Indeed, I feel integration may be a problematic issue for very large projects but not of course for this project. From technical aspects, the most interesting parts of the project are thread management and usage of patterns. Understanding threads as a tool for concurrent programming within the application is an exciting experience. It took some time for me to get comfortable with thread programming because of its different nature as compared to other programming techniques. During the project it was not a big deal to apply threads; however, I think handling concurrency issues, race conditions and avoidance of deadlocks may wreak havoc in a heavily multithreaded application. To be honest, I still have to learn a true multi threaded environment and how to optimally use this powerful technique to improve the efficiency of the application. Improper usage of the threads may also cause unwanted delays and other vulnerabilities during the program. As compared to the agile programming approach I found 'Design Pattern' to be more complicated, interesting and powerful software design technique as a learner. A design pattern introduced by the gang of four is an incredible way to structure the application design for extensions, flexibility and more towards a generic design. INDIVIDUAL REPORT Threads Threads can be used for concurrent execution of the unit parts of the programs within the application execution environment. A program may be fragmented if no dependencies are found within each block and can be executed through threads concurrently. This concurrent execution speeds up the application and is very helpful for (some how) parallel processing tasks over a single process or. Fortunately, recent processors are significantly supporting the usage of threads and improving the program throughput quite noticeably. Furthermore the threads allow a programmer to accurately map the real world scenarios with the application as it was the case in our project too. There are several 'works' or 'processing’s' going on concurrently in the real world. Like, the

History of Theatrical Lighting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

History of Theatrical Lighting - Essay Example The history of lighting in theatre is by nature a map to our own imaginations. In general, there are two kinds of illumination for the theatre, General Composition Illumination, and Selective Illumination. General Composition Illumination is used to produce a ‘wash’ of light across space, with little or no shadows. It is diffuse and undifferentiated. Selective Illumination is the creation of shafts or pinpoints of light that can be directed or fixed on certain areas of the stage in order to highlight a specific person, prop or scene. This draws the audience's attention to that area. Theatrical lighting has taken these two general categories and over the centuries learned to manipulate their intensity and colour for a myriad of effects and the creation of a more dynamic stage element. However, for the purposes of this analysis attention will be given to that lighting which is of a man-made origin. This of course begins with the humble candle. Attributed to invention circa 400 AD, the candle was at first relegated to religious ceremonies. As better materials were developed and the brightness and portability of the candle increased, it began to be used more generally. But it wasn't until the late fifteen hundreds that there are records of candles being used in theatres in Italy. Their popularity spread over Europe and to England by the early sixteen hundreds. Candles became the most significant light source for theatre productions. In the beginning candlelight was used to illuminate the members of the audience as well as the production and its actors. Candles were usually set in chandeliers over the audience and the audience section was under constant illumination during the performance while the stage would have varying degrees of light. Stagehands would snuff out and light candles according to the stage directions and there were also mechanical contrivances, different full chandeliers and partial branches were also used: Some of the branches could b e lowered by wires and pulleys so that the candles could be lit, snuffed, and extinguished. Lines, ropes, and pulleys are frequently mentioned in the accounts [of performances], but there are only a few explicit references to the raising and lowering of lights. Candles were also used as footlights and ladders in the wings to add side illumination. Then in the sixteenth century Sebastiano Serilio created a technique that gave candles a whole new dimension. By the use of coloured liquids made from various sources like saffron (yellow), burgundy wine (red) and so on he was able to give candlelight colour. He utilized a polished barber’s basin to reflect candlelight through these bottled liquids to project on actors and scenery. In a sense this was the first attempt at selective illumination as well. However candlelight had many drawbacks, one of which is the intensity and the quality of the light produced. Many candles, up to and sometimes exceeding thirty or more per several ch andeliers were necessary to have sufficient illumination for the stage or audience. Intensity is an important concern as relates to human vision. Detail can be lost if there is not enough light to discern them.

Nursing Gender Stereotype Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nursing Gender Stereotype - Essay Example Nuns and lay women have been helping to care for the sick even before the time of Florence Nightingale. It is only during her time that the first nursing school was established. Nursing thus became a profession. Coupled with Nightingales belief and fact that society has dictated women to care for the injured soldiers has cemented the nursing profession as a profession for women. This designation of the profession as "only for women" has changed over time. The three pictures of groups of nurses presented, depicts nurses over a vast period of time, will attest to this. The first is a picture of six nurses taken during Florence Nightingales time. The women are dressed all in white long gowns with what appears to be a nursing cap on their heads. The cap is quite larger than the common white nursing caps worn by nursing students of today. They look very neat with their hair fastened away from the face and tucked underneath their caps. Their white gowns cover their bodies and arms provide protection from contamination and also prevent them from coming into skin contact with their patients. Their gowns are all starched up seeing that it does not follow the contour of the body also serves to prevent dirt from sticking to it. They do not wear jewelry as this might only get in the way as they move about their business. Their faces bearing a serious and yet small smile shows that they mean business. They are ready to do their task. Not one wears a big smile probably because during their time women were supposed to be meek and reserved. The head held high a nd eyes looking straight at the camera shows confidence. They epitomize Florence Nightingales' Nurse as clean, neat, formal, confident, and competent. The picture also shows the bond that these women have. The way they are seated, with the women on the floor having their arm and elbow on the lap of the woman seated behind them and with the woman at the back sitting forward and placing her hands at the back of each nurse seated at her front shows the relation of togetherness at work and in service. The picture also shows that age is not an impediment to service. The picture shows women of varying ages. This disparity in ages is further emphasized for the youngest nurse, the one wearing a different headdress was made to sit beside the oldest nurse in the picture (2nd row extreme right of the picture). The second picture are the nurses of the late ninety's. It shows three women nurses and three doctors. The nurses are in scrub suits while two doctors are in doctors gowns and another has a stethoscope hanging around his neck. The ratio of doctors against nurses in the picture can be interpreted to show equal importance. Both are equally important in the field of caring and nursing a sick patient to good health. The nurses in the picture are easily identifiable by the scrub suits they are wearing. They are no longer encumbered with the lengthy, up to the neck and long sleeved gowns. They can move with ease and are more comfortable. Although no longer sporting the traditional white long gowns, they are as clean as ever with the help of

Training and Development Participant sheet Research Proposal

Training and Development Participant sheet - Research Proposal Example ch in the company is to bring out the most important aspects in training and development in the human resource management in Gulf Petrochemical International Company (Gibaldi, 2009). The main purpose of the research is to bring out the various aspects that go around the training of the employees in the organization (Bax, 1998). The participants have been chosen in a way that they are the ones who will be required to go through the past training programs that the company has had over time (McLaughlin, 2009). The people that have been chosen are those that are able to understand the different ideologies that the people in the company have and to bring the different development aspects. The age used in the study also are those that are able to identify the weaknesses in the training program and the abilities in improving the company. Taking part in the following research is voluntary and the people who will be appointed to do the research are expected to sign that they are able to take well the research and do it in a way that will bring out the information that is required well (Yin, 1994). The voluntariness in the research should not prevent the people doing the research from assisting in the understanding the training process of the company further. When one will not be able to attend the research, the time that will be needed to come out with the desired results will be long (Booth and Colomb, 1995). The information that may be collected when one participant is not able to attend the research also may be adequate since some of the areas in the company may not be able to be covered. The researchers also will be needed to attend the research more often than when there was more of the participants taking part in the action. The participants are guaranteed some expenses that they will need in the course of the exercise. The expenses such as those on travel will be covered (Polachek, 20011). Since the activity is voluntary, there will also be rewards to the

Financial analysis and management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Financial analysis and management - Assignment Example It has been observed that profitability ratios have been fluctuating for the airlines in recent years with major setback in the fiscal year 2011-12. However, both the airlines have experienced increase in their liquidity ratios in the fiscal year 2012-13 with Emirates showing higher rate of increase indicating that the companies are in a good financial position to pay off their short term and long term loans and obligations. From investment ratios it has been observed that British Airlines is in a better equity position than the Emirates. This means British Airlines is more efficient in utilizing shareholders’ equity for garnering profit making it more lucrative company for prospective shareholders. Aviation industry is concerned with manufacturing and flying of commercial aircrafts. This industry provides the most rapid transportation network connecting every country in this world. The contribution of aviation industry on international business and tourism is immense. Aviation industry provides employment opportunities on the line of many activities including aircraft maintenance and ground-based infrastructure. The industry plays a very prominent role in a country’s economic structure. As economic development has increased air transport demand across the world, the industry itself is considered as a catalyst of economic growth. Providing a network of transport between all countries, the aviation industry allows easy access to the global market thus enhancing productivity leading to growth of economy. Increased air travel between two countries can have a great positive impact on the GDP of both countries. For instance, growth in air service between Poland and UK since 2 003 has paved the way for long term GDP growth in Poland by US$634 million every year while UK has been benefited with annual GDP growth by US$45 million. Also, since increased connectivity

Music Study Guide Essay Example for Free

Music Study Guide Essay Music is an art based on the organization of sounds in time. Also the universal language of man or something who knows Pitch is the relative highness or lowness that we hear in a sound Tone is a sound that has a definite pitch Interval is the distance in a pitch between any two tones Tones are separated by an interval called the octave Tones have a specific frequency in music Pitch range is the distance between the lowest and highest tones that a voice or instrument can produce Range of an untrained voice is between 1 and 2 octaves Dynamics are degrees of loudness or softness in music Loudness is related to the amplitude of the vibration that produces the sound Accent is an emphasis of a note Instrument may be defined as any mechanism that produces musical sound Register is the part of the tonal range of an instrument or voice Pizzicato- plucked string Double stop- two notes at once Vibrato- rocking the left hand while pressing down with the other. Throbbing expressive tone that causes small pitch fluctuations that make the tone warmer Mute- a clamp that veils or muffles that tone Tremolo- rapidly repeats tones by quick up-and-down strokes of the bow Harmonics- Very high pitched tones are produced when the musician lightly touches certain points on a string Woodwinds have little holes along their length that are opened and closed by the fingers or pads controlled by a key mechanism Flutes and piccolos are played by blowing across the edge of a mouth hole Recorders are played by blowing through a whistle mouthpiece Single-reed woodwinds are played by fastening a reed over a hole in the mouthpiece that vibrates when the player blows over it (ex- clarinet, bass clarinet, saxophone) Double-reed woodwinds use two narrow pieces of cane that are held between the musician’s lips (ex- English horn, contrabassoon, bassoon) Bass instruments are played by the musician blowing into a cup- or funnel-shaped mouthpiece (vibrations of bass instruments come from their lips) Pitch of brass instrument is regulated by varying lip tension and by using slides and valves Mutes alter the tone color of bass instruments When a pianist’s finger strikes a key, a felt-covered hammer swings up against a string (greater the force on the key, more powerful the hammer’s blow, louder the tone produced) Damper comes down on the string to stop the vibrations when the pianist lets go of the key Damper pedal is the most important pedal, allows a pianist to sustain tones Una corda pedal, on the left, veils the sound Sostenuto pedal, in the middle, allows the pianist to sustain some tones without sustaining others Harpsichord has strings that are plucked. Controlled by one or two keyboards. Pipe organ has many sets of pipes controlled by several keyboards, including a pedal keyboard played the organist’s feet Tape studio was the main tool of composers of electronic music during the 1950s Synthesizers are systems of electronic components that generate, modify, and control sound Analog Synthesis is based on representing data in terms of measurable physical quantities Digital frequency modulation synthesis is based on representing physical quantities as numbers Sampling involves placing brief digital recordings of live sounds under the control of a synthesizer keyboard Instrument Digital interface (MIDI) is a standard adopted by manufacturers for interfacing synthesizer equipment Consonance is a tone combination that is stable. They are points of arrival, rest, and resolution. Dissonance is a tone combination that is unstable. Its tension demands an onward motion to a stable chord Dissonance has its resolution when it moves to a consonance The Middle Ages The Middle Ages spanned from 450-1450 Most important musicians were priests Church officials required monks to sing with proper pronunciation, concentration, and tone quality Church frowned upon instruments because of their earlier role in pagan rites Gregorian chant is a melody set to sacred Latin texts and sung w/o accompaniment Gregorian chant is monophonic in texture, its rhythm is flexible, w/o met.er, and has little sense of beat. The melodies tended to move by step within a narrow range of pitches. Used church modes as a scale. The Renaissance The Renaissance spanned from 1450-1600 The Renaissance mass is a polyphonic choral composition made up of the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei Baroque Baroque era spanned from 1600-1750 Baroque era used violins a lot. Organ and harpsichord where the main keyboard instruments Baroque suite is a set of dance-inspired movements. It is made up of movements that are all written in the same key but differ in tempo, meter, and character. Usually in A A B B French overture is a common Baroque suite opening. Short Answer Middle Ages (450-1450) Renaissance (1450-1600) Baroque (1600-1750) Classical (1750-1820) Romantic (1820-1900) Contemporary (1900-now) 3 Composers per period: Middle Ages- Hildegard of Bingen, Perotin, Francesco Landini Renaissance- Josquin Desprez, Thomas Morley, Giovanni Gabrieli Baroque- Johann Sebastian Bach, George Fredric Handel, Henry Purcell Italian dynamic markings: Pianissimoppvery soft Piano psoft Mezzo Pianompmoderately soft Mezzo fortemfmoderately loud Fortefloud Fortissimoffvery loud Orchestras contain string, woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments. Symphonic bands contain brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Duple Meter- measure has two beats Triple Meter- measure has 3 beats Quadruple Meter- measure has 4 beats Gregorian chant is monophonic in texture, its rhythm is flexible, w/o met.er, and has little sense of beat. The melodies tended to move by step within a narrow range of pitches. Used church modes as a scale. Polychoral Motet- motet for two or more choirs, often including groups of instruments Brandenburg Concerto No.5 in D Major (1721), by Johann Sebastian Bach. Ritornello form, duple meter. Used a string orchestra and a group of soloists consisting of a flute, violin, and a harpsichord. Essays Compare and contrast two periods of music that we’ve learned Middle Ages and Renaissance Compare: Musicians worked in churches. The church remained an important patron of music. Vocal music was more important the instrumental music. Both had sacred music(Gregorian chant, Renaissance mass). Both used church modes as their basic scale of music. The cantus firmus (Melody used as the basis of a polyphonic choral) was used in both periods. Contrast: Musical activity gradually shifted to the courts in the Ren. Musicians had higher statuses in the Ren. Ren music sounds fuller than MA music. Bass register was used for the first time in the Ren, expanding the pitch range to more than 4 octaves. Invention of the printing press widened the circulation of music, and the number of composers and performers increased in the Ren. Ren music was more about men rather than God. Instruments were used more often in the Ren. Composers were no longer content to remain unknown; in the Ren they wanted fame and recognition for their works. Bach’s contributions to the Baroque period Bach was the mack daddy of Baroque music. His works show an astounding mastery of harmony and counterpoint, and they are used as models by music students today. With his set of six Brandenburg Concerto’s, Bach brought immortality to a German aristocrat, the margrave of Brandenburg. In Concerto No.5, Bach uses a string orchestra and a group of soloists consisting of a flute, violin, and harpsichord. This was the first time a harpsichord was given a solo in a concerto grosso. The harpsichord’s solo at the end of the first movement is spectacular. His audience marveled at this brilliant harpsichord solo within a concerto grosso, and audiences today are still blown away by it. Bach wrote fugues that were the peak among works in the form. In his collections of preludes and fugues, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Back explored with unprecedented thoroughness systems of tuning instruments that enabled a composer to write in all 24 keys, even keys with many sharps and flats. Bach also composed what is probably the most monumental setting of the Roman Catholic mass (Mass in B Minor). It was too long to be performed in a mass, so Bach was just probably being a show-off. Bach wrote about 295 church cantatas. Cantata No. 140 is his most famous.

Counter Terrorism Strategies in India

Counter Terrorism Strategies in India Freedom at the Helm: Strategic Framework for a Secure India Rebecca Sayres Abstract The three-day attack on Mumbai sought to undermine the liberty of India. Indians now stand more united than ever in protecting our way of life. In an effort to strengthen methods currently used to combat terrorists, a counterterrorism strategy has been implemented. The Strategy calls for additional anti-terrorism methods, organizational changes, as well as partnerships between the central and state governments. Citizens need to be vigilant and willing to work with their local government. India however cannot go this alone. The international community must act as partners to hinder recurring acts of violence by Pakistan-based extremists. Cumulatively, measures outlined in this Strategy make for a stronger India. Implementing a Strategy The objective of implementing a national counterterrorism strategy is to protect India, Indian citizens and Indian interests abroad as well as at home. The Strategy will serve as a blueprint of guiding principles, priorities, and direction for law enforcement, as well as government agencies. Those who were avidly against The Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) should be reassured that measures outlined in the Strategy will not encroach on the fundamental rights of Indian citizens. The government seeks to work with its citizens in promoting awareness of the evolving challenges of modern day terrorism. Together we can work to abolish those radical individuals who seek to harm our way of life. Pakistan-Based Islamic Extremist Groups Pakistan-based extremist groups pose the greatest threat to India’s national security. Specifically, groups Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) can be linked to numerous recurring acts of violence against India. In a coordinated effort in 2001, the groups launched an attack on the Indian Parliament House in New Delhi. The well-orchestrated Mumbai attacks in 2008 were also LeT linked (Rath, p.63-69). Violent jihadi terrorism strategically aims to damage India economically and stir up religious hatred between Hindus and Muslims. Due to this overwhelming threat, India will base its Strategy around countering the threat of Pakistan-based extremist groups through improved organizational structures within government agencies, and partnerships throughout the international community. Countering Threats Thwarting terroristic activities is complex; it requires diligent information gathering on individuals, objectives, capabilities, and planning. Domestically, counterterrorism encompasses many state and federal agencies. In regards to intelligence gathering, the Indian military, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), as well as the Intelligence Bureau (IB) lead operations and analysis for detecting terrorist related activities under the central government (Gordon, p. 117-118). Police forces operate under the jurisdiction of state and Union territories to enforce laws, conduct criminal investigations, and respond to local threats (Gordon, p. 117-118). As counterterrorism measures enhance, interagency collaboration will be amplified in a sustainable fashion across all jurisdictions. Intelligence agencies have been successful in identifying potential terrorist attacks (Mahadevan, p.98). What we learned from the attack on Mumbai is agencies need to be able to act swiftly in a jointly coordinated effort to deny terrorists the means of carrying out their activities (Staniland, p.1). For that reason, an independent fusion center has been established to analyze and integrate intelligence relevant to national security collected by the military, CBI, RAW, and IB. Pertinent information will then be disseminated to those who need it at local levels. Agencies also have to be operationally sound. Police forces need capabilities to follow up on intelligence warnings. This requires proper manpower, weaponry, training, communications, and transportation facilities. These tools permit police forces to take preemptive measures while shortening response times (Staniland, p.1). In order to accommodate these needs, agencies will be appropriated additional funding to acquire the necessary assets for safeguarding national security. Inclusive of this funding is the Border Security Force (BSF), responsible for guarding India’s land borders (Matthews, 2011). Volatile areas like Jammu and Kashmir require additional security protocols to prevent terrorists from slipping through Indian entry points. Battlefield surveillance radars, long-range reconnaissance and observations systems will be added to the agencies arsenal (Matthews, 2011). Terrorists, smugglers, and pirates regularly threatened Indian coastline and regional waters (Matthews, 2011); therefore more emphasis will be placed on securing this area and reducing vulnerabilities. Protection of our seas is a priority; BSF will be provided additional vessels and surveillance mechanisms required for the coastline. Domestic Policy In the past, Indian officials have faced challenges reaching political consensus in countering terror. For the greater good of India, political leadership will place partisan matters aside in a joint effort to formulate timely policies to counter terrorism. In 2004, the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was repealed (Prevention of Terrorism Repeal Act, 2004). To indemnify, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) was amended to further include crimes associated with terrorism (The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Ordinance, 2004). In an effort to improve on legislation that was perceived as infringing on Indian liberties, national security was exposed to vulnerabilities. India now operates under new legislation that is aggressive on susceptibilities while safeguarding against misuse. Under UAPA confessions made before a police officer were not admissible as evidence (Toughing the Law, 2009). Now, committees have been put into place to asses each case individually and the admissibility of the confession in court. This ensures confessions are made within the parameters of Indian law, while allowing the government to utilize key evidence in cases relevant to terrorism. Additionally and similar to POTA (Toughing the Law, 2009), new law has established special courts for terror related cases. Cases involving terrorist activities, including fund raising and recruitment will be fast-tracked. Failing to expedite these cases constitutes a threat to the security and stability of the state. Extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary measures. There is a distinct difference between ordinary crime and terrorism. UAPA does not differentiate standards for bail between the common criminal and terrorists (Singh, p. 402). Therefore, bail provisions specific to activities related to terrorism have been passed into law. Bail is now set in a way which is proportional to the charges. The onus lies with the judge not to grant this privilege unless there is confidence that the accused is not guilty of terrorist related offenses. Toughening these laws ensure terrorists do not walk away free after being caught in the act. They will not however, deter an individual from committing atrocities. Terrorism has to be dealt with in the context of its growing threat to India. This starts with better governance. Elected officials at all levels must share the same objectives on terrorism. Partnerships between the central government, states, as well as Union territories are essential (Athana, p.15-16). Likewise, a partnership between the government and its people is imperative. This requires mutual trust and respect. Citizens cannot hesitate on reporting suspected terrorist activities to appropriate officials or law enforcement. Through these partnerships, we stand united in fighting violent extremist. International Cooperation India has one of the world’s highest levels of terrorist violence. In 2012, the Global Terrorism Index ranked India 4th among countries most affected by terrorism (Global Terror Index, 2012). Numerous attacks can be directly attributed to Pakistan-based extremists. The international community is well aware of the forces surrounding the tumultuous relationship between Pakistan and India. UN resolution 39 established the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) attempting to mediate on-going conflicts (General Assembly, 1948). As the UN has condoned Pakistan to continue to blatantly support and harbor terrorist activities, the resolution has lost relevance. Terrorism is not isolated to India, it is a global quandary. The international community is more interdependent than ever in countering these types of threats. The UN, along with allied nations must place additional pressure on Pakistan to further oblige its commitment on fighting terrorism. Rapprochement is unfeasible without the support of the international community. Pakistan must send the message that it will not export transnational terrorism by refusing to act aggressively against those who seek to commit heinous crimes against India. Furthermore, Pakistan must cooperate with the Indian government in extraditing those associated with crimes carried out on Indian soil. Bilateral peace discussions cannot resume until this occurs. The United States and India have held an amiable relationship. Following the 9/11 attack, India offered the U.S. unlimited support including the use of specific air bases (Fair, p. 76-77). Further, we have collaborated on counterterrorism endeavors. The Federal Bureau of Investigation worked diligently with Indian security services after Mumbai (Staniland, p. 3). India recognizes that the United States is deeply engaged with Pakistan in regards to aid and operations surrounding Afghanistan (Asthana, p.17). This empowers the U.S. to impose unrelenting pressure on Pakistan regarding transnational terrorism (Asthana, p.17). Additionally, the U.S. should continue assistance to Indian security forces. India could greatly benefit from increased anti-terrorism courses for police and domestic intelligence forces. Conclusion The 11/26 attack on Mumbai reaffirmed that transnational violence carried out by Pakistani extremist groups remains a leading threat to India’s national security. In addition, numerous terrorist attacks in recent years have been linked to the on-going conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir (Gordon, p.111). India is not immune from the dangers that both domestic and foreign terrorists pose. It is foreseeable that terrorists will continue to target Indian interests globally. The Strategy outlined will serve as a guide to counter those threats. As a society, we must continue to live our lives without forfeiting the liberties radical extremists seek to demolish. Terrorism cannot intimidate or bend the will of the people. Citations Asthana, Vandana. (2010, June 1). Cross-border terrorism in India: Counterterrorism strategies and challenges. Department of Government and International Affairs East Washington University, 1 June 2010. Retrieved from https://ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/27703/CrossBorderTerrorisminIndiaCounterterrorismStrategiesandChallenges.pdf?sequence=2 Fair,C.C. (2004). The counterterror coalitions: Cooperation with Pakistan and India. Retrieved from Rand website: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2004/RAND_MG141.pdf General Assembly resolution 39, The rule of law at the national and international levels, S/654 (20 January 1948), Retrived from http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=s/res/39(1948) Global Terrorism Index: Capturing the Impact of Terrorism for the Past decade. (2012). Retrieved from Institute For Economics and Peace website: http://www.visionofhumanity.org/sites/default/files/2012_Global_Terrorism_Index_Report.pdf Gordon, S. (2008). Policing terrorism in India. Crime, Law Social Change, 50(1/2), 111-124. Mahadevan, P. (2012). The politics of counterterrorism in India: Strategic intelligence and national security in South Asia. London: I.B. Tauris. Mathews, N. (2011). Guarding Access. Defense Technology International, 5(1), 32. Parliament of India. (2004). PREVENTION OF TERRORISM (REPEAL) ACT 2004 (14). Retrieved from https://www.unodc.org/tldb/showDocument.do?documentUid=6920node=docscmd=addcountry=IND Parliament of India. (2004). The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Ordinance, 2004. Retrieved from http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/document/actandordinances/the_unlawful_activities__amendord2004.htm Rath, S. (2013). South Asia’s future security: The danger of terrorism from Pakistan. Social Research Reports, 2563-89. Singh,U.K. (2007). The state, democracy and anti-terror laws in India. New Delhi: Sage Publications. Toughing the Law. (2009, January 9). India Today Bureau. Retrieved from http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/Toughening+the+law/1/24801.html

Natural Output Levels: Fiscal and Monetary Policy Impact

Natural Output Levels: Fiscal and Monetary Policy Impact In this essay I discuss whether the fiscal and monetary policy has impact on the natural level of output. Natural level of output, in other words potential output is a total gross domestic product (GDP) that could be produced by an economy if all its resources were fully employed. This means if the economy is at natural level of output, the unemployment rate equals the NAIRU or the natural rate of unemployment and other factories, such as technology and capital are kept at optimal capacity level. We can derive the natural level of output function. It is given by: Yn=Nn=L(1-un) where natural level of output is equal to natural level of employment and it is equal to the labor force L times 1 minus the natural rate unemployment rate un. In addition, the natural level of output satisfies this equation: F((1-Yn)/L,z)=1/(1+ÃŽÂ ¼) The natural level of output is such that, at the associated rate of unemployment, the real wage chosen in wage setting the left side of equation is equal to the real wage implied by price setting the right side of equation. However, it is hard to change the natural level of output as it is difficult to change the natural level of unemployment. Lets consider why natural unemployment rate cannot be changed by government policies. Famous economists Friedman and Phelps explained that using Phillips curve. They opposed this idea on theoretical grounds, as they noted that if unemployment was to be permanently lower, some real variable in the economy, like the real wage, would have changed permanently. Why this should be the case because inflation was higher, appeared to rely on systematic irrationality in the labor market. As Friedman remarked, wage inflation would eventually catch up and leave the real wage, and unemployment, unchanged. Hence, lower unemployment could only be attained as long as wage inflation and inflation expectations lagged behind actual inflation. This was seen to be only a temporary outcome. Eventually, unemployment would return to the rate determined by real factors independent of the inflation rate. According to Friedman and Phelps, the Phillips curve was therefore vertical in the long run, and expansive demand policies would only be a cause of inflation, not a cause of permanently lower unemployment. The policy implication is that the natural rate of unemployment cannot permanently be reduced by demand management policies (including monetary policy), but that such policies can play a role in stabilizing variations in actual unemployment. So, we should find out what exactly impact the government policies have to the countrys economy. Firstly, we should consider monetary policy and whether it has affect to the natural level of output. Monetary policy is the process a government, central bank, or monetary authority of a country uses to control the supply of money, availability of money, and cost of money or rate of interest to attain a set of objectives oriented towards the growth and stability of the economy. Monetary policy is referred to as either being an expansionary policy, or a contractionary policy, where an expansionary policy increases the total supply of money in the economy, and a contractionary policy decreases the total money supply. Expansionary policy is traditionally used to combat unemployment in a recession by lowering interest rates, while contractionary policy involves raising interest rates to combat inflation. Lets look how the monetary policy is working and that is then happening to equilibrium output. Suppose that government is running the expansionary monetary policy and increase the level of nominal money from M to M. Assume that before the change in nominal money, output is at its natura l level. So now we will try to find out does the monetary policy affect the natural level of output. In the Figure 1 we see that aggregate demand and aggregate supply cross at point A, where the level of output is equals Yn, and the price level equals P. Figure 1. Suppose the nominal money level increase. Remember the equation Y=Y(M/P,G,T). For a given price level P, the increase in nominal money M leads to an increase in the real money stock M/P leading to an increase in output. Aggregate demand curve shifts from AD to AD. In the short run economys equilibrium goes from A to A, output increases from Yn to Y and prices increases from P to P. Over time, the equilibrium changes. As output is higher than the natural level of output, the price level is higher than was expected so the wage setters revise their expectations which cause AS curve to shift up. The economy moves up along the aggregate demand curve, AD. The adjustment process stops when output is returned to the natural level of output. In the medium run the aggregate supply curve is AS, the economy is at point A and the price level have rose and is equal to P. So the only effect achieved by monetary policy in medium run is price level rise. The proportional increase in the nominal money stock is equal to the proportional increase in prices. So we can see that expansionary monetary policy did not affect the natural level of output. We should consider why it did not succeed. As we know that stabilizing inflation will also stabilize output at its natural level, so it suggest assumption that monetary policy does not affect natural level of output, but only changes real level of output and returns it to the position of natural level of output. So, in the short run, monetary policy affects the level of real output as well as its composition: an increase in money leads to a decrease in interest rates and a depreciation of the currency. Both of these lead to an increase in the demand for goods and an increase in output. In the medium run and the long run, monetary policy is neutral: changes in either the level or the rate of growth of money have no effect on output or unemployment, so it cannot affect the natural level of unemployment and the natural level of output. Changes in the level of money lead to proportional increase in prices. Changes in the rate of nominal money growth lead to corresponding changes in the inflation rate. Secondly, we should consider the fiscal policy and whether it affects the natural level of output. Fiscal policy is the use of government expenditure and revenue collection to influence the economy. Fiscal policy can be contrasted with the other main type of economic policy, monetary policy, which attempts to stabilize the economy by controlling interest rates and the supply of money. The two main instruments of fiscal policy are government expenditure and taxation. Changes in the level and composition of taxation and government spending can impact on the following variables in the economy: aggregate demand and the level of economic activity; the pattern of resource allocation; the distribution of income. Lets consider the fiscal policy impact to countrys economy and natural level of output. Take an example the government is running a budget deficit and decides to reduce it by decreasing it spending from G to G and leave taxes T unchanged. Assume that output is initially at the natural level of output so that the economy is at point A in figure 2 and output equals Yn. Figure 2. The decrease in government spending from G to G shifts the aggregate demand curve from AD to AD: for a given price level, output is lower. In the short run, the equilibrium moves from A to A: output decreases from Yn to Y, and the price level decreases from P to P. As we can see the deficit reduction leads to lower output. In the medium run as long as output is below the natural level of output, the aggregate supply curve keeps shifting down. The economy moves down along the aggregate demand curve AD, until the aggregate supply curve is given by AS and the economy reaches point A. By then, the recession is over, and output is back at Yn. Like an increase in nominal money, a reduction in the budget deficit does not affect output forever. Eventually, output returns to its natural level. However there is an important difference between the effect of a change in money and the effect of a change in deficit. In this case output is back to the natural level of output, but the price level and the interest rate are lower than before the shift. So we can conclude that fiscal policy cannot affect the natural level of output it only affects the real level of output which in the medium and long run comes back to its natural level. Thirdly, we should consider whether government has any other policy that can affect the natural level of output. We have find out neither fiscal nor monetary policy cannot affect the natural level of output by itself. However, using both of these policies together in appropriate way can cause a desirable result and a change the natural level of output. Lets look in Figure 3, which shows the mix of monetary and fiscal policy. There are two ways to stabilize income at Y*, which is the natural level of output. First, there is expansionary or easy fiscal policy. This leads to a high IS schedule IS1. To keep income in check with such an expansionary fiscal policy, tight monetary policy is needed. Government choose a low money supply target, which is represented by LM1 schedule in the Figure 3. Equilibrium E1 is at output Y*, but has the high interest rate r1. With high government spending, private demand must be kept in check. The mix of easy fiscal policy and tight monetary policy implie s government spending G is a big part of national income Y* but private spending (C + I) is a small part. Alternatively, government interested in long-run growth may choose a tight fiscal policy and easy monetary policy. In this case target income Y* is attained with a lower interest rate r2 at the equilibrium E2. With easy monetary policy and tight fiscal policy, the share of private expenditure (C + I) is higher, and the share of government expenditure lower, than at E1. With lower interest rates, there is less crowding out of private expenditure. It rises the investment level and high investment increases the capital stock more quickly, giving workers more equipment with which to work and raising their productivity. In the long run it will cause the growth of the natural output level. Figure 3. Income Y* Interest rates r1 r2 E1 LM1 LM0 IS0 IS1 E4 E3 E2 So we can make a conclusion, that neither the fiscal nor the monetary policy can affect the natural level of output working separately. Though, if the government uses both policies, this mean use the mix of monetary and fiscal policies, for example for expanding the government spending on such things as basic research, public health, education, and infrastructure, this will cause the long-term growth of potential output. EGovernment: History, Causes and Trends EGovernment: History, Causes and Trends BENCHMARKING EGOVERNMENT SERVICES Abstract: Governments around the world have embraced the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). This represents a relatively new branch of study within the IT field. EGovernment Services are provided through many different means of access and to a variance of audiences, citizens, businesses or even other governmental entities. After clarifying the definitions and differences among similar terms (i.e. eGovernance and Digital Government, eDemocracy) this paper examines how eGovernment is measured by analyzing the dominating methodologies that are used. Furthermore, following specifically the eGovernment benchmarking methodology that is used by the European Commission, a greater focus in the evolution of eGovernment in Greece has been made. The finding through this assessment was far from satisfactory. Particularly, comparing the 20 Basic eGovernment Services offered in Greece, from 2007 to 2009, no development in terms of improvement, has taken place. Finally, the measures tha t governments need to undertake are discussed. Introduction In the past years, assisted by the invasion of Information Technology in everyday lives, governments all over the world have begun widely using information technologies for increasing the effectiveness and quality of the services they provide. These initiatives have become known as â€Å"electronic government† or eGovernment services. In most cases, when words gain that attractive â€Å"e-â€Å" in front of them, the popular belief is that they have become â€Å"electronic†, whatever that means, even though in some cases it does not make much sense. This confusion is much more obvious when the original word itself has conceptual and abstract meanings. Words like Government and Governance. Section I presents the most popular definitions, choosing the one that describe each term the best, and clarifies boundaries between the most common terms. Furthermore, the different ways that eGovernment can be classified, depending on the delivery model or the audience, is outlined. Although the definitions of eGovernment may vary widely, there an obvious shared theme emerges; eGovernment involves using information technology, and especially the Internet, to improve the delivery of government services to citizens, businesses, and other government agencies. It acts as enabler for citizens to interact and receive services from governments twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Monitoring eGovernment development and evaluating its effectiveness is a complex and challenging task, as the phenomenon is new and dynamic. In Section II, the basics of Benchmarking are presented and its structural elements are analyzed. Focusing on specific examples of methodology used, a set of four dominant practices that represent the longest running efforts for measuring eGovernment is chosen to be explored further. Using the reports publish by each one of them, on a periodical basis, their inner workings are analyzed and the various developments, changes and evolutions in the methods employed by each one are mentioned. Section III focuses at benchmarking of eGovernment Services in Europe. In order to recognize how eGovernment has evolved and matured within the European Union, the relevant European directives, initiatives and frameworks for the development of eGovernment Services in the region since 1999 are examined. Following that, the methodology used for benchmarking eGovernment the European Union is examined in detail. All measuring elements, including some that were used for the first time in the most recently published report are evaluated. Having established what eGovernment is, what Benchmarking is and how its methodologies function, Section IV uses the data from the latest European eGovernment Benchmarking Report, which was published in November 2009, to assess how the Greek eGovernment landscape evolved since the previous report in 2007. The results are disappointing. When comparing the 20 Basic eGovernment Services offered in Greece, there was no improvement, what so ever, from 2007 to 2009. Following that, Greek performance in the two new indices introduced in the latest report (EProcurement and User Experience) is reported and compared to the respective EU27+ average. Finally, in Section V, a general overview is provided along with the conclusions about the (lack of) progress in eGovernment in Greece. Scope and aims The scope of this project is to analyze how the meaning of eGovernment has evolved in the past few years and then review the current trends in benchmarking the penetration sophistication of eGovernment services in Europe and the rest of the world. Furthermore, this project reports and analyses the level of eGovernment services offered in Greece. The basic aims of this project are: Define the eGovernment ecosystem, typology and taxonomy. Analyse the dominant methodologies of benchmarking eGovernment services Gather and process existing results about eGovernment in Greece, regarding service penetration and sophistication, along with other relevant metrics. Resources This project relies heavily on research. In particular, a lot of research on what the different and sometimes contradicting terms that define eGovernment as well as the rest of the relevant terms in academic papers throughout the previous decade was made. Following that, further research about the current and past trends in benchmarking in general and eGovernment benchmarking in particular are is conducted. From there on, having established what eGovernment is and what the provided services should be, along with how they are measured, more research was conducted in order to reveal what the actual current level of provided eGovernment services is. To accomplish this, reports from many different parties are used. These include reports published both by well knows analyst firms or government bodies in various levels as well as reports issued at a global level such as the United Nations to local reports issued by the authorities of each country such as the IT Observatory in Greece. Typology Convention Throughout the bibliography, or any other sort of resource for that matter, â€Å"electronic† terms do not have a consistent representation. So, just like electronic mail can be found abbreviated in quite a few forms, â€Å"electronic† Government is abbreviated to eGovernment, e-Government, E-Government etc. To avoid this inconsistency, through this project the term eGovernment will be used (changed to EGovernment only in the beginning of sentences). This convention will apply to â€Å"electronic† terms that will be used such as eGovernance. I. EGovernment, eGovernance and Digital Governance EGovernment is one more of the recent years â€Å"buzzwords†. It is usually either paired with the word â€Å"services† at the end or other words like eGovernance and Digital Government. Like every other (relatively) new and cool â€Å"buzzword† they are used widely by a broad spectrum of individuals who represent mostly two different backgrounds. Information technology and politics. The first because it is a technological issue, the later because they have come to realize, even though a little late, that they represent an excellent vehicle for them to provide a better experience to anyone who interacts with the Government. But, what do these terms mean? Do they collide or conflict each other? How about covering or including one another? A. EGovernment Definitions There is not one, unique and commonly accepted definition for eGovernment. It is quite difficult to decide over a specific one but after the research made, the following definition from the World Bank (ÃŽ  ÃŽâ€˜ÃŽ ¡ÃŽâ€˜ÃŽ  ÃŽÅ¸ÃŽÅ"ÃŽ  ÃŽâ€") describes it best: â€Å"Government refers to the use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. These technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management. The resulting benefits can be less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and/or cost reductions ((AOEMA), 2004). Although other definitions have been provided, this definition is preferred. The reason is that it is the most concise and the easiest to be understood since apart describing in simple words how eGovernment is utilized, it goes on to offer a very brief, yet to the point, reference to its main advantages. EGovernment definitions various other sources as follows:  · United Nations definition ((AOEMA), 2004): â€Å"E-government is defined as utilizing the Internet and the world-wide-web for delivering government information and services to citizens.† * Global Business Dialogue on Electronic Commerce GBDe definition ((AOEMA), 2004): â€Å"Electronic government (hereafter e-Government) refers to a situation in which administrative, legislative and judicial agencies (including both central and local governments) digitize their internal and external operations and utilize networked systems efficiently to realize better quality in the provision of public services.† * Gartner Groups definition: â€Å"the continuous optimization of service delivery, constituency participation, and governance by transforming internal and external relationships through technology, the Internet and new media.† * Definition of the Working Group on eGovernment in the Developing World: E-government is the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to promote more efficient and effective government, facilitate more accessible government services, allow greater public access to information, and make government more accountable to citizens. E-government might involve delivering services via the Internet, telephone, community centers (self-service or facilitated by others), wireless devices or other communications systems.† EGovernment is in the first stages of development. Most governments have already taken or are taking initiatives offering government services online. However, for the true potential of eGovernment to be realized, government needs to restructure and transform its long entrenched business processes. EGovernment is not simply the process of moving existing government functions to an electronic platform. Rather, it calls for rethinking the way government functions are carried out today to improve some processes, to introduce new ones and to replace those that require it. The range of services that may be provided by e-government spans from simple information sites to fully interactive experiences where users and government engage in a dialog mediated by information technology. Internal information systems of Government agencies, information kiosks, automated telephone information services, SMS services and other systems all comprise e-Government services. All these are applications of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) to improve the services of the Government towards its primary clients: the citizens. In the last few years, there has been much talk of mobile government or m-government. MGovernment refers to the use of wireless technologies like cellular/mobile phones, laptops and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) for offering and delivering government services. MGovernment is not a substitute for e-government, rather it complements it. 1. Benefits of eGovernment E-Government initiatives contribute to citizen empowerment by making information about government processes and decisions easily available, and allowing information-sharing among people and organizations, and between citizens and the civil service (Accenture and the Markle Foundation, 2001). Well-informed citizens are better able to hold their governments accountable. Governments are then compelled to improve the quality of services, expand accessibility of these services, and increase responsiveness to their constituents. Many Government services rely on information passed among different offices within a department or across departments. The large amount of information and paperwork required results in an environment where for red tape rips, the workforce is inefficient and bureaucratic, and the delivery of services is ineffective. With the usage of ICT, the government bureaucracy and citizens are both winners in the battle against the paper trail. eGovernment allows government kno wledge and data exchange to be accessed more easily (whether public or secure) by the appropriate offices or individuals. By this, it reduces redundancies of information flows, and resulting in overall increased productivity. Another result of the integration of operations of government agencies is the improvement of transparency in government. EGovernment minimizes redundant information flows, helps to eliminate duplications of functions, and improves the adherence of public servants to proper government procedures, thereby reducing opportunities for corruption. This, provided it is accompanied by well-informed and active citizens, will assist in limiting the relationship between bureaucracy and corruption and will help lead to a higher sense of accountability among officials. B. EGovernment Taxonomy EGovernment can be classified according to different criteria. It can be classified according to its level, its audience and last but certainly not least, according to the delivery mechanism used. 1. Reach EGovernment can be categorized in the following five distinct levels depending on how broad it is. The levels are: * International * National * Regional * State/Provisional * Local These levels are illustrated below (see 1 adapted from Heeks, 2006) 2. Audience The question of where eGovernment originates is pretty much self-explanatory. Nevertheless, the same does not apply when wondering about who is in the receiving end. The answer that first comes to mind is, the citizens. But isnt so. Apart from citizens, there are other entities that are benefited by eGovernment services. According to Backus, â€Å"the three main target groups that can be distinguished in eGovernment concepts are government, citizens and businesses/interest groups. The external strategic objectives focus on citizens and businesses and interest groups, the internal objectives focus on government itself† (Backus, 2001). a) Government to Citizens (G2C) Government to Citizen activities are those in which the government provides, on-line, one-stop access to information and services to citizens. G2C applications allow citizens to ask questions of government agencies and receive answers, such us: * File income taxes * Pay taxes * Arrange driving tests or renew drivers licenses * Pay traffic tickets * Make appointments for vehicle emission inspections and * Change their address In addition, a government could: * Distribute information on the web * Provide downloadable forms online * Conduct training (e.g., in some US States, the classes for the drivers tests are offered online) * Assist citizens in finding employment * Provide touristic and recreational information * Provide health advice about safety issues (e.g. warnings for epidemics like the recent H1N1 virus) * Allow transfer of benefits like food coupons * File natural disaster relief compensation electronically through the use of smart cards; and the list goes on. b) Government to Business (G2B) Government to Business activities refers to those where the government deals with businesses such as suppliers using the Internet and other ICTs. It is a bidirectional interaction and transaction: Government to Business (G2B) and Business to Government (B2G). B2G is about businesses selling products and services to government. The most important G2B areas are eProcurement (which essentially is actually a reverse auction) and the auction of government surpluses. c) Government to Government (G2G) Lastly, Government to Government refers to those activities that take place between different government organizations/agencies/entities. Many of these activities aim to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of overall government operations. One such example is the Intelink, an intranet that carries classified information shared by different U.S. intelligence agencies. 3. Delivery Mechanism EGovernment services are provided not only via the Internet. Instead, many other means are often used. In fact, studies and reports indicate that these â€Å"other† means of eGovernment services provision show in some cases extremely high utilization. For example: * Telephony dominates channel usage in some situations: Accenture (2005) reports 63% of industrialized country respondents contacting government by telephone; compared to 31% using the Internet over a 12-month period. * In-person visits dominate in other situations: an Australian survey reports half of government contacts to be face-to-face compared to one-fifth undertaken via the Internet (AGIMO 2005). * Survey data also reflects an ongoing preference for telephone or in-person channels especially for transactional, problem-solving, urgent and complex interactions (AGIMO 2005, Horrigan 2005). a) Multichannel Examples Some Governments have embraced this reality and adopted a multichannel approach to the services they offer. In its Progress Reports, the European Comission includes some specific examples: * In Malta, citizens can access their personal social security records and payments via the internet, and may also opt to be notified about their social security payments via SMS rather than receiving printed payment advice by post. However, the most innovative initiative is the introduction of eGovernment Agents that act as intermediaries to those without access. (ePractice eGovernment Factsheets Malta, 2009) * In Austria, all websites that belong to the .gv.at domain are available free of charge or connection fees via wireless hotspots (WLAN), and via public kiosks, thanks to an excellent cooperation between the Austrian Government and two major telecommunication providers. Similar to Malta, Austria also has legislation in place allowing officials to act as intermediaries for citizens who do not have online access or a citizen (ePractice eGovernment Factsheets Austria, 2009) * In Spain, 060 is the magic code providing a single access point. Many services provided by different administrations can be accessed via the 060 network, whether they are office-, internet-, or phone-based. Citizens can access the networks 2800 points of presence in the street or their office on the web, by the phone (060) or SMS. The 060 phone number is intended to replace over 1000 phone numbers available for citizens to access information of the General Administration of the State. The network is available 24/7 and currently offers 1225 national, regional and local public services. It is worth noting that In August 2007, only 15 months after its creation, the citizen information phoneline 060 had already dealt with 700000 enquiries. (ePractice eGovernment Factsheets Spain, 2009) C. EGovernance Definitions Just like eGovernment, there is not a single common definition to describe eGovernance. However, the UNESCO defines it best: â€Å"E-governance is the public sectors use of information and communication technologies with the aim of improving information and service delivery, encouraging citizen participation in the decision-making process and making government more accountable, transparent and effective. E-governance involves new styles of leadership, new ways of debating and deciding policy and investment, new ways of accessing education, new ways of listening to citizens and new ways of organizing and delivering information and services. E-governance is generally considered as a wider concept than e-government, since it can bring about a change in the way citizens relate to governments and to each other. E-governance can bring forth new concepts of citizenship, both in terms of citizen needs and responsibilities. Its objective is to engage, enable and empower the citizen.† Other definitions include * â€Å"EGovernance, meaning ‘electronic governance is using information and communication technologies (ICTs) at various levels of the government and the public sector and beyond, for the purpose of enhancing governance.† (Bedi et all, 2001, Holmes , 2001 and Okot-Uma, 2000). * Whereas according to Backus (2001), eGovernance is defined as the, â€Å"application of electronic means in (1) the interaction between government and citizens and government and businesses, as well as (2) in internal government operations to simplify and improve democratic, government and business aspects of Governance.† D. Digital Government The term Digital Governance was introduced more than 7 years ago (McIver Elmargarmid, 2002). Notions such as eGovernment, eGovernance and any future technology of ICT (e.g. Web 2.0 applications), should fall under the Digital Governance umbrella (Schellong, 2009). This term has been preferred by other researchers as well, due to the excessive usage of adding letters like â€Å"e† (electronic), â€Å"m† (mobile), â€Å"u† (ubiquitous) or â€Å"2.0† to government-related terms. Schellong goes further to suggest a specific typology (2008) as illustrated below in 2: EGovernment contains the terms: * EAdministration Internal use of ICT * EServices. External use of ICT * EDemocracy. Use of ICT for direct public participation in government (decision making or voting) EGovernance is a completely different branch and deals with government, society and economy. E. Open Government In the last decade, there have been many efforts to promote eGovernment. A new initiative has emerged though, Open Government, or OpenGov as it is usually abbreviated. OpenGovernment efforts have begun not only in the US but also in other countries, like Greece. Although OpenGovernment and eGovernment have similar characteristics and share common goals, the greatest one being the promotion of transparency, they are not the same. Open Government can be argued to be an evolution of eGovernment (GUSTETIC, 2009), since the only reason that it exists as an initiative today is because of advances made by eGovernment along with various technological improvements and innovations. II. Benchmarking A. Definition Benchmarking is defined as the process of measuring the performance of an organization along with the practices it applies in key areas and subsequently comparing them to other organizations. It is widely accepted in the private sector and is being used as a practical tool in order to achieve positive results with unlimited potential. EGovernment benchmarking means undertaking a review of comparative performance of eGovernment between nations or agencies. These studies have two purposes: * Internal: Benefit the individual and/or organization undertaking the benchmarking study * External: Benefit achieved for users of the study. This project falls into the first category, as described in the Scope and Aims paragraph earlier in the document. B. Goals With new expectations about their performance, government entities are being encouraged to look at ways of implementing changes in their practices. Benchmarking provides them with one of their most useful options. In every industry, there are ways of doing things that are broadly recognized as standard practices for that industry. However, every industry has its leaders. These leaders are organizations that over perform when measured against those standards. They have achieved â€Å"best practices† as demonstrated by their results in quality, cost, customer satisfaction and responsiveness. Benchmarking aims to discover what the â€Å"best practices† are that lead to superior performance. In greater detail, the process of benchmarking e-Government : * Fosters accountability for eGovernment projects. * Helps meeting rising public expectations * Enables government officials to take more informed decisions and corrective actions * Validates the generated public value * Fosters projects interchange Moreover, benchmarking can be distinguished from other traditional forms of evaluation by its attempt to visualize â€Å"best practices† through normalizing comparison and by urging public entities to ask themselves what they can do to promote them. Benchmarking enables and motivates them to determine how well current practices compare to others practices, locate performance gaps, experience best practices in action, and prioritize areas for improvement or other opportunities. It is quite important to note that â€Å"Benchmarking is not the same as benchmarks. Benchmarks are performance measures and benchmarking is the action of conducting the evaluation.† (Yasin, 2002). C. Data Sources After establishing what benchmarking is, the most common data sources are evaluated.. 1. Calculated Indicators Quite a few benchmarking reports use composite indicators, for example, for the purposes of national rankings. Because it is not always clear how they are calculated or researched, composites have been criticized (UIS 2003) for their lack of transparency along for their subjectivity. Fortunately, a guide for good practice in use of composites has been developed (eGEP 2006a:45) and includes: * Developing a theoretical framework for the composite. * Identifying and developing relevant variables. * Standardizing variables to allow comparisons. * Weighting variables and groups of variables. * Conducting sensitivity tests on the robustness of aggregated variables. Other than the composite calculation of national rankings, there seems to be little use of calculated indicators in the benchmarking of e-government. The most commonly used indicators include: * Benefit/Cost Ratio. * Demand/Supply Match. * Comparative Service Development. * National Ranking Some examples along with the methods used for each indicator are illustrated in Table 1below (adapted from Heeks, 2006). Calculated Indicator Example Method Benefit/Cost Ratio Expected financial benefit (impact) / Financial cost (input) (NOIE 2003) Interview (internal self-assessment / internal administrative records) Demand/Supply Match Preference for online channel in particular services versus Online sophistication of that service (Graafland Essers Ettendgui 2003) Mass citizen survey Comparative Service Development Stage model level of citizen services versus business services (Capgemini 2005) Stage model level of different service cluster areas (Capgemini 2005) Third party Web assessment National Ranking Composite of features and stage model level for national websites (West 2005) Composite of ICT and human infrastructure with stage model level for national/other websites (UN 2005) Composite of stage model level, integration and personalization of national websites (Accenture 2005) Third party Web assessment Table 1 Calculated Indicators Used in eGovernment Benchmarking (Heeks, 2006). 2. Standard Public Sector Indicators Apart from calculated indicators, others (Flynn 2002) suggest using a standard indicator set for public sector performance. This set is displayed in Table 2 below (adapted from Flynn 2002). Indicator Explanation eGovernment Example Benchmark Economy The amount of inputs used Expenditure per capita on IT None Internal efficiency The ration of input intermediates Cost per website produced per year Minimization External efficiency The ratio of inputs: outputs (use) Cost per citizen user of government websites per year Minimization Internal effectiveness The fit between actual outputs (use) and organizational objectives or other set targets The extent to which underserved communities are users of e-government services Maximization External effectiveness The fit between actual impacts and organizational objectives or other set targets The extent to which citizens are gaining employment due to use of an eGovernment job search service Maximization Quality The quality of intermediates or, more typically outputs (use) The quality of eGovernent services as perceived by citizen users Maximization Equity The equitability of distribution of outputs and impacts The quality of time/money saved by eGovernment service use between rich and poor Maximization Table 2 Standard Indicators for eGovernment Performance (Flynn 2002) D. Methodologies Having described the methodologies used more commonly when benchmarking eGovernment services, the next step is to illustrate how the necessary data is gathered. There are a number of official methods (eGEP 2006b): * Focus groups * Internal administrative records * Internal self-assessment * Mass user surveys * Official statistics * Pop-up surveys * Third part web assessment * Web metrics and crawlers Each of these methods can be compared in four different and distinct factors (Heeks, 2006). Those are: * Cost: The time and financial cost of the method. * Value: The value of the method in producing data capable of assessing the downstream value of e-government. * Comparability: The ease with which data produced can be compared across nations or agencies. * Data Quality: The level of quality of the methods data. In particular, Heeks suggests using the CARTA (Complete, Accurate, Relevant, Timely, Appropriate) check list when assessing data quality (2006). There is also a set of methodologies that are not used as frequently as the ones mentioned earlier. These are: * Intermediary Surveys. * Intranet Assessment. * Public Domain Statistics. * Public Servant and Politician Surveys. 1. Automation With new eGovernment services being introduced by Governments every day, benchmarking is gradually becoming a more and more important mechanism for identifying best practices and keeping track of developments, but as the number of the offered services increase, data collection becomes more and more difficult. Apart from that, since eGovernment is being expanded to other eGovernment levels, as illustrated earlier in 1, it is only natural that the number of benchmarking studies is increasing fast. Thus, the traditional approach of fata collection has not only become a very challenging but also a very resource intensive task. In order to address this matter, there are projects (eGovMon) which attempt to automate the data collection (Research Council of Norway, 2009). In particular, the eGovMon project is co-funded by the Research Council of Norway and â€Å"is developing methodology and software for quality evaluation of web services, in particular eGovernment services, concerning four areas:†  · Accessibility  · Transparency  · Efficiency  · Impact Additionally eGovMon will provide a policy design tool