Martez Foster Essays - The Great Gatsby, Film,

Martez Foster Dr. Logan ENGWR 303 9 Oct. 2017 The Meeting In the novel The Great Gatsby, you can tell there is a sense of desire by Jay Gatsby set in motion by the beauty of Daisy Buchanan. When they are both together during the whole meeting, you can tell that awkwardness, nervousness and a sign of insecurity are portrayed between the two. All three of those feelings mix ed toge ther with Gatsby and they became the result of the actions he takes throughout the novel. Daisy also had a mixture of these feelings, but she was good at hiding them. In all, the meeting at Nick's home showed how Gatsby and Daisy's real feelings reflected upon each other. Gatsby and Daisy had an uncomfortab le relationship throughout the story, which is very comparable to a high school relationship. Both, Gatsby and Daisy relied on Nick to be sort of a mediator. Nick supplied both of them with reassurance and security, but mainly he did it for Jay Gatsby. Nick had setup a meeting for Gatsby and Daisy to meet each other, after not seeing each other for a while. It was easy to tell that the meeting was going to be filled with quietness and nervousness because Gatsby wanted Nick to be there when Daisy arrived and he wanted him to organize the meeting for them. Nick did not really want to do it but Gatsby begged him over and over again to do it for him. Nick decided that he would do it for Gatsby, so they set the meeting up at Nick's home that day. As they waited for daisy to arrive, Gatsby started to feel a little hesitant so he started thinking about leaving and just calling a quits. Before he could take any actions, Daisy arrived at Nick's home without her husband. The feeling of awkwardness landed upon Gatsby because he knew that Daisy was married but he was so interested in seeing her. What makes it even worse for Gatsby is that he does not know how to handle confrontations very well, which is why he wants Nick there. When Daisy arrived at Nick's home, he introduced her to his living room where Gatsby was nowhere to be found. This is when the awkwardness started to rise between Gatsby and Daisy. Gatsby, nervous, ran around the house to the front door and knocked after he noticed Daisy was already in. He wanted to decrease the level of awkwardness and make it seem more like a natural meeting. You can tell that the meeting between Gatsby and Daisy is very similar to two high school students meeting each other for the first time. Even though there is nervousness already stirred between them, there is also that sense of awkwardness coming along. Nick notices that the awkwardness is not coming from Daisy but from Gatsby himself. Gatsby does not feel awkward because Daisy has arrived and present, he is that way because he feels uneasy to talk to her and look her in the eye. Generally speaking, when two adults tend to have a meeting with each other, a third person seems to be unnecessary for them both. This is why you can compare Gatsby and Daisy's meeting with high school students meeting each other for the first time. "I made an excuse at the first possible moment, and got to my feet." (pg. 87). This statement was proof that there was a sense of awkwardness at the meeting because of the way Gatsby dressed. Gatsby dressed very formal, basically he was dressed to impress, and because the way he dressed that showed a sign of insecurity with himself. "An hour later the front door opened nervously, and Gatsby, in a white flannel suit, silver shirt, and gold-colored tie, hurried in." (pg. 84). When Daisy saw Gatsby, it did not seem like she was nervous or antsy about meeting him. The meeting was set up by Gatsby and Nick, so from Daisy's point of view, it was sort of like a surprise date for her, and she was not expecting to see him at all. When Nick takes them to the living room to meet each

The World Wide Web The WritePass Journal

The World Wide Web   Introduction The World Wide Web   Introduction1.  LDAP SECURITY FEATURES  1.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  ANONYMOUS AUTHENTICATION1.2 BASIC/SIMPLE AUTHENTICATION1.3 SIMPLE AUTHENTICATION AND SECURITY LAYER1.4 AUTHENTICATION OVER TRANSPORT LAYER SECURITY1.5    SECURED SOCKET LAYER SECURITY FEATURE2.   ACCESS CONTROL SECURITY FEATURE OF LDAP.  2.1     SECURITY AUDITING FEATURES FOR LDAP2.2   Ã‚  BRUTE-FORCING IN LDAPCONCLUSIONREFERENCESRelated   Introduction The World Wide Web makes available so much information; only unfortunate is the fact that there were no tools to query such information to its fullest extent. The world needed an acceptable method for searching for and using resources over computer networks. Resources may take the form of computers, businesses, schools and users hence a Directory Access protocol. A directory is a huge collection of well organized and indexed records or specialized databases that are optimized for a direct lookups (Barber B., et al. 2009). Some directories that can be accessed by LDAP server include the Active Directory (AD) and the Domain Name Service (DNS). The Directory services are categorized into two distinct groups; the local service and the global service group The local service has its service on a single machine while the Global service however has its data spread across many machines and provides its service on a bigger and broader scale that is to the World Wide Web. All these directories on the global directory services cooperate to provide the directory service. A typical example of this global service group is the Domain Name Systems. LDAP as an acronym for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is a series of interconnected databases located in different locations on the internet and is an open standard lightweight version of a Directory Access Protocol. It is a protocol that runs over TCP/IP protocol and its data is optimized more for reading than for updating. The way of getting out this structured information from diverse sources in an efficient manner is what LDAP concerns itself about. LDAP is based largely on Directory Access Protocol. The Directory Access Protocol is designed for communication between directory servers and client’s complaint to the x.500 standard. The X.500 standard defines a protocol for a client application to access the X.500 directory. The X.500 directory service is an LDAP-enabled directory service that provides the capability to look up and search for information almost like the yellow pages services (Nancy, C., 2003). DAP is one of the X.500’s directory client access protocols that supports the search and lookup feature of the X.500 but DAP had some performance problems. Some problems of the DAP includes the size. The DAP was very large, complex and difficult to implement (Howes, T., et al, 2003). The LDAP was then introduced as it is faster and simpler without the performance problems DAP posed. The LDAP is based on a client-server model. In this system, there are LDAP servers that host public directory service and the clients that connect to the LDAP servers to search for results. LDAP clients are inbuilt into many address book applications today including some email clients like the Microsoft outlook. The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol employs the following operations. 1. Binding to server 2. Searching for an entry 3. Comparing entries 4. Adding an entry 5. Modifying existing entries 6. Removing an entry Of all the operations LDAP deploys, the binding process is the one that involves authentication and it is here that LDAP security becomes of much value. An LDAP client initiates a connection with the LDAP server by sending a bind operation. This bind request may contain the user authentication information. 1.  LDAP SECURITY FEATURES   This bind feature is captured under the security model of the LDAP models and it provides a mechanism for clients to authenticate themselves before they can access data from the LDAP server (Howes T., Smith, M. 1997). It is commonly done with the use of userID and password logons. The knowledge of these authentication credentials guarantees that the user is indeed genuine since LDAP is a connection-oriented, message based protocol (Carter, D. 2003). The number of times a login attempt can be made is totally configurable. The diagram shown below shows the process of binding to the server in much clearer view. Figure i (Adopted from: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee690469.aspx) The process whereby an LDAP client is authenticated by the LDAP server is known as BINDING(David, N., et al 2001). When a client is successfully authenticated, he is allowed access to the server based on his authentication privileges. T he different kinds of authentication includes Anonymous Authentication Basic Authentication Authentication over Transport Layer Security. Authentication via Secured Socket Layer Simple Authentication and Security Layer Access control List 1.1  Ã‚  Ã‚  ANONYMOUS AUTHENTICATION It is noteworthy to say that the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol supports anonymous access. This means anyone can have access to information provided by the LDAP server for some applications without the need to provide a DN and password. A DN is a unique name for an entry in the LDAP directory services. An LDAP server authenticates a user as anonymous if a bind operation is not sent with an initial bind operation. So, for security reasons, the ldap anonymous authentication should be disabled. An anonymous authentication feature can be disabled with the â€Å"disallow bind_anon† parameter (Carter, G. 2003). Figure ii. Screenshot of an openldap anonymous authentication. 1.2 BASIC/SIMPLE AUTHENTICATION The basic authentication is sometimes referred to as simple authentication method and it is a kind of authentication system used by web browsers like the internet explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape web-browser and some client based application programs to connect to the server. This kind of authentication sends authentication credentials across to the LDAP server in clear text. These credentials usually take the form of a user authentication like the username and password. This type of authentication system is vulnerable to potential exploiters as the unencrypted authentication data is sent in the clear. Figure iii : Screenshot of a basic simple authentication. Obviously, an authentication method that will not permit eavesdropping is required. The developers then chose to incorporate an authentication framework called Simple Authentication and Security Layer – SASL (Howes T. et al, 2003). 1.3 SIMPLE AUTHENTICATION AND SECURITY LAYER The SASL is a powerful means of providing secure communications using Kerberos and a variety of other methods in LDAP v.3 by encrypting the entire data stream between LDAP client and the server (Sheresh B, 2001). The SASL option is needed when a The LDAP server provides a set of supported authentication mechanism and the client decides which of them to   use. It is the mechanism that describes the flow of information that needs to occur to support a particular authentication method. (Howes T et al, 2003). Some of the mechanisms   includes the Challenge-Response Authentication Mechanism Message Digest 5 (CRAM-MD5) This is an algorithm which uses MD5 hash for client authentication, GSSAPI This supports Kerberos authentication, SKEY This employs a Message Digest (MD4) algorithm. Kerberous_v4 which involves a Kerberos encryption algorithm (Anderson R. et al. 2002). With this more secured basic authentication, the message transfer is encrypted all through the server-client data exchange. Microsoft Windows NT LAN Manager (NTLM) The NTLM is simply an authentication protocol like the Kerberos that improves authentication, integrity and confidentiality to users by hardening protocol against many spoofing attack. It is a challenge-response authentication protocol (Lefkovitz W., Wade W., 2001) that ensures that a user is indeed who he says he is by answering correctly the challenge that the LDAP server generates in three steps. * Negotiate_Message * Challenge_Message * Authenticate_Message. 1.4 AUTHENTICATION OVER TRANSPORT LAYER SECURITY   This mode of encryption and authentication is closely related to the SSL, a Secure Socket Layer encrypts the data connection over which a simple password is transmitted. This protects data from packet sniffing by anyone with physical access to the network. SSL uses a certificate-based method for an SSL security to work. Like SSL, TLS also uses a certificate-based method of authenticating users. TLS provides proof of a server identity and protection of data in transit. The Access Control list is also a security feature supported by LDAP and this prevents data from being seen and modified by unwanted people. Figure iii showing TLS 1.5    SECURED SOCKET LAYER SECURITY FEATURE This is an LDAP Administration and security tool developed by Netscape for creating secured connection between a client and server over the internet using port 636. According to Bialaski T et al,(2001), a secured LDAP connection is accomplished from client-side SSL. This mode of authentication is based on issuance of signed digital certificates from trusted authorities. In accordance to Bialaski T.,(2002), the mechanism for identity using SSL is the digital certificate. Figure iv   LDAP client – server binding using SSL (Adopted from: http://sqltech.cl/doc/oas10gR3/core.1013/b25209/ssl_intro.htm). The two aspects of security using SSL are the identification and the encryption 1. Identification. – It checks to make sure that the client is indeed genuine by checking the digital certificates. 2. Encryption. – Encrypts data sent from one the client computer to the server and it is a security tool uses a secured TCP/IP port 636. 2.   ACCESS CONTROL SECURITY FEATURE OF LDAP. An Access Control List is simply a list of permissions attached to an object (Reisman, B. and Ruebush, M., 2004). As the directory gets populated with data of varying importance, controlling the kinds of access to the directory and records in the directory becomes more vital. Permission as to who has a read, write or no access at all is used to grant or refuse a user or group of users (OU) a specific action (Reisman, B. and Ruebush, M. 2004). Each entry in a LDAP directory contains a special set of attributes which describes who is allowed access information within that entry denoted by DN. Distinguished names. The type of access granted a user determines the operations that can be performed. Most LDAP servers provide a set of access levels operations such as:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Add an entry   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Delete and entry   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Access an entry   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Read an attribute   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Modify an attribute   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Search an attribute. An LDIF (Lightweight Directory Interchange Format) is a plain text data interchange format for representing LDAP directory content. It   used mostly to construct a directory information tree, add an entry into the ldap directory, Delete an entry, export a directory and edit a directory (Zytrax, 2008). According to Carter G. (2003), The slapd.conf file is the central source of configuration information for the OpenLDAP standalone server (Slapd) The slapd,conf is the configuration file for slapd which is a stand-alone LDAP daemon that handles the connection management, access control and protocol interpretation. The configuration file is found in the /etc/openldap/slapd.conf. It is screenshot and displayed below. Figure v: Screenshot of anonymous user authentication in slapd.conf file Figure V above allows authenticated users to change their own passwords. Allows un-authenticated users to authenticate and prevents all other access to the user Password and it permits read access to everything else.   2.1     SECURITY AUDITING FEATURES FOR LDAP As a network grows, it experiences a huge flow of user logons and even huge security problems. As an administrator, it is important to monitor the LDAP server activity The directory server comes with three types of log files. Access logs, Error logs and audit logs. ldap logging option in slapd.conf   logs to a slapd-log file when configured. The type of information we require slapd-log to store is defined in the level option in slapd.conf file and it represented by a number which is shown in table 3.1 below.    -1   Log all information 0 No logging 1 Trace function calls 2 Packet-handling debugging 4 Heavy trace debugging 8 Connection management 16 Packets sent and received 32 search filter processing 64 Configuration file processing 256 Statistics of connections 512 Print entry debugging   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Table 3.1 OpenLDAP logging levels Analysing the /var/log/slapd-log file gives a good idea on what kind of entries are being searched as well as the frequency of access on the ldap server. The downside to this is that the logfiles get very bulky with time. 2.2   Ã‚  BRUTE-FORCING IN LDAP According to Radhamani, G. and Radha K. (2007), a brute force attack is a method of defeating an authentication scheme by trying very many possible combinations. The syslog is an essential tool in logging system events. When a user attempts an invalid logon attempt, the event is logged. Bruteforce attack login attempts are no different as they are conspicuous on the syslog file because multiple unsuccessful login attempts will be made.. To decrease the chances of a successful brute force login attack, the following steps should be taken. Length of authentication characters should be increased. : The user authentication credentials should be made more complex. The higher the number of characters in The I.P address from which the brute forcing is done be locked out after a certain period of attempts. Delay timing is implemented in between failed authentication attempts.    CONCLUSION A directory, being a collection of well organized and indexed records optimized for direct lookups (Barber, B. et al. 2009) are very essential to our everyday information sourcing. It therefore requires that the records in this directory be secured. The following options list methods that can be employed for these records to be secured. Ensuring a secured communication between the LDAP client and server to checkmate sniffing. Access control listing must be configured properly and double checked for complexities in its setup that may lead to a loophole in ldap security. Login activities must be logged. Once these security features are put in place, the world of a more structured information sourcing would be a better place. REFERENCES Ambro D., Tittel E (2003); Solaris 9 system administrator certification. Anderson, R. and Johnston, A. (2002); UNIX unleashed Sams publishing Barber, B., Happel, C., Terrence, V. and Speake, G. (2009) CompTia Linux+ Certification study guide: Exam XK0-003.UK: Elsevier Inc. Bialaski, T. and Haines, M. (2001); Solaris and LDAP naming services: Deploying LDAP in the enterprise. USA: Carter, G. (2003) LDAP System Administration. O’Reilly Media, Inc., USA. David N. Blank-Edelman (2009) Automating system administration with perl. USA: O’Reilly Media, Inc., Howes, T., Smith, M. and Gordon S.(2003) Understanding and deploying LDAP directory services Addison-Wesley Howers, T. and Smith, M.; (1997) LDAP: Programming directory-enabled applications with lightweight directory access protocol; Sams Publishing. Lefkovitz, W. and Wade, W. (2001) Configuring Exchange 2000 server. USA: Syngress publishing. Inc, Nancy, C. (2003). Directory services: design, implementation, and management. USA: Butterworth-Heinemann. Radhamani, G. and Rao. R.K.(2007); Web services security and e-business. USA: Idea Group Inc. Reisman, B. and Ruebush, M. (2004) MCSE: windows sever 2003 network security design, USA: John Wiley and Sons, Sheresh B, Sheresh D.(2001); Understanding directory services Sams Publishing, Zytrax (2008); Chapter 8. LDAP LDIF and DSML, (Online)Accessed:23rd March 2011

The effect of economic crisis to the marketing strategy of Volkswagen Literature review - 3

The effect of economic crisis to the marketing strategy of Volkswagen in Asian market. The case of Vietnam - Literature review Example In addition to that, the report will also provide some recommendation regarding how the company can deal with the issue. According to Dicken (2007), the automobile industry is adjudged to be one of the most globalised industrial sectors in the world. Similarly, in Vietnam automobile sector is a booming. The major automobile companies operating in the market of Vietnam are Daewoo, Daihatsu, Ford/Mazda, Daimler Benz, Hino Motors, Isuzu, Mekong, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota, Truong Hai and Volkswagen (Ohno and Cuong, 2004). These companies manufacture car of different shapes, sizes, designs and categories (Sturgeon, 1998). According to reports, Truong Hai is the market leader in the automobile sector of Vietnam with a market share of 28.9 %. Next to Truong Hai, Toyota holds 27 % of the market share. The report also pointed out that the overall sales of cars in Vietnam fell by 2 % in the year 2011 thereby reflecting a falling demand of vehicles (ResearchAndMarkets, 2012). In addition to this, due to the Thai flooding the manufacturing process had been also disrupted. Apart from the natural calamities, one o f the major reasons of reducing demand of commercial cars in Vietnam is the global economic crisis. As a result, companies are forced to cut down their operating cost and create a balance between the net income and net cost. Similarly, in case of Volkswagen, the demand of their cars in Vietnam has also reduced substantially. Due to the reducing demand for their cars, the company also reduced the costs pertaining to various operations. Moreover, the global economic downturn also had a substantial impact in the marketing strategy of the company (Volkswagen: Annual Report, 2011). Now in order to uncover, how and in what ways the economic downturn has affected the company, a primary research has been carried out. The findings from the study are presented below. The first research question of the study is related to the

Temporary agencies in organisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Temporary agencies in organisation - Essay Example Generally, client organizations divide its workforce between core and peripherals. Core workforces are derived within the organization, while peripherals are obtained outside the organization. Literature indicates those firms are responsible in making the decision on the jobs that should be retained for the permanent employees and tasks to outsource (Booth, Francesconi and Frank, 2002). Outsourced tasks require less organizations skills and knowledge such as routine. Based on this model, firms distinguish core labour in order to reduce turnover of skilled workers. In other words, the addition of the temporary agency staff in a firm helps to make quicker adjustments of the number of staffs when need arises. Therefore, during economic contraction, firms hire the temporary agency workers. The firm will no longer have the need to sack the permanent members of the workforce (Forde, 2000). In addition, the firm may opt to use temporary staffing agencies to reduce the increasing labour costs. Research indicates that most temporary agency workers receive less pay compared to the permanent members of the workforce (Booth, Francesconi and Frank, 2002). However, this may differ between the bottom and top end of the labour market. In addition, firms are able to reduce operation costs by reducing liabilities such as holiday pay sick pay and maternity cover, although this may differ in various countries. In some countries, the temporary agency workers are entitled for payments. Moreover, the use of the temporary agency workers reduces the fixed cost of hiring permanent staffs. Outsourcing some functions allows a firm to reduce their non-core proficiencies. Therefore, the firm has more time to focus on its main functions. The client organizations get opportunity for screening the temporary workers for potential permanent employees at low cost. Hiring core workforce from a pool of temporary staff can be

The Salomon Vs A Salomon Company Limited Case Essay

The Salomon Vs A Salomon Company Limited Case - Essay Example The irony is that just after the incorporation of business into the private limited company, an array of strikes started in the shoe making industry thus compelled the government to diversify its orders to other contractors in order to ensure uninterrupted supply of boots and shoes to the government. To meet the financial losses and to rehabilitate the company back to business borrowed pounds 5,000 from Mr. Edmund Broderip (Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd). Alternatively, the company assigned debentures of the same amount. The loan was acquired on a nominal interest against mortgage of property of the business entity (French, 2009). The losses of the company come to such an impasse that it was not in a position even to pay off the interest amount. Keeping in view the situation, the said creditor sued the company to foreclose the assets of the company. The company went into liquidation (French, 2009). The creditor got back his money from the liquidator. Mr. Salomon received back his secu rity which was held by the liquidator (Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd). Later on, the liquidator and Mr. Salomon as defendant counter claimed since debentures become ineffective as a result of the fraudulent transaction. Therefore, liquidator pleaded for all the money back that was invested in the business of Private Limited Company since its formation, revalidation of business contract with the government, call back the payable amount plus void of debentures (Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd).... Edmund Broderip (Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd). Alternatively, the company assigned debentures of the same amount. The loan was acquired on a nominal interest against mortgage of property of the business entity (French, 2009). The losses of the company come to such an impasse that it was not in a position even to pay off the interest amount. Keeping in view the situation, the said creditor sued the company to foreclose the assets of the company. The company went into liquidation (French, 2009). The creditor got back his money from liquidator. Mr. Salomon received back his security which was held by the liquidator (Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd). Later on the liquidator and Mr. Salomon as defendant counter claimed since debentures become ineffective as a result of fraudulent transaction. Therefore, liquidator pleaded for all the money back that was invested in the business of Private Limited Company since its formation, revalidation of business contract with the government, call back t he payable amount plus void of debentures (Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd). Initially the High Court accepted the claim of Mr. Edmund Broderip. According to Justice Williams â€Å"it was undisputed that 20,000 shares were fully paid up and the company had a right to indemnity against Mr. Salomon. He said the signatories of the memorandum were mere dummies; the company was just Mr. Salomon in another form, an alias, his agent. Therefore, it was entitled to indemnity from the principal.† The claim was materialized accordingly (Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd). While confirming the decisions of Justice Williams on the grounds that Mr. Salomon had misused the authority, responsibility, perks that bestowed upon the genuine shareholders and

Different Types Of Retaining Wall Systems Available Construction Essay

Different Types Of Retaining Wall Systems Available Construction Essay As a Construction Management Consultant of I-Consult Ltd appointed by I- Build Sdn Bhd, I am required to propose different types of retaining wall system available. My proposal focuses on the site investigation, importance of retaining wall, construction methods, design concepts and preventive measures to mitigate functional failures. I am required to propose an appropriate selection of the most suitable retaining wall system used to the Board of Directors, in which the project is located at hilly area which consists of 20 units of luxury bungalows. In this proposal, I am going to discuss: the importance of site investigation, the importance of retaining wall, the concept of retaining wall, types of retaining wall the most suitable retaining wall for this hilly project. The Importance of Site investigation Every man-made civil engineering structure is found on, in or with ground. The structure we put on the ground is man-made. We can control to design every item that goes into our structure, such as concrete, reinforcement, bricks and even the last wall plug. However, the ground below on which this structure will stand is not man-made. We usually have less knowledge about it and we undoubtedly cannot design or control its behavior. The ground below will determine the economies of how tall, how heavy, how safe the final structure is going to be and not the other way round. In short, the safety and economics of every civil engineering structure is influenced by the properties of the ground on which this structure will stand. These properties of the ground below or sub-soil properties are obtained via Site Investigation. In any site investigation work, the questions which should be resolved in determining the investigation program are: What type of investigation is needed, Why they are needed, Where the actual field works should be performed, How the work is to be done. Whether the investigation is sufficient or too much. Site investigation is normally crucial and carried out prior to the commencement of design of a construction project. Site investigation has been defined as investigation of the physical characteristics of the site and includes documentary studies, site surveys and ground investigation. It is also refers to the actual surface or subsurface investigation, including on site and laboratory tests. In broad sense, study of the site history and environment, interpretation and analyses of all available data, and making recommendations on the favorable/unfavorable locations, economic and safe design, and prediction of potential risks should also be included in site investigations. First and foremost, a desk study to reveal data which may already exist concerning the site, its geology and history, together with a site reconnaissance, is invaluable and can be done before purchase at minimal cost. This may be followed by trial pitting, probing or boring as appropriate to the conditions revealed by preceding studies and in the light of the development proposals. It is also a precaution to minimize damage that could be caused by these soils could also be communicated at this stage. At least home dwellers would be alerted to potential problems (and the associated costs) from the outset, thus enabling them to make informed decisions regarding the most appropriate foundation system for their homes. Site investigation is designed to identify the characteristics of soils or fill materials which lie beneath the site, the groundwater conditions and the existence and extent of other physical features or contaminants which may be present. This information influences the selection and design of an appropriate structural form for the proposed building. It is a process which should continue on an iterative basis throughout the design and construction phases. Post-construction monitoring can also be of importance in many instances as part of a validation process. The combined building loads indicated in figure 1 must be safely supported by the subsoil and also ensure that unreasonable movements of the building do not occur. If the supporting soil is sufficient resistant and its characteristics under load are likely to remain satisfactory, the problems of support and movement will be easily resolved. However, few soils other than rock can resist these concentrated loads and it is usually necessary to collect the resolved loads at their lowest point and transfer them to adequate bearing soil known to be available on a particular site (figure 2). Figure 1: Combined building loads Figure 2: Method of transferring combined building loads to supporting soil. The general distribution of soil types in the United Kingdom is indicated in figure 3; the soils include peat, clay, slit, sand and gravel. Corresponding safe bearing pressures are also given. Figure 3: simplified distribution of various types of supporting soils Lastly, site investigation should be undertaken by professional specialists, such as surveyors, geotechnical engineer and ground investigation contractor, and in a phased manner. The ground investigation contractor is responsible for providing reliable factual data. The geotechnical consultant should responsible for the planning execution of the investigation program, interpretation and analyses of results, and making appropriate design recommendations to avoid over design as well as unsafe design. Failure of Site Investigation Due to lack of or inadequacy of guide/code requirement regarding the extent as well as quality of site investigation work, geotechnical failures often occurred. These failures sometime led to catastrophic disaster and imposed serious threat to public safety. For the Highland Incident in Kuala Lumpur in 1993, the Architect appointed qualified civil engineer to be the consulting engineer for Highland Towers. Initially, civil engineers scope of works was restricted to the structural aspect of the three blocks. But subsequently, the civil engineer was engaged by the developer to submit proposals over the drainage of the area. His drainage plan was approved. He was also retained by the developer to design and supervise the construction of two retaining walls on the Highland Towers site. The Plaintiffs claimed that the civil engineer was negligent for the following reasons: (i) Designing unsuitable foundations; (ii) Lack of care and concern of the hill and slope; (iii) Issuing a notice to the authorities confirming the drainage works was completed when only a fraction of it was done. By the above acts of preparing, designing and supervising the construction of Highland Towers and the drainage system of the Highland Towers site, he was negligent and had caused nuisance to them. The civil engineer had used rail piles welded together as foundation to support the three apartment blocks. This type of piles, which was considered inferior to concrete piles, was accepted in the engineering and building industry to support high-rise buildings at the material time. Thus, no fault can be attributed to the civil engineer in using the rail piles as he was only adhering to the accepted professional practice at that time. However, there was lack of consideration by the civil engineer to the hill and the slope directly behind the three blocks. The court ruled that the civil engineer should have reasonably foreseen the danger of a landslide producing a lateral load against the foundation of the building. For this, he should have exercised care to either design or construct a foun dation to accommodate the lateral load or ensure that the slope was reasonably stable. Failure to do so is a breach of his duty of care he owes to the Plaintiffs since his duty was to ensure the safety of the buildings he designed and built. The civil engineers attempt to deny liability on the ground that he relied on the developer to ensure that other retaining walls were constructed properly was unsuccessful. The judge found that it was incumbent upon the civil engineer to enquire and ascertain whether the work was that of a qualified professional and what its impact might be on the safety of his own building. Figure 4: Highland Incident in Kuala Lumpur in 1993 What is Retaining Wall? A retaining wall is a stabilizing structure designed and constructed to retain soil at a slope that is greater than it would naturally assume, usually at a vertical or near-vertical position. Besides, the retaining wall used to prevent the erosion and the movement of soil. The function of retaining wall is to resist the lateral pressure of soil when there is a desired change in ground elevation that exceeds the natural slope taken by the soil which is called the angle of repose of the soil. The retaining wall is the wedge of soil resting on this upper plane of the angle of repose that a retaining wall has to support. It is also designed with weep holes which allow collected water to escape. This releases the additional pressure created by a accumulated water and helps in stabilizing the retaining wall. The walls are designed to offer the necessary resistance by using their own mass to resist the thrust or relying upon the principles of leverage. The terminology used in retaining wall construction is shown on figure 5: Figure 5: Terminology of Retaining Wall Constructing a retaining wall, several types of materials can be used. Stone and concrete are the most common materials used in constructing a retaining wall. Besides, there are also special retaining wall blocks crafted from aggregate materials and light concrete which are designed for this purpose. Because each block fits securely with the next, some styles interconnect, making building simpler, less costly and time required. These blocks do not require the addition of mortar due to the fit of these blocks is secure. A retaining wall can be tiers or a series of steps, which allow more efficient erosion control as well as a more sophisticated design. Different types of plantings, flowers or materials in each tier can be included in the design to bring more color, texture and interest to the area. By breaking down the amount of soil and pressure, a tiered design also give a better erosion control held by each division of the retaining wall instead of adding the aesthetic value. Today, there are several styles and types of retaining wall blocks, and most people choose preformed blocks. Unlike today, large stones and railroad ties were often used to construct a tiered retaining wall in the past. Performed blocks are affordable and user- friendly, making other methods out of date at all, except the look of rough stone or wood is preferred. The Concept of Retaining Wall DESIGN PRINCIPLES The design of any retaining wall is basically concerned with the lateral pressures of the retained soil and any subsoil water. The purposes to construct a retaining wall are shown as below: It is difficult to precisely identify the properties of any soil because they are inconsistent materials. The calculation of pressure exerted at any point on the wall is a task for the expert, who must take into account the following factors: Nature and type of soil; Height of water table; Subsoil water movements; Type of wall; Materials used in the construction of the wall. Design calculations related to the resultant thrust of retained material behind a 1m length of wall. There are two well-established methods can be used to determine the resultant thrust: Rankines formula; Coulombs graphical representation or wedge theory. EARTH PRESSURES The designer is mainly concerned with the effect of two forms of earth pressure: ACTIVE EARTH PRESSURE are those that tend to move or overturn the retaining wall, and are composed of the earth wedge being retained together with any hydrostatic pressure caused by the presence of groundwater. The latter can be reduced by the use of subsoil drainage behind the wall, or by inserting drainage openings called weep holes through the thickness of the stem, enabling the water to drain away. PASSIVE EARTH RESISTANCES are reactionary pressures that will react in the form of a resistance to movement of the wall. If the wall tends to move forward, the earth in front of the toe to counteract the forward movement. This pressure can be increased by enlarging the depth of the toe or by forming a rib on the underside of the base. Active earth pressures must equal to passive earth resistances in order to avoid overturning and circular slip. Typical examples of these pressures are shown in figure 6 and figure 7. Figure 6: Active and Passive Earth Pressures act on Mass Retaining Wall Figure 7: Active and Passive Earth Pressures act on Cantilever Retaining Wall STABILITY The overall stability of a retaining wall is governed by the result of the action and reaction of a number of loads: EFFECT OF WATER The design and stability can be affected by ground water behind a retaining wall whether static or percolating through subsoil. The pressure on the back of the wall will be increased. By reducing the soil shear strength, the bearing capacity of the soil can be reduced; it can reduce the frictional resistance between the base and the soil and reduce possible passive pressure in front of the wall. As a result, the issue of drainage of the water behind the retaining wall is the utmost important in the design. SLIP CIRCLE FAILURE Slip circle failure (shown in figure 8) is sometimes encountered with retaining wall in clay soils, particularly where there is a heavy surcharge of retained material. It takes the form of a rotational movement of the soil and wall along a circular arc. The arc commences behind the wall and passes under the base, resulting in a tilting and forward movement of the wall. Further movement can be prevented by driving sheet piles into ground in front of the toe, to a depth that will cut the slip circles arc. Moment due to weight of retained earth and wall above slip circle arc about O is greater than restoring moment RM. RM=permissible shear stress x length of arc ABC x arc radius OC Result: mass above ABC rotates about O. Wall tilts forward and earth heaves in front. Figure 8: Retaining wall failure due to rotational movement. The Importance of a Retaining Wall A retaining wall might be built on property for various reasons. Some level of dirt and soil will be held away from home, garden, pool or play area by building a retaining wall. The sheer aesthetics might also be added on it. A more usable land will be provided if there have a lot of rolling and slopping yard. The importance of retaining wall is stated as below: Retaining Walls Hold Back the Earth Buildings might be built on a hill or in a valley between several hills. Retaining wall will hold back the earth once the hillside has been dug out to construct buildings. Dirt does back in from the sides of the wall with each shovel full. The more you shovel, the dirt begins to fall back in. the sides are loose and weak, so they will crumble at the slightest provocation. The dirt which remains has to discharge when the side of a hill is dug out. If left alone, it will eventually comes tumbling down. The dirt will be held back and the safety will be ensured. Retaining Walls Provide More Usable Land A walk-out basement, patio, playground, garden, tennis court or swimming pool might be installed into proposed development. If the land is rolling or hilly, work cannot be begun until the ground is leveled off. A sort of cliff, where a part of the proposed land which is not dug out is higher than the lower flat land, will then be left out. Adding a retaining wall will have more usable land as well as will add structure and beauty to your new area. Retaining wall can be used as steps into the pool where pool equipments to be held. Retaining Walls Avoid the Ground from Washing Away If the area gets a lot of rainfall or near water such as lake, a retaining wall will keep the water from eroding the soil of your landscaping and around your foundation. This could be a safety measure to prevent landslides and river of dirt from floating towards the buildings. Types of Wall Mass retaining walls Mass retaining walls also known as gravity walls. They rely upon their own mass together with the friction on the underside of the base to overcome the tendency to slide or overturn. They are generally economic only up to a height of 1.800m. Mass walls can be constructed of semi-engineering quality bricks bedded in a 1:3 cement mortar or of mass concrete. Mass concrete could have some light fabric reinforcement to control surface cracking. Natural stone is suitable for small walls up to 1.000m high, but generally it is used as a facing material for walls up to 1.000m high, but generally it is used as a facing material for wall over 1.000m. Typical examples of mass retaining walls are shown in figure 9 and 10: Figure 9: Brick Mass Retaining Walls Figure 10: Mass Concrete Retaining Wall with Stone Facings Cantilever walls Cantilever walls are usually of reinforced concrete, and work on the principles of leverage. Two basic forms can be considered: a base with a large heel so that the mass of the wall with a large toe (figure 10). The figure shows typical sections and patterns of reinforcement encountered with these basic forms of cantilever retaining wall. The main steel occurs on the tension face of the wall, and nominal steel (0.15% of the cross-sectional area of the wall) is very often included in the opposite face to control the shrinkage cracking that occurs in in-situ concrete work. Reinforcement requirements, bending, fabricating and placing are dealt with in detail in the section on the reinforced concrete. Reinforced cantilever walls have an economic height range of 1.200-6.000m. Walls in excess of this height have been economically constructed using prestressing techniques. Any durable facing material may be applied to the surface to improve the appearance of the wall, but it must be remembered that such finishes are decorative and add nothing to the structural strength of the wall. Figure 10: Reinforced Concrete Cantilever Retaining Walls Counterfort Retaining Walls These walls can be constructed of reinforced or prestressed concrete, and are considered suitable if the height is over 4.500m. The counterforts are triangular beams placed at suitable centres behind the stem and above the base to enable the stem and base to act as slabs spanning horizontally over or under the counterforts. Figure 11 and figure 12 show a typical section and pattern of reinforcement for a counterofrt retaining wall. If the counterforts are placed on the face of the stem they are termed buttresses, and the whole arrangement is called a buttress-retaining wall. The design and construction principles are similar in the two formats. Figure 11: Reinforced Concrete Counterfort Retaining Wall Figure 12: Reinforced Concrete Counterfort Retaining Wall Reinforced masonry retaining walls Steel reinforcement may be used in brick retaining walls to resist tensile forces and to prevent the effects of shear. A brick bonding arrangement known as Quetta bond is used to create a uniform distribution of vertical voids. Vertical steel reinforcement is tied to the foundation reinforcement and spaced to coincide with purpose-made voids. The voids are filled with concrete to produce a series of reinforced concrete mini-columns within the wall when the brickwork is completed. Where appearance is not important, or the wall is to receive a surface treatment, reinforcement and in-situ concrete within hollow concrete block work provide for economical and functional construction. Figure 13 shows the application of standard-profile, hollow, dense concrete blocks lay in stretcher bond as permanent formwork to continuous vertical columns. Figure 13: Reinforced Concrete Block Retaining Wall The height potential and slenderness ratio (effective height to width) for reinforced masonry walls can be enhanced by post-tensioning the structure. For purposes of brick walls there are a number of construction options, including: Quetta bond with steel bars concrete in the voids; Stretcher-bonded wide cavity with reinforced steel bars coated for corrosion protection; Solid wall of perforated bricks with continuous voids containing grouted steel reinforcement bars. Some examples are shown in figure 14: Figure 14: Post-tensioned Brick Retaining Walls Conclusion Based on discussion shown on above, I would like to select Cantilever retaining wall as the most suitable retaining wall for the project where is located at hilly area which consists of 20 units of luxury bungalows. As shown as above, a cantilever retaining wall is a form of masonry installation that holds a large amount of earth in place. The cantilever design is just one of several variations on a retaining wall design, using various principles to manage earth loads. Cantilever retaining wall has an economic height range of 1.200-6.000m. This type of retaining wall is suitable for bungalows because the height is sufficient to support the bungalows. A concrete cantilever retaining wall uses a relatively thin stem of steel-reinforced, cast-in-place, concrete or mortared masonry. In a cantilever retaining wall design, an earth pressure vector acts horizontally against the side of the wall. The bottom part of the wall presents a gravity vector downward. That gravity vector produces an opposite force upward. The resulting vector counters the earth pressure vector, and pushes back against the earth load. This type of retaining wall is more stable compared to the other three types which stated on above in order to build 20 units of luxury bungalows because the loads are distributed equally. Retaining wall design is evaluated to moderate the effects of a landslide. Retaining walls can be helpful in protecting soil against the kinds of movement associated with these natural disasters. Looking at landslide risk and the risk of liquefaction, the water saturation of earth, is part of assessing how a retaining wall works. Cantilever retaining wall is one that consists of a uniform thickness wall which is tied to a footing. It located at the basement of bungalows. Thus, cantilever retaining wall will hold back the earth. Soil erosion, landslides and environment disasters are less likely to be occurred. In other words, cracking and collapse of 20 units of luxury bungalows are avoided. Weep holes are designed in the cantilever retaining wall to release the additional pressure created by a accumulated water and helps in stabilizing the retaining wall. This ensures the building will not collapse due to the fast flow of water on the hill. In conclusion, a suitable retaining wall is able to stabilize the soil and avoid overturning and sliding of building. Beside, a suitable retaining wall can also help in saving the construction cost. Therefore, cantilever retaining wall is the most suitable retaining wall for 20 units of luxury bungalows which are located on the hilly area.

The film Stigmata & the Challenge of Conceptualizing Women as Spiritual Agents :: Free Essays Online

The film Stigmata & the Challenge of Conceptualizing Women as Spiritual Agents The history of Western religion has, for the most part been a history of men's religious stories, practices, and writings. It is quite rare and exceptional to find accounts of religion or practicing groups that place women's experiences at the center. Books, films, and various other cultural products bear this out by demonstrating a stubborn lack of attention to women's religious experiences. At first glance, the movie Stigmata seems like a film that defies this generalization. The movie, starring Patricia Arquette, places a female protagonist and her mystical experiences with Christ at the center of the plot. The woman is modeled after a great figure in the Catholic tradition, St. Francis, and hers is seemingly the story around which the entire movie is structured. Though this apparently unusual use of a woman's direct experience with God seems on an immediate level to be very transgressive, however, the film ends up being even more hegemonic, in a sense because of the way in which it subtly reinforces normative notions of the male-centeredness of supernatural experiences of God in the Catholic tradition. In this paper I will look at how Stigmata represents sex and gender roles in the Catholic church and in secular America and of how it uses women's sexuality and assumptions about women's lack of spiritual agency to ultimately undermine the legitimacy of authentic feminine experience with the Christian God. I will argue that the movie's emphasis on very structuralist notions of good and evil, man and woman, pure and impure, inevitably sets up a system in which a female's religious authority will be lost. A patriarchal tradition, as the Catholic church most certainly represents, must always scramble to accommodate the abnormality of a woman experiencing a direct link with God. The unwillingness to imagine a situation in which a character like that of Patricia Arquette's character, Frankie, would have a legitimate direct experience with God is a common one throughout the Western (and Western-occupied) world. The emphasis on only granting legitimacy to the written word in the Western rel igious tradition has always created an environment of hostility to women's non-discursive religious experiences. This paper will also look at how the religious conflicts between the Western patriarchal tradition and female members of a non-Western religious tradition (specifically a group of Ngarrindjeri women) have unfolded and at how such conflicts are similar to the conflict that is represented between Frankie and the priests who would control her in Stigmata.

The Business of Facebook

The business model of any organization is very important in helping a business become successful or unsuccessful. They help guide the leaders in the company to reach the goals and purpose of their organization. In recent news, the business model of Backbone has been under a large amount of scrutiny.I will be analyzing the business model of Backbone using the definition of business model from the textbook which states â€Å"A business model defines how an organization interacts with its environment to define a unique strategy, attract the resources and build the abilities required to execute the strategy, and create value for all stakeholders† (Applegate, Austin & Souls, 2009). STRATEGY There are four key dimensions to strategy: market positioning, product positioning, business networking positioning, and boundary positioning.These four dimensions combined help an organization develop a strategy which by definition of the textbook is the series of choices that determine the opp ortunities you pursue and the market potential of those opportunities (Applegate, Austin & Souls, 2009). In order to analyze the business strategy of an organization you must first determine what kind f business it is (Applegate, Austin & Souls, 2009). In E. B.Body's (2012) article â€Å"What is Passbooks Business† she states â€Å"[Backbone] creates a place for people to hang out and upload photos or pithy notes on what they are doing right that second, and then it posts advertising along the side of that status update highway. † Backbone services 845 million members all over the world, excluding China where Backbone has been blocked by the Chinese government. In December of 2011 Backbone averaged a total of 483 million daily active users worldwide (Form S-l, 2012).For a company such as Backbone, marketing position is very important. Market positioning determines the selection of customers that a business decides to serve (Applegate, Austin ; Souls, 2009). One of Pass books ten main principles is â€Å"One World† which states â€Å"The Backbone Service should transcend geographic and national boundaries and be available to everyone in the world (backbone. Com, 2012). Passbooks customer base is two-sided. They have the 845 million individuals that have profiles on the site and then they have the companies that advertise.Considering the fact that Backbone already has 845 million users and there are only seven billion people on the earth, here is not much room for Backbone to grow their consumer base. With China off significant growth in the user base of Backbone is very unlikely (Boyd, 2012). The other side to Passbooks customer base is the companies that purchase advertising on Backbone. Jonathan Blue (2012) states, â€Å"Any business would be foolish not to consider Backbone as an ongoing marketing option. † According to Blue, Passbooks advertising costs are incredibly cheap.For a monthly fee advertisers can run ads and in return t hey receive a report on viewer's impressions and click-through (Blue, 2012). In 2011 Backbone brought in $3. Billion in revenues from advertising alone. This accounts for eighty-five percent of their revenues. Backbone receives revenues from advertisers with many different objectives ranging from long-term brand awareness to stimulating an immediate purchase (Form S-l, 2012). The advertising on Backbone is based on the likes that users have on their accounts.Advertisers can decide what type of audience they think would be interested in their product, then Backbone displays adds on the sides of people's news feeds based on their likes and preferences (Blue, 2012). Product positioning is the choice of products and services hat a company offers. It includes the features of these products and the price at which they will be offered. Backbone offers a variety of product including pages, profiles, ads and sponsored stories and platforms (backbone. Com, 2012). Different sides of their cust omer base use different products that Backbone has to offer.Although the majority of Passbooks revenues come from advertising, they also receive income through other platforms where users purchase virtual and digital goods (Form S-l, 2012). The majority of the payments that Backbone receives from third-party applications come from Zingy, a social network gaming company (Boyd, 012). Business networking is the role that an organization plays and the activities it performs within an extended network of suppliers, producers, distributors and partners. Over the years Backbone has partnered with many different companies in order to offer more to its users and make it become more enticing to use.Backbone has formed partnership with many companies such as Microsoft, Cell Partners, Digital Sky Technologies and more. Boundary positioning is when an organization determines the markets and products that they will not pursue. Backbone has not specified any specific market that it has not decided to pursue. The founder, Mark Seersucker even traveled to China to speak with some of China's top technology executives in hopes of them removing the ban that had been placed on the use of Backbone in China. In 2009 the number of Backbone users in China plummeted from one million to 14,000 due to the ban.While user numbers in China have slightly risen, many users are still blocked from accessing the site (Chaos, 2010). CAPABILITIES Capabilities help a company implement their business strategy while paving the way for future growth. It also helps a business see what resources are necessary in order o successfully execute their strategy (Applegate, Austin, Souls, 2009). In order to service its consumers, Backbone has created an intricate infrastructure, including custom-built servers, racks and UPS units.In an article by Rich Miller, the CEO of Backbone, Mark Seersucker is quoted saying, â€Å"Being able to design more efficient servers†¦ Is a big part of enabling us to build th e features we add† (2011). When Backbone has not released a definite number of servers that it runs off of, it is believed that by 2009 the company was running at least 60,000 servers in its data centers (Miller, 2010). We can conclude that since Backbone has began to design more efficient servers, that they have the resources and technology needed to support their user base.As the number of users increases, Backbone increases the number of servers and data centers so that their consumers can receive the best in class. The Backbone team is also comprised of very well educated people, who have the expertise needed in order to run and continue to improve the operations of Backbone. In my research of the company I did not run into anything that made me believe that the employees of Backbone were not fully qualified and competent in order to run the business. I also believe that the company has strong leadership and is comprised of people who are committed to making Backbone succe ssful.Mark Seersucker is very involved in all aspects of the company. VALUE The majority of Passbooks stockholders are internal stockholders. Mark Seersucker, the CEO and founder of Backbone, owns twenty-four percent of the shares of Backbone. Some of the other leading stockholders include Cell Partners, Digital Sky Technologies, Microsoft, and co-founder Dustin Muscovite as well as many more (Carlson, 2010). Backbone has made recent headlines when GM decided to withdraw TTS $10 million contract with Backbone for advertising (Junk, 2012). This raised a very important question for many investors.Will Backbone be able to attract and retain key customers? The majority of Passbooks revenue is generated through advertising and in their S-l that was filed in January of this year Backbone warns investors that there is a high degree of risk that is involved in investing in Backbone. In order for Backbone to continue generating revenues, it will need to continue selling advertisement. While these revenues from advertising are purchased by business OTOH big and small, the success of Backbone selling advertising relies largely on the individuals that have profiles on Backbone.In their S-l Backbone states â€Å"If we fail to retain existing users or add new users, or if our users decrease their level of engagement with Backbone, our revenue , financial results and business maybe significantly harmed† (2012). One of the biggest marketing factors that Backbone has in selling advertisers is that a company who purchases advertising on Backbone could potentially reach the more than 800 million monthly active users on Backbone. This is also the downfall of advertising on Backbone. If the number of users decreases or people become less active, then that is less people that the advertising is reaching.

DESCRIBE, DEMONSTRATE AND ANALYSE HOW LISTENING Essays

DESCRIBE, DEMONSTRATE AND ANALYSE HOW LISTENING Essays DESCRIBE, DEMONSTRATE AND ANALYSE HOW LISTENING Essay DESCRIBE, DEMONSTRATE AND ANALYSE HOW LISTENING Essay DESCRIBE, DEMONSTRATE AND ANALYSE HOW LISTENING SKILLS ARE CENTRAL TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE. Listening accomplishments are of critical importance for effectual communicating in societal work pattern. Without these accomplishments, a societal worker would happen it about impossible to run into the demands of their clients. As with any accomplishment, listening accomplishments need to be honed and improved by societal workers over clip and while larning about listening provides valuable penetrations about the procedures implicit in communicating, it is merely in an synergistic environment that a societal worker is genuinely able to prove and better their hearing accomplishments. It is of import that a clear differentiation is made between the listening accomplishments employed in mundane state of affairss and those employed by a trained societal worker. In order to understand the type of listening accomplishments that societal workers are required to use, it is appropriate to look briefly at listening accomplishments, or deficiency thereof, in the context of mundane communicating. Most people communicate in their mundane lives without of all time taking the clip to see the procedures behind that communicating. Without understanding the implicit in procedures involved, people partaking in mundane communicating can be prone to misinterpretations. [ 1 ] One of the grounds for this is that in mundane communicating, what is said takes precedency over what is heard and those that shout the loudest are frequently the 1s that get what they want. As such, it is no surprise that listening accomplishments are undervalued and when person else is talking, the enticement is for the individual non talking, non to listen, but instead to fix their ain soliloquy. As Van Slyke notes, we listen with the purpose to react, alternatively of listening with the purpose to understand. [ 2 ] In societal work pattern nevertheless, effectual hearing accomplishments are of cardinal importance. When covering with sensitive issues and vulnerable clients, the misinterpretations that normally pass without incident in mundane communicating could hold lay waste toing effects. As such, it is of import that societal workers are trained to understand the procedures which underlie effectual communicating. Merely in this manner can societal workers obtain a broader apprehension of what holding and utilizing effectual hearing accomplishments entails. The term listening skills within a societal work context refers to a much broader construct than most laic people would normally tie in with the term. In contrast to the misinterpretations which he sees every bit common to mundane communicating, Parkes advocates an active engagement attack to listening which he so proceeds to specify as entailing, listening with our ears to what is being said and to the tone of voice, listening with our heads to understand the message contained in the words, listening with our eyes to what is being conveyed through the client’s position, bearing and gestures, and listening with our Black Marias to the human being we are seeking to understand. [ 3 ] While this attack provides an easy debut to the construct of active hearing, it fails to supply a societal worker with much in the manner of counsel or aid in seeking to understand the procedures underlying their communicating with a client or with helping them to review their ain public presentation against a checklist of criterions with a position to bettering those accomplishments. In this manner, Parkes attack is small different to a ballad individual being asked to explicate what active hearing agencies to them. Other than supplying a general overview of a holistic attack to listening accomplishments, it does nil to help a societal worker in a practical manner to hone their hearing accomplishments. A much more practical attack to listening accomplishments is provided by Gambrill. She believes that it is of import that societal workers are able to self-assess their hearing accomplishments. [ 4 ] Without being able to self-assess harmonizing to mensurable standards, it becomes excessively easy to believe that effectual hearing accomplishments are merely a trait that some societal workers possess as opposed to a accomplishment that can be developed and improved over clip. Gambrill suggests three standards that allow a societal worker to judge the quality of their hearing accomplishments ; that ( 1 ) clients portion relevant stuff and take part in researching factors related to ailments ; ( 2 ) clients seem comfy ; [ 5 ] and ( 3 ) through the rating of client Sessionss against a suggested checklist: Checklist for Reviewing Listening Skills: Arrange a distraction-free environment. Avoid breaks and speaking for clients ( eg completing their sentences ) . Avoid deflecting idiosyncrasies. Use facial looks that reflect involvement and concern. Use postures that reflect involvement and concern ( relaxed but attentive, oriented towards others ) . Use appropriate oculus contact. Make sure that verbal and non-verbal behaviors agree. Ask inquiries that reflect attending and concern. Use easing siting agreements. Take appropriate stairss to avoid or take obstructions to communicating. Time your paraphrasiss and contemplations good, and pass on an apprehension of what has been said. Use an effectual assortment of responses. Use minimum encourages efficaciously. Indexs of success: Clients offer more relevant stuff. Clients explore new positions of concern and related events. [ 6 ] By supplying the above checklist, Gambrill provides a clear method for societal workers to measure their hearing accomplishments. However, while much of the success of a societal worker’s efforts at effectual communicating will be down to their ain hearing accomplishments, it is of import to retrieve that listening accomplishments are non the lone factor. As noted in the above checklist, environmental factors besides play a big portion. It is hence of import that societal workers plan meetings with their clients in progress to guarantee that external and internal distractions are kept to a lower limit. Practical illustrations of this may be, for case in relation to external distractions, to guarantee that meetings take topographic point in the forenoon as opposed to lunchtime when the noise from work co-workers is more likely to be louder and more distracting ; and in relation to internal distractions, to guarantee that other viing precedences have been addressed prior to the meeting. While these external and internal distractions can neer be to the full avoided, a small forward planning can intend that they are minimised. In general footings, retrieving a checklist of points is non practical for a societal worker prosecuting with a client and can really be a cause of internal distraction if focused on excessively to a great extent. Gambrill does nevertheless propose a simple method for finding whether or non person is utilizing effectual hearing accomplishments. She suggests that the hearer, †¦identify prejudices about clients that may acquire in the manner of effectual hearing by observing what [ they ] think a individual will state at specific points. [ 7 ] Effective hearing accomplishments assist a societal worker to detect the underlying issues which are of concern to their clients. A simple illustration could be that of a kid who lashes out at other kids at school. In a meeting with a societal worker, the kid ab initio attempts to warrant his violent behavior and displays a desire to travel to another school, but one time an empathic bond has been created between the societal worker and the kid, it shortly becomes evident that the kid is holding troubles with reading and his actions result from feelings of embarrassment and insufficiency. Had the societal worker non been willing to listen efficaciously, they may hold accepted the child’s desire to travel to another school at face value which would non hold addressed the implicit in issue. It would hold merely been a impermanent solution and it is likely that following the move to the new school, the child’s form of floging out at other students would return. However, by helping the kid in get the better ofing his jobs with reading, the societal worker would hold assisted in work outing the issue at the nucleus of the child’s violent effusions. Different listening accomplishments may besides be needed in different societal work state of affairss ( Dorfman lists some of the functions that societal workers perform which include ; recommend, pedagogue, counselor, go-between, adviser, research worker and judge [ 8 ] ) and when covering with different clients ( eg immature people, people with disablements and people from different cultural and cultural backgrounds ) . Listening accomplishments are possibly most of import to societal workers when they are carry throughing their function as counselors. In this function, societal workers must demo empathy with the client, guarantee that they feel that they are in a safe environment, be non-judgmental and let the client to experience that they can take hazards and do errors within this environment without reverberations. For state of affairss in which a societal worker is holding trouble promoting a client to speak, Gambrill provides the following troubleshooting checklist : Bash you follow the ask-listen-ask regulation? Bash you offer high-quality hearing? Are you interested in what other people say? Bash you concentrate excessively much on yourself and non plenty on what other people do, experience and believe? Bash you miss or misinterpret societal signals that other people want to talk? Bash you bury to wait a few seconds after other people finish speaking before talking? [ 9 ] Through the usage of simple methods such as nodding in understanding, appropriate oculus contact and positive organic structure linguistic communication, the societal worker can promote an unfastened resonance with a client. In some instances, particularly with younger people, it may be the first clip that person has taken the clip to listen to their ideas and feelings on a given topic. By authorising them to in this manner, a societal worker is able to supply them with the tools needed to show themselves. By taking the clip to actively listen, societal workers are besides able to take notice of extra factors which might non come across in the existent words spoken for case ; the client’s organic structure linguistic communication, reactions and general demeanor. It can besides be used as a tool to quiet clients that are upset as demonstrated by Kinney, Haapala A ; Booth. [ 10 ] The illustrations provided by them do it clear that their doctrine of when in uncertainty, listen [ 11 ] can be rather effectual. In state of affairss in which the societal worker is come ining a extremely charged environment with several persons all viing to be heard, Kinney, Haapala A ; Booth suggest reaching persons by phone prior to the meeting, constructing a relationship and therefore cut downing the force per unit area on the societal worker to necessitate to turn to everyone’s viing precedences all at one time at the face to confront meeting. [ 12 ] They provide the undermentioned illustration to assist exemplify their point: Abbey ( 37 ) , the female parent of 15-year-old Tammy ( the PR ) , who was in having attention when we got the referral, was really angry with her girl and the kid public assistance system when I called to do our first assignment. We talked for about an hr and a half. Most of the clip she was inquiring why – why parents have no power, why childs have all the control, why running off is non a offense, why everybody is faulting the parents. She besides told narratives about Tammy’s past misbehavior, failure to react to her ( and her husband’s ) attempts to better the household state of affairs. For about 45 proceedingss I responded about wholly by active listening – reflecting defeat, embarrassment, choler, disheartenment, confusion. After a clip Abbey began to speak more easy and in a lower tone of voice. She was still inquiring inquiries and at that point I on occasion shared with her my apprehension of the purpose of some policies, Torahs, social workers, etc. , admiting that the system is non perfect, is germinating and sometimes blowbacks. I shared with her that I was her age and that I besides observed generational differences and sometimes found adolescents confounding. By the terminal of our conversation we had made an assignment and in three or four cases Abbey had laughed at something we had said. She apologised for being so angry and stating so many ( harmonizing to her civilization – Asian ) rude things. I assured her that I wanted to hear her existent feelings and that I appreciated her candor and her defeat. We hung up looking frontward to run intoing each other. ( Ellen Douthat ) . [ 13 ] The above illustration raises several interesting points. Even though the conversation took topographic point over the telephone, by actively listening to Abbey, the societal worker was able to promote her to open up and portion more information with her than would hold been the instance had the societal worker merely discussed the issues she was raising with her. Likewise, the societal worker was able to quiet Abbey down and one time that had been achieved, construct a resonance with her which so allowed the societal worker to set a human face to a system which can frequently look dashing and unaccessible. By admiting that the system is non perfect but that it does function an of import intent, the societal worker was able to do Abbey experience that she was non being judged and that she was in a safe environment in which she was able to unburden herself of the defeats that she was experiencing. However, it is of import to observe that listening should, in most instances, be active as opposed to passive. Returning to the illustration set out above, the societal worker in that instance used active hearing to let Abbey to vent her defeats and quiet down. Once she had done so, the societal worker was so able to present other elements into the interaction. The point being that even while listening, the societal worker is actively involved in guaranting that the interaction moves frontward in a structured manner. As Clark et al point out, Listening is non easy. It requires a deep consciousness and at the same clip a suspension of our opinions and above all our biass. It requires openness to change. [ 14 ] One of the chief obstructions to effectual hearing can really be a societal worker’s ain good purposes and opinions. This is peculiarly so in the instance of freshly qualified societal workers who have spent old ages analyzing and are acute to set the theories they have learnt into pattern. In such a instance, a societal worker must seek difficult to avoid seeking to happen a solution at any cost and spend clip finding what the underlying job may be. This can merely be done by actively listening to what the client is stating and accepting that they are a facilitator of alteration as opposed to person who is at that place to enforce alteration from above. Furthermore, the fright of rolling into chartless Waterss may besides deter certain societal workers from using effectual hearing accomplishments. It is frequently much easier to suit a client’s jobs into a standard text book solution than to assist a client unfastened up deeper and less manageable issues. The force per unit areas of limited resources, viing precedences, etc may besides lend to the demand to restrict clip spent with clients. As the usage of listening accomplishments is more clip devouring it is a more expensive usage of resources when it comes to happening short-run solutions. However, when long-run ends and consequences are taken as the step of success, the usage of effectual hearing accomplishments will ever be a more cost effectual usage of resources as it is more likely to turn to the underlying issues which is similarly more likely to so take to an effectual solution. Most clients that come into contact with societal workers have been through traumatic experiences. They may non hold had anyone to turn to and as such may be looking to unburden their experiences onto a impersonal beginning. While there may be some initial blarney and resonance edifice required to do them experience like they are in a safe environment and to assist them open up, one time they feel comfy with the societal worker and look willing to work through their experiences with them, the societal worker should concentrate on utilizing their hearing accomplishments to promote the client. Listening accomplishments remain of critical importance for effectual communicating in societal work pattern. As celebrated above, listening accomplishments, when used efficaciously allow societal workers to accomplish legion aims such as constructing resonance with clients, quieting them if they are experiencing frustrated, promoting them to experience like they are in a safe environment and leting them to show themselves without the fright of embarrassment or reverberations. However, the listening employed by societal workers should be active as opposed to passive and as such, the aims of their interactions with clients should ever steer the societal workers determination of when it is appropriate to listen and when they are required to take the lead. Bibliography Clark, A. , Kjorholt, A. T. A ; Moss, P. ( 2005 ) ,Beyond Listening: Children s Positions on Early Childhood Servicess, The Policy Press Dorfman, R. A. ( 1996 ) , Clinical Social Work: Definition, Practice, and Vision, Brunner/Mazel Inc, New York Galinsky, M. J. ( 2004 ) , Handbook of Social Work With Groups, The Guilford Press, New York Gambrill, E. D. ( 1997 ) , Social Work Practice: A Critical Thinker s Guide, Oxford University Press, New York Edward gibbons, B. J. A ; Hargie, O. ( 2004 ) ,Skilled Interpersonal Communication, 4Thursdayed. , Routledge, East Sussex Kinney, J. , Haapala, D. A ; Booth, C. ( 1991 ) ,Keeping Families Together: The Homebuilders Model, Transaction Pub Maidment, J. A ; Egan, R. ( 2004 ) , Practice Skills in Social Work and Welfare: More Than Merely Common Sense, Allen A ; Unwin, Australia Parkes, C. M. ( 1996 ) , Reding in Terminal Care and Bereavement, BPS Books, Leicester Van Servellen, G. ( 1997 ) , Communication Skills for the Health Care Professional: Concepts and Techniques, Aspen Publishers, Maryland 1

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