Monday, September 30, 2019

Attitudes about Witchcraft

Demonic glares, cackling laughs, pointy hats, curling claw-like fingernails, warts perched on their noses, pale sickly skin that contrasts to their black or deep purple clothing: this is the typical description of what most witches are perceived as today. Witchcraft officially began in England In the mid sass's. Christianity was the dominant religion at this time In England. To be a witch, one had to sign a pact with the devil, often to worship him, which was heresy and meant damnation.As society came more literate, increasing numbers of books and tracts fueled the witch fears. The Mallets Molecular, written by Kramer and Springer, was one of the most Influential books used by secular witch-hunting courts. Thousands of people (primarily women) were Judicially murdered as a result of the procedures described In this book, for no reason than a strange birthmark, cultivation of medicinal herbs, or simply because they were falsely accused (often for financial gain by the accuser).The Mal lets Maleficent serves as a horrible warning about what happens when intolerance takes over a society. During the Reformation, from 1500 to 1660, Europe saw between 50,000 and 80,000 suspected witches executed, 80% of those killed were women. One of these women was Isabel Goodie, who admitted to transmuting herself into a hare and confessed involvement with the Devil for 15 years. In the sass's, witch-hunting, after a major outbreak in France, began to decrease.England executed its last witch in 1682 and the world was changing along with new ideals brought about by the Enlightenment. It wasn't until the 19th century that people Egan to see witches as healers. In Year of Wonders, the outbreak of deaths is blamed on a widow, Me Goodie, and her niece, Nays Goodie, who are the village's herbalists and midwives. To test Me Goodie for being a witch, they throw her into a flooded mine shaft.Once she drowns, they immediately begin to repent and call themselves murderers. Her niece is summon ed from the village, and being more practical and skilled in medicine understands the situation, and immediately tries to revive her. After three breaths, Me awakens, and Nays, having raised the dead, is ragged away and asked to confess to her consort with the devil, and in attempting to distract the mob, she confesses and accuses the questioners of having themselves cuckolded by the devil.Her ploy causes great confusion and furthers their hysteria, but does not work ? she is lynched moments before Rector Employing appears. Today, witches are viewed as both good and bad, one prime example being the Wizard of Oz (the wicked witch of the west and the good witch of the north), but they have left a significant mark on history and this period will be remembered wrought the ages. Attitudes about Witchcraft By federally Witchcraft officially began in England in the mid sass's.Christianity was the dominant religion at this time in England. To be a witch, one had to sign a pact with The Mall ets Maleficent, written by Kramer and Springer, was one of the most influential books used by secular witch-hunting courts. Thousands of people in this book, for no reason than a strange birthmark, cultivation of medicinal herbs, or but does not work ? she is lynched moments before Rector Implosion appears.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Florence Nightingale Essay

The Polar Area Diagrams of Florence Nightingale If you read the article on Florence Nightingale in â€Å"The Children’s Book of Famous Lives†1 you will not learn that she had to battle with her parents to be allowed to study Mathematics. If you read the Ladybird book â€Å"Florence Nightingale†2 you will not discover that she was the first woman to be elected as a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. In looking around for an area of research I was intrigued to discover that Florence Nightingale, who I always thought of as the â€Å"lady with the lamp†, was a competent Mathematician who created her own type of statistical diagram which she used to save thousands of soldiers from needless death. Florence Nightingale headed a group of 38 nurses who went to clean up the hospitals for the British soldiers in the Crimea in 1854. She found that most of the deaths were due to diseases which could be prevented by basic hygiene, such as typhus and cholera. Her improvements were simple but they had an enormous effect: â€Å"She and her nurses washed and bathed the soldiers, laundered their linens, gave them clean beds to lie in, and fed them†3. When she returned to Britain she made a detailed report to the Government setting out what conditions were like and what needed to be done to reduce deaths in the hospitals. Nothing was done, so she tried again, making another statistical report and included in it three new statistical diagrams to make data collated by William Farr more accessible to people who could not get their minds around tables of figures. These were her polar area diagrams or rose diagrams, sometimes also known as ‘coxcombs’. The first showed how many men had died over the two years 1854-5, the second showed what proportions of men had died from wounds in battle, from disease and from other causes, the third showed how the number of deaths had decreased once â€Å"sanitary improvements†4 had been introduced. I decided I would try to recreate the second of these diagrams which is the most complicated and the most shocking. It is called â€Å"Diagram of the causes of mortality in the army in the east†. A copy of it is below: Mathematics SL and HL teacher support material 1 Example 6: Student work Figure 1 The basic ideas are very simple. The blue area represents deaths due to disease, the red area represents death due to wounds in battle and the black area represents death due to other causes. I tried to find a copy of the data which this diagram represented, but I had no luck, so I decided to make sure I understood exactly how the diagram was made and to make my own version of some data which I did have to hand. Once I tried to understand the diagram in detail I found there were some problems. The First Problem I wasn’t sure whether the black area in a shape such as this: was supposed to be this area or this area Mathematics SL and HL teacher support material 2 Example 6: Student work In other words, were the colours separate, or overlapping? The articles I read didn’t make it clear. O’Connor says that â€Å"The area of each coloured wedge, measured from the centre as a common point, is in proportion to the statistic it represents†5, which makes it seem that all colours are wedged shaped, or sectors, so the colours overlap. However, Lienhard commented that in the November 1854 section â€Å"battle deaths take up a very small portion of each slice†6, which makes it sound as though the slice has three separate portions, and Brasseur says that â€Å"she also divided the areas within each of the wedges to show which portion of the mortality data for that month could be allotted to each cause of death†4. I decided to construct polar area diagrams for a set of data with the colours separate and with the colours overlapping to see if putting theory into practice would make it clearer to me. The data I used was taken from the IB grade distribution statistics for the past 15 years at my own institution. I used the numbers taking Higher Mathematics, Standard Mathematics and Mathematical Studies to be represented by my three colours. I took the old Mathematical Methods course to be the same as Standard Mathematics. To fit 15 sectors into the circle I needed each arc to subtend an angle of 2Ï€ radians at 15 1 2Ï€ Ï€ the centre. The area of each sector would then be A = r 2 = 2 where r is the r Ãâ€" 2 15 15 radius of the sector. Since the area needs to be proportional to the statistic, I needed to 15A and just used a scale which would allow me to draw find the radius, so I used r = a reasonable sized diagram. To create a polar area diagram with overlapping sectors I just used this formula on each of the numbers of students taking the various options. Numbers taking Mathematics year on year Numbers (A) Higher Studies Standard 1995 1 24 0 1996 4 15 0 1997 8 10 0 1998 6 31 0 1999 9 17 0 2000 10 20 0 2001 4 31 1 2002 5 21 2 2003 4 15 4 2004 5 29 5 2005 1 28 0 2006 3 16 2 2007 8 13 0 2008 11 29 14 2009 10 23 15 Radius ( r ) Higher Studies Standard 2.2 10.7 0.0 4.4 8.5 0.0 6.2 6.9 0.0 5.4 12.2 0.0 6.6 9.0 0.0 6.9 9.8 0.0 4.4 12.2 2.2 4.9 10.0 3.1 4.4 8.5 4.4 4.9 11.8 4.9 2.2 11.6 0.0 3.8 8.7 3.1 6.2 7.9 0.0 7.2 11.8 8.2 6.9 10.5 8.5 Ï€ Mathematics SL and HL teacher support material 3 Example 6: Student work I then used a geometric program (GeoGebra) to draw the sectors all with a common 2Ï€ centre, each with an angle of radians, and with the radii as given in the table. I drew 15 the Higher sectors first with the Studies on top of these, and the Standard on top of these. This was the result: Figure 2 Polar area diagram to show students taking Mathematics at one school (colours overlapping) Blue represents the number of students taking Higher Maths. Brown represents the number of students taking Mathematical Studies. Green represents the number of students taking Standard Maths. The colours are not solid, so where colours overlap there is a different colour. The blue overlapping the brown makes a pink here, and the green overlapping the blue makes a darker green. In 2003 and in 2004 there were an equal number of students taking Higher and Standard so three separate colours cannot be seen on the diagram. Next I worked out the radii needed if the colours were not to overlap. For this I used cumulative areas to work out the radii. R1 = R3 = 15 ( A1 + A2 + A3) 15 A1 15 ( A1 + A2 ) Ï€ , R2 = Ï€ and Ï€ . Radii R2 10.9 9.5 9.3 13.3 11.1 12.0 12.9 11.1 9.5 12.7 11.8 9.5 10.0 13.8 12.6 Numbers taking Mathematics year on year Numbers (A) Higher (A1) Studies (A2) Standard (A3) 1995 1 24 0 1996 4 15 0 1997 8 10 0 1998 6 31 0 1999 9 17 0 2000 10 20 0 2001 4 31 1 2002 5 21 2 2003 4 15 4 2004 5 29 5 2005 1 28 0 2006 3 16 2 2007 8 13 0 2008 11 29 14 2009 10 23 15 R1 2.2 4.4 6.2 5.4 6.6 6.9 4.4 4.9 4.4 4.9 2.2 3.8 6.2 7.2 6.9 R3 10.9 9.5 9.3 13.3 11.1 12.0 13.1 11.6 10.5 13.6 11.8 10.0 10.0 16.1 15.1 Mathematics SL and HL teacher support material 4 Example 6: Student work This gave a diagram with Higher numbers at the centre and Standard numbers at the edge, like this: Figure 3 Polar area diagram to show students taking Mathematics at one school (colours separate) Blue represents the number of students taking Higher Maths. Brown represents the number of students taking Mathematical Studies. Green represents the number of students taking Standard Maths. This diagram is incomplete in that it has not got the dates on it, but I was interested in the basic shape it would make rather than seeing it as a finished article to represent the data. I decided to do the same thing but with Studies in the middle and Higher at the edge to see how different it would look. Figure 4 Polar area diagram to show students taking Mathematics at one school (colours separate) Blue represents the number of students taking Higher Maths. Brown represents the number of students taking Mathematical Studies. Green represents the number of students taking Standard Maths. This feels very different. The blue section actually looks less significant, to my eye, being put at the edges. This made me think of something else I had read in Brasseur’s article, â€Å"Nightingale arranged these colored areas so that the main cause of death (and the largest sections)—deaths by disease—would be at the end of the wedges and would be more easily noticed.†4 I am sure that Brasseur thought that the colours were separate, and not overlapped. However, comparing my diagrams to Nightingale’s original in Figure 1, I Mathematics SL and HL teacher support material 5 Example 6: Student work became sure that she did mean them to be overlapped. I noticed that in the lefthand rose in figure 1 (representing the second year) there is a wedge with blue at the edge followed by a wedge with blue at the edge: Figure 5 A zoom in of part of figure 1 This can happen in a diagram like my figure 2 of overlapping colours, but would be impossible if the colours are separate as in figures 3 and 4. From this I deduced that the colours on the diagram must be overlapping. The Second Problem My diagrams were unlike Nightingale’s ones in that the total area of the sectors in figure 2 represented the total number of students taking the IB at this school over the 15 years. Nightingale’s statistics were rates of mortality. Basically they can be thought of as percentages of soldiers who died, but, as before, when I read through the articles again, I was unsure what they were percentages of. Gill and Gill have table (Table 2) in their article with headings â€Å"No. of soldiers admitted to the hospital† and â€Å"No. (%) of soldiers who died†3. This might suggest that Nightingale was working with percentages of soldiers who were admitted into hospital. Lewi is more definite and refers to the actual statistic of one wedge of the third of Nightingale’s polar area diagrams as follows: â€Å"The mortality during the first period was 192 per 1,000 hospitalized soldiers (on a yearly basis)†9. However, Brasseur refers to the statistic in a wedge of Nightingale’s first diagram as being â€Å"the ratio of mortality for every 1,000 soldiers per annum in the field†4, in other words a percentage of the army actually on duty. I decided to create a polar area diagram to act as an analogy to the possible situations as follows: Nightingale’s data My data Number of soldiers in the army in a month Number of students taking the IB in a year Number of soldiers taken to hospital Number of students taking Maths Studies Number of soldiers dying of wounds Number of students gaining grade 7 Number of soldiers dyin g of disease Number of students gaining grade 6 Number of soldiers dying for other reasons Number of students gaining grade 5 My analogy of drawing a diagram showing the numbers of soldiers dying as a percentage of those admitted to hospital would then be the number of students gaining a grade above 4 as a percentage of those taking Mathematical Studies. I decided to do this one by hand, partly to prove I could, and partly to see if it would throw any extra light on the construction of the diagrams. Mathematics SL and HL teacher support material 6 Example 6: Student work I gathered the data, found the percentages and used the percentages as A in the usual 15A to find the radii needed to construct the diagram. The data is here: formula r = Ï€ Numbers gaining top three grades in Mathematical Studies As percentage of those taking Studies Radius required for each Taking Total Grade 7 Grade 6 Grade 5 Studies in year % grade 7 % grade 6 % grade 5 R7 R6 R5 1995 7 10 4 24 25 29.16667 41.66667 16.66667 11.80 14.10 8.92 1996 2 9 3 15 19 13.33333 60.00000 20.00000 7.98 16.93 9.77 1997 1 4 2 10 18 10.00000 40.00000 20.00000 6.91 13.82 9.77 1998 5 12 11 31 37 16.12903 38.70968 35.48387 8.78 13.60 13.02 1999 2 6 7 17 26 11.76471 35.29412 41.17647 7.49 12.98 14.02 2000 3 4 7 20 30 15.00000 20.00000 35.00000 8.46 9.77 12.93 2001 3 8 8 31 36 9.67742 25.80645 25.80645 6.80 11.10 11.10 2002 1 8 4 21 28 4.76190 38.09524 19.04762 4.77 13.49 9.54 2003 0 1 8 15 23 0.00000 6.66667 53.33333 0.00 5.64 15.96 2004 3 9 7 29 34 10.34483 31.03448 24.13793 7.03 12.17 10.74 2005 1 11 9 28 29 3.57143 39.28571 32.14286 4.13 13.70 12.39 2006 2 4 5 16 21 12.50000 25.00000 31.25000 7.73 10.93 12.22 2007 1 8 3 13 22 7.69231 61.53846 23.07692 6.06 17.14 10.50 2008 0 3 17 29 54 0.00000 10.34483 58.62069 0.00 7.03 16.73 2009 0 5 5 23 48 0.00000 21.73913 21.73913 0.00 10.19 10.19 And the diagram came out like this: Figure 6 Polar area diagram to show percentages of students taking Mathematical Studies who gained grades above 4 Red represents the number of students gaining grade 7. Blue represents the number of students gaining grade 6. Green represents the number of students gaining grade 5. The purple areas represent coinciding numbers of students gaining grade 5 and 6. Mathematics SL and HL teacher support material 7 Example 6: Student work One thing which I learnt from this exercise is that you have to be very careful about your scale and think through every move before you start if you don’t want to fall off the edge of the paper! It is a far more tense experience drawing a diagram by hand because you know that one slip will make the whole diagram flawed. A computer slip can be corrected before you print out the result. My admiration for Florence Nightingale’s draftsmanship was heightened by doing this. The other thing which drawing by hand brought out was that, if you draw the arcs in in the appropriate colours, the colouring of the sectors sorts itself out. You colour from the arc inwards until you come to another arc or the centre. The only problem came when two arcs of different colours came in exactly the same place. I got around this problem by colouring these areas in a totally different colour and saying so at the side. At this point in my research someone suggested some more possible websites to me, and following these up I found a copy of Nightingale’s second diagram which was clear enough for me to read her notes, and a copy of the original data she used. The first of these was in a letter by Henry Woodbury suggesting that Nightingale got her calculations wrong and the radii represented the statistics rather than the area.7 The letter had a comment posted by Ian Short which led me to an article by him8 giving the data for the second diagram and explaining how it was created. The very clear reproduction of Nightingale’s second diagram in Woodbury’s letter7 shows that Miss Nightingale wrote beside it: â€Å"The areas of the blue, red and black wedges are each measured from the centre as the common vertex†. This makes it quite clear that the colours are overlapped and so solves my first problem. She also wrote â€Å"In October 1854 & April 1855 the black area coincides with the red†. She coloured the first of these in red and the second in black, but just commented on it beside the diagram to make it clear. The article by Short8 was a joy to read, although I could only work out the mathematical equations, which were written out in a way which is strange to me ( for example â€Å"$$ ext{Area of sector B} = frac{pi r_B^2}{3}=3$$†8 ) because I already knew what they were (The example had a sector B in a diagram which I could see had 1 2Ï€ 2 Ï€ 2 = = areaB rB rB ). The two things I found exciting from this article were the 2 3 3 table of data which Nightingale used to create the second diagram, and an explanation of what rates of mortality she used. She described these as follows; â€Å"The ratios of deaths and admissions to Force per 1000 per annum are calculated from the monthly ratios given in Dr. Smith’s Table B†4 and I had not been able to understand the meaning of this from the other articles. (Brasseur adds that â€Å"Dr. Smith was the late director-general of the army.†4). Using Short’s article I was able to work out what it meant. I will use an example of data taken from the table in Short’s article, which is in turn taken from â€Å"A contribution to the sanitary history of the British army during the late war with Russia† by Florence Nightingale of 18598. In February 1855 the average size of the army was 30919. Of these 2120 died of ‘zymotic diseases’, 42 died of ‘wounds & injuries’ and 361 died of ‘all other causes’. This gives a total of 2120 + 42 + 361 = deaths. 2523 2523 Mathematics SL and HL teacher support material 8 Example 6: Student work 2523 81.6003 men died per 1000 men in the army in Ãâ€"1000 = 30919 that month. If the size of the army had stayed at 30919, with no more men being shipped in or out, and the death rate had continued at 81.6 deaths per 1000 men per month over 12 months, the number of deaths per annum would have been 81.6003 Ãâ€"12 = 979.2 per 1000 men in the army. In other words 979.2 deaths per 1000 per annum. out of 30919 means that This understanding of the units used allowed me to finally understand why O’Connor says of the death rate in January 1855, â€Å"if this rate had continued, and troops had not been replaced frequently, then disease alone would have killed the entire British army in the Crimea.†5 The number of deaths due to disease in January 1855 was 2761 and the 2761 average size of the army was 32393. This gives a rate of 1022.8 Ãâ€"1000 Ãâ€"12 = 32393 deaths from disease per 1000 per annum. Another way of looking at it is that if 2761 had dies each month from disease, 2761Ãâ€"12 = 33132 would have died in 12 months, but there were only 32393 in the army! As an aside, I noticed that O’Connor quoted the mortality rate for January 1855 as â€Å"1,023 per 10,000 being from zymotic diseases†5. Another example that we should not trust everything we see in print. Having sorted this out I was ready to attempt my recreation of figure 1. I decided to do the right hand rose only, covering April 1854 to March 1855. The following table shows the data taken from Short’s article in blue and my calculations in black: Average Wounds size of Zymotic & Z/S*1000*12 Radius W/S*1000*12 Radius O/S*1000*12 Radius (Az) (Aw) (Ao) for army diseases injuries Other for for Month (S) (Z) (W) (O) (1 d.p.) Zymtotic (1 d.p.) Wounds (1 d.p.) Other Apr-54 8571 1 0 5 1.4 2.3 0.0 0.0 7.0 5.2 May-54 23333 12 0 9 6.2 4.9 0.0 0.0 4.6 4.2 Jun-54 28333 11 0 6 4.7 4.2 0.0 0.0 2.5 3.1 Jul-54 28722 359 0 23 150.0 23.9 0.0 0.0 9.6 6.1 Aug-54 30246 828 1 30 328.5 35.4 0.4 1.2 11.9 6.7 Sep-54 30290 788 81 70 312.2 34.5 32.1 11.1 27.7 10.3 Oct-54 30643 503 132 128 197.0 27.4 51.7 14.1 50.1 13.8 Nov-54 29736 844 287 106 340.6 36.1 115.8 21.0 42.8 12.8 Dec-54 32779 1725 114 131 631.5 49.1 41.7 12.6 48.0 13.5 Jan-55 32393 2761 83 324 1022.8 62.5 30.7 10.8 120.0 21.4 Feb-55 30919 2120 42 361 822.8 56.1 16.3 7.9 140.1 23.1 Mar-55 30107 1205 32 172 480.3 42.8 12.8 7.0 68.6 16.2 Az is the death rate per 1000 per annum from disease, Aw is the death rate per 1000 per annum from wounds and Ao is the death rate per 1000 per annum from other causes. For 2Ï€ Ï€ this diagram there are 12 divisions so each sector has an angle of = and an area of 12 6 12A 1Ï€ 2 Ï€ 2 . r = r . So for each radius r = Ï€ 26 12 Mathematics SL and HL teacher support material 9 Example 6: Student work I will show my final polar area diagram side by side with Nightingale’s original version: Figure 7. Nightingale’s original â€Å"Diagram of the causes of mortality in the army in the east† and my recreation. I have to admit that I felt rather proud once I had done this! However, looking at the September 1854 wedge I realised that the two diagrams didn’t correspond. In Nightingale’s original diagram I can see that there are more deaths from other causes than from wounds. In my version there are fewer deaths from other causes than from wounds. All other versions of the original in other articles I looked at ( Gill and Gill3, Brasseur4, O’Connor5, Woodbury7, Riddle10, Small11, Lienhard6) are as the original, but the table in Short definitely shows fewer deaths from other causes than from wounds8. Conclusion I started out to try to lean how to recreate the polar area diagram which Florence Nightingale made to communicate to other people just how bad the situation was in army hospitals. This diagram shouts a need for reform. Look at it. The blue represents deaths which could be avoided with a bit of organisation and care. The red represents deaths due to the actual battles. Florence Nightingale had copies of her report containing her diagrams published at her own expense and sent them to doctors, army officers, members of parliament and the Queen. Following her persistent lobbying a commission was set up to improve military barracks and hospitals, sanitary codes were established and procedures were put in place for more organised collection of medical statistics4. It is a very shocking picture with a huge snowball of social change behind it. It has been an exciting adventure to drill down to a real understanding of its construction. Mathematics SL and HL teacher support material 10 Example 6: Student work However, the biggest lesson I have learnt from this research is that you can’t trust what you read. As I have argued in the main text, I am moderately sure that Brasseur thought the colours of the second diagram did not overlap4, I think O’Connor got his death rates wrong for January 18555, and I think Short may have transcribed the data incorrectly for September 18548. According to Brasseur, Florence Nightingale cross checked her data and was systematic about addressing objections to her analysis4. Everyone can make mistakes, and errors can propagate if we just quote what someone else says without looking for corroboration. I have been left with a desire to find out more about this tenacious woman who wouldn’t let society mould her into a genteel wife. Also, if I ever get the chance, I would like to get a look at one of the 2000 copies of â€Å"Notes on Matters Affecting the Health, Effiency and Hospital Administration of the British Army. Founded Chiefly on th e Experience of the Late War† which Florence Nightingale had published in 1858, to see the actual table of data and check the numbers for September 1854. Mathematics SL and HL teacher support material 11 Example 6: Student work References/Bibliography 1.Duthie, Eric ed. The Children’s Book of Famous Lives.Odhams Press Ltd, London 1957 2. Du Garde Peach, L. Florence Nightingale. Wills & Hepworth Ltd, Loughborough, 1959 3. Gill, Christopher J. and Gill, Gillian C. Nightingale in Scutari: Her Legacy Reexamined Center for Internatinal Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, viewed 26th July 2009 4. Brasseur, Lee, Florence Nightingale’s Visual Rhetoric in the Rose Diagrams. Technical Communication Quarterly, 14(2), 161-182, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc, 2005, viewed 26th July 2009 5. O’Connor, J.J. and Robertson, E.F., Florence Nightingale. viewed 26 July 2009 6. Lienhard, John H., Nightingale’s Graph, The Engines of Our Ingenuity. 2002 viewed 26th July 2009 7. Woodbury, Henry, Nightingale’s Rose. American Physical SocietyLaunches Dynamic Diagrams Redesign of Physical Review Letters, January 9, 2008, 4:05 pm, filed under Information Design, Visual Explanation View ed 30 July 2009 8. Short, Ian, Mathematics of the Coxcombs. November 5th, 2008 viewed 30th July 2009 9. Lewi, Paul J. Florence Nightingale and Polar Area Diagrams, Speaking of Graphics. 2006 < www.datascope.be/sog/SOG-Chapter5.pdf> viewed 26th July 2009 10. Riddle, Larry, Polar-Area Diagram. 2006 , viewed 26th July 2009 11. Small, Hugh, Florence Nightingale’s statistical diagrams. Presentation to Research Conference organized by the Florence Nightingale Museum St. Thomas’s Hospital, 18th March 1998 viewed 26th July 2009 Mathematics SL and HL teacher support material

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Atticus Finch Character Sketch

Atticus Finch is one of the major characters in Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird written in 1960. Atticus is a lawyer in Maycomb, the representative of Alabama in the State Legislator and the father of Scout and Jeremy Finch. The major themes and ideas Lee emphasizes in the novel are social inequality and intolerance, education, legal justice and bravery are represented in one way or another through this character. Atticus Finch is a man of principles who is consistent in his views and deeds throughout the novel.He has an arguable type of personality because many people back then would call him ignorant, but he still fought against his doubters. Although he is criticized and mocked by many characters in the novel for his tolerant attitude towards the â€Å"Negros†, the people of Maycomb still respect him and keep re-electing him to be their representative in the State Legislator. According to Miss Maudie Atkinson words to Scout, he is a man full of empathy, â€Å"Atticus is a man who does for other people the unpleasant things they have to do. He is a defender of justice and he fights for it even if he is sure that he will be beaten at end. † Atticus wise and understanding attitude is because he is quite aware of the fact that each human being has positive and negative sides. He always focuses on the good part of the people around him and in each situation he finds excuses for their aggressive or bad deeds. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view until you climb into his skin and walk around in it. One of the things he does that prove this is he forgives Mrs.Duboses for the bad words she said to his children about him and he almost forces Jem to read for her during her last days. After she dies, he speaks to Jem and Scout about his admiration for her courage in resisting morphine addiction. At the very end of the novel, Scout states that she is grateful to her father for letting her know that you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. This attitude also makes Atticus tolerate Mr. Walter Cunningham and Bob Ewell aggressiveness towards him.Atticus is able to see beyond other peoples deeds and thoughts and thus he is highly respected for the wisdom with which he deals with difficult situations. Atticus is a courageous man. However, he believes that real courage is not manifested in a man with a gun in his hand. Although he once has been the best shooter in the town, his children have never seen him using a gun before the dog incident. Moreover, Atticus is too courageous and righteous to abide by the norms of the pride white people in his town. He defends a black man, Tom Robinson accused of raping a white young girl, against his white opponent.Atticus believes from the very beginning that he is to lose his case. However, he withstands peoples insults to himself and his children for the sake of the color-blind law he aims to achieve. Also, Atticus courage makes him ready to present his own son to be punished when he thought he killed Bob Ewelld whereas Sheriff Tate tries to defend Jem. Atticus frequent courageous defense of his principles has had an impact on his childrens conception of courage. Scout says â€Å"I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.Atticus does not abide by the norms of the white community pride. Not only does he defend Tom Robinson, but he also chooses to go himself to his wife to tell her about his death. The agony and pity of the late prisoner’s wife and not her color is what mattered to him. Atticus has chosen to defend his morals and his belief of justice regardless to the ethnic associations of Tom Robinson’s case. Unlike other characters in the novel, Atticus perceives the â€Å"Negros† as equal human beings who have the right to enjoy justice and social respect.He always defends his cook Calpurnia against his sister Alexandras reservations and he asserts to her that Calpurnia is a significant member in the Finch family. He does not mind that a black woman takes part in raising up his children. Also, he does not mind that she accompanies them to the church of the Negros even though the objections from his sister and from some members of the black community. Atticus Finch’s consistency makes him an ideal father. Unlike his brother, Atticus is an expert in dealing with little children.His wise and firm opinions and deeds have had great influence on the characters of Jem and Scout as the novel proceeds. Miss Maudie says that â€Å"Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the public streets†. He deals with Scout and Jem as if they are adults. For instance, he does not hesitate to answer Scouts question about the meaning of rape, and he makes deals with his children and is committed to them. At the same time, Atticus understands that Jem and Scout are still children and they are bound to make childish mistakes.He finds excuses for their bad deeds and that makes him more patient with them than his sister Alexandra. For example, he says to her when she criticizes the language Scout uses that bad language is a stage all children go through, and it dies with time when they learn theyre not attracting attention with it. Atticus is eager to teach his children good values and practices through people’s mistakes and poor behaviour and their own mistakes in real life situations rather than by giving them instructions.He does not rebuke or punish Jem and Scout for attending the trial of Robison or for secretly following him to the jail where Robinson was kept. He is always aware of what his children secretly do. For example, he has known that it was Jem at whom Mr. Radely once shot his gun. Yet, he frequently draws their attention not to violate other peoples privacy. He also tries to make them realize facts about life and to correct their misconceptions by themselves. He often uses the question do you really think so? as an indirect hint that drives the children to revisit what they have thought or said. Also, Atticus conversations with Jem and Scout regularly included morally heavy contents such as â€Å"Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit em, but remember its a sin to kill a mockingbird. The way Atticus deals with his children has made them respect him and grow more proud of him as time passes, and they appreciate what he has done for them, although they once have felt sorry that their father is older and less energetic than other children’s fathers. The character of Atticus finch represents a good model of a professional lawyer. Atticus’ defense of the color-blind justice and his belief that law should be free from any prejudices has set him as an ideal lawyer. He is widely regarded as a moral hero for many readers and as a model of integrity for people. He also tries throughout the novel to pass these values onto his children. As a result, the character of Atticus Finch, the lawyer has appeared in many other books that targets lawyers and concern them.Mike Papantonio’s In Search for Atticus Finch: A Motivational Book for Lawyers and Pierre Schlag’s Laying Down the Law: Mysticism, Fetishism and the American Legal Mind are cases in point. Also, the character was so influential that it appeared in books concerned with law and lawyers in cinema productions such as Law and Film by Steve Greenfield, Guy Osborn, Peter Robson, In conclusion, Atticus Finch is an ideal paradigm of a good citizen, a skilful and honest lawyer and an understanding father. The character is enlightening and influential on other fictional characters in the novel and on people in the real world as well. His insightful attitudes and deeds distinguished him as a highly respectable and appreciated individual in the community he lived in. His personality urged people to choose him as their representative even though they sometimes criticize him for doing the unpleasant things that must be done.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Information Systems Able To Support and Improve Transportation Systems Essay

Information Systems Able To Support and Improve Transportation Systems Before, During and After the Olympic Games in London This Summer - Essay Example The situation gets tricky whenever huge numbers of people are expected to move around the city at the same time. The summer Olympics presents one of the many transport challenges that London faces every so often. The fact that London started coming up a city long before cars were invented implies that its streets are suited for foot rather than the millions of cars that are likely to fill its streets during the Olympics. In fact, it has been predicted that the summer Olympics will see the largest ever crowd to fill the streets of London. Because of the expected visitors, the government and private organisations have embraced for hitherto unseen transport conditions and problems such as congestion. For London to deliver a great Olympics, the city and the country must be kept moving, prompting the government to urge businesses and the public to consider their travel options ahead of and during the games. Fortunately, advances in information technologies and information systems such as cloud technology will ensure that unnecessary movements are not only restricted during the games but also controlled by encouraging people such as journalists to use other technologies to capture events rather than be present at the venues (Emmelmann et al., 2010). That is, in addition to keeping commuters in their homes, journalists’ likelihood to stay at one area for long will be high as information systems will ensure they capture through live-streams, most of the events from one location while they remain at the venue of the events that interest them most. This paper explores the support that information systems will give to the transport system before, during and after the London Olympic games. Intelligent Transport Technologies A range of information technologies could prove useful in the management of the transport system during the London Olympics. From simple and basic information systems such as traffic control systems, car navigation, message signs, speed cameras a nd automatic number plate recognition to more complex technologies such as CCTV systems and other IT applications, which monitor data and feedbacks, information systems will be quite useful to the transport system during the Olympics in London. Among the more sophisticated information technologies that monitor data and feedbacks include parking guidance systems, bridge deicing systems and weather information and technologies that enable comparison with historical data (Chowdhury & Sadek, 2003). Computational technologies such as floating car data or floating cellular data are relatively cheap data collection techniques that the Transport for London (TfL) could use to support transport systems during the Olympics. The data collected by these technologies relate to travel time and speeds of vehicles on streets, highways, freeways, and other transportation routes (IanVisits, 2012). There are three major methods by which information technologies may be used to gather transport data. The se techniques include the triangulation, the vehicle re-identification and the GPS-based methods. In modern times, most car users travel with their phones in their cars. Information on the presence of these phones is always transmitted to mobile networks whenever there are no voice connections. That is, as a vehicle moves, the signals on the mobile phones therein also move. Through the analysis of these mobile phone signals using triangulation, the obtained data could be used determine and control traffic flow (Chowdhury & Sadek, 2003). The triangulation method is thus quite an effective approach to supporting the transport system in London during the Olympics. The second technique, the vehicle re-i

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Flesh Eating Bacteria Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Flesh Eating Bacteria - Research Paper Example Apparently, the name flesh eating bacteria is linked to the idea that infected parts of a human body looks like gnawed. Streptococcus pyogenes' also known as group A -hemolytic streptococcus, GAS, and Strep A exoenzymes or endotoxins cause the disease or illness known as necrotizing fasciitis. Fasciitis is characterized by the swelling of the fascia (Stoppler, 2009; Engelkirk and Burton, 2007). Fascias are the dense fibrous connective tissues that wrap the human body below the layers of cells that compose the skin. Fascias are also the tissues that enfold individual muscle fiber and envelope together individual muscles to form bundles. Similar dense fibrous connective tissues form tendons that attach muscles to bones, attach bones to bones, hold organs in place, and bind the different organs to form a stable system (Miller and Levine, 2003). The exoenzymes which are termed poisonous and lethal compounds are the primary complexes that cause the necrosis or death of vulnerable dense fibrous connective cells and tissues. One identified exoenzymes causing cell death are the proteases (Engelkirk and Burton, 2007). The dense fibrous connective cells and tissues are basically protein, so the cells and tissues are composed of individual units called amino acids joined together by peptide bonds. The exoenzymes as well are basically proteins. However, exoenzymes as enzymes are catalysts (Engelkirk and Burton, 2007; Mader, 2001). The exoenzymes which are protease catalyses the breakdown of peptide bonds that joins the amino acids of the protein component of dense fibrous connective cells and tissues (Mosby's Pocket Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, & Allied Health, 2002). This collapse of peptide bonds results to the disintegration of the basic units of the cells and tissues which means death of the cells and tissues. So, the layer of cells and tissues below the skin called fascia as well as those in the other locations of the body die the same way when there is enough exoenzymes produced by the Streptococcus pyogenes' that can be circulated by the blood throughout the entire human body. Apparently, the amino acids are utilized by the microorganisms for their sustenance, multiplication, growth, and development as facultative intracellular pathogens (Engelkirk and Burton, 2007).Contaminated people are the most probable reservoirs of the microorganisms which may transmit the same to other people by direct or indirect contacts or through respiratory droplet infection. At present, S. pyrogenes has been found to be sensitive to bacitracin (Engelkirk and Burton, 2007, DHHSCDCP, 2009). Necrotizing fasciitis symptoms: tumor, fever, cellulites, swelling, pain, soft tissues, black and dry skin, foul-smelling-thick-gray drippings (Smith, 2002). Treatment: removal of dead tissues, ciprofloxacin, metronidazole, adequate IV fluids, sterile operating room, local anesthetic, surgery if not flushing the area with copious amounts of sterile irrigating fluid (Smith, 2002). Conversely, Staphylococcus aureus produce exoenzymes or exotoxin or epidermolytic toxins called catalase causing the

E Business of Qatar Airways Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

E Business of Qatar Airways - Research Paper Example Since by using the internet every organization in the world becomes a local competitor. However, almost every organization now realizes that the internet is a very supportive technology for better-dealing clients and reaching into the global markets (Summers et al., 2003, p.67; Watson et al., 2000; Rao et al., 1998). This paper presents a detailed analysis of the ‘Qatar Airways’ airline company regarding its current and future use of e-business and internet technologies. The basic aim of this research is to provide a deep insight into the presently working web-based business structure and further enhancements in e-business technologies. This paper will also address the basic idea to develop a novel business model and how Qatar Airways can apply an appropriate web-based business strategy to enhance its business. This research will present the idea regarding the implementation of the new web-based/e-commerce technology for the potential enhancement of the business and mark etplace. In addition, this research will cover Qatar Airways present online business technology, its key benefits, functional specification, and implementation steps for the implementation of the new internet and business technology that can enhance the Qatar Airways business support, offer a better competitive edge, support business operations and provide strength for effective handling of the business operations. This business sector I have selected is the web-based platform for airway’s business. Additionally, the business sector I have selected is new in the field of e-commerce business. At present, a lot of airway companies are offering web-based business support, for instance, web-based booking, online payment and other facilities. However, our research is about a bit different e-commerce based business platform for the Qatar Airways Business.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS & LEADING PEOPLE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS & LEADING PEOPLE - Essay Example Among them are golf clubs, fine dining, and boating. It also provides parasailing, yacht charters, luxury lodging and unmatched concierge services. All the hotels under Shangri-la are branded five-star Shangri-la and four-star Traders. The hotel was founded in Singapore by a Malaysian-Chinese tycoon named Robert Kuok. Its growth is also attributed from quick differentiation that management of the company engaged in, distancing it from the competition. Differentiation enabled Shangri-la Company to provide distinctive Asian standards of hospitality and services. After some time in service, the company garnered popularity and recognition internationally. It received awards and recognition from prestigious publications and industry partners. By the year 2006, the hotel had expanded its jurisdictions to hotel ownership and operations. It accommodated property development, and hotel management services. Rapid expansion of the companies began in the 1980s in Asia. By the year 1999, Shangri- la had 35 hotels across Asia. In the year 2000, Shangri-la began expanding its territories of operation beyond Asia. In 2003, the Traders Hotel Dubai established Shangri-la in United Arab Emirates. It was also established in Sydney, Australia, North America, and Europe. In order to achieve expansively and effectiveness, Shangri-la used a 5- level organizational design. Each level had separate guidelines and discretion. The name Shangri-la was adapted do reflect the company philosophy for hospitality for caring people. The theory is strongly supported in every branch of the company and all employees of the company from top most-senior employees to the junior employees. The Shangri-la hotel primary leaders act to change rather than direct. Normally, the primary leader is involved in influencing others so that they can all work together. Shangri-la advocates for their functions to maintain three functional pillars (Martin, 2006). The functional pillars are the leadership

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Should wehelpthe poor Yourdiscussion should includeeither Essay

Should wehelpthe poor Yourdiscussion should includeeither Pogge'sarguments (in Poverty,Climate Change and Overpopulat - Essay Example As one of the many life-threatening social issues, poverty is associated to many deaths, including diseases and violence, especially in the underdeveloped countries. (Pogge, 2010).   A great factor in the increase of poverty is the unequal distribution of wealth, which leads to social inequality. The economic inequality skews the economic opportunities of people to gain the financial stability they need to ensure a life without poverty. The more unequal the distribution of wealth is, the greater number of people there is at the bottom of the economic and social structure. Pogge’s argument on helping the poor simply explains that the lower the poverty level is, the higher the sustainability would be. Helping the poor means the society needs to exert its efforts on the redistribution of wealth. This is a very big and idealistic step in the eradication of poverty. Since poverty is caused by the unequal structure, specifically economic, of the society, completely taking out pove rty is next to impossible. Pogge suggests a number of points on how to deal with poverty, thus helping out the poor people, and, as a result, helping out the society and the environment in one blow. In this regard, Pogge suggests that the society have a moral obligation to help the poor just because it will result in everyone’s self-preservation. One of the main arguments of Pogge’s perspective is that of Rolston’s. Rolston actually criticizes the point of Pogge that the society has the moral obligation to help the poor. He insists that helping out the poor, and the quest to eradicate poverty will paralyze our society. It’s not that society has no resources to help out the poor but in focusing more on eradicating poverty, the resources would be used up and the society won’t be able to answer to the other challenges that the society is facing, such as financial capability and ecological burden. Rolston suggests that if the society aims to eradicate poverty, it would need to look into the following challenges as well: redistribution of wealth, economic sustainability and population control (Rolston, 1996). Although affluent societies have the resources to answer these social issues, most poverty-stricken countries don’t have the capacity to do that. And the lingering question would be: would the affluent societies pursue the value of preserving the life of other societies while maintaining their own? Would they have the courage to redistribute their wealth to ensure that other societies would have the financial capabilities that they are enjoying? Rolston even suggests that most individuals protect what they value most, even if it results to the demise of another, taking it to account that it is beyond their control (Rolston, 1996). This is similar to Newton’s law of cause and effect. Every decision that we make affects other people, whether directly or indirectly. Rolston’s point shows that one of human na tural characteristics is self-preservation, and this could have a result in the downfall of another. Another point that contradicts Pogge’s perspective is the problem of population. Rolston suggests that feeding the poor is like feeding cancer (Rolston, 1996). It will only result to more problems later since the poor will only give birth to more poor later on. This correlates to his perspective that if the socie

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Networking and communication sys (sockets) Assignment

Networking and communication sys (sockets) - Assignment Example In contrast, for example, when we send letter through post office, no connection is established between the sender and receiver of the letter .To reestablish connection in this connectionless communication system, next letter is the only option. Fig 2 Connection –oriented and Connectionless Socket Programming(Ginni T. 2010) 3. Analyzing the flow of code from top to bottom gives a better understanding. Set up few variables to store information on the IP address and port on which the socket server will be executed to generate socket. Next, bound it to the specified addresses and port. Wait for incoming requests to establish connections. Once a client connection is received, the socket accepts the request to handle information exchange. Client now sends some data as input, which is read by the server socket and executed. Both generated sockets are terminated after server sends output back to the client (as in Khanna S.1995). Summarizing, the four important steps in socket program ming between client and server involves; opening the socket; opening an input and output stream to the socket; reading from and writing to the socket according to server protocols; cleaning up . 4. Socket is implemented at the client side for sending requests to the machine port, and requires IP/hostname (address) of the server while Server Socket, executed on the server side, listens and answers client queries in reference to its port number. 5. Thread is the smallest unit of processes during execution that can be scheduled by an operating system. It is used for duplication of computer programs, when two or more tasks are executed concurrently. The thread has four high level states namely, ready, running, waiting and dead. Fig 3. A process with two threads of execution (Shaw Philip 2011) 6. Threads can be created by either implementing runnable interface when requirement is of single thread and extending the thread class for multiple threads. Depending on number of threads either o f the two process is preferred. Extending Thread Class Fig4.Thread Creation(Olira G.) is preferred while creating multiple threads. 7. When a thread instead of being scheduled by current operating system is lined up by virtual machine, its called green thread whereas working thread usually handles many concurrent tasks, allocating one thread to perform one task. 8. Thread is the smallest unit of processes during execution, which can be organized by an operating system whereas runnable is an interface used to create threads in the same process. Implementing a Runnable may have some advantages over extending thread while creating single thread. 9. Multithreading is the execution of different parts of a process  called  threads,  simultaneously at the same time without interfering with each other. In reference to multithreading, synchronization is the capability to control the access of multiple threads (or tasks) to the shared resources so that one thread do not alter a shared v ariable while another is in the process and hence, avoiding errors. In the diagram there are three threads of a single process, each with a different query and response. Fig5. Synchronization in Multithreading(LandrieuS.,2008) 10. Preemptive scheduling is the act of temporarily interrupting a  task  being carried out by the processor and resuming it later. Time slicing is the time period for which

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Critical theory and professionalism Essay Example for Free

Critical theory and professionalism Essay In what ways can critical theory shed light on professionalism? This presentation explores how critical theory can provide a perspective for critiquing professionalism in education. In so doing the nature of the relationship between the professionalisation and social movement trends in education is addressed. An attempt at a definition of professionalism is going to be the focus of the first part of the presentation. Several concepts articulated within critical theory are discussed for their relevance to the issue of professionalism. The work of the Frankfurt School is underlined, drawing parallels to the work of Gramsci and Freire. In the final analysis, specific issues and questions raised by the perspective of Critical Theory are reflected upon as they apply to the professionalisation of education. The concept of professionalism Literature on professionalism is in its abundance. There have been many attempts at providing a clear definition, including the government-led agendas calling for higher degrees on professionalism in education. It can be noted at the outset that attempts at coming up with a definition of professionalism in education have struggled to agree on a particular one. Freidson (1994) has concluded that the use of the term professionalism is inconsistent. He argues that professionalism is ‘The Third Logic’, claiming that professions are occupational groupings that exercise relatively high degrees of control over the conditions as well as how they carry out their work. This kind of arrangement provides a mechanism for organising some aspects of social life in a way that properly deploys specialist knowledge. Professionalism is therefore viewed as a mode of social coordination and competes with, and provides some insulation from, both market and bureaucratic forms of organisation. It has also been viewed as â€Å"a state of mind† or ideology that reflects a way of thinking about the cognitive aspects of a profession and the characteristics that typify a professional (Van Ruler, 2005). In other words, in the case of teaching, professionalism is the cultural means by which we give meaning, purpose, definition, and direction to work as professionals and the place of practitioners in society. It can therefore be claimed that there is no universal agreement of the concept. It has been implored by some authorities for teaching to become evidence-based profession like medicine and law. Hargreaves, for example describes teaching as the â€Å"paradoxical profession†. He asserts that of all the jobs that are, or aspires to be professions, only teaching is expected to create the human skills and capacities that will enable individuals and organizations to survive and succeed. (Hargreaves, 2003). Carr (1992) has suggested that in this ‘extended’ view of educational professionalism, education and teaching are to be understood by reference to the elaborative network of public duties, obligations and responsibilities in which teaching as a social role is implicated. It can be asserted that if teaching is a profession, there has been an assumption that teachers should be equipped with capacities for autonomous judgement and the freedom to exercise this judgement. It could be considered inappropriate for politicians or employers to dictate to teachers what is or is not worthy of inclusion in the school curriculum, or what kinds of knowledge and skill are crucial for the professional conduct of teaching. It is with this view in mind that Flinders (1980) has argued that teaching is an open-ended activity. Helsby (1995) claims that professionalism is subject to geographical and cultural differences and it can be understood as relating to exceptional standards of behaviour, dedication as well as a strong service ethic. This view is supported by Bryan (2003) who argues that professional work can be seen to be increasingly influenced by politics. This can be justified by the claim that the policies of governments are ideologically driven, hence professionalism may be understood as constructs which develop in response to ideological influences. Thomas (2012) uses professionalism as a descriptor of a combination of teachers’ specific capabilities and knowledge, the purpose and ethical underpinnings of their work, the extent to which they are able to exercise independent and critical judgement, their role in shaping and leading changes in their field, and their relationship to other stakeholders. Despite the vicissitude of the notion of professionalism in education, standard analyses of how this concept can be applied in public services such as teaching and nursing have stressed the importance of specialist knowledge  and expertise, ethical codes as well as procedures concerned with training, induction and continuing professional development (Flexner, 1915; Larson, 1977; Langford, 1978; Eraut, 1994). Attached to this view of professionalism is the assumption that in exchange for a greater say in matters related to school and teaching, teachers are expected to submit to greater levels of scrutiny and work roles that go beyond classroom teaching (Stone-Johnson, 2013). In this exchange there is a shift of power whereby as the work of the teachers becomes increasingly professionalised, teachers appear to have surrendered degrees of professionalism. The critical project in education supervenes from the postulation that pedagogical practices are linked to social practices, and that it is the task of the critical intellectual to identify and address injustices in these practices. The Frankfurt School’s perception of Critical Theory was driven by an underlying commitment to the notion that theory as well as practice must inform the work of those who seek to transform the oppressive conditions that exist in the world. Their ideas influenced other great critical theorists such as Freire and Gramsci. If the notion of critical theory is to be linked to the debate on professionalism, it can be argued that the development of critical pedagogy out of critical theory has changed the way through which the role of the teacher is seen, particularly the professional position of the teacher in the society. It has been argued that there has been a widespread erosion of professional autonomy in recent years (Barton et al, 1994, Whitty et al 1998). This has been a result of the centralisation of control over all aspects of teacher’s work such as curriculum (National Curriculum, literacy and numeracy hours), assessment, (SATs, QAA/ Ofsted Inspections) and conditions of service (imposed by the employers in a controlled quasi-market regulated by centralist funding formulae, league tables and inspection regimes.) (Freidson, 2001). This can be corroborated by a survey of teachers carried by Helsby and McCulloch (1997) as it showed that the government onslaught of edicts and initiatives demolished professionalism. It has been argued the formulation of policy documents have positioned the teacher as fundamentally impotent in terms of curriculum design. The teacher  has been reduced to a mere curriculum deliverer. This is mainly to system of communication that is viewed as one-sided by educational critiques. Murphy and Fleming (2010) have attempted to deal with this issue by using the Habermas’ notion of communicative action. They argue that, for Habermas, the essential feature of communicative action is that it aims at reaching agreement. Furthermore in order for that agreement to be not only mutually acceptable but satisfactory, its participants must be willing to make and defend validity claims such as claims of truth, rightness and truthfulness. Habermas’ notion accedes to the fact that while validity claims are raised automatically in everyday communication, it is only when communication aims primarily at reaching consensus, and when participants provide reasons for their argument, that rationality actually manifests itself. It can be argued that in the case of professionalism, Critical Theory is meant to herald a liberatory education that empowers stakeholders, fosters curiosity and critical thinking, and provides a means for crucial successful bottom-up, top-down engagement in the political arena. The introduction of a prescriptive and centralised National Curriculum has greatly weakened the professional confidence of teachers, (Helsby and McCulloch, 1997). It has also left them uncertain of their ability to cope and of their right to take major curriculum decisions. This has resulted in the government having more control over the teaching profession, (Meyer- Emerick, 2004). Critical theory prefers to call this process ‘one-dimensionality’ of life. Thus this extended the existing understanding of power and its impact on the construction of knowledge. Gramsci was deeply concerned with the manner in which domination was undergoing major shifts and changes within the industrial western societies. He developed a theory of hegemony, whereby he sought to explain the manner by which these changes were exercised more and more through the moral leaders of the society (including teachers) who participated in and reinforced universal ‘common sense’ notions of what is considered to be truth in society. This is consonant with Foucault’s questioning of what he termed ‘regimes of truth’ that were upheld and perpetuated through the manner in which particular knowledge was legitimated within the context of a variety of power relationships within the society. Foucault’s perceptions of power is not  solely at play in the context of domination, but also in the context of creative acts of resistance and these are produced as human beings are interact across the dynamic of relationship and shaped by moments of dominance and autonomy. Such a viewpoint challenges the dichotomised standpoint of either domination or powerlessness of power as enticed by radi cal education theorists. Thus it can be argued that Foucault’s writing on knowledge and power shed light on a critical understanding of the teaching profession in relation to authority. More so it does open the door to a better understanding of power relations within the context of teaching practice.

Friday, September 20, 2019

New Public Management in the UK

New Public Management in the UK This chapter is devoted to the New Public Management (NPM) aspects regarding the UK perspectives. It begins with the meaning and the origin of the NPM. Some discussions are raised whether it is a conceptual thought or a practical application of management in public service. Then, it draws the line of NPM development along the UK history since the public administration had been emerged. Four main trends of public management are investigated from the related literatures to provide the succinctly picture of the UKs public service organisations reform and changes. One way to understand how NPM has been developed is to understand its nature. The attributes and models of NPM therefore are identified and categorised into main groups. This is to show how NPM has been reformulating and re-labelling in different ways from time to time. Later in this chapter, The Pendulum analogy is introduced to analyse the changes and the trend of NPM. It goes to the question whether there is a Pendulum analogy of NPM in the UK or not. What is NPM? Sometimes the new public management seems like an empty canvas; you can paint on it whatever you like. There is no clear or agreed definition of what the new public management actually is and not only is there controversy about what is, or what is in the process of becoming, but also what ought to be. (Ferlie et al., 1996:10) The term New Public Management (NPM) is used internationally in academic, governmental and organisational discussions, but it is rarely defined. It began life as a conceptual device invented for purposes of structuring scholarly discussion of contemporary changes in the organization and management of executive government In the decade after entering the literature, NPM acquired a wider range of meanings. For instance, some scholars have asserted that NPM is the application of new institutional economics to public management, many scholars have used this term in referring to a pattern of policy choices. This variation in usage means NPM is more a recognizable term than a fully established concept. (McLaughlin et al., 2002:15) Britain is very much on the crest of the NPM wave, as successive governments have sought not only to cut public expenditure and redraw the boundaries of the state but also to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of public services(Horton and Farnham, 1999:55) Origin and Definition Hood (1991:5) argues that NPM is originated from two different streams of ideas. First idea is The new institutional economics movement which have a set of new administrative style such as contestability, user choice and transparency. Second is Managerialism style which is drawn from scientific management mindset. Horton, S. Farnham, D. (1999) argue that by 1997 all public services had been affected by the adoption by successive conservative governments of neo-liberal or New Right ideas and all had been managerialised. The service were discussed as new, because they had been shifting from traditional bureaucratic administrative to managed public business. The reform of public services had been internalised and it was possible to describe as New Public Management as the norm. Concept or Application The Development of NPM in the UK Early Public Administration Earlier systems of administration began when there was an empire and its government. It most controlled from the centre based on personal that is the loyalty to individual such as a king or a minister rather than impersonal that is based on the organisation or the state. The common system inherited in this system is patronage and nepotism. The only way that young man can be employed by the government was to be supported by relative or family in a position. And there is no guarantee in the quality or competent in this so called spoiled system. (Hughes, 2003:18) The Traditional Public Administration Administrative systems traditionally dominated public organisations because historically the public services emerged as administrative bodies, supporting political policy makers and law makers and ensuring that the law was implemented. The civil service is still dominated by an elite whose perception of their roles is that of policy advisers to ministers and guardians of the public interest rather than managers. The administrative culture is also a consequence of traditional systems of public accountability (Horton and Farnham, 1999:38) Hughes (2003) states that the public administration was once a major movement in public sector reform established between 1900 and 1920. He characterized this tradition model as an administration under the control of political leadership, based on a strictly hierarchical model of bureaucracy (p.2) According to his work, the most influence theorists who contribute the success idea of public administration are Woodrow Wilson, Max Weber and Frederick Taylor. Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), the key activist and the professor at Princeton, argued that there should be a distinctive separation between politics and the administration. He proposed this idea many years before becoming the president of the United States. Max Weber (1864-1920), the German sociologist and political economist, formulated the theory of bureaucracy which set out the principles form of modern system of bureaucracy as the impersonal system based on rules and law, hierarchy structure organisation, bureaucratic professional public official, specialised office management, recruited and appointed by merit and politically neutral. Frederick Taylor (1856-1915), an American engineer was recognised as the father of scientific management devoted to improve standard of factory assembly line but fit very well with the theory of bureaucracy. He created theory of one best way of working and systematic control. (Hughes, 2003:20-27) The nature of administrative official work in most public organisations is defined as bureaucratic, incrementalist and particularist. The characterisation of bureaucratic management is hierarchy, impersonality and expertise. They concluded that Those in managerial positions have clearly defined roles within a specialised, hierarchical and horizontal division of labour. Their responsibility are narrowly defined and circumscribed by rules, and officials have limited discretion. (Horton and Farnham, 1999:39) Public administration was successfully established and has its golden age around 1920- to the early 1970s. During 1945-1979, it is known as The welfare state which has developed during the immediate post-war period that needs the reconstruction. There was rationing of industrial and building materials and planning in the economy, in land use and in public service. (Flynn, 2002:30) However, later it was found that the hierarchical structured have four major problems: First, political control was inadequate and illogical because politics cannot be separated from the administrations. Second, the problem of one base way begin to focus more on procedure and manual rather than contingency plan and problem solving, this is appeared as no responsibility for results. Third, the problems of bureaucracy were raised such as the administration work as timeserver waiting for retirement day, the formal bureaucratic offices were no longer efficient when compare with the private management company.(Hughes, 2003:30-37) In summary, the tradition model of public administration was the longest and most successful theory of management in the public sector before it had been replaced by the New Public Management Style. The Managerialism Since the early 1980s, there have been three main managerialist thrusts in the public services, although there have been variations within each service. First, there was tighter control of spending, involving cash limits and manpower budgets, and cuts in spending on staff. Second, there was a movement to decentralise managerial responsibilities and functions through more devolved budgetary systems and giving more responsibility to line managers, Third, management has become more rational with the introduction of management by objectives and performance management systems, including use of performance indicators and merit pay.(Horton and Farnham, 1999:42-43) The shift from particularist management to generic management in the public services is demonstrated by four key changes: first, public management is increasingly dominated by general managers, rather than specialist managers or professionalssecond, it is more objective-driven, rather than problem-driven; third, managers are now prepared to facilitate change, rather than resist it; and, fourth, managers behave as if the public are their main concern, rather than their staff.(Horton and Farnham, 1999:43) The New Public Management The emergence of new public management era has been developed from the scientific management and corresponding with the managerialism initiative. The good way to describe the NPM development is to do by chronological order according with the political development as well established by Norman Flynn (2002). 1979-1997, The New Right Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher and John Major toward the public services hired advisers form business, especially retailing companies to help them to think about how public services should be managed. The solutions included internal market, competition with the private sector, performance measure and management, decentralized operational management and revised payment system.(Flynn, 2002:36) 1997-2007 the Blair government announce the new third way represented a new type of politics, leaving behind old definition of left and right, capitalism and communism but the two great streams- democratic socialism and liberalism. A new generation of public reform was labelled as join-up government and later know as whole-of-government. This model was first introduced by Blairs government that its strategy is focus more on holistic rather than only economics approach. It aimed to make better use of scarce resources, create collaboration between different departments in the same area and provide one stop service to citizen. Due to the threat of terrorism had arisen that time, shared information between public agencies is became the key issue. It cut across traditional boundaries by create coordinative structure. It was claimed as Post-NPM model and critiqued the previous NPM that ignore the problem of horizontal structure. (Flynn, 2002, Christensen and Lagreid, 2007) 2007-2010, The Brown ministry ( latest ref needed) The NPM Attributes and Models It is essential to identify key elements of NPM in order to see whether it can be categorising and groping those attributes and model to formulate the trend or movement. The following part of this chapter then consults with the previous literatures and related studies to gather all information and later on proposed the major trend of the NPM pathway. NPM Attributes Hood (1991:4-5) discussed the doctrines of NPM which characterized to 7 components as follow: Using professional management who is full accountability and responsibility rather the power Explicit standards and measures of performance in terms of target, quantities Focus on output and outcome rather than procedures Shift to disaggregation of units in which separate provision and production interests to divided units. Create greater competition, use term contract to make competitive cost and higher standard Do more on business-like management style implemented in the public service culture Cutting costs and careful on budgeting with the idea of doing more for less He critiques that to identify success of NPM should be assess by the output to be delivered on what its claim. But the result so far has not a substantial work to be proved. NPM Models According to Ferlie et al. (1996:10-15), four new public management models have been introduced: Model 1: The Efficiency Drive, early to mid-1980s in Thatcher government initiated this model and the core themes are: An increased attention to financial control A strong managerial by hierarchy, a command and control mode of working An extension of audit both financial and professional, bench-marking, assessing performance Increased stress on provider responsiveness to consumers. More market-minded and customer oriented. Deregulation of the labour-market and increasing the pace of work: short-term contract; higher turnover at senior management level A shift in power from professionals to management Less bureaucratic and more entrepreneurial management New forms of corporate governance Model 2: Downsizing and Decentralization Developed quasi-market as the mechanism for allocating resources whining the public sector A move from management by hierarchy to management by contract. Contracting out of non-strategic function Delayering and downsizing, moves to flatter organizational structures, staff reduction move from command and control to networking and coordination Move away from standardized forms of service to more flexibility and variety. Model 3: In Search of Excellence, there is strong interest in how organizations manage change and innovation. In the bottom-up form: emphasis on organization development and learning; the learning organization movement of the late 1980s represents the latest relabeling of this tradition. In the top-down form: stress on charismatic forms of top-down leadership, more intensive corporate training programmes and strategic human resource management function. Model 4: Public Service Orientation receives notions of high quality management A major concern with service quality Reflection of user concerns and values in the management process Stress on the development of societal learning over and above the delivery of routine service Stress on securing participation and accountability as legitimate concerns of management in the public sector. Centralization: joint- up government, whole-of Government, reaggregation, In the 1990s the UK public services had experienced significant changes in what government expected of them and the way they were organised. The conservative government prior to 1997 had followed a policy of trying to achieve greater efficiency and service through market forces, setting up structures within public services to promote competition. With the election of the Labour government in 1997 this policy changed. Rather than emphasising competition, the emphasis switched to co-operation and what became known as Join-up government. Different services should work together to make them more accessible to their communities and improve quality. It was a theme with which Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, became personally identified.(Johnson and Scholes, 2002:572) Decentralization: Privatization, Agencification, Marketization, Disaggregation It [Privatisation] has taken three main forms: the selling-off government assets, the increased private-sector role within the public sector, and commercialisation of the public sectorFirst, the selling-off of government assets involves the transfer of ownership form the public to the private sector. Since 1979, more than 60 nationalised industries an state companies have been privatised, local authorities have sold land and other assets, Second, the increased private-sector role within the public sector involves private businesses and voluntary organisations providing public services still under government control government bodies have increasingly contracted-out service provision to private contractors; and central government has appointed many business people on to the boards of quangos that are responsible for providing public services. Third, commercialisation of the public sector requires public sector bodies to imitate allegedly more efficient private sector bodies in the way they manage themselves. For example, government bodies have levied more charges on consumers of their services; performance management has been increasingly entrenched in the public sector; and government reforms of public services have often asserted the right to manage with public managers being given more freedom locally to deploy resources in pursuit of centrally set policy goals. (Horton and Farnham, 1999:53) The Pendulum of Public Sector Management The Analogy of Pendulum The NPM Pendulum in the UK The major attempt is to reduce size of the public sector. By 1997, more than 90 public enterprises had been sold to private sector. This included both selling of public enterprise to private shareholders and introducing competition in to the remaining public sector into the supply of services of private sector. Privatization had the further advantage of raising additional revenue from the sale of state assets, thus avoiding increases in general taxation to fund government spending. (Horton and Farnham, 1999:12)