Sunset Boulevard Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sunset Boulevard - Essay Example film director Max Von Mayerling’s manipulation of Norma Desmond by paving her way to stardom and later on exerted his manipulative efforts to prevent the former star’s depression from plummeting further. In the persisting cycle of manipulation, Norma Desmond also plays the part of a manipulator as manifested in her relationship with writer Joe Gillis wherein she pays Gillis to keep her company later on caused her to murder the young writer. This manipulation continues its cycle in Hollywood at present with young actors and actresses being manipulated by the film industry who benefited from these actors and actresses when they were young and later on became less profitable as the young stars became exposed with the privileges of fame resulting to self-destruction and eventually losing their jobs as actors and actresses. The film industry produced child stars who in the long run became either self-destructive, had unstable family life, end of their acting careers or sadly, leads to their death An example of such is actress Lindsay Lohan who is currently on the news because of her drinking problems. Producers and other influential people in the motion picture business can’t even intervene and help Lohan on her drinking problem. Another example is actor Brad Renfro who had a constant problem with drugs and died only this year. Fans are also manipulated by these producers and influential few in the film industry by covering up the repulsive acts of the hottest stars while making profits out of these stars while feeding the fans with illusive stories and faà §ades of the profitable stars and later on withdrawing their support on these stars when they are no longer profitable because they had become uncontrollable in their wayward activities. Although some fans still remain devoted to celebrities, producers will not even consider these faded stars for neither a lead role nor a tiny role in their new films. Some fans maintain their admiration and respect for these

Evaluating The Different Changes To Child Protection Social Work Essay

Evaluating The Different Changes To Child Protection Social Work Essay When researching the changes that have taken place in the last decade, it is notable that law, guidance and application to practice are constantly under revision. The aim of this project is to identify and assess the impacts of the recent changes in child protection as well as public opinion and awareness of them. Evaluating changes in child protection is challenging as defining the rights of children has never been particularly straightforward. Once, in Victorian times, they were considered the property of parents who can treat them in whatever manner they like. Fortunately, most people today believe that children should be emotionally safeguarded and should receive protection from government agencies from physical and sexual abuse. In examining how child protection has evolved during the past ten years, this project will also be discussing the facts and misconceptions about class and sexual abuse. Different types of data were used to identify those secondary research section underlines previous studies, findings, evaluation of government and voluntary agencies actions in order to come to a conclusion, whereas in primary research data was collected by using a questionnaire to summarise public opinion and trends about the subject. Feasibility study was conducted to identify any possible diffi culties in completing the project and methods used are evaluated in methodology section. Whilst assessing the changes in policies, the research will give an insight into public attitudes and government legislation regarding child protection which is of interest to students who are hoping to progress onto a Social Work degree course and pursue their future career working with children. For students who are hoping to work with adults, the research might provide base for understanding the problems of paedophilia and an insight into recent Acts of Parliament. This was the reason why the research topic was selected. Secondary sources of information, such as journal articles and government publications, will be selected to identify recent changes in the system. Even though these are widely attainable, the terminology used in selected journals is exclusively directed to professionals who work with children and some additional research will be essential in order to understand the topic and some legal terms. Whilst secondary data will be obtained from books, journals and government publications, the primary data will be obtained from an interview with a child protection professional and questionnaires which will be completed regionally and anonymously by adults. Therefore, time will need to be designated for designing the questionnaire and interview questions. Questions will need to be written so that answers provided will be easy to analyse. However, primary data will not be obtained from children due to the sensitivity of the topic. Basic computer skills, forward planning, determination and patien ce will be necessary in producing the following. Marina Trifunovic Methodology Study: Analysis of the Methods Used to Complete the Project The project is structured according to the requirements of the grade descriptors and it is outlined to meet the standardised criteria. In addition, the methods used in gathering primary and secondary data were suggested and encouraged by the college tutor. The research for the project involved gathering primary and secondary data and its cogency relies on validity of those sources. The information is independently generated using the methods which are briefly evaluated in this section. In terms of secondary data, validity was assured by using a variety of sources, such as books, newspaper articles and web pages which demanded patience and persistence. However, it provided a fundamental base for the project and most significantly, it subsequently led to a greater knowledge of the subject. Application of this knowledge allowed the critical evaluation of the issues relating the child protection. This broad approach to secondary research imposes time limitations and requires excellent understanding of the terminology. In addition, primary data was gathered using the questionnaire and an interview with a child protection officer, employed by the NSPCC in Manchester. The interview with the social worker provided an excellent insight into the issues related to child abuse and poverty. However, the preparation for this was time consuming and difficult due to the limited availability of the interviewee and even though she tried and stay objective, some subjectivity as well as a degree of interpretation might have influenced the findings. Measures were taken to enhance the reliability of the findings generated by questionnaire by using a public sample from various age groups, genders and occupations and similar results enhance validity of the findings. However, the questionnaire was completed regionally and with a relatively small sample (36 people took part) which does not allow generalisation. Unlike interviews, using questionnaires does not require prior arrangements and information can be collected from a large number of people relatively easy. Qualitative data used in the research covers a very broad area of different aspects to child protection. This is gathered from secondary as well as primary sources. Though information is brief comparable to that gathered by quantitative approaches, it poses difficulties when measuring it with reliability. Qualitative data found in secondary research such as in numerous books and journals require intensive reading and analysis in order to determine appropriate sources of information, e.g. finding and recognising the objective data in newspapers articles. Qualitative data is descriptive and this method was used to gather information using an interview. Nevertheless, the qualitative data poses risks in terms of written work as it is easy for a researcher who is still learning about the subject to express it in a descriptive rather than analytical manner. In this project, a degree of critical analysis was maintained by constantly questioning why findings are in a way as they were found. Quantitative data was obtained by counting and coding the information gathered by the questionnaire in primary research. The information was transformed into numerical data and represented by using charts and graphs in the primary research section. This was further used to numerically measure the public opinion of child protection as well as to support the qualitative data and evidence found and analysed in secondary research. However, quantitative data in this project is not an infallible indicator on how people actually feel about child protection. The questions which were left unanswered in a questionnaire might be interpreted as the information which could not be limited to numerical descriptions and due to the sensitivity of the topic, some socially desirable answers are expected. Marina Trifunovic Secondary research: Changes in Child Protection During the 2000s Law and guidance which regulates the child protection is constantly under revision. Nevertheless, the twentieth century featured the shift in attitudes when the family moved on from Victorian times where Children were seen and not heard (Morgan,1985, p.89). Fortunately, most people today believe that children are not property of their parents and that they should be emotionally safeguarded and when necessary receive protection from government agencies from physical and emotional abuse. Therefore, when a report is made, the child is usually taken from the parents and put into care. Many sociologists believe that this is primarily associated with the lower socio-economic classes because poverty is believed to be related with increased chances of instability in the family (NSPCC, 2011). Although that is statistically correct, children in more desirable neighbourhoods may be more vulnerable if there is a general belief that childhood abuse could not possibly happen in these areas as poor children appear to be the easy choice for the sexual predators of the world. In examining how child protection has evolved during the past ten years, also the secondary research section involves analysis of the facts and misconceptions about class and sexual abuse. Child Protection Reforms Every society has an interest in protecting its children, not only because they are the stewards of the future, but because one of the merits which grades the level of development of civilisation is how well a particular culture treats its children. In England, there have been some arguments about reinforcing social values of the English way of parenting on people from foreign cultures. However, the tragic story of Victoria Climbie had influenced politicians to discuss the ways to improve the law in place with regards to child protection in the UK. The Labour government also analysed how the holes in the system could be closed and systematically, the media had played a role in informing the public of what was regarded by the journalists as a blinding incompetence of government agencies (Lonne, 2009). The inquiry into the case discovered that a number of agencies such as the police, NHS, NSPCC and local churches that Victoria attended all noticed the signs of abuse, but had done noth ing to assess the situation. As a result of the blinding incompetence in which way this case was assessed, Parliament passed an amendment to the original 1989 Children Act to the updated 2004 Children Act (The National Archives, 2011). These amendments to the Act gave much greater discretion to child protection agencies and power to react when protecting children and the new principle of every child matters led officials to not dismiss certain cases because of the social or cultural background of the child in question. The Home Secretary appointed a review of safeguarding children in June 2007 and measures were put in place to ensure better communication and cooperation between the agencies and the government agencies are exchanging data regarding sex offenders in England and Wales under the guidance of multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA). In a controlled way, information is also made available to various people, such as teachers, employers, landlords and parents. The extent to which information is reviled involves regional variations and is further stimulated by a campaign for sex offenders disclosure scheme, commonly referred to as Sarahs Law. This scheme was piloted in Hampshire, Cleveland, Cambridgeshire and Warwickshire over a one year period in 2008 and it allowed members of the public to attain information from the police about any sex offending convictions of an individual, for example, a family friend or a neighbour. However, the scheme does not mean that information is unr eservedly made public. During the pilot period a total number of 585 enquiries were initiated, 315 of which were preceded further and resulted in a total of only 21 criminal disclosures being made. Also, 43 disclosure applications prompted other safeguarding actions such as referral to social services (Almandras, 2010) which indicates the schemes useful application in practice. The Home Office carried out the research which concluded that criminal justice agencies had benefited from Sarahs Law which resulted in increased intelligence as well as in an improvement in a way which public concerns are handled. This led to an announcement in August 2010 that the scheme would expand to twenty more police force areas and remaining forces were invited to consider the introduction of the scheme by March 2011. However, even though police seniors feel confident that information which is disclosed under the scheme will remain confidential, organisations such as NSPCC have stressed that criminal disclosure might encourage violent attacks. When evaluating this extent of information disclosure, it is important not to forget that it only involves the information about individuals who have been convicted for a sexual offence. This does not eliminate the need for public awareness to safeguard children from yet unknown offenders. Other significant methods to tackle the child abuse include a cultural shift of condemning violence within the home to the same extent as violence outside the home, and some researchers argue that Parliament could pass more amendments in safeguarding children, notably against corporal punishment, such as the case in sixteen European countries, as a part of a revised Children Act in future (Wilson and James, 2007). Nevertheless, designing a strategy to tackle the issues of child protection involved creating a profile of child abuse, for example, assessing which families would be more at risk to abuse children and social workers concluded that a degree of risk is strongly correlated with poverty, social isolation, family breakdown and poor parent-child relationships (Wilson and James, 2007). This has led government and voluntary agencies to focus their work on poorer households where such risks are statistically more possible as the economic factors inevitably create stress that can ac cumulate and result in parents to take out their frustration on their closest family, most notably on their children. Struggling to survive and financial problems, however, are not the primary reason behind the child abuse among middle and higher class families. Studies have found that abuse in the higher social circles are directly related to factors such as the abuse of drug and alcohol, and there is some hesitation to prosecute perpetrators from middle-class and upper-class backgrounds because they would be unable to provide economic support to their family members if they are prosecuted and put in prison. In addition, such an individual would be able to bring more financial resources to fighting the legal charges and it is argued how it would be easier for such a person to obtain personal references from affluent friends and family as well as have an advantage of the access to greater funds for legal help (Faller, 1993). New Labour reforms and Children Act 2004 aim to prevent children from being on repeated reports on the child protection registers (Powell 2002). In practice, this means that children would be much less likely to be removed from one abusive situation and placed in another. The reforms of the government legislations reinforce increased measures for assessment of the prospective foster parents, and more strict evaluation of the biological parents who are hoping to gain back the custody of their children (Powell 2002). Protecting children online Government experts argue that parents, influenced by media, are contributing in creating the paranoid culture and thus are overprotecting their children. The risk-averse approach to raising children has resulted in an increasing number of children who are exploring the world of the internet and particularly social networking sites as they are disallowed to play outside. London School of Economic had carried the comprehensive survey which found that ninety eight percent of children have access to internet (UK Children Go Online, 2006) and another study concluded that nearly all questioned parents (95%) do not recognise the slang that their children use to let other people know that their parents are supervising them (Netlingo, 2011). Nevertheless, the generation gap often leaves parents unable to fully understand the complexity of the conduct of cyber bulling nor significance of online safety (Khan, 2009). This influenced the government to react and the agencies such as CEOP, UKCAS an d IWF are developed and designed to provide information and support for the victims as well as minimise the availability of images of child sexual abuse and help to prosecute the offenders. The number of intelligence reports from Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) that led to police arrests increased from eighty three in 2006-2007 to four hundred seventeen in 2009-2010. In 2009, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, marked the UK approaches to online child protection as one of the most effective in the world (IWF, 2009). Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Class Distinction Childhood sexual abuse in reputable families was often undetected because the biggest percentage of the higher classes appears to consist of respectable citizens. From a sociological point of view, taking children into care would be a more difficult decision in these cases as sexual abuse that involves immediate biological relatives is statistically more rare comparing to those involving lovers of the parents. Career people, doctors, teachers, and successful men, sometimes women, as well as ministers of church were therefore able to carry on the sexual abuse of children because of the widespread misconception that such terrible things could not possibly be committed by these model citizens. Another reason why many offenders were successful in hiding their crimes was because they chosen the victims who were often vulnerable and lonely children that did not have warm relationships with parents and intended to obey authority. For example, in one case study, a child was abused in front o f the neighbours who simply looked the other way because the father of the abused child had created a negative opinion of the child in their minds by repeatedly telling them what a naughty and difficult child she was. So when he chased her around while she was undressed and hit her outside, the neighbours thought nothing of it as it was an all white, middle class neighbourhood where such things never happened (Itzin 2009). Their targets are not the conventionally perceived social underclass, though many victims will be drawn from that, but are rather from a collection of groups who form the fodder of abusive networks; who are subjected over and over again throughout their lives to multiple abuses (Itzin 2000, p. 390). Unfortunately, there is no way to completely eliminate the horror of sexual abuse from society, but there is a way to encourage a shift toward making children less vulnerable. Children Act 2004 recognised children as individuals in their own right who do not deserve to be beaten, raped, or psychologically tortured. Protecting children from harm should be a responsibility of all adults as well as implementing a zero-tolerance policy on child abuse and prosecution as well as rehabilitation of all offenders, regardless to the social class.

Technological Innovations of The Industrial Revolution Essay -- Essays

Technological Innovations of The Industrial Revolution There were many aspects of the eighteenth century Industrial Revolution, yet the most prominent were all of the technological innovations. Three main ideas that contributed to the growth of inventions were cotton production, iron production, and the steam engine. This web page will provide a brief overview of these discoveries. First, cotton manufacturing increased tremendously. The initial invention was the flying shuttle. In the 1730's it was created to increase the amount of clothe produced, by weaving cotton at a faster pace. Then James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny in 1765, which consisted of a series of machines that simultaneously spun sixteen threads of cotton. This sped up the amount of time that it took to produce cotton fabric, and took the place of several laborers work. Richard Arkwright soon realized that power-operated machines could be created, where unskilled workers could operate them. He did this by using warm water from the ground to rotate a five-story wheel, which provided...

Florida Football Players: Are They Students Athletes? Essay

Many schools look to create the number one colligate football team in their division. From The University of Alabama, The University of Louisiana, and even here, at The University of Florida, each program strives to develop something great by recruiting players to fill holes on the team, or simply make an overall impact. However, the individual’s academic performance is sometimes over looked based on the fact that they are able to catch a ball and run. Student athletes should not only be able to perform on the field and bring money into the institution, but they should also be capable of performing in the classroom. The University of Florida over emphasizes athletics and monetary benefits, thus causing most players to suffer academically. Florida football players are true athletes. Each athlete is expected to perform at their highest ability on game day. It’s no secret that most division one athletes are at the top of their recruiting class, and are usually the best tha t high school football has to offer. The recruiting process is based on the hope of delivery and a win on gameday. The University of Florida gained three number one football recruits in the 2013 season including Vernon Hargreaves III. Now looking forward to 2015, Florida has set its sights on Byron Cowart, the number one player in the nation according to ESPN. Most programs look for the best of the best, and invest in players that have the ability to play on the professional level. The University of Florida is well known for its award winning program, and their ability to produce professional players. They have succeeded in developing some of the most prominent players in the NFL to include Heisman-Trophy winner Tim Tebow and NFL Hall of Famer Jack Youngblood. The university has invested time and money into each of these individuals in hopes that they will perform on game day and continue to prove that they were the best decision for the program throughout their career. Florida football players are of great benefit to the university. Every game costs. For example, this season alone, The University of Florida had to pay for a  game that wasn’t even played. The university had to dish out almost one million dollars to The University of Idaho just for showing up and leaving. College football is a deeply loved sport that carries a large price tag. If an athlete is not delivering on the field, they are quickly pulled out so that they can reevaluate their strategy to win the game. Each athlete must deliver every game to ensure that money keeps flowing not only into the program, but into the school itself. The success of a colligate football program is based on the number of national titles the school holds, and their rankings in their division. Florida alone has won eight SEC championships, and three national titles, making them a dominant factor in the SEC. They have also been ranked the number one seed several times throughout the programs history. Gator football brings a lot of money to the institution and is an important part of the university. Florida football players however, carry a low emphasis on academics. At the University of Florida, and other big name institutions, academic exceptions are usually made on the behalf of each player during the admissions process. For example, here at the University of Florida, most football players scored 346 points lower on the SAT, than the regular students at the institution. This is equivalent to the gap between students at The University of Georgia versus those at Harvard University. Majority of players also had lower GPA’s of around 2.8 versus the student population of a 4.0 or higher coming out of high school. The University of Florida also does not possess a high graduation rate of their football players, specifically African-Americans. Florida only graduates about forty-nine percent of their football players each year, compared to the overall graduation rate of the institution at eighty-nine percent. This goes to show that Florida football players are being held to a higher standard as an athlete versus that of a student. Many do receive a tutor, for help with classes; unfortunately the tutors only do enough to see that the player remains eligible, rather than helping them excel as a student. According to many coaches, â€Å"it is the price of winning†. To develop the most competitive program in a division one sport, many institutions are devoted to the flexibility of admissions and grade forgiveness, for athletes. However, when did compromising an individual’s future become socially acceptable? As stated before, The University of Florida places a stronger emphasis on athle tics rather than education when  it comes to athletes. The school may be a desired look for most athletes, but is it really beneficial for them? Colligate football players here at The University of Florida are usually considered to be all around great players. Many are able to deliver on game day and often have a chance at going pro. The Gator football team brings in the most money out of every sport at the university. Therefore, they have earned much respect on the field and are one of the universities greatest assets. However, football players at The University of Florida are athlete students, not student athletes. The importance of academics is not stressed enough to the football players. There are some players who meet the university GPA and test score requirements, but a vast majority tend to fall short†¦ really short. Rather than challenging each athlete intellectually, the University of Florida ensures that all the athletes’ energy is geared towards sports. College is the foundation to the rest of a person’s life. Many apply to the University of Florida that are more than qualified to attend but are denied. Could this be an effect of a football team stacked with unfit applicants? This issue brings a deep concern to many and raises a question of fairness. We as a country have deemed it sociably acceptable to make exceptions for athletes out of our own greed to win and make money. We are not helping these athletes by passing them through classes just so they can play on game day. This is a hindrance and must be corrected. Whether it be through a program directed at colligate athletes to ensure their college success, or doing what is right and not admitting them at all as if they were a normal student, something needs to be done. The individual athletes overall future should be the most important aspect, and not creating a competitive program that brings in money. By continuing to admit these students and pass them through classes, we are not preparing them for their future careers, and therefore as a school system, we failed them. The price of winning is actually the price of failure.

Lab Report Mn-Steel

Determination of Manganese in Steel Submitted by: ——————- Date of Submission: 27. 03. 11 Objectives: In steel production aside the iron, which is the primary source, some amounts of manganese is used together with carbon. The objective of this experiment is determining the manganese amount in the steel compound by using UNICAM UV-VIS Spectrometer. Theory: Many molecules absorb ultraviolet or visible light. The absorbance of a solution increases as attenuation of the beam increases.Absorbance is directly proportional to the path length, b, and the concentration, c, of the absorbing species. Beer's Law states that A = ebc, where e is a constant of proportionality, called the absorptivity. Different molecules absorb radiation of different wavelengths. An absorption spectrum will show a number of absorption bands corresponding to structural groups within the molecule. In this experiment wavelength range between 400-650nm is used in order to detec t in the visible range. Steel is an alloy primarily composed of iron with carbon content between 0. 2% and 1. 7% by weight. 1. 5% manganese is may be used too, to provide additional strength for a modest price increase. Carbon and other elements act as a hardening agent, preventing dislocations in the iron atom crystal lattice from sliding past one another. Manganese is essential to iron and steel production by virtue of its sulfur-fixing, deoxidizing, and alloying properties. In order to detect the manganese amount in the compound KIO4 is used to oxidize Mn+2 to Mn +7 since Mn+2 does not absorb in the visible region therefor cannot be detected.Tungsten lamp is used in the experiment to reach the range between 400-650nm. After the beam comes from the tungsten lamp, it passes through the monocromator to reach the wavelength range which was selected to find the maximum wavelength. After the light passes through the monocromator it goes through the cuvette and then the detector. The cu vette is made of quartz in order to pass the visible light whereas a glass cuvette would absorb it. The Redox Reaction: 5 IO4 – + 2 Mn2+ + 3 H2O ? 2 MnO4 + 5 IO3- + 6 H+ Reagents: KMnO4 KIO4 H3PO4 Unknown SolutionDeionized Water Apparatus: Pipette Beaker Heater UNICAM UV-VIS Spectrometer Quartz Cuvette Volumetric Flask Calculations: Weight of KMnO4 : 0. 09149g Weight of KIO4 : 0. 40807g emax: 525nm Absorbance for the unknown: 0,415 [pic] Conclusion: I: Qualitative and or Quantitative identification II: Error discussion While at the addition step of H3PO4 after 5ml of H3PO4 is pipetted, it was transferred into a volumetric cylinder, and then transferred into the unknown solution and the blank solution. There may have been material loss during the process.Dilution errors may have been done during the dilution process. There may be some personal errors made while weighing the compounds Any scratch, stain or fingerprint left on the cuvette may cause a shift from the accurate wave length in the detected value. If any bubbles left in the cuvette while the detection is made will as well as cause wrong wavelength value. Reference: http://teaching. shu. ac. uk/hwb/chemistry/tutorials/molspec/uvvisab1. htm http://www. kimya. boun. edu. tr/webpages/courses/chem308/Determination%20of%20Manganese%20in%20Steel. pdf