Friday, January 31, 2020

Barriers Faced by Human Service Workers Essay Example for Free

Barriers Faced by Human Service Workers Essay â€Å"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile. † – Albert Einstein Human service workers act as a liaison between clients in need and the agencies clients seek to obtain help from, and while human service workers strive to provide services in an adequate and timely manner this is not always possible. Human service workers are human therefore there can be a large margin of error. All human service agencies are subject to barriers that prevent perfect service from being rendered. While certain barriers do exist in the human service field improvements can be made that can lead to greater service. In today’s society technology is dominating the workforce causing former work methods to become obsolete. While technology is constantly changing the changes made are often for the better, allowing companies to thrive and overcome existing barriers once faced. Technology not only benefits â€Å"business† companies, but also greatly improves the barriers faced by human service workers. One potential barrier that human service agencies can face is falsification on company records. Falsification of records can prove fatal, especially in Child or Elder Protection cases. While falsification of records may not be the human service workers intention it can indeed be committed when time restraints prevent case workers from visiting their clients in a given time frame. In August 2006 lack of time and falsification of records proved fatal for 14 year old Danieal Kelley of Philadelphia, Pa. Danieal Kelley a then 14 year old cerebral palsy victim died from neglect at the hands of her own mother. The nightmare of forced starvation and infection that killed Danieal while under the protection of the city’s human service agency is documented in a 258 page grand jury report that charges nine people, her parents, four social workers, and three family friends- in her ghastly death† (CBS3,2008). In the case of Danieal Kelley â€Å"the department of Human Services received at least five reports of Danieal being mistreated between 2003 and 2005†(CBS3, 2008), and while social workers were assigned to Daniela’s case, none appeared to follow through. According to CBS3 news it’s suspected that after Danieal’s death Mickal Kamuvaka the company director of the agency in charge of Daniela’s case held a â€Å"forgery fest† in her office where she had employees â€Å"concoct almost a year’s worth of false progress reports†(CBS3, 2008). The fact that no one took time to protect Danieal sheds light on the terrible fact that â€Å"some† social workers falsify documents to protect themselves. In order to prevent future case like Danieal’s its imperative that a system be in place to prevent social workers from simply doctoring records when it’s convenient for them. A method that could be used to track the whereabouts of said social workers could be a G. P. S. Agencies could provide social workers who are required to make home visits with cell phones implanted with G. P. S. systems. The tracking system could be used while the social workers are on the clock to ensure that home visits are indeed being made within the required time frame. This tracking system could prevent workers from falsifying documentation because their whereabouts would be known ahead of time. An online G. P. S. racking system called World Tracker Web GPS (webgpstrack), which allows devices to be tracked through internet access. According to Mobile GPs online, â€Å"Web GPS Track is a self contained hardware and software package that allows a user to track his assets from anywhere through an internet connected PC† (Mobile GPs, 2008). The Web GPS Tracker works by using the world tracker and a SIM card from a local GSM wireless network carrier. Once the SIM card is inserted into a cell phone, GPS tracking can begin. One’s location can then be accessed by using platforms such as Google maps. This small device can be a very helpful tool in the human service field when it’s necessary to obtain truthful information about a workers true whereabouts. Web GPS Track can become expensive depending on the number of units needed for a given agency. The cost includes a onetime purchase fee of the World Tracker unit which is $350 each. An additional on time subscription fee of 99. 89 per unit is needed to activate the account. Additional fees include a monthly service fee of 19. 98 per unit, a onetime SIM card fee ranging between $25 and $ 50, and any SMS service fee charged by a local service provider. While the cost of GPS tracking can be expensive, it can prove beneficial when proper records are needed, and it may save an agency from facing a large lawsuit because of false documentation, it could also prevent another case of Danieal Kelley. Another potential barrier faced by human service agencies is Intellectual Property Theft. â€Å"Intellectual property is anything from names, images, symbols, and designs used in commerce, intellectual property is considered a valuable asset and most organizations have protected their intellectual property from infringement by others† (Hefter,1995). Intellectual property theft becomes possible when secure information is left unattended and within reach of possible culprits. Some ways that intellectual property may get out is through emails sent to incorrect recipients, when confidential information is left in common areas, or left laying on printers or scanners. Information can also be lost when employees speak on their cell phones in public areas. Intellectual property theft in the human service field can wreak havoc on clients. Personal information can fall into the wrong hands whether it in a domestic violence shelter or and employment shelter. While intellectual property theft is very serious solutions exist that can help combat Intellectual Property Theft. Aside from agencies limiting access to non business related websites to help prevent being hacked, a program called Symantec Data Loss Prevention which is used by leading technological companies can also be used as a safety measure. â€Å"Symantec Data Loss Prevention protects companies from malicious employee behavior, pirating, or accidental leaks that expose confidential information† (Symantec Security, 2008). Symantec Data Loss Prevention works by â€Å"1. Discovery; the software finds confidential data where ever it’s stored, creates an inventory of sensitive, and automatically manages data clean up. 2. Monitor; SDLP helps a company understand how confidential information is being used whether the user is on or off the cooperate network, and gain enterprise visibility. 3. Protect; SDLP helps companies gain visibility into policy violations to proactively secure data and preventing confidential data from leaving an organization.   4.  Manage; SDLP helps companies define universal policies across an enterprise, remediate and report incidents, and detect content accurately within one unified platform† (Symantec Security, 2008). A program offered by Symantec is Norton Internet Security which performs the necessary features above. The cost of the Norton software is fairly inexpensive costing 69. 99. This cost allows a computer to be fully protected for a year before needing to renew the software subscription. Norton is inexpensive software which will help rotect company files and serves as a valuable investment, whether in a corperate office or a human service agency. Another potential barrier faced by human service agencies is the loss of data. As technology becomes more prevalent in the workforce more records are being transferred from paper to computers. As with any form of technology the possibility of records being lost is very real if computers crash or other technological difficulties arise. The best way to protect data is to always backup files. A number of technological software exist that can do this. For agencies using windows, â€Å"The windows server backup software can be used to automatically and continuously backup a number of devices like NAS,CD/DVD, hard drive and tapes† (Computer Customizing, 2008). One form of windows backup software is Acronis True Image which creates a replica of the disk image of the windows server. According to Computer Customizing this backup software helps aid in server disaster recovery by creating backups on a number of media, SAN volumes, and NAS. This software also restores huge databases and all the individual files with instant bare metal restore (Computer Customizing, 2008). This software will help protect all important files preventing valuable files from being lost. Human service workers and human service agencies are bound to face barriers on any given day and while this is an unavoidable truth there are solutions that can allow for a faster paced, safer, and more ethical workplace. While the vast majority of services rendered by human service agencies are completed by hard working human beings, technology is paving the road for a more effective work environment as long as agencies properly utilize the technological tools that are becoming available at a lightning fast rate. Technology is the way of the future and needs to be embraced in order to keep up with the times and not get lost in an overflow of paperwork which distracts from the true purpose of a human service worker which is to be an advocate for those in need.

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Human Cloning Should Not be Permitted Essay -- Argumentative Persuasiv

     Ã‚   According to Richard Seed, "cloning is inevitable.   If I don't do it, someone else will.   There's no way you can stop science" (qtd. in Kadrey 2001). Depending on one's personal opinion about cloning, human cloning in particular, a quote such as that will most likely either anger a reader or excite them.   Human cloning is one of the hottest topics for debate in society today-the lines are very strictly drawn between those in favor of continuing cloning research and those who are staunchly opposed to it.   Meanwhile, despite public opinion, science trudges on behind closed doors working to clone the first human.  This paper will first provide a thorough, but brief, introduction into the topic of cloning itself, including its history and its mechanisms; then, through a series of carefully thought out points, it will illustrate why human cloning should not be allowed to continue at this point in time. Part A.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The "origins" of cloning are vague and variant from source to source.   It has been suggested that cloning began in 1952 when a team of geneticists removed a nucleus from an embryonic frog cell and placed it into an egg cell from which the nucleus had been removed.   To the amazement of the scientists, a frog was hatched from the egg cell with the embryonic nucleus.   The research was furthered in 1975 when embryologist John Gurdon of Britain attempted to do the same thing with an adult cell.   While his research was not fruitful, it started the ball rolling for later cloning attempts. Research with embryonic cells continued into the 1980s and led to the creation of cloned cows and sheep (Reilly 2000).   Finally, in 1997, scientists were able to take an older cell, that of an adult sheep, and successfully creat... ...."  Ã‚   CNN Online.  Ã‚   29 August 2000:   n. pag.  Ã‚   Online. http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/08/29/pope.cloning/index.html  Ã‚   12 April 2001. Reed, Susan.  Ã‚   "My Sister, My Clone."  Ã‚   Time Magazine.  Ã‚   19 February 2001:   51. Reilly, Philip R.  Ã‚   Abraham Lincoln's DNA and Other Adventures in Genetics.  Ã‚   Cold Spring Harbor, New York: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2000. Thomas, Cathy Booth.  Ã‚   "Copydog, Copycat."  Ã‚   Time Magazine.  Ã‚   19 February 2001:   57. "Vatican leads chorus objecting to human cloning."  Ã‚   CNN Online.  Ã‚   18 April 2000:   n. pag.  Ã‚   Online. http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/08/18/vatican.cloning/index.html  Ã‚  Ã‚   12 April 2001. Whitehouse, David, Ph.D.  Ã‚   "Cloning humans: Can it really be done?"  Ã‚   BBC News.  Ã‚   9 March 2001:   n. pag. Online.  Ã‚   http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1211000/1211136.stm  Ã‚   12 April 2001.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Musical Instrument Essay

It seems that no matter what at some point in a child’s life they wander up to their parents and ask, â€Å"Mom, Dad, can I learn to play an instrument?† Whether or not it is the guitar, drums, piano, or flute a child could possibly have the thought of wanting to learn how to play an instrument. When Mom and Dad end up saying no to their child they should stop and realize that when a child knows how to play a musical instrument it can help them out in many more ways than they know (iDiva). Having a young kid learn an instrument can help develop better coordination, build better concentration, help with stress relief, and enhance a child’s intelligence, along with many other positives (o5). I personally play the guitar, and it has helped me out throughout the years. Probably the largest positive that comes out of a kid learning how to play a musical instrument is that it enhances their brainpower. It improves their memory, helps the child out socially and can even give them some extra intellect (Caron). Why would a parent not want to put their kid through music lessons? If playing an instrument can improve the child’s brainpower, it is a no brainer to give the kid a musical instrument to try out (Caron). Parents should let their children at the very least try out the instrument. With enhancing the brain comes enhancing other skills. â€Å"Studies show that learning music can help improve reading comprehension, mathematics, and cognitive skills (o5).† Parents today seem like they are pushing harder and harder for their offspring to do better in school; if these parents give their children a musical instrument it can increase their IQ (iDiva). Not only does learning an instrument help improve brainpower it also has other benefits to it. Being a typical American I am not accustomed to having any patience; however whenever I sit down and start to play the guitar I have all the time in the world. Once I start to learn a new song patience has to be sitting there right next to me, because no one can learn a whole song in only five minutes. Playing an instrument teaches kid’s to have patience (Caron). When people are in a band slamming away on the guitar, or pounding on the drums they have to be able to wait for the right time to play. â€Å"You need to work together in a group to make music (Caron).† One person in the band can’t be playing faster or slower than everyone else because then the music ends up sounding out right bad. This is where patience comes into play. Having to be able to wait for the right time to strike a chord or beat the snare drum. Patience will not just be used only when someone is playing in a band, they can take the patience that they learned from all the practice of the instrument and put that towards everyday use. Having patience is a wonderful trait to have, but every now and then patience are going to run thin and one may become angry, and this is another area where knowing how to play an instrument can help. I myself can say that whenever I am angry, sad, depressed, or flat out stressed my guitar has always been right there waiting for me to pick it up. It is a way for me to let my emotions out; it is a superb way to relax. â€Å"Engaging in a calming expressive ability proves more effective than merely sitting down to relax; music calms the nerves and stimulates the brain. It also increases the ability to absorb more information (iDiva).†Ã¢â‚¬ ¨I cannot tell people how jamming on my guitar has helped me get through those stupid middle school and high school problems. Parents should want to get their kid’s into an instrument simply for this reason. Would a parent rather have their child dealing with their problems with drugs and alcohol, or by locking themselves in their room and getting lost in their instrument? Stress is something that everyone has; studies have shown that playing an instrument can lower heart rates and blood pressure (o5). Having a way for their children to get their frustrations out is why parents should let their kids play a musical instrument, but it also lets them be creative (Caron). Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach are some of the most creative people in the history of the World, and what did they do? They played instruments. Playing a musical instrument for a child is a creative pursuit (Caron). Parents are always pushing their children to be more and more creative, well parents why not buy them an instrument and let their creativity be expressed? â€Å"Everybody is born creative, but many people don’t realize it because it’s not encouraged in their early years (iDiva).† Having your child play an instrument would let that creativity that is bundled up inside them, that they did not even know they had, and would let it sore out. Look at the creativity that the guitarist in the last thirty to forty years have. Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Angus Young are three of the greatest guitarist. Imagine if their parents would have never bought them a guitar. Then some of the best music ever would have never been written. It is the ultimate feeling someone can receive when they are just playing along on an instrument and all of a sudden compose some sort of music. When I’m playing my guitar just doing really nonsense chord progressions, or playing random riffs, and I build a song on the guitar the feeling is unreal. Once that happens the only thought that goes through my head is, â€Å"Whoa, I just made music on my own.† I’ve been playing for about 8 years now and that feeling never goes away. Along with being creative a musical instrument is a way for a young child to express his or herself (Caron). Today people express themselves in different ways. Whether it would be through protest, or occupying the stock market everybody expresses himself or herself in one way or another. Playing a musical instrument can be a way for a person to express their identity (Caron). Moms and Dads are always telling their children to be themselves, or don’t follow the crowd. Well how can they not follow the crowd if they do not have anyway to express themselves, or have a different identity? Giving a kid a musical instrument can help him express emotions and give that kid an identity (Caron). For me in middle school me being the so called â€Å"guitar guy† was my identity. It did not stick with me through high school, but that was because I didn’t want to be that guy anymore. Having the guitar right by my side through middle school helped out a huge amount, â€Å"It gives pleasure and expresses nuances of emotional life for which there are no words (Caron).† Of coarse with anything positive people will try to come back and say that there is something bad about it. Well the positives far out way the negatives. The biggest arguments against learning a musical instrument are not even the fact that you should not learn how to play the instrument, but that one should not take formal music lessons (Oldenburg). Another argument is that a child should not learn how to play more than one instrument (Turtenwald). Let’s see why that a child should not take formal music lessons. One of the simplest arguments against formal music lessons is the cost (Oldenburg). I took formal music lessons when I was a kid to learn guitar, and yes the lessons may not have been the cheapest; however, having the one on one experience definitely helped hone out my guitar skills. Something else that is a negative to formal music lessons is the time. Driving back and forth to music lessons and having to sit and wait for your child is a downfall to lessons (Oldenburg). Parents, who is learning the instrument? It is the child who is getting the experience of learning an instrument. If the parent isn’t close enough to be able to go home and wait bring something to do: work, read a magazine, maybe even learn an instrument yourself. The last argument against formal music lessons is the loss of passion (Oldenburg). This is certainly not true. Having lessons helps one build passion. Teaching oneself how to play an instrument can be very hard, if anything I would loose passion doing that. In formal lessons you get that one on one time and learn something new. When you teach yourself how to play you have to read out of a book, and there is no one around to help you out if you don’t get something. Learning the instrument on your own will mean that no one is around for you to ask questions to. Finally the other argument against playing a musical instrument is that a child should not learn how to play more than one instrument (Turtenwald). There are two main arguments against learning how to play more than one instrument. The first is, like against formal music lessons, the time (Turtenwald). Learning how to play one instrument can be challenging enough, but taking on a second one at the same time will be tough (Turtenwald). This is completely understandable, but notice that she never says anything about not playing a musical instrument she only says do not play more than one. â€Å"Taking on the challenge of learning more than one instrument requires a greater time commitment (Turtenwald).† The second argument is lack of commitment. What this means is a child may not put forth the same effort towards both instruments. Again she is not saying do not play an instrument, but don’t play more than one. Teaching a child how to play an instrument can help them in school, and throughout life. Parents it may be a good idea to buy your child the guitar or drum set they have been talking about, and get them started as soon as possible. Works Cited â€Å"5 Reasons to Encourage Kids to Learn a Musical Instrument.† 5 Recipes For Life. o5. n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. Caron, Sarah. â€Å"10 Ways Music Benefits Children.† Sheknowsparenting. SheKnows, Inc., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. Oldenburg, Chris. â€Å"Why Your Child Shouldn’t Take Formal Music Lessons.† Benefits of Music Lessons. Better Parenting, Inc., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. Turtenwald, Kimberley. â€Å"Advantages & Disadvantages of Learning a Secondary Instrument.† eHow. Demand Media, Inc., n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. â€Å"Why Your Child Should Learn a Musical Instrument.† iDiva. Times Internet Limited. n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2012.

Monday, January 6, 2020

Objections to Utilitarianism - 1467 Words

OBJECTIONS TO UTIILITARIANISM SECTION (1) INTRODUCTION We noted, last week, that UTILITARIANISM is a version of CONSEQUENTIALISM in that it holds that the RIGHT action (in any given situation) is the action WHICH HAS THE WHICH HAS THE BEST CONSEQUENCES; CONSEQUENTIALIST ethical theories may be contrasted with DEONTOLOGICAL – or DUTY-BASED theories (such as Kant’s) Now, some ( but not all) deontological theories are versions of ABSOLUTISM - i.e the doctrine that some actions are so wicked†¦show more content†¦(5) You should not sell arms to an evil regime EVEN IF others will sell them if you dont.(Cf the case of George in Singer,85) (6)You should not kill an innocent (friendless but healthy) person EVEN IF by doing so (and giving his organs to several others) you could increase net happiness. These cases pose great difficulties for the Utilitarian. (Many (if not all?)have to do with what Jonathan Glover calls THE ACTS AND OMISSIONS DOCTRINE; this states that `in certain contexts, failure to perform an act, with certain foreseen bad consequences of that failure, is morally less bad than to perform a different act which has identical foreseen bad consequences.(Thus it is worse to KILL someone than merely to LE T SOMEONE DIE (or to let someone else kill them. Thus some Catholics would justify the bombing of military targets in The Second World War even when such bombing was bound to cause civilian casualties). The Utilitarian is committed to REJECTING The Acts and Omissions Doctrine; but this seems unacceptable. (Failing to send money to the starving is wrong, but it is not as wrong as sending the starving poisoned food – Philippa Foot). SECTION (4) ACT-UTILITARIANISM vs RULE-UTILITARIANISM There are, clearly, some very strong objections to Utilitarianism. 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