Security Automation in oil and gas company Assignment

Security Automation in oil and gas company - Assignment Example In 2002 the National Research Council also emphasized the importance of research for systems that can guarantee security in the oil and gas industry (National Research Council 2002). This study would focus on the Security Automation systems used in the oil and gas industry, as these systems have been found to have a critical role in increasing security in the industry’s firms. I have been motivated to do research on this topic mostly because of the following reason: the security problems reported in oil and gas companies are many; the firms producing SA systems have tried to develop products that are effective in controlling the industry’s security risks. However, so far, the limitation of these risks has not been secured. I believe that this study could help the industry’s firms to locate effective security tools. Also, the study could help me to increase my knowledge on the needs and challenges of the firms operating in the oil and gas industry. My studies, so far, are related to computing; my involvement in a research project related to the practical use of computing systems would help me to become more competent in managing these systems in different operational environments. The topic of this study focus on a ‘researchable problem’ and not to a ‘personal problem’ as this view is based on the following facts: a) the security threats for the firms of oil and gas industry are many, b) most of these threats cannot be appropriately controlled due to the failures reported in the security systems used in the industry’s firms and c) the importance of this problem has been highlighted by organizations, as explained in the first section of this proposal, but also by academic researchers. In other words, the potential involvement of SA systems in the oil and gas industry is an issue related to the daily operations of all the industry’s firms; it is not an issue that affects an individual at personal level. The ‘Scientific method’ of research is

Happy employees are more productive Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Happy employees are more productive - Essay Example According to Brickly, Smith and Zimmerman, past studies have shown that happy employees are more interested in meeting organizational objectives (65). Contented workers are usually better-equipped to handle incidences of work-related stress which may arise. They also tend to be fully invested in helping an organization to meet its objectives. Many employees will not commit to remaining for long periods of time with one particular organization. Instead, they seek to learn about the working conditions in different firms so that they may relocate to those which offer the best terms. However, if an employee fully believes that a company is challenging him or her to fully develop his or her potential, it is unlikely that the employee will walk away from such a company even when it experiences hardships, because the worker is emotionally invested in it. This kind of devotion is highly priced in all industries, because it saves the costs of training and hiring additional workers once the mo re experienced ones are attracted to better-performing companies. According to a research that was documented by Brickly, Smith, and Zimmerman, happier workers will invest more of their time and energy in ensuring that they do their best in their allotted tasks (53). The study, which was carried out by Dr Eugenio Proto, Professor Andrew Oswald, and Dr Daniel Sgroi in the University of Warwick, revealed that happier workers are typically 12% more industrious than workers who may be discontented, or even apathetic where their work responsibilities are concerned. In any company, executives have to cultivate a culture of happiness if they wish to benefit from the full focus of the efforts of their workers. In many cases, senior executives imagine that monetary incentives are the only way in which they can truly motivate their workers. However, the reality is that there are many other things that can

Scholarly Writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Scholarly Writing - Essay Example In science, any decision made has to rely on tested evidence and factual data, for example psychology. As discussed in (â€Å"Psychology as a Science†, 2013), this is because it involves systematic observation, data collection, and data analysis (empiricism), the examination of testable problems, and the falsifiability of result. Information in science should be testable, and people can refer the decision as a fact. A scientific decision goes through different stages such as data collection, data analysis and testing to ensure its authenticity. Scientific decisions only factor in factual data (Pope, 1998). On the other hand, however, common sense does not rely in any form of data or tested information. An individual, basing his or her reasoning on what he believes to be true or as "intuitively obvious" makes a decision about a particular issue. Such a decision lacks any form of data or evidence. Therefore, the decision arrived at could be either true or false. According to (â €Å"Psychology as a Science†, 2013), the problem with common sense ideas about behavior is that much of it is contradictory, leaving one to wonder still about the actual answer to some of life’s questions. Common sense involves critical thinking. According to Douglas (2000), critical thinking puts into consideration the importance of beliefs. Since people find it easier to believe than to disbelieve, critical thinking helps them back their reasoning to believe in any decision they come up with. As discussed in (â€Å"Psychology as a Science†, 2013), a good critical thinker uses scientific inquiry to discover that both cliches in each dichotomy are unsupported, that only one is supported, or that both are actually supported. Personally, critical thinking helps me in believing what I have learnt or read. It is possible to differentiate between something that is true and one that is untrue by critically analyzing a text by use of prior information. Belief persevera nce is the tendency of an individual o hold on to his or her initial belief, even when provided with new information that contradicts the present belief. Paul & Elder (2003) assert that critical thinking involves focusing on the purpose of thinking, questions the thinking is pursuing, the information in use, the assumptions and inferences made, concepts and point of view guiding the thinking and the implications of the thinking. Belief perseverance acts in ignorance with this argument, as here is no way of solving an individual’s decision, despite being acquainted with this knowledge. Personally, I try to use common sense to allow for critical thinking in place of personal belief. With common sense, I know when something is wrong and when right. I cannot interchange these two, to make something right wrong and something wrong right using common sense. References Douglas, N. L. (2000). Enemies of critical thinking: Lessons from social psychology research. Reading Psychology, 2 1(2), 129–144. Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2003). Critical thinking: Teaching students how to study and learn (Part III). Journal of Developmental Education, 26(3), 36-37. Pope, K. S. (1998). Pseudoscience, cross-examination, and scientific evidence in the recovered memory controversy. Psychology, Public Policy, & Law, 4(4), 1160-1181. Psychology as a Science. (2013). [Study notes] Scholarly Writing The author had a good topic of discussion; the personal computer. The author, while introducing the topic, digs a little background

Human Rights Essay Example for Free

Human Rights Essay The Internet appears to be the ideal technology for democracy. When the Internet began, people thought they could communicate and even engage in commerce without the need for a big police force. As people from different cultures begin connecting to the Internet, it appears that the Internet is only as democratic as people make it. Government’s next move online has been significantly less comfortable. China has recently forced Google to rewrite their search software so that it supports the values of state security over individual freedom by blocking certain sites. In order to continue doing business in China, the Chinese government forced Google to disable certain functionalities of their products so that Chinese citizens cannot connect to Web pages on topics such as human rights and democracy. The Chinese government and Google derived the so-called Great Firewall of China in order to conceal from the public the potential contents that may pose threat to Chinese ideologies and politics. References Baase, S. (2007).Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computing and the Internet. Pearson Prentice Hall. Garland, E. (2007). Future, Inc. : How Businesses Can Anticipate and Profit from Whats Next. AMACOM Div American Management. Giddens, A. (2006). Sociology. Polity. Hassan, R. (2004). Media, Politics and the Network Society. McGraw-Hill International. Human Rights Watch, . (2007). Human Rights Watch World Report 2007. Seven Stories Press. Landow, G. P. (2006). Hypertext 3. 0: Critical Theory and New Media in an Era of Globalization. JHU Press. Marling, W. H. (2006). How American Is Globalization?. JHU Press. Meza, E. P. (2007). Coming Attractions? : Hollywood, High Tech, and the Future of Entertainment. Stanford University Press. Reuvid, J. , Li, Y. (2005). Doing Business With China. GMB Publishing Ltd. Wood, A. F. , Smith, M. J. (2005). Online Communication: Linking Technology, Identity, and Culture. Routledge.

The Strengths And Limitations Of Personalisation Social Work Essay

The Strengths And Limitations Of Personalisation Social Work Essay With the continuously growing number of older population in the country and the life expectancy that keeps on increasing, the demand for the elderly care is also equally on the increase. Consequently the government are also putting in effort in order to continue improving the service provided for the elderly care such as the introduction of personalisation into the care service in the government policy in December 2007, when the Putting People First concordat was published. This is the reason why this assignment will be looking into this concept of personalisation in further depth along by looking at the strengths and limitations of implementing it into the social care. CONTENT The term personalisation as picked up by the Department of Health and is being used as a term to describe the series of reforms drawn out in the 2007 concordat Putting People First. In its formulations the policies have been set within the following framework of improving access to universal services, the prevention and early intervention, the increase of choice and control by the users and also growing social capital for the care (Department of Health, 2009). In addition to this, personalisation is about giving people more choice and control over their lives in all social care settings. It also means to recognise the user as a person with strengths and preferences and it starts with the user instead of the service (Social Care Institute for Excellence, 2012). The reasons why personalisation is introduced in social care is because the government is against the one size fits all concept in terms of providing care as it has been found to have not met most of the needs of the user especially with the fact that all users are different. The second reason is to finish up the The 1988 Griffiths Report on Community Care in which it advises that social services should become brokers to a range of care and support providers. It also proposed that social workers should take on a care management role.Thirdly is to combat the McDonaldisation in social care. This McDonaldisation thesis consists of five primary components of efficiency (minimising time in delivering care), calculability (trying to get user to believe that they are getting quality care for lesser money spent), predictability (where the care provided are highly routine and predictable), control (standardised and uniform care provider) and also, culture (as part of the standardised control) . Finally, personalisation is implemented due to the convergence of disability movement and also the increasing neo-liberal marketisation. The disability movement as a part of service user movement and the social model of disability have been a really powerful driving forces in lobbying for government reforms. An evidence for this is the Community Care (Direct Payments) Act, 1996 where the direct payments have been made available to the disabled adults of working age in England and have since been extended to other groups (Carr, 2010). The popularity and success has stimulated much of the personalisation around service users and also the development of personal budgets (Glasby and Littlechild, 2009). In November 2010, A vision for adult social care: capable communities and active citizens document was published, with personal budgets and personalisation, put central along with prevention, health and social care integration and the development of a plural and creative social care market to enable choice forming central aspects of the continuing social care reform. In this document too, it was made clear that personal budget alone does not in itself mean that services are automatically personalised. People should get personal choice and control over their services rather than the inflexible block contracts from supported housing to personal care (Department of Health 2010). Glasby (2012) explained that the concept of personal budgets is rather than assessing the users needs and selecting services from fairly limited menu of options, personal budgets start by placing each individual into a cost band and being up front about the resources available. By knowing how much of money is a vailable for them to spend on their needs then allows them and their circle of support to make decisions about how the money could best be spent (by direct services, direct payments, public services, the independent sector, paying family and friend or any of the combination). Some of the strengths of using personalisation concept are the users outcomes can be improved and at the same time, costs can be reduced as people who control their own budgets are able to find smarter solutions for meeting their needs and can reduce their need for paid support. This is possible because the person is empowered to make the better, right kind of decisions, seize new opportunities and respond more quickly to their own problems. In the old welfare system the government pushes resources into those services that it believes people need. Users can only receive little benefit from these resources because it is unlikely that the services are perfectly tailored to meet their needs and there is no opportunity for the user to mobilise those resources to pull in in other resources. However, when someone has a Personal Budget they are able to make quality, efficient use of those resources. Such as rather than paying  £10,000 per year at the day centre and the user will simply ha ve to put up with whatever services offered there that they do not value. Instead, if the user is given a  £10,000 Personal Budget they then can actually spend some of their budget on those particular services they value, e.g. only coming into the centre on the good days. This process explains why people can get better lives with less money as the money that can be controlled works better with the new found freedom than the money that cannot be controlled (Duffy, 2010). Other than offering better quality choices and empowering the service user, personalisation also is shown to be consistently cost effective of the public finance as found by Glasby and Littlechild (2002) that direct payments support are on average 30-40 per cent cheaper than the equivalent directly provided services. In addition to this, it was discovered that carers feel the relationship between them and the service user has improved due to them or their relatives being able to access the direct payments (Rethink Mental Illness, 2011). Finlayson (2002) also suggested that this positive relationship between the carer and service user is central to carers job motivation and satisfaction as in turn it will increase the quality of care provided. Another advantage of this concept as suggested by Zarb and Nadash (1994) is that the flexibility of the service is enhanced. The service provided is fitted around the users time on top of their different needs rather than fitted around the carer s timetable. Although according to the findings discussed earlier that expressed the positive outcomes of personalisation, there are few limitations associated into practicing it. The first one is that it is inappropriate to some users especially those who are mentally incapable and the elderly. It is found to be a daunting experience as they are suppose to manage their own financial arrangements directly which will also add extra burden and unwanted stress for them. On top of this, most of service users are also anxious by becoming employers and having to deal with responsibility particularly when they are unwell. This is especially with regard to assistance with the direct payments managing of the service user, either by family member, friend or support agency on the users behalf. In addition to this issue, the potential problem that could possibly happen regarding the vulnerable user is being exploited and potential for their money to be fraud (Leece and Bornat, 2006). On the other hand, as su ggested by Glasby and Littlechild (2009) the local authorities have a key role in making their systems as simple as possible and also proportionate to the risk, along with the availability of independent support (such as peer support and support agency) and the advent of self-directed support to reduce potential hassle from this concept should any problem arise. Another limitation of this concept is the community care assessments that are carried out sometimes underestimated the needs of user, especially those with mental illness as their needs are subjective (for instance, not so obvious on a good day) and therefore failed to be met. To make matter worse, these assessments are often not person-centred as it lacks of users involvement in decision making thus, they tend to be passive recipients and disempowered. This highlights the need of a better person-centred assessment by the professionals involved as the central element in the direct payments is good assessment. Hence, a better, different kind of relationship needs to be developed between the professional and the users as well as other approach to allocate the community care resources for this particular service user (Leece and Bornat, 2006). Another problem is direct payments and personal budgets are identified as a threat to the professional expertise of the social workers, as well as the longer hours due to the flexibility needed. It was also suggested that at one critical point, services will not be able to be managed properly as more users are becoming employers thus, changing the balance of the services'(Leece and Bornat, 2006). In contrast, direct payments and personal budgets are able to free social workers up to focus on people who are in greater need of support and thus, reconnect their value base and principles of profession (Glasby and Littlechild, 2009). Furthermore, the monopoly of market with the increasing choice through the direct payments is seen to be a problem. This will someway force the existing providers to make more effort to be more appealing to the service users in order to avoid of going bust. Additionally the real goals of these providers are often doubted as whether they will put quality care over profit-making (Leece and Bornat, 2006). The argument against this is that with the presence of competition, the providers will struggle to increase their quality of care along with a better value in order to keep up with the other providers. The strengths of the concept of personalisation as per discussed have found to be outweighed by the limitations that are associated to it. This is also proved to be the case as nearly all users is found to be satisfied with their experiences of using the direct payment as they found it to be more convenient and secure in the research carried out for the Department for Work and Pensions (2004). Out of the total participants, 75% reported to have found no disadvantages when using the direct payment. CONCLUSION The concept of personalisation has had a long history on why the government want to put it into practice as a way of reforming the social care particularly in the last few years when the direct payments and personal budgets were introduced. This was proved to be a huge success with majority of the users are extremely satisfied with how it has changed their lives in terms of empowering and giving them better quality of choices. Moreover, it was also found to be cost-effective and thus, able to save large amount of the public fund. However, as this concept was also subjected to few arguments against it, such as it not being able to cater certain types of user, there is also backup plan, support and effort made by the local authorities to minimise this. Moreover, the arguments that it threatens the social workers profession and the market balance are found to be ungrounded. Thus, the benefit of implementing personalisation in social care was found to overshadow the limitations as discus sed earlier.

education in France :: essays research papers

The education system in France: (source: European Union) I. Information on Community Law II. Information concerning the national education system III. Useful addresses I. Information on Community Law The fundamental principle of non-discrimination on grounds of nationality between students studying in a foreign country and national students applies as regards admission to an educational or training establishment. This includes enrolment fee requirements and the conditions governing the award of a grant to cover such fees. In this respect, any Community citizen must be treated in the same way as national citizens. One example of the kind of problem which young people studying another country may encounter would be special requirements on admission, the need to pass tests or supply documentary evidence, or other such conditions which are not required of nationals, and which have no objective justification. Each Member State's law provides for financial assistance for students in higher education. Some countries' laws may make it possible for a grant to be transferred where a student decides to study in another country. In other words, the student may continue to receive financial aid from his/her country of origin while studying in another Member State. Students covered by the Erasmus chapter of the Socrates programme are treated more favourably than students who have changed countries outside the Community scheme or under an inter-university agreement. It goes without saying that such students are still covered by the principle of equal treatment in terms of admission conditions, with exemption from the requirement to pay any enrolment fee. In addition, though, they continue to receive grants or other forms of financial assistance from their country of origin, regardless of the general rules or any obstacles in the country in question concerning the transferability of grants. As regards recognition of periods of training completed in an establishment in another country, the Community legislation governing the programme requires that this be provided for in the form of agreements between the university of origin and the host university. Such recognition is not necessarily guaranteed where study periods or training periods are not wi thin the scope of the Socrates/Erasmus programme. The conditions set out in a. above constitute a minimum set of rights which apply to all students who do not enjoy a broader status under Community law. For instance, where a student is classified as a worker or as a child of a Community worker, the principle of equal treatment applies to other aspects of academic life as well, i. education in France :: essays research papers The education system in France: (source: European Union) I. Information on Community Law II. Information concerning the national education system III. Useful addresses I. Information on Community Law The fundamental principle of non-discrimination on grounds of nationality between students studying in a foreign country and national students applies as regards admission to an educational or training establishment. This includes enrolment fee requirements and the conditions governing the award of a grant to cover such fees. In this respect, any Community citizen must be treated in the same way as national citizens. One example of the kind of problem which young people studying another country may encounter would be special requirements on admission, the need to pass tests or supply documentary evidence, or other such conditions which are not required of nationals, and which have no objective justification. Each Member State's law provides for financial assistance for students in higher education. Some countries' laws may make it possible for a grant to be transferred where a student decides to study in another country. In other words, the student may continue to receive financial aid from his/her country of origin while studying in another Member State. Students covered by the Erasmus chapter of the Socrates programme are treated more favourably than students who have changed countries outside the Community scheme or under an inter-university agreement. It goes without saying that such students are still covered by the principle of equal treatment in terms of admission conditions, with exemption from the requirement to pay any enrolment fee. In addition, though, they continue to receive grants or other forms of financial assistance from their country of origin, regardless of the general rules or any obstacles in the country in question concerning the transferability of grants. As regards recognition of periods of training completed in an establishment in another country, the Community legislation governing the programme requires that this be provided for in the form of agreements between the university of origin and the host university. Such recognition is not necessarily guaranteed where study periods or training periods are not wi thin the scope of the Socrates/Erasmus programme. The conditions set out in a. above constitute a minimum set of rights which apply to all students who do not enjoy a broader status under Community law. For instance, where a student is classified as a worker or as a child of a Community worker, the principle of equal treatment applies to other aspects of academic life as well, i.

Wealth Management Investment

Wealth management is a crucial component in investing. It is a process that entails steps that organize the fundamental features of building a portfolio. An investor can deal with the uncertainty of financial markets; the uncertainty that markets were volatile last year, that they are volatile now, and that they will be volatile tomorrow, by regularly managing wealth. The wealth management process provides a strategic approach to managing and building wealth and will help an investor turn his client†s goals into reality. In managing the investment process investors must determine their objectives, the resources for achieving them, and the process to go through to get there. Most importantly, it is essential for clients to be exposed to any new investment procedure or opportunity in the context of their individualized investment policy. The first step in the wealth management process is to establish objectives. This step includes analyzing the current situation, where all factors that may have a bearing on the decisions should be identified, analyzed, and integrated into the process (Brown, Underwood 248). Before making any financial recommendations an investor must build a detailed financial profile so that he can understand the client†s personal balance sheet, his current asset allocation, and help the client develop his investment parameters. The result of this process is attaining the assessment of the investor†s goals. With this, it is critical for the client to express five key factors: his total financial picture, his financial goals and objectives, his feelings and tolerance for risk, his time horizon associated with each of his goals, and if the client is building his wealth, preserving it, or passing it on to others (Brown, Underwood 247). Proper objectives will be established by these factors through the individualized analysis of the client†s current situation. The second important step in the wealth management process is to set a strategy. This is attained subsequent to the client assessing his goals. In setting a strategy an investor will compare fundamental investment principles to a client†s goals. The client may consider five key fundamental principles when developing his portfolio strategy: Asset allocation, diversification, planning, discipline, and patience (Groppelli, Nikbakht 401). This step also helps the client to select appropriate asset classes and distributions. A portfolio†s asset mix or asset allocation refers to the percentages that are invested in various asset classes, such as domestic stocks, domestic bonds, cash, real estate, international stocks, international bonds, and so on. A selection of well-diversified assets within these classes is perhaps the most effective way to manage volatility and portfolio risk in today†s markets. The investor should work with his client to identify the investor profile that fits his objectives and tolerance for risk. The second step of wealth management also includes determining the time horizon of investment objectives. One must consider the timing of the possible unexpected as well as expected requirements for use of the portfolio†s assets. Market timing can be an unreliable and hazardous practice. Missing only a fraction of time can have a profound impact on value (Groppelli, Nikbakht 392). An investor can also help a client determine a financial plan to address his goals. In order for a client to make informed decisions and ultimately reach his goals, the investor should help translate the client†s goals and objectives into a personalized financial plan. This will help the client to organize his finances, where it will provide a clear picture of his financial situation, and help the client to understand how his financial puzzle fits together. He will have the accessibility to evaluate his short and long-range goals and see how each piece of his financial puzzle can influence the other interlocking pieces. With this personalized plan, a client may also find solutions by putting his strategies into action by providing access to specialists in various financial disciplines, such as trust, credit, asset management, business planning, and insurance. Lastly, this step will help the client to uncover opportunities, where he can identify opportunities that could influence his overall financial well-being. The third step in the wealth management process is to implement solutions. An investor can help the client select and implement financial solutions according to his financial plan and asset allocation strategy. The essential ways an investor can achieve this is by helping the client identify financial strategies and solutions, allocate his funds, select investment products, and managers, and develop a rebalancing strategy (Conley, O†Barr 42-44). To meet a client†s goals the investor can explore and help a client execute appropriate investment borrowing. Depending on the client†s needs, an investor can explore various strategies. These strategies include investing from retirement, wealth transfer and estate-planning strategies, tax-minimization strategies, company stock option planning, managing concentrated stock positions, alternative investments, and other personalized solutions. An investor should also allocate the assets based upon the client†s specific goals and risk tolerance, and he should select a money manager by using specialists. This construction would result in a customized plan and solution for the client and his long-term objectives. The final step in the wealth management process is to review the progress. An investor must continue to monitor the client†s situation in order to remain current with his goals in relation to the movement in the market. This ongoing service would include monitoring portfolio performance and results to evaluate progress, reviewing objectives and strategies periodically, and altering and adjusting the client†s wealth management strategies based on changing goals, circumstances, or conditions (Conley, O†Barr 45). In addition, it consists of monitoring the resulting performance of selected money managers. An effective monitoring program should provide the investor with sufficient information to evaluate the program†s strengths and weaknesses, and to keep the program on track in achieving the portfolio†s objectives. The truly effective investor realizes that a crucial element of the decision-making process is establishing appropriate performance measurement standards. The standards for provide an ongoing monitoring service for clients includes facilitating good investor-money manager communications and confirming the mutually agreed-upon goals of the investment policy. Also, an investor must show whether the assets are being managed as directed by that policy with respect to the portfolio†s risk tolerance and expected return. Another measurement is to support the qualitative judgments about the continued confidence, or lack of it, in the money manager†s abilities. The last measurement standard is to support the periodic consideration of the continuing appropriateness of the investment policy. In the monitoring process, there are issues that should be addressed at specific times. Monthly, investors should analyze their custodian†s appraisal report containing the current market value of holdings and the previous month†s transactions and expenses. Particular attention should be paid to transactions initiated by hired money managers and compared against the manager†s stated investment strategy. Quarterly, the investor should compare the asset allocation of the portfolio and the performance of hired money managers to benchmarks, and at least annually, there should be a formal review to determine whether investment objectives have been attained or have changed. The investor should be particularly sensitive of the need to determine whether the investment strategy still holds the highest probability of meeting short-term liquidity needs and long-term objectives. The role of the investor is to maximize the benefits to be gained from the wealth management process. The degree of commitment to the necessary tasks outlined in the process will ultimately determine investment success. It will be the actions of the investor that will have the greatest impact on the value of the portfolio and mastering the wealth management process will assist the investor in creating the greatest outcome for his clients and their futures.