Critically discuss the development of green and ethical accounting Essay

Critically discuss the development of green and ethical accounting practices as a new accounting discipline - Essay Example 36). Anticipations of high principles of ethical corporate conduct are rising as corporations face economic and legal penalties for pursuing illegal and unethical practices. Businesses cause environmental degradation, which have negative impacts on society. Environmental degradation is an ethical concern among businesses and society. As a result, businesses have developed corporate strategies in order to address the growing concern of unethical behavior such as environmental degradation (Gowthorpe & Blake 1998, p. 178). This paper seeks to discuss the development of environmental and ethical bookkeeping practices as a new bookkeeping discipline. Green and Ethical Accounting Practices The advantage of corporate environmental bookkeeping initiative is recognized the capability, to establish and create consciousness regarding expenditures related to surroundings, which in turn assists in identifying the methods for avoiding and reducing such costs. This corporate environmental initiativ e has assisted in the improvement of the environment. The ecological costs that arise as a result of the financial results of a company’s operation may be established by means of environmental bookkeeping tool. The operational performance of an organization may be established with an aid of certain processes such as documentation and exposure of emissions of conservatory gases (Farouk, Cherian & Jacob 2012, p. 37). Aronson and Lofgren (2010, p. 21) argue that society commends for the ecological responsible conduct from businesses and government by investigating the environmental degradation and tragedies of world’s ecosystem. Businesses are given this responsibility by the society for solving the ethical troubles by considering either preserving the environment or promoting their profit. Wells (2013, p. 13) argues that there ought to be homogeneous and quantitative measures with an aim of controlling the business activities polluting the surroundings before executing a condition in which businesses are required to clean the effluence emitted by them. It is better preventing environmental degradation rather than avoiding since most of the ecological damages may not be restructured. Wells (2013, p. 18) recommends the establishment of environmental bookkeeping system in order to avert environmental degradation. The system deems the monetary measures, which have an impact on energy generation and utilization on environment. As a result of the process, the energy plant that highly affects natural resources is deemed and consequent actions needed are conducted. He also recommends that ethical predicaments may be resolved when ecological stewardship is put in terms of monetary way, and that achieves extra significance from business. The significance of the ecological predicaments has been augmented, as a result, of the continuous degradation of ecosystem and increasing ecological tragedies. Schaltergger & Burritt (2000, p. 44) argues that in order to en tail ecological predicaments in normal life it is imperative to consider these predicaments with respect to legal, technical, economic, financial and accounting levels. In view of the ecological factors in terms of the economy for instance costs of products and services,

NonProfit Management Case Study Essay Example for Free

NonProfit Management Case Study Essay Introduction The civil society has taken a very active role in the quest for democracy that continues to spread across the continents till it reached the Middle East region only recently. This is clear given the successive revolts that have taken place in many of the Arab countries calling for real democracy. Therefore, especially in Egypt, efforts should be directed toward defending civil society organizations and activists who are being threatened by the coercive authoritarian government actions over the past decades (Naidoo, 2007). The civil society as identified by Khallaf (2010) comprises â€Å"non-governmental organizations (NGOs hereafter), community groups, professional associations, trade unions, media organizations, research institutes/ think tanks, and advocacy and human rights civil society organizations† (p. 2). However, the current paper aims at focusing mainly on the role of NGOs in strengthening democracy. This is due to the major role NGOs play in several areas in order to enhance democracy. Among these are their role in: (1) allowing a wider range of interest groups to have a ‘voice’, pluralizing institutions to act in a ‘watchdog’ role vis-a-vis the state, networking and creating alliances of civic actors to place pressure on the state, (2) working with grassroots organizations comprised of poor and marginalized groups, and (3) exerting some pressures on the state by pressing for change and developing alternative policies (Mercer, 2002). Previous Studies of civil society in Egypt, over the past twenty years, have been both superficial and confined to only limited areas, namely (issue based publications, academic publications, training materials/ manuals, directories, conference publications, empirical comparative studies, civil society organizations’ (CSOs) publications, donor guide books and publications, CSOs coalitions occasional papers, evaluation studies, and web based sources) (Khallaf, 2010). (Figure: 1). Figure : The diversity of civil society research in Egypt Therefore, more detailed studies should be directed toward deeply investigating the civil society organizations operating in Egypt. Khallaf (2010) has mentioned that more research has been directed recently to track the actual magnitude of civil society through donor efforts in Egypt. However, the literature has pointed to serious gaps in the study of NGOs in Egypt. These include; First: Updated statistical information on number of NGOs. Second: The systematic evaluation of NGOs activities. Third: periodic assessments such as the CIVICUS or Civil Society Index and the Philanthropy study. Forth: studying participatory governance and the involvement of civil society in decision making processes. Fifth: changing Laws and regulations governing NGOs in Egypt. Sixth: An impact assessment of all new NGOs working in charity or development. Seventh: an assessment of aid effectiveness to Egypt (Khallaf, 2010). Finally: a detailed diagnosis of the NGOs operating in Egypt is needed. This should focus on both internal and external analyses of the selected NGOs and provide policy recommendations for possible improvements in the sector. The current paper attempts to draw light on how the civil society operates in Egypt. A well recognized Egyptian NGO was selected in this ethnographic research. It is called the Future Protectors Association for Care and Development or â€Å"Homat Al-Mostakbal†. The reason behind selecting it is the higher credibility and the good reputation it is enjoying. This is quite well perceived by the researcher based on her personal experience with this association. The current research can add valuable insights both theoretically and practically. Theoretically, it attempts to cover few of the gaps mentioned about the civil society research in developing countries and Egypt in particular. Practically, proposed recommendations can serve as strategic agendas for improving the performance of the selected NGO in particular and the entire NGO sector in general. The current paper is organized as follows; the first section will provide detailed information about association’s background. This will be followed by the analysis section which would sum up the major facts collected about the association. The analysis is based on qualitative in-depth interviewing1 conducted with five key persons in the association including its founder. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are presented, to guide future research directions, at the conclusion part here later. Background Future protectors association for care and development (homat al mostakbal) is one of the well known non-governmental organizations in Egypt. It is located at 425 Avenue Road, Roushdy, Alexandria, Egypt. It is a group of young people who work in the field of developmental work and volunteerism in for a better future and a true renaissance to Egypt. It serves in the great Cairo area and some other governorates including; Alexandria, Dakahleya, Gharbeya, Menoufeya, and others. It was originally founded on the 2nd of Novermber, 2004 by Eng. El-Dreiny and his daughter engineer Marwa El-Dreiny. It was mainly founded seeking community development. The vision of the association is to be one of the largest civil society organizations working in the field and leading the areas of development, community care, and voluntary work in Egypt and the Arab world by year 2020. The mission of the association is the development and care of the community through several dimensions including; raising the general level of education and the development of production philosophy, increasing awareness of drug taking problems, providing health awareness, raising the cultural level of young people, and providing a variety of social services. These are to be achieved while taking into account the mastery of work and commitment to the principles of ethics and team work cooperation. The primary objectives to fulfill the pre-mentioned vision and mission include the following; Providing guidance and better utilizing the power of potential volunteers in various activities of the association and developing their skills while strengthening their moral values. Increasing the awareness of community members about the dangers of drugs and training of cadres for different age groups. In addition to providing technical support to partners and trainers in the field of awareness against the dangers of addiction and drug. Training community members by spreading the production thinking and helping youth and poor families in establishing small craft projects to supply industries with high quality products at competitive prices. Providing social services (in kind physical technical) and the work projects for poor families, orphans, deaf and dumb cases. Developing different segments of the society, especially children and young people both culturally and scientifically. This would entitle them to acquire new skills, open their horizons to different lives, and raise the level of education among the educated classes with aim of bringing progress and prosperity to the society in large. The major values of the association comprise the following; Intentions precede action Our basic principles are our main priority. Understanding the priorities and giving a high commitment to them. Mastering our work. Best employing our resources. Our clients are our core interest. Team work spirit. Commitment to a safe environment. The association is registered under the old NGO law. This entitles the association to be under the scrutiny and supervision of the Directorate of Social Affairs. Here is the copy of the registration certificate. Figure : Formal Registration Certificate The association tries as much to manage its institutional memory. This can be manifested in the form of reports including information about what happened in the past. Other reports are prepared for each activity and collected annually to be archived and documented for each committee. Also, there are few attempts to record religious seminars and cultural meetings either video or audio. Sometimes the association registers the campaigns to serve the new members by providing them with information about the work flavor. These tentative mechanisms are aimed at saving association heritage of knowledge and transfer it to the future generations who would complete the mission. The organization chart of the association was revised recently. There are intentions to modify it also however some limitations hinder this at the current period. The chart is decomposed into the Chairman of the Board of Directors, the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors, the Executive Director, the Chairmen of the various Committees the Vice Chairmen of the various Committees -who are appointed by the administration according to experience and seniority- the executive management including Secretary, the financial management. There were areas for development and the last updated organization chart was reproduced recently in 2011. The association was built on the basis of predominantly volunteerism however; there are 17 formal employees who are getting paid monthly. There are mainly three managers; executive, financial, and legal affairs. Staff members do not perform overlapping roles, instead there is a clearly specified job description for each single role. This would allow the upper management to apply a strict accountability procedures based on assigned responsibilities. The association is able to deal smoothly with the threat of losing any/all staff member(s). Sometimes, the operations of a highly specialized department, which loses a key staff member, can be postponed until the appointment of a new person. However, in the key roles like secretarial work, work cannot be stopped and duties can be referred to any interested volunteer. The collectivity and shared team working spirit that characterize the association enable it to face sudden problems of this sort. The association is having a board of directors. It is composed of 9 members, 1/3 of them are dropped during each nomination period. The nomination is made for 6 upcoming years. It is preferred to nominate persons with strong public relations to offer some facilities and those who have the expertise and strong knowledge about association’s policies. The association is membership based. There are different types of members including volunteers, affiliated, and working member. The membership status is documented only for continuing members who are then entitled to receive a formal membership card. Members pay a symbolic annual fee of about 20 pounds which represents one of the financial resources received by the association. The following chart represents the progress that has occurred in association’s membership from 2004 to 2008. In 2010, the number of volunteers has reached 4000. Figure : The number of volunteers The following chart represents the geographic allocation of volunteers across the different governorates. Figure : The geographic allocation of volunteers The social and economic background of the members is diverse. Majority of members are classified to be from the middle to upper middle social class. They are almost well educated having a clear intent toward the importance of charity and development societal roles in their country. They have strong religious understandings which enable them to volunteer their efforts for the sake of making others happy while earning credits (thawab) and pleasing the only god (ALLAH). The association has completed a huge number of successful projects2 and some of which are seasonal. The seasonal projects include distributing El Kheir bags and Ramadan lamps. It is planning to undertake some continuous projects not to be owned by the association but by encouraging the youth to execute them and the association can be a partner by 10%. Attached here below in the appendices is a list of the projects and activities the association is involved in. The primary beneficiaries of the association are; Volunteers, university students, school children, widowed women, poor families, knowledge seekers, patients, orphans, and the elderly at large. The association is not specifying a certain population to focus on serving. Activities are therefore not based on the coverage of a particular area, but they are tailored to achieve certain goals across the various geographic segments. 3 The association has unique policy for recruiting both members and staff. For the former, recruitment is based on the real intention to perform volunteer work. For the latter, recruitment is based on the exact mission to be completed within the functional department the potential candidate will join. The association views the current recruitment policy to be an effective one. Therefore, there are no plans to change its policy during the current period. The ratio of association’s founders to its members is roughly estimated to be 10%. Taking into considerations that the number of registered volunteers is roughly 4000, only 100-200 of them are active ones. The association depends on a self financing scheme. Majority of funds come from membership fees, donations (in cash or in kind), and revenues from profit-based committees. There is one company which operates in the field of quality and 75% of its income is transferred to the association. There are some funding projects such as the share the good, CSR, and Ijada company. Only 10% of the directed donations are taken to cover a proportion of administrative expenses but the money of Zakat is kept untouched. The association collects money from Egyptians. The money comes in forms of Zakat, sadakat, and in cash or in kind donations. It utilizes no foreign funding alternatives except for the single initiative with the United Nations. This partnership agreement was made under pressures from Dubai police and entitled the association to receive a fund of $ 10. 000 in order to execute some projects. The association has neither an initial endowment nor an emergency fund. It depended mainly on donations during the initial construction phase. There is a bank account for the association where the money collected from the various sources is being deposited to or withdrew from when necessary. The association does not always profit from most of its projects because they have low profit margins. Some seasonal projects might generate profit like the partnership with Toshiba Company to distribute Ramadan lamps. Donations are considered as part of the revenues. The association uses money coming from donations, sadakat, and the yield of some revenue-based activities. The general overhead costs of the association are estimated roughly to be from 30-40% of the budget. The ways to manage costs to the least possible level include, inducing members to rationalize consumption rates, closely monitoring monthly expenses, rationalizing staff recruitment process, and covering the costs of high telephone bills, hospitality and administrative outlays through collecting in kind donations. The association does not recognize any kind of support offered by the Egyptian government. The old government has provided only some facilities to make agreements with some concerned authorities such as ministries. This was mostly perceived prior to the revolution. However, the picture of the new potential government is still vague and there is no assurance that the new government would adopt a pro-civil society philosophy or not. There are tentative expectations about possible cooperation from the ministry of environment in the future. Analysis Based on the results of the in-depth personal interviews conducted with key persons in the association two types of analysis were made. The following section starts by presenting the first type of analysis which is the SWOT. This will be followed by the PEST analysis. 1. SWOT analysis The association enjoys a number of strength points. These strengths include, but not limited to, the following; a. Strong team spirit is a huge asset, good and efficient management system, good public relations, raising the skills of volunteers through gained experience, and very good reputation perceived by partners and the community at large. b. The presence of strong networks both locally and internationally. Locally with government institutions such as the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education, the Adult Education in Alexandria, the Ministry of Housing, the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Environment (protocol of cooperation),partnership training with the engineering industries sector TV ITVs affiliated to the Ministry of Industry, Alexandria Biblotecha library (Department of Public Relations and Information), Morkoseya Church, the Food Bank, and the Egyptian (permanent agreement). Internationally, networks with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Organized Crime in the United Nations, the Dubai Police (working as technical/training consultants to raise awareness of the damages of drug addiction. c. Good coordination with other local and international organizations. Examples include organizing joint training programs with renaissance makers club in Kuwait, the Ministry of Awqaf in Kuwait, the American University of Kuwait, Gulf University, CID in Kuwait and the Ministry of Defense, Union of Arab Doctors (donations to Libya), the office of Dr. Muhammad Salim Al-Awa, Toshiba Arab company and Ocean Express Company and Isam Abu-setta for heavy transport, New Horizons and Xeon, Arab Academy for Science and Technology, University of Pharos, Alexandria University, Cairo University, Helwan University, Ain Shams University, Menoufiya University, Western University , Mansoura University, Assuit University. Alshanek ya Balady Association, Alexandria west investors association, and set your goal association, the future hands Hospital. In addition to cultural partnership cooperation with the Egyptian-Turkish Friendship Association. d. The presence of a strong infrastructure in the main headquarters in Alexandria. It is located in a prestigious location, well furnished, and highly accessible. However it is not a private property and thus imposes the burden of paying high monthly rent. This location is equipped by personal computers, laptops, wireless network, and they have electronic marketing forces empowered by strong specialists in the field. e. The presence of an independent financial management and independent social affairs and legal affairs units whose staff are paid. The recycling project, the specialized teams used in field case studies, the illiteracy teachers, and volunteers. f. The lack of specific religious or political directions and the presence of strong relationships with respectable figures in Alexandria. The inclusion of small associations in the many events organized by the association. Dependence on respectable personalities in providing certain services. g. Partnering with the association provides the partner several privileges and huge returns. A list of those privileges and returns to partners and individuals can be found later in the appendices. The obvious weakness points observed in this association include the following; a. Funding problems (almost self-financing by 99% from members) and the presence of many projects in second row but (senior management has recently begun to train the middle class members to complete these projects and continue the transfer of expertise to their followers). b. There are no integration links between the projects. c. Some personal conflict problems might arise sporadically among members. d. Administrative problems, and lack of strictness and formalization procedures due to a conflict between the role of leader and manager, but they overcome this problem by appointing an executive director. e. Inadequate promotion for the association in the media compared to other competitors. The reasons are mainly to reduce expenses and due to the imposed security restrictions. f. The absence of headquarters in some governorates like Dakahleya and Gharbeya which constitutes a big problem because the teams there are highly specialized and they need the proper setting to grow on it. g. The lack of specialization between the work forces in undertaking the projects. h. Some communication problems were present however, the Human Resources Director has solved them. i. Lack of volunteers and problems with their continuity/tenure. In some cases the volunteer has a desire to see the immediate result of his voluntary work which makes them less patient to continue. Most of the projects carried out by the association have longer term impacts and feasibility. j. Shortage in financial resources and operational tools. The major opportunities, brought from the external environment, facing the association for the time being include the following; a. Activating some agreements with the Union of Arab doctors, the Ministry of Environment, various associations, political awareness teams, in addition to different charitable and awareness-raising teams seeking support from the association in terms of logistics and training. b. A strong deactivated relationship with Al-Jazeera training center which is currently under study. c. The existence of many public figures, associations, and young modest advocates who have neither political nor religious direction. The association can take advantage of their cooperation efforts. d. A number of donors from America, Canada and Morocco who have appeared after the revolution as service volunteers like doctors. e. Localities and the Council of the People elections. This can be achieved by nominating independent members. Any successful nominated member can offer some facilities and services to the association. Also, this will give the chance for the association to be presented as one of the active civil society organizations participating in crafting the new constitution. f. Offering many partnerships to join the association with large well known institutions such as New Horizons, the Arab Academy for Science and Technology, and other new companies through exhibitions. Their offered contributions come mainly in the form of donations. g. The existence of promising facilities to complete some strategic projects through governmental entities. h. Reducing some of the strict scrutiny procedures imposed previously by the old government and the security apparatus. i. The expansion and proliferation in the environment of charity work, the launch of various public events and the intense presence of the civil society activities. j. The potential for participation with other unknown may be small, associations to perform some other projects outside the scope of work of the association. This represents the potential for diversification and expansion of work coverage. k. People’s Openness and their new reconciliation with the community with the desire to join the civil society institutions to provide charity services. l. The presence of various finance institutions through which the association can expand its operations scale after getting approvals from concerned authorities. m. The neutrality of the association both politically and religiously is a major strength. It is manifested in attracting bodies of various ideologies either as beneficiaries or participants. These include for example, Morosely Church or El-Azhar in my life project. The major threats or challenges, brought from the external environment, facing the association include the following; a. The societal openness can produce many competitors; some of them are supported by huge funding schemes and are biased toward the fulfillment of certain political religious agendas. b. Security threats to volunteers and the possibility of exposure to risk in places where they provide services. The possibility of being abused by law breakers due to the lack of security in the Egyptian streets mainly after the recent events. c. Exploiting association’s activities for the beneficial interests of others. This is totally rejected. This might impose the threat of diluting the association’s public image. Examples include candidates’ coverage for elections or political support using association’s name and good reputation. d. The presence of some competitors with high media coverage, such as resala. e. The culture of voluntary work is still somehow tentative. The lack of awareness of others about the culture of volunteerism and societal responsibility. f. The necessity to invest in volunteers to improve their skills and derive maximum value out of their participation. g. The unstable economic situation of the Egyptian State. h. The role of the Ministry of Social Solidarity has been hindering the progress of the work of the civil society for long years ago. i. The emergence of the Muslim brotherhood and the ancestors (salaf) as major competitors. j. Lack of human rights and political awareness and the prevailing unjustified freedom leading to chaotic results. k. The culture of the conspiracy against Egypt and the presence of some many unnatural Egyptian T. V talk show moderators. l. The owners of certain rented headquarters are drug dealers. This represents a major threat calling for immediate actions in moving those headquarters. 2. The PEST analysis a. Political Factors The political environment in which the association operates appears to be unstable. This status has recently turned to be much intense following the revolution due to the emergence of new political groupings. There are some promising expectations that the new democratically elected government will set new policies that are pro the civil society. The new policies are expected to contain modified laws that regulate taxation and provide more support and facilities to NGOs’ operations. The old government economic policies seemed to be incredibly inefficient resulting into a deteriorated national economic performance. This government had also no hand on regulating the marketing ethics of operating NGOs. Its major concern was on prohibiting religiously oriented activities and banning NGOs participation in the political life. b. Economic Factors The slowdown in Egyptian national economy has impacted the role of the association. This was reflected into low interest rates on savings and high interest charges on borrowings. The inflation rate continued to grow reducing the purchasing value of the Egyptian pound. The long-term prospects for the economy Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita and other economic indicators will depend on the policies and procedures adopted by the new elected government. c. Socio-cultural Factors The dominant religion in Egypt is Islam. The association is not discriminating against either religion or gender. The partnership with morkoseya church is an evidence to support this claim. The role of women continues to grow largely and rapidly in the Egyptian society. They are becoming well educated, highly paid, and having a self commitment toward volunteer work. The majority of people the association is targeting its services are illiterate. The general population lacks a solid awareness regarding green environmental issues. This is a very important role of the association in advocating for a green environment and promoting green activities. These include reducing consumption and disposal rates, saving energy, recycling disposed items†¦etc. d. Technological Factors Technological innovations make life easier for all. The association utilizes as many of the technological facilities like wireless connections, fax, and international calls to carry out daily activities. The emphasis should be directed toward strengthening association’s technological infrastructure to be able to do business through online communication channels. There are strong promises regarding what the future can bring to the civil society in general and to the association in particular. This is manifested in several key points. First: the majority of people are becoming motivated to volunteer work. Second: the increased public awareness of the importance of civic and collective actions in contrast to confining the role of the individual to achieve purely personal goals. Third: the strong promises and positive perception maintained by the majority of the poor toward the role of the civil society due to government failure to satisfy their needs. Forth: the diversity in working areas removes many of the restrictions imposed on the civilian work. Fifth: the potential for cooperation from the new elected democratic government. Sixth: the potential for receiving huge inflows of international donors’ funds. Finally, the presence of many initiatives aimed at community and society renaissance that could be built upon. Conclusion and Recommendations Based on the previous systematic analyses, the following conclusions are reached. The selected association is one of an above medium size. It has several branches covering a range of governorates in Egypt. In addition to that it has multiple international partnership agreements abroad with some countries like Kuwait and Dubai. It is innovative due to the creativity exercised by its members in proposing and launching new project initiatives given the limited financial and physical resources available to them. The diversity of its projects adds to its effectiveness by solving problems in multiple critical areas. Administratively, the association can be run more efficiently than its current status. The overhead costs can be controlled so that not to exceed 10% of the annual budget. This can be achieved through cutting back on hospitality, renting, and utilities expenses or finding a sponsor company to offer them for free. The remainder of the budget should be entirely devoted to implementing key projects and programs. Once those two objectives are met – keeping O. H costs to the minimum and maximizing the pool of resources available to projects – the association can enhance its reliability and credibility as perceived by the various stakeholder groups. It has to overcome one of its critical weaknesses which is the deficient public media coverage. Adopting innovative promotional campaigns, through media, flyers, and positive word of mouth, can bring in extra revenues, many volunteers individuals or corporations, government support, and a favorable public image. It has to integrate advanced sophisticated techniques to save institutional memory for the next generations. Applying digital archiving, video and audio recordings of important projects, seminars, and events, keeping records of association’s best practices are all effective methods to save memory beside the conventional paper-based archiving mechanism. Web presence is very critical to the association. It is not well developed because the current website is down and the main gate to potential members is through the social media like the face book. Thus, developing a full featured website can provide good communication channels for the association both locally and internationally. The association has to allow potential members to register online. The composition of the board of directors needs some adjustments. A combination of co-founders, highly prestigious figures, wealthy capitalists, experienced technocrats – given the fact that they are all politically and religiously unbiased will allow the association to leverage each party’s privileges respectively. The reason is that co-founders are well informed about the association, its mission, vision, goals and have an intuitive inner commitment to achieve them. The highly prestigious, well known, famous, and rich members – who represent the status symbol can bring in extra money through their special donations and strong contacts with bureaucrats. The wealthy capitalists can have a win-win situation. On the one hand, they can enjoy public credibility and commitment toward social responsibility and on the other hand they will cash in the association to derive this legitimacy. Experienced technocrats can propose better structural reforms, manage operational complexities, and implement strategies to improve performance by capitalizing on strengths and overcoming weaknesses. The association is membership-based and it serves multiple interests. It channels members’ annual fees to implement projects serving members of the poor communities. It also develops the skills and competencies of its members in return for their volunteer time, money, and efforts. The non-profit nature of the association should not hinder its attempts to implement profit-based projects. These projects are important to cover the high overhead cost, keep an emergency fund â€Å" to hedge against bad economic conditions,† invest surplus in revenue earning initiatives, finance new developmental projects, and finally keep work flow smoothly while enjoying the tax exemption privilege. Providing full fledged free support should be only restricted to severe cases. These include very poor, eldery, disable, and young sick children in highly marginalized areas. Otherwise, providing services should have something in return. For example, providing microfinance for poor families can be balanced against donating a certain percentage of periodical revenues to fund other projects. One more thing that should be emphasized specially after the revolution of January 25th is augmenting international funding options. The association has to devise an effective strategy to share a large portion of international donor money coming into Egypt to support democracy. Only with a clear schedule of valuable projects, the association can guarantee international donors’ support without facing the threat of policy conditionality i. e. , imposing a certain development agenda on fund recipient as a condition to be granted the money. This can secure association’s activities financially, allow it to cover O. H costs, implement expansion plans, and better serve society’s compelling needs. General recommendations to improve the civil society in Egypt; 1. The presence of a regulatory environment for transparency rather than for control. 2. Ensuring enough flexibility in law application and enforcement i. e. , the law versus the implementation issue. 3. Promoting an openness commitment to partnership between government and public institutions and the civil society. 4. Supporting a bottom-up approach to development from donors’ side. 5. Supporting the creation of institutions rather than only short or medium term programs to promote for sustainable development. 6. Mobilizing mechanisms to maximize the real value perceived by the beneficiaries from the donors’ dollars. Page (2011) mentioned that only 10 to 30 percent of this actual grant will go to the real beneficiaries. 7. Supporting the youth-led NGOs so that they can actually participate in leading the winds of change toward democracy in Egypt. P. S. for those interested in accessing the association for donations, or more research work, here are association’s contacts. Address

Public Health Case Study

Public Health Case Study Fundamantals of public Health: Science and Practice Assessment This assignment will consider a given case study involving a lady named Melissa, she is a 45 year old Afro-Caribbean lady who had a University education. She now has a good job managing a regional chain of high street clothing stores. She has been engaged to her boyfriend for 12 months. She smokes heavily and spends several evenings each week and every weekend in various bars and clubs, where she drinks excessively and takes recreational drugs with her friends. Her partner disapproves of her behaviour and considers her friends to be a bad influence. She was recently taken to AE after collapsing in a nightclub. Her parents and her partner are concerned about her long term health. Due to these circumstances Melissa will be assessed on her needs as an individual, given advice on how to take care of her health and where she can access this guidance. Public health has been the concern of the government since Victorian times, and became the priority of the NHS (National Health Service) in 1974. However the UK (United Kingdom) Government has begun to return the responsibility of health improvement to local governments. They believe that local governments have the ability to focus on local populations and shape the services to meet the local populations needs (Department of Health 2011). Public health can be defined in a variety of ways depending on the individuals opinion and beliefs. However, it is common knowledge that public health is the prevention of disease, long term illness and a priority of prolonging life among the whole population. This process is encouraged and achieved through health promotion.The WHO (World Health organisation) definition of health promotion is â€Å"the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health. It moves beyond a focus on individual behaviour towards a wide range of social and environmental interventions† (WHO, 2012). All nursing staff currently on the NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council) register are involved in public health and have specific roles in promoting public health activities. One of the primary focuses with upstream nursing is to reduce health inequalities and social determins. However, for this to take effect it is required that all nursing practitioners fully understand the fundamentals of public health and health promotion. The upstream nursing framework, Living Well; Working well and Aging well was put in place to assist in the active promotion of health and well being (Nursing, 2012). Melissa will be educated about the services available to her and this assignment will demonstrate the understandings of key public health principles such as her age, ethnicity, religious beliefs her education and where she resides. Explaining why this may have an effect on her in society. The assignment will discuss the relevant sociological theories surrounding inequalities within populations and communities. It will focus on Melissas current lifestyle and the possible consequences this will have on her health. Finally the assignment will clarify on the recent policy incentives available to Melissa and her family, which will offer the support they need. To conclude a summary of findings will be discussed. Before the nursing practitioner can begin to educate Melissa about the services available to her, providing the person centered care she deserves. The nurses themselves must be aware of the basic key concepts within society, including the priorities and the correct practice. The relationship between health and society must be fundamental. Social circumstances have an impact on health inequalities through a variety of means, such as age, ethnicity, education, environment, income and available support. Inequalities are simply differences in peoples circumstances which therefore has an impact on their health (Wills, 2005). The main social determinant that has the biggest impact on health of Melissa is her race, ethnicity, cultural background and her beliefs. The link between ethnicity and social class also has a significant impact on someones health and life expectancy. For this reason sociologists study society, helping people to understand and respond appropriately to society and cult ure around us. Stratification is one of the sociological concepts by sociologist Max Webber. He discusses how various groups of people place within society, whether it be within a population or a community. This is often stratified by means of income, social class, gender, ethnicity, religion and political status. In Melissas case there are two key areas to discuss, firstly her form of biological characteristics, such as her skin colour and secondly her ethnic background. Melissa is of Afro – Caribbean origin, therefore her biological characteristics will differ from those of white British ethnicity. Her skin colour will be the more prominent difference along with her hair type, eye colour and structural build. Her ethnic background differences will likely be her spoken native language, preferred fashion, beliefs and her religion. These forms of differences would often lead to racialism (Jennie Naidoo, 2005). Racism a combination of discrimination and prejudice based upon Melissas difference s. These differences become ranked inferior or superior to each other, often resulting in a belief that because someone is of differences they should be treated differently. It is this unfair treatment that consequently induces inequalities towards Melissa. Therefore causing inequalities towards Melissas health (Pratt, 2006). The white paper Tackilng health inequalities for minority ethnic groups shows that in 2007 Non manual workers like Melissa reports 21 out of 100 white British people being in poor health compared to the 25 Caribbean nationals. Providing the evidence base that Melissa`s ethnic differences will have a downward effect on her overall health compared to the UK white British population (Randhawa, 2007). The possible determines of health for such inequalities can be influenced by housing, income, environment, education and the services available within her community. Also the white paper, Fair Society Healthy Lives has statistical evidence to support that life expectancy between both men and women has a seven year difference between different social classes of society (Marmott, 2010). Inequalities of wealth and health are not only an issue within the UK, they are global. For example, America, the UK and most European countries are among the wealthy, having a wealth, capital of over $50000 e ach, in comparison to Africa and Asian countries with Capital of just $2000 and under. These statistics show that the concentration of global wealth inequalities is high. Such inequalities are responsible for poor health services and education within these lower wealth countries, due to the simple fact that they cannot afford the resources (Mindfully.org, 2006). However, in Melissas case, social stratification which refers to the social class of people who share the same level of wealth. Would insist that Melissa has minimal strain from income inequalities in the UK. The Gilbert – Kahl model which focuses on income consists of six categories; The underclass, the working poor class, the working class, the middle class, the upper middle class and the capitalist class. The class structure of Gilberts model bases its assumptions of the economic society. In this model it would appear that Melissa having a managerial role within a chain of high street clothing stores, is part of the upper middle class society. Due to her university education and well paid employment, Gilberts model would suggest that Melissa deserves what she has achieved and is entitled to her share of life and her chosen lifestyle (Sill, 2014). The feminists would agree with Gilberts assumption of Melissa deserving what she has achieved regardless of her gender. Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett was one of the early 19th century feminists, she campaigned for the right of womens votes. She then became an activist on improving womens educational opportunities (Howorth, 2004). Since then feminism activists have gone on to make changes for women within society and politics. Modern feminism has four main focuses; the differences of gender, inequalities of gender, gender oppression and structural oppression. The theory of feminism is focused on giving women a voice and making awareness of womens contributions to society (Humm, 2014). Due to this women are now entitled to vote, seek employment without gender discrimination, reduced isolation of women from the household and reduced the differences in pay. Feminism has seen sections of legal legislation put in place for instance, The Equal pay Act 1970, The Sexual Discrimination Act 19 75 and the Equality Act 2006 plus many more, which all provide legal frameworks to protect women. Therefore, reducing the overall level of inequalities between women and men (Gov.uk, 2006). However, it was the historical work of Karl Marx and his Marxism theory that originally catoregised people in relation to economic production in society. Marx called this Capitalism, he implied that people who owned the production were the capitalists and the people that provided the labor were the proletariat (workers). This theory went on to create hostility between the two social classes. The proletariats were withheld from the products that they created and the development of its production, which left them feelings of alienation. This created feelings of less self worth and the social relationship between the capitalists and the proletariats became prominent in relation to power (Blaxter, 2004). However the feminists saw that it was these economic inequalities of power within a population, that began the understanding in regards to inequalities between social classes and gender. Insisting that the ability to overcome capitalism, would result in the reconstruction of the gender i mbalance (Yuill, 2003). It is clear to see from Melissas employment status and life style that social economy has evolved from Marx`s theory and the inequalities between men, women, owners and workers has drastically reduced. However, inequalities are still the forefront subject within upstream nursing and new frameworks such as the National Service framework for equality and diversity. Insists that the NHS (National Health Service) will respond to different needs of different populations fairly. Assisting in the understanding of individual needs during public health support (NHS, 2014). Today, women in the UK are expected to live until they are 82, but numerous people are dying young. Melissa is a heavy smoker and drinks excessive amounts of alcohol on a regular basis, she is also know to indulge on recreational drugs. In 2007 1 in 6 people died before the age of 65 due to diseases such as cancer, respiratory diseases and circulatory diseases, most of which are avoidable. Most longstanding illnesses are due to individual lifestyle choices and the stability of mental health (Government, 2010). Health and wellbeing are influenced by a variety of factors, for example, social environment, mental health and culture and these factors continually change across ones lifespan. The No Health Without Mental Health Framework delves into mental health outcomes in relation to health and well being. It assesses life satisfaction, self worth and stress in relation to the lifestyle choices of individuals. The fact that Melissas chooses to smoke has already put her in danger of premature health complications. Cigarette smoking accounts for approximately 100,000 UK deaths, it reduces the quality of health and causes premature death. Approximately 365 of respiratory deaths are caused by smoking. Short term health conditions linked to smoking are infections of the respiratory tract and the possible onset of asthma. However, Melissa is also at the risk of developing much worse conditions such as a variety of cancers, emphysema, pneumonia and chronic bronchitis. The cost of smoking related illnesses is approximately  £2.7 billion to  £5.2 billion within each year on the NHS (ash, 2014). Melissa also chooses to regularly drink alcohol and use recreational drugs. Statistics show that regular alcohol drinkers among the UK population amounts to 58% and in 2012 1,008,850 hospital admissions were related to alcohol. It is also estimated that the misuse of alcohol costs the NHS in excess of  £ 3.5 billion per year (Gov.uk, 2012). The miss use of drugs among adults in the UK also equates to 2.7 million UK residents, with cannabis being the most commonly used drug and ecstasy coming in second. This misuse leads to 6,549 hospital admissions in 2013 along with 1,496 drug related deaths (Lifestyles Statistics, 2013). The main long term issues related to alcohol and drug use is an addiction, and health implications of the cardiovascular system. From these statistics is can be seen that Melissa has a very risky lifestyle and she has increased her chances of developing long and short term illnesses prematurely in relation to this. Once Melissa has had her assessment of health needs the framework model for up stream nursing; protect, promote and prevent will be practiced. Local level health promotion strategies within Melissa`s region will be identified, such as local stop smoking support. The DH (Department of Health) published the paper Smoking Kills in 1998 and recently released the document Tobacco Control. These papers have made measures to reduce smoking in public areas, restricted advertising and have supported the rise of tobacco costs (Cartwright, 2008). The Mental Health Foundation, focus on mental health awareness and inequalities as well as linking mental health policies, research and evidence to produce publications covering a wide range of mental health issues (Foundation, 2014). The Drink Aware campaign provides the public with information in regards to alcohol consumption. They promote responsible use of alcohol and the health issues related (Drinkaware, 2014), National Drug Prevention Alliance, provide education on addiction and how it takes control of your life. They provide support for family and friends too (Dependence, 2014). Finally the Womens Health Concern campaign provides information and education to women in regards to their health and wellbeing, including advice on lifestyle concerns (Concern, 2014). Many of these public health promoting campaigns are a charity funded but are supported by the government. The government has taken responsibility for public health promotion, however the government cannot achieve this alone. Individuals have to take action in regards to improving their own and their familys health. A new radical approach towards health and wellbeing is being pursued. At root level local authorities will be taking responsibility within society, dealing with the determines of health and support the public in making healthier selections (Nursing, 2011). The Directors of Public Health are the main advisors to the local authorities in relation to health. They are members of the health and well being board, but it is the department of Public Health England which offers the overall support to both sections. The new approach has its strategies sent out from the Secretary of Health. Who is responsible for allocating budgets to the local authorities and NHS. The Public Health England framework supports this approach. Believing, giving the responsibility back to local authorities w ill result in them being able to support their community with the services which that particular area needs (Health, 2013). Upon discharge from hospital Melissa will be advised on The primary care choices available to her such as GP (General Practitioner) practices and high street optometrists. The role of the nurse is influential in this case and the white paper Nusres as partners in delivering public health points out the contributions made by nurses has a major impact on behavior changes within the health promotion environment. It illustrates the success of upstream nursing with case study examples, providing evidence that health promotion at local levels working in partnership with other local services has a detrimental impact on reducing health inequalities (Nursing, 2009). In conclusion to this case study health and health promotion bases itself on cultural and social understanding of illness. The promotion of health is to enable the public to hold control over their own health by means of encouragement from intersectorial means. It is the influence of ones social and economic status, which can determine peoples lifestyle choices and risks. The statistics show that one bad lifestyle choice can reduce quality of life and cost health care services billions to provide treatment. Therefore, without the intervention of the government and the nursing professional background knowledge and support. The general public, perhaps, would lack the reduction in health inequalities and the stabilisation of the NHS. Amanda Jane Kaye

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee :: Kill Mockingbird essays

To Kill a Mockingbird Comparison and Contrast of the Characters of Bob Ewell and Atticus Finch In this essay I will introduce you to the two main characters in Harper Lee's book "To kill a mockingbird", comparing them in their attitudes and actions. Atticus Finch is a single father raising two children in the small town of Maycomb, Alabama. Atticus works as a lawyer believing in equal justice for all Americans regardless of race or religion. Bob Ewell is also a single father raising eight children who also lives in Maycomb. Bob is unemployed collecting welfare who believes in racial segregation. He believes in different modes of justice for blacks and whites. Atticus is very compassionate while talking to his thirteen-year-old son Jem. Atticus was explaining to him that he would do anything just for Bob to stop beating his kids. As he said, "So if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella one extra beating, that's something I'll gladly take. He had to take it out on somebody and I'd rather it be me than that houseful of children out there."(Pg. 221) In addition Atticus explains to Jem that he had to do what he had to do because he destroyed Bob's last shred of credibility, whereas Bob is a coward who doesn't deal with the matter but makes things worse. Bob proves himself to be very cowardly. He doesn't think before making his actions. As a result of this he tried to kill Atticus' children, Jem and Scout. As they were walking home from the Halloween pageant, Bob came out and tried to kill them. Bob got what he deserved when Boo Radley, a neighbor who hides his identity, came out and saved the children, killing Bob. Atticus and Sheriff Tate, the officer of Maycomb, proved to be fair and told Maycomb that Bob fell on his knife to help Boo from public recognition. Tom Robinson was accused of raping Bob Ewell's daughter Mayella. Tom Robinson is a black man who is defending himself against white people to win the case. Atticus has taken on the case to defend Tom because he treats everyone as equals and it was important for his self-esteem.

Tok Can a Machine Know

In today’s day and age, the question â€Å"Can a Machine Know? † is very important and relevant to what we are doing with machines in making them more and more humanlike and capable of human functions. A machine, as defined on Dictionary. com â€Å"is an apparatus consisting of interrelated parts with separate functions, used in the performance of some kind of work. † That seems simple enough, not very complicated at all. But then if you look up â€Å"know†, the definition is very hard to grasp. Dictionary. com defines â€Å"know† as: â€Å"to perceive or understand as fact or truth; to apprehend clearly and with certainty. This doesn’t give much justice to the word and requires you to define other terms such as understand and truth and certainty. It is much easier to use the term as defined according to Plato. His view is regarded to be the â€Å"classical† definition. According to Plato, at least three criteria must be satisfied in order for there to be knowledge; a statement must be justified, true and believed. And so if a machine meets all these requirements then it must in fact know. With machines, the main argument against their capabilty to know is that everything they can do is because humans programmed them to do it. Machines cannot do anything on a whim; they have no imagination or creativity. Creativity is one of the things that makes humans rather special and not just walking computer processors. It enables us to make decisions which are not based simply on algorithms or past history or other data. We can be bold, reckless, brave, and foolish or act in many other emotional ways. This is impossible to program as emotions do not lend themselves to mathematical analysis. Yet emotions are an essential part of knowledge. For example I know whether I am happy today or not and it probably affects what I do today more than the facts I actually know. Computers can never be happy or sad. They cannot love or grieve. They cannot, in other words, be human and know. But the other side of the argument is that humans are just computers which contrary is the exact opposite stated in the above paragraph. We are just many bits and pieces that are all working together to let us live and experience life. In fact humans are classified as biological machines, and if humans can know anything, machines should be able to know. Many consider the only aspect that makes humans and other higher organic creatures different from the commonly defined machine is our ability to express emotions and intuition. These emotions and intuitions come from our mind, which is a system; a system of biochemistry, electricity, some mechanics and maybe a bit of quantum mechanics, but a system nonetheless. If you take any individual part of this system away, none of these parts will understand anything. They're simply exchanging information with different parts according to set rules. This is exactly what a machine does when given instructions and prior facts and figures. As I was researching this topic and looking at both sides of the argument, I admit I was very torn. At first I thought no, there’s no way a machine can know. They don’t have brains and everything they do is programmed beforehand for them by humans. But as I delved more deeply into the question I found that some advanced robots are not quite like that. On Youtube, there are many videos which include Honda’s robot, named ASIMO, that show machines can think very much on they’re own. One video talks about how this robot can actually â€Å"see†, a trait we usually only give to living organisms. Though it has two cameras for eyes, the way it processes the information it views through the cameras is very humanlike, like a child learning their surroundings. A man shows the robot objects that it has already learned to indentify and ASIMO says what they are out loud. But then the man shows it two completely different objects, a toy car and a toy robot, and tells ASIMO what they are. The man then shows the robot the two objects again and asks it what they are. ASIMO dutifully replies what each is correctly. This amazed me because it showed machines could actually learn from experience, just like humans. But that wasn’t all, ASIMO was later told indentify a chair. At first a normal looking wood chair was placed in front of it and the robot nodded. Then a stool was placed in front and ASIMO nodded again, even though the stool looks nothing like a chair. But then it is showed a table and ASIMO shakes his head no. This was very astounding to me because it showed a machine making a judgment. So to actually determine whether or not a computer can know, we must go back to Plato’s description of knowledge and see if a machine fits. The main purpose of most machines is to record vast amounts of data which are all truthful so that fulfills the first criteria easy enough. Then it must be justified which is done by the programmer feeding information to the machine. And last but not least it must believe and because the computer must follow the code it’s given, then it must believe and thus it fits all of Plato’s criteria for knowledge. But this just seemed too easy so I decided to look into the ways of knowing, and if the machine fit all those components, then it definitely knows. Though a machine can use reason to solve problems that no human can, use intuition to figure out if an object is a chair or not, speak in every language known to man, see objects and know what they are, and be able to hear a human and respond, machines still cannot experience emotion and that is the one thing stopping them from knowing. As stated in a previous argument, an essential part to knowing is through emotion and creativity and imagination. Without these things a machine cannot know. Until humans are able to make a machine that has the capacity that the human brain does, a machine will never know like a human. It will understand how to perform certain tasks and learn new things, but it will never be able to create something of its own or experience any type of emotion. In saying this, I do believe that in the near future, with technological advances, there will soon be a machine which can think for itself and have its own ideas and creations. Due to Raymond Kurzweil’s theory of Singularity, humans will create machines that have intelligence which surpasses their own and by that time machines will most definitely know. Because of the human sciences striving to create robots that are humanlike, they will eventually become successful and once the breakthrough is made, then there will be thousands of different machines that can know and our society will have totally changed. But as of right now, a machine cannot know. It can perform very humanlike tasks and talk and walk and speak but there is still the barrier of not being able to imagine or feel which separates humans from machines.Bibliography http://www.sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=53888;page=3

Example of an Ethnolect Based Essay

The speech of an individual is a linguistic map of their identity and an indication of how they would like to be perceived. Migrants who come to Australia already possess the linguistic structures of their mother tongue, and these will affect the way they speak English, forming an ethnolect. Consequently, a person’s language is a clear indicator of their past ethnic origins, and the English they choose to speak will also indicate how they would like others to perceive them. This latter is true for everyone, as we all vary our language according to context. Bill is a young Chinese student who has come to Australia two years ago from China to further his education. His lexical field is wide and varied, he is able to use complex syntactic structures and his accent and prosodic features show a good familiarity with standard Australian English. However, it is still possible to find linguistic features which demonstrates that he is from a Chinese background, that he is male, that he has travelled, can appreciate humour, and that he would like to be perceived as an educated person with further academic goals. The phonological features of a person’s speech are the most obvious signposts to his or her origins or mother tongue. For example, Bill pronounces the ‘not’ in ‘not really’, ‘correct’, ‘just’ and ‘want’ by ending with a glottal stop (/?/), rather than the voiceless consonant (/t/). This occurs as final consonants are much less frequent in Mandarin than in English and thus they are normally dropped or replaced by a glottal stop. This could give linguists a clue on his origins or mother tongue. Bill also values the Australian accent, but there are also traces of American English in his speech, notably his pronunciation of ‘currently’, with the sound ‘ker’ (American) rather than ‘kar’ (Australian). This shows the subtle ways that every experience can affect a person’s identity as Bill has stayed in America for a short period of time, making his English slightly different from another Chinese student that has not had that experience. Local idioms and foreign borrowed words are also used in a non standard way by Bill. An example would be the way he pronounces ‘gourmet’, by analogy; he assumes that all letters are pronounced in English. However, since this word is of French origin, its final‘t’ should not be pronounced. Through the way a subject speaks, we could pinpoint his ethnic group. Although Bill has a wide and varied lexical field, he does not use many idiomatic Australian expressions. This could mean that he is either still a newcomer and has not become familiar with colloquial language, or he may not value these expressions (such as Aussie, veggie, mate†¦etc) as he might view them as low status words. This could show that he wants to be perceived as an educated, cultured person, instead of a rough Aussie. Even though English is not the subject’s mother tongue, he still has a fairy large lexicon, using lexemes such as â€Å"lucrative†, â€Å"environment† and â€Å"gourmet†, this could show that he has been exposed to English even before he migrated to Australia. Bill also uses the word â€Å"reckon† and â€Å"heaps† which shows that he has tried to fit into his peer group and that he has a good grasp of the type of language used by the people around him. A subject’s syntactic structures are another indication of his ethnic origins. The use of modal verbs is sometimes difficult for Chinese learners as there aren’t any tenses in Mandarin, and this is evident in Bill’s speech. For example, in his sentence ‘Basically, I can choose from a lot of country’/ The lack of plural is evident here ( country/countries), but also the verb ‘can’ is used in a non-standard way, it is used in its base form rather than the more accepted past tense, as in ‘I could choose from a lot of countries’. Leaving verbs in their base form is a feature of many Mandarin speakers, as in Mandarin, tenses are indicated by other means†¦. Another syntactic feature is the plural, which is sometimes not formed as shown before. For example, ‘my family member’, ‘at those stage’, ‘a lot of country’ and ‘different background’. Such non-standard usage also pinpoints Bill’s identity as a Chinese speaker as there are no plurals for nouns in Mandarin. Bill’s word order too is sometimes non standard, especially when expressing more complex ideas. For example, ‘aging population faces in Japan’ rather than ‘Japan too faces an aging population’. All these syntactic features contribute to his identity as a young Chinese student still in the process of mastering the English language. A subject’s attitude can also show what kind of speaker he or she would like to be perceived. For example, Bill states that he prefers the Australian accent over the Singaporean accent. This would show that he puts a high value on the Australian English and would like to be perceived as a English speaker From this, it can be seen that many features contribute to a person’s ethnolect, and from it we can deduce the subject’s identity and the way he or she wants to be perceived. Furthermore, migrants who come to Australia know that they must learn English, as ‘Nothing unites a country more than its common language. ‘(John Howard). However, each migrant, such as Bill, brings his own variation of English which is linked to his first mother tongue (in this case Mandarin). In this way, each person contributes to the rich tapestry of sounds, words and syntactic structures which make up Australia's history, culture and identity. ‘