Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Why Does America Need The Common Core Essay - 1437 Words
Why does America need the Common Core? The lack of educational benchmarks and standardization in the United States of America, USA is disjointed and subpar leaving students ill prepared to enter the workforce and college. As evidenced by the persistent problem of students graduating and passing required exit exams in high school; yet, they still needed remediation upon entry to college. The Common Core is good because it provides a set of age appropriate learning goals and sets a national high-quality academic standard for Math and English to prepare students for college and career readiness. In essence, the Common Core defines what a student should know and be able to do at different grade levels. The Common Core is beneficial to all students, especially for those students interested in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education ‘STEM’ fields. They both teach problem solving skills and focus on learning to use Common Core modules for optimum results. In addition, students learn to think outside the box, they learn how to create a good argument, defend the argument, and look for patterns. Learning these skills will increase their problem solving and reasoning abilities, which prepares them for STEM jobs. Desiree Hall, writes, â€Å"The new work is challenging, based on rigorous new Common Core State Standards†¦they have to explain how they got it. That’s a real brain workout.†(Hall) Moreover, the implementation of the Common Core makes it harder for students toShow MoreRelatedIs Common Core Really Unacceptable For Our Children?1272 Words  | 6 PagesComposition 25 March 2016 Is Common Core Really Unacceptable for Our Children? At New Bern High School, Charlie Bernthal, a freshman, sits in a class room instructed by Common Core standards. It will take one of Charlie’s teachers six minutes to demonstrate the various methods to complete a simple multiplication problem, such as 63 x 24. Students are taught to use arrays, lattice, partial product methods, and eventually the traditional U.S. customary method. The Common Core standards happen to be a bigRead MoreQuestions On Common Core Math805 Words  | 4 PagesCommon Core Math Imagine being given a math problem, such as, 7+7. Most people would do simple mental math to get the solution fourteen. However, in American education millions of kids are required to fathom these problems with a concept known as â€Å"number bonds,†and restricting children to one way of solving is profoundly hampering innovativeness in American children (Garelick). Not only has this change in education caused anxiety in children of all ages, but also in their parents who struggle inRead MoreThe Problems With Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Essay1690 Words  | 7 Pages Although most senators, representatives and school officials support common core state standards (CCSS), they have not received or researched the history of how CCSS introduced itself. Furthermore, they do not understand that local control is being taken away, which results in the eventual destruction of excellent, local schools, students, and future generations. Two private trade organizations located in Washington, D.C, wrote the CCSS at the request of Achieve, a company created by Bill andRead MoreThe Ramifications of Government Reform on Education Essay1354 Words  | 6 PagesAmerica currently ranks 36th in the world in regards to education. This encompasses reading, math, and science. Education in the United States represents multiple achievement gaps across ethnicities, income levels, and geography. There are many reasons as to why America ranks low. The curriculum in the United States varies widely from district to district and stretches from state to state, which is one of the major problems in why America compares greatly to that of other countries. For instanceRead MoreCommon Core Should Be Enforced Across The United States1523 Words  | 7 Pageswhether the Common Core should be enforced across the United States. One of the most wildly accepted views is that even though the Common Core could be a good idea, it is unnecessary, that America has done just fine without it. The Common Core is not working how it should and schools should go back to the way it was before. Many professors and researchers agree that the Common Core does not work and might even be hurting the youth of America. Parents who disagree with the Common Core have startedRead MoreEssay Common Core State Standards919 Words  | 4 Pagesdifferent assessments with subjects like science, math, and language arts. However, within the past year many schools in the United States of America have switched their state standards to a new standard known as common core. Common core is no w a nationwide standardized test with subjects like reading, writing, and math. Some standards that are evident in the common core are, â€Å"research and evidence based, clear, understandable, and consistent, aligned with college and career expectations, based on rigorousRead MoreThe Common Core Standards For The Students Of The United States1743 Words  | 7 PagesThe Common Core Standards were created in 2010 as an ideal system to help the students of the United States compete with top competitors worldwide. Teachers, standard experts, and other countries studied learning styles internationally to create a system that is supposed to fill the gap in curriculum and the â€Å"hole that is a mile wide and only an inch deep†the old system has created (â€Å"Myths†). On this new system, state standards will be raised to the highest in 20 years; therefore, no state willRead MoreThe Common Core State Standards Asking Too Much Of Elementary Children?1080 Words  | 5 PagesAre the Common Core State Standards Asking Too Much of Elementary Children? When many people think of elementary education, they think of reading small passages and learning the difference between addition and subtraction in easy, creative ways. Now, with the new Common Core State Standards implemented, today’s kids will have more things to worry about. They are asked more challenging questions and expected to have more rigorous answers. This does not set a steady learning pace for the average childRead MoreArgumentative Essay On Common Core1131 Words  | 5 Pagesï » ¿Genary Gomez                                                                   Mr. Scheiner English Period #4                                                                  11/21/13 Argumentative Essay on Common Core â€Å"Without Common Core we (America) are not where we want or need to be.†The New York Times reported this in August, 2013. Currently, every state sets its own curriculum for its schools. The result is that the United States ranks â€Å"25th in math, 17th in science, and 14th in readingRead MoreWhy Is Common Core Necessary?961 Words  | 4 PagesWhy is Common Core necessary? Common Core is needed to stabilize education. Through the implementation of Common Core, every child will learn the same thing at the same time. Education throughout the country would be equal and no child would truly be left behind. The theory of Common Core is good, but the implementation so far has not been. Creating an unified teaching curriculum is a great idea for any child who would be moving across the country, or even to another state, mid-school year;
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
The Five Stages Of Analytical Competition Essay - 1613 Words
As I mentioned above, the company has two different areas that can be looked at when determining the five stages of analytical competition and I also believe that each area is at two different stages. With respect to our clients, I believe that NextGen products can be categorized at Stage 5 – Analytical Competitors with an understanding that the company will need to continue to improve and allow our customers to grow with each new release of our product. In other words, I am saying that we can categorize the products at stage 5 but I don’t feel NextGen is â€Å"done†with respect to the product analytics. If NextGen doesn’t continue to evolve and grow our analytics in our products, we will not be able to stay at that stage and allow our clients to have the competitive edge. Our products provide our clients (hospitals and practices) with several layers of reporting to determine patient care, patient services, patient billing and patient tracking. NextG en recognizes that the clients need to constantly review their data to provide better patient care at lower costs for both the practice/hospital and the patient. As is indicated by our website, NextGen Healthcare provides our clients with Ambulatory solutions, Revenue Cycle Management and Shared data services 1. NextGen openly boasts about our Analytics Solution to provide our clients the data they need to â€Å"mange risks, enhance patient outcomes and improve overall decision making.†2 For NextGen as a company includingShow MoreRelatedCritical Value Of Analytics : The New Science Of Winning Essay957 Words  | 4 Pagesnew data age. Every company and organization should strive to become an analytical competitor. Competing on Analytics reveals how companies think about their data and their exploitation of that data. Also, it highlights how companies such as the Boston Red Sox, Netflix, Amazon.com, CEMEX, Capital One, and Harrah’s Entertainment use analytics to b uild their competitive strategies and make better decisions in the severe competition. These companies and organizations use analytics to identify the mostRead MoreInformation And Data Of Analytics1750 Words  | 7 Pagesother company in their industry can provide, while also charging a very competitive price. So what exactly does competing on analytics mean for a company like CXC? The text defines an analytical competitor as, â€Å"An organization that uses analytics extensively and systematically to outthink and outexecute the competition.†(Davenport, 2007, p.23) This statement somewhat defines CXC as they use some analytics to gain an advantage over the other companies that the directly compete with. However, most ofRead MoreThis Article Will Introduce The Structure Of Competing1129 Words  | 5 Pagesstudy of automotive manufacturer Toyota. First, the article will explain the four pillar model and five stages models and apply it to Toyota. Then it will address the competitive analytical advantage of the company in detail. Finlay it will discuss the internal and external competition on analytics of Toyota. Competing on Analytics Based on Davenport and Harris (2007)’s pillars of analytical competition, there are four pillars: distinctive capability, enterprise-wide analytics, senior management commitmentRead MoreTop Two Marketing Agency : The First Marcom Agency1419 Words  | 6 Pagesintensively trained for 4 months and began to work directly with both internal and external clients for a year. The experience was over exceed my expectation, it’s great! Company’s Position and Ability to Compete on Analytics Venus Communications is an analytical practitioner. The company is working to become more data driven. Back to the time I worked in the company, the admin department was looking to recruit the most talented market research analytics. The human talent execution team set a high standardRead MoreMethods Of Using Data Relationships And Computer Models1605 Words  | 7 Pagescharacteristics are called the four pillars of analytic completion with senior management commitment being the pivotal characteristic as it can make others characteristics possible. In the case of KKR within the pillars of analytic competition is growing strong. The senior management i.e the CEO Sharukh Khan along with other stake holders and support staff is highly committed and motivated and is working towards building distinctive capabilities in the technical and management areas.Read MoreHow to Compete on Analytics Essay1100 Words  | 5 PagesHow to Compete on Analytics  Thomas Davenport describes the prerequisites and the five stages of analytic competitiveness  By Alison Bolen   Thomas Davenports article Competing on Analytics was the best†selling Harvard Business Review reprint in 2006. To write it, Davenport,The Presidents Distinguished Professor in Management and Information Technology at Babson College, studied the characteristics of m ore than 50 leading organizations that have made a commitment to quantitative, fact†based analysisRead MoreWalmart : The Worlds Biggest Retailer1713 Words  | 7 Pagesprograms that allow authors, musicians, filmmakers, application developers and others to publish and market content. As the major electronic book supplier in United States, it is dominating the online book market. In the end of 2013, amazon held eighty-five percent of the market. The capabilities of a company varies by organization and industry, and might involve supply chains, pricing and revenue management, customer service, customer loyalty, or human resource management. [1] Different companies haveRead MoreAmazon : An Electronic Commerce And Cloud Computing Company1114 Words  | 5 PagesPosition in Analytical Competition We can assess a company’s position and capability on analytics from four pillars of analytical competition, including distinctive capability, enterprise-wide analytics, senior management commitment and large-scale ambition. Based on performance of each pillar, analytical competition can be divided into 5 stages – analytically impaired, localized analytics, analytical aspirations, analytical companies and analytical competitors [3]. Amazon locates in stage five of analyticalRead MoreHow Analytics Helps An Organization Optimize Their Business Processes1730 Words  | 7 PagesDavenport and Harris (2007), defined analytics, as the â€Å"extensive use of data, statistical and quantitative analysis, explanatory and predictive models, and fact-based management to drive decisions and actions.†[2]. An article titled Outsmart the Competition by Jackie Zack in Teradata Online magazine states that â€Å"analytics can help an organization optimize their business processes to make them effective as possible.†[3]. It is a proven fact that proper use of analytics can lead an organizations toRead MoreCase Study : An Sap Business Intelligence1692 Words  | 7 PagesSenior management was committed to the use of analytics 4) The company made a significant strategic bet on analytics-based competition First of all, at Vestel, the primary focus for analytics is on cost management. So their strategic focus is based on the manufacturing low cost products, that is their analytical capability. Actually, I came across with some detailed analytical studies on how they reduce the costs by analyzing the costs of every single component in an electronic good. For instance
Monday, December 9, 2019
Responsive Design Of The E Portfolio Pages -Myassignmenthelp.Com
Question: Discuss About The Responsive Design Of The E Portfolio Pages? Answer: Introducation In order to developed and design the webpages using HTML and CSS for the e-portfolio it is important to divide the pages into different standard segments such as header, footer, navigations and content body. The web pages of this e-portfolio will have following pages, Index.html, about.html, Gallery.html, Career.html, Skills.html, and Sitemap.html. The webpages of the site will be developed using responsive approach. Therefore, the ages of this site will have consistent view over different devices having varying screen sizes. All the pages of the E-portfolio will have viewport tag. Inclusion of a viewport Meta tag dictates the browser of the device that, the web pages needs to be scaled or shrined to fit to the device screen. Even though there are various options to complete this, but use of the view port is considered as standard. Different parts of the pages For navigational controls we are using the nav tag on the pages. The section tag or element defines some part of the webpage that is related to the content and contents (text, image) will be in this sections. It is suggested to not to use as a generic element or for styling purposes on the pages. In those scenarios it is suggested to use a simple div tag. The article on then pages helps to define an independent part of content on the pages on which will be act as standalone on the pages and still make sense to the visitor of the pages. Header: This tag helps in defining a header for a complete web page or section header on the web page. Footer: This tag is used to define the footer of a section or a web page in the e-portfolio site. a href: This tag is used to redirect to different pages from a page. img src: As the pages of the e-portfolio site will consist of different images this tag will help to place them in the specific positions. Along with this, the height and width attribute of this tag will be used to specify the dimension of the images on the web pages. CSS properties The pages of the site will also use the Media query technique to make the website mobile friendly. The following is sample code for this tag, In addition to that, the style sheet will also include, the padding property. This is used to provide space around some content on the web pages. In addition to that, to support and style the navigation controls on the pages the CSS style sheet will contain styling techniques similar to the following sample. lia href="index.asp"Home/a/li lia href=" about.html "About/a/li lia href=" Gallery.html "Image Gallery/a/li lia href=" Career.html "About/a/li The ul be designed by the following CSS stylesheet References [1]L. Ennis, "A Review of The Modern Web: Multi-Use Web Development with HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript", Journal of Web Librarianship, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 109-110, 2014. [2]J. Yun, J. Park, H. Hwang, G. Phyo and I. Moon, "HTML5 Analysis and Research for the Reduction of the Initial Load Time of a Web Browser", The Journal of Korea Navigation Institute, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 440-445, 2015.
Sunday, December 1, 2019
The Economic History Of Western Europe During The Period Between 1950 To 1973 Essay Example
The Economic History Of Western Europe During The Period Between 1950 To 1973 Essay The aim of this essay is to analyze whether the term Golden Age referring to the European growth during the years from 1950 to 1973 was justified as a term to describe Western Europes economic history. In order to come to a complete understanding on why the years between 1950 and 1973 were characterized as being the Golden Age and to define whether the term was justified, it will be necessary to first examine the history of Western Europe at the time as well as the economical factors that ruled and took place. During the years 1950 and 1973, there was a significant rapid change and development in Europes economical growth. This success was a result of many factors and contributed to the welfare and wider benefit. During the Golden Age everyone experienced a rapid economic growth, modest inflation and low unemployment. The growth rate for the European economy was more than twice as high in the 1950 -1973 period than in the previous 80 years. The macro-economic status was in its best throughout this period than it has ever been. This growth was an outcome of many social factors some of which are: 1. The period between 1950 and 1973 was a period of post-war reconstruction, a period which promised an opportunity for rapid growth if guided by the correct policy. This was an advantage as before 1950, since 1913 the European economical factors had experienced two world wars, which meant that the existing growth had been very low at the time. This is also the reason why the countries which were more devastated by the war, such as Italy, Germany Austria and Japan were able to have the best growth pick-up and the countries that were less devastated such as Australia, Canada, Switzerland and the United States were faced with a reduced pick-up growth. We will write a custom essay sample on The Economic History Of Western Europe During The Period Between 1950 To 1973 specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Economic History Of Western Europe During The Period Between 1950 To 1973 specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Economic History Of Western Europe During The Period Between 1950 To 1973 specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer 2. AS Asian economies were rapidly growing, pressures coming to the surface as a result of the competition were identified. A large percentage up to 93 per cent, of all manufactured exports was gained by the developed countries in 1965. However the de-industrialization of Europe was beginning. 3. As pointed out by N.F.R Craft another aspect was that the United States based on the advantage of using more advanced technological equipment, was able to have a larger scale of productivity than Europe did. By 1950 American manufacturing was 2.5 times the British level, 2.75 times the West German level and 3.1 the French level (Schulze 43). 4. During the period 1950 to 1970, materials such as energy were low priced. After 1973 up until 1980 there was a very high raise in prices. The price of oil was raised from $2.1 to $35.5 a barrel. From the following table we can observe the income elasticities and growth rates for the period 1955-1965. As Houthakker and Maggee,(1969) conclude, a high income elasticity of demand for exports and a low elasticity for imports is the main income pattern for fast- growing countries. A stable real exchange rate can be accomplished through this phenomenon. However as Krugman (1989) suggested, we can not imply that the elasticity income alone develops fast growth. The growth of Europe can be seen as a result of the expansion of its share of world markets by expanding the range of goods, rather than reducing prices. The period between 1950 and 1973 is conventionally known as the Golden Age of European economic growth (Crafts, 1995a). with no doubt we can say that technology transfer was an important influence leading to the integration of European markets, price changes, greater codification of knowledge, and the proliferation of multinational enterprise (Nelson and Wright, 1992). However these components were not the only influence. The transfer of workers from agriculture as well as post-war reconstruction was important to the catch-up growth. Even though there was a bounce back from the disruption of the world wars and interwar depression and protectionism, in general, European countries did far better than merely get back on a pre-existing growth trend (Mills and Crafts, 2000). Referring to the cheap technology as an explanation for the rapid economical growth for the period 1950 to 1973 leading to the golden Age, Boltho (1982) argues: If cheap technology and abundant labor and raw materials were not novel features of industrial Europe, something else must still explain why in the 1950s and 1960s they led to supergrowth Such an explanation would seem to have come from the demand side. . Boltho(1982) As (Abramovitz, 1986) described, in order for the catch-up in the early postwar Europe to take place and be successful it was necessary to have a social capability meaning that structures that would encourage investment and innovation had to be present. However in many countries social contracts that facilitated wage moderation in return for high investment in a corporatist setting accompanied by trade liberalization were developed (Eichengreen, 1996). The catch-up growth outcomes during the Golden Age, was not the same for all countries. This is totally understandable if one considers the importance of institutions in growth. The period of 1950-1973 is justified when characterized with the term Golden Age as the fast economic growth in Western European countries produced an improvement in labor as well as the raise of the welfare for the state and the social economy. Higher employment rates and employment opportunities were produced, benefiting workers and their families. The increase demand in labor is accomplished by increasing the demand for products as well as the prices of products which are produced and exported. As mentioned previously in this essay, the Golden Age also meant the increase of the GDP for the sample of 141 countries the increase was from 1.73 in 1950 to 2.50 and to 3.09 in the 1990s . Throughout this essay many opinions, statements, notions and theories were stated and analyzed, in order to come to a conclusion on whether scholars were justified in using the term Golden Age to refer and describe the economic history of Western Europe during the period between 1950-1973. in order to come to a conclusion some facts such as some major points and aspects that lead to the development of the Golden Age as well as the advantages of that period were analyzed. The period of 1950-1973 was indeed a Golden Age for the individuals as well as the wider society and the state. There is no dispute that this period was successful in terms of macro-economic performance as the real growth rate for the world economy was more than twice as high than was before or even since. Throughout the Golden Age unemployment remained low, leading every segment to a wider range of choices, opportunities and in general a better life. Apart from individuals the state also benefited during that period as the growth in scale of the economy led to rising trade.
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
The eNotes Blog 3 Memoirs That ReimagineIllness
3 Memoirs That ReimagineIllness With the proliferation of illness narratives in the late nineteenth century, many writer-turned-patients have used the written word to capture what it means to face their own morality. There are a lot of illness narratives out there that feel disingenuous or overtly sentimental- and truthfully, it’s hard to say if we can ever fully understand another person’s suffering or sickness- but we seek these stories out anyway, wanting to learn from someone else’s experiences, wanting to better understand the impact of illness on our lives and the people around us. The best stories don’t promise inspiration or even a transformational change by the end, but promise to deliver the truth with emotional clarity and insight. Humor, even. From de-mystifying disease to self-discovery, these three memoirs seek to re-imagine what a story about illness can and should be. 1. Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy This is a memoir to the body, to a disease that was never named to Lucy Grealy as a child- at least not until much later. Grealy’s memoir centers on her childhood experiences of undergoing several operations and years of chemotherapy treatments to remove a cancerous tumor in her jaw, and the subsequent pain of fitting in, of overcoming her fear of being unloved. â€Å"It was the pain from that, from feeling ugly, that I always viewed as the great tragedy of my life,†Grealy writes. â€Å"The fact that I had cancer seemed minor in comparison.†Page count: 256 Publish date: March 18, 2003 2. Illness as Metaphor by Susan Sontag Written as a reaction to her own experiences with cancer, Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor can hardly be considered a memoir; in fact, Sontag rarely appears in the text. But her book, which argues for the elimination of unwanted metaphorical thinking from our responses to illness, is as personal as it is social commentary. Sontag relies on her background as a researcher and critic to debunk common metaphors using medicine, literature, philosophy, and politics to solidify her case. This must-read teaches us how we think about and talk about disease, an enlightening read for any healthcare provider, patient, family member, scholar, or student. Page count: 87 Publish date: August 25, 2001 3. Intoxicated by My Illness by Anatole Broyard In his autobiographical account about life with prostate cancer, Broyard writes, â€Å"the sick man sees everything as metaphor.†As a New York Times book critic and editor, he uses humor and literature in this collection of essays as a way of dealing with his diagnosis., Through these essays, he also seeks to know: How does one articulate â€Å"the imaginative life of the sick†and do it well? Page count: 156 Publish date: June 1, 1993
Saturday, November 23, 2019
How to Simulate Weather Fronts (With Ingredients in Your Kitchen)
How to Simulate Weather Fronts (With Ingredients in Your Kitchen) Weather fronts are a part of our everyday weather. Make understanding what they are easier with this visual demo. Using blue water (cool air) and red water (warm air), you will see the ways in which frontal boundaries (areas where warm and cold air meet, but mix very little) are formed between two different air masses. What Youll Need: 2 identical baby food jars (no lids needed)plastic coated heavy paper or an index cardblue food coloringred food coloringwater2 measuring cups with pour spoutsspoonpaper towels Heres How: Fill a measuring cup with warm water (from the tap is fine) and add a few drops of red food coloring so that the water is just dark enough to clearly see the color. Fill the second measuring cup with cold water from a faucet and add a few drops of blue food coloring.Stir each mixture to evenly disperse the coloring.Cover a table top with towels or plastic to protect the surface. Have paper towels handy in the event of a spill or leak.Inspect the top of each baby food jar to ensure there are no cracks or chips in the tops. Place one jar upside down on the other jar to ensure that they are an exact match. If the jars are not meeting exactly, you will end up with water everywhere!Now that you have inspected both jars, fill the first jar with cool water until it is almost overflowing. Fill the second jar with the warm water until is almost overflowing. Make sure your warm water jar is easy to touch and not too hot!Place the index card or plastic coated paper on the top of the wa rm water jar and press down around the edges of the jar to make a seal. Keeping your hand flat on the paper, slowly turn over the jar until it is upside down. Do not remove your hand. This step may take a little practice and some spilling of water is normal. Move the warm water jar over top the cold water jar so that the edges meet up. The paper will act as a boundary between the layers.Slowly remove the paper once the jars are stacked on each other. Pull gently while keeping your hands on the two jars. Once the paper is fully removed, you will have a front. Now let’s see what happens when the two jars are moved.Keeping one hand on each jar, lift the two joined jars and slowly turn the jars to one side while holding the center together. (To protect against accidents and broken glass, do this over a sink or protected area.) Remember, the jars are not sealed together in any way. You have to hold them together carefully!Now, watch as you see the blue water (colder and denser) slide underneath the warmer water. This is the same thing that happens to air! You have just created a model weather front! Tips: No special precautions are needed to complete this experiment. Please be aware that this can become a very messy experiment if the jars get knocked over and some of the colored water spills. Protect your clothing and surfaces from the food coloring with smocks or aprons as stains may be permanent.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Assessment on a book Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Assessment on a book - Essay Example ays to make People like You, Twelve Ways to Win People to Your Way of Thinking, Be a leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment, Letters that Produced Miraculous Results and Seven Rules for Making Your Home Life Happier (Carnegie). Each section of the book plays an integral role in making individual win friends and become an influential person in the society. The aspects highlighted in this book will be essential in my college life, since in the next semester, I will apply all the laid down stipulations that will make me a darling of the people. I will not be criticizing, condemning or complaining about each and every situation in my college life. As a result, I will be giving honest and sincere gratitude to every individual who does positive things in my life. I will not be an isolated individual since I will develop a genuine interest in my fellow students. I will continuously be smiling, because as Professor James V. McConnell, a psychologist at Michigan University Psychologist once remarked, â€Å"people who smile tend to manage, teach and sell more effectively, and to raise happier children. There is far much information in a smile than in a frown†(Carnegie 64). Similarly, I will encourage my fellow students to talk about themselves and will be a good listener, since I will be talking less, and when I talk, it is channeled towards other individuals’ interests, since I will be making them feel important. I will let the other party do much of the talking, as this will make them think the idea is theirs. I will ensure that I avoid arguments since I will be respecting opinions of other people. When I am wrong, I will quickly admit it, and never tell my fellow students that they are wrong. In this regard, I will be able to win other students into my way of thinking (Carnegie 89). In depicting leadership qualities, I will be able to start every conversation with praising and appreciating other individuals. I will also ensure that
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Electric Power Usage Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Electric Power Usage - Research Paper Example The table depicts the energy consumption in a week; this will eventually be translated into a year. Since energy is billed in Kwts per hour, the energy consumption of this household in the last one month, which is consistent with the billing policy that is sent every month, the total power consumption is 750-Kilo watts/hour in this household. Assuming that the trend is uniform and the average of the power consumption in the one month is used to reflect the annual consumption then this will be 9000-Kilo watts/hour in a year. This wattage expressed in duration per second will be; 9000Kwts * 3600 (second in 1 hour) =32400000 joules/ sec. (32.4 Mega joules per second). In relation to the information above it can be appreciated that the energy consumption per household is quite high and apart from electricity, it is hard to sustain the energy demand more so using other non-renewable energy sources like coal. It is therefore vivid that the amount of coal required to produce the stated energy can be calculated. It is known that the energy released by coal can be calculated in Kilowatts per hour for a defined mass of the coal compound (Stoyke, 2007). This is 6.67Kwts/hr/kg; this cannot be efficiently transferred to usable power since the thermodynamic efficiency of coal to transfer the energy is about 30%. This is about -2.0 Kwts/hr/Kg. thus the energy that is efficiently transferred is 4.7 Kwts/hr/Kg (Meier, 2006). To sustain an annual energy demand in a household, a total of about 1915 Kilograms of coal is required. In regard of the above table of power consumption, the top five energy consumers in a household comprise of cloth washers, microwave ovens, driers, refrigerator, and dishwashers. This is not the only energy consumption in a household, there are other energy consumptions that do not take place within the household though at
Sunday, November 17, 2019
Columbian Food Exchange Essay Example for Free
Columbian Food Exchange Essay Columbian Exchange Food/Ingredient Project By: Aaron Poulin Mr. Yonkers 6th Period What is the origin of your food/ingredient? Cinnamon originates from the islands of Shri Lanka (formerly called Ceylon), southeast of India. It is also native to southwest of India and the Tenasserin Hills of Burma. Cinnamon is part of the Lauraceous, a branch of the Laurel family of spices. Although there have been many versions of cinnamon with stews, desserts, and everyday food, I am focusing on cinnamon buns, also known as sticky buns, a delicious by-product of cinnamon and bread rolls combined. Both cinnamon and bread rolls are ancient foods, but when did they first combine? According to early spice historians, the history of cinnamon is unclear. Dr. Ronald Wirtz (American Institute of Baking) has researched sticky buns in depth. He begins with the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. Wirtz believes that our modern sticky bun owes some of its origins to British cooking and baking, perhaps with some degree of influence from the Dutch and Germans. The cinnamon bun or sticky bun came to Philadelphia with 18th century English and German immigrants. The cinnamon buns that reached Philadelphia were composed of cinnamon, sugar flavored yeast dough, with raisons, buts, and caramelized topping. They are now very popular in the United States and some parts of England. Why is this crop/ingredient historically important? Cinnamon buns played a historic role in Europe mostly, originating from central Europe; they formed as a tasty treat for higher-class people. Because cinnamon was hard to harvest and only grew parts of Asia and the Middle East it was hard to transport and therefore made it pretty expensive. Many myths surrounded cinnamon and how people harvested it. The source of cinnamon was unknown in the middle ages; it was thought that the Arabs supplied people with cinnamon. It was said that giant cinnamon birds collected the sticks from an unknown land where cinnamon trees grew, and used them to construct their nests. Fastened to sheer cliffs, the Arabians employed a trick to obtain the cinnamon. They killed and chopped up oxen and other beasts of burden into pieces, laid them near their nests and withdrew to a distance. The birds were then tempted down to carry the chunks of meat back to their nests, where the weight of the carcasses broke them from the cliffs. Leaving the Arabians to collect the fallen cinnamon. According to Herodotus until as late as 1310. Cinnamon had many other appearances in classical literature, including Socinus’ Collecanea Rerum Memorabbilium (Collection of Remarkable Facts), Aristotle’s’ Historia Animalium (History of Animals) just to name a few. Where did your food/ingredient spread? Cinnamon became more popular than ever during the middle Ages, in a matter of years it had spread to many different countries, so popular that stories had created myths about the tasteful spice. It also made Arabia famous for its export of cinnamon. But today Indonesia is the largest exporter of cinnamon in the world.
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Importance of History in George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) :: Nineteen Eighty-Four 1984 Essays
The Importance of History in 1984 Â Time is an amazing element of the universe we are in. It is a driving force - we cannot speed it up or slow it down, it perpetually marches forward at a constant speed. After a moment in time has past, it becomes the past, and we have absolutely no way of going back to it to experience it again in a new way. Once time has past, all that remains is our perception of it. History is nothing more than our collective perceptions of the past. And perception is not like time - it is not constant, it can be altered. In George Orwell's 1984, the leaders of the Party use written records to alter the peoples' perception of history, ultimately as a means of control. Â Everyone has different perceptions of the same reality. Everything that we experience is altered by our individual perceptions. There is one reality, but each person experiences slightly different versions of that reality. The source or reason for this is the individual experiences of each person. Everything we experience in our lives piles up to form our past. Our memory brings back experiences from this heap of the past. These memories combine with the reality we are experiencing in the present to form our individual perception of reality. Â Everything is perceived differently by each person, and different perceptions of reality vary greatly. An potato is a completely different thing to a farmer and a chef. The idea of music is completely different to a musician and a deaf person. Hitler was a completely different person to a Nazi and a Jew. Even though there is really only one real idea of a potato, one definition of music, and one Hitler, many different realities of these exist within people's perception. Â History is convoluted by perception. There are two ways of looking at history: through our own memories and perception, and through that of others. It is impossible to preserve history in its ideal form. If we look at history through our own memories, we will not see the reality of history, we will see our individual version of the reality. The same thing happens when we look at history through the memories and perception of others. Media is sometimes used to preserve history, but even this is only a perceived version of history.
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Hardware and software report Essay
In this report, I will be discussing what hardware, software, operating system, and how this would be benefiting the company. I will also state how I used the hardware and software, which helped the company. Once that I done, I will describe the advantages and disadvantages of the hardware and software that I used, and compare them to the hardware and software that I could have used. Definitions of hardware, software and operating system: Computer hardware typically consists chiefly of electronic devices (CPU, memory, display) with some electromechanical parts (keyboard, printer, disk drives, tape drives, loudspeakers, floppy discs) for input, output, and storage, though completely non-electronic. A package/application is a complete, self-contained program that performs a specific function directly for the user. This is in contrast to system software such as the operating system kernel, server processes and libraries, which exists to support application programs. The operating system is Software designed to control the hardware of a specific data-processing system in order to allow users and application programs to make use of it. The hardware that I used was:  Tulip monitor: low emission  Tulip CPU: E85-00970  Tulip mouse: M-S48a  HP LaserJet 2200d  HP LaserJet 4200n  Floppy disc  Internet modem The software that I used was:  Microsoft Excel Microsoft Word  Microsoft Paint  Windows Xp Microsoft Word Pad  Internet explorer  Windows Me The advantages of the hardware that I used were:  My work was saved on a CPU, and so my work wouldn’t get lost. My work was save on a floppy disc as backup.  The laser HP LaserJet 2200d and HP LaserJet 4200n was very fast in printing my work. The advantages of the software that I used were: Microsoft excel is the easiest package to use a spreadsheet.  Microsoft word is easier to use, then any other writing package. Microsoft paint is the easiest image package to use. The disadvantages of the hardware that I used were:  The computer monitor might freeze, causing me to not do my work.  The printer might not work, so I will not be able to print my work.  The printer might only have black ink, not coloured ink. The floppy disc might be full so that I cannot store any more work on the disc. The disadvantages of the software that I used were:  The Microsoft package might be out of use due to a failure in the computer.  Windows might not have the new updates on the computer, as there might be an old package on the computer, rather then the new one, I. e. Windows 95 instead of Windows Xp. There might not be Internet explorer on the computer to help you with you research. The other hardware that I could have used was: Scanner Zip disc  Different Internet modem, I. e. Blue yonder one-megabit modem. The other software that I could have used was: Microsoft spreadsheet.  Microsoft word processor Microsoft publisher  Microsoft PowerPoint (if I was doing a presentation) When you compare ICT with non-ICT you can see that ICT is so much easier than hand writing something. One reason is that your handwriting might be very bad and as a result, people will not be able read your handwriting. Secondly, when you write pages and pages of information concerning the company, then your hand tends to become tired. With the use of ICT, you won’t get tired as you will just be typing, and will eventually feel tired, but not as quickly as you would have done. Another point, which makes ICT much better than any Non ICT, is that if you make a mistake while you are working with non-ICT, you will not be able to make a change very easily, but with ICT you com press the delete or key to get rid of the mistake. Other uses of ICT within Future Fashions are that you can use a mainframe or a midrange, which are unique operating systems. What this would allow you to do is to do better work, as there is better equipment and better facilities to use in a mainframe and in a midrange. Future fashions were not that efficient as they had a lot of problems in the company. One of which was that they didn’t even have a logo or a slogan. That just showed how efficient they were, as they didn’t even have a log and slogan, and they are meant to be a clothes company. Other problems that they had were; they had no spreadsheet to show how all the employee’s records were like, no graph to see how much they ware getting paid and no wage slip to show how much the employees would get paid. So in the end, what I did to solve these problems were to actually make the logo, slogan, spreadsheet, graph and wage slip. I think that all the solutions that I can up with very well in the end. The logo was colourful and eye catching, and the slogan was very catchy. The spreadsheet was very easy for the owners of Future Fashions to read from and the graph was also easy for the owners of Future Fashions to see how much each employee gets paid, and could compare the money that the employees get by the other employees. Lastly, the wage slip was successful as the owners of Future Fashions could see how much the employee was getting paid, how much tax there was, how much National Insurance there was, etc. Eventfully, as a result of my work, the problems of future fashions disappeared. The company will now become very successful, in my opinion, as most of the problems have been solved, and Future Fashions can now really take off. A summery of what I have said in the 3-4 pages is just that the hardware and software that I used was very successful for the owners of Future Fashions as it helped the owners of Future Fashions when they needed it most, and as a result, this will benefit the owners on Future Fashions in the long run. The problems that I came across whilst doing this project to help Future Fashions were:  Sometimes the printer wouldn’t print in colour because it was a black ink printer. The computer froze a few times, so I had to do it again.  When the computers were getting rebooted after the power cut, all of my work got deleted. Overall, I have found out that the solutions that I came up with really helped the company named Future Fashions. I also found out that all the solutions that I came up with improved the image of Future Fashions, making it a very successful company.
Saturday, November 9, 2019
Assess How The Language Of Teenagers Has Changed Over Time Essay
The language of teenagers has changed radically over time, the use of slang and clichà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s are now commonly used in everyday English Language, in particular amongst teenagers. For this essay I visited a local high school to gain evidence of how teenagers express themselves and converse with peers and adults, including adults in authority. I also observed an anger management session and listened to the language used in this setting and also at break times. The findings of these observations are on a tape recording enclosed. The language of teenagers is greatly affected by television and pop music and this contributes to the change in modern day English and the phrases and slang that teenagers use, for example in the high school I visited the teenage boys used a lot of phrases and words that are used in rap music, a boy referred to his friends as ‘homies’ rather that ‘mates’ of ‘pals’ the word ‘homies’ is used a lot within American rap music. This shows how teenagers are influenced and how these kinds of words become popular amongst teenagers. Swearing is also part of modern day language and is very common and has increased hugely over the years, swearing is now socially accepted amongst teenagers and their peers, swearing has always been frowned upon in the English Language but has increased drastically through the past ten years. The change in language is obvious amongst teenagers and adults, most of the teenagers in the school I visited said that they would never swear at parents and teachers and it is disrespectful, although they would not be as concerned about swearing at someone the same age as them as it is not offensive anymore to their generation. This is because when the teenager’s parents and teachers were growing up, swearing was seen as very offensive and a sign of disrespect. Case studies I asked a 15-year-old girl to find the five euphemisms that she would use for the following: (a) to die, (b) to urinate (c) to be a drunk (d) to say hello to a friend. I also asked a 15-year-old boy to do the same exercise, these are my findings: Chloe – To die: to pass away, to kick the bucket, to be no longer with us, to have slipped away, to have ‘kiffed’ it. To urinate: to go for a wee, to do a number one, to have a piss, to wet the daisies, to relieve myself. To be drunk: pissed, bladdered, wasted, trollyed, out of it. To say Hello to a friend: alright, hi, hiya. Lee – To die: to kiff it, kick the bucket, passed away, to have gone to the pearly gates, passed onto the other side. To urinate: to have a piss, to have a slash, to drain the main vain, to go the bog, to shake the snake. To be drunk: wasted, bladdered, pissed, out of if, wankered. To say hello to a friend: alright mate, alright, how do, hi, or a head nod with no speech. The findings show that gender influences teenagers speech slightly the girls language is slightly more polite than the boys and the boy used a lot of slang when referring to the above words and phrases, the most obvious ones were the words used when the male teenager refers to passing urine as ‘shake the snake, and drain the main vain’ these sayings caused much amusement to Lees male and female peers. The teenagers are showing how they contribute to new meanings for words and linguistic change. Euphemisms are one of the most fertile sources of new meanings, things that were thought to be to nasty to talk about directly were given polite but roundabout expressions. An example of this is when indoor plumbing was first installed into houses in the eighteenth century the room were first called water closet, this was soon abbreviated to W.C and then replaced by toilet, which had previously meant ‘dressing table’. These words are still seen as crude by many people and other euphemisms have came into force such as toilet, bathroom. The teenagers regularly referred to the toilet as the ‘loo’ and ‘bog’. Sex is another area where euphemisms flourish amongst teenagers, in the nineteenth century Jane Austin wrote in her novel ‘they had no intercourse but what the commonest civility required’ , Jane Austin would of not of expected the effect that this sentence would have on the modern day reader, in her time the word ‘intercourse’ meant ‘dealings between people’. In the twentieth century the phrase ‘sexual intercourse arrived this was used as a delicate way to refer to ‘sex’. This has now been shortened to intercourse, and this sexual sense is now so common that the teenagers in the school I visited found it impossible to use the word ‘intercourse’ in any other sense. They also have their own words for sexual intercourse these words are not seen as offensive and are common in teenagers language. This shows how teenagers influence the change in word meanings and euphemisms in society. The teenagers in the school I visited also use a lot of clichà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s which, again is another sign of language change in today’s society, adults are also guilty of using clichà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s in modern day English, which is were the Influence could of came from for the teenagers to use clichà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s in their everday language, some of the most popular clichà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s I heard amongst the teenagers were ‘ at the end of the day’, ‘I hear what your saying’ and ‘basically’. The most common one was ‘you know what I mean’ Another chacteristic of teenage language is rising intonation at the end of a sentence. This has long been noticed as a characteristic feature of Australian English, and is also favoured by some speakers of American English and is very popular within the language of teenagers, this was something that I noticed whilst speaking to the majority of the class. To me as a listener, a sentence ending on a rise sounds like a question – as if the speaker is saying ‘She comes from Sydney?’, rather than making a declarative statement. But in the last ten years or so, the popularity of Australian soap operas among British teenagers has led to the widespread adoption of this feature among younger people in the UK. It is too early to say whether this is short-term or whether rising intonation will become standard practice for a significant number of British speakers and the teenagers will make it more popular the more they use it. The increasing popularity of the rising intonation can be traced back to a specific event: the arrival in the UK of Australian programmes like Neighbours and Home and Away. Teenagers are big fans of these type of soap operas mean exposure to repeated instances of this feature has had measurable effects on the linguistic behaviour of quite large numbers of British speakers of all ages. Music such as rapping also influences teenagers and many adopt this way of speech some of these words appear below with the translations taken from a book of slang words: Bluh – slurred pronunciation of â€Å"Blood†, meaning homie or friend. Bredren – meaning mate, or one’s audience. It derives from the Jamaican ragga scene, not the German. Buggin – Acting weird or upset. Same as acting bug. Herb – spliff, bud, dodo, doja, ganja, weed, etc. Wack – Awful, cheap, stupid, weak, etc. Rarely spelled whack. Only preceded by â€Å"wiggedy†by the tragically ancient. Murk – Murder. Also leave, as in â€Å"I’m finna murk. Peace.†Punk – Coward or arsehole (not in the anatomical sense). Bling – excessively showy or expensive jewellery, cars, etc. From the supposed â€Å"sound†made by light bouncing off diamonds. Its first known usage was in The Silvertones’ â€Å"Bling Bling Christmas†. (Fo) shizzle, my nizzle – â€Å"(For) sure, my nigger†, or alternatively, â€Å"yes, dear†. -izzle is a standard suffix. So shizzle could also mean â€Å"shit†(meaning good), shoes, shirt or shed. (Slang a bluffers guide.1999.pg22) Wigga – a white nigger, a wannabe. This way of speaking seems very common nowadays, but I suspect if we were to listen to teenagers from London we would hear a lot more of these words as London’s rap scene is a lot more popular than that of the North West. David Crystal says â€Å"It’s very recent, this new rhythm that comes from rapping,†Until recently, people have spoken in the rhythms of Shakespeare: ‘tum te tum te tum’. But this new hip-hop accent is ‘rat tat tat tat tat’. It’s more common than Received Pronunciation these days. Hardly anyone speaks traditional RP any more – maybe one or two per cent.†(The language revolution pg22) As the language of teenagers changes there will be many linguistic changes and different features introduced over time, as teenagers are very impressionable it is easy to see why these changes spread so quickly. Bibligraphy The language revolution. 2002. David Crystal(Cambridge: Polity Press), Flappers to rappers- American youth slang-.Tom Dalzell (Merriam-Webster / Springfield, Massachusetts. 1996.) Socialinguistics : Nikolas Coupland and Adam Jaworski. Palgrave (1997)
Thursday, November 7, 2019
Blood Donation Essays
Blood Donation Essays Blood Donation Essay Blood Donation Essay In conference proceedings of American Marketing Association Services Special Interest Group, Helsinki Finland, June 7-9 Purpose While the Australian-Red-cross-Blood-service has been effective at acquiring new youth donors, in recent years the retention rate has declined. One reason suggested for the lack of loyalty is the emotional ambivalence created by the motivational inflict between approach and avoid motives leading to defection. Method This project explored the motivations and affective appraisals of non-donors, novice, experienced and lapsed Gene-Y blood donors. Responses from 68 young Australians were gained from twelve focus groups. Fledglings Cent-Y donors were ego rather than altruistically motivated. Experienced donors felt little motivational conflict, used cognitive re-appraisal, novice/ lapsed donors experienced higher levels and used emotional suppression and manipulation of the irreverence. Indoors were unable to overcome the high levels of conflict. Research- implications Further research needs to investigate why the non-donors could not overcome the motivational conflict. The role of customer value and social capital could provide useful explanations for this finding. Practical-implications To encourage Gene-Y to donate blood, there needs to be recognition of the non- altruistic motivations for donation to inform marketing strategies. While Gene-Y want o help others, if this comes at too high a price they are less likely to ordinate. Social-implications This research is essential to the provision of a sustainable blood supply in Australia. Without establishing a foundation of donors amongst Gene-Y now there will be a shortage of donors in the future. Originality This paper has identified a new form of emotional regulation; manipulation of the serviceable and egoism rather than altruism as a motivation for blood donation.
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
The Parthians as Intermediaries in the Silk Trade
The Parthians as Intermediaries in the Silk Trade The ancient Chinese invented sericulture- the production of silk fabric. They opened the silkworm cocoon to extract silk filaments, twisted the threads, and dyed the fabric they produced. Silk fabric has long been prized, and correspondingly expensive, so it was a valuable source of revenue for the Chinese, so long as they could monopolize production. Other luxury-loving people were eager to prise their secret, but the Chinese guarded it carefully, under pain of execution. Until they learned the secret, the Romans found another way to share in the profit. They manufactured silken products. The Parthians found a way to profit, too by serving as middlemen. The Chinese Monopoly on Silk Production In The Silk Trade between China and the Roman Empire at Its Height, Circa A. D. 90-130, J. Thorley argues that the Parthians (c. 200 B.C. - c. A.D. 200), serving as trading intermediaries between China and the Roman Empire, sold fancy Chinese brocades to Rome and then, using some deceit about silkworm cocoons in the Roman Empire, sold re-weavings of gauzy silk back to the Chinese. The Chinese, admittedly, lacked the technology for the weaving, but they might have been scandalized to realize they had provided the raw material. The Silk Road Prospered Although Julius Caesar may have had silk curtains made from Chinese silk, silk was in very limited supply in Rome until the time of peace and prosperity under Augustus. From the late first century to early in the second, the whole of the silk route was at peace and trade prospered as it never had before and never would again until the Mongol Empire. In Roman Imperial history, the barbarians kept pushing at the borders and clamoring to be let in. These would-be Romans had been displaced by other tribes further out. This is part of a complicated stream of events that led to the invasions of the Roman Empire by Vandals and Visigoths, nicely treated in Michael Kulikowskis The Gothic Wars. The Barbarians at the Gates Thorley says that a stream of similar border-pushing events led to the efficiently functioning silk route of the period. Nomadic tribes called the Hsiung Nu harassed the Chin dynasty (255-206 B.C.) into building the Great Wall for protection (like Hadrians Wall and the Antonine Wall in Britain were supposed to keep out the Picts). Emperor Wu Ti forced out the Hsiung Nu, so they tried to get into Turkestan. The Chinese sent forces to Turkestan and took possession of it. Once in control of Turkestan, they built trade route outposts from North China to the Tarim Basin in Chinese hands. Thwarted, the Hsiung Nu turned to their neighbors to the south and west, the Yueh-chi, driving them to the Aral Sea, where they, in turn, drove out the Scythians. The Scythians migrated to Iran and India. The Yueh-chi later followed, arriving in Sogdiana and Bactria. In the first century A.D., they migrated into Kashmir where their dynasty became known as the Kushan. Iran, to the west of the Kushan empire , came into Parthian hands after the Parthians wrested control from the Seleucids who ran the area after the death of Alexander the Great. This meant that going from west to east in about A.D. 90, the kingdoms controlling the silk route were only 4: the Romans, the Parthians, the Kushan, and the Chinese. The Parthians Become the Middlemen The Parthians persuaded the Chinese, who traveled from China, through the Kushan area of India (where they presumably paid a fee to allow them to travel through), and into Parthia, not to take their merchandise further west, making the Parthians middlemen. Thorley provides an unusual-looking list of exports from the Roman Empire that they sold to the Chinese. This is the list that contains the locally acquired silk: [G]old, silver [probably from Spain], and rare precious stones, especially the jewel that shines at night, the moonshine pearl, the chicken- frightening rhinoceros stone, corals, amber, glass, lang-kan (a kind of coral), chu-tan (cinnabar?), green jadestone, gold-embroidered rugs, and thin silk- cloth of various colours. They make gold-coloured cloth and asbestos cloth. They further have fine cloth, also called down of the water- sheep; it is made from the cocoons of wild silk-worms. They collect all kinds of fragrant substances, the juice of which they boil into storas. It wasnt until the Byzantine era that Romans really had their own silkworms. SourceThe Silk Trade between China and the Roman Empire at Its Height, Circa A. D. 90-130, by J. Thorley. Greece Rome, 2nd Ser., Vol. 18, No. 1. (Apr. 1971), pp. 71-80.
Sunday, November 3, 2019
Project Procurement Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words
Project Procurement Management - Assignment Example Which contract type should be used by ABC Consulting? A. Purchase Order B. Cost plus Fee C. Fixed cost D. Time and Material 3. Joe’s Plumbing Ltd. is planning to buy ten business grade laptops for $1,500 each from a leading computer supplier. Which type of contract will generally be used in this case? A. Purchase Order B. Cost plus Fee C. Fixed cost D. Time and Material 4. A bookstore is getting 200 computers and a POS system installed from a vendor. The vendor will be paid the costs involved and a 10% incentive. Which contract will be used in this case? A. CPPC B. CPIF C. CPFF D. Fixed Cost 5. Sophie is a Project Manager. She is coordinating a bidder conference to allow vendors to get clarification on the work that needs to be performed. Which phase of Project Management is in progress? A. Conduct Procurements B. Plan Procurements C. Administer Procurements D. Close Procurements 6. A significant difference between independent estimates and proposed pricing from respondents to an RFP could mean that: A. The independent estimates are most likely incorrect and the proposed pricing correct B. The SOW was not adequately defined C. The prospective seller either misunderstood or failed to respond fully to the SOW D. b or c E. a or c 7. Which of the following are examples of indirect costs? A. Salaries of corporate executives B. Salaries of full-time project staff C. Overhead costs (such as building rent and office equipment) D. a and b E. a and c 8. Which of the following contract types places the greatest risk on the seller? A. Cost-plus-fixed-fee contract B. Cost plus-incentive-fee contract C. Time and Materials contract D. Fixed-price-incentive contract E. Firm-fixed-price contract 9. Which is not an element of procurement management? A. Purchasing B. Expediting C. Acquisition D. Marketing E. C and D 10. Requesting the submission of proposals from sellers to perform work is the avenue for acquiring most projects. The proposals, when submitted, must contain specific items to obligate or bind the tendering organization. The most important item is? A. A complete description of the work to be performed B. The list of legal terms and conditions C. The signature of a corporate officer of the seller D. A statement of work that describes how the work will be accomplished E. A firm price for the complete work to be performed 11. _____ is a formal invitation to submit a price for goods and / or services as specified. A. Bid response B. Request for quotation C. Intention to bid D. Invitation for bid E. Request for proposal 12. Payment bonds are often required by the contract and require specific actions under the stated conditions. Payment bonds are specifically designed to ensure payment of ______ by the prime contractor. A. Insurance premiums B. Weekly payrolls C. Incremental earned value charges D. Subcontractors, laborers, and materials E. Damages for accidents caused 13. Some contracts are not completed because the contractor or vendor fail s or refuses to complete the contractual conditions of a signed agreement. This situation is called a______ for which damages can be assigned. A. Breach B. Stop-work C. Flawed contract D. Contract in situ E. None of the above 14. The project manager is responsible for all the activities within a project and interfaces with external functions, all of which consume his time. Therefore, when a contract administrator is assigned to the project, the project manager ________ the contract. A. Does not need to
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Alternative Energy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Alternative Energy - Essay Example Proven Alternative Energy Sources Several kinds of renewable and clean sources of energy such as wind, solar, geothermal, hydro, biomass energy are now available. Each alternative source has its own characteristic importance depending upon geographical possibilities for its production. It will be most appropriate to delve deeper into each one of these sources. Wind Energy Wind energy is available mostly at the coastal regions where wind velocity is higher. Kinetic energy of the wind is tapped using wind turbines and converted into mechanical or electrical energy. Mechanical energy can be used to produce either electricity or can be used directly to run wind mill. For an efficient use of wind turbines, wind velocity of 11 meters per second or higher is desirable. Wind velocity mapping is necessary while selecting a site for installation of a wind turbine because higher wind speeds will provide higher kilowatts of electricity (Renewable energy sources in the United States, 2011). Solar Energy Solar radiation provides continuous flow of clean and renewable energy and in that sense Sun is the most potential alternative source of energy that can always be relied upon. Earth's existence is linked with Sun. Thus, here is the source of energy that can never get exhausted at least theoretically. Though technologies are rapidly advancing to tap this source of energy yet certain impediments such as cost and space do pose certain difficulties. The state of California leads in solar power installations in the US. World over, many countries particularly those with strong solar radiations have been investing heavily in solar photovoltaic cells to harness this source of energy (Renewable energy sources in the United States, 2011). Hydropower This is a clean and renewable alternative source of energy which can be banked upon. Almost 7 percent of the total electricity produced in the US comes from hydropower sources. The Colorado River and the Tennessee Valley are the potential sources of hydropower production (Renewable energy sources in the United States, 2011). Large and small dams are the places to install turbines where the potential energy of water is used to produce electricity. As per the World Bank report, hydropower currently meets almost 18 percent of the total world electricity needs. Hydropower is considered the most affordable renewable energy source among all available energy sources (Hydropower 2012). Geothermal Energy When Earth's heat is tapped to produce electricity, it is known as geothermal source of energy. Temperature inside our earth remains more or less constant throughout the year. This energy is tapped using various technologies such as heat pumps, direct-use systems, and deep reservoirs. The heat is recovered from water or steam and converted into electricity. Many residential and commercial buildings are heated using heat pumps. Utah, Hawaii, California, Nevada are some of the places where geothermal energy plants are in operat ions (Renewable energy sources in the United States, 2011). Biomass Power or Biopower Food crops, organic municipal wastes, grassy and woody plants and farm residues are used to produce electricity and that falls in this category. Plant sources are used as major feedstock to produce Biopower and because they are available everywhere, Biomass power can be produced in any part of the world.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Marketing Concepts & Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Marketing Concepts & Strategies - Essay Example This is a good start to my career, as I will learn a lot in regards to the finance function. In addition, I will have worked for small companies and increased my expertise and skills. Lastly, to become a financial controller is one of my short-term goals that I will be fulfilling. Firstly, marketing is the creative side, whereby ideas and passion drive what a person believes. In addition, marketing helps an organization acquire and keep profitable customers. On the other hand, finance focuses and evaluates the benefits and rewards that are worthy of the business (Blythe, p. 8). The marketing knowledge will help a financial controller provides the financial results of a business. This includes the marketing expenditure in the organization. It involves the budget in which the marketing team needs to carry out promotional activities, training and sales conferences. Moreover, through financial statements that are prepared by the finance department, it is possible to know how much the marketing team spends over a certain period. In addition, it will help them understand and know whether the Return on Investment is positive or not. Through the marketing programs that aid in increasing sales, the financial controller can monitor the trends of sales and expense trend s in the business. The financial controller can advise on the most important expenditures that an organization can make, especially on areas of marketing and advertising. The possession of marketing knowledge helps a financial controller together with the marketing team to prepare budgets. Such budgets entail the expenditures in marketing campaigns and promotional activities (Blythe, p. 24). The financial controller can also measure the marketing departments to adhere to the limits in budgets and the efficiency of the budgets that the marketing department has used. Some of the examples that apply are as follows. When computing marketing ratio analysis, the financial controller works closely with
Sunday, October 27, 2019
An Introduction To Dialog Telekom Ltd Business Essay
An Introduction To Dialog Telekom Ltd Business Essay Dialog Telekom PLC (The Company) operates Sri Lankas largest and fastest growing telecommunication network Dialog GSM. Dialog Telekom is one of the largest companies listed under the Colombo Stock Exchange. It is a subsidiary of the Axiata Group Berhad. Due to Dialog the Sri Lankan mobile industry has achieved new heights and has come at par with the developed world. The telecom company operates 2G, 3G and 3.5G mobile services, supporting the current trends in mobile internet and multimedia services, as well as international roaming. Dialog Telekom accounts for more than 50% of Sri Lankan mobile phone subscribers. Along with the mobile telecommunication business Dialog Telekom operates a wide portfolio of international telecommunication services including retail and wholesale international voice and data services. Dialog Broadband Networks Pvt. Ltd. (DBN) is an owned subsidiary of the Company, and is an important player in Sri Lankas ICT infrastructure sector. DBN was also the first service provider in Sri Lanka to introduce high-speed broadband internet services based on Wi MAX technology. Dialog Television Pvt. Ltd. (Dialog TV) is another subsidiary of Dialog Telekom PLC. It operates Dialog Satellite TV, a Direct-to-Home (DTH) Satellite TV service. Dialog TV supports a wide range of international and local television channels. Regarding the structure of the company, Dialog Telekom Ltd. has got a Hybrid structure which is a combination of Matrix structure as well as Modular structure. As in each Strategic Business Unit (SBU) works independently and every function of each SBU has communication linkages with one another. Top down as well as bottom up communication is available and it uses worldwide resources and technologies. MICRO ANALYSIS THROUGH SWOT Analysis Strengths 1. Dialog has the first mover advantage of GSM technology in Sri Lanka. 2. Due to its strong infrastructure it has got one of the best and far reaching mobile telecommunication coverage. 3. Relationship with a telecommunication tycoon in the same region; Telekom Malaysia Group. 4. Extension in collaborations maintaining good relations with other Telecom companies has enabled Dialog to have a global approach with services such as and Satellite Coverage high roaming. 5. Dialog Telekom has got a very aggressive marketing strategy which enables it to have a good and stable Brand Equity. 6. Companys financial analysis proved excellent stability in financial statements regarding investments. 7. Strong Public Relationship that has been built up over the years. 8. Expanded CSR initiatives increased the social value of the firm. 9. High quality technical innovations has made dialog market leader in Sri Lanka. 10. Constant rise in the share prices has gained the confidence of the investors leading to value increment. 11. Strong distribution network spread throughout the entire island.. 12. Well managed customer care support techniques has increase the level of customer satisfaction. 13. Wide variety of products. 14. Management Team is efficient and hard-working. 15. High level of corporate business knowledge retention through low employee turnover Weaknesses 1. Though the investment on advertising and value addition through technical innovation is high, there is no clear aim and idea of a broader market 2. Poor performance as on ISP. 3. Compared to its competitors Dialog lags behind in innovations related to pricing strategies. 4. The head office in Colombo is of a distributed nature due to non-expandability of the current location. 5. The level of motivation of internal employees is decreasing. 6. Due to the rapidly growing customer base the trends in Quality of Service are going down by the day. 7. In the front-office employee turn-over is high. Opportunities 1. Telecom is one of the fastest growing sectors in Sri Lankas 19.5million people 2. As per estimations 4.5million users would have mobile phones by the end of 2006 3. The communication industry is growing rapidly. 3. Fixed line penetration is low. 4. The approval and acceptability of the Value Added Services (VAS) by the users has increased the probability and success of any new VAS initiative. 5. The strategic partnership of Dialog Telekom with Vodafone UK. 6. Dialog has got the potential to gain benefits of Value Chain Convergence. 7. Technology advancements especially in mobile multimedia technologies and the advent and use of the next 3G mobile communications. Threats 1. The existence of all the other three GSM Mobile service providers pose a big threat to Dialog Telekom. 2. Indias Bharti Airtel Ltd. has got the license to be the fifth mobile operator in Sri Lanka and launch the 2G and 3G services in 2007. 3. The three existing CDMA service providers also pose a different kind of threat. 4. Strongest Competitor of Dialog, the Mobile wing of fixed line telecom giant SLT is focused on cost-cutting strategy through its low cost pre-paid products in the market. 5. Rapid changes in the political, social and economic conditions as well as the laws and regulations. 6. Changes in currency exchange rates and high inflation which is inversely affecting the global business. 7. Rapid change in customer preferences and their growing needs due to high level of customer awareness. 8. Constant changes in technology. 9. Dialog had to switch off all base station in northern-province during the last few months due to military operations by the Sri Lankan Govt. forces. Thus there is an uncertainty due to the growing counter terrorist campaigns. PESTEL Analysis Political Sri Lanka has very positive foreign investment policies. However though Sri Lanka identified importance of liberalization early as in 1977, due to political interventions bureaucratic attitudes inherited from colonial reign and poor governance, the country as a whole and specifically the industry has not grown as it was foreseen at the time of liberalization. During the past two decades, terrorist activities have remained constant as well. Economical Unstable macro-economic environment and trade policy regime has a negative impact on the industry. The fall of the exchange rate over the years happened on a gradual pace. Since the inception of liberalization policy it has undergone massive reforms in this sector. However Sri Lanka lags dynamics incorporated by India to attract foreign direct investments. The attitude towards foreign direct investments needs to be improved. Socio-Cultural Sri Lanka has better social conditions for example literacy rate is high, infant mortality rate is low and life expectancy is long. The country also has an educated and trainable work force. Nevertheless Sri Lankans inherit a bureaucratic attitude from the colonial administration that results in inefficiencies and discrimination. Technological Sri Lanka depends on technology transfers from foreign direct investments. However TRCSL encourages local research and development. The country comparatively has not performed well enough to adapt technological changes on a timely manner. For example the shift from analogue to digital and the adoption of CDMA technology materialized in a slow pace. Ecological Legal TRCSL the regulatory body takes up multidimensional roles. It ensures fair enforcement of Govt. policy, hold operators accountable for performance, address consumer issues, monitor changing industry needs and provide feedback to the policy making units. However TRCSL has been criticized over the years for information asymmetry, inefficiency and discrimination. Porters Five Forces 1. Threat of New Entrants a. Indias Bharti AIRTEL has got the fifth mobile operator license in Sri Lanka b. As per TRCSL, no more licenses would be awarded c. Thus it creates an entry barrier for all others to the market 2. Bargaining Power of Customers a. Consumer protection groups are almost non-existing b. As compared to the west, consumers are not that strong in their demands c. Quality standards and supports are comparatively not major concern if they exist at a basic level d. Low switching costs e. Customers are highly cost conscious 3. Threat from Substitutes a. Almost negligible b. Alternatives are fixed line and the more recent CDMA connectivity c. This is a much smaller market as compared to the huge total market 4. Bargaining Power of Suppliers a. Local and International suppliers for Dialog b. Depends on SLT, MTT and a few other VSAT operators to access the national backbone c. Thus these particular suppliers are extremely powerful d. Acquisition of MTT and the creation of the new subsidiary known as Dialog Broadband Network 5. Rivalry Among Competing Firms a. Very high competition with constant pricing wars b. Dialog certainly has an edge because of their Value Added Services and differentiation strategy and the huge customer base c. Value Added Services are becoming very popular among the consumers Strategic Groups Adopted by the Company Dialog strategies are visible in the companys corporate, business and functional levels. They have already diversified their business across many areas during the last few years. For instance, by acquiring MTT, Dialog managed to strengthen its transmission backbone. Also recent past it has acquired CBNSAT, a satellite TV transmission company, and DERANA TV Channel with a long term objective of a value chain convergence. In addition to reach the customer, Dialog has created many alliances with other business corporations. Cargills-Dialog alliance to allow Cargills customers to settle Dialog bills is just one such example. The business plan is formulated at the beginning of the year considering main objectives of the company. The progress of each project is monitored in a monthly basis through different strategic committee meetings. On the other hand, Dialog tries to introduce latest technologies into the market considering global mega trends through its comprehensive Research and Development wing. Services Year of Implementation Remarks 01 Introduction of GSM Technology 1995 1stin South Asia 02 Short Messaging Service (SMS) 1998 1stin South Asia 03 Automatic International Roaming (AIR) 1997 1stin South Asia 04 WAP (Mobile Internet) 2000 1stin South Asia 05 General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) 2001 1stin South Asia 06 Location Based Services (LBS) 2003 1stin Sri Lanka 07 Missed Call Alert 2003 1stin Sri Lanka 08 Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) 2003 1stin South Asia 09 Trial 3G Service 2004 1stin South Asia 10 Call Home Service for Outbound Roamers 2004 1stin Sri Lanka 11 EDGE Service 2004 1stin Sri Lanka Among them, the Dialogs initiative to setup the Dialog Research Lab at the University of Moratuwa is of importance because it effectively enabled Dialog to provide tailor made solutions to the local market. Nokia phones with Sinhala language support and Tsunami warning system for mobiles are just to name a few such examples. These technology initiatives can be considered as a strategy used to capture the market by effectively staying ahead from the competition in the technology and innovation sphere. Structure The Companys business and operations are managed under the supervision of the Board of Directors comprising of 5 non-executive directors and 1 executive director. The Board has the power to appoint executive directors including the CEO. Divisional structure can be identified in company level but performances of the divisions are measured through different strategic committees. Systems Apart from the technical backbone, Dialog uses several systems to execute their business strategies successfully. For example- SAP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) This was launched in 2006 January to integrate identified key process in the company. CCBS (Customer Care Billing System) Currently existing billing system is going to be migrated into a new system to provide more customer centric services. HRIS Used for Human Resource Management and all the day to day functions are carried out through this system. Style The management style always depends on targets and objectives. Strict deadlines are imposed while performance and progress are very closely monitored at all levels of the organizational structure. Rewards and benefit schemes are in line for the top performers and better achievements. All the employees will have a number of recreational opportunities such as trips, get-together, sports etc. to take some time off from busy work schedules. Staff The Company currently employs a workforce of 2500 who in turn are considered pivotal to the organizations growth and success. Annual manpower planning and recruitment is carried out in parallel with the business plan preparation. The capabilities required by potential employees are based on the requirements of the business plans applicable to respective departments of the company in any given year. Recruitment to the Company is governed by several policies. The core policy on filling vacancies spells out the Companys intention to attract the best with the aim of exploiting the individuals potential while providing career development opportunities irrespective of communal or gender differences. 7% of the total HR cost is devoted to training and development. The training needs for individuals and teams are identified from the competency requirements arising from the Companys business plan and employees annual performance review. Subordinate Goals All individuals with different backgrounds, different ethnics and nations are teamed up and driven towards a common set of goals and objectives at Dialog Telekom. The company has been successful in focusing the entire team towards a single vision by incorporating all individuals goals and personal objective together. Skills Dialog team consists of number of individuals with distinctive capabilities and competencies from top to bottom. Dialog is proud to have a very energetic and talented CEO in the caliber of Dr. Hans Wijesuriya. In addition to that Dialog is served by a team of top class individual in the Sri Lankan industry with lot of talent and exposures. Different Strategies Adopted by Dialog Telekom Corporate Strategy Considering the current performance, the key success factors and the SWOT analysis the directional strategy alternatives would be the following Growth strategy to expand the activities of Dialog Telekom further would be the first alternative. Since the current product lines have real growth potencial concentration of resources on those would be ideal. In concentration Dialog Telekom can follow the vertical growth strategy to take the benefit of the value chain convergence opportunity that is existing in Sri Lankan context. Stability strategy to continue with current activities without any changes to the direction would be the second alternative. Here Dialog Telekom can utilize pause/proceed with caution strategy to have only incremental improvements while the weaknesses stated are overcome. It can use this time to stabilize the organization due to the changes took place due to multiple strategies it adopted earlier such as acquisitions and investing on innovative developments, which will help to get back the loosing internal employee motivation. The first alternative will move Dialog Telekom further away from the competition and create a monopoly temporarily for converged industries of telecommunication, content, media and retail. However unfocused highspeed growth to capture the market without stabilizing the existing acquisitions can disassemble everything. The second alternative will give Dialog Telekom and its employees much needed breathing space. The recommendation would be to implement the second alternative initially to stabilize the organization without any other drastic change in the direction. And after some time they can adopt their long term beneficial value chain convergence option depicted in first alternative. Business Strategy The business strategy alternatives available for Dialog Telekom to improve the competitive position in the industries it operates would be The first alternative for the competitive strategy would be to improve on the current strategy of differentiation. It can improve this by having unique Value Added Services for each of its current strategic business units DBN, CBNSAT and Dialog Telekom itself. This can improve the customer loyalty and thereby can charge a reasonable premium rate than competitors. Second alternative which Dialog Telekom can try to implement is cost leadership to overcome the threat of lower rates provided by competitors, Mobitel. Since the VAS are less in Mobitel the switching from Dialog to Mobitel is not much in urban people who use these VASes. But people who are using purely as a voice/sms only are shifting as most of them are cost conscious and there is not much of a difference in coverage. Hence if Mobitel improves on its VASes it would become a serious threat at a stage at which only the rates would decide the attraction of that segment of the market. Typically the differentiation strategy is more likely to generate higher profits than low cost strategy. However differentiation strategy implementation may involve higher investment than low cost strategy. Competitive scope is an important factor when considering competitive strategies. The recommended alternative depends on the competitive scope in this situation. Considering both alternatives and the pros and cons of each most ideal would be to have culmination of both differing from the segment of the market. Dialog Telekom should have a focused differentiation strategy in the market where people are valuing the VASes and cost focus in the market where usage is purely for voice/SMS. Simultaneously Dialog Telekom should look at strategic alliances as a corporate strategy to gain competitive advantage by working with other organizations. Currently they have stated this with some banks and some supermarket chains as mentioned earlier. However this can be vastly improved to include alliances with insurance companies, stock brokers, popular food chains etc.
Friday, October 25, 2019
mauryan empire :: essays research papers fc
The Mauryan Emperor, Ashoka, is famous for his Rock and Pillar edicts. But how much can we really know about Ashoka and his empire from these edicts, particularly as almost no other evidence exists for Ashoka’s reign? It is a fair assessment that up until the early part of the twentieth century, when the definitive link between Ashoka and that of the â€Å"Devanampiya Piyadassi (Beloved of the Gods Piyadassi)†character inscribed on the edicts was established, very little was either known about Ashoka or cared for by historians. However, it must be said that the Mauryan Empire itself was an era of significant historical value not without a good deal of historical and archaeological evidence to substantiate its importance. In addressing the issue of what the edicts in particular reveal to us about Ashoka and the period of his reign one needs to acknowledge undoubtedly what is being stated, but perhaps moreover one needs to pay attention to the inherent meanings, the intended meanings and the contextual meanings of the inscriptions themselves. The ultimate thematic concern of the edicts in general is that of the principle of Dhamma. A definition of Dhamma itself is given in the 2nd Pillar Edict as: â€Å"having few faults and many good deeds, mercy, charity, truthfulness and purity†. In this context one may deduce that the notion of Dhamma is a type of ethos for social morality or ethical behaviour. Furthermore, the term is said to be a fundamental philosophy of Buddhist doctrine, the practice of which leads to one’s advancement in both a spiritual and material sense. That Ashoka was a proclaimed Buddhist is evident from the edicts, â€Å"I have been a Buddhist layman for more than two and a half years, but for a year I did not make much progress. Now for more than a year I have drawn closer to the Order and become more ardent.†There are fewer examples of a more personal self-proclamation to be found and yet one cannot help but consider the motive behind it. Surely Ashoka, had taken seriously to Buddhism, he at least says so. However, he says so, publicly. This implies that he either was a firm believer who had a need to use his position as a platform to preach a doctrine which he had come to accept as the ultimate truth and as such, to share with and enlighten his people or he was a very sensible and intuitive leader who had a tremendous amount of foresight in adopting the principles of a profound philosophy that he saw could be used to strategically unify and mould his empire both socially and politically.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Examining the Use of Social Media Essay
Access the Toolwire ® Learnscape: Examining the Use of Social Media link located on the student website. Complete the Learnscape Activities. Complete the Toolwire ® Learnscape Assessment Part A and Part B. Write a 700- to 1,050–word paper answering the following questions: What are the advantages and disadvantages of easily obtainable information? What are the advantages and disadvantages of social media? How might knowing these advantages and disadvantages alter how a person might use social media? What credibility issues can arise from information found on the Internet? Support your findings with specific examples. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines. Option 2: Social Media Paper Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper answering the following questions: What are the advantages and disadvantages of easily obtainable information? What are the advantages and disadvantages of social media? How might knowing these advantages and disadvantages alter how a person might use social media? What credibility issues can arise from information found on the Internet? Support your findings with specific examples. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Effects of Free Primary Education Essay
The research will investigate the effects of free primary education on learners with diverse needs in the main stream primary schools. (A case of Lilongwe Urban Schools) Identification of a sample of teachers, parents, pupils, schools. Distribution of questionnaires, conduct interviews, and observations. The Data will be conducted from four mainstream primary schools in Lilongwe district. 3. 0. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3. 1. A statement of search method. Many learners with special educational needs experience a number of challenges in the mainstream primary schools in which in some way or the other prevent them from receiving quality education. (Ministry of Education PIF Document on special needs, 2000) At a conference held at Salamanca in Spain 1994, it was declared that learners with special educational needs acquire education in their home schools. (World Declaration on Education For All, 1990). This meant that they were to be included in the mainstream schools and the schools were supposed to accommodate these learners by providing them with specialized resources so that the children acquire quality education. The introduction of free primary education in Malawi in 1994 posed a threat towards the education of learners with special educational needs in their home schools, because much as it increased access to educational opportunities for all Malawians, it brought many challenges towards the education of learners with special educational needs in mainstream schools and to the ordinary learners as well. (Ministry of Education PIF document 2000). One of the challenges emanating from the implementation of free primary education policy towards the education of learners with special educational needs is overcrowding in schools which lead to poor performance due to poor methods of teaching. Statistics indicates that in 1993, there were about 1. 6 million primary school students in Malawi. However, when free primary education was introduced in 1994, the number of students jumped to over three million (World Bank report 2004). This created a lot of problems, overcrowding in classes made teachers not to consider the needs of learners with special educational needs because there was too much work load. Teachers use poor methods of teaching as a result of overcrowding in classes and lack of resources. Teachers are failing to practice the individualized education plan meant for learners with special educational needs due to increased enrollment rates. (Ministry of Education PIF Document). This results in poor performance, high repetition rates for both learners with special educational needs and the ordinary pupils. It is thus of great importance to asses on how poor methods of teaching is a challenge to the education of learners with special educational needs. Some indications suggest that overcrowding in classrooms is pushing out pupils with special educational needs; an issue which the World Bank (2004) recommends that needs further research. Furthermore, due to overcrowding, survival rates for all learners (ordinary and those with special educational needs) have also been affected. The double/triple shifts are also making it hard for schools to plan for remedial programmes for learners with special educational needs and teachers complain of increased pupil teacher ratios. (Ministry of Education, PIF Document, 2004). Thus, it is the interest of the researcher to further assess the effects of overcrowding in classrooms towards the education of learners with special educational needs. The shortage of teaching resources is also another problem that is making the education of learners with special educational needs difficult. The shortages of teaching and learning aids worsened as a result of the implementation of free primary education. The number of pupils per text book was 2. 9 prior to Free Primary Education, declining to 7. 1 in 1994/5. Even more worrying is the fact that repetition rates are over 20%. (Riddel R. , 2003) What should be noted is that, learners with special educational needs require specialized resources for them to receive quality education. This is expensive and need expertise to use specialized materials. In this case, if the government is failing to provide learning materials for ordinary learners, what more to the provision of teaching and learning materials to learners with special educational needs. The shortage of teachers and recruitment of unqualified and untrained teachers who did not have any knowledge on special needs education was also another recipe for disaster because the needs of learners with special educational needs were not given a priority. (Ministry of Education PIF document 2000). Thus, it is reported by 1997, more than half the teachers were untrained, compared with 13% before the introduction of Free Primary Education. The World Bank Report on effects of free primary education (2004) states that this left learners with special educational needs to struggle to meet the needs of the school and not the schools meeting the needs of learners with special educational needs. As such it is to the interest of the researcher to assess on how this has led to low academic achievement to both learners with special educational needs and ordinary learners. Poor infrastructure is also another area of concern, according to an article by Ligomeka. B. (2000), it is stated that the ambitious plan by the Malawi government to boost its education levels by offering free primary education backfired, largely because of the terrible poor conditions of the country’s primary schools. Ligomeka adds to say that conditions at schools remain terrible; there has been a shortage of classrooms for the pupils, resource centers, teacher’s houses, and toilets for over a decade. The inaccessible physical environment makes it difficult for children with disabilities to survive. ( e. g. poor hygiene in toilets) Additionally, many of the preliminary surveys seem to show that the existing facilities make a mockery of the free education program. As a result, the situation of the teaching force in most of the districts is generally bad. On quality issues, the World Bank Report (2004) states that, the free primary education has produced unintended and unforeseen negative consequences. The reforms that Malawi has come up with have produced some consequences including quality issues which are of concern in Malawi. Whilst the enrolment expansion has been remarkable, the quality of education – and many would say, even the ‘value’ of education – has deteriorated. The question might be; if ordinary pupils are complaining of quality issues, what about the quality of education being offered to learners with special needs? This puts in question for the quality of education being delivered and if the needs of learners with special needs are being met. It is for this reason that the researcher would want to assess the quality of education being offered to learners with special educational needs in the mainstream primary schools with regards to the challenges emanating from the implementation of free primary education. Kadzamira and Rose (as cited at http//www. Introduction of free primary education in sub-Saharan Africa) point to the continued lack of access of some sub-groups (street children, out-of-school youth, those with special needs, orphans. ) who still face problems to meet some of their needs ( such as learning materials, food, accommodation, wheelchairs, hearing aids, and clothes) despite the education being free. As such, this has resulted in a lot of absenteeism, poor performance, a very high repetition rate and dropouts for learners with special educational needs, street children and orphans, because despite the education being free, they still have to meet other expenses such as stationary, uniforms, food, wheel chairs, and other specialized materials. (Ministry of Education PIF document 2000). The researcher therefore, would like to investigate if the needs of the above mentioned subgroups are taken into consideration by the schools. Through the reports, articles and journals, it has been discovered that the effects of free primary education worsened the problems learners with special educational needs were facing in mainstream primary schools. These problems do not only affect learners with special needs but also those without, and this has made/created a lot of learners to fall under special educational needs because their needs are not being met by the education system. In conclusion, there is evidence that free primary education brought challenges towards the education of learners with special educational needs, as such, it will be necessary to find out the extent to which the challenges are making the education of learners with special needs difficult in the mainstream primary schools, so that the feedback can be used to correct deficiencies in the schools. This research will be beneficial to teachers, schools even the researcher herself to diagnose barriers to inclusion hence coming up with strategies to reduce or eradicate the barriers. Definition of Key terms. Mainstream refers to the integration of learners with special educational needs in general education settings (Heward, 2000) Special educational needs refer to learners who require specialized instruction and different levels of support if they are to realize their full human potential, or to facilitate their academic, social, and emotional development. It also includes those coming from poor socio-economic backgrounds. (Heward 2000) Inclusion is the process of accommodating learners with special needs in the general education settings, with support services provided by the school. (Index for inclusion, 2002) Sub-questions What challenges do learners with special educational need face in the mainstream primary schools as a result of free primary education in Malawi? How do the challenges affect education provisions for learners with special educational needs? What support services are provided by parents towards the education of learners with special educational needs? 3. 2. RESEARCH METHODS The research shall be conducted using the survey strategy. 3. 3. Survey Studies Survey studies as pointed out by Cohen (2003) Is another way to get unique material. It is regarded as one of the best tool for collection of data by many scholars. Cohen added that surveys take one or two forms, questionnaires or interviews. During a survey, a researcher can ask people questions in person or draw a written questionnaire, but in either case, it is advised that questions must be phrased carefully so that people can respond easily and clearly. A Gay L. R. etal (2009) state that surveys requires the collection of standardized, quantifiable information from all members of a population or of a sample. It is from the above understanding that the researcher has seen it necessary to use this design, in the collection of data to examine on how the introduction of free primary education has affected the education of learners with special educational needs in terms of human resource, teaching and learning materials, and the quality of education being provided. 3. 4. SOURCES OF EVIDENCE The following instruments will be used for data collection: Questionnaires, interviews, and observations. 3. 4. 1Questionnaire. A questionnaire is a written collection of survey questions to be answered by a selected group of research participants. (Gay L. R. etal). And it is a widely used and useful instrument for collecting survey information. However, Bell (1993) warns that one needs to ensure that the questionnaire is well designed in order to give the researcher the information needed, acceptable to subjects and that will not give problems at the analysis and interpretation stage. The questionnaire will contain both open ended questions and closed questions. Among the advantages of a questionnaire is that it is cheap compared to interviews, and can be used to collect data from a large sample without the researchers presence, and one of the disadvantages is that respondents can delay information and could be difficult to make follow ups. (Cohen, 2003). To minimize errors, the researcher will make sure that questionnaires be taken for supervision before distribution to ensure that they are clear. The researcher shall follow guidelines for writing effective questions, such as avoiding complex questions, avoid irritating questions or instructions, just to mention a few. Cohen (2003). And in this study, a sample of ten teachers and Primary School Education Advisor (PEA) will be given questionnaires. See appendix,( item number 2 a,2b). 3. 4. 2Focused Interviews Interviews are an oral, in person question and answer session between a researcher and an individual respondent. (Gay L. R. etal 2009) Here, the researcher will use focused interviews. Ary D. etal (2002), describes focused interviews as those where the researcher ask questions designed to draw out subjects’ responses on a topic of interest. Subjects are free to answer in their own words rather than having to choose from pre-determined, open ended format, this permits greater flexibility and responsiveness to emerging issues for the participants. Among the advantages of interviews as pointed out by Donald etal (2002) is that, a researcher gets instant feedback, participants are able to ask for clarity, and the researcher probes participants where ever necessary. Donald adds to say that interviews enable an interviewer to get information concerning opinions, beliefs, attitudes and feelings in relation to certain questions. Hence making a researcher acquire rich information from respondents which will make the research to be standard. Nevertheless, the disadvantage of interviews is that it could be time consuming to both the researcher and the participant; it is expensive in terms of travel costs and materials, besides it is also difficult for individuals to articulate their feelings in a one to one interview. As such focused interviews will be conducted with head teachers, experienced teachers (those with over 16 years experience), parents, ordinary learners, and learners with special educational needs. The researcher shall prepare a list of standardized questions ahead of time and shall be taken for supervision to minimize errors. Furthermore, the researcher will make herself available at a time that is convenient for the respondents. The researcher shall begin by sending a letter of Identification, requesting an interview with the Primary School Education Advisor (PEA), head teachers, teachers, parents and pupils and specify the sort of information needed. See appendix ( item no. 1. a,1. b, 1. c, 1. d) 3. 4. 3Observations. Cohen (2003), states that observation data are attractive as they afford the researcher the opportunity to gather â€Å"live†data from â€Å"live†situation. The researcher will observe, teaching methods, attitude of teachers and peers, classroom organization, and availability of resources. Cohen continues to say that observation makes data to be reliable and generalization can be made. Stringer (2004) also points out that observations principle purpose is to familiarize researchers with the context in which issues and events are played out, however, Gay R.L. (2009) warns that researchers that when obtaining observations there should be objectives, unbiased and accurate in the sense that the observer has avoided influencing the behavior of respondents. The disadvantage of observation according to Alkins Encyclopedia of Education Research (1992) is that it more naturalistic and researchers are not constrained by what is in a checklist or rating scale. If an observation is well planned and carried out, it can give both qualitative and quantitative data. Observation has limitations on bias to an extent that the individual perceptions and interpretations of the observer, influenced by previous experience, affect the recording of the behavior, (ibid p. 271). However, the researcher will be aware of this problem so that learners with special educational needs be observed thoroughly in order to detect their difficulties which they face in mainstream primary schools. Observations shall be carried out in all the primary schools. See appendix (item no. 3). 3. 5. Population Sample This involves identification of a sample of schools, teachers, parents, and pupils, from the schools. Three mainstream primary schools in Lilongwe urban will be selected for the collection of data. Schools will be selected based on their experience in the education of learners with special educational needs. Teachers shall be selected according experience (those with more than 16 years experience prior to the introduction of free primary education). Pupils will be selected based on their age and class. (Will start from standard 3 up to 8 and within the age range of 9-15) the Primary School Education Advisor will also be contacted to answer a few questions and parents will be selected based on proximity (those living around the school and available). A total of six Learners with special educational needs and six ordinary learners will be interviewed from each school, will al so be interviewed, a total of eight teachers will be given questionnaires and two teachers will be interviewed, all the head teachers will be interviewed, and Observations by the researcher will also be carried out in all schools. The reason behind this sample is: To find out teacher perceptions on how free primary education has undermined the quality of education being offered to learners with special educational needs. To know how involved parents are in the education of their children. To find out from learners on the challenges they face in the classroom and how this is affecting their academic achievement. To find out from Primary school Education Advisor if the government is aware of such problems and necessary measures are taken to minimize the effects. 4. 5DATA ANALYSIS Data analysis is one of the things the prepared researcher needs to consider. It involves filing and organizing data collected (Cohen 2003). Gay etal (2009) add to say that the planning of data analysis will need to consider the organization, accounting for and explaining the data; It indicates what needs to be done with the data when they have been collected and how will the data be processed and analyzed, additionally, it shows how the results of the analysis will be verified, cross-checked and validated. (Bell 1993). In analyzing data, the researcher will re- write notes as soon as possible after making a set of observation. Full notes shall be typed and two copies of the notes shall be produced so that the other copy should act as a backup. The files shall be created in chronological order of events including notations of the dates and times they were made. Ultimately, observations shall be analyzed and interpreted to find the underlying meaning in the things observed. And the organization and filing of notes is the first step in discovering that meaning. (Donald A, etal 2002) All the results from different participants shall be analyzed and interpreted cordially, and data will be presented in the form of tables, type written text and charts. 3. 6Reliability and Validity According Kubiszyn T. etal (1996), reliability refers to an extent where similar results are obtained from different samples and after using different methods of data collection. Cohen (2003), states that validity is an important key to effective research, because if a piece of research is invalid then it is worthless. He further points out that that validity of research results refers to the extent where the research measures what it was intended to measure. The extent of triangulation is also another form of validity. To ensure reliability, the researcher, will use different tools of data collection, use standardized questions in both questionnaires and interviews and will make sure that the questions should be in line with the research question to ensure validity. 3. 7 LIMITATIONS Ethical issues, travel cost and time will be taken as some of the barriers to this study, nevertheless, ways will be found to deal with these problems. To overcome the problem of travel costs, the researcher started saving money meant for this purpose, where there will be a shortage, it will be required to ask for funds from guardians. To deal with ethical issues, the researcher will try by all means to be careful in the use of language so as not to harm participants psychologically because this might affect the outcome. The researcher will also take the interview and questionnaire questions for supervision to make sure that language used does not offend the participants. In the case of time, where the researcher will be on a short holiday and at the same time collecting data, appointments for interviews, observations and distribution of questionnaires. The researcher shall make herself available at a time convenient to the participants. Prompts/follow up shall be made in the case of questionnaires so that all the data should be ready before the holiday ends. To avoid doubts from participants, a letter of identification shall be obtained from the Special Needs Department of the Catholic University of Malawi. People will be assured of privacy and the research shall seek parental/teacher consent before interviewing learners below the age of fifteen. REFERENCE Ary Donald. Lucy Cheser Jacobs. Asghar Razaviah. (2002), Introduction to Research in Education, Thomson Learning, Belmet. Bell J (1993), Doing your Research Project. A guide for first research in Education and social science. Suffolk, st Edmunds bury press. Cohen L. etal (2003). Research Methods in Education. Prentice-hall Inc, New York. EFA Global Monitoring Report @ http:// www. EFA report @ unesco. org. Gay L. R. , Geoffrey E. Mills, Peter Airasian. (2009), Educational Research Competencies for Analysis and Applications. Pearson Education, Inc; New Jersey. Heward W. L. (2000). Exceptional Children: an introduction to special education. Prentice-hall, New York. (http://www. aft. org/research/rel-site. htm) (http: //www. World Bank report on effects of free primary education. org. ) Riddell R. (2003) The introduction of Free Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa Report. Ministry of Education (PIF document on Special Needs Education in Malawi, 2000) IRINA MANJOMO CALENDAR FOR DESSERTATION MONTH & YEAR DATE ACTIVITY JUNE-2010 15-20 25-30 Writing letters to institutions where data will be corrected. Distribution of questionnaires for data collection and making appointments for interviews JULY -2010 Data collection, Data analysis and data entry. AUGUST- 2010 1-17 Data analysis and entry. 18-23 Editing analysed data, & submission. 24-25 Meeting the supervisor 25-31 Literature Review SEPTEMBER-2010 3-13 Writing of chapter two (Lit. Review) begins & ends 14-15 Meeting the supervisor 16-19 corrections 22-29 Writing of chapter III & submission 29-30 Meeting the supervisor OCTOBER-2010 1-4 Corrections 7-14 Writing chapter IV & submission 15 Meeting the supervisor 15-17 Corrections 19-25 Writing Chapter V and VI & submission 26-27 Meeting the supervisor 28-30 Corrections NOVEMBER-2010 2-9 Writing Ch. 1 & submission 11-14 Meeting supervisor & corrections 16-21 22-23 Writing first Draft of Dissertation submission & corrections DECEMBER-2010 24-30 1-3 Writing 2nd Draft of Dissertation submission 5-7 Meeting supervisor JANUARY-2011 Making Corrections on the Dissertation draft FEBRUARY-2011 13-18 Defending the Dissertation 21-23 Making corrections & submission MARCH-2011 1-3 Meeting the supervisor 3-20 Making final corrections on the Dissertation Draft. APRIL- 2011 Writing the final copy of the Dissertation begins and ends. MAY-2011 16-23 submission to the supervisor
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