Importance of Educations Essay

Education is a means for increasing knowledge. A popular saying is â€Å"Knowledge is power†. Without education, the training of the human minds is incomplete. No individual is a human being in the working world until he has been educated in the proper sense. Now I’m not saying you’re not a human being without education. The mind was made to be trained and without education, a person is incomplete. Without education, man, as it were, is locked up in a windowless room. With education, he finds himself in a room with all its windows open to the outside world. In other words, people who are not educated have less opportunity to do what they want to do. Therefore, education is one of the most important processes in today’s society. Today’s youth are tomorrow’s teachers. Education is important because it gives a better personal development, brighter future, and able to make inform decisions. We learn from the moment we are infants all the way to adulthood. Learning is a continuous process and a life long journey. There is no end to learning and it is vital for one to continuously seek to improve one’s self. Personal development is continuous and requires one to learn and re-learn new skills and knowledge. Education plays a pivotal part in personal development. Life-long education creates self-awareness and enables you to develop new talents which facilitates employability and improves the quality of life. Personal development is seen by some as a part of higher education and most companies often emphasise on the need for personal development in order to accommodate to the ever changing work requirements. Oscar Wilde a popular writer states that â€Å"you can never be overdressed or overeducated. † By empowering our mind, we would be able to positively contribute to society and the well-being of the entire world. Besides that, education gives a brighter future because it is one of the factors that affect job positions people hold, their salaries, and further careers. It is an open window to many opportunities in life. One of those opportunities is getting a good job which will provide security and assurance of a good life. Education can get you into jobs of high level with a good salary package. For most people, salary is a key to ensure that you receive compensation for what you have done. The salary that you will receive by professional job will represent a superior level of income in society. Being in a high profile job will also increase your status in the society. People would look up to you and you will gain the respect of others. Moreover, with the additional money earned one could save for the future. This will lead one to live a luxury life style without worrying on the expenses incurred. In addition, education enables one to make informed decisions. With proper education one is able to evaluate the pros and cons of decision and therefore make rational and sound decisions. This is essential in a working environment where decisions have to be made on an ad hoc basis and it affects others as well. Therefore education plays a vital role in making decisions as it enables him to analyse, evaluate and justify the decisions that he make. An informed decision is a decision made after learning relevant facts about the focus of the decision. For example, a person might make an informed decision to join the politics or not join after researching to find out if the lifestyle, benefits, and travel opportunities are what he wants. The importance of education cannot be measured. Its value is unmatchable. Without it stems ignorance, frustration, anger, and demise. With it, solutions, alternatives, and new ideas can be brought forth to further improve the evolution of mankind. With each generation we are making one step forward. As we learn from our mistakes, we are able to improve the next time around. Without education, improvement and progress would never be achieved. There is no greater purpose than using the mind to everyone’s best advantage. Education makes a man who he is and what he does. It chooses his faith and when he is on the right path, he leaves him on his own, to make his own decisions with his new life with Education. It shows the surrounding people who you are, what you like and what you don’t. Education has to be used the right way to be drive out the most of life. Only education can help you in the future, so why abuse it, and take it if you can! By Raveena & Aina

Book Report

The book under analysis is the work by Frey James My Friend Leonard. This choice was spurred by controversial reaction it provoked among the public and literary critics. This novel is, actually, a sequel to the book A Million Little Pieces published a year before. The genre of My Friend Leonard may be defined as a memoir though, as the author himself admits, it contains a certain degree of fictional elements. Frey James is an extraordinary figure in modern American literature. His own biography of a person who experienced problems with alcoholism, drug addiction, and even being a convicted criminal provides Frey with the manifold material which he successfully employed in the memoir. The main character of the memoir is obviously author’s namesake James who serves time in a prison. After jail release James returns to Lilly, his girlfriend, to Chicago but the life outside the prison is far from harmony. James finds his girlfriend dead after committing a suicide overnight. Being struck by this dreadful discovery the main character still does not go to seeds; he decides to stay in Chicago and takes up job of a bouncer in Chicago pubs. However feeling of rage and the weight of reality makes James be scared of relapse thus he appeals to his old friend Leonard. Since their meeting the story assumes its main plotline – the relations between two men, the relations which border upon the friendship and father-son bonds. Leonard is an Italian mobster who offered James to be his â€Å"stepfather† when they both where in rehabilitation: â€Å"I would like you to be my son.† Leonard gladly relieves his friend and â€Å"son† and helps him to get him on his feet. As the time lapses the scene of action together with the main character transfers from Chicago to Los Angeles. James changes his activity. Now he is a writer. He still maintains close relationship with Leonardo, who remains his faithful friend and tutelary father. The relations that develop between them are presented from deeply psychological side. The author aims to show the deep feeling of people who far from ideal figures still are human and exhibit the best example of the relations called friendship. The depiction of feelings expressed to animals is as masterfully executed as the feelings among humans. Thus while reading the passage where James takes his dog to the hospital to put it to sleep and the farewell scene makes the reader feel the same emotions. â€Å"The vet inserts the needle, depresses the plunger. Cassius yelps like a little puppy, my big tough pitbull feels the sting, I hold him as his blood courses through his veins I hold him as he stumbles, as he falls, I hold him as he dies. I look into his eyes and I tell him I love him and I’ll miss him and I’m so so so sorry. He dies in my arms and I hold him and I cry, I cry, I cry.† Returning to the main character and his friend Leonard we witness how their relations arise to its peak point and suddenly Leonardo vanishes. After insistent search James finally finds Leonard and learns that Leonard is gay, suffers from AIDS, and lives his last days. James remains with him and spends these few days near Leonard. Speaking about the mood left after reading the story, it is a deep impression created by its emotionality and at the same time this emotionality at some moments seems exaggerated not typically for that kind of genre. Nevertheless the style does not allow the story turning into melancholy narrative. Frey writes in short simple sentences, often neglects punctuation and thus creates easy reading that develops fluently. As a result we receive favourably distinguishable prose in the genre of memoir but with flavour of captivating fiction. Reference: Frey James (2005). My Friend Leonard. New York: Riverhead.

Causes of the boom years in the 1920s Essay Example for Free (#1920)

Causes of the boom years in the 1920s Essay Employers were working fewer hours however were being paid more. This therefore meant industrial goods produced were also increasing. American’s had more time for leisure and more money so electrical labour-saving devices were being introduced becoming affordable by many people. Motor cars eased travel to and from work as well as for leisure pursuits. It was the golden age for cinema and sport attracted vast crowds. Reasons for prosperity: government policies Calvin Coolidge stated ‘the chief business of the American people is business. ’ This was his government policy to let business operate as far as possible, free of regulation. Andrew Mellon and him believed wealth filtered down naturally to all classes and to ensure increased living standards for all was to allow the rich to continue make money to invest in industrial development which therefore meant more job opportunities, more wage earners, more consumption etc. this policy was laissez-faire but the government intervened to support business in 4 ways: Fordney-McCumber Act 1922 à ¯ raised tariffs to cover difference between domestic and foreign production costs Cheaper to buy goods from USA than abroad Tariff level à ¯ foreign goods more expensive than USA even though produced cheaper in USA Foreign trade reduced = domestic demand for goods high Government reduced federal taxes – 1924, 1926 and 1928 (benefited wealthy) Aim à ¯ reduced national debt, federal tax cuts = meant little to poor as not able to pay taxes Federal Trade Commission à ¯ unable and unwilling to operate effectively causing businesses unhindered Coolidge à ¯ avoided involvement in foreign affairs due to budget cutting an recognition that Americans didn’t want to see troops getting caught up in foreign disputes. This meant that investors would favour profit ever over ethical concerns Technical advances in industrial production made increases in quantity and variety of products This industry grew dramatically in the 1920s. It was the largest for commodities. Previously cars had only been for the wealthy but Ford wanted the ordinary to be able to afford one Effects of growth in car ownership: Ford thought this would strengthen traditional American values but it led to: By 1929, motor industry employed 7% of all workers and paid them 9% of all wages Closure of Ford à ¯ factor to recession of 1927 Loss of business by companies providing components to Ford real problems in economy Breaking of laissez-faire à ¯ federal government expend on road building in 1920s Federal Highway Act 1921 à ¯ responsibility for road building to central government and highways. Construction = 10,000 miles per year by 1929 Chief Designer in Bureau of Public Roads 1936 à ¯ roads built unfit for use because of amount of traffic Motor vehicles à ¯ new service industries e.g. garages, petrol stations etc. Improved transportation = new opportunities for industry New technology = large scale development of labour saving devices as cheaper to produce Serious over production = problems in economy Large corporations manufacturing business = could invest in and exploit raw materials of USA on vast scale Large corporations could dominate industry by: Operating cartel (group of companies agreeing to fix output and prices to reduce competition and maximise profits). Although illegal, government accepted which involved exploitation of raw materials, retail outlets etc. Some organisations were able to adapt to holding companies which resulted in firms competing against each other Increased size of businesses à ¯ complex to manage = different management roles by different people in administration Management science, occupation for upper class = indication harder to start own company Advertising and salesmanship: Cinema Millions of cinema-goers to copy lifestyle of stars meant potential for advertising was enormous Began with KDKA station which announced results in 1920 elections Radio’s controlled by 2 companies with a vast audience Growth in industrial production needed a continuous market in order to fuel the boom as people needed to be convinced to buy things frequently. An aspect of a campaign needed to be bought in which would differentiate between one’s product and that of the competitors to promote unique selling point. Advertising techniques worked for many consumers. Massive consumer boom was financed largely by easy credit facilities 1929 à ¯ $7 billion goods were sold on credit – 75% of cars and half of major household appliances Availability of credit meant borrowers took on debts which they could not repay High tariffs were used to protect US markets however the government also encouraged businessmen to develop extensive interests abroad in terms of raw materials that fuelled technological developments. US exported vast amounts of manufactured products. In the 1920s with almost full employment, low inflation, high tariffs keeping foreign goods out of USA, benevolent government policies and a consumer boom the prosperity would go on forever. Causes of the boom years in the 1920s. (2017, Sep 01).

BlackBerry company fail Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

BlackBerry company fail - Essay Example Blackberry, the Ontario-based smartphone company, had opportunities to survive and adapt but it took the wrong direction. U.S President Barack Obama was quoted saying that one of the things he was addicted to was his BlackBerry. One of his reasons was that the phone had advanced security features (Herman, Hadlaw and Swiss, 2014). The company was started in 1984 by engineering students Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin and was for a long time a global leader in communication products. This was until it failed to see the impact of the iPhone, became blind to competition (especially from cheaper Asian rivals), and delayed in launching new phones. Despite being named by Fortune magazine in 2009 as the world’s fastest growing company, BlackBerry dropped a plan to be acquired for $4.7 billion and laid off its chief executive. This is in contrast to Apple, where Steve Jobs managed to turn it round through adaptability after being 90 days from the verge of bankruptcy in 1997 (Kint, 2014). Success and failure in the technology business are rarely predictable. BlackBerry had an obvious lead in the market, and its managers discussed various ways of coming out of the predicament but in the end they made the wrong choices (Rao and Klein, 2013). Basically, they did not fail to adapt, but they made the wrong adaptations. Long time survival is about making the right adaptations. In the book Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure, Financial Time’s columnist Tim Harford stated that, â€Å"success comes through rapidly fixing our mistakes rather than getting things right the first time† (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2014). The Globe and Mail of Friday 27th September 2013 investigative report revealed that Verizon asked Blackberry to create a touch screen but the result was a failure leading Verizon to turn to Motorola and Google (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2014). In 2012 BlackBerry’s CEO Jim Balsillie quit the

Human and Animal Interrelationships from Domestication to Present Term Paper - 7

Human and Animal Interrelationships from Domestication to Present - Term Paper Example At the point when one of his customers was ridiculed in court for favoring a country way of life, Cicero shielded nation life as the educator of economy, of industry, and of equity. Therefore, this article will focus on the early agriculture in Rome. Unlike modern times, Agriculture in Rome was not considered that important rather a privilege associated with the wealthy. The social elites of ancient Rome had undertaken the practice of agriculture as a respected occupation. The writings of Cicero clearly indicate that back in the time agriculture was quite a profitable and a joyful occupation which was means to acquire a better life (Smith 95). For this reason, the rural lifestyle was also readily acquired by the wealthy and others in the society also strived to adopt similar lifestyle. Two of the most popular crops which were more of a necessity for every table in Rome were wheat and spelt. Romans also relied on various provinces they had acquired after wars for agriculture yet most of their focus was on Italy which was quite suitable for a wide variety of crops (Johnston 55-56). During this era, Romans were also fond of purchasing food from the neighboring countries. Land ownership was the means to constitute a part of the aristocracy in Rome; the more land a person acquired to higher his esteem in society and politics was. Even the brave soldiers were allocated land as rewards for their services. Land was also the sole factor behind slave labor since men were enslaved to work of these fields. Thus, the paper aims at exploring how the Romans farmed to understand their values more as agriculture was the dominant factor behind every aspect of Roman life. Despite the fact that roman life was fixated on urban areas, a great many people existed in the nation becoming products, working the area, tending vines and herds. Agriculturists underpinned the citys fuel and sustenance

Brief Justification for Selecting Cantonese Cuisine Assignment

Brief Justification for Selecting Cantonese Cuisine - Assignment Example First, Cantonese cuisine dishes include a stilled whole fish, roast suckling pig. Additionally, crispy-skinned chicken and shark’s fin soup form part of Cantonese cuisine dishes. The hotel considers these ingredients special because of their indigenous nature and quality. As a result, these meals are popular in China and neighboring countries. The dishes are also unique given the Cantonese cuisine. This cuisine is applicable in this region because of the abundance of the ingredients of the dishes. In this respect, Canton is abundant of diverse animal and plant food sources. This port city has been a prime attraction of many foreign techniques of cooking and cooking materials. Second, the major focus of Cantonese cuisine is on the heating temperature applied in the course of cooking the dishes. Other cooking techniques originated from Europe in order to supplement the Cantonese cuisine. The foreign techniques improved the Cantonese cuisine. This is because the dishes prepared could fit all kinds’ races. The fact that even the hotel incorporates western cooking techniques into the Cantonese cuisine is proof that this dish accommodates preferences from multiple regions across the globe. This is why restaurants serve this cuisine across the world. Gillespie (2010) says customers associate Cantonese cuisine dishes with an intensive selection of materials. The Cantonese cuisine involves stir-frying, frying, stewing, and braising. Third, the hotel also considers food color, taste, and fragrance. This is because these qualities are the ones, which make any food appealing to clients. According to Ninemeier (2009), Cantonese cuisine focuses on a variety of food preparation methods in order to satisfy the desires of customers. One achieves diversity in this aspect because Ninemeier considers all races.  

TQM IMPELEMENTION Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

TQM IMPELEMENTION - Essay Example The leaders rely on the assumption that punishment and reward modes are the most effective motivators at a work place. They actively engage in rewarding hardworking workers in a given organization without understanding the need of engaging in such activity (Edwards, 1994). Severe punishment measures introduced at the work place, for instance, in a given organization to curb the act of laziness, therefore, ensuring almost equal output in the organization. Such an assumption positively boasts the general outcome of the organization without the leader’s knowledge of it. The leaders engage in optimizing every process area in an organization, which leads to the optimization of the entire organization with time thus ensuring growth and stability in an organization. The managers or leaders, further, engage in the assumption that better results achieved by setting specific objectives within the organization. The set objectives within an organization foster stiff competition among work ers at the workplace to ensure the set objectives attained thus brings positive success in the organization. ... Further, competition as an assumption steps in because it is a necessary aspect in the day to day life. Managers who fail to accept that competition in a given organization cannot be avoided fail to effectively manage their organizations to the required standards. With this in place, the managers require a theory to act as a guide in order to realize the importance of quality management, as stated in the above assumptions, for the success of their organizations in the future market place. According to Edwards Deming theory of profound management, called the system of profound knowledge, the theory explores the current style of management undergoing revolution. It further explores the system of profound knowledge, which provides a map of theory to understand in details the organization we work for. The theory relates to the above discussion because it focuses on the transformation of an individual in a given organization in order to continuously teach other people, to become a good li stener, and help people to pull away from their current beliefs and practices. The Edwards Deming theory of system of profound knowledge directed to the leaders or managers in a given organization basing on the assumptions provided (Edwards, 1994). The profound knowledge appeals to managers or leaders appearing in four parts, such as in psychology, variation knowledge, system appreciation, and theory of knowledge practice. A manager needs to fully understand the four parts of the profound knowledge in order to fully apply in the process of transforming from the present Western management style to that of optimization. The four parts of the profound knowledge cannot be separated thus should work hand in hand for

Critically evaluate the role played by Victim Support in assisting Essay

Critically evaluate the role played by Victim Support in assisting victims of crime and advocating for reforms on their behalf. And Critically evaluate the cont - Essay Example Other wise they loose the confidence in organized world and faith in other human beings which is dangerous to the society. Hence it calls for immediate measures for crime management and victim support services (Van Dijk, 1996). However, the successful crime management requires thorough study of nature of crime and causes of the same and nature of victimization (Joutsen, 1997). Hence this necessitates the reforms in the criminal law provisions and judiciary and also establishment of victim support organizations for providing services and assistance to genuine victims of crime (Groenhuijsen, 1998). This is made possible by victim support services, European court of Human Rights and the Council of Europe. Victim support1 is a service available to citizens of England for helping themselves in minimizing the effects of crime. There has been a remarkable increase in incidents of crime in different forms in the European society. It is indeed difficult to solve these crime related problems for any person at his individual level with out any external support. Hence there is a strong necessity of some supporting charity or institution that aids the people subjected to crime. Its main objective is to reduce the negative effects of the crime and to manage the crime related after effects in most efficient manner. The role of Victim Support is highly appreciable in this direction. Moreover, Victim Support also promotes and advances the rights of victims and witnesses. Victim support also maintains the confidentiality and privacy of the victims of crime and hence it is liked by all the sections of the people. It is also committed to the service of minority and disadvantaged groups subjected to crime on priority basis. Hence here is a need to critically evaluate its role in assisting victims and advocating reforms on their behalf. Victim Support assists the victims to deal with their experience in most efficient manner. It also

Issues of Patient Confidentiality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Issues of Patient Confidentiality - Essay Example Such information must be accessible only to the surgeon, and when necessary, to specific health care and insurance workers. Simply put, patient confidentiality denotes that personal and medical data granted to a health care provider should not be divulged to other people who do not have a need to know except if the patient has conferred explicit authorization for such release. Since the revelation of personal information could trigger professional or personal setbacks, patients depend on medical practitioners to uphold the privacy of their medical information. However, nowadays, it is common for medical records to be shared with several people for a number of reasons. The most common violation of confidentiality occurs when clinicians distribute medical data utilized in case studies. As per procedure, as soon as data is circulated in specialized periodicals, the character/personality of the patient is never disclosed and all information that could lead to the identification of the pa tient are also removed or altered, however, if this confidentiality is infringed in whatever way, patients have the right to take legal action (Fremgen, 2008; Rosenbaum, 2002, pp. 906-907; Landrum, 2003, pp. 222-223; Hubbard, Glover and Hartley, 2003; Carter, 2003). Implications In the case study, particular legislations and state regulations have been infringed. For one, there was a breach in confidentiality based on the Patient's Bill of Rights under the provision on Confidentiality of Health Information and the person most accountable for the said violation is Dr. Orbit's medical assistant, Sabrina. Likewise, aside from violating a patient's right to privacy, Sabrina's disclosure of Katrina's circumstance to her husband desecrated the provisions contained in the AAMA Code of Ethics, which explicitly stipulated that as medical assistants they are to "respect confidential information obtained through employment unless legally authorized or required by responsible performance of duty to divulge such information" (AAMA Code of Ethics, 1996). By divulging such information to Roger (who really does not have a need to know), Sabrina acted unethically. In like manner, there was also an encroachment of the Privacy and Security Rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The Privacy Rule demands that covered entities, such as that health care provider operated by Dr. Orbit, take sensible measures to guarantee the secrecy of interactions and exchanges with individuals. In this case, Dr. Orbit appears not to be so keen on his patients' privacy as evidenced by his nurse' sloppy disclosure of their patients' situation, meaning, if they had been cautious and vigilant about their commitment to preserve patient confidentiality, such revelation should not have taken place. On the other hand, the Administrative Safeguards under HIPAA's Security Rule have also been disregarded. First, under such rule, healthcare entities must implement a set of privacy procedures on paper and assign a privacy officer who would be responsible for executing all necessary policies and procedures. Obviously, Dr. Orbit's

International Trade Logistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

International Trade Logistics - Essay Example If it is the case of recycling, the process includes what is beyond the final consumer. The international management of logistics involves the movements of goods, services and people also. It depends on the nature of transport. For example, in case of airlines, the movement of people dictates the movement of aircraft and thus the movement of cargo. The movement of the people beyond the borders in search of employment also can be termed as a part of international logistics. This is because they are the human resource for the companies and they move towards the company. Yet times not only the goods, even people move towards the goods. This also can be considered as logistics operation. If the borders of any two nations are peaceful, the people cross the border in search of employment, livelihood and bargains that are unavailable at home. 1 One cannot define to pin point logistics or its systems. At present the logistics is seen as the activities that facilitate the different cycles in the supply chain. They are customer order cycle, the replenishment cycle, the manufacturing cycle, and the procurement cycle. The international logistics involves the movement across the borders of different countries. Naturally the movements between any two countries are complex in nature when compared to domestic movements. These movements when involve ships need to move through port and being at sea is time consuming. Some companies and people prefer this because this is the cheapest mode of transport. When the time taken for the transport is more, the differences between the time zones will make the movements a bit complex. The documentation required for the international shipping adds to the complex nature of the movements through ships. The documentation required for international movement involves the need of employment of experts regarding the documentation. This is due to the inventory in transit management involved in the transportation. The inventory in place increases the information management complexity and demands of international logistics. The company involved in international business should have an international logistics department that is responsible for the management of communications. The department will plan for the communications, control of the logistics activities. 2 3. International Transportation and Trade Facilitation The international transportation and trade facilitation is facing many challenges due to the explosive growth in trade between the nations. As a result the transportation is being faster and flexible to facilitate trade. This involves the fast moving container ships and improved container handling practices along with intermodal systems. This resulted in privatization of transport and information industries and this is a need for the interna

Country Lovers Essay Example for Free

Country Lovers Essay The farm children play together when they are small; but once the white children go away to school they soon dont play together any more, even in the holidays. Although most of the black children get some sort of schooling, they drop every year farther behind the grades passed by the white children; the childish vocabulary, the childs exploration of the adventurous possibilities of dam, koppies, mealie lands and veld—there comes a time when the white children have surpassed these with the vocabulary of boarding-school and the possibilities of interschool sports matches and the kind of adventures seen at the cinema. This usefully coincides with the age of twelve or thirteen; so that by the time early adolescence is reached, the black children are making, along with the bodily changes common to all, an easy transition to adult forms of address, beginning to call their old playmates missus and baasie—little master. The trouble was Paulus Eysendyck did not seem to realize that Thebedi was now simply one of the crowd of farm children down at the kraal, recognizable in his sisters old clothes. The first Christmas holidays after he had gone to boardingschool he brought home for Thebedi a painted box he had made in his wood-work class. He had to give it to her secretly because he had nothing for the other children at the kraal. And she gave him, before he went back to school, a bracelet she had made of thin brass wire and the grey-and-white beans of the castor-oil crop his father cultivated. (When they used to play together, she was the one who had taught Paulus how to make clay oxen for their toy spans.) There was a craze, even in the platteland towns like the one where he was at school, for boys to wear elephant-hair and other bracelets beside their watch-straps; his was admired, friends asked him to get similar ones for them. He said the natives made them on his fathers farm and he would try. When he was fifteen, six feet tall, and tramping round at school dances with the girls from the sister school in the same town; when he had learnt how to tease and flirt and fondle quite intimately these girls who were the daughters of prosperous farmers like his father; when he had even met one who, at a wedding he had attended with his parents on a nearby farm, had let him do with her in a locked storeroom what people did when they made love—when he was as far from his childhood as all this, he still brought home from a shop in town a red plastic belt and gilt hoop ear-rings for the black girl, Thebedi. She told her father the missus had given these to her as a reward for some work she had done—it was true she sometimes was called to help out in the farmhouse. She told the girls in the kraal that she had a sweetheart nobody knew about, far away, away on another farm, and they giggled, and teased, and admired her. There was a boy in the kraal called Njabulo who said he wished he could have bought her a belt and ear-rings. When the farmers son was home for the holidays she wandered far from the kraal and her companions. He went for walks alone. They had not arranged this; it was an urge each followed independently. He knew it was she, from a long way off. She knew that his dog would not bark at her. Down at the dried-up river-bed where five or six years ago the children had caught a leguaan one great day—a creature that combined ideally the size and ferocious aspect of the crocodile with the n an interview published in Women Writers Talk (1989), edited by Olga Kenyan, Nadine Gordimer had this to say about the political evolution of South Africa: [TJhere are some extraordinary black and white people who are prepared to take a Pascalian wager on the fact that there is a way, that there must be a way. It goes be yond polarisation, it cannot happen while the situation is what it is. It can only be after the power structure has changed. But the fact is that if whites want to go on living in South Africa, they have to change. Its not a matter of just letting blacks in— white life is already dead, over. The big question is, given the kind of conditioning weve had for 300 years, is it possible to strike that down and make a common culture with the blacks? Since 1953, when she published her first novel, The Lying Days, Nadine Gordimer has been aligned with the liberal white consciousness of South Africa. She was born in the Transvaal in 1923. Her father was a shopkeeper, her mother a housewife. A childhood illness kept Gordimer out of school until she was 14, by which time she was already an avid reader. By 15 she had published her first short story. It was not until she was somewhat older that she became aware of the South African political situation, and it was not until she was 30 that her first novel was published. Beginning with A World of Strangers (1958), Gordimers novels focus directly on the South African racial situation. The most famous of these works include A Guest of Honor (1970), The Conservationist (1974), Burgers Daughter (1979), Julys People (1981), A Sport of Nature (1987), My Sons Story (1990), None to Accompany Me (1994), and The House Gun (1998). Gordimer has also published 10 volumes of short stories, as well as several volumes o/non/iction. She was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1991. Asked by Olga Kenyan what it means to be a white South African, Gordimer responded as follows: You have to shout that you support change. In my case that you support a complete revolution, if possible a peaceful one. I use revolution in a broad sense, a complete change of the whole political organisation, from grass roots. Its not enough for a white to say Right, Ill be prepared to live under black majority rule, and sit back, waiting for it to come. Yow.also have to work positively, in whatever way you can, as a human being.

Human Resources Information Essay Example for Free

Human Resources Information Essay Introduction This report on data management; has been compiled to explain to you the reasons why HR data is important to an organisation, the types of data that should be recorded, the methods for collecting HR data and some of the UK legislation surrounding the recording, storing and accessibility of HR Data. Types of Data That Should Be Recorded and the Reasons Why â€Å"HR records include a wide range of data relating to individuals working in an organisation, for example, pay or absence levels, hours worked and trade union agreements. This information may be stored in a variety of media, such as computer databases or paper files.† (http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/retention-hr-records.aspx#link_0, accessed 3/3/2015) There are some statutory records that need to be recorded and stored; these statutory records must be kept because the law requires them. Statutory records will include things like the job title, address and emergency contact. Records such as pay and working hours will  be stored to help management adhere to the Working Time Directive and the Minimum Wage Act 1998. Non-statutory records are kept for the internal purposes of the organisation. These records such as attendance, punctuality, skills, strengths and weaknesses can all be used to recognise trends within the company and aggregate management or big data so that managers can act on any trends that may need sorting. For example at P.P. Plasma Ltd there is only one person in the sales department who is trained to read and understand technical drawings. This person is currently in line for a promotion within the group of companies and will no longer be part of the sales team in the next eighteen months. After aggregating the records it has been identified that the manager of the drawing office has the skills to teach the other sales team members enough to fill this skills gap. Other reasons for storing records could be to review capability issues; induction records, training records and health and safety documentation should all allow the organisation to challenge staff on the reasons that they are not following procedures when they have had training and have signed to show understanding. These will also show any other training that may be necessary. As evidence in case of any tribunal or discrimination challenges; recruitment and selection data and termination of employment data will show the organisation has been fair and unbiased in its selection process or how they have dealt with a termination without discrimination. Methods of Storing HR Data Paper Method The paper method of storing records has many more disadvantages than advantages; but for small organisations would still be a viable solution to storing HR records. â€Å"Data relating to employees is of a highly contentious and potentially litigious nature and has to be managed in accordance with compliance regulations. To do this manually is a daunting task and often liable to malpractice.† (http://www.ipcgroup.co.uk, accessed 7/3/2015) There are time limits on the information that can be kept and if you are storing this information manually then this also means that you must remove or redact information every so often. This means that data could be stored for too long. Aggregating all of the data collected into big data can also be a challenge; most of this data will need to be entered into spreadsheets  manually in order to create the management data needed. Other issues with paper records are the cost of floor space needed to store the information, the difficulty of backing up such a system; this would require the same amount of floor space on an alternate site and the security of the records; some filing cabinets may be locked with a key but if somebody were to forget to lock the cabinet then these files are open to anybody with access to the room. Digital Method The digital method could be a cheaper, much more secure, simple and timesaving solution to all organisations but especially the larger ones. â€Å"Given the low cost and the easy accessibility of electronic records storage, many employers are making the digital leap to â€Å"paperless† HR. These days, most records are created and maintained electronically, and some never even make their way to paper.† (http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com, accessed 7/3/2015) Security on a digital system whether it be local or cloud based would be much easier to manage, an electronic record of anybody that as accessed data can be kept automatically and permissions can be set to allow some people to see records that others do not have permission to see; for example at P.P. Plasma Ltd the Managing Director will have access to the HR of everybody in the organisation whereas a departmental manager will only have access to the records on their own staff. Space is only an issue of how much cloud space you can afford or how big a hard drive you can have in your server if you are doing it locally. When using a cloud based service you need to ensure that the cloud service that you are using has a backup system in case of a failure or natural disaster and what the time constraints on these being implemented if needed. Whereas if you are using a local system you will need to speak with your IT department and ensure that the system is backed and removed from the site, this solution will also need a time constraint on how long the system will need to be put back into place. Other reasons to use a digital HR system would be that the data could be aggregated into management and big data easily, whether the HR system has this built in or the data needs to be copied into a spreadsheet or database in order to create graphs, charts , tables and reports. Searching digital records could be done with a few clicks of the mouse and as long as the permissions are set up correctly this could also tell you who you need to  speak to in order to gain access to the information that you are searching for. UK Legislation regarding HR Data There are many pieces of legislation surrounding the recording, accessing and storing of HR data but the two that I am going to explain are the Date Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The Data Protection Act 1998 controls how your personal information is used by organisations, businesses or the government. Anybody responsible for storing and accessing HR data has to follow the data protection principles. They must make sure the information is: used fairly and lawfully used for limited or specifically stated purposes used in a way that is adequate, relevant and not excessive accurate kept for no longer than is absolutely necessary handled according to people’s data protection rights kept safe and secure not transferred outside the UK without adequate protection Anybody who feels that there data has not been used in accordance to these principles can make a complaint to the organisation themselves and if they are still unhappy with the response can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office. The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives the general public right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities and those providing services for them. It also sets out exemptions from that right and places a number of obligations on public authorities. Recorded information includes printed documents, computer files, letters, emails, photographs, and sound or video recordings. In order to adhere to the Freedom of Information Act; any person making a request to a public authority for information will be entitled to be informed whether that information is held. The Freedom of Information Act does not give people access to their own personal data such as their health records or credit reference file. If a member of the public wants to see information that a public authority holds about them, they should make a subject access request under the Data Protection Act 1998

Examples Of Organization Activities Groupware Support Information Technology Essay

Examples Of Organization Activities Groupware Support Information Technology Essay With the changes of society and technologies, collaboration is becoming an increasingly integral part of the workplace environment. Three primary influencing factors have revolutionized the common workplace, of which perhaps the most prevalent being technology which has become imperative for being at the forefront of any market. As advancements have occurred in information and communication technologies the business environment has become more flexible, changing the way in which organizations operate. With the enhancements of technology it has become increasingly feasible for organizations to easily span across a global market, resulting in dispersion of organizational assets across a large geographical area. Social transformations such as an increase in the academic achievements of individuals have changed the depth of knowledge between peers allowing them to collaborate to achieve common goals within a working environment. The term Organization is broad and incorporates a collection of institutions ranging from government sectors through to universities. The way in which people operate within organizations has changed throughout recent decades due to the work that is required of them. With the advancements in technology, many tasks are easily achievable using computers and software packages, much of the trivial and time consuming tasks have been removed from the user workload and instead carried out via a machine. Workers within organizations have continued to change with the change in work with many people becoming knowledge workers, who supply their specialist know-how to contribute towards organizational goals. People within organizations are now often required to complete large activities with very specific goals. A growing trend of positions within these environments requires people to operate as a member within a team, to distribute complicated organizational goals. Working in these situations provides an increase in efficiency and productivity in carrying out organizational activities. There are many advantages to working within a team, one of these being teams have a collective knowledge much greater than that of an individual, allowing them to understand a problem by sharing knowledge. Team members will often have their own ideas they want to be included into a solution and so forth will be more so committed to the work. Whilst one individual may find it hard to see flaws within their own work, teams can often identify errors much faster, with a more objective standpoint. Creative solutions can be derived from a group with multiple viewpoints, often providing an abstract view of a problem. Within the business world, companies have been targeting growing markets, this has caused a dispersion in company assets. Activities require interactions from a range of assets including personal situated in different locations this is why technology has become fundamental to team collaborations within a business environment. Collaboration between workers has become more vital in completing organizational goals, technology and software developments have advanced supporting collaboration between individuals whom are not co-located. A type of software which has grown due to the requirement of organizations is groupware. Groupware, collaborative software or group support systems are all a type of software with the main objective to make the interaction between people that work together easier and helping them to become more effective and efficient.( Sarmento, Lousa, Machado,1999) The software is used to support groups of people engaged in a common task that provides an interface to a shared environment. (Borko Furht,2008) Groupware can take place between people whom are co-located or remotely segregated. It can either be synchronous where people are collaborating in real-time or asynchronous with communication at different times (not real-time). Many early groupware systems were brought to live to eliminate the need to be co-located. Groupware has now grown to a state where it is an industry of its own, with so many organizations using various types of collaborative software. Groupware has been around for many years, incorporating technologies such as email. More recently groupware is becoming associated with technologies that support collaboration and communication, with many software solutions providing support for communication, collaboration and cooperative work, for example LMS systems employed by many universities, to support student collaboration. Many factors have lead to the need of software solutions that promote collaboration between individuals. Group work is a regular experience for many people within an organization, in most organizations most complex decisions are made by a team. As this become more frequent the necessity to share documents and work together is central to success. As media becomes more available through IP (internet protocol) through factors such as faster networking connections, the range and quantity of data we can send has improved allowing for better groupware systems (such as video conferencing). Additional the rise of groupware has been influenced by the global spread of employees with 87 percent of employees around the world work[ing] in remote offices.(Turban, Leindner, Mclean, Wetherbe,2008) Individuals daily routines have become more dependent on electronic devices, keeping them in constant connection to e-mail collaborative calendars and other groupware system. Exposing individual to this te chnology makes it easier to introduce such software into their work life. The benefits of groupware have lead to huge numbers of organizations up taking e-collaboration, the telecommunication Industry (TIA)(Tiaonline.org) indicates that global revenues from collaboration will show a 66.5 percent compound annual growth reaching $11.4 billion in 2007 (Turban, Leindner, Mclean, Wetherbe,2008). One of the issues slowing the uptake of groupware is the range of requirements from the different users of collaborative software. Because cooperative work is carried out through such a huge number of industries the number of different activities is massive, often general solutions cannot provide the functionality needed so bespoke software is required. This factor has slowed the uptake of groupware in smaller organizations. Another issue with groupware is the integrity of data being operated upon. When cooperative working it is often the case that the users will be working on an artifact, with multiple users accessing and modifying the artifact it can often cause multiple different copies. Groupware systems tend to employ a centralized data store to attempt to reduce this occurring, including other techniques (e.g. locking the data until the modifications have been finalized). Authentication has also been an issue related with groupware systems as often organizational documents are sensitive. Classification and types of groupware Groupware is a term which incorporates a large quantity of different technologies involved with communication, collaboration and cooperative work. Because the term is so hard to define it has lead to many people being unsure of what constitutes as groupware. The best way to view them is to group them in a logical way, numerous different classification frameworks have been produced to describe characteristics of groupware. In this section I will try and describe some classification techniques to outline the various types of groupware which are available. The time/space matrix classification framework used to group types of groupware. This technique uses the location and the times in groupware to describe it. On the x-axis is the location, which describes if users are co-located or geographically divided. The y-axis on the other hand describes if the users interactions are synchronous (real-time) or asynchronous (not in real-time). Tools used which are synchronous and co-located tend not to be computerized, for instance a classroom. Although this framework does group collaborative tools it does have examples which can cause confusion, such as e-mail. Though it is classified as an asynchronous technology it can be used to send messages back and forth between users.   Network delays might not make it real-time interaction, but it is used for synchronous communication.(Brusic  ,2004) Other examples are present. The ambiguity present in this framework has caused others to be formed. The second framework this essay will introduce is the people/artefact framework. It is heavily based upon cooperative work. Cooperative work involves two or more participants using a shared artefact. (Brusic  ,2004) This framework identifies 3 main operations groupware can offer; Computer meditated communication, meeting and decision support systems and shared applications and artefacts. The first category computer-meditated communication describes technologies which support direct communication between users, allowing cooperate about their work. An example of this are e-mail, bulletin boards and video conferencing. To collaborate workers need to be able to gain an understanding of the task and generate ideas, this is the concept encapsulated by the second category meeting and decision support systems. Examples of meeting and decision support systems are; argumentation tools, services that offer shared drawing tools and brainstorming activities. The final category is shared applica tions and artefacts, this classification includes systems for sharing; computers, applications and documents. This classification often requires special collaborative aware software to be used, an example of these systems are shared editors, allowing multiple users to edit a document. The two classification frameworks discussed are not the only two available, another example is Esther Dysons model that focuses on the benefiting party of the groupware. Describing these frameworks makes it apparent that there are many various collaborative tools, the ideal solution would be one which includes all tools although we are still quite far from developing the grand groupware system that encompasses every type of communication, and we will probably never get there since the possibilities are constantly evolving with changes in both our patterns of social interaction and the technology we have available.(Anonymous,2010) Examples of organization activities groupware support Organisations are more than often using electronic systems to carry out a large magnitude of their internal and external processes. The adoption of e-enterprise has brought forward the need for collaboration between organisations to meet their goals and flourish in the current market. The increasing need for collaboration between non co-located organisations and individuals has caused the groupware market to expand and become a fundamental tool. Groupware has influenced the expansion of enterprises by improving the effectiveness of a range of tools such as the ability to communicate over long distances. I will now discuss the use of groupware and how it can be used to support organisations and their processes. Since the introduction of computers the ability to collect, analyse and share data has greatly increased in efficiency. Today many business and other organisations thrive upon the data they utilize. A key aspect of any organisation is the way in which data is managed and shared between different organisational resources, for example different tiers of staff. Groupware is enabling organisations to work effectively with the quantity of data they currently possess. The sharing of information internally and to external stakeholders has been benefitted by a variety of tools. Many industries rely on sharing information to external organisations and example where this can be seen is with supply and demand. Companies with a required demand need to communicate their requirements to the suppliers in order to meet the demands. An example industry where this is present is within supermarket chains. Asda a leading supermarket uses electronic data interchange systems to communicate to its supplier s with great effect, send[ing] real time data in multiple formats securely over the internet (Turban, Leindner, Mclean, Wetherbe,2008). Using its current stock levels to request necessary products. This software supports the collaboration between organisations improving efficiency. This groupware system offers many benefits over its manual equivalent (such as telephone ordering). Most of the system is automated removing the need for human resources, but it also often much more effective with a decrease in the time required, error rates (human error removed) and often cost. Information sharing has become a large section of groupware due to the increasing use of e-enterprise and need for multiple stakeholders to share information. It can often be seen internally in organisations with one example being the sharing of documents through systems such as email attachments and drop box systems. Knowledge creation tools are a collection of groupware tools that can be used to support the learning and sharing of knowledge throughout an organisation. Knowledge can be classified as tacit (Knowledge that is difficult to transfer by verbalising it or writing it down) or as explicit. Groupware systems support both through collaboration using a variety of structured and non-structured methods. Tools which offer this include; white-boarding, chat, discussion groups and other tools. Knowledge creation and sharing is important throughout organisations. The need of cooperation between geographically dispersed workgroups is a critical issue to global organizations: the best specialists to solve a problem do not usually work on the same floor. (Carvalho, Rodrigo Baroni de Ferreira, Marta Araujo Tavares, 2001). As this statement suggest groupware to help creation of knowledge is now fundamental because of the needs of organisations to span a much larger (often global) market. Closely coupled to knowledge creation tools are the groupware tool classified as knowledge management systems. The systems main objective is to manage the creation, capture, storage and dissemination of information.(Maier,2007) Because of the diversity of organizations many varying systems are currently available. Learning management systems such as Blackboard are ideal examples of groupware facilitating learning. Blackboard is a well known product used in over 2200 educational institutions, its primary goal is manage course content but also provides tools for learning and collaboration between users. Through my own experience of blackboard it vastly improves the ability to find relevant information to apply towards projects and examinations, using the online discussion boards it is possible to carry out peer to peer knowledge sharing to aid my personal development. Assessment and interactive learning content is another feature present helping to increase individuals knowledge throug hout universities. There are many other organizations using a variety of software packages. Lotus notes (IBM) is an example of collaborative software which incorporates knowledge management, this system is typically used throughout businesses and offers a range of collaborative tools such as email and calendaring. A collaborative project management tool is an application that facilitates a project throughout its lifecycle. Many groupware tools can be used to support a range of projects. Projects have a much higher rate of success if they are managed effectively. The ability for multiple team members to carry out work on a project from different geographical locations is greatly improved with the use of collaborative project management tools. As the internet has become a more powerful resource it has lead to the growth of tools such as sub-versioning. Throughout the software industry it is often feasible for programmers to operate from different locations all carrying out modifications on a globally stored project. Collaborative project management tools do bring issue. When projects are carried out by non co-located groups they often work on the same data this can lead to data inconsistency throughout a project. Data inconsistency can often lead to inaccuracy and loss of integrity through information. Groupware commonly uses the approach of having a central single data store. This can still lead to loss of integrity with multiple people modifying the same information. Techniques such as locking can be applied and is used in packages such as repository programming where files are locked until they are updated by the person modifying them. This does remove the issue of data inconsistency but reduces productivity, communication is vital to avoid such issues. The future of Groupware All disciplines of technology continue to advance at incredible rates, I believe that groupware will become critical to large organisations. Enterprises are continuing to become more and more popular fulfilling a huge magnitude of services. As the rates of communication through computer continue to increase (i.e. internet speeds) the ability to collaborate with organisations in multiple countries using more personal media will become available. Furthermore the collaboration achievable will improve, bringing down the limitations of geographical dispersion and providing media much more similar to a face to face conversation. Large organisations such as Microsoft and IBM are continuing to focus development towards overall groupware solutions such as Lotus notes. As these organisations continue to develop reliable secure systems I believe the use of collaborative systems will grow throughout small to large work environments. The term groupware is hard to quantify, including small systems such as e-mail through to large software packages, I believe solutions that incorporate a framework and many tools will become more readily available. These sophisticated solutions will offer flexibility so that the processes they operate and projects they manage can change and still be supported, in the same way which humans are flexible to change. With flexibility will need to come scalability of a system, organisations are constantly changing to stay relevant with in their market, groupware will need to be able to support the need for growth. Organisations often consist of technically skilled IT employees capable of managing the internal and external systems but workers do not always have strong technical abilities. If groupware is to become a necessity for all organisations, the technical skills needed to work with the software will need to be basic, this is something I believe will become more present within current tools. Todays world is becoming heavily encircled around mobile devices with millions of people using smart phones and other hand held devices to access the Internet and carry out many daily activities. With the movement away from desk workers to people whom travel in their daily work life the demand for groupware systems that can be supported through a mobile platform to allow communication and collaboration whilst on the move. Groupware tools such as email can already be accessed via mobile device but I believe more multifunctional solutions such as lotus notes will become more available via mobile devices. As with the move to mobile platforms cross platform will also be needed. I believe that this will be accomplished with an increase in web-based solutions running on hosted systems similar to groupware such as Google groups. The inevitable move towards cloud computing will continue to bring an increase in web-based tools with less need for local storage and an increase in hosted data wa rehouses. Groupware will continue to grow but this brings the cost needed to secure systems. Large organisations with top-secret information or organisation secret information will no doubt like the rest of the Internet become a victim to cyber-crime. If security is not kept at the forefront of developers minds when producing groupware tools it could become an easy target for cyber criminals exploiting the software for their own benefit. Tools like Sms and E-mail have already fallen victim with numerous scandals, the increase of overall groupware systems which incorporate the majority of business processes will become a target, an example being the attack of a payroll system. Conclusion Groupware as discussed within this essay is hard to describe with a broad range of technologies being incorporated under the term. Although groupware is hard to define the software tend to have common goals such as improved communication. The majority of collaborative tools can be described as one of the following four; Knowledge management tools, Knowledge creation tools, Information sharing tools and collaborative project management tools. Throughout the essay I have identified some techniques used to classify different groupware tools, in my opinion I believe for an organisation to take full advantage of computer systems a range of tools should be used. In an environment where learning is expected a range of tools would be beneficial because of the way in which people learn differently. The goal for all types of groupware is to improve collaboration and increase organisational efficiency. The growth of e-enterprises has increased the need for groupware systems. I believe that with the continued need for collaboration internally and externally for organisations to prosper, the use of groupware systems will follow such growth. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/search/freesrchabstract.jsp?tp=arnumber=807823queryText%3Dwith+the+main+objective+to+make+the+interaction+between+people+that+work+together+easier+and+helping+them+to+become+more+effective+and+efficient.%E2%80%9D%26openedRefinements%3D*%26searchField%3DSearch+All http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Ipk5x-c_xNICdq=support+groups+of+people+engaged+in+a+common+task+that+provides+an+interface+to+a+shared+environment.source=gbs_navlinks_s http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~zives/03s/cis650/groupware.pdf http://www.cc.gatech.edu/classes/cs6751_97_fall/projects/abowd_team/ivan/final.html http://zing.ncsl.nist.gov/nist-icv/documents/node6.html http://www.skyrme.com/insights/7gw.htm http://www.hcibook.com/e3-docs/slides/notes-pdf/e3-chap-19-6up.pdf http://www.cc.gatech.edu/classes/cs6751_97_fall/projects/spin/groupware/index.html#classify http://www.usabilityfirst.com/about-usability/web-application-design/collaborative-software-groupware/typical-collaborative-software-applications/ http://computernetworksit.com.au/blog/business-groupware-%E2%80%93-software-for-complete-office-collaboration/ http://www.bynari.net/blog/bynari-collaboration-suite/bynari-collaboration-and-groupware-technology-enhances-workflow-and-business-operations/ http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gray/WICS_99_TP/21_domino_Mohan.pdf http://www.helium.com/items/1647396-business-collaboration-tools-groupware-knowledge-management?page=2 http://informationr.net/ir/7-1/paper118.html http://en.enage.com/prod/prod05.asp?menu=6 http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~i385tkms/blog/archives/patrick/groupwarepaper.html#4 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_n11_v42/ai_20161847/pg_3/?tag=content;col (Carvalho, Rodrigo Baroni de Ferreira, Marta Araujo Tavares, 2001) Carvalho, Rodrigo Baroni de Ferreira, Marta Araà ºjo Tavares   (2001) Using information technology to support knowledge conversion processes   Ã‚  Information Research,  7(1) [Available at http://InformationR.net/ir/7-1/paper118.html]   Maier, R (2007): Knowledge Management Systems: Information And Communication Technologies for Knowledge Management. 3rd edition, Berlin: Springer.

Gender Stereotypes and Toys Essay -- Gender Roles in Society

Often when a couple becomes pregnant and finds out the sex of the infant, stereotypes begin to form. If the child is female, their room will often be painted pink with cutesy borders. The crib will have pink blankets with ruffles on them. The baby girl will be presented with soft toys and cute stuffed animals, as well as perhaps a baby doll or two. At the baby shower, the mother will typically be presented with pink and purple clothing, the colors of choice for a female child. When the baby finally comes along, she will typically be treated as a gentle princess. When it comes to girls, adults are often more careful, as if the baby girl will break. On the other hand, if the couple is having a male child, the room will be painted blue or green with borders usually depicting superheroes or sports oriented paraphernalia. Though the boy may receive stuffed animals, they are typically of a more ferocious nature than the stuffed animals a girl might receive. The blankets are usually blue or another color associated with little boys. Perhaps one of the boy’s first gifts will be a tiny little catcher’s mitt, or something else sports related. At the baby shower, the mother will receive blue and green clothes. Family and friends are more likely to take a little boy to a sporting event than their female counterpart. Clearly, from the moment a child is brought into this world, they are pushed toward a certain stereotype. Now, the real question is – Are boys naturally more aggressive due to higher testosterone levels, or is it more culturally defined, by the way we treat our children and the gifts we bestow upon them? As mentioned in Human Development – A Lifespan View, â€Å"Children don’t live in a gender-neutral world for long. Althou... ... boys, who – away from the battle zone of their friends and brothers – turn out to be surprisingly cuddly and clingy? (Blum, 238)† Not every male or female is going to fit the mold, if there really even is one. The stereotypes stated above created by society and parents are most often useless in truly predicting a child’s choice of play and toys. Kids are going to gravitate toward what they enjoy. Even the author Deborah Blum states â€Å"I don’t think in pastels, myself. I think jungle-green, blood-red. (Blum, 236)† Stereotypes give us something to group people by, but we cannot always judge a person by them. Works Cited Blum, Deborah. â€Å"The Gender Blur: Where Does Biology End and Society Take Over?† Signs of Life in the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers. 6th Edition. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. 573-580. Print.

Dna: The Thread Of Life :: essays research papers

DNA: The Thread of Life The "thread of life", is deoxyribonucleic acid, otherwise known as DNA. It is the spiral shaped molecule found in the nucleus of cells. Scientists have known since 1952 that DNA is the basic substance of heredity. This was hypothesized, and later confirmed by James D. Watson and Francis Crick. They also know that it acts like a biological computer program over 3 billion bits long that "spells" out instructions for making the basic building blocks of life. DNA carries the bodies genetic code, controls the development of an embryo, is capable of duplicating itself, and is able to repair damage to itself. DNA can be manipulated to change all kinds of things. All DNA molecules consist of a linked series of unites called nucleotides. Each DNA nucleotide is composed of 3 subunits: a 5 carbon sugar called deoxyribose, a phosphate group that is joined to one end of the sugar molecule, and one of several different nitrogenous bases linked to the opposite end of the deoxyribose. There are 4 nitrogen bases called adenine, guanine, thymine, and cytosine. In DNA adenine pairs with thymine and guanine with cytosine. Medicine's ability to diagnose continues to exceed its ability to treat or cure. For example, Huntington's Chorea is an inherited disease that develops between the ages of 30 and 45, can be diagnosed before any symptoms appear. This can be hard for both the individuals with the disease and their family. There is a 3 billion dollar project underway right now called the Human Genome Project, a 15 year program to make a detailed map of every single gene in human DNA. With automated cloning equipment to steer scientists through the DNA, scientists are finding human genes at the rate of more than one a day. This may not sound like very much but as technology increases the rate at finding them will increase. Since January 1993 to January 1994 scientists have located the genes for Huntington's disease, Lou Gehrig's disease, and the "bubble-boy" disease. Scientists are expected to find the first breast cancer gene any week now. Even with the best tools of today, the progress is full of surprises. Human DNA is not like that of plants, in which the trait of color of a flower is determined by one gene. Even the color of a human eye can involve the interaction of several genes. Some complex genes, such as cystic fibrosis, can go wrong in any number of places. Scientists have already accounted for 350 places where the cystic fibrosis gene mutates, and more are being uncovered

The Discovery of DNA’s Molecular Structure :: Science Genetics Papers

Theoretical models for the molecular structure of DNA can be likened to scientific theories. DNA’s structure was determined largely because scientists scrutinized the relationship between theory (a particular theoretical model of DNA) and observation (x-ray crystallographic patterns, or bonding patterns between bases and sugar-phosphate groups, for example). Inductivists, falsificationists, Kuhn, and Feyerabend all have different accounts of how scientists have related theory to observation. These accounts are important because, not only do they delineate frameworks scientists use to develop their theories, but because these frameworks subsequently became important in developing a theory for the molecular structure of DNA. The inductivist account of science recognizes five steps that are essential to scientific progress, and consequently, the discovery of the molecular structure of DNA. First, scientists compile a large body of facts from observation and experiment. Using the principle of induction, these facts can, often with severe logical difficulties, be generalized to form the basis for a theory or law. Then, once a theory has been developed, scientists can use the theory as part of a valid logical argument to make new predictions or explanations of phenomena. According to Chalmers, the inductivist account has â€Å"a certain appeal† to it, namely, that all of scientific progress can be seen as the result of a linear, highly structured inductive scientific method (54). â€Å"Its attraction lies in the fact that it does seem to capture in a formal way some of the commonly held intuitions about the special characteristics of scientific knowledge, namely its objectivity, its reliability, and its usefulness† (57). An inductivist account of the discovery of DNA’s molecular structure might proceed in the following way. First, early molecular biologists compiled a large body of facts from observation and experiment, such as Rosalind Franklin’s findings on the structure of DNA based on her x-ray crystallography work. From these facts, a theory of DNA structure was developed. Watson demonstrates, in The Double Helix how one aspect of DNA structure was determined from factual experimental observations. In the b-model of DNA, †¦the meridional reflection at 3.4 A was much stronger than any other reflection. This could only mean that the 3.4 A-thick purine and pyrimidine bases were stacked on top of each other in a direction perpendicular to the helical axis. In addition we could feel sure from both electron-microscope and X-ray evidence that the helix diameter was about 20 A (110).

Models for Change Business Process Reengineering Essay

Assess Business Strategy Like many other approaches, BPR claims to align organisation change (and IT development) with business strategy. This is important because BPR concentrates of improving processes which are of primary strategic importance. The assumption is that strategy is already determined, and that it is externally focussed, dealing with customers, products, suppliers and markets. BPR is quite distinct from strategic planning. Select Processes Here we choose those processes on which we will concentrate our reengineering effort. This choice involves a number of steps. Identify Major Processes A process as â€Å"a structured,measured set of activities designed to produce a specified output for a particular customer or market, process is â€Å"an interrelated series of activities that convert business inputs into business outputs (by changing the state of relevant business entities)†. Determine Process Boundaries This is easy to say and hard to do. Some processes, such as product manufacture, are fairly obvious, though there may be doubt whether to include activities such as materials procurement within this process. Sometimes the boundaries between processes which follow one another (eg marketing and sales, delivery and installation) are hard to agree. Processes which involve more than one company can also cause boundary problems. Assess Strategic Relevance Usually reengineering will concentrate on a small number of processes. This may seem suboptimal, but provided the processes chosen are complete (not parts of processes) and the reengineering is thorough, a flow-on effect will probably mean that unsatisfactory neighbouring processes will soon become candidates for redesign. So we should begin with those processes which are most critical to the organisation’s strategy. At UTS, for instance, the major strategy might be to obtain more money from industry. Processes directly contributing to this strategy would be good candidates for reengineering. Qualify Culture and Politics This step (which is even less quantifiable than the others) assesses the culture and politics of the organisational units performing activities within the process, and how these units are viewed in wider organisational politics and culture. Processes in a medical school, for instance, may be harder to reengineer than those in a business school, both because the medical school places a high value on its independence and because it is highly regarded by the rest of the university (or even society). Since successful reengineering ultimately depends on the cooperation of those performing the process, it is better to deal with processes where the culture and politics are favourable. Creating a Process Vision â€Å"Creating a strong and sustained linkage between strategy and the way work is done is an enduring challenge in complex organizations. Because business processes define how work is done, we are dealing with the relationship between strategy and processes.In BPR, as in all design work, creating the vision is the crucial stage; and it is also the least structured. In assessing strategy and selecting processes we were trying to understand things which (in theory) already exist. Similarly when we come to assess existing processes and resources. For design and implementation we may be helped by guidelines, methodologies and examples of similar systems. But in creating a vision we are more or less on our own. There are a number of techniques, which are known to help in the creative process. When working on process visions it is also helpful to consider in which areas of the business we wish to redesign processes. Davenport deals with two aspects of vision creation: the search for a vi sion and vision characteristics. Vision – search Process visons must be related to strategy, so we may look to the organisation’s strategy for inspiration. This assumes that the strategy is sufficiently specific to give a sense of direction (eg â€Å"improve quality of service to regular customers† rather than â€Å"improve quality†). Thinking about strategy also keeps the vision search at the right level – broad but specific. Because much BPR work supports a customer focused strategy, it is important to have customer input to the vision. More generally, the â€Å"customer† is the one receiving the business output, and this includes internal customers; it is important that we know the output is â€Å"right† before we start working out how to produce it. Benchmarking, in the context of creating a project, means seeing how other people do it. This is related to the idea of adopting â€Å"best practice†, though if we want competitive advantage we may have to do better than â€Å"best†; nevertheless, it is good to find out what is best so far. We are looking for ideas, not imitating, so we may look for benchmarks in quite different types of organisation; in fact this may be easier, since our direct competitors may not wish to reveal their â€Å"best† practice to us. Vision – objectives and attributes â€Å"Process visions, like strategies, should be easy to communicate to the organization, no threatening to those who must implement (or who are affected by) them, and as inspirational as measurable targets can be.† [Davenport,p119] The process vision shows what we want our new process to do and to a very limited extent how it will do it. These are respectively the process objectives and attributes. The objectives should have a customer or business focus – they must truly be concerned with outcome. They must according to all the experts be measurable – we must be able to tell how we have done. And they should be simple and non-contradicty – we don’t want a long list of competing objectives, nor objectives whose measures are only comprehensible to a mathematician, economist or accountant. Typical objectives would be â€Å"reduce delivery time by 50%† or â€Å"double the number of potential customers contacted per month†. The attributes indicate how we intend to achieve the objectives, perhaps in terms of technology or general principles. It is somewhat unusual to develop objectives and means simultaneously but since BPR is aiming for radical objectives it is necessary to have some indication of how they will be achieved before management will be prepared to commit to the design phase. Notice that it is important at this stage to consider a variety of means before the vision is finalised. Adding attributes to our objectives might give â€Å"reduce delivery time by 50% by outsourcing delivery services† or â€Å"use to internet to double the number of potential customers contacted per month without increasing staff†. Davenport points out that radical change will only be achieved by setting ambitious objectives – â€Å"creativity must be encouraged by setting impossible goals†. Understand and Improve Existing Processes Some proponents of BPR advocate starting with a â€Å"clean slate† but most (including Davenport) recommend that we spend time studying existing processes. There are a number of reasons for this: †¢People in the organisations (and customers) will use language based on the existing processes. We need to use this language to explain our proposals. †¢When implementing the new processes we will have to plan change from the current situation – the existing processes. †¢The existing processes may be causing problems which we could easily repeat if we do not understand them. Existing processes may also contain activities for avoiding problems which we might not anticipate. †¢The existing processes are the base from which we measure improvement. Studying the existing processes includes the following activities: †¢The current process flow is described using any suitable diagramming method. Such a method should indicate the sequence of activities, trigger events, time taken for each activity and any buffering delays. †¢The current process is evaluated against the new objectives and assessed for conformance to the new attributes. †¢Problems with the current process are identified. It is important to remember that reengneering is not meant simply to rationalize existing processes. †¢Short term improvements to the current processes are proposed. It is not advisable to postpone simple improvements until complete reengineering is done. Assess Social and Technical Resources In this step we judge whether we have the resources available to proceed with the project. â€Å"Social resources† refer to the organisation and the people in it. Is the organisation used to change? Are there key supporters of BPR? Does the organisation have a tradition of team work and open discussion? Is there an atmosphere of trust? What skills are available? Are people willing to learn? If social resources appear to be inadequate, they will need to be developed before or during the reengineering project. The same applies to technical resources, though these are easier to judge. Is appropriate technology available to support the new processes? This means hardware, software and skilled people. Limitations particularly occur with network infrastructure. Again, missing capabilities will have to be developed, although in this case (unlike social resources) outsourcing is a possibility. Design and Implement New Processes Design and implementation of the new processes can use any suitable methodology, but a number of points need to be remembered. †¢Since BPR is performance oriented the methodology must be able to predict performance during design. †¢BPR projects are meant to be done quickly – the methodology should support this. †¢Stakeholders (both customers and those who will be operating the process) must be involved. †¢We are looking for radical design as well as radical vision so there will be more brainstorming. †¢For any design proposal we must be able to assess feasibility, risk and benefit. †¢It would be difficult to achieve the previous objectives unless the methodology was strongly based on prototyping. 5 stages of reengineering: †¢preparation †¢identification †¢vision †¢design – technical, social †¢transformation These stages are very similar to Davenport’s, although they go into more detail about process modelling. Manganelli pays more attention to improving existing processes and his methodology has more emphasis on entities rather than processes – ie it has more of a data base flavour. Davenport (1993) notes that Quality management, often referred to as total quality management (TQM) or continuous improvement, refers to programs and initiatives that emphasize incremental improvement in work processes and outputs over an open-ended period of time. In contrast, Reengineering, also known as business process redesign or process innovation, refers to discrete initiatives that are intended to achieve radically redesigned and improved work processes in a bounded time frame. Contrast between the two is provided by Davenport (1993):

Helping English Language Learners in the Classroom Essay

Learners from different stress and surroundings have different perceptions towards information side of meat. Their surroundings contribute to their much or less of understanding of towards incline actors line learning. From urban to rural settings, most schools atomic number 18 in charge for educating side speech communication to bookmans. In relation to that matter, teachers of English expression in schools ar in any case veneer several knottyies in doctrine English in the classroom. The first inconvenience is age.In general, the older the student the more difficult it is for them to learn the second phraseology naturally. It is well(predicate) to enroll the child in the outgrowth levels so he/she hears a junto of English and his primeval expression. Learners who atomic number 18 quieten young are like a white paper they can travail and understand the rules and regulations of English grammar easily as they are not yet influenced by the other language. Teach ing communication for them is to a fault easy as they can wage the bracing things and comprehend the language with teacher guidance.Whereas older students or learners are uncovered to many new things and they were influence from what they see, rake and hear so the process of teaching English language is a subaltern partakeed beca substance abuse of their prior effledge. Older students enquire more support to encourage them to melt hard in their studies, hence service them to learn English language. The second issue is homegrown language.Sometimes, native language plays a big role in influencing the learners to the new language. t can sometimes overcloud them as some word in the first language has the spelling as the new language. So, the educator needs to be focus and consistent in explaining them. Hence, still in their native language is considered an plain credit too. A student who is darling in his/her rules and regulations of his/her native language and also swim ming in his first language is a lot considered as lucky. As such(prenominal) it is an advantage when they are learning English.The proximity of speech sound for oral communication and whether or not the first language uses Roman letter for writing are also considered as an important agentive role in English proficiency. When there are some similarities of first language and English language the teaching of the target willing be easier. The teachers and learners can both use their first language noesis to be adopt and adapt in the learning of English language. Lastly, the third issue is literacy of parents.Parents who are not concerned with their children learning often have some effects to their childrens learning. This is same as parents who are not educated in school cannot avail their children at home. So, the teaching and learning of English language in classroom at school will a fiddling hard for the unexposed students. The level of literacy of a students parents may als o affect the acquisition of written language. In average, the more fluent the parent the more fluent the child is.As it is mention earlier, the fluency of a learner in the native language promotes acquisition of English. Teachers need to know about their students cultures, it can help teachers to go across to theirs students well. By doing this, it shows that teacher value their inheritance and it will also allow teacher to connect academician content to a students set of experiences and knowledge about the world. Eventually, students of target language whose native culture is valued have a greater sense of self-worth and higher academic achievement.

Cognitive Skills in Baseball

Cognitive Skills in baseb entirely By Garrett Pape Lamar Community College The acquirements that tidy sum aim on a daily basis be extraordinary, the room we single-valued function these skills merchantman be extraordinary or disastrous. There be so more liaisons that a human accomplishes with physiological activity, yet these personal activities are started with a set of skills that most human organisms consider. These skills give way-to doe with the wizardry and are called cognitive skills. The headland is where all activity starts before a soulfulness does anything their brain tells them how to do it.For example, if a person wants to pick up a cup of water off of the t adequate, their brain go out order their hand to the right spatial relation for you to be able to accomplish the childbed at hand. Cognitive skills, also kn declare as cognition, are known to influence peoples lives daily. These influences allow affect a persons life in ways that are non on a lower floorstood by most. A persons melodic themes end be expound as a use of cognition. This cognitive skill is precise(prenominal) broad, tho when one looks at their thoughts they volition understand why things happen the way they do.Now were talking around something known as, The Self-fulfilling divination. This prognostication is looked at in particular to negative thoughts, but the same consequences hold true for incontrovertible thoughts. Kenrick describes the Self-fulfilling Prophecy in his online book, kind Psychology Goals in Interaction, (2011) fifth Edition, as when an initially inaccurate expectation leads to actions that pose the expectation to come true (Kenrick, Neuberg, and Cialdini pg. 79).When a person has thoughts about something they can tardily change the solution of the thought by changing their attitude about it. For example, in baseball gritty cognitive skills are taught solo at ages, allowing players to repeat candid tasks that can easil y go wrong. In baseball, at that place are many aspects of the lame that differ physically but suck in little inconsistency kindly. During practice a baton twirlers mound on a baseball team practices his physical skills by cerebrovascular accidenting what is known as a detention centre. A bullpen is when the agglomerate practices throwing all of his wobblees for conquers.This consists of a hammock and a backstop. It is easy for a pitcher to go into his bullpen and throw strikes because he does not brace a high risk of exposure of failure, there is not a hitter there competing against him. So, he can easily succeed by throwing strikes. When a hitter steps into the batters box facing the pitcher there is physically entirely one difference in a game to the bullpen, the hitter. The pitcher essential facilitate throw the exact same strike as he did in the bullpen, now the use of cognition really affects the pitcher.With the hitter putting for risk for failure into play, the pitcher can either use his cognitive skills to help or hurt him. If the pitcher throws the exact same pitches that he practiced, the hitter would not have a very high reasonset of hitting the pitch. The way a pitcher can help himself through cognitive skills are simple but affective. When evaluations are positive, thoughts are completed rapidly, and you nettle right on with your mentation about the side by side(p) pitch. When the evaluations are negative you have a hard time forgetting the event.Many times youre still thinking about what went wrong on the previous pitch or play, as youre beginning to throw the next pitch(Dorfman and Kuehl pg. 301). This can directly direct in a repeat of the outcome, positive or negative. If something has gone wrong and a person is still thinking about it while trying to take to the woods through the next task, they are rationally preparing themselves to repeat the failure. alike holds true for positive outcomes, and the repetition of mastery. The key to utilize this set of skills is to master a positive outlook on what invariably it is one is trying to accomplish.This sounds very easy, but if you have ever failed in your life, it is very easy to quit or say, I cant do it. Children learning new things in school bequeath tell themselves that they cannot do something later failing at it once, they will get cross and quit. Good teachers will pick them up and fail tongue to them that they can do this, and they can do it on their own. With baseball the condition dont is employ quite often. This term is actually frowned upon in baseball because of its meaning, or lack there of.There is really no translation for the word, dont. An example of this term for a pitcher could be, dont give up a homerun, if there is no definition for the word dont, then what is really being said? If a person asked 100 pitchers, what happened aft(prenominal) you told yourself dont give up a homerun? , 100 pitchers would say they gav e up a homerun. safe property the positive outlook and envision oneself succeed will result in success. One way to keeping the positive outlook is to picture the event fetching place in your head, picture success.After picturing yourself succeed, you have already seen yourself accomplish the task. This makes it much easier and attempts in your own head that you can do it. Seeing yourself in your head fail will also prove that you cannot do it and are incapable with that outlook. Gary Mack, the author of, sense Gym, summond Ty Cobb saying, The most important part of a players game is above his shoulders. Mind Gym is an athletes guide to privileged excellence. This promotes positive thoughts and picturing yourself succeed before ever physically behaveing the task.Referring to baseball, Yogi Berra a famous catcher said, 90 percent of the game is half mental. Yogi is known for saying bizarre things that somehow makes sense. This quote is hard to understand but is viewed as the absolute majority of the game has to do with your mental appeal. Thinking positive thoughts is easy, but how easy is it when somehow failure seems to demand over. Athletes get into what is known as, slumps. Slumps are a flow rate of time when the athlete is performing poorly, or at a lower place their ability.How can a person stay center on thinking positive thoughts when they are in a slump? It is a hard thing to do, but Getting Focused, Staying Focused takes on an approach to keeping a positive head on your shoulders. By studying the highly developed straitss of the Yogis, warriorlike Artists, and Zen Masters of China, Japan, and India, the Soviets devised and instituted mental training techniques that enabled their athletes to perform under the most pressure-filled conditions with a clear, calm and controlled mind(Jaeger pg. i). Further in the book explains that once contest starts, the game is purely mental. Practice and preparation will get you ready and prove you are able to physically perform the event, being self-assured and picturing success will let you use your physical skills to their full capability and the game becomes easy. Practice is meant for the game to become second nature, it is when we are not confident with ourselves that the game becomes a foreign language. Most mental flaws come from what is known as dead time.Dead time is a gap in military operation that interrupts our performance. Athletes can get in the zone and success becomes effortless. Its when failures or dead time occur that athletes withdraw focus. This dead time can cause an athletes thoughts to wonder, this is not good for mental approaches. When minds wonder, thoughts nutcase in and take over. Most athletes can telephone a time when they said, what if? or I should have, this is bringing up the past and thinking of things they did wrong, this is only bringing failure and negative thoughts to mind.A coach will say take out of the game the positives and stop o n those, not the bad things that may have happened. Shawn Green, a retired baseball player said, There, Id learned to separate my awareness from my mind and strike it into my body and ultimately into the present moment. There, I first of all began to understand what it means to chop wood and carry water(McAlpine pg. 156). In, Introduction to Psychology, Plotnik and Kouyoumdjian describe something known as a cognitive role, a mental manifestation in the brain of the layout of an environment and its features (Plotnik and Kouyoumdjian pg. 23). This was first shown by rats learning to move through a maze with a reward at the end. Once the task has been accomplished, it is known that it can be done again, the mind barrier is a herculean thing. So powerful that once a mile was ran in under 4 minutes people realized it could be done, and now it is done daily by people everywhere. In baseball the reward is success, and the cognitive map is known as practice, and for pitchers, bullpens. References Dorgman, H. A. (2002). The mental game of baseball. third ed. ). New York, NY Rowman & Littlefield. Jaeger , A. Getting focused, staying focused. Alan Jaeger. Mack, G. (2001). Mind gym. New York, NY muffin/Robert Daly. McAlpine, G. (2011). The way of baseball. New York, NY Simon and Schuster. Plotnik, R. (2008). Introduction to psychology. (9th ed. ). Canada Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Santrock, J. (2010). Children. (12th ed. ). McGraw Hill Social Psychology Goals in Interaction, (2011)5thedition Kenrick, Nueberg, and Cialdin