Pedagogical Techniques: Cognitive Disequilibrium an Goldilocks Principle

Cognitive Disequilibrium There will always be different kinds of intellects at classrooms. What are considered the worst students do not like to think through a problem or find out how a mechanism works, while some of the better students may understand the same concepts but do not think further about them once they are done learning what they had to learn. This is when the presence of a teacher asking them questions comes into play. A technique used to make students think further is called the cognitive disequilibrium. Cognitive disequilibrium is in charge of daring students to think of better ways why something works the way it does.The name itself points at imbalanced knowledge towards a certain topic. Let’s take for example a group of students leading an experiment where they are mostly sure of what the outcome will be. Their desire to find results that matches their theory will be biased, and if something in the experiment indicates their theory is not completely true ther e will be a moment of conflicting cognitions; this is what researchers call cognitive disequilibrium. Starting as early as the 1950’s, social psychologist Leon Festinger coined the term â€Å"cognitive dissonance† in his book When Prophecy Fails.At the same time, developmental psychologist Jean Piaget realized his work in cognitive developmental theory, including a close approach to cognitive dissonance. He conceptualized that as a child grows up, he will constantly be finding new information that will challenge the former beliefs he had, thus making an imbalance in cognition and making the child adapt to a new set of ideas (Colombo, 2002). This kind of conflict affects learning the same way it can affect the process of gathering information. Much like in research, theories can change drastically based on how big the changes are when finding new data.According to Chin and Brewer (1993) there are seven different forms of response to inconsistent information, the unpredi cted information that can possibly throw off one’s already learned knowledge: ignoring, rejecting, excluding, abeyance, reinterpreting, peripheral change, and theory change. Because of its ability to change theories and change our perception of beliefs, cognitive disequilibrium is not only a concept, but it also serves as a major pedagogical technique. In the context of educational psychology, cognitive disequilibrium can be used as a tool to defy students and their ideas.We can see instances where in class a teacher asks a student a question related to the material to see if the student is familiar with it, but that does not show understanding of the material. By asking more in-depth questions of why a student thinks he has the right answer or by asking about how he came about finding the answer we are solidifying a pathway that shows us why the answer is such. If there is not an exact pathway that could explain how one came to conclude that the answer is correct, there may be an error in between that could change the answer. In the case of our lecture class, Dr.Zola has made use of this technique in a couple of occasions to motivate students into thinking deeper about their answers to simple questions he makes. I remember at least one occasion where he asks a simple question about a student’s take on a subject, and when the student confidently answered, Dr. Zola asked follow-up questions that made the student rethink his response, and thus think better about his argument. Not only would he give follow-up questions, but introduce new ideas backed up by other researchers of prestige that could really change the way we think.The times he presents new information that unbalances our beliefs are just followed by very small pauses where we reconsider our ideas, until we have to discuss them with other students or we move ahead to new material. Every concept that we rethink due to new information presented should be given a good amount of time to brea k down what we know about the concept and build up a new conclusion in our minds. By giving us more time to think, we can further build up on the ideas on our mind and solidify the new concepts we are learning.Like I said before, we need to plan out a pathway that leads us to our concluding ideas or theories. Due to the fact that most of our work in lecture and discussion is based on partner or group talk; we need to be ready to give out our opinions on different matters with a solid argument. It is true that most of the concepts we learn about in lecture are somewhat familiar to us since we have dealt with them ourselves or we have seen people been affected by what researches have to say about cognitive development.However, it is always good to satisfy the need to learn more about different concepts by bringing up new information that will make us see the concept from a different angle. We need to be able to break down what we know about the concept, pick up the details that are st ill useful to us, get rid of the details that are no longer any useful, and accept the new details that will shape our concepts in different ways. Goldilocks Principle Another technique used by effective teachers deals with being able to assign tasks and assignments to students so that they fit their levels of skill or prior knowledge.The Goldilocks principle is appropriate for this, since it deals with finding the right level of difficulty materials that are given to students. Like Graesser mentioned it (2008), material that is too easy for the audience will be disregarded as it may seem repetitive from what the audience or students have learned before; if the material is too hard, students may find it too frustrating and will give up. This technique suggests that materials and assignments should not be too hard or too easy.At a right, constant level students will remain engaged with the material. This is related to what O’Donnell, Reeve, and Smith (2008) explained as Vygots ky’s â€Å"zone of proximal development† as the concept that tells us that a child should be taught at his own level of recent maturity. This means that a student shouldn’t be pushed to work the material as if he has already mastered it or been experienced with it, but that he should work the material as if he’s still practicing it. As Wolfe et al. 1998) demonstrated in their article a group of researchers from two different schools experiment how background knowledge can affect students’ ability to comprehend different materials given. In this experiment, students were given the task to learn about something of background knowledge to them; in this case, it was the functions if the human heart. Students were given the same material but in different reading levels. The researchers found out that little background knowledge on the topic made the students gain about as much knowledge as the students with major background knowledge did.In other words, students whose prior knowledge did not overlap enough with the contents of the text did not learn well but neither did students whose knowledge overlapped too much with the contents of the text. At the end of their research, they found out that â€Å"low-knowledge† students understood just as much as â€Å"high-knowledge† students when their material was customized for the highly coherent and detailed, just as when the material given to high-knowledge students was presented with coherent gaps that they had to fill in by themselves.This technique should be used in a classroom environment to reach for those students that are not fully engaged to the material given. In the classroom we could find different types of learners, but it is fair to say that under-challenged and over-challenged students make up most of the class. By finding a way to balance the material and presenting it in a way that is fully detailed for some and challenging for others the instructor will be able to have most, if not all of the class fully engaged. Based on what I have experienced in class, we can say that Dr. Zola has made good use of this technique. Dr.Zola is letting his students use their own background knowledge to fill in gaps in the knowledge of other students through discussion. By bringing up questions that almost everybody is familiar with, but that everybody has a different take on, the discussions amongst students can last for a good while, and students always end up learning from each other when sharing stories and background knowledge. After all, there are several ways to keep a variety of learners engaged in the classroom, as by having discussions to keep the class active, integrating other fields in the material, stimulating the senses of the audience, etc.These last mentioned only keep the class active, and hopefully everybody engaged, but as a teacher one must still work on filling those gaps that some students may have about the material being learned . References Colombo, J. (2002) Infant Attention Grows up: The Emergence of a Developmental CognitiveNeuroscience Perspective. Current Directions in Psychological Science  , Vol. 11, No. 6 (Dec. , 2002), pp. 196-200. Retrieved from http://www. jstor. org/stable/20182811 Wolfe, M. W. , Schreiner, M. E. , Rehder, B. , Lahman, D. , Folts, P. W. , Kintsch, W. , & Landaure, T. K. (1998).Learning From Text: Matching Readers and Text by Latent Semantic Analysis. Discourse Processes, 25(2/3), 309-336. Graesser (2008). 25 Learning Principles to Guide Pedagogy and the Design of Learning Environments. Life Long Learning at Work and at Home. Retrieved from http://psyc. memphis. edu/learning O’Donnell, A. , Reeve, J. , Smith, F. (2008) Educational Psychology: Reflection for Action. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Chinn, C. A. , & Brewer, W. F. (1993). The role of anomalous data in knowledge acquisition: A theoretical Framework and implications for.. Review of Educational Research, 63(1) , 1. Pedagogical Techniques: Cognitive Disequilibrium an Goldilocks Principle Cognitive Disequilibrium There will always be different kinds of intellects at classrooms. What are considered the worst students do not like to think through a problem or find out how a mechanism works, while some of the better students may understand the same concepts but do not think further about them once they are done learning what they had to learn. This is when the presence of a teacher asking them questions comes into play. A technique used to make students think further is called the cognitive disequilibrium. Cognitive disequilibrium is in charge of daring students to think of better ways why something works the way it does.The name itself points at imbalanced knowledge towards a certain topic. Let’s take for example a group of students leading an experiment where they are mostly sure of what the outcome will be. Their desire to find results that matches their theory will be biased, and if something in the experiment indicates their theory is not completely true ther e will be a moment of conflicting cognitions; this is what researchers call cognitive disequilibrium. Starting as early as the 1950’s, social psychologist Leon Festinger coined the term â€Å"cognitive dissonance† in his book When Prophecy Fails.At the same time, developmental psychologist Jean Piaget realized his work in cognitive developmental theory, including a close approach to cognitive dissonance. He conceptualized that as a child grows up, he will constantly be finding new information that will challenge the former beliefs he had, thus making an imbalance in cognition and making the child adapt to a new set of ideas (Colombo, 2002). This kind of conflict affects learning the same way it can affect the process of gathering information. Much like in research, theories can change drastically based on how big the changes are when finding new data.According to Chin and Brewer (1993) there are seven different forms of response to inconsistent information, the unpredi cted information that can possibly throw off one’s already learned knowledge: ignoring, rejecting, excluding, abeyance, reinterpreting, peripheral change, and theory change. Because of its ability to change theories and change our perception of beliefs, cognitive disequilibrium is not only a concept, but it also serves as a major pedagogical technique. In the context of educational psychology, cognitive disequilibrium can be used as a tool to defy students and their ideas.We can see instances where in class a teacher asks a student a question related to the material to see if the student is familiar with it, but that does not show understanding of the material. By asking more in-depth questions of why a student thinks he has the right answer or by asking about how he came about finding the answer we are solidifying a pathway that shows us why the answer is such. If there is not an exact pathway that could explain how one came to conclude that the answer is correct, there may be an error in between that could change the answer. In the case of our lecture class, Dr.Zola has made use of this technique in a couple of occasions to motivate students into thinking deeper about their answers to simple questions he makes. I remember at least one occasion where he asks a simple question about a student’s take on a subject, and when the student confidently answered, Dr. Zola asked follow-up questions that made the student rethink his response, and thus think better about his argument. Not only would he give follow-up questions, but introduce new ideas backed up by other researchers of prestige that could really change the way we think.The times he presents new information that unbalances our beliefs are just followed by very small pauses where we reconsider our ideas, until we have to discuss them with other students or we move ahead to new material. Every concept that we rethink due to new information presented should be given a good amount of time to brea k down what we know about the concept and build up a new conclusion in our minds. By giving us more time to think, we can further build up on the ideas on our mind and solidify the new concepts we are learning.Like I said before, we need to plan out a pathway that leads us to our concluding ideas or theories. Due to the fact that most of our work in lecture and discussion is based on partner or group talk; we need to be ready to give out our opinions on different matters with a solid argument. It is true that most of the concepts we learn about in lecture are somewhat familiar to us since we have dealt with them ourselves or we have seen people been affected by what researches have to say about cognitive development.However, it is always good to satisfy the need to learn more about different concepts by bringing up new information that will make us see the concept from a different angle. We need to be able to break down what we know about the concept, pick up the details that are st ill useful to us, get rid of the details that are no longer any useful, and accept the new details that will shape our concepts in different ways. Goldilocks Principle Another technique used by effective teachers deals with being able to assign tasks and assignments to students so that they fit their levels of skill or prior knowledge.The Goldilocks principle is appropriate for this, since it deals with finding the right level of difficulty materials that are given to students. Like Graesser mentioned it (2008), material that is too easy for the audience will be disregarded as it may seem repetitive from what the audience or students have learned before; if the material is too hard, students may find it too frustrating and will give up. This technique suggests that materials and assignments should not be too hard or too easy.At a right, constant level students will remain engaged with the material. This is related to what O’Donnell, Reeve, and Smith (2008) explained as Vygots ky’s â€Å"zone of proximal development† as the concept that tells us that a child should be taught at his own level of recent maturity. This means that a student shouldn’t be pushed to work the material as if he has already mastered it or been experienced with it, but that he should work the material as if he’s still practicing it. As Wolfe et al. 1998) demonstrated in their article a group of researchers from two different schools experiment how background knowledge can affect students’ ability to comprehend different materials given. In this experiment, students were given the task to learn about something of background knowledge to them; in this case, it was the functions if the human heart. Students were given the same material but in different reading levels. The researchers found out that little background knowledge on the topic made the students gain about as much knowledge as the students with major background knowledge did.In other words, students whose prior knowledge did not overlap enough with the contents of the text did not learn well but neither did students whose knowledge overlapped too much with the contents of the text. At the end of their research, they found out that â€Å"low-knowledge† students understood just as much as â€Å"high-knowledge† students when their material was customized for the highly coherent and detailed, just as when the material given to high-knowledge students was presented with coherent gaps that they had to fill in by themselves.This technique should be used in a classroom environment to reach for those students that are not fully engaged to the material given. In the classroom we could find different types of learners, but it is fair to say that under-challenged and over-challenged students make up most of the class. By finding a way to balance the material and presenting it in a way that is fully detailed for some and challenging for others the instructor will be able to have most, if not all of the class fully engaged. Based on what I have experienced in class, we can say that Dr. Zola has made good use of this technique. Dr.Zola is letting his students use their own background knowledge to fill in gaps in the knowledge of other students through discussion. By bringing up questions that almost everybody is familiar with, but that everybody has a different take on, the discussions amongst students can last for a good while, and students always end up learning from each other when sharing stories and background knowledge. After all, there are several ways to keep a variety of learners engaged in the classroom, as by having discussions to keep the class active, integrating other fields in the material, stimulating the senses of the audience, etc.These last mentioned only keep the class active, and hopefully everybody engaged, but as a teacher one must still work on filling those gaps that some students may have about the material being learned . References Colombo, J. (2002) Infant Attention Grows up: The Emergence of a Developmental CognitiveNeuroscience Perspective. Current Directions in Psychological Science  , Vol. 11, No. 6 (Dec. , 2002), pp. 196-200. Retrieved from http://www. jstor. org/stable/20182811 Wolfe, M. W. , Schreiner, M. E. , Rehder, B. , Lahman, D. , Folts, P. W. , Kintsch, W. , & Landaure, T. K. (1998).Learning From Text: Matching Readers and Text by Latent Semantic Analysis. Discourse Processes, 25(2/3), 309-336. Graesser (2008). 25 Learning Principles to Guide Pedagogy and the Design of Learning Environments. Life Long Learning at Work and at Home. Retrieved from http://psyc. memphis. edu/learning O’Donnell, A. , Reeve, J. , Smith, F. (2008) Educational Psychology: Reflection for Action. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Chinn, C. A. , & Brewer, W. F. (1993). The role of anomalous data in knowledge acquisition: A theoretical Framework and implications for.. Review of Educational Research, 63(1) , 1.

How Does Music Affect Our Lives

How Does Music Affect Our Lives: The Connection between Communication and Music Music is present throughout our lives, from the moment we wake up and hear that song that starts our day off, to that song that reminds us of that relationship we once had with that special someone, or a song that a city uses as its anthem for it’s sports team or a song that a country listens to, that helps comfort them in a time of tragedy and loss. Music helps us communicate and relate to things when we can not find the words to help us express our feelings. When we have had a tragedy in our lives some people turn to alcohol, drugs, or something else to get rid of a terrible memory. After the attacks of September 11th music was used as instrument in rebuilding the lives of the many New Yorkers who had lost loved ones, or had witnessed the horrific events. Bruce Springsteen was one artist that released an album at this time; the album was titled The Rising. This album conveyed the feelings of the citizens of New York City. Some of the tracks were titled, â€Å"Into the Fire†. â€Å"You’re Missing† and â€Å"Lonesome Day† We also had Sir Paul McCartney’s Freedom a song that was used as a memorial for the 9/11 attacks. Another band that helped heal the wounds of 9/11 was U2. Since the beginning they have written songs that reach a wide variety of fans from all over the world. One song that sticks out is, â€Å"Pride (In the Name of Love)† these lyrics talk about many great figures throughout history, including Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi. These are some of those lyrics. One man come in the name of love One man come and go One man come, he to justify One man to overthrow In the name of love What more in the name of love In the name of love What more in the name of love One man caught on a barbed wire fence One man he resist One man washed on an empty beach. One man betrayed with a kiss In the name of love What more in the name of love In the na me of love What more in the name of love Early morning, April 4 Shot rings out in the Memphis sky Free at last, they took your life They could not take your pride†¦ (U2 The Unforgettable Fire, 1984 Island Records) Music is also used at funerals as a send off into the next life or as a testament to the life of that person. My uncle was murdered in the fall of 2002. Everyone including my grandmother took it hard. They song my cousin chose for her father was Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Music has been there for me when I have no one to talk to. In the book Popular Music and Communication by James Lull there is a paragraph that explains musicians and how they communicate to their fans, â€Å"Popular musicians are loved, even worshiped, not only for their abilities to write songs and perform them publicly, but for their ability to â€Å"speak† to their audiences. Even an artist whose only contact with the audience is through the sale of millions of compact discs and tapes communicates â€Å"personally† with each listener† Pg. 33 of Popular Music and Communication by James Lull Sage Publications, C 1992. Everyone has a soundtrack to their lives and I found the first part of mine in 2000 with an album by a band named Papa Roach. My mother and father are separated; there divorce was based on the fact that my father was abusive towards my mother. The one song I could strongly relate to on that album was a song titled â€Å"Broken Home† I can't seem to fight these feelings I'm caught in the middle of this My wounds are not healing I'm stuck in between my parents I wish I had someone to talk to Someone to I could confide in†¦ Broken home All alone I know my mother loves me But does my father even care If I'm sad or angry You were never ever there When I needed you I hope you regret what you did I think I know the truth Your father did the same to you†¦ (Infest, Papa Roach, April 25, 2000, DreamWorks Records) When I heard this song it really opened my eyes, for the past sixteen years of my life I never knew that my fathers father had left when he was very young, it was a revelation to me, that this man who is my grandfather, that I have only seen a few times in my life, and my father were one in the same. After recently ending a relationship with someone that had truly changed my life I continue to listen to this song from a popular punk rock Band MxPx. The song is about someone giving up on girls and relationships and joining G. S. F. â€Å"Girls Schmirls Foundation† â€Å"You didn't have to be so mean to me I guess now I see how it's gonna be I'm joining GSF, I've made up my mind Forget this thing called love, it's a waste of time Girls ain't no good anymore, anyway! Not for one second have I understood Why they do what they do, why they say what they say Always happens to my friends, it always happens to me It's taken me 19 years to finally see She said â€Å"Can we just be friends? It's just not working out. † Another broken heart that I can do without Girls ain't no good anymore, anyway! Not for one second have I understood Why they do what they do, why they say what they say† Many of my friends say that they can relate to how I feel and the song is a good way for me to get my feelings out and to show that girl she hurt me. Music is also used to help boost morale in teams and fans at sporting events. Once a Spurs fan hears, â€Å"Are You Ready for This? † they automatically begin to get hyped for the preceding game. The same is at football games, especially college football games. When the fans at Texas State hear â€Å"Go Bobcats† they automatically get on there feet and begin to participate in the hand gestures and sing the chorus. The football team, whether win, lose or draw will be on that field singing the Alma Mater. There are those fan jams that are required at any sporting event, such as Queens â€Å"We Will Rock You† and â€Å"We are the Champions† Music is used at these events to get a crowd hyped and the teams pumped and excited that they are playing in front of a large group of people that believe in them. As you can see Music is all around us. It is apart of our lives. It helps us express our feelings towards other people, it helps us to close old wounds made by tragic events, it also give us a reason to cheer and sporting events, but the most important thing music gives us is a voice, a reason, a definition of who we real are. Bibliography 1. McLaughlin, Terence. Music and communication, New York, St. Martin's Press [1971, c1970] 2. Lull, James. Popular music and communication, Newbury Park, Calif. : Sage Publications, c1992. 3. Lynyrd Skynrd. Lynryd Skynrd, MCA Records, c 1973 4. Papa Roach. Infest, DreamWorks Records, c April 25, 2000 5. Paul McCartney. Freedom, Capitol Records, c November 13, 2001 6. U2. The Unforgettable Fire, Island Records, c 1984 7. MxPx GSF, At The Show, Tooth and Nail Records, c. July 27, 1999

Describe How the Uses of Plant Fibres and Starch May Contribute

Describe how the uses of plant fibres and starch may contribute to sustainability How can plant fibres be used? First of all the plant fibres have to be extracted from the plant itself. The process of extraction often used is called retting. Retting involves using water or micro-organisms to dissolve or rot away the cellular tissues surrounding the bast-fibre bundles. Afterwards the fibres are obtained; usually they extract very long sclerenchyma cells and xylem tissue because of their good tensile strength. From this many materials can be made, here are a couple of examples: ? Wood fibres – can be used to make paper from trees Sisal fibres – are obtained from Agave Sisalana and these fibres are used in the construction of cars, furniture, plastics and even paper. Uses of starch and plant based products to replace oil-based products Canvas Bags – Canvas bags is a product sweeping the nation to help us rid the use of plastic oil-based plastic bags. Canvas bags are made from linen, which are fibres extracted for the flax plant, canvas bags also contain cotton, which is extracted from the cotton bag. The canvas bag is an ingenious product because not only can it replace the oil-based (petroleum) plastic bags but they are also reusable and also sustainable. Related reading: Disadvantages of Plants Living on LandStarch Bags – Starch bags are a relatively unknown product, not as popular as a replacement as a canvas bag. However the starch bag is obtained from the starch within many plants. If the bag is no longer needed and discarded, they will soon decompose into carbon dioxide, water and biomass within 10-12 weeks, thus leaving no harmful residue behind. If you compare these to the oil-based products, they are a lot greener; this is because oil-based petroleum plastic bags give off a lot of air pollution and energy consumption to produce them.In addition to this if the plastic bags are discarded like many of them are (100 billion per year in USA), then they would not biodegrade (takes 1000 years) and could generate visual pollution and bring discomfort, and a lot of the time, death to many animals. Advantages and Disadvantages: Advantages – †¢Both the starch bags and the canvas bags (made of cotton and linen) are made from a sustainable source. †¢Canvas bags do not wear and tear. In addition to this they are stronger than oil-based plastic bags and won’t split under heavy pressure. Starch bags are biodegradable – If the starch bags are discarded they will decompose into non-harmful residue within 10-12 weeks of production. Disadvantages – †¢The land used to grow the cotton plants, flax plants and plants used to extract starch would be wasteful and take up plenty of ground. Because cotton is predominately grown in Africa and India (places where food is at a shortage and hunger is on the uprising), the land used for the cotton would take up much area that could be used for farming, farming that could lead to food for the local people.The introduction of canvas bags and starch bags has the potential to change the way we think about greener alternatives. Canvas bags already have become widespread popular, with millions of households across England owning at least one, however oil-based plastic bags are still the leading supermarket bag. I believe the production of starch bags and canvas bags are extremely important and should be developed further and advertised more, this will hopefully ensure that the production and use of oil-based plastic bags are eradicated completely.This in turn would: decrease the production of harmful gases into the atmosphere and cause less air pollution; it would decrease the visual pollution of discarded plastic bags, would save animals lives that could get caught in them or even choke on them. On the other hand, as previously mentioned, land taken up to grow plants for the bags would precious land that could be used for farming and could feed a lot of the local people.

Explain The Implications Of Globalisation For The National Economies Assignment

Explain The Implications Of Globalisation For The National Economies In General And Its Impact On The Business Environment In The United Kingdom - Assignment Example Most of the governments were unable to protect their market from the foreign competitors and got attracted by the import tariffs. On the other hand, the introduction of advanced technologies has reduced the costs of communication and transportation by a certain degree (Shangquan, 2000). Likewise, this paper will provide a study of the enhancing factors and the major impacts imposed by globalisation in developing the economy and also the business environment of the UK. Theoretical Background There has always been a strong linkage between globalisation and growth along with development. Globalisation is duly considered as one of the major aspects in the modern economic scenario and is also regarded as one of the vital factors determining the future prospect of economic growth and development. This can be justified from a theoretical perspective that it affects the productivity of goods or services of a nation. In addition, it also affects labour employment and the elements utilised in the process of production by a greater extent. One of the major impacts of globalisation, in general, can be apparently observed as the growth in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The FDI growth rate is much higher than the entire growth in the world trade in the course of globalisation. The reduction in trade barriers and the increment in the global income of FDI have led several countries towards attaining superior competitive position with better economic growth along with development. The growth in the FDI rate eventually lead towards the introduction of pioneering technological advancements and the establishment of huge enterprises on the global level. Thus, the combination of... This paper stresses that the aforesaid study reflects detailed information about the impact of globalisation especially on the national economy in general and also on the business environment of the UK. It has already been observed in the earlier description that the UK economy was the major beneficiary of globalisation. The reduction in the income of the labour and the fall in the bargaining power of the labour force are the major aspects that have been attained from the impact of globalisation. One of the vital impacts of globalisation on the UK economy and also on the business environment of the UK can be viewed as that the major portion of the companies has become much international in nature. This report makes a conclusion that tthe global financial system of the world is not working well as it is intended to. The writer affirmed that if the global system is working well, then why the global crises are occurring in various nations of the world. In recent years, it can be viewed that the net flow of funds has been transferring from the poor countries to the richer ones, but the actual incident should be the opposite one. However, in order to cope up with the problem, the writer has also suggested that the government and the larger organizations must keep in mind certain important aspects while performing business at the global level. The companies must possess effective labour force in their capital market.

Consumerism and the Community College Student Essay

Consumerism and the Community College Student - Essay Example Chris determined this information through the use of a highly-honed ability to observe and mentally evaluate the sum total of the articles and clothing possessed by the people around her. Through this assessment (which includes not only the material price of each item, but it’s acceptability within the â€Å"now† trends) Chris was able to determine whether each classmate was of the â€Å"right† crowd or, if not, to what degree they were lacking. Like many people within a consumer society such as America, Chris was basing her identity, and therefore the identities of those around her, on a purely material basis. Based on the stuff they own in 2005, community college students’ cultural backgrounds cause them to live â€Å"constructed lives.† Students such as Chris use materialistic cues such as the style of dress, individual possessions and the ability to keep up with the ever-changing market trends to help them identify others sharing a similar desire to obtain something called the â€Å"right† life. â€Å"We want our lives to match our vision of the good life, itself largely a product of the media. We want to have the right clothes, the right car, the right house, the right job, the right spouse, the right children, even the right toothpaste† (Gabler). Because certain items have come to symbolize individual levels attained in the search for the â€Å"perfect† life, college students strive to attain the material goods rather than focus on developing an identity independent of worldly possessions.

The Inclusion of Children With Learning Difficulties in Mainstream Essay

The Inclusion of Children With Learning Difficulties in Mainstream Classrooms is Fine in Theory - Essay Example In Ireland the government has taken initiative towards the development of inclusive education in mainstream schools which has yielded mixed results. Background The move into inclusive education was initiated by parents of children with SEN who were concerned with the availability of appropriate institutions for their children. As a result, the Republic of Ireland signed an EU Council of Ministers Charter which led to the promotion of inclusion in schools by the Department of Education. In 1992, the Green Paper on Education highlighted the need to develop educational systems that were inclusive and provided those that were socially, physically, mentally or economically disadvantaged with equal opportunities. The Report of the Special Education Review Committee in 1993 laid the groundwork for inclusive education in Ireland. The reports proposed seven principles for the future of inclusive education which included; all children have a right to suitable education, the needs of the child should be the first priority while considering the route of education, the parents of children with SEN should be allowed to take an active part in decisions about their child’s education, a range of services that include education in a regular school with additional support, Special educational needs should be provided in ordinary schools unless individual circumstances make it impractical, only in extreme cases should it be necessary for the child to live away from home to receive suitable education and the state should provide the resources required to enable children with special educational needs to receive education according to their needs. In accordance with these principles, the White Paper on Education Charting our... This report approves that theoretically speaking inclusive education is an ideal system to integrate students with special needs into the mainstream. Inclusive education not only results in better academic performance by such students but also increased social interaction and rehabilitation for them. Inclusive education results in students in SEN receiving the same education and environment that regular students and thus preparing them for the real word and enabling them from the beginning. This helps adjustment in real life and greater chances of success in the future; it also helps in maintaining social relationships with other children and learning socially acceptable norms of behavior. It also increases a sense of belonging and decreases discrimination. This essay makes a conclusion that Inclusive education for children with special needs is a concept that works in practical life as well but like most other concepts it needs proper regulation and structure. In Ireland, although there is legislation and regulation schools need to be committed to inclusive education and cater to the needs of the students. Teachers need to get professional training and maintain positive attitudes. There should be greater collaboration among schools and other agencies as well as parent and school collaboration. Children should be taught to include their SEN counterparts and view them as their own. Inclusive education is a successful way of integrating special children in society although there are many challenges need to be overcome.

European Politics in the 16th and 17th Centuries Essay

European Politics in the 16th and 17th Centuries - Essay Example From the Spanish point of view, any resistance that the natives demonstrated to the conversion was a work of none other than the Satan. The Spanish presented the natives with an ultimatum to both adopt Christianity and then swear allegiance to the Spanish crown of Castile. Those who would refuse to do that would then face military action. This occurred as one of the immediate and unfortunate effect of the reformation. The intolerance that developed expressed itself in religious wars and persecution. Albeit the main motive should have been to generate the true spirit of Christ or the fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man, the reformation made millions of people to suffer on the account of religion. The main subjects of the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese monarchs were deliberately forced to remain catholic. Those who refused to convert to catholic suffered death or imprisonment. The main aim behind ‘a Short account of the Destruction of the Indies’ was to inform the King of Spain regarding the gold hoarding and the murders that were occurring in the New World. The reason of the expeditions was chiefly to convert the natives to Christianity and as a result protect them from the eternal damnation. In contrast to this, the Spaniards that were sent did not follow the rules that were given to them. Instead they targeted and killed millions of natives for their gold. A minor percentage of the gold that was hoarded was allocated for the Spanish purse. At this time, Christian missionaries such as Las Casas tried their best in order to bring justice to the land.

Public Awareness and Human Diseases Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Public Awareness and Human Diseases - Essay Example With an increasing incidence worldwide, DM will be a leading cause of morbidity and mortality for the foreseeable future. DM1 is classified on the basis of the pathogenic process that leads to hyperglycemia, as opposed to earlier criteria such as age of onset or type of therapy. The two broad categories of DM are designated type 1 and type 2. Type 1A DM results from autoimmune beta cell destruction, which leads to insulin deficiency. Individuals with type 1B DM lack immunologic markers indicative of an autoimmune destructive process of the beta cells. However, they develop insulin deficiency by unknown mechanisms and are ketosis prone. Relatively few patients with type 1 DM are in the type 1B idiopathic category; many of these individuals are either African-American or Asian in heritage. Type 2 DM1 is a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by variable degrees of insulin resistance, impaired insulin secretion, and increased glucose production. Distinct genetic and metabolic defects in insulin action and/or secretion give rise to the common phenotype of hyperglycemia in type 2 DM. ... Likewise, prevalence rates of IFG3 are also increasing. Although the prevalence of both type 1 and type 2 DM is increasing worldwide, the prevalence of type 2 DM is expected to rise more rapidly in the future because of increasing obesity and reduced activity levels. DM increases with aging. In 2000, the prevalence of DM was estimated to be 0.19% in people 20 years old. In individuals >65 years the prevalence of DM was 20.1%. The prevalence is similar in men and women throughout most age ranges but is slightly greater in men >60 years. The prevalence of type 2 DM and its harbinger, IGT2, is highest in certain Pacific islands, intermediate in countries such as India and the United States, and relatively low in Russia and China. This variability is likely due to genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors. DM prevalence also varies among different ethnic populations within a given country. In 2000, the prevalence of DM in the United States was 13% in African Americans, 10.2% in Hispanic Americans, 15.5% in Native Americans (American Indians and Alaska natives), and 7.8% in non-Hispanic whites. The onset of type 2 DM occurs, on average, at an earlier age in ethnic groups other than non-Hispanic whites. Mortality rates in people with diabetes exceed those in the general population despite many recent improvements in care. Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in the young, and is a substantial cause of morbidity as well as mortality at all ages. After the introduction of insulin in 1922 it was hoped that adverse consequences of diabetes might become a thing of the past, but mortality rates are still higher than those in the general population and, in addition,

Project management for a building conversion Essay

Project management for a building conversion - Essay Example It has been selected to be a Grade B office building. This paper seeks to present key activities involved in conversion to Grade B office integrated in the project management perspective. We will see how activities will be schedule, resource management, and quality assurance among other fundamental principles surrounding any project. PREDECESSOR ACTIVITIES The first crucial step is to seek permission from the local authority in form of an application for change of user. This will need the approval of the local authority’s plans for the area. (IEEE, 2005).That is, whether the area is official recognized as an industrial area only or a residential area. Depending on the prevailing by-laws, the approval may be issued or not. Afterwards, we can proceed to the preliminary design of the office. That is, the floor layout of the offices required among other things. These specifications will be tailored to the client in Hong Kong. A detailed assessment of the existing building will be done to check integrity of the current building, the kind of foundation, parts of the building that are intact or need re-designing to fit in the preliminary design. ... Once the building permit is issued, the conversion works can officially commence with other revisions being made on the prior design if necessary but still approval from relevant authorities is mandatory. This is how this conversion will generally go. The detailed procedures will be modelled within the Microsoft Project 2007. KEY AREAS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT In any project, whether product manufacturing, or service delivery, there are crucial aspects of activities that need to be addressed should we desire a successful project. These factors are necessary for the project manager. How he or she addresses these issues will show his capability and skills and project is no exception. Besides time, there are various key areas in project management (PMBOK, 2008) and these include cost management, project quality management, human resource management, project scope management, Risk management These are discussed as follows 1. Time Management Time management ensures that the project is comple ted as planned. This has an impact costs and effectiveness in running the project. This sector covers the processes required to ensure timely completion of the project (Dennis 2007).The sequencing aspects is crucial. Certain activities can only commence after predecessor activities are completed. For this project we applied the fundamental activities involved in the conversion of an industrial building to an office building. We will also cover the critical path. This is basically the path that should not be delayed as it will determine the overall project conclusion time. Milestones will help us monitor project course. From the MS Project we came

Fact pattern Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Fact pattern - Essay Example Although these legal principles are national; the scope of others depends on state law development. Currently; art trade activities involving production, sale, display and collection of art get professional legal considerations through regulation, statute, treaty, case law, ordinance and regulation. Art traditionally concerns fine art and visual arts. Also, it’s noted that art law is very similar to the cultural property law. Entertainment law generally entails industries or sectors engaged in the production of theatre, music, television, publishing and motion pictures. These entertainment sectors deal with economic or business aspects that are applicable to almost all areas of law; for example copyright, trade secret, publicity, securities, trademark, rights of privacy and publicity, corporate law, international law, constitutional law and labor law. All of these stated laws work towards protecting the creative rights of the individual or the enterprises. Other laws related to the entertainment law include; intellectual property law, sports law, telecommunications law and First Amendment law. The most basic legal tool in the entertainment sector is the personal service agreement (Wasko 178). The personal service agreement is quite often governed through statutes, and they are at times the subject of court processes due to restrictions on rights of the artists to create or perform for other enterprises o r individuals. Another additional issues discussed in this paper is the fact pattern which involves presentation of evidences. Law practitioners are required to study the proofs in order to disregard or ignore those which are not applicable to the subject matter at hand. Copyright law protects artistic works. The artistic works should be presented in tangible mediums like paintings. Copyright is given through the federal statutes and it enables the artist to have exclusive rights on his works; like reproduction

Training Effectiveness (Human Resource Management) Essay

Training Effectiveness (Human Resource Management) - Essay Example The main question thus arises, how can one measure the effectiveness of training in organizations, yet training is an intangible and unquantifiable expense? One of the highly used methods is the visual confirmation. The visual confirmation aspect, hence considers various aspects that include the changes in behaviors, an increase in productivity and the overall level of expertise each of the people who have undergone training exhibit. This measure of training effectiveness is usually observed by the training manager or the HR head in charge of training. Another measure of training effectiveness is the aspect of social ownership. Social ownership is the ability of a trainee to disburse this knowledge to other people, acting as a trainer. Social ownership can be packaged an analysis of peer-to-peer teaching moments or commanded training by manager, whereby the trainee would have to share his or her learning from the training program (Eades, 2014). Even so, the most used and reliable method is skill assessment. After training has been conducted in the organization, a periodical monitoring and assessment of skills can be conducted to ensure that the training was effective in imparting such skills. Of all the mentioned methods, the most appropriate is the skills assessment module. Skill assessment is the preferable measure of training effectiveness that can be used in this organization. Primarily, one of the key reasons why skill assessment is the most appropriate, is the fact that a statistical quantification can be implemented. By assessing the skills, a manager can understand the effectiveness of the training. As such, it is arguable that skill assessment is one of the best approaches of measuring training effectiveness in any given

Writing Locations posted on course website Essay Example for Free

Writing Locations posted on course website Essay Important Notice: Anyone who is not able to write the exam on the scheduled date must provide documentation validating his/her absence, i.e. doctor’s note confirming illness and inability to write exam dated the day of the exam. Once documentation is received and approved by your professor, the value of your midterm will be added to your final exam. If valid documentation is not provided, the midterm mark will be a zero. 20 Multiple Choice questions 15 Short Answer questions, 2 to 6 marks each (80 marks total) TOPICS TO BE COVERED: The relationship between the firm and its external environment Critical success factors: what they are, why they are important, how they connect to each other Diamond-E model: key variables, connections among variables, principal logic, examples External analysis what it is, how to conduct one, general vs. specific environments, benefits and challenges of conducting one PEST factors: elements, impact on business, questions to answer from PEST analysis Porter’s five forces model: explanation of each force’s impact on industry profitability, methods of reducing the impact of each force, strategic questions it answers, industry examples Entrepreneurship what it is, what the key elements are, its significance  entrepreneurial process elements, influences, and connection with Diamond-E components of opportunity recognition  how to screen and evaluate opportunities for viability and competitive advantage high versus low potential ventures  how to access resources, bootstrapping, pros and cons of financing options social entrepreneurship: what it is, key facets, stakeholders, how it compares to traditional entrepreneurship, how it compares to charity, examples Technological Factors  opportunities and threats of technology   technology standard wars – description, impact, scope  installed base, lock-in, switching costs, complementary goods, network effects – description, importance, example key assets and strategies to win technology standards wars sustaining technologies – what they offer, who they serve, examples disruptive technologies – what they offer, who they serve, examples, why disruptive innovations can cause large firms to fail, how different types of innovations challenge existing firms tactics for small companies to succeed and for large companies to avoid failure Citing sources and APA Formatting -objectives, rules, methodology Relevant Readings/Materials Pearson Textbook: Chapters 1,2 Lab Manual:Technology Readings (directions for accessing on pg. 199) Introduction to Writing and Using Sources How to Use Sources APA Documentation Style APA In-text Citation Format Pearson resources on citing and using APA format Cases are not covered on the exam. SUGGESTED STUDY APPROACH: For each topic identify questions that may appear on the exam. These questions can fall into four general categories: 1. What is it, what are the general elements of the topic 2. Why is it important, why are the individual elements important 3. How are the individual elements related to each other? How are they related to the topic? How does the topic or its elements relate to the topics? 4. Provide an example to help explain your answers and/or illustrate the elements and topics. YOU CAN DO IT – GOOD LUCK!!!

The Sustainable Event Management Environmental Sciences Essay

The Sustainable Event Management Environmental Sciences Essay This report will general introduce what is sustainability and to link all the concepts and theories to the Beijing Olympics. All the sustainability policies will link to the Triple-Bottom-Line theory and with suitable recommendations. The general idea of what International Olympic Committee IOC is about and the role of IOC play with the Olympic. All the economic, environmental and social impacts that did by Beijing during the Olympic Games. The environmental successful point and failures that the Beijing Olympic faced. How Beijing can improve or how the London Olympic can learn from Beijing Introduction The purpose of this report is to critically analyse concepts and theories of sustainability relevant to the events industry. All these sustainability policies will link to the Triple-Bottom-Line theory and suitable recommendations will be shown. Sustainability development means to protect the environment, but still meet the need of human, without compromising the future generations need and development. The term sustainability derives from a political and socially constructed terminology that supports the universal policy of sustainable development (Dresner, 2002; Rogers et al., 2008). In more recent times with a greater appreciation by nations of environmental matters and a move to a more sustainable society, the IOC requires the Olympic Games host country to implement strategies to protect the environment, observe concepts of equity and social justice and, where possible, minimise consumption of energy and water. The wastes minimise and to ensure that it is recycled as much as possible are the critical factors for selection when a country is bidding for the Game. The Beijing Olympic was the greenest Olympic ever, and will prove by articles, journals, etc. The aim and objectives To critically analysis the sustainability policy of the Olympics, create linkage to the Triple Bottom Line theory and provide sustainable recommendations for critical appraisal of the Olympics sustainability policy. International Olympic Committee IOC The Olympic were nearly ended in 1976 Montreal Olympics, Canada. Due to the large venues built and the investment was 10 times over from the original budget. Olympics not only need to carry a heavy debt burden but also damage the environment. Therefore, Olympics now focus on the sustainable development when the cities bid for the Olympics (Aim of Olympic 2008). One of IOC roles is to encourage and support a responsible concern for environmental issues, to promote sustainable development in sport and to require that the Olympic Games are held accordingly (IOC 2011) The Olympic Movement Agenda 21 was examined during the third IOC World Conference on Sport and the Environment in Rio in 1999, and approved by the IOC session in Seoul in June 1999. The goal of Agenda 21 is to increase the participation of local residents, to improve the social-economic and health benefits they derive from it, strengthen international cooperation projects for sustainable development, help combat social exclusion, encourage new consumer habits, promote a sports infrastructure which is even better adapted to social needs, and further improve the integration of development and environment concepts into sports policies (IOC 1999). The Beijing Olympic 2008 The idea of Green Olympic in Beijings bid was the strongest element to win the right to host the 2008 Games. The Beijing Organising Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG)s environmental programme was focused on improvement, protection and awareness-raising. The Olympic venues were constructed by environmentally friendly and energy-saving building materials. Beijing has put significant efforts to improve air quality, expand forestation, enhance public sewage and waste treatment systems.(IOC 2012) When Beijing was awarded the Games in 2001, the IOC Evaluation Committee noted: Beijing currently faces a number of environmental pressures and issues, particularly air pollution. However, it has an ambitious set of plans designed, which are comprehensive enough to greatly improve Beijings overall environmental condition. These plans and actions will require a significant effort and financial investment. The result would be a major legacy for Beijing from the Olympic Games, which include increased environmental awareness among the population. (IOC 2012) As the first developing country to host the Olympic Games, US$17 billion was invested on environment initiatives by China for the Games. China was not only to fulfil its original promises in the bid, but also to gain great achievement on environment sustainability (UNEP, 2009). Greenpeace has made a evaluation conducted that the BOCOG and the Beijing government had created a positive legacy in terms of environmental initiative for the city (Greenpeace, 2008). The Beijing Olympics made a great environmental achievements, therefore, the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau and BOCOG won the first-ever IOC Award for Sport and the Environment for Asia at the 8th World Conference on Sport and the Environment in Vancouver (Benjamin, 2009). According to Managing Business Ethics, Triple Bottom Line was defined as the impacts of economic, social and environmental (Trevino Nelson, 2011). The triple bottom lint of the sustainable development referred to the simultaneous pursuit of economic prosperity, environmental quality and social equity. Economic Impact The Olympics always help to improve not a city, but also a countrys economy. Such mega-event requires considerable investments in infrastructural developments, sports venues, and other types of industries. Therefore, these will bring both short term and long term effects on the chinas economy and publicity. Beijing reached its highest economic growth rate of 12.8 percent, a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of USD 6,331, and the fixed assets investment of USD 3.527 million in 2007. Based on the criteria issued by the World Bank, Beijings socio-economic development is graded on a world ranking in the range of the upper-middle level, recognizable for example by the increase of the average annual wage of 109.4 percent from 2001 to 2007. For the Infrastructure Projects, according to the Beijing Olympic Action Plan, Beijings total investment in Olympic-related projects is expected to reach USD $180 billion and is divided into three different elements. The first part was used in the Olympic competition venues and the related facilities; the second was spent on citys infrastructural development; the third part was invested in projects, such as environmental protection and transportation. One of the largest projects was the enlargement of Beijings international airport, which became one of the worlds top five busiest airports during the Olympic season. In order to meet the high demand of air transportation a new terminal is being constructed amounting to a value of USD 2.1 billion, which will be the worlds largest terminal with a direct connection to the downtown area in 15 minute intervals. With the Number 3 Terminal being completed in February 2008, the three terminals of the airport will have a future total annual handling capacity of approximately 82 million passengers. Beijing has spent USD 700 million on upgrading its public transportation system, in order to avoid the traffic conjunctions during normal or rush hours. There are several projects helped to ensure the Olympic tourists enjoyed an easy, fast and safe travel from one sporting event to another. Six new expressways will link the downtown area and the airport as well as other cities of China. Six new subway and light railway lines will allow for better travel connection. Additionally, several bus lanes have been introduced whereby, during rush hour, all vehicles except for public buses must keep clear. All construction sites were using environmentally friendly technologies and measures. For example, all old buses replaced with new ones that possess updated catalytic converters. Recommendation Beijing should push the industrial technology to a cleaner production. Renewable energy technology as solar lighting, geothermal heating and solar PV systems should be promoted widely during the Game. Smart design and energy efficient technologies must be used as the building standards for new buildings. Although the BOCOG has introduced environmentally friendly policies guidelines for construction or purchasing materials, because it is not mandatory, companies may not follow the guidelines. Environmental Impact Improve infrastructure to both run the 2008 Green Olympics needs, the need for sustainable development to achieve the capital. For the environmental aspects, the BOCOG had set a comprehensive framework in order to coordinate all the sustainability projects. BOCOG started in early 2002 to design an Environmental Management System (EMS) complying with the international standard ISO 14001. (UNEP, 2009) The ISO 14001 standard is to establish an organized approach to reduce the impact of the environmental aspects which an organization has under its control. This standard helps the organizations to minimize their operational negative impacts on the environment (for example, air, waste, water), and continually to improve their environmental performance. The Committee passed the ISO 14001 certification audit in September 2005 and one year later was also certified according to the new 2004 release of the standard. Beijing has launched a new vehicle emission standard to EURO IV for the Olympics in order to improve the air quality. This emission standard is the strictest standard in the world. During the Games, 20% of the Olympic venue electricity was purchased from wind power station which supplies with clean wind sources. The first Beijing wind power generation station can generate 100 million KHz of electricity per which, that means this capacity can meet 100,000 families demand. 27 air quality sampling stations were set up, in order to monitor the index of sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM10). 18 temporary sampling stations were added during the Olympic Games. The Beijing air quality was improved by these measures. The air pollution was decreased by 50 percent in 2008, and SO2, CO, NO2 and PM10 were decreased respectively by 30%, 12%, 32% and 32% compared to1998. Beijing has built 14 sewage treatment plants and put in operation. The sewage treatment capacity rise from 320 million cubic metres in 2001 to 800 million cubic metres in 2008 and sewage treatment rate increased from 38 per cent to 90 per cent during the same period. By 2008, 57%of the citys waste water had been treated and reused. In addition, the citys forest coverage of more than 51.6%, the green coverage rate reached more than 43% of the urban centers, and the nature reserve area of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹8.18% of the total area of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹the city. (United Nations Environment Programme, 2009) Recommendation Although the BOCOG has introduced the Olympic timber purchasing environment guidelines, they lose the opportunity to introduce the internationally recognizable timber purchasing policy, for example Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards for construction material. The landfill development and waste incineration were the failures, for Beijing to use as an opportunity of the Game to move towards a zero-waste policy. Although Beijing had launched many long term measures to improve the citys air quality, they used temporary measures, for example reduced the vehicle numbers and industrial production were shut down. To make sure that during the Game the air quality meets the standards. Beijing could launched more clean measures to other cities, in order to improve the air quality and the air quality will meet the standards in long term. Social Impact Education (United Nations Environment Programme, 2009) BOCOG focused its projects on raising awareness of the environment in both primary and secondary schools, thereby targeting the younger generation of Chinese. The major educational initiatives include: The Beijing 2008 Primary and Secondary School Olympic Education Programme This program was worked with the Ministry of Education, 0.4 billion students involved and the aim of this program is to establish the Olympic Model Schools (to teach, practice and promote the value of Olympic). This program encourages the students to live in an environmentally friendly way. 200 Beijing schools out of 556 were nominated as Olympic Model Schools. The Reserve a Barrel of Water this Summer Initiative This project carried out in the primary schools. The aim is to develop initiatives of water saving and to promote the importance of water saving. Communication (United Nations Environment Programme, 2009) BOCOG has developed several initiatives to spread the message of environmental values among the general public. Among the major projects, it is worth highlighting: The Green Community and Green Home Campaign The aim of this project is to raise the environmental awareness among Beijing families and communities, for example to reduce the using the water and energy saving, waste sorting and green consumption. The Campaign launched in Beijing and 886 communities were involved by the end of 2006. The One Day, No Engine Sounds Campaign This project aim to encourage Beijing citizens to use public transport more than private cars, and to raise their awareness about the air and noise pollution. 504 institutions joined the Campaign after this has launched. The Beijing Green Map Initiative The project was developed by BOCOG and the Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, encourages Beijing citizens to label the environmental and cultural facilities around the city. The Green Olympics, Green Action Team BOCOG was launched this team in 2004, and the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau to promote Olympic environmental values, sustainable development principles, good energy saving and water saving practices and environmental awareness in general. Lectures and promotion activities were hold by this team in different places, for example, in schools, factories, universities, libraries and communities Olympic sponsorship maker Coca-Cola and Samsung are each given a commitment to the environment. The Coca-Cola Company has committed that natural refrigerant was used by all Olympic venues freezers and vending machines, excluding the climate change will increase greenhouse gases HFCs (HFCs). Samsungs commitment that all Olympic series phones SGH-F268 phone will not contain toxic material polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominates flame retardants (BFR). Recommendation All the Olympics sponsors who using the refrigeration equipments such as Coca-Cola, McDonalds, etc, failed to seize the opportunity not to use hydrogen fluorocarbons (HFCs) natural refrigeration equipment. Electronic equipment sponsors, such as Lenovo and Panasonic missed this opportunity, as they failed to provide products which contain without polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominates flame retardants (BFRs) and other toxic substances. Conclusion Beijing should continue the successful achievements on environment after the Olympic Games. Beijing had developed mass transportation and to implement the environmental policies and regulations are encouraging signs that the government understand the environment more. The Greenpeace urges that when the Chinese cities are devising economic development policies, they should consider environmental protection. As China is one of the fast growing economies country in the world and now China is facing serious environmental challenges, the environmental achievements of the Beijing Olympics, especially the long term infrastructural improvements, need to be spread to other cities in china.

Reproductive Health Nursing | Reflection

Reproductive Health Nursing | Reflection One of the important domains of nursing care is to counsel the clients to promote their health and well-being. Counseling can be done for different purposes including personal hygiene antenatal care, and Family planning. Counseling about family planning is a challenging skill which is learnt by nurses during their training period and later on they use their skill as one of the essential parts of their job to ensure that client’s reproductive health is maintained. During my reproductive health community rotation, I came a cross with a 33 year old female, having 3 children and was living with her husband and in laws. I started my interview by greeting her and her family members and started doing family assessment by asking her about health status of the family members. During the interview, I came to know that the lady has one son and two daughters with the gap of hardly one year. Due to such little space between the children, the mother was not able to breast feed her children in an appropriate way. As I moved further during the interview and tried to explore the reason of least gap between her children. She explained this phenomenon by saying that however she used the contaceptive pills and injections to space her upcomimg pregnancy but the usage was not appropriate and she could not continue the pills and injections due to side effects. Due to this interrupted usage of short term contarceptive methods, she ended up with a preganncy without a n appropriate gap. Moreover, based on literature it has been found that shor term methods like condoms, injections and pills are prone to failure during typical usage and due to incorrect usage (Kost, Singh, Vaughan, Trussell, Bankole, 2008), while failure of long term methods like depot preparations or intrauterine devices is less and these methods are safe, with few side-effects and have with high continuation rate (Searle, 2014). There are multiple reasons for method failure including incorrect or inconsistent usage or uncertain effectiveness of the chosen method (Trussell Portman, 2013). When I asked her future plans about the usage of family planning methods, she was found to be very willing and ambitious for using appropriate methods for planning her next pregnancy with an appropriate gap. However, I got confused for a moment and became hesitant about discussion on such sensitive topic with my client but I advised her to use male method (condom) and she said her husband had been using this method but it was also not that much effective. As she said this sentence, my level of confidence went down and I got diverted from the actual topic of interest and started asking her about other health problems. In this way, the interview with client ended and I recognized that I was unable to help my client. After coming back from this community rotation, on one hand, I was happy to found a cooperative client who helped me to complete the assessment form and on the other hand, I was dissatisfied as I wasn’t able to ease my client to resolve her concern. Although, I was aware about family planning methods that might had helped my client but my counseling skills were not up to mark, therefore I could not help my client to develop insight for her problems. Furthermore, I could not prove to be a helpful person for her family as I could not address the needs of the family despite knowing that the client was supposed to be counseled for family planning in an appropriate way. Although, the concept of holistic approach for a client is comprehensible from theoretical aspect but sometimes it becomes difficult to apply the same concept in real life. This meeting with my client helped me to reflect on my limitations to assess the needs and counsel the family in an appropriate way. When I reflected , I identified several reasons of inappropriate counseling. The important and foremost reason was that it was my first experience therefore I wasn’t enough confident about the appropriate way of counseling particularly for such sensitive topics like Family Planning. In addition to this, I also found that before counseling the clients on such sensitive topics, one need to have appropriate skills and mastery which were lacking in me during the time of interview. I also realized that I had advised mother to use a family planning method which was not basically counseling rather a suggestion which was not enough to develop insight in my client about her problem. Secondly, I was not aware about different types of family planning methods, therefore I could not convince my client to use the methods which were suitable for her as I had not learned much about family planning and nor I have visited any family planning center at that point in time. Moreover, being a stude nt I was not comfortable to discuss such issues with my client which was related to reproductive and sexual health. In addition to this, I should have built strong rapport with my client that would have definitely assisted me to resolve the concern of my client. Apart from this, I should have allowed my client to deal with her feelings and make her own informed choices. This could have been supported by in-depth assessment of my client regarding the use of short term methods like pills, condoms and injections. This could have helped me to do a root cause analysis of method failure and which in turn would have helped me to come up with suitable solutions for her. I could have taken support from my theory class content regarding family planning before setting time with the client in the community. Moreover, I should have involved the husband during the counseling because pregnancy planning is not entire responsibility of woman herself but it is the joint responsibility of husband and wife. The support from partner is very important for adapting any contraceptive method. Quality of couple’s relationship and inter-spousal communication and its effect on contraceptive use has also been supported by literature (Akanbi,et al., 2011). Moreover spousal communication has been identified as a good predictor of contraceptive use and fertility preferences (Link, 2011). Secondly, the involvement of expert counselor of family planning would have become an excellent approach and I should have taken some ideas or skills from my reproductive health faculty before visiting the client herself. Besides this, integrated counseling frameworks of family planning such as GATHER or REDA frameworks could have applied practically in the community (The Acquire Project, 2008). These frameworks guide the health care providers to explore the problems of client systematically without breeching their confidentiality. Moreover, it also helps clients to make informed choices for themselves after having the in-depth knowledge about the suitable family planning methods. Due to my insufficient knowledge and experience, I could not apply these frameworks practically. Moreover, I should’ve done a mock exercise of counseling by taking help from my faculty who must have helped me by providing a platform for mock before going to community. For future, I would try to do the in depth assessment of the needs of a client by involving spouse as well. Moreover, I would try to get the expert opinion regarding family planning counseling by integrating different approaches of family planning counseling. This would enhance my knowledge about family planning counseling skills. Additionally, I would try to discuss such sensitive issues with the client by having enough knowledge about the family planning methods. I would also try to build a strong rapport with the client in order to discuss the issues related to sexual and reproductive health very openly and freely. In conclusion, I was very much satisfied because I was able to reflect on the whole event and also identified my limitations. This whole reflection and critical thinking helped me to develop future plan which would assist me in future to counsel the women regarding family planning methods in an appropriate way. Skilled Labour: Types and Shortage in Malaysia Construction Skilled Labour: Types and Shortage in Malaysia Construction The skilled labour in the construction industry generally refers to those who were being trained within a long period and they have brought some specialized technical industry skills in advancing the construction projects. Normally the works requiring the labour who has high degree of manual skill. The labour can be considered as a skilled labour if they are able to fulfill the requirement. Types of Skilled Labour According to the Construction Industry Skill Standards, CIDB (1998), there are many types of skilled labour. The following types are: Concretor Plasterer Bar Bender Carpenter Tiler Bricklayer Scalffolder Mobile Crane Operator Tower Crane Operator Earthwork Plant Operator Concretor A concretor builds the concrete structures parts such as columns, beams, floors and walls. The concrete can be mixed by hand or in concrete mixer or utilize ready-mixed concrete. The duties shall include the following: Identify materials for concrete mixture Pour concrete into formwork Mix concrete Place and compact concrete Perform curing of concrete Plasterer The duties of a plasterer at level 1 are to apply one coat of various kinds of plaster to walls as a finishes. The other duties include the following: Apply cement plaster to flat wall Apply cement render finish coat to flat walls Apply cement plaster to internal and external angles Apply finish coat to internal and external angles At level 2, they are necessary to apply a protective and decorative covering of plaster or render to the surfaces of building. The other duties include the following: Prepare overhead surfaces of plastering Fixing wire mesh to exterior surfaces before plastering Install plaster cornice and mouldings Plastering to overhead surfaces Apply granolithic or textured finish Bar Bender After cut and bend the reinforcement bars then bar benders are try to fix them into the forms of concrete. They also have to combine the bars together with wires or fasteners or by welding. After that, place the bars in forms and fixes them in position of reinforces concrete with wire mesh. The others duties include the following: Prepare tools and materials Fabrication of steel Install steel bars and wire mesh Carpenter The works include cutting, notching, boring, sinking, pelleting, fitting, trimming, mitreing, halving, morticing, tenoning, dovetailing, scarfing and wedging and for all ends, splayed edges, short lengths and temporary supports. The others duties include the following: Prefabricated the forms and fixes them into the right position Set out the correct position for fixing the forms Prepare any temporary support for the forms Dismantle the forms Tiler A tiler at level 1 has to place tiles to surface walls and floors according to specified designs which may include the process of applying plaster coat and cement mortar layer. The tiles shall be laid in rows and tapped them into place. Next, align the rows of tiles by using the spirit level. He also requires lying paving stones, bricks, and wood blocks. The others duties include the following: Apply finish coat to floor rendering Apply screed to receive tile Prepare vertical backing surface for wall tiling Set out and lay tiles on walls and floors Perform rendering and apply backing surface to lay the floor tiles Set out and lay paving on base During level 2, the tasks of a tiler will be more complicated. The tiler has to set more complex mosaic panels on walls, prepare and sets marble blocks, installs and repairs the parquet flooring and applies terrazzo finish to floors. The others duties include the following: Set out and lay tiles to soffit Set out and lay parquet and polyvinyl chloride tiles Set out and lay cast in-situ terrazzo Fix tiles to a curved wall Spreading and levelling of mortar mix Cutting and trimming units Perform polishing and grinding Bricklayer A bricklayer is responsible to lay bricks and blocks (except stones) by using various kinds of bonds in order to form the walls, partitions, arches and other structures at level 1. The others duties include the following: Worksite preparation Construct opening of brick wall Construct concrete masonry structures Construct attached and isolated pier They also work for more complex decorative structures at level 2 which may include repair to existing brickwork. The others duties include the following: Construct brick steps Construct glass block panel Construct curved wall Construct hollow block reinforced wall and column Construct complex arch Scaffolder A general scaffolder performs his basic skills and techniques for level 1. A scaffolder is to erect and dismantle various types of metal scaffolding such as platforms, upright and horizontal members. The others duties include the following: Selection and inspection of equipments Erection and dismantling of scaffold Maintenance of scaffold A tube and coupler scaffolder at level 2 is to erects and dismantle metal scaffolding which also include the following: Cantilevered and spurred scaffolds Cantilevered crane loading platforms Mast climbers Additional remarks: This standard applies to every metal tube scaffolding not exceeding 40 m in height and prefabricated scaffolding not exceeding 15 m in height. A Professional Engineers verification is requiring for the design and construction of scaffolding beyond those heights. Competency as general Scaffolder is an additional requirement in order to comply with these standards Mobile Crane Operator A mobile crane operator operates crane mounted on wheel or tracks which can be driven under his own control. The others duties include the following: Pre-operational check Post operational check Maintain the operation and maintenance of crane Tower Crane Operator As a tower crane operator needs to operate the crane that consists of a turning metal tower which moves on rails and equips at the top with a mobile or fixed jib. Normally the crane is supported the hoisting equipment. The others duties include the following: Pre-operational check Post operational check Operation and maintenance of the crane Earthwork Plant Operator An earthwork plant operator has to carry out the power driven machine mounted on wheels or crawler tracks equipped with all the movable shovel, grad bucket and etc. This machine is used during the excavation and motion of the earth, rock, and sand. The others duties include the following: Pre-operational check on machinery Ensure the operation of the equipment Factors that caused the Labour Shortage Problem Introduction The problem of labour shortage has being existed since 1970s. According to the Master Builders Association Malaysia (MBAM), with the implementation of 9th Malaysia Plan (9MP) and the letters of intent has been awarded to get projects under way, Malaysian construction industry has began to surface problem of labour shortage. We must pay more attention on the serious impacts that caused by this problems and appropriate actions must be taken at once in order to solve this problem effectively. Factors There are several factors that influence to the poor participation of labour in construction industry. The strong growth of the economy, poor image, lack of training system, large number of foreign labour were contribute to the shortage of labour in construction industry. Those factors are being listed below and adopted from the MBAM report, previous newspaper and the articles. Working Conditions and environment Most of the labours in the construction industry are worked in full time, and sometimes the working hours are more than 40 hours in a week. In 2008, there are about 18% of labour have worked 45 hours or more per week. They have to work until midnight if there are under special condition. They have no rest day in weekends or even public holiday. The construction labour usually does not get paid if they are unable to work due to the inclement weather. There are less people willing to participate in the construction works because of the working environment and the condition. According to MBAM report, the working environment for the skilled labour in the construction industry can be considered as not good enough. For instance, the location of the construction site is unstable and many of the buildings are only use for temporary purpose. So, they have to often move their dwelling place once the construction project has been completed. Therefore, the environment of the site is getting the severe air pollution and it will affect our health. In addition, some of the construction site is located at undeveloped area that lack of basic amenities. Other than that, majority of labour are work direct expose to the sun in the construction site. There are not so many people that capable work under this environment. Poor Welfare in Construction Industry Poor welfare is one of the factors that caused problem of labour shortage. This problem will occur when there are irresponsible contractors omitted to take out welfare such as SOCSO or EPF. Basically, welfare shall provide to the labour in accordance with the requirements. For example, contractors should provide comfortable temporary accommodations for the labour who works at outstation, but the contractors never fulfil their obligations and thus provide them a dirty and small place. Most of the people will take care what are the welfare they can get from the company. Once they cant get any protection from the company, they are not willing to join the construction industry. Government Policy in restricted the number of foreign labour Moreover, government policy in restricted the numbers of foreign labour join into construction industry is also one of the factors that caused the labour shortage problem happen. According to the Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr Fong Chan Onn said in Star Newspaper on 19 July 2000, the Malaysia planned to reduce the number of foreign labour drastically over the coming next few years. As a government policy that accordance with Berita Harian government policy on 29 February 2000, Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, it stated that one company not allowed hiring foreign labour which more than one third of their total number of company staff and each labour will not require to work more than eight years in Malaysia. So far according to The Sun on 1st July 1999, Prof. Datuk Abdul Rahman Abdullah, chief executive of Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), there are not much Malaysian are interested to join in construction industry and almost 75% labours are come from other countries. Further to this, according to Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on 20th May 2010, Malaysia will raise the levy on foreign workers in 2011, after having deferred the implementation last year. He said that the quantum of increase would vary based on the specific sectors which employ the foreign workers. After that, the policy is to reduce our dependency on foreign workers and this will be done in stages in the long run. According to the 2006/2007 Economic Report released on September 2006, Malaysia aims to reduce the number of foreign workers in the country from 1.84 million to 1.5 million by 2010. It is envisaged that by that time, only 200,000 foreign workers will remains in the construction industry. Thus through this government policy, Malaysias construction industry will have a big problem on this labour shortage. Sources: Ministry of Home Affairs Malaysia, personal correspondence. Department of Immigration, Pusat Bandar Damansara, Kota Kinabalu Kuching the Deaprtment of Labour Sarawak (letter from the department to writer dated 14 Mac 2005) Economy of Malaysia The economic that Malaysia has seen for last decade is one of the leading causes of the worker shortage. The economic always play an important role in the need for labour. There are many construction activities will be carried out during the peak period of economy, therefore the need for the labour is relatively become higher. On the contrary, the problem of labour shortage will occur when the economic downturn because the construction works will be delayed and suspended where the client is not capable to complete the progress payments. The labour cannot get the daily income which fixed by the client. Thus many of them will migrate to the other countries where necessary the construction labour work at their construction industry. Furthermore, while the economic is recovered, we may also face the problem in recruiting the workforce in construction industry since majority of them are already adapted their new working environment in other countries. Insufficient training system In Malaysia, the professional basic training is being deficiency. According to the 2005 Labour Shortage Action Plan, it became evident that the labour shortage problem is multilateral and has consequence from a wide range of interlinking factors. In addition, the learning and the training system that introduced by construction industry are not flexible to meet the changes of the progress of construction works at once. There is no opportunity for the unskilked labour being trained so that only the skilled labours are capable to carry out the more complicated works during construction works. According to the research information, it reveals that only 45% of construction companies involve learning and development training after all the major decisions have been made or during the final stages of the project. A further 9% do not involve in learning and development training at all. Other 27% of companies involve learning and developments training at the inception planning stages and in a further 19% of are introduced it at the initial implementation stage. Young Generations unwilling to take part in construction industry The poor image of construction industry can be defined into 3D syndrome attached to the industry. There are dirty, dangerous and difficult. In respect on this 3D syndrome, local youth would rather be unemployed despite working in the construction industry. The construction industry was considered dirty and it is unsatisfactory because most of the construction site is located at the undeveloped area and normally lack of basic amenities or public services. Most of the facilities which located at the construction site do not have well practices and also not comply under the requirements of governing construction activities. In Malaysia, there are minor issues those accidents on construction site. It is not only involve labour, but also cause badly injured and even death to the general public. All of this accident has results on poor participation of labour in construction industry. In certain circumstances, the construction activities can be very complicated due to the differentiation in type of the project as well as the surrounding project environment. Majority of youths are difficult to perform well during construction works. Moreover, it has the difficulties in maintaining the cooperative between the staff and the project team members. The youngsters with high level of educations are prefer to work under a good working condition such as office work rather than to work at site that always exposed to the sun.

Essay --

Reflection 2 Yassir Shahriar 4490353 Professional development is a subject about understanding and using those effectively from my prospective. Besides it enhances a vital skill called â€Å"critically thinking†. Since the course started my expectations were always at the higher level. After the long run with my team and my teacher, I personally believe that I have successfully met my expectations from this course. As I was working with my teams it was really important for me to adopt some strategies and use them accurately. I have actually done that. Hill, C (2007) said, â€Å"A group is an association of two or more individuals who have a shared sense of identity and who interact with each other in structured ways on the basis of a common set of expectations about each other’s behavior†(Hill, C, 2007, International Business, McGraw Hill/Irwin, New York, p-94). Thus my first strategy was we will discuss each of us points and everyone will take them accordingly. I thought that we have make things easier that’s why I arranged a lot of meetings. Moreover I was always connected via internet to...

Albert Einstein :: essays research papers

“The search for truth is more precious than its possession'; Albert Einstein, also known as “The Father of The Nuclear Age,'; perhaps one of the most brilliant minds ever to exist was a very quiet man. “Einstein’s Theory of Relativity revolutionized scientific brought with new conceptions of time, space, mass, motion, and gravitation'; (Unknown, World Book Inc.)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Albert Einstein contributed more than any other scientist to the modern vision of physical reality. His theory of relativity is held as human thought of the highest quality. (http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/Mathematicians/Einstein.html) Interested in human affairs and was one of the first supporters of a World Government, and had great compassion for people who were politically oppressed or economically oppressed. He was also fond of classical music, and was a great player of the violin. He was born to Hermann and Paulina Koch Einstein on March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Wà ¼rttemberg Germany. As a young boy at the age of five his father Hermann, showed him a little pocket compass. Einstein was deeply impressed by the mysterious behavior of the compass, because it always pointed at the same direction no matter what direction he was holding the compass itself. He later said “something deeply hidden had to be behind things.'; He attended public school in Munich, Germany and also in Aarau, Switzerland. Later Einstein Studied mathematics and physics at the Swiss Polytechnic institute in Zurich. From 1902 until 1909, Einstein worked as an examiner at the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. This job gave him much time for scientifi c research. Einstein became a Swiss Citizen in 1905. In 1933 while visiting the U.S. and England, Nazi Germany took seize of Einstein’s property and deprived his of his citizenship. Einstein on the other hand had been invited to study at Princeton, NJ at the Institute for Advanced Study. Einstein gladly accepted the invitation and lived there until his death in 1955. His influential letter to President Roosevelt on August 2, 1939 started the Manhattan Project and through this project, without his influence many more Allied Power lives would have been lost in WWII   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Albert Einstein’s study of Physics and Mathematics was ingenious. Although I do not know much about the great mathematicians of the 20th century, I feel as if Albert Einstein contributed most to modern math than any other modern mathematician that I know of. His study of Physics and the progress he made in the understanding of physics gave him world-renowned attention.

Argumentative Paper †Abortion Essay

Abortion is a huge problem throughout the United States. It needs to be stopped. Abortion can be defined as the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy. Abortion is not justified for three reasons. One, having an abortion is taking away an innocent life. Two, there are not many reasons that make it okay to kill an unborn baby. Three, every child needs to be given a chance to live, because every child is wanted. To begin with, having an abortion is taking away an innocent life. It’s not the baby’s fault that it was brought into the world, and it should not be punished for that. Every month, more lives are aborted than the total amount of lives taken in the Vietnam War. Statistics show that 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 babies are aborted annually. The bible tells us that God hates hands that shed innocent blood. God views the unborn as human and precious. He says, in Jeremiah 1:5 of the bible,† Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.† (Wilson) Next, there are not many reasons that make it okay to abort a child. People may give the following reasons that they think make it ok to have an abortion: rape, deformed children, or that the mother can’t afford a child. In the case of rape, abortion is an act of violence that kills a living human being. The circumstances surrounding the conception do not change this simple reality. In the case of deformed children, there are children of all ages, and adults too, who are alive today, and are living with diseases and disabilities. These physical limitations do not make them any less human. If the mother can’t afford the child, there is a solution. There are many crisis pregnancy care centers that offer financial assistance to pregnant women, and then afterwards they will place them up for adoption if necessary. (â€Å"Poverty, rape, disability†) Finally, every child needs to be given a chance to live his/her life, because every child is a wanted child. Whether the parent wants the child, there are still many people in the world who would love to adopt a child. The National Council for Adoption states that there are â€Å"between one and two million infertile and fertile couples and individuals who would like to adopt children.† There are also a large number of couples whose hearts are ready to adopt terminally ill babies, including babies with AIDS. Adoption is a responsible, helpful solution to abortion. Although the mother still has to carry the baby for the duration of her pregnancy, she is also able to give the baby a chance to live his/her life. No child should be given up because every child is a wanted child. (Gans) In conclusion, adoption is a huge problem in the United States. It is not justified for many reasons. Having an abortion is taking away an innocent life. There are not many reasons that make it okay to have an abortion. Every child in this world is a wanted child. Whether the parent of the child wants the child there is another option other than abortion. Adoption is a great option that saves a child’s life. Works Cited Wilson, Gregg. â€Å"ABORTION AMERICA’S #1 KILLER.† http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Abortion%20is%20Murder/abortion_americas_killer.html. Web. 19. Nov.2012. â€Å"Poverty, rape, disability or â€Å"unwantedness† do not morally justify abortion.† http://www.abort73.com/abortion/common_objections/. 2005-2012.Web. 19. Nov. 2012. Gans, Olivia. â€Å"Every child a wanted child and other social arguments.† http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/facts/responseargument3.html.1998. Web.19.Nov.2012.