Goodnight Mister Tom Essay

Evacuating children to the country was seen as a kind and protective action to prevent them being killed or injured in the blitz. However, for some children, the move could be negative and frightening whilst for those such as William Beech it would prove a beneficial event. When the evacuees first arrive in Little Weirwold it is a massive change for many â€Å"They all looked bewildered and exhausted†. For many children the countryside was quite foreign to them. Tom exclaims to Willie â€Å"‘Ent you never seen a cow?† There are many differences between the city and the country and all need to be adjusted to. The noise level and number of people around are two things that cause Tom to feel â€Å"totally dazed† on arrival in London. All families are unique but although this can be a positive, for some it may prove negative. Despite missing his parents, Zach had a fairly happy time with Dr and Mrs Little. Robert and Christine King were, sadly, made to work too hard to the detriment of their schooling. â€Å"Robert and Christine’s mother †¦ and took them back to London. †¦ she felt they were being used as unpaid labour†. For Willie it was an extremely positive experience. Tom treats him as a caring parent and by the end of the novel – without even thinking – Will says â€Å"I’m sorry, Dad† and Tom is thrilled too â€Å" â€Å"He called me Dad† †¦ overwhelmed with happiness† For a child such as Willie, the contrast between home and Little Weirwold, the contrast between his mother and Mr Tom could not have been more extreme. His mother beat him only â€Å"soft beatings† and saw him as being â€Å"wicked †¦[ enough to be] sent to an ‘ome fer bad boys†. Willie arrives at Little Weirwold his body is covered with the evidence of his mother’s abuse. â€Å"a large multicoloured bruise on his shin and a swollen red sore beside †¦ Willie’s arms and legs were covered in bruises, weals and sores†. Tom, on the other hand, doesn’t â€Å"know nothin’ about children† but does â€Å"know enuff not to beat ‘em and make ‘em that scared.† Little Weirwold is also the place that nurtures Will in other ways. It is where he makes his first friends Zach, Carrie and Ginnie and George. This contrasts sharply with London as there he had â€Å"no friends as such. Bullied and ragged a lot by the kids†. Will’s experience of school and teachers is also vastly different. In London the teacher â€Å"didn’t like† Will and allowed the others to call him â€Å" Sillie Sissie Willie†. Tom patiently teaches Will his letters and at school he is also taught and nurtured by Mrs Black and Mrs Hartridge. The play is an opportunity for Will and once Miss Thorne sees his aptitude, she encourages and nurtures it, asking him to take the role of Scrooge. Overall, the evacuation of London children to the country in the second world war was neither cruel nor kind – for each child it was different. In Zach’s case he was safe in the country but was killed in a bombing when he went back to London. For Willie it was a positive experience in so many ways as he transforms from â€Å"Sillie Sissie Willie† to â€Å"Will†. Without the evacuation and Tom’s affection for him this transformation is unimaginable.

Psychology of Love

of Triangular Love Theory and The Effects on Our Brain Merry Alijoski College of New Rochelle Author Note This paper was prepared for Psychology 101, taught by Professor Hertler. Abstract This paper presents the classification of love in Robert Sternberg’s triangular love theory and how the brain falls in love within the three components of love. The research findings hold significance to people who are or have been in love and have interest in classifying their love and understanding how they love.In this paper, research is cited to attempt and solve the biological mystery behind love and how love can be broken down into components. The brain plays a major role in loving other people and the components help define our relationships with the opposite sex. To gather information and results on this topic, I analyzed several books and articles on the psychology, evolution, and brain reactions of love. As a result of completing the above procedure, studies show how dopamine create s happy feelings. Sternberg’s triangular love theory provides components that have scores which increase and decrease over time.The larger implication of my findings reveals how love is complex and so is the biological process of it. Keywords: love, brain, components Introduction What is love? The definition is infinite. In history, scholars have primarily studied the nature of love. For instance, in 1886, the German pioneering sexologist and physician Richard von Krafft-Ebing classified five types of love. These types were known as true love, sentimental love, platonic love, friendship, and sensual love. Albert Ellis (1954) suggested further love varieties: â€Å"Love itself . . . ncludes many different types and degrees of affection, such as conjugal love, parental love, familial love, religious love, love of humanity, love of animals, love of things, self-love, sexual love, obsessive-compulsive love, etc. † (p. 101). Love is very complex and has been broken down int o many theories such as the triangular love theory, types of love, and styles of love by Robert Sternberg. In terms of the biological aspect of love, it is extremely difficult to explain. Discoveries show how the brain processes though the body when a man or woman selects a mate.Results suggest that the â€Å"chemistry† of attraction between people comes from chemical processes within the brain. Components of Triangular Love Theory Robert Sternberg (1986, 1998) identified three terms of three basic components that create the vertices of the love triangle, known as intimacy, passion, and decision/commitment. The intimacy component refers to close, connected, and bonded feelings in loving relationships (Sternberg, 1989, p. 120). The passionate component has the motivational drive that can lead to such romantic and physical attraction, sexual consummation, and related wonders.Many factors contribute to passion such as the need for sexual arousal, self-esteem, association with pe ople, power over others, obedience to others, and to achieve one’s potential. The decision and commitment component consists of two aspects, one short term and one long term. In a short term relationship, the decision one loves someone. Long term relationships consist of commitment to maintain that love. In most cases, decision will encourage commitment. If the love components begin to combine, then eight subsets that represent the classification of love are created.These eight types are extremes for reality. On occasion, someone would have an instance in which there is passion with no intimacy at all. The following represents the triangular love theory including the eight subsets. Figure 1. 1 Sternberg’s triangular theory of love represents the three components of love and they are shown in the vertices of the triangle. The different types of love formed through various combinations of the components are in the brackets of the triangle. _______________________________ ______________________________________________________ SOURCE: From Sternberg, R.J. (1988). Triangulating love. In R. J. Sternberg & M. L. Barnes (Eds. ), The psychology of love (pp. 119-138). Each component of love has feelings that we experience when meeting a person who can be a potential long term mate. With the use of different chemicals, the brain regulates these feelings. To stimulate long term commitment all sections must be involved. However, this often does not happen. â€Å"While these brain circuits and emotions work with each other in a safe and fulfilling love relationship, they can and do function independently of one another.You can be bonded with one person, infatuated with another and have sex with yet a third person† (Schaeffer, pg 27). Schaeffer’s statement connects to the three-brain system theory. The main idea of the theory is that there are three sections of the brains of humans have developed along with the brain of previous animal ancestors. O ur brains are not too different from animals because the main difference is that our brain functions on three different levels. Such aspects of the human brain are reasons for diverse attraction cues and how they vary based on the person when choosing a mate. IntimacyIn detail, the intimacy component alone, which is identified as liking, occurs in certain instances. Such liking occurs when someone experiences only the intimacy component of love during the absence of the passion and decision/commitment components. The person often feels closeness, a bond, and warmth toward each other, without intense passion or long term commitment. The passion component, unlike the intimacy component, has passion without commitment and intimacy. Intimacy or liking, associates with attraction and how the sense of sight allows one to see the image of an attraction person, creating an effect on the brain. The chemical that results from physical attraction (or lust) is phenyl ethylamine or PEA. It is a naturally occurring amphetamine substance from within the brain that stimulates and increases physical and emotional energy. The initial attraction between two individuals causes one to produce more PEA which results in those dizzying feelings associated with romantic love. Another substance that is released by PEA is dopamine. This chemical increases a desire to be physically close and intimately connected. When these chemicals are being secreted in larger doses, they send signals from the brain to the other organs of the body.If you wonder why you or someone is attracted to the â€Å"wrong† person, it may be because you are high on the physical response to these substances, which overwhelm your ability to use your head and exercise â€Å"good judgment and common sense† (True Love and Chemistry). Attraction is extremely powerful and it can be the source of a long lasting relationship. Research shows that signals that come from the body can have an effect of a personâ €™s feelings of attraction for another. Psychologists Donald G. Dutton and Arthur P. Aron created three experiments which show a relationship between strong levels of anxiety and attraction.Male passersby’s were communicated either on a fear-arousing suspension bridge or a non-fear arousing bridge by a beautiful female evaluator who asked them to fill out questionnaires. Aside from the control group, there were results proving that more anxiety was produced during the experimental bridge. In other words, attraction caused anxiety. Passion The passion component alone, classified as infatuated, is commonly phrased as being â€Å"love at first sight†. In this particular component, love is changed into obsession by treating the partner as an idealized object rather than as him or himself.There is a cure for infatuation and one must get to know the object of one’s infatuation very well. An alternative solution is to become convinced that one has absolutely no hop e of attaining the object of one’s infatuation. Infatuations major problem is that it tends to be obsessive. People experiencing infatuation tend to steadily focus on the love, which causes one to waste time, energy, and motivation from other significant things in one’s life. On Robert’s triangle, infatuated love relationships form in an asymmetrical figure.In research (Sternberg & Barnes 1985) reveals that the higher the degree of asymmetry, the increasing chance that a relationship is prone to distress. The passion component, or infatuation stage, is correlated with being intoxicated. These feelings originate from chemical of dopamine. PEA is a substance that discharges dopamine and when we fall in love our brain directs signals for additional dopamine. People are in a happy state of mind due to dopamine’s effects on us. These feelings are common when we have â€Å"butterflies† or we are â€Å"weak in the knees† during the time we are arou nd the person we love.A study created in 2002 by an anthropologist named Helen Fisher, revealed these feelings due to the distribution of dopamine. Fisher gathered 40 young participants who were madly in love. Half were loved in return, while the other half was experiencing love rejection. Each participant was placed in a MRI with a picture of their beloved and one of an acquaintance. They all stared at the photo of their sweetheart for 30 seconds, then after a distraction, they would look at the acquaintance photo for another 30 seconds. Everyone was switching back and forth for approximately 12 minutes.This study discovered that the photos of the participant’s sweetheart’s created the distribution of dopamine into various sections of the brain including the posterior dorsal caudate and its tail, which are the main parts of the brains system for reward and motivation. In cases where dopamine levels are high the feeling of falling in love is rapid and powerful, causing an obsession to occur with the person who gives them that feeling. The increasing levels of dopamine explain why people long for the feeling that loved one give them. Decision/commitmentOne of the most meaningless components has to be the decision/commitment component alone, known as empty love. The empty love forms as a result from someone simply making a decision to love one another without intimacy or passion being present. Usually this type of love is found in motionless relationships and marriages that have lost the attraction and emotional support for one another. Lazarus (1985) identifies that when marriage is solely based on commitment, the other missing components are very difficult to restore in the marriage.Empty love is known for being one-sided in the triangle. After Sternberg explained the components in an individual manner, he began combining the components and created different forms of love. Commitment is connected to how the human brain correlates with reproductio n. We are biologically made to reproduce and carry on genes. â€Å"As far as your genes are concerned, your principal job while you're alive is to conceive offspring, bring them to adulthood and then obligingly die so you don't consume resources better spent on the young. Anything that encourages you to reed now and breed plenty gets that job done† (The Science of Romance). These drives are contributed to the process of selecting a partner with the help of biological cues. Today’s society refers this process to â€Å"romance† and a feeling of â€Å"love†. Our society has changed the drives for commitment with others. There is an excess amount of time devoted to the process of love instead of reproducing children. Commitment is a significant factor for having healthier babies but the societies today are focusing on how and why people have decided to commit to one spouse. Kinds of LoveRomantic love is formed through the combination of intimacy and passion. People who experience romantic love have a physical attraction and emotions for one another. For example, a summer love can demonstrate romantic love, but there is not a real chance for it to last beyond the summer. Such lovers feel an intense passion for one another and feel that they can bare their souls to one another as well. A counter argument is given by Hartfield and Walster (1981) by stating that romantic love does not differ from infatuation. Many possibilities may occur in such a love.Romantic lovers can realize that they may or may not have many things in common. In some cases, a friendship can easily change into a romantic love, due to the admiration for one another and the passion that draws them together. Companionable love results from the combination of intimacy and decision/commitment components of love. Companionate love is identified as a long-term committed friendship. The passion goes away although the intimacy remains. Most people are happy with this type of lo ve. However, some people find it difficult living without some kind of romance going on.As a solution, people might have affairs to feed their hunger for such romance. Fatuous love requires the combination of passion and the decision/commitment components of love. Hollywood courtships experience fatuous love most of time. Once the passion wears out, commitment is left. However, commitment requires a lot of time and energy to develop. People involved in fatuous love think that marriage is heaven and a solution to all their worries and concerns. They are not aware of what is required to maintain a marriage. These people sacrifice a lot for passion and lack intimacy.The combination of intimacy, passion, and commitment forms consummate love. All components being present in consummate love allow people to strive for this type of love, especially those in romantic relationships. Having this love can be extremely difficult, but maintaining this love is far more challenging. We do not seek consummate love because we have the tendency to reserve it for those that have much more meaning for us. The following chart shows Sternberg’s typology of the love relationships. ————————————————- Table 1. Sternberg’s Typology of Love Relationships Love Component ___________________________ Kind of Love Relationship Intimacy Passion Decision/Commitment Nonlove Low Low Low Liking High Low Low Infatuation Low High Low Empty love Low Low High Romantic love High High Low Companionate love High Low High Fatuous love Low High High Consummate love High High High ______________________________________________________________________________ NOTE: According to Sternberg (e. . , 1986), the three basic components of love—intimacy, passion, and decision/commitment—combine to produce eight different types of love relationship. For example, infatuation-based relationships are characterized by relatively high levels of passion but relatively low levels of intimacy and commitment. Evidence for Sternberg’s Triangular Love Theory Sternberg designed a questionnaire, the Sternberg Triangular Love SCALE (STLS), in order to measure the components of love in his theory. Few studies were done on the scale alone (e. g. Sternberg, 191987, 1997; Whitley, 1993). The scale has proven to have good measures of the components, particularly of passion and commitment. Scores were stable for up to two months for the same relationship. Sternberg made assumptions that over time the scores will change. In one study, there were 204 adult participants between the ages 18 to 68; 65 percent were married (Acker & Davis, 1992). On average, the relationships were going for 9. 5 years. As Sternberg predicted, the scores of commitment raised within relationships that shifted from dating to marriage.Robert’s prediction of intimacy decreasing over time was also proven in the study. However, two different measures of intimacy increased over time. A different study assessed German adults for their relationship between the three components, sexual activity, and satisfaction (Grau & Kimpf, 1993). In the theory, it is predicted that the measurement of passion should be strongly correlated to sexual activity, but the results prove that intimacy is closely related to sexual behavior and sexual satisfaction. Conclusions and Future StudyThe preceding information matters because love is hard to define and varies for others, which makes Sternberg’s theory an informative model of all types of relationships. An addition to all the components, information on how the brain works while falling in love, allows people to understand the biological process of love. Love can be classified in many forms and the brain helps select our mates based on the innate genetics of needing to reproduce. Arguments in the paper fit together and prove the thesis statement, such as dopamine creating happy feelings when in love and gene’s principle job is to reproduce.Further steps that need to be taken in the area of the papers research, is researching the purpose of love. There can be a study done on participants and how they view of the purpose of love. Objective information should come from science and religion. Then the subjective and objective findings can be compared and contrasted to form a conclusion. | ReferencesFisher, H. , Aron, A. , & Brown, L. (2005). Dr Helen Fisher – Biological Anthropologist – Home Page. Retrieved from http://www. helenfisher. com/downloads/articles/13JourCompNeur. pdfFisher, H. E. (1992).Anatomy of love: The natural history of monogamy, adultery, and divorce. New York: Norton. Franzoi, S. L. (2009). Social psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Regan (2002, October 30). General Theories of Love. SAGE – the natural home for authors, editors and societies. SAGE is a lea ding international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets: Welcome to Sage. Retrieved from http://www. sagepub. com/upm-data/3222_ReganChapter1_Final. pdfSchaeffer, B. (2009). Is it love or is it addiction? The book that changed the way we think about romance and intimacy. Center City, Minn: Hazelden. Sternberg, R. J. , & Barnes, M. L. (1988). The Psychology of love. New Haven: Yale University Press. The Science of Romance: Why We Love – TIME. (2009, November 6). Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews – TIME. com. Retrieved from http://www. time. com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1704672,00. htmlTrue Love and Chemistry: Exploring Myth and Reality. (2009, November 6). Retrieved from http://www. enotalone. com/article/2946. html| |

Channels Of Communication In An Organization Information Technology Essay

Channels Of Communication In An Organization Information Technology Essay In work place a good communication is more successful compared to others and even an organization having an effective communication with employees, customers, stakeholders, etc creates a good trust and position. Communicaiton is also an vital element of leadership. A good leader is always good with communication as they are clear and confident and has the power to persuade. Communication process in an organisation Business communication is the communication used to support the product, service or an organization with the purpose. In business, communication helps us to manage and make the best utilization of the resources and manpower available. Various channels of communications like internet, radio, television, prints, etc are used to convey the message in business. Communication is core of business. Communication is done either in formal or informal way depending on the type of message or information to be sent. Communication is the lifeblood of any organisation or business. It is needed for making plans proposals, exchanging information, exchanging ideas, executing decisions, conducting sales, etc. Let’s review the basic elements of communication process in the organization for the flow of message or information. The basic elements required for the process are the sender (encoder), channel, medium, receiver (decoder) and the feedback mechanism. With the use of these elements a clear and formal channel of communication should be established by the management. Let us consider a hypothetical situation where a manager has to pass a piece of information to finance department for the change in the payment system. He decides about what information to be sent and to whom to send and via which medium. He uses the direct channel of communication to send the information to the financial department. Financial department select e-mail as the medium of communication and pass it on to the staff. Change in payment system E-MAIL FINANCE DEPARTMENT Sender Channel Medi um Receiver Figure.1. Feedback Figure.2. Sender: is the communicator. Receiver: is the person who receives the information/message. Encoding: is the process of transferring the information into an understandable form. For example: in phone microphone converts sound into electrical impulse which are then transmitted through wires. Decoding: is the process of understanding the encoded message and interpreting in the right way. For example: humans do not comprehend the electrical impulse and so the decoder converts it into the understandable form. Channel: is the way through which the message is been sent. It can be verbal or nonverbal. Types of communication in an organization Internal communication External communication Internal Communication: Internal communication is the communication within the organization whether in formal or informal way. Effective internal communication means a flourished business. Under internal communication types there comes: Upward communication: it is th e flow of information from the employees to management and from the subordinates to the superiors. It is important as it will keep the high authority informed regarding employee’s job satisfaction and feelings and also on the organisation. Downward communication: it is the flow of information from the top organisational management towards the subordinates, employees, etc. It is important as it will let the high authority explain and inform regarding the job duties, roles and policies of the organization.

QUESTION 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

QUESTION 3 - Essay Example Companies can adapt the principles into their policies, rules, and regulations to enhance their performance. Handling these obstacles and balancing the risks with the company growth and return goals to avoid facing challenges from uncertainty, â€Å"Enterprise â€Å" (2004) outlines internal environment, objective setting, event identification, risk assessment, information and communication, risk response, control activities, and monitoring as the eight principal factors warranting attention in that order: (1) ERM helps the company to prevent risk by creating a good environment within the firm. The risk will be identified by including risk management philosophy, risk appetite, integrity and will be monitored by the firm’s people. (2) Management should set up the objectives before identifying the risk to ensure that it aligns with the company’s mission and risk appetite is appropriately factored in. (3) A company should identify both internal and external events that have an impact on its success and distinguish between risks and opportunities. (4) A company can deal with and respond to the risks effectively by setting up and implementing policies and procedures. (5) The company should identify, capture, and communicate the relevant information across the organization in a suitable format and timeframe so that its workforce has total clarity and are accountable to their duties. (6) Management can decide a set of actions to respond to risks by avoiding, accepting, reduci ng, or sharing risk along the company’s risk tolerances guideline and risk appetite. (7) In order to manage the risks, the company should analyze the likelihood and impact of them and evaluate on an inherent and a residual basis. (8) Dynamically monitoring the whole process of activities by independent evaluations, and modifying some points when necessary represents the ultimate flexibility of ERM, rendering it complete and effective. While abiding by

Public Education is Killing the Creativity Essay - 3

Public Education is Killing the Creativity - Essay Example The main objective of developing an education system was not to nurture the talent and skills in people but rather to equip them with certain skills that would help bring up a pool of knowledgeable personnel to act as the labor force in the industries that were booming at the time. This ideology did not change even when the industrial era was over; since education kept on being passed like a culture and the old ideologies became perpetual through the time to the present as the same principles can be seen applicable to date (Robinson, 2011). Therefore, the idea of people being different with variable skills was not taken into consideration as a whole, because the educational idea focused only on developing academicians and not artists. It is at this juncture that interpersonal skills and talents that are embedded in various personalities were killed and buried as the educational system had no place for them. In essence, if one was not doing well in formal education he/she was readily regarded as a good for nothing as they would not provide any material well to the skilled workforce that was in need at the time (Robinson, 2011). However, these principles have slightly changed over time to incorporate co-curriculum activities among the courses offered in the formal education syllabus but the art related subjects have little or no significance when it comes to the overall grading of the students. For instance, students who are good in subjects like mathematics and the sciences but poor in art and music are regarded brilliant and intelligent as opposed to those who are good in arts but weak in core subjects hence often regarding them as academic failures. Therefore, the ideal of over-emphasizing certain subjects over the others kills the morale of those that are good in the areas that are not strongly emphasized in the academic programme (Robinson, 2011).

Unemployment Within the Labour Market is Primarily Voluntary Essay

Unemployment Within the Labour Market is Primarily Voluntary - Essay Example Unemployment within the Labour Market is primarily voluntary Macroeconomics is a discipline that entails structure, performance and behavior of the economy as a whole.Conversely, microeconomics is a discipline that puts emphasizes on the market behavior of individuals, consumers and organisations in the efforts to understand the decision making process of organisations and households. It is concerned with the relations of individual buyers and sellers. Both macro and micro economics play a great role pertaining to unemployment in the world especially in the United Kingdom (Wyplosz and Burda 2009) The connection between these two disciplines and policies has led to constant media attention as well as a central role in political debate (Price and Chrystal 1995). The recent slow down in the economic activity in, U.K, has raised new issues over the unemployment policy with clear evidence of failure of economic policies adopted since the election of the current government. Though there has been growth over the past few days, very little has been do ne in the reduction of unemployment. Concepts such as human and social capital have been used as the basis of analysis into this predicament. The recent certified data on a market research in the UK market shows a great drop in the unemployment although the labour market still remains extremely weak. Elevated unemployment combined with squat growth in pays is certain to persist on the economic trend in the coming days. According, to Bade and Parkin 1983, the labour survey measure by the government there has been a notable decline of rates in jobless from 16-year high of 8.4% to 8.3% in the last three months giving way to an improved labour market. ... e government there has been a notable decline of rates in jobless from 16-year high of 8.4% to 8.3% in the last three months giving way to an improved labour market. The vacancies data has also fallen as it casts doubt on whether the private sector is in a position to recruit a sufficient number of people to balance the increased rates of unemployment being experienced in the public sector. Toting up, the inflation runs at 3.5% thus affecting the pay growth that has dropped to a large extent leading to a lug on the spending of consumers and the growth of the economy though the lug is much less compared to the previous years (Taylor 2000). Concepts Human Capital and Social Capital Human capital concept denotes elaboration of the metaphorical statement, which states that education is the investment in the future. As a rule, the analytical tools that are applied to investments in this capital include a measure of stocks and rates of return to investments. This may as well be extended in order to verify the skills and knowledge applicable to an individual’s experience in the labour market (Christos 2005). Analysis carried out on the long term unemployment has proved that work experience is related to the growth of human capital. In addition, long periods of joblessness could lead to a fall in human capital, which is also known as skill atrophy. Likewise, skills can be corroded if they are not put to practice while knowledge becomes outdated if it is not updated. Thus, employment could be related to a particular set of adopted behaviours and attitudes, which include communication, punctuality, dressing mode and so on. The main effect of erosion on such behaviours is connected to prolonged unemployment (Nadiri and Arango 1981). On the other hand, Lewis and Artis 1991

Parental Involvement Educational Outcomes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Parental Involvement Educational Outcomes - Essay Example A good example provided is parental education a socio-economic status. Schneider, Keesler and Morlock state that research confirms that students whose parents completed higher education levels performed better academically. This is because the parents have set a standard for their children; therefore, children work hard to attain an equivalent of or more than their parents’ achievements. Berthelsen supports the idea that the academic achievement and social adjustments of many children depends on the parent’s expectation on the child’s academic achievement. Berthelsen states that the involvement of families and schools in a child’s academic progress guarantees higher achievements in school. Schneider, Keesler and Morlock consider the relation between family structure and children learning. According to the authors children in single parent families most times experience negative developmental outcomes. This is due to the huge parental responsibilities burdened on the single parent. This limits the time the parent spends with the children. As a result, this affects the children’s learning and social skill. Barbara, Keesler, and Morlock explain that the emotional involvement and interaction of both parents does affect a child’s emotional growth, and cognitive development (Schneider, Keesler, and Morlock, 2010). According to Schneider, Keesler and Morlock (2010) parental action determines a child’s cognitive and social development. The authors point that children who are securely attached to their parents or caregivers embody a sense of freedom when exploring their environment. Exploring allows a child to learn social skills, language skills and acquire a sense of responsibility On the other hand; abusive parents tend to lead their children into adopting an avoidant attachment behaviour, which prevents a child from discovering their surroundings. According to a report by Toronto public health department children who experience positive parenting

The Pursuit of Quality at AT&T Universal Card Services Essay

The Pursuit of Quality at AT&T Universal Card Services - Essay Example In order to monitor the performance of employees in dealing with the customers, the business organization has set up a unique and multifaceted measurement system. With these thrusts, the company is seen to surpass the industry standards. The creation of a process measurement system enables AT&T "to locate problem processes; to promptly address any problem discovered; to constantly asses how well customers are being served; and to reward exceptional performance" (Rosegrant 3). It should be noted that AT&T's motivation technique is primarily through the use of monetary benefits. Customer service representatives who are in forefront of the company's operations and are directly dealing with AT&T's customers are given financial incentives like bonuses if they achieve the goal set by the management. In order to monitor performance, managers, team leaders, and top executives are tasked to listen to the telephone associates' conversation with the customers in varying degrees. AT&T also conducts daily meetings in order to discuss the daily performance of the customer service representatives. This becomes the important venue for the discussion of how service quality can be continuously improved. The product offered by AT&T in the market together with the company's extension of exceptional customer service has gained it the largest market share in the credit card industry. AT&T has become the youngest business organization to be awarded the sought after Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Despite this success however, both external and internal pressures are forcing AT&T to institute changes in its business operation. II. Statement of the Problem Looking at the external environment, competitors have recognized the huge profit potential in the market served by AT&T. The product which was pioneered by AT&T has become common in the market. New players have tried to offer their own no-fee, low interests credit card making it difficult for AT&T's product to stand out. Thus, the business organization opts to emphasize its thrust of providing above industry standard customer service. With this, AT&T's executives are faced with the challenge of identifying the ways on how to boost and enhance customer service provided by their telephone associates. This is even worsened by the fact that the company growth has slowed down and will not be able to accommodate the ascent of telephone associates to the corporate ladder. Externally, there is a strong pressure for managers to take the quality measurements a step further. The current system fails to correctly indicate customer satisfaction. It has been found out that the telephone associates' performance is not directly correlated to the quality of the service extended as perceived by the customer. There has been a consensus that the current system is not adequate to meet the more intense rivalry in the market: "Moreover, the current measurements no longer seemed to be driving the quest for improvement, and Davis and others had become convinced that it was time to retool a system that no longer fits the needs of the company" (Rosegrant 12). However, there is no consensus on what ought to be done in order to improve the process. Changing the process will also post problems within the workforce. It has also become apparent that changing the system

Analysis of Bullying in Schools Literature review

Analysis of Bullying in Schools - Literature review Example Bullying has been in existence for decades, and some countries like Australia and England have had bullying problems for centuries. It is only since the 1980s when "three middle school boys" from Norway "committed suicide" (Green, 2007, para.2) as a consequence of repeated bullying. Because of this reason, attention has been placed on the issues of bullying. There has been a great increase in the younger children committing suicide because of bullying which makes these younger people go on violent rampages, it is hardly surprising that public concern with student safety has also led to an increased awareness of the consequences of bullying. Recent research has focused on both bullies and victims in a number of terms but this literature review will focus on research in relation to gender and age, and the accounting for victims and bullies. The research will be focusing on gender as a factor of bullying seeing is there is any difference in the way the girls or the boys are involved in bullying. Age as a factor will be considered and the psychological angles of bullying will be covered. In the research literature, there have been a number of definitions  Ã‚   " Olweus claimed there were two sorts of bullying - direct, wherein the victim is subjected to physical abuse, and indirect, wherein the victim suffers psychological or emotional mistreatment (as cited in Green, 2007, para.1) Gray has defined bullying as repeated damaging actions that were perhaps linked with negative intent (as cited in Attwood, 2004, What is bullying section, para.1). Gender Issues Seals and Young, (2003) carried out a study on the occurrence and relationship of bullying to gender, age, ethnicity, self-esteem and depression, experienced by seventh and eighth-grade students in the northern delta region of the US. The study has shown that there were considerably more male than female bullies, with "twice as many males identified as females identified as bullies" (Discussion section, para.2). Delfabbro et al. (2006) carried out a study on bullying by peers and teachers in secondary schools in South Australia. The results have truly reflected the fact that the boys are "more likely to be the perpetrators of bullying" (Delfabbro et al. 2006, p.72).   

The media in Pakistan Essay Example for Free

The media in Pakistan Essay From their independence, Pakistani people fed a surfeit of Islamic and state ideology, (anti India) via (restricted and tightly controlled) newspapers, radio and later state owned and ran TV, Pakistan Television (PTV) one and only channel broadcasting multi nature of TV content for 8 hours in a day, since its commencement. In the beginning of new millennium, General Pervez Musharraf’s government facilitated the national and international private TV channels through cable TV networks. Cable TV networks spread all over the country in a flash from big cities to smaller towns and remote villages because of cheap monthly charges and zero installation expense, The private TV media revolution was welcomed by ordinary people and this phenomena is now integral part of their life and culture, In every home, shop, or at Tea stall there is cable TV network connection as in Kellner’s words We are immersed from cradle to grave in a media and consumer society, Many of the private channels are owned by newspaper companies and business corporations. So they were/are truly commercial entity and therefore can always be expected to cater, first and foremost, to its profit-making needs. According to Kellner, Media culture is industrial culture, organized on the model of mass production and is produced for a mass audience according to types (genres), following conventional formulas, codes, and rules. It is thus a form of commercial culture and its products are commodities that attempt to attract private profit produced by giant corporations interested in the accumulation of capital. Most of the Pakistani private channels started as News channels (Breaking News craze) but later they established other channels along with news channels, broadcasting Current affairs, Music, Entertainment, Sports, Children programming, and Religious (own and overseas) contents 24 hour in a day with hundreds of advertisements (main resource to generate revenue). Above short introduction is about my essay which I am drawing on the basis of Douglas Kellner’s media spectacle theory (global culture is actually Media culture) Kellner wrote this book in American perspective but I will try to analyze and explain the Pakistani Media (TV, Film and advertisements) in the decade of 1980s and later. In the history of Pakistani media, significant events were/are connected with political situation in country. Four time army takeover of government, Military rulers took thirty years of the nation since 1947, ruling the country and media as well by mean of strong reflection of their policies at paper, speaker and screens. In 1977, The third and most prevailing military ruler, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, coup the democratic government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, first Prime Minister of Pakistan after fall of East Pakistan (Bangladesh). PTV became propaganda machine for Zia ul Haq, his policies and personality dominated the whole era of TV in Pakistan, the footage of General Zia, saluting, reviewing parades, meeting foreign dignitaries, shaking hands with wounded soldiers. His disabled daughter, dressed in a military uniform of her own, never far from his side on stage, saluting her father like any good soldier. He filled the screen, he filled the country. He was larger than life, a figure somewhere halfway between president of Pakistan and a religious icon. Throughout 1980s he implemented the so called Islam, Islamic laws (Pakistani Paper and electronic media worked as his mouth piece) and for his long survival and to oppose Russian communism (not the Chinese) in the region with the help of Ronald Regan (1981 – 1989) as this decade was the end of cold war and beginning of the proxy war between US and formerly Russian federation in Afghanistan fought by (Mujahidin) Soldiers of God (stated by former US deputy defense chief Zbigniew Brzezinski ), the supportive role Zia played for the anti-Soviet mujahidin in Afghanistan continuous and free supply of Arms and ammunition to Mujahidin and to war lords, lose control over north-western boarders had been rewarded as free availability of Narcotics and weapons in Pakistani society. The martial law of Zia-ul-Haq and the culture of Kalashnikov, heroin and violent religiosity struck a crushing blow to the film industry and then films multiplied this phenomena’s and gradually the culture changed completely and a new genre of cinema grew where glamorization of violence and brutality in extracting vengeance were common subjects of film making. Wahshee Gujjar, Maula Jat and Jat da kharaak are some of the films from that period which effectively captured the subject. Film â€Å"Maula Jutt† is symbolic representation of Hero in Pakistani films. Maula Jatt is arguably the most iconic, not to mention violent, character in Pakistani cinema. While the character of Maula Jatt appeared in three cult films—Washi Jatt, Maula Jatt and Maula Jatt in London—in which he killed his opponents with impunity, his blood drenched exploits inspired a highly lucrative genre of films centered upon bloody rivalries between Jatts (biggest population of Punjab) in a seemingly lawless Punjab (most populated province of Pakistan). Films from that era were based on representation of Islam, identities (caste, religious, and national), especially under the Zia ul Haq regime, to regulate or ‘Islamize’ the film industry. Islamic Ordinances, sharia laws and punishment system especially Hudod ordinance (limit, or restriction) is the word often used in Islamic social and legal literature for the bounds of acceptable behavior) were introduced, implemented and practiced by newly made Sharia courts. The Hudod ordinance has/had strong influence on Pakistani society and contents of all media outlets. Film censor board was already working in the country but after General Zia ul Haq TV censorship had been implemented, Female News casters, drama actresses, and even girls like 12 year old on TV put the Hijab to cover the head, their dressing code was changed, drama writing style, stories and subjects are confined in the container of General Zia’s policy. Stories from Islamic history were dramatized and many of the Silver screen films made on ideology of Islam and anti-India. The term (Afghani and Kashmiri mujahidin) caught on and eventually entered the mainstream media. Zia ul Haq’s name and his policies will be remember by succeeding generations, he completely changed the Pakistan, Muslim culture in sub-continent and its social fabric, stated by famous TV actress of that time Mehtaab Akbar Rashidi, she shared her experiences during Zia’s era and how she was barred from hosting two shows ‘Farozan’ and ‘Apni Baat’ (talk shows on social issues) just because she refused to cover her head. â€Å"Through the media, Zia wanted to portray his personally idealized image of Pakistani women and how they should look,† she said. She did not appear on TV for the next eight years of Zia’s rule. Male artists were newer allowed to touch female actresses, dialogues, and impressions were be in kind of limits which approved by the censor board or committees, almost all leading Pakistani TV actors had ‘beards: â€Å"Talat Hussain, Rahat Kazmi, Shafi Muhammad, all had beards. â€Å"It was a fashion of that time expressing creativity and manhood† First time in the history of Pakistani TV, images and videos ofwomen and men punished durray or korray for breaking of hudod the people broadcasted nation wide in news Islamic religious scholars were often seen in TV talk shows and in solo shows describing religion, religious issues discussing moral values of Muslims. Islamic scholars like Moulana Asrar ahmed, Tahir ul Qadri, kausar Niazi.

Drug Delivery Systems for Periodontitis

Drug Delivery Systems for Periodontitis 2.0 LITERATURE SURVEY 2.1 TECHNIQUE Periodontitis, a disease involving supportive structures of the teeth prevails in all groups, ethnicities, races and both genders. It is a localised inflammatory response caused by bacterial infection of a periodontal pocket associated with subgingival plaque. Periodontal diseases include conditions such as chronic periodontitis, aggressive periodontitis and necrotizing periodontitis. Aggressive forms of periodontitis can be localized or generalized. Antibacterial agents have been used effectively in the management of periodontal infection. The effectiveness of mechanical debridement of plaque and repeated topical and systemic administration of antibacterial agents are limited due to the lack of accessibility to periodontopathic organisms in the periodontal pocket. Systemic administration of drugs leads to therapeutic concentrations at the site of infection, but for short periods of time, forcing repeated dosing for longer periods. Local delivery of antimicrobials has been investigat ed for the possibility of overcoming the limitations of conventional therapy. The use of sustained release formulations to deliver antibacterials to the site of infection (periodontal pocket) is gaining interest. These products provide a long-term, effective treatment at the site of infection at much smaller doses. (Kaplish et al. 2013) Formulation and development of a gel based topical dosage form for antimicrobial drug will be proved to be worthwhile like ability to deliver drug more selectively to a specific site, avoidance of gastro-intestinal incompatibility, providing utilization of drugs with short biological half-life, improving physiological and pharmacological response and provide suitability for self medication. (Basavaraj et al. 2012) 2.1.1 Periodontal Local Drug Delivery Goodson et al in 1979 first proposed the concept of controlled delivery in the treatment of periodontitis. The effectiveness of this form of therapy is that, it reaches the base of periodontal pocket and is maintained for an adequate time for the antimicrobial effect to occur. These delivery systems are also called sustained release, controlled-release, prolonged release, timed release, slow release, sustained action, prolonged action or extended action. There are distinct phases in a periodontal treatment plan where a dental practitioner can use this sustained release device. They are as follows: As an adjunct to Scaling and Root planning. Periodontal maintenance therapy: Recurrent periodontitis usually involves only a few teeth. These sites are ideal for the treatment with this device. For whom surgery is not an option or those who refuse surgical treatment Sustained release device is a less invasive treatment option and it requires less time compared to surgical treatment. (Kaplish et al. 2013) 2.1.1.1 Types of local drug delivery devices Sustained released devices These are delivery systems whose action lasts less than 24 hours therefore require multiple applications. It follows the first order kinetics. Controlled delivery devices – These are the devices which follows zero order kinetics and whose actions last longer than 24 hours, thereby decreasing the number applications. (Greenstein et al. 2000) 2.1.1.2 Advantages of local drug delivery system Provides drug in an effective concentration that can be maintained there long enough for the desired effect to be accomplished without causing any side effect. It can attain upto 100 fold higher concentration of an antimicrobial agent in subgingival site compared with a systemic therapy. Broad spectrum antibiotics which cannot be employed systemically because of many sideeffects can be safely employed locally with minimum side effects. Superinfection and drug resistance are rare. It also reduces the risk of developing drug resistant microbial populations at non oral body sites. The potentials of daily drug placement into periodontal pockets as a part of home self care procedure can be performed by a compliant patient. This route may employ antimicrobial agents not suitable for systemic administration such as various broad spectrum antiseptics solutions. e.g.– chlorhexidine Improve the patient compliance. (Slots et al. 1996 and Chadha et al. 2012) 2.1.1.3 Disadvantages of local delivery system Inaccessible and deeper pocket areas, furcations cannot be completely dealt with antimicrobial agents. Time consuming and laborious, if many sites are involved. Non-sustained local delivery is limited by an only brief exposure of targeted microorganisms to applied antimicrobial agent. Connective tissue associated plaque and extra pocket oral surfaces don‘t get affected by local drug delivery which may be responsible for recurrence of disease in treated areas. Difficulty in placing therapeutic concentration of antimicrobial agent into deeper parts of periodontal pockets and furcations lesions. Personal application of antimicrobial agents by patients as a part of their home self-care procedure is frequently compromised by the patient‘s lack of adequate manual dexterity, limited understanding of periodontal anatomy and poor compliance and performance with recommended procedures. (Axelsson 1999) 2.1.1.4 Local drug delivery systems for treating periodontitis Various local drug delivery system for treating periodontitis-Fibers, Film, Injectable systems, Gels, Strips and compacts, Vesicular systems, Microparticle system, Nanoparticle system etc. Injectable drug delivery systems Injectable systems are particularly attractive for the delivery of antibiotic agents into the periodontal pocket. The application can be easily and rapidly carried out, without pain, by using a syringe. Thus, the cost of the therapy is considerably reduced compared to devices that need time to be placed and secured. Moreover, an injectable delivery system should be able to fill the pocket, thus reaching a large proportion of pathogens. Two types of injectable drug delivery systems have been studied in periodontal diseases- biodegradable (1) microparticles and (2) gels. (Kaplish et al. 2013) 1. Microparticles /Microspheres These are controlled release drug delivery system which comprises of drug-containing microparticles or microspheres, between 10 and 500 microns in size, suspended in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier medium, and are capable of maintaining an effective level of drug in the periodontal pocket for a period of one to thirty days. They are spherical free flowing particles consisting of proteins or synthetic polymers. Non-biodegradable as well as biodegradable materials have been investigated for the preparation of microspheres. There are two types of microspheres; a) Microcapsules. b) Micromatrices. In microcapsules entrapped substance is distinctly surrounded by distinct capsule wall and in micromatrices entrapped substance is dispersing throughout the microspheres matrix. Solid biodegradable microspheres incorporating a drug dispersed or dissolved through particle matrix have the potential for the controlled release of drug. They are made from polymeric, waxy, or other protective materials (i.e. biodegradable synthetic polymers and modified natural products). (Chaudhari et al. 2010) Advantages of microspheres Constant and prolonged therapeutic effect. Reduction in dosing frequency and thereby improve the patient compliance. They could be injected into the body due to the spherical shape and smaller size. Better drug utilization will improve the bioavailability and reduce the incidence or intensity of adverse effects. Microsphere morphology allows a controllable variability in degradation and drug release.

Not Just For Kicks: Expressing Difficult Content Using Comics Essay

A common description of comic books comes from their appearance in cartoons and comic strips, where a teacher catches a child reading a comic book tucked between the pages of their schoolwork. Prevailing attitudes formed off of this kind of perception render the idea of the comic form as a diversion, lacking serious content, and perhaps immature. However, the comic form uses many techniques to explore subject matter that is difficult to deal with in traditional educational ways. This paper will look to examine how immersion and symbolism within the comic form can be an effective tool to reproduce these otherwise difficult situations, concepts, and ideas by using examples of texts from our class that make excellent use of these techniques, in particular Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, The Photographer, and Bound by Law. The graphic novel is grounded in stereotypes that belie their true expressive power, and the deconstruction of those stereotypes is the first step in accessing concepts that are misconstrued and difficult. As Scott McCloud states in Understanding Comics "Sure, I realized that comic books were usually crude, poorly drawn...but they don't have to be" (McCloud 3), something we have witnessed through the sophistication of our texts this semester. By investigating how the comic form interacts with the reader, we can find many benefits that often position comics as an optimal vehicle for delivering informative and educational content where other mediums only barely suffice. However, separating the medium of comics from the content widely associated with them is a difficult task, and one that can only be changed by effective content delivered with effective comic technique. The main benefits of the graphic novel and... ...red towards delinquent children. While difficult material can be expressed in other methods than comics, these examples prove that with proper use of techniques and an awareness of the content itself, comics can provide a much deeper and enriching experience than just text or visual representation alone. Works Cited McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. New York: William Morrow Paperbacks/HarperCollins, 1994. Print. Miyazaki, Hayao. Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind. Volume 1. San Francisco, CA: Viz Communications, Inc., 1995.2nd Ed. 2004. First published by Nibariki/Tokuma Shoten, Japan, 1994. Print. Guibert, Emmanuel, et al. The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors without Borders. New York and London: First Second, 2009. Print. Aoki, Keith, James Boyle, Jennifer Jenkins. Bound by Law. Duke Law School. 2006. Print.

Thomas Jefferson :: Biography Biographies Bio Jefferson Essays

Thomas Jefferson Jefferson was born at Shadwell, his father's home in Albemarle county, Va., on April 13, 1743. His father, Peter Jefferson, a man of legendary strength, was a successful planter and surveyor who gained minor title to fame as an explorer and mapmaker. His prominence in his own locality is attested by the fact that he served as a burgess and as county lieutenant. Jefferson later held the same offices. Through his mother, Jane Randolph, a member of one of the most famous Virginia families, Thomas was related to many of the most prominent people in Virginia. Besides being well born, Thomas Jefferson was well educated. In small private schools, notably that of James Maury, he was thoroughly grounded in the classics. He attended the College of William and Mary--completing the course in 1762--where Dr. William Small taught him mathematics and introduced him to science. He associated intimately with the liberal-minded Lt. Gov. Francis Fauquier, and read law (1762-1767) with George Wythe, the greatest law teacher of his generation in Virginia. Jefferson became unusually good at law. He was admitted to the bar in 1767 and practiced until 1774, when the courts were closed by the American Revolution. He was a successful lawyer, though professional income was only a supplement. He had inherited a considerable landed estate from his father, and doubled it by a happy marriage on Jan. 1, 1772, to Martha Wayles Skelton However, his father-in-law's estate imposed a burdensome debt on Jefferson. He began building Monticello before his marriage, but his mansion was not completed in its present form until a generation later. Jefferson's lifelong emphasis on local government grew directly from his own experience. He served as magistrate and as county lieutenant of Albemarle county. Elected to the House of Burgesses when he was 25, he served there from 1769 to 1774, showing himself to be an effective committeeman and skillful draftsman, though not an able speaker. The Revolutionary Era From the beginning of the struggle with the mother country, Jefferson stood with the more advanced Patriots, grounding his position on a wide knowledge of English history and political philosophy. His most notable early contribution to the cause of the Patriots was his powerful pamphlet A Summary View of the Rights of British America (made in 1774), originally written for presentation to the Virginia convention of that year. In this he emphasized natural rights, including that of emigration, and denied parliamentary authority over the colonies, recognizing no tie with the mother country except the king.

Toyota Supply Chain Essays -- Business Management, Lean Manufacturing

Introduction The business environment is increasingly becoming competitive and challenging. In the recent past, manufacturers have found themselves facing the threat of dwindling profit margins due to unfortunate global events such as the 2007 global financial crisis and the on going Europe economic crisis. The need to improve operation efficiency so as to ensure current and future investment yield the highest rate of return has therefore become extremely important. Manufacturers are now actively engaged in, managing their costs, Research and Development, adopting best procurement strategies, among other Actions. While such actions might eventually lead to positive results, additional business value can be achieved through proper management of the supply chain (Waymer, Ivanaj & Mussa 2009; Krivda 2004). To support this assertion Krivda (2004) cites the findings of AMR Research Inc. According to this research, companies that have adopted proper supply chain operation and management enjoy greater performance as determined by various financial measures. Specifically, excellence in supply chain can result in relatively accurate demand forecast therefore making such companies realize higher profit margin by approximate 5%, a 15% percent lower inventory, a stronger â€Å"perfect order rating† rating of up to 17%, and a comparative shorter cash-to-cash cycle time of about 35% (Krivda 2004). Generally, a superior supply Chain is an important and unique source of competitive advantage. Its importance is especially illuminated in Multinational companies such as Toyota. Putting this into consideration, the question that now begs for an answer is whether Toyota’s supply chain is effectively serving the organization. Without a doubt, Toyota ha... .... 68-73. Womack, J., & Jones, T. D., 1996, Lean Thinking. New York: Simon and Schuster. Supply Chain Digest, 2010. Supply Chain News: Is â€Å"Lean† to Blame for Toyota’s Recall Issues? SupplyChainDigestTM , [online] Available at: [Accessed 22 December 2014]. Supply Chain Digest, 2010. Growth and Global Expansion Put Strains on "the Toyota Way" SupplyChainDigestTM , [online] Available at: [Accessed 22 December 2014]. Teresko, J., 2001. Toyota’s New Challenge. Industry week, [online] Available at: http://www.industryweek.com/articles/toyotas_new_challenge_793.aspx>[Accessed 22 December 2014]. Waymer, L., Ivanaj, V., & Mussa, L. (2009).International business: Critical considerations. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.

Title of Paper

â€Å"Although his name is hardly a household word, the ghost of Jay M. Near still stalks most U.S. courtrooms.   There exists no plaque that bears his name†¦.Near is truy the unknown soldier in the continuing struggle between the powers of government and the power of the press to publish the news.†Ã‚   (Friendly, 172) Fred Friendly, journalist, wrote of the struggle men, such as Jay M. Near, fought in their determination to live the American dream.   Their dream may not be acknowledged by the general public, but Near and his peers were trying to live the rights bestowed upon them as Americans.   Among those rights were the right to free speech, and freedom of the press. The reason Near is not a household name is because his cause may not have been seen by many to be noble.   If fought today, his cause or his dream would be likened to that of The Enquirer or The Star.   In fact, Friendly, in Minnesota Rag:   Corruption, Yellow Journalism, and the Case That Saved Freedom of The Press,   described Near vs. Minnesota, as a cast that placed freedom of the press in the least favorable light. Minnesota Rag, by Fred Friendly, traces the roots of this case all the way back to Duluth, Minnesota, beginning with a man by the name of James Morrison, who edited the Rip-Saw.   Morrison is described as a self-righteous man, willing to do anything to prove his point.   He saw a need in Duluth to expose the lawmakers for what they were.   It was a time of prohibition and Morrison saw failure in politicians and corruption in the police.   The Rip-Saw, as described by Friendly, was relentless.   â€Å"Once it had a victim in its sights, it didn’t stop until its prey was wounded.†Ã‚   (Friendly, 8) The Rip-Saw became a popular success.   The prohibition had been a failure and opened the door for Morrison to attack.   He ran storied of gambling dens increasing, prostitution and politicians, but did so under the guise of moral decency, which led the general public to believe him and the Rip-Saw.   The business sector did not have as much faith in Morrison or the Rip-Saw.   They accused him or trying to force businesses to buy advertising in order to eliminate the risk of gossip. Morrison was a single man trying to affect an entire community into believing and acting on his morals.   He had identified what he thought was just and decent and insisted that the rest of the community live by his law, or be punished.   His punishment was to be published as a headline in his paper in a non-flattering and often libelous manner.   He took it upon himself to judge the morals of others.   Morrison had an impact on local elections with the stories he printed, whether true or untrue. When finally brought to court on charges of libel, Morrison was found guilty.   Morrison immediately appealed the decision and six months later was ordered to make a public apology.   By that time, Morrison had already won, as the Mayor Power he had so maliciously written about had lost his election.   Morrison issued an apology, but certainly in jest as he had already accomplished what he had set out to do. Having accomplished such a feat, two other politicians, Boylan and Lommen, who had been lambasted in the Rip-Saw, determined that this type of press was unacceptable and formed legislation prohibiting publications that were producing â€Å"malicious, scandalous, and defamatory material.†Ã‚   (Friendly, 20)   This legislation is what would become known as the Public Nuisance Bill of 1925, often referred to as the â€Å"gag law.† â€Å"Any person who†¦.shall be engaged in the business of regularly or customarily producing, publishing or circulating, having in possession, selling or giving away, (a)  Ã‚  Ã‚   an obscene, lewd and lascivious newspaper, magazine or other periodical, or (b)  Ã‚   a malicious, scandalous and defamatory newspaper is guilty of nuisance.† This law enabled a single judge to prevent the publication of anything they believed or considered to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, or malicious, scandalous and defamatory.   Press coverage of this bill was almost non-existent and yet it had the largest impact on their business.   America, founded on freedom and liberty, was now going to allow the fate of individuals to rest in the hands of one judge, and his beliefs.   This judgment went against everything that our laws our founded on.   This wouldn’t go down without a fight. Minneapolis, Minnesota was vastly affected by the prohibition as well.   Friendly described it as a crossroads in the Canadian whiskey trade.   From Minneapolis it could be shipped to Chicago and St. Louis.   Some journalists in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area described both the politicians and law enforcement as being on the take.   Minneapolis was known as a town of gambling, illegal booze and prostitution, plagued by gang killings.   Friendly describes many of the journalists of respectable newspapers as looking the other way.   They chose not to get involved.   Enter Morrison’s successor, Jay M. Near. Near is not described as a man of conscience or character, but a man who was looking to profit, in any way he saw fit.   Again, this is likely why his name is not a household term.   Near and his partner Guilford, began a crusade against local authorities, including the chief of police.   Their publication The Saturday Press took aim at the local authorities.   Their implications tied the police to the local gambling syndicates and further accused the police of extorting money from local businesses. Brunskill, the chief of police had ordered an official ban of the paper from all newsstands in Minneapolis, on the basis that it would corrupt the morals of children.   Brunskill threatened arrest of anyone who would be selling the paper, which made Near fight harder.   Near and his cohorts promised legal aid and bail to anyone who would willingly sell the paper.   It was a political and racial fight from beginning to end.   Near, who was anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, anti-black, anti-labor, would find support in the Jewish community to further his cause.   Never the less, The Saturday Press was eventually closed and padlocked. The United States, a country founded on freedom, had caused the creation of a number of civic unions that would fight for a cause, whether they believed in it or not.   They were fighting for freedom, yours, mine and theirs.   Near had found a way to reach out to the American Civil Liberties Union, and although they did not agree with his publication, they agreed with his right to publish it.   Near was also joined by Robert Rutherford McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune.   McCormick joined the battle because of his belief in the First Amendment. They joined forces in order to fight the Public Nuisance Law and to support Freedom of the Press.   They did not all agree on the purpose of that freedom or how it should be used, but that it should be present for everyone.   They had determined that no one man should have the right to quiet the voice of another, despite their difference in opinion, and they took their case to the Supreme Court. Weymouth Kirkland, appellant’s counsel, in his address to the court, asserted that the Minnesota law violated the United States Constitution by restricting freedom of the press.   Kirkland admitted that the articles were defamatory, but added, â€Å"So long as men do evil, so long will newspapers publish defamation.†Ã‚   (Friendly, 126)   Kirkland concluded that every man has the right to publish malicious, scandalous and defamatory matter, even if untrue and with bad motives. (127) They may be dealt with after the publication of such matter, but no one has the right to prevent such publication.   Kirkland’s point was that the Minnesota gag law was a method of permanent censorship, however criminal proceedings on a specific complaint were always available to the state.   (128)   The Supreme Court ruled in Near’s favor. According to Friendly, Near vs. Minnesota, placed freedom of the press in the least favorable light.   (172)   Near’s cause did not appear to be significant or even just, except by those that choose to fight this battle.   To those who fought the battle it created a â€Å"sturdy† law.   â€Å"If great cases like hard cases make bad law, as the Holmes proverb warns, it may follow that since few knew or cared about Near’s cause, freedom of the press was transformed successfully into a twentieth-century constitutional bulwark.†Ã‚   (Friendly, 173) Had this case never been heard, we may be left with the inability to question our government or local authorities today.   We live in a democratic society, where we have been granted certain unalienable rights, among them the right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press.   Without those options, the press would be unable to publish stories of certain unflattering truths about our elected officials.   We would be unable to make informed decisions. â€Å"Both the history and language of the First Amendment support the view that the press must be left to publish news, whatever the source, without censorship, injunctions, or prior restraint.   Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government.† (Friendly, 176) Near vs. Minnesota and the case of Morrison and the Rip-Saw, either story seems hard pressed to point to a great law that would emerge from the scandals.   But to leave the Public Nuisance Law in place, to limit the freedom of the press, would ultimately result in a restraint upon the freedom of the general public.   If the press cannot print what they learn, then our democracy is dissolved. â€Å"But, history, fate, or whatever fore it is that provides the unlikely champion, or the subtle, improbably turn of events that leaves its indelible stamp upon the course of human events, intervened.   It was one such incident that ultimately empowered five Supreme Court Justices to infuse with life and spirit and amendment which for 150 years had existed only as a bare skeleton.†Ã‚   (Friendly, 179)                                  Title of Paper â€Å"Although his name is hardly a household word, the ghost of Jay M. Near still stalks most U.S. courtrooms.   There exists no plaque that bears his name†¦.Near is truy the unknown soldier in the continuing struggle between the powers of government and the power of the press to publish the news.†Ã‚   (Friendly, 172) Fred Friendly, journalist, wrote of the struggle men, such as Jay M. Near, fought in their determination to live the American dream.   Their dream may not be acknowledged by the general public, but Near and his peers were trying to live the rights bestowed upon them as Americans.   Among those rights were the right to free speech, and freedom of the press. The reason Near is not a household name is because his cause may not have been seen by many to be noble.   If fought today, his cause or his dream would be likened to that of The Enquirer or The Star.   In fact, Friendly, in Minnesota Rag:   Corruption, Yellow Journalism, and the Case That Saved Freedom of The Press,   described Near vs. Minnesota, as a cast that placed freedom of the press in the least favorable light. Minnesota Rag, by Fred Friendly, traces the roots of this case all the way back to Duluth, Minnesota, beginning with a man by the name of James Morrison, who edited the Rip-Saw.   Morrison is described as a self-righteous man, willing to do anything to prove his point.   He saw a need in Duluth to expose the lawmakers for what they were.   It was a time of prohibition and Morrison saw failure in politicians and corruption in the police.   The Rip-Saw, as described by Friendly, was relentless.   â€Å"Once it had a victim in its sights, it didn’t stop until its prey was wounded.†Ã‚   (Friendly, 8) The Rip-Saw became a popular success.   The prohibition had been a failure and opened the door for Morrison to attack.   He ran storied of gambling dens increasing, prostitution and politicians, but did so under the guise of moral decency, which led the general public to believe him and the Rip-Saw.   The business sector did not have as much faith in Morrison or the Rip-Saw.   They accused him or trying to force businesses to buy advertising in order to eliminate the risk of gossip. Morrison was a single man trying to affect an entire community into believing and acting on his morals.   He had identified what he thought was just and decent and insisted that the rest of the community live by his law, or be punished.   His punishment was to be published as a headline in his paper in a non-flattering and often libelous manner.   He took it upon himself to judge the morals of others.   Morrison had an impact on local elections with the stories he printed, whether true or untrue. When finally brought to court on charges of libel, Morrison was found guilty.   Morrison immediately appealed the decision and six months later was ordered to make a public apology.   By that time, Morrison had already won, as the Mayor Power he had so maliciously written about had lost his election.   Morrison issued an apology, but certainly in jest as he had already accomplished what he had set out to do. Having accomplished such a feat, two other politicians, Boylan and Lommen, who had been lambasted in the Rip-Saw, determined that this type of press was unacceptable and formed legislation prohibiting publications that were producing â€Å"malicious, scandalous, and defamatory material.†Ã‚   (Friendly, 20)   This legislation is what would become known as the Public Nuisance Bill of 1925, often referred to as the â€Å"gag law.† â€Å"Any person who†¦.shall be engaged in the business of regularly or customarily producing, publishing or circulating, having in possession, selling or giving away, (a)  Ã‚  Ã‚   an obscene, lewd and lascivious newspaper, magazine or other periodical, or (b)  Ã‚   a malicious, scandalous and defamatory newspaper is guilty of nuisance.† This law enabled a single judge to prevent the publication of anything they believed or considered to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, or malicious, scandalous and defamatory.   Press coverage of this bill was almost non-existent and yet it had the largest impact on their business.   America, founded on freedom and liberty, was now going to allow the fate of individuals to rest in the hands of one judge, and his beliefs.   This judgment went against everything that our laws our founded on.   This wouldn’t go down without a fight. Minneapolis, Minnesota was vastly affected by the prohibition as well.   Friendly described it as a crossroads in the Canadian whiskey trade.   From Minneapolis it could be shipped to Chicago and St. Louis.   Some journalists in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area described both the politicians and law enforcement as being on the take.   Minneapolis was known as a town of gambling, illegal booze and prostitution, plagued by gang killings.   Friendly describes many of the journalists of respectable newspapers as looking the other way.   They chose not to get involved.   Enter Morrison’s successor, Jay M. Near. Near is not described as a man of conscience or character, but a man who was looking to profit, in any way he saw fit.   Again, this is likely why his name is not a household term.   Near and his partner Guilford, began a crusade against local authorities, including the chief of police.   Their publication The Saturday Press took aim at the local authorities.   Their implications tied the police to the local gambling syndicates and further accused the police of extorting money from local businesses. Brunskill, the chief of police had ordered an official ban of the paper from all newsstands in Minneapolis, on the basis that it would corrupt the morals of children.   Brunskill threatened arrest of anyone who would be selling the paper, which made Near fight harder.   Near and his cohorts promised legal aid and bail to anyone who would willingly sell the paper.   It was a political and racial fight from beginning to end.   Near, who was anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, anti-black, anti-labor, would find support in the Jewish community to further his cause.   Never the less, The Saturday Press was eventually closed and padlocked. The United States, a country founded on freedom, had caused the creation of a number of civic unions that would fight for a cause, whether they believed in it or not.   They were fighting for freedom, yours, mine and theirs.   Near had found a way to reach out to the American Civil Liberties Union, and although they did not agree with his publication, they agreed with his right to publish it.   Near was also joined by Robert Rutherford McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune.   McCormick joined the battle because of his belief in the First Amendment. They joined forces in order to fight the Public Nuisance Law and to support Freedom of the Press.   They did not all agree on the purpose of that freedom or how it should be used, but that it should be present for everyone.   They had determined that no one man should have the right to quiet the voice of another, despite their difference in opinion, and they took their case to the Supreme Court. Weymouth Kirkland, appellant’s counsel, in his address to the court, asserted that the Minnesota law violated the United States Constitution by restricting freedom of the press.   Kirkland admitted that the articles were defamatory, but added, â€Å"So long as men do evil, so long will newspapers publish defamation.†Ã‚   (Friendly, 126)   Kirkland concluded that every man has the right to publish malicious, scandalous and defamatory matter, even if untrue and with bad motives. (127) They may be dealt with after the publication of such matter, but no one has the right to prevent such publication.   Kirkland’s point was that the Minnesota gag law was a method of permanent censorship, however criminal proceedings on a specific complaint were always available to the state.   (128)   The Supreme Court ruled in Near’s favor. According to Friendly, Near vs. Minnesota, placed freedom of the press in the least favorable light.   (172)   Near’s cause did not appear to be significant or even just, except by those that choose to fight this battle.   To those who fought the battle it created a â€Å"sturdy† law.   â€Å"If great cases like hard cases make bad law, as the Holmes proverb warns, it may follow that since few knew or cared about Near’s cause, freedom of the press was transformed successfully into a twentieth-century constitutional bulwark.†Ã‚   (Friendly, 173) Had this case never been heard, we may be left with the inability to question our government or local authorities today.   We live in a democratic society, where we have been granted certain unalienable rights, among them the right to freedom of speech and freedom of the press.   Without those options, the press would be unable to publish stories of certain unflattering truths about our elected officials.   We would be unable to make informed decisions. â€Å"Both the history and language of the First Amendment support the view that the press must be left to publish news, whatever the source, without censorship, injunctions, or prior restraint.   Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government.† (Friendly, 176) Near vs. Minnesota and the case of Morrison and the Rip-Saw, either story seems hard pressed to point to a great law that would emerge from the scandals.   But to leave the Public Nuisance Law in place, to limit the freedom of the press, would ultimately result in a restraint upon the freedom of the general public.   If the press cannot print what they learn, then our democracy is dissolved. â€Å"But, history, fate, or whatever fore it is that provides the unlikely champion, or the subtle, improbably turn of events that leaves its indelible stamp upon the course of human events, intervened.   It was one such incident that ultimately empowered five Supreme Court Justices to infuse with life and spirit and amendment which for 150 years had existed only as a bare skeleton.†Ã‚   (Friendly, 179)                                 

Data and Information

DATA| INFORMATION| 123424331911| Your winning lottery ticket number| 140593| Your date of birth| Aaabbbccd| The grades you want in your GCSEs| Data and information Data, information & knowledge Data Data consist of raw facts and figures – it does not have any meaning until it is processed and turned into something useful. It comes in many forms, the main ones being letters, numbers, images, symbols and sound. It is essential that data is available because it is the first step in creating meaningful information.Ex; 123424331911; 140593; aaabbbccd, might not mean anything by themselves, but if it is processed and turned into (the chart below) they turn into something useful. Information Information is data that has been  processed  in such a way as to be  meaningful  to the person who receives it. INFORMATION = DATA + CONTEXT + MEANING INFORMATION = DATA + CONTEXT + MEANING Example of information DATA| 21041926| This has no meaning or context| CONTEXT| It is a British da te| This allows us to register it as 21st April 1926.It still has no meaning and is therefore not information| MEANING| The Birth date of Queen Elizabeth II| This gives usa ll the elements required dor it to be called ‘information’| Knowledge Knowledge is the ability of understanding the relationship between pieces of information and what to actually do with the information. Consider this scenario:  Person puts a finger into very hot water. Data gathered: Finger nerves sends pain data to the brain. Processing:  Brain considers the data and comes up with†¦ Information: Painful finger means it is not in a good place.Action: Brain tells finger to remove itself from hot water. Knowledge: Sticking finger in hot water is a bad idea. Knowledge is having an understanding of the ‘rules’ Types of data Data can be stored in many different formats called ‘data types’. When setting up a database or spreadsheet, it is important that the correct data type is selected for each field. This is because the data type will determine what can be done with the data held in that field e. g. sorting, searching, calculations etc. It also can determine the format in which data is displayed e. g. date/time data type will allow you to pick the format of your choice, 14/05/08, 14 May 2008, 14th May 2008 etc. Finally, some data types are able to automatically validate the data being entered. e. g. : When you use a date/time data type then each date will be automatically checked to ensure that it can actually exist. For example, you would not be able to enter the date 31/02/2008 – it would automatically be rejected or return an error message. Types of data: * Text * Number * Boolean * Date/Time * Image Text A text data type can hold any letter, number, symbol or punctuation mark.It is sometimes referred to as ‘alphanumeric' or ‘string'. The data can be pure text or a combination of text, numbers and symbols. * Name Joe Bloggs * Address 101, Any Street That Town TR34 9RT * Telephone Number 01234 567890 * Car Registration EA05 NXR * Car ColourBlue Telephone numbers need to be stored as a text/string data type because they often begin with a 0 and if they were stored as an integer then the leading zero would be discounted. You are never likely to want to add or multiply telephone numbers so there is no reason to store it as an integer data type. Number A number data type contains numbers.Example: * Weight in Kg12. 25, 19. 99, 199. 99 * Room measurement in metres14. 5 * Temperature (degrees Celsius)37. 5 Types of numbers: * Integers An integer stores whole numbers, either positive or negative. Integers however cannot store numbers with decimal places. * Real Your numerical data might need to be formatted with decimal places. This means it cannot be stored as an integer number. Instead it is known as a  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœreal'  number. You can specify the number of decimal places that you need. * Currency When you choose to format numerical data as currency then it will automatically be given two decimal places.However, you can choose to format currency with 0 dp because in some circumstances it would not be appropriate to display the pence. Think of an estate agent, they might sell a house for ? 295,000. It would look daft displayed as ? 295,000. 00. The currency data type also allows you to display the correct currency symbol such as ? or $. Boolean Boolean data holds one of two values, for example: * Yes/no * True/false * 0/1 A Boolean data type is used to answer questions where there are exactly two options, three options would mean it was no longer boolean data.Examples of questions where the responses would be stored as boolean data: * Has the heating been turned on? | Yes / No| * Are you employed? | Yes / No| Data / Time A date / time data type is used to store any data that is related to date or time. The tricky thing about date / time is that there are so many ways of showing it. And some countries have a different way of representing a date. For example * 9/4/94 in the USA means 4th Sept 94 * 9/4/94 in the UK means 9th April 94 By using a date /time data type, you can choose the format for how you want your data to be automatically displayed.For example: 14/05/08, 14 May 2008, 14th May 2008 etc. Another reason to use a date /time data type is that it can provide some basic validation on the data being entered. For example, you would not be able to enter the date 31/02/2008 – it would automatically be rejected or return an error message. Image Databases allow graphical images such as photographs to be stored as a data type. Images are binary files rather than text or numbers which is why a specific data type is required. Different file types such as . bmp, . jpg, . tiff can be storedQuality of information Things that affect the quality of information Accuracy If the data that you have collected is inaccurate then the information it will produce will inev itably also be inaccurate. Examples of how innacurate data occurs: Questionnaries and surveys * questions might be poorly worded so that users misunderstand them * there may not have been enough people interviewed for any conclusions to be reliable. For example, asking just two people is not likely to be enough Human mistakes * if people are collecting the data manually e. g. ecording answers to questionnaires, writing down instrument measurements, they might make a mistake. Calibration of instruments * if data is being collected automatically by sensors or other instruments then the results could be inaccurate if the instruments were not correctly calibrated at the start of the data collection period Examples of information which would be of little use if it was inaccurate: Weather forecasts Many people check the weather forecast each day so that they can get an idea of what to wear. People have to have faith that the forecast will be reasonably accurate in order to make decisions. Supermarket prices When you go to a shop you probably know how much money you have to spend. You chek the prices of things you are buying on the shelves and will have an idea of how much it will cost by the time you have reached the till. If the peson entering the price details into the system has accidentally overpriced a couple of items, then this could mean that you don’t have enough money to pay for shopping and have to put something back. Businesses Businesses have to keep accurate records of all the money coming in and all of the money being paid out.If the accountants make a mistake and dont accurately entera ll of the money received then it could look like the company has not made as much profit that year. Or they havent recorded all the bills so it seems that the company is making more money tan it really is Relevance In order for information to be useful it must be relevant to you. School You have a great deal of information to learn for each of your exams. Each tim e you go to lessons you probably take a lot of notes and perhaps are given handouts by your teachers to read.What about if your teachers decided to spend a few weeks teaching you about things that particularly interested them? What they had taught you might have been very interesting to both them and you but it isn't relevant to what you needed at the time. You would find that you had spent a few very precious weeks learning about things that you didn't need to know in order to pass your exam. Weather forecasts Whilst it might be interesting to find out what the weather is like in Florida or Melbourne today, it isn't really relevant to your everyday life.It won't help you decide whether you need to take an umbrella with you before you leave home in the UK. Doctor’s appointments You might be feeling unwell and want to make an appointment to see your doctor. You phone up the local surgery to find out when the doctor has a spare appointment time. It wouldn't be very useful or re levant to you if the receptionist told you how many appointment times were available to see the nurse. House prices Perhaps your parents might be thinking of moving house. The first thing they would do would be to speak to an estate agent to find out how much their house was worth.It wouldn't be useful or relevant if the estate agent were to tell them how a similar house in a different part of the country might be worth. Up to date information In order to be useful, information needs to be up to date. In many cases information changes over time and so old or out of date information can be misleading or five you the wrong picture of what is happening. Exams As part of your revision, you have a go at practicing lots of exam questions before the big day and you work your way through the practice papers and model answers that your teacher has given you.However, some of the papers are over five years old. How useful are the model answers for questions such as ‘which storage device would you recommend? ‘ and ‘what is the average size of a hard disk? ‘ It is well known that things move very quickly in the world of ICT and hardware and software changes rapidly. What was a top-notch computer just three years ago is now probably a very low-spec machine. So the model answers are likely to be out-of-date. Holidays Choosing a holiday can be great fun. And you would probably go to the travel agent to get the latest brochures. Why?Well, because if you used last year's brochures the holiday may not even be available any more. And certainly the prices would be different. So you need up-to-date information House prices Your parents are still thinking of selling their house. They need an idea of how much their house is worth right now. It would be no use to them being told by the estate agent how much their house was worth five years ago. Completeness In order for information to be useful it needs to be complete. If part of the information is missing then you will not be able to make use of it or make accurate decisions.Exams Remember those exam papers that you were doing for revision during your study leave? Your teacher wanted you to work your way through them and check your answers against the model answers. What if you were only given the second half of the model answer and the first half was missing? How useful would it be to you? Weather forecast You still want to plan the family picnic for tomorrow. However when you check the weather forecast you are only told what the weather in the morning will be like. There is nothing about the afternoon.You can't really make a decision just based upon what the morning weather is likely to be. Doctor’s appointment Imagine you are feeling ill and you need to make an appointment to see your doctor. How useful would it be if the receptionist just told you that you could have an appointment at quarter past two? Does she mean today, tomorrow or next week? The information in incomplete. Quality of presentation Information which is presented in a disorganised way or in a manner that is hard to understand will be less useful to you Business dataIf you were asked to present some information in a business meeting. It is often better to present it graphically. People find it very hard to spot patterns in a table of data, but the same information presented as a graph makes it very easy. Buying a house Your parents want to buy a new house. It is much easier to pick a house if a photograph was available. Your parents can see instantly if the house would appeal to them and whether they would be interested in finding out more. Once they have decided they like the look of the house they would then want more detailed written information.However, giving them the written information first with no idea of what the house looks like would make it difficult for them to get an idea as to whether they would like it. Too mucho or too litle detail For information to be useful you need t he right amout of detail. There is a risk of having too much detail which makes the information overwhelming and difficult to extract the bits that you want to know about. Or there might not be enough detail in which case you wont understand the full picture. Example: baking a cake Too much detail| Not enough detail|Ingredients Not only telling you that you need fluor, but telling you all of the different brands of fluor and how the choice of each one would affect the rising of your cake| Ingredients Telling you that you need fluor but not the quantity you will need to weigh ouy| MethodTelling you exactly how many times you need to beat the eggs and for exatly how many seconds you need to fold in the fluor| MethodTelling you to mix the ingredients together but not informing you of the correct order in which to combine them| CookingTelling you the exact amount of minutes that the cake should be baked for every type of oven that is currently for sale| CookingTelling you the temperatur a to cook the cake but not how long to leave it in the oven for| Coding of data When you are designing a database system to hold data, one of the first decisions that you will need to make is about how the data will be collected and stored. You already know the term GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out).If you collect data and enter it into the system without careful consideration at the planning stage then the output from your system will be of little use. One of the things that you can consider is to code some or all of your data in order to improve the efficiency of your system. What is coding of data? Any system will need to have data collected, entered and stored. One method of storing data is to assign codes to it. This usually means shortening the original data in an agreed manner. The agreement is between the users of the system. This coding scheme could be part of the training of how to use the system, and it could also be documented within the system for new users.If the coding is completely obvious then there is no such need for formal documentation. For example if a field called ‘Gender' has only two values ‘M' and ‘F'. It should be obvious from the field name that this refers to Male and Female. Example 1 Original data: Monday; Tuesday; Wednesday; Thursday; Friday Coded data: Mon; Tues; Wed; Thurs; Fri Example 2 Original data: Xtra Large; Large; Medium; Small Coded data: XL; L; M; S Example 3 The above codes are fairly easy for anyone to recognise and understand. Some codes however are more complicated. What do you think the following codes might represent? RG935LR CV183TP The above examples could be postcodes.They represent a street name, a particular part of the street and the town where the street is located. Example 4 How about: SK12BN TR14GN These might be a little bit more difficult because the code is made up from different representative parts. Let's have a closer look. The first part represents a piece of clothing, so ‘SK' represented ‘Skirt' and ‘TR' represented ‘Trousers' The middle part of the code was the dress size. The final part of the code represented a colour, so ‘BN' represented ‘Brown' and ‘GN' represented ‘Green'. You should be able to see from that information that the first code is a size 12 brown skirt. What piece of clothing would the second code represent? Why might we want to code data?Much of the data that we collected and enter into our systems has some degree of repetition. Speeding up data entry Let's take the example of collecting data about a person's gender. People can be either ‘Male' or ‘Female'. Whilst these two options are easily understood by all, imagine having to enter the word ‘Male' and ‘Female' into a system many hundreds of times instead. It is a waste of time and effort because no extra information is contained in the full words compared to a single letter. Increase accuracy of data entry The other issue is that no matter how accurate a person is at data entry, at some stage they are likely to make a mistake and might spell ‘Male' as ‘Mail' or ‘Female' as ‘Femal'.This type of mistake will make any results from your database queries unreliable. Instead of entering ‘Male' or ‘Female' you could code the data and instead enter it as ‘M' or ‘F'. Simply having to enter one letter instead of a possible six will speed up data entry. It will also cut down on the risk of mistakes being made with spelling. Use of validation In our example, the words ‘Male' or ‘Female' have been coded so that they become ‘M' or ‘F'. When data has been coded it makes it easier to use validation to check if the data entered is sensible. With the example above, the person entering the data could still make a mistake and enter ‘S' instead of ‘M' or ‘F'.But if you set up validation so that the field will only accept the l etters ‘M' or ‘F' and absolutely nothing else then that should further cut down on possible mistakes. Note that validation can only check if the data is sensible and within reasonable limits, it cannot check whether the data is accurate. Somebody could still enter ‘F' instead of ‘M'. Less storage space required Every letter that you store in your database system will take at least one byte of storage. If you store ‘Female' as ‘F' then you will save five bytes of storage space. If the system belongs to a large organisation, there might be many thousands or millions of records stored – simply by coding one field, a huge amount of hard disk storage can be saved. Faster searching for dataIt stands to reason that the smaller the size of your database, the faster it will be to search and produce results. Thus by coding data and keeping the size of the system to a minimum the more time you can save in the long run when running queries. Coding exam ples In our everyday lives we come across many examples of how coding is used to represent data. Here are just a few more ideas: Country names The name of a country can be represented by two letters. For example: Great Britain – GB France – FR Canada – CA Problems caused by coding data Whilst coding data can bring many benefits it can also lead to some problems. Coarsening of data This means that during the coding process some of the subtle details in the data are lost. Look at the image below: