Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom Essay

The Board of Education and Administration of Holland Elementary School have agreed on a decision that will come into effect at the beginning of the Fall 2013 school year. As well as introducing many of our newly acquired teachers to the classrooms, we will also introduce a new artificial intelligence that our students have never experienced before. This will come in the form of robotic instructors who will assist our current teachers with their work and teach other lessons on their own. This may come as a shock to some, but I am extremely confident in this decision. Artificial intelligence coming to the classroom this year will have a positive impact on our school system with increased teaching strategy to achieve a higher level of learning. Robots with artificial intelligence teaching students in the classroom is something that may seem to some like a science fiction fantasy, but the reality of the matter is that robotic helpers, teachers, and playmates are part of a booming technology that has already started flourishing in other countries. Articles from the New York Times have informed us on the hundreds of robots South Korea has already hired to assist teachers, and teach certain subjects on their own (Benedict Carey and John Markoff Students, Meet Your New Teacher, Mr. Robot Para 10). The robots they use are usually computer screened faces with bodies that have arms and legs, allowing them to be entirely mobile on their own. The robots use motion tracking and speech recognition to act human like. This makes them able to engage people in conversation, play games, complete simple tasks, and teach simple skills to others (Carey and Markoff Para 8). Adam Sneed, a researcher for The Future Tense Program explains in his article Coming Soon to a Kindergarten Classroom: Robot Teachers how robots give realistic human-like responses to social cues given by people in their surroundings (Para 6). They also understand the concept of personal space, and when approaching people, they know to stop before anyone’s personal space is invaded (Carey and Markoff, Para 19). The robots are programmed to act as if they have feelings similar to those of children. If the robot is damaged purposely by the students, it will begin to cry. Children react to this by feeling very sorry and backing off right away. If the robot continues to cry, the students offer it peace as they would with another child. Experiments that have shown this in the past are a display of the strong bond students can make with the robots (Carey and Markoff Para 25). Robots with artificial intelligence can engage children through many ways that are subconscious to humans. They hold eye contact with the children and use physical rhythm to stay involved with them. For example, if a child is swaying from side to side, the robot will start to sway as well. The robots mirror the children as a game to connect with them, gain their friendship, and build a sense of trust. If a student lifts his or her arm, the robot will lift their arm as well. The robots will also play vise-versa, letting the children mimic their moves (Carey and Markoff Para 4). Robots also show a large understanding of tasks that are explained to them. In a study done at the Georgia Institute of Technology, a robot was told where certain objects belong in a classroom and then was instructed to put them all away. When the robot came across a toy that it was unsure about, it stared at the toy in hesitation to pick it up. The robot’s instructor asked if it had any questions, and the robot replied by asking where the toy belongs. When it was explained that the green toy belongs in the g reen bin, the robot nodded its head, put the toy in the bin, and said â€Å"makes sense† (Carey and Markoff Para 45-47). This is an example of how the robots that will be incorporated into our classrooms can expand their knowledge and learn from the students to help them improve their teaching. Artificial intelligence is such a large benefit to our students because of all the good teaching qualities the robots have been programmed with that not all human teachers possess. These qualities include encouraging, non-judgmental, infinitely patient, and comforting. Our robots would never get mad at a student for something, and they will never yell at a student or make his or her feel bad for thinking incorrectly. James Marshall Crotty, co-founder/peripatetic publisher of Monk Magazine has recorded in his article Why Kids Prefer Robots to Teachers and Parents that students feel more welcomed and accepted because of this, allowing them to feel more room for guilt-free error. This will eliminate the social boundaries that often keep students from being creative so they will be able to be themselves with much mo re confidence and learn in a more proficient mind set (Forbes Para 7). Robots are able to detect when children are not engaged in the learning, and they are also able to understand signals that children subconsciously put out when they are confused or have a question they are waiting to ask, in which case the robot would offer them the chance to ask their question (Carey and Markoff Para 52). These are all very important skills that are necessary for an instructor to have. The new robots will be an extraordinary help to our special education program which includes mostly students with Attention Deficit Disorder and Autism. Sneed explains how robots will help our students learn social and cognitive skills in a way that is less intimidating to them than through human contact. At times when children with Autism are shy and will not communicate with other people, the robots are able to bring them out of their shell and teach them social skills (Para 5). The robots also provide the students with certain therapies that help their disabilities such as repetitive tasks and imitation. The robots are able to keep any student on task just as efficiently, if not more than human teachers, which is something that will benefit everyone (Carey and Markoff Para 20). Robots are especially good at teaching subjects such as foreign language. In a study performed at the University of Southern California, a robot was used to teach the Finnish language to a group of preschool students. It would pick up objects and say what they were in Finnish, and use productive teaching strategies such as games and repetition to help the children retain the information. When the study was finished, all of the words taught by the robot were significantly imbedded into the children’s memories, while the words they learned from multimedia tapes or other sources were not embedded well at all. This is due to the cognitive engagement, patience, and encouragement the robots provide for the preschoolers. Many different experiments such as this one show that robots’ teaching strategies impact students at about the same level as human teaching strategies (Carey and Markoff Para 21-24). Experiments are performed all over the world by many different specialists who study robotics, and anyone can see, their data concludes that artificial intelligence has a positive influence on the learning levels in a classroom. Specialists have also taken into account the feelings of children who have had the opportunity for artificial intelligence to become a part of their lives. Studies reported by Crotty show that a majority of students are pleased to have a robot to study and play with (Para 2). Robots are able to make games out of children’s homework, and the knowledge they gain from their assignments is portrayed as fun, giving them incentive to get their work done as well as possible. This is very helpful, especially for children who are discouraged in school and have low self-efficacy (Crotty Para 4). The robots are viewed by the children as friends and as very helpful companions. A quote from an article by Rendeiro Fonesca in United Academics Magazine brings us into the life of a boy who had artificial intelligence assisting him at home as well as in school: When I get home, my robot helps me with my homework. My mother and father came in and said no video games now, homework first, but when they saw that I was already finished and had done everything correctly, they were glad that I had made friends with the robot. It could do everything—play soccer, build Legos, read, do math, write, and all the movements a person can make. Since my parents really are always at work a lot, they can’t always help me or play with me or cook something. Now the robot helps them with that.† —Boy, 9, Germany. (Fonseca Robots in the Classroom Para 4) According to this article, children see their robots as reassuring, helpful, encouraging, and as a very big influence to help them with their learning. They often feel more comfortable being their true selves around the robots than they do with a teacher they are unfamiliar with, which helps to be creative in their work when the robots are around (Fonseca Para 10). They also encourage children to be proud of themselves, which gives them incentive to show their parents and human teachers how well they are doing with the instruction given by the robots (Crotty Para 6). While we understand that robots teaching children in the classroom is viewed as unnatural by many, we ask for your cooperation to please understand the significant advancement in technology that has occurred in the past ten years. In Crotty’s article, he also explains how technology is viewed through the eyes of children as something very human. It is a major part of our culture, and young students don’t know of any life deprived of the conveniences technology has given us (Para 4). Robots seem strange and unfamiliar to us, but every new technology appears this way when it is first introduced. The introduction of artificial intelligence to the Frenchtown Elementary School District will lower our budget by decreasing the amount we will be paying in teacher salary. It will bring new learning opportunities to our children, open up a new kind of culture into our lives, and provide excellent assistance to our special education teachers, as well as general classroom lessons. With this addition to our curriculum, the administration hopes to achieve higher state testing scores, and higher overall levels of learning and motivation. Works Cited Carey, Benedict, and John Markoff. â€Å"Students, Meet Your New Teacher, Mr. Robot.† The New York Times. The New York Times, 11 July 2010. Web. 26 Oct. 2012 Crotty, James Marshall. â€Å"Why Kids Prefer Robots To Teachers And Parents.† Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 03 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2012. Fonseca Rendeiro, Mark. â€Å"Robots in the Classroom.† United Academics: Connect Science and Society. UA Magazine, 22 Jan. 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2012. Sneed, Adam. â€Å"Coming Soon to a Kindergarten Classroom: Robot Teachers.† Slate. The Slate Group, 6 Aug. 2012. Web. 26 Oct. 2012.

Knowledge and Understanding of the Confessions of Jeremiah Essay

Outline your knowledge and understanding of the Confessions of Jeremiah Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, and a member of a priestly family. He was a native of Judah and came from Anathoth, a small village in the north east of Jerusalem. His prophetic ministry lasted from approximately 626 to 580BC, and is one of the longest of all the writing prophets. The prophet Jeremiah began his long prophetic career in 626BC; â€Å"in the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign† He was still a very young man at this time. The narrative of his call is in a dialogue between Jeremiah and Yahweh. From this we can see straight away that Jeremiah had a very intimate relationship with God from the outset. Unlike other prophets, Jeremiah seems to have been chosen to be a prophet before he was even born. â€Å"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born I consecrated you, I appointed you a prophet to the nations.† It seemed it was the destiny of Jeremiah to be a prophet. According to Kidner, Jeremiah was â€Å"handmade for the task.† Similarly to Moses and Amos, at first Jeremiah was reluctant to consent to his mission, saying â€Å"Ah Lord God behold I do not know how to speak for I am only a youth†, but his faith in Yahweh gave him faith in himself, and he accepted the role God asked of him. Perhaps this teaches us the meaning of rising to face personal challenges. Yahweh said to Jeremiah â€Å"Be not afraid of them for I am with you to deliver you.† This is very much the faith of believers today, that in times of trouble, God is constant in our lives. In Jeremiahs call, Yahweh outlines the purpose of his ministry. He says â€Å"I have set you this day over nations and kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.† This summarizes the two main aspects of Jeremiahs mission. It was to be a twofold mission, having both a positive and negative mission, and promising reconstruction after destruction. Yahweh intended to punish the people for their sins and injustice, yet it would be this destruction that would create a new and holy people. In this aspect, we can see a similarity between Hosea and Jeremiah, in that Hosea also believed in Redemptive Judgement. Following the dialogue of Jeremiah’s call, there were two visions. The first of these visions is the vision of the almond rod, and the second vision is one of the boiling pot facing away from the north. These visions both contained a message of judgement. The mouth of the put is facing towards the south, away from the north, which implies that the danger that Judah will face will come from the north, and that these forces will destroy Judah. Yahweh says here â€Å"And I will utter my judgements against them, for all their wickedness in forsaking me; they have made their offerings to other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.† In his visions, God speaks very frankly of judgement, expressing that it is going to happen soon, and that the destruction is going to come from the North. After this, Yahweh encourages Jeremiah again with the divine power of his task. He is made aware that being young and experienced, he would be resisted and persecuted by many, but that he would be upheld and strengthened by God. Jeremiah understood â€Å"sin† in terms of the betrayal of love, and accused the people of being guilty of embracing pagan gods, and flirting with heathen empires. They succumbed to the corrupting influences of the nature cults. Jeremiah found their behaviour incredible, and failed to understand why after Yahweh had been so good to the people during the time of exodus, they would desert him. He accused the people of forsaking Yahweh saying â€Å"They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.† In other words, they had deserted Yahweh for gods which were useless to them. Jeremiah also outlined the futility of foreign alliances, and said that in times of political emergency, he left their true protector. They lost faith in Yahweh, and this led to Assyria losing their religion independence. Jeremiah felt this was stupidity on their part, and appealed to the people to return to the covenant, but they paid him no heed. The call from Jeremiah is a call for repentance. Kidner said â€Å"Judah had seen it all and followed suit, sinning with her eyes open. To make it worse she had put on a sanctimonious show of repentance and reform.† Jeremiah says that the Jews were guilty of syncretism and apostasy, but that they were so religiously complacent that they were ignorant of their own sin. There was evidence of paganism and the people of Judah were confused. The nation had sunk to a dangerously low level of religious impurity. They had become hardened, and unfeeling in relation to their conscience. Jeremiahs confessions are autobiographical. The book of Jeremiah is split into six different passages The passages in jeremiahs confessions have three things in common, they are in first person, they are directly addressed to God and not to the people or its rulers, and they express the deep suffering felt by the prophet in exercising his mission. These passages are what made Jeremiah unique amongst the Hebrew prophets. He is the only prophet to reveal the personal impact his role had on him. In the confessional passages we see a real, human being, whose frailty we can identify with and whose trauma we can understand. Rarely did other prophets give us a glimpse into their lives, but in the passages Jeremiah wrote, he revealed his soul. Throughout his ministry, Jeremiah was often in conflict with his own contemporaries. This conflict was not his choosing. We are reminded of Hosea, in the sense that Jeremiah was a man of intense sympathy and tenderness of the heart, and all he wanted was to feel the love and companionship of others. He despised the conflict that deprived him of warmth and conflict that he craved, and so he became a depressed and hostile man. Yahweh said to Jeremiah â€Å"You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons and daughters in this place.† This was due to the impending crisis. In the ancient near east, sterility was considered to be a terrible curse, so we know from this that Jeremiahs celibacy would not have been down to personal choice. This shows how Jeremiah endured personal suffering, as a result of the nation’s wickedness. The first two passages in Jeremiahs confessions reveal a plot against his life, instigated by immediate family and acquaintances. The people saw Jeremiah, son of a priest, as a traitor. He reacted fiercely to this plot, and asked for the death of these men. The incident caused Jeremiah to reflect on his mission, and on the very meaning of human existence. As Jeremiah asked for no more than justice, God upheld his fierce reaction saying â€Å"I am going to punish them†¦For I will bring disaster upon the people of Anathoth.† This punishment however is not for vengeance, it is for reform. It is here that Jeremiah shows us a different side of him. He exaggerates the gloom, and welcomes the thought of retribution. Yahweh tells him that he has to keep his faith and courage during his sufferings, because they are little compared to what is to come. God knows only too well the pain of ingratitude; desertion from a spouse; defiance of a son, a daughter. A parallel is evident between the family’s rejection of Jeremiah, and the nation’s rejection of Yahweh. In the third passage, we see a new outburst and pleading by Jeremiah as he describes the â€Å"inner crisis† he is facing. He believed that everything he did seemed to bring him into conflict with his fellow men. It is here that Jeremiah laments on his mother, saying â€Å"woe is me, my mother that you ever bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land.† As Jeremiah’s call predates his birth, to curse the day of his birth would mean a rejection of his mission. His persecution arises from the message he has to deliver. Jeremiah was depressed by his work and often wondered about its purpose. In his eyes, all it caused was contention with his fellow Jews, and made him considered a troublemaker. The reaction the people of Judah gave him meant he became bitter, and saw himself condemned to a life of loneliness. The people reacted in such a hostile way to Jeremiah because he told them what they didn’t want to hear. He foretold disaster and the people remained sceptical of what he was saying, which only caused Jeremiah to fall even further into depression. As a result of the personal persecution and enforced loneliness, Jeremiah became vindictive and actually prayed for vengeance on those who treated him so poorly. This desire for vengeance only further reveals the humanity of Jeremiah. The third confession also indicates that Jeremiah faced an inward struggle with Yahweh, as well as an outward struggle with men. He was torn between obligation and inclination. He felt obliged to work as a prophet, and continue to live the sort of life that would lead to conflict with others, but due to the stress his prophetic work caused him, he felt inclined to avoid it. In the beginning, the words of Yahweh brought Jeremiah joy. â€Å"Your words were found, and I ate them and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart†, but this has all changed now. Jeremiah has been left an object of ridicule, and God’s words no longer gave him joy. He felt God used him as instrument to announce pain and destruction on people he felt love for, and at times he was almost blasphemous, accusing Yahweh of overpowering and misleading him. â€Å"Oh Lord though hast deceived me, and I was deceived, thou art stronger than I and thou hast prevailed. Yahweh’s reply renews and confirms he prophet’s mission, using the very words from his call. â€Å"And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze.† It is made clear h owever, that this will only happen when Jeremiah has converted, and regained confidence within his mission. In the last of the confessional passages, Jeremiah tells us of his most dramatic inner crisis, firmly believing that Yahweh has tricked him. â€Å"Oh Lord you have enticed me and I was enticed; you have over powered me and you have prevailed.† He fears being classed as a false prophet, which would have been devastating because he is one of the biggest critics of them. These false prophets were Jeremiahs greatest competition, and promised a shortcut to divine restoration. They spoke of peace, and attempted to â€Å"heal the wound of the people lightly†, but their remedies failed to touch even the root of the problem. Jeremiah says the complete opposite to these false prophets. Jeremiah believed that Yahweh would intervene in human history to punish, where as the false prophets proclaimed that God was uninterested in human affairs, and therefore that he wouldn’t intervene in them. Jeremiah believes that they feed the Jews with false hope, whenever doom is inevitable, and without the destruction they cannot be rebuilt. According to Bright, these prophets are â€Å"nothing but wind.† The role of a true prophet was often to act as a contestant to the status quo. The people of Judah did not like the challenge that Jeremiah was presenting them with. Jeremiah remained insistent however, that in light of Judah’s perversity, she would be punished. Although here he is clearly presented as a Prophet of Doom, this is only one aspect to his mission, and like other prophets, he does have a message of hope. Similarly to Amos, Jeremiah is warning the people what is to come if they do not repent, he is giving them warning so change is a possibility. It is for this reason he is also known as the â€Å"Prophet of Repentance.† He feels doubtful in relation to his message, and feels he is crying wolf in regard to his mission, by proclaiming a message of judgement which has not yet come to pass. Once again we are reminded of the conflict with Jeremiah in relation to obligation and inclination. Here Jeremiah describes his obligation to speak in a prophetic voice as a fire burning within him, forcing him to go on with his prophetic work despite the feeling that his inclination was to stop. Jeremiah speaks of his struggle saying â€Å"If I saw I will not mention him, or speak anymore in his name, the n within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones. I am weary with holding it in and I cannot.† When Jeremiah says â€Å"But the Lord is with me like a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble†, he seems to have come to realise that within him there was the potential to move forwards and cope with what he thought was impossible. He finally realised that he was not alone, and that God would always be with him. Although Jeremiah at times curses the day he was born, the one thing that lifted him out of his depression was the deep conviction that Yahweh would always be there for him. Kidner says on Jeremiah â€Å"He goes on to his worst ordeals with never a hesitation or a word of doubt.† In conclusions, the outpourings from Jeremiahs heart that we witness in his confessions could be said to reveal imperfections about his human character, such as vindictiveness towards his fellow men and irrelevance towards God. However as Jeremiah was aware of his own perfections, by repenting Yahweh would help him overcome all of his human imperfections. If only the Jews had have realised the need to repent, then Yahweh could have help them overcome their imperfections through prayer and dialogue.

Supervisory roles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Supervisory roles - Essay Example Because the interviewee held a supervisory role at a local bookstore, there were around 15 employees that he has been supervising. The management responsibilities of a store supervisor initially revolve around the selection, hiring, and training of new employees. When these staff members have undergone the proper training and preparations for work, the store supervisor handles the responsibility for developing the schedule for staff members on a weekly or monthly basis. Because the store employs a number of sales clerks, to manage the schedule has always involved the consideration of the availability and work patterns of every personnel. Moreover, when staff members report for work, it is the job of the supervisor to establish clear communications regarding the tasks assigned for every employee as well as monitor and observe the members’ work habits. This can help ensure that their performance is satisfactory and can contribute to the store’s long-term success (Chan and Soong 22). If a store employee is incapable of accomplishing the tasks assigned by the store supervisor, the latter should then articulate the problem to the concerned employee and its possible outcomes. Probation and termination are common repercussions brought about by incompetent work; however, it is also essential that the store supervisor assists employees in identifying and practicing the measures for improving performance. On the whole, the nature of a store supervisor’s job is focused on the supervisory of service flow within the store and provision of assistance for store employees to ensure that all tasks are accomplished and a satisfactory performance is obtained. According to the interviewee, their store’s education and training requirements for store supervisors include a 2 to 3-year experience of working in similar stores and should demonstrate knowledge and ability in supervising a store, training individuals, communication, and store operations. Moral conduct and positive attitudes should also be exemplified. Nonetheless, despite the requirements necessary to become a store supervisor, further training had been provided to the store’s members, from floor employees to store supervisors and managers, to ensure high levels of performance. My interviewee had undergone training to improve worker competency with which they were provided with information and tools as a means of enhancing skills and knowledge. Certain strategies were used, including structured conferences, worker self-rating, and provision of personal feedback. An action plan had also been provided to ensure that all short-term and long-term goals and objectives were clearly outlined. For my interviewee, he believes that the three most important characteristics of a good supervisor are to be an effective administrator, an active educator, and a sincere supporter. He should be able to have clear expectations of the work in adherence to performance standards that ha ve been clearly defined and should accept the authority and power in a non-authoritarian manner. Procedures should also be clearly structured and constructive feedback must be effectively provided to workers, such as confrontation during the appropriate time as well as an honest and critical advice in such a way that the employees can be assisted in developing strength and independence. There was a time when he hired two new cashiers who had been employed part-time while attending school to finish

Strategic Management Analysis Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Strategic Management Analysis - Case Study Example In a scenario where reference governments ban Cirque performances in public spaces like Las Vegas, the Cirque du Soleil will have to change its strategy. Indeed, this will have a significant effect since permanent shows attract a huge audience since they host a portfolio of different shows with a series of related displays. The huge audience that attends Cirque performances in public place increase the total number of spectators experiencing Cirque du Soleil's shows worldwide, which is the company’s strength. As such, this scenario will reduce the company’s market presence and revenues derived from ticket sales and concessions from products sold during the shows in the public spaces. The company will lose its competitive advantage. To avert this crisis, the company must consider changing its strategy by investing more on world tours. This will involve altering the calendar of events for the convenience of performing artists, celebrities, audience, and other stakeholders sponsoring the events. Indeed, the company can also establish partnerships with interested parties that will host Cirque performances and finance the building of private theatres. Moreover, the company will invest huge resources on building private theatres designed for Cirque performances at the company headquarters and branches. The company will diversify and market its operations by establishing television deals to broadcast Cirque performances and venturing in other related businesses like selling the Cirque du Soleil's shows merchandise.

Eugenic Sterilization Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Eugenic Sterilization Law - Essay Example In 1924, Carrie Buck a teenager mother was accused in a court of law for bearing a child outside of wedlock and that her child would probably be socially inadequate. Ms. Buck, whose feeble-minded mother had been admitted in the state colony of epileptics and feeble-minded, was the first American to face eugenic sterilization law. Harry Laughlin’s authentication about Ms. Buck and her child and Eugenic Record Office testimony about her child’s disorder made the court rule in favor of the states. She appealed for a review of the case but the Supreme Court also ruled in favor of the state. Basing his argument on the fact that Ms. Buck was feeble-minded, chief justice Oliver W. Holmes ordered Superintendent Bell to go ahead and perform salpingectomy operation on Carrie Buck. He concluded that it was better for the entire world if unfit human breeds were wiped from the society instead of waiting for them, to bear offspring and execute them for crimes.Later, Paul Lombardo a h istorian at the University of Virginia found out that, apart from Miss Buck’s child turning out to be a very bright student at 7 years old, Buck had been raped. Following this, Eugenics Record Office was forced to close and with time eugenicists’ claims were disapproved by other scientists. This decision had also contributed to more than 65,000 inferiors being forcefully sterilized between 1927 and 1979. United States government has since then been holding annual anniversaries to apologize for the shameful Buck decision.

Highlight problems and issues trade union face in the UK and recommend Essay

Highlight problems and issues trade union face in the UK and recommend practical solutionsto solve them - Essay Example Failure to come on an agreement on the negotiations made, the trade unions are entitled to strike. Capitalism is a form of governance where, the land, labor and other factors of production are privately owned states Clarke (1978). Trade unions can be defined from this perspective as the representatives of the employees’ terms of employment to employers and government from a given policy which is based on the person who privately owns the union. The trade unions here are not government controlled but privately controlled. Trade union from a radical perspective can be defines as the representation of employees from the industrial and commercial sectors only. These are the unions that only focus on the two business sectors but they are not necessarily privately owned. Marxism emphasises on the workers’ rights to enjoy the fruits of their labor. It thus defines trade unions as organs which represent work towards ceasing employees’ harassment at work place and ensuring they enjoy the benefits and results that come from their work. Lionel (1968) states that in the UK, most unions belong to the Trades Union Congress, which represents many unions, and hence has more power over issues effecting workers nationally. Therefore trade unions act as a voice for the employees and often take on the role of challenging and updating contracts and conditions for members and also protect the members from harassment and employment related legal issues. Rosen (1969) states the main sources of power of the trade unions as the government, employers, and employees. These are the key sources of trade unions as they are the determinants of the representatives in the trade unions and the legal issues that it should abide to. Stewart (1986) argues that if a union does not have a good collective bargaining style, then it will lose its members who are the employees. On the other hand, the employers and the

The role of the management in organizational Behavior Essay

The role of the management in organizational Behavior - Essay Example A readjustment of work-roles and behavior of employee teams, to cope with new challenges, is the first step to initiating changes in organizational culture. It is this first step that translates into new attitudes. Thus, behavior changes attitudes, and not the reverse; change happens from bottom up, and not top down. And for this to happen effectively, the CEO should be willing to change too, based on the signals received by her from the teams at the grassroots. Additionally she has the task of encouraging these teams to 'lead' the company in the direction required, without herself being directive. Her role is that of a competent doctor assisting childbirth. If the process is going smoothly, the doctor waits and encourages the mother, and provides her all the assistance required. Medical intervention should happen only in an emergency! What is the process that teams go through while resolving business issues Beer et al (p160) state that research has proven that "interfunctional coordination, decision making, work organization and concern for people" are the four indicators of performance-in the long run-and not financial parameters, which in the short term, can spike or recede in response to other factors. These four factors are directly connected with team functioning. Apart from this, they talk of six distinct steps (pp161-164) taken by successful managers to elicit task-related responses-i.e. a response ideally suited to deal with the task at hand. What are these six steps First, mobilizing commitment to change through a joint diagnosis of business issues. Here, the operative word is 'joint'. The participation in this process ensures a commitment to the process of change required to tackle this problem. Second comes the process of drafting a 'shared vision' to organize to cope successfully with the situation. Note, it is not the CEO spelling out the steps to be taken, it is the team ('shared') doing this. In this process, new roles and responsibilities are taken on, but since it does not involve change in titles or remuneration there is less resistance to the steps. Here, cross-functional teams operate-teams from across different departments and at different levels of the hierarchy-the only criterion for the composition of teams being that it is the most conducive to task attainment. Then (third) comes a pro-active fostering of consensus for the new way of functioning, and building competence and cohesion to achieve it. The new way of functioning would require new skills, and employees seek to gain these skills. This process is assisted by the management. Apart from this, if the management sends out a message that team functioning is what is required, then the building of competence and cohesion happens quickly and smoothly. (Fourth) Once team functioning has succeeded in one department, it has to spread to other departments. However, it is likely to fail if it is a top-down effort. Other departments, which would be at various levels of readiness to reorganize themselves into new functional teams, need to work out their own way of attaining this. The management has to stand by and cheer, as it were, without pushing. (Fifth) Once the process of change has more or less spread through most departments, the new roles and team relationships have to be institutionalized, so that the company does not inadvertently slip back to the

ENG IP5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

ENG IP5 - Essay Example This movement spread in many spheres of Jewish life such as culture, religion, secularism, politics, labor and revisionism. The spread of this kind of nationalism came to the world as a surprised and shock the foundations of several other religious forces such as Islam and Christianity which considered Israelis to be a thing of the past. The arrival of the Zionist forces in the mainstream politics and religion gave way to businessmen especially in the field of agriculture and farming (Beinin & Stein 2006). This was the start of the Jewish settlement in their ancient regions or what they called their homeland. Israeli-Palestinian conflict has its roots both in politics and in religion. Ever since the war of 1948, the Israelis have outnumbered the Palestinians in Jerusalem leading to an intrusion of the Zionists in the Palestinian politics which caused a severe damage to the established structure. Both Palestinian Muslims and Christians were affected by this invasion which came to them as a shock. It is Zionism which is keeping the Israelis to fight for their entire life. One wonders whether the Israeli Zionism had taken an extremist approach towards attaining the land or had the opposing force, that is, the Palestinian Nationalist Movement become ineffective (Caplan 2010). Palestinians seem to have a stunted growth in the hands of the Israeli forces in the social, economic and political spheres. Most of the Arab population in Israel became internal refugees who had little to voice out for their rights. The high fertility rates and the decreasing mortality rates increased the Palestinian citizens to six-fold ever since the establishment of Israel (Dowty 2004). The places of exile were perfect for the Israeli’s to settle. Babylon and Egypt are regions full of resources and riches. But it was religion which drove the Jews towards the Holy Land of Jerusalem. It goes without saying that the means adopted by the Israeli forces to date are highly illegal althoug h the Arab neighboring nations are not reciprocating the way they should be doing politically (Dowty 2004). Unfortunately countless number of people are killed ruthlessly every passing day. Many billions have already died in the past but the issue of Palestine remains until the followers of all the main religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam come together to put some sense into each other. It is also observed that when the solutions are presented for the conflict between the two nations there is a one sided image portrayed greatly depending upon the opinions of the UN, British, American or Israeli government. The conflict worsened as the Israeli forces pushed them next to the Arab state so that it could meet a larger end. The agreement to join hands with the opposing party meant a great deal of chaos. This was however overlooked because Israel’s demand for the partition depended upon the initial behavior of the Palestinians when they first offered some joint endeavor (Bei nin & Stein 2006). On being interviewed for the New York Times in Paris, Mahmud Darwish, the â€Å"poetic voice of Palestine† who was awarded the Lannan Foundation Prize for Cultural Freedom, says quite helplessly and innocently that he fails to choose his own reality because he feels that instead of having a peaceful and serene mind to write poetry his poetry is colored with a constant tension of bloodshed, fire and occupation. The feeling has grown so

Marketing Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Marketing Plan - Essay Example The sports drink is prepared through a blend or combination of water, electrolytes and carbohydrates with an aim of helping athletes to recover the electrolytes and energy that is lost during vigorous sports activities. The scientific formulation is presented by the PepsiCo to its market through variant brands such as orange, lemon lime, strawberry kiwi, citrus cooler, fruit punch and blue cool (MarketWatch, 2010). Industry Definition Regardless of the improved performance of the brand in the market, the level of competitiveness in the sports drink market has increased significantly. This is due to new entrants into the market, substitute products and application of competitive strategies by the key players within the sports drink market. In this regard therefore there is a need to develop an effective marketing plan that will be used to enhance the performance of the food drink within the market in addition to achievement of a competitive advantage in the market as opposed to rival products (Zmuda, 2008). Company Analysis PepsiCo, the parent company that produces Gatorade aims at becoming a leader in the production and sale of sports drinks within its markets across the world. This is achieved through an effective strategic leadership approaches and a corporate culture that is focused at high quality human resource management, quality in production, innovativeness and effective marketing (Stanford, 2011). The company’s performance and challenges within the market can be understood through an analysis of its strengths, weaknesses, available opportunities within the market in addition to threats within its markets. The strengths of the company are demonstrated by the high quality of its sports drink, Gatorade. This sports drink is scientifically formulated with elements that are required by individuals who are engaged in strenuous sports activities. Additionally, Gatorade has gained a significantly strong name of its brand within the market. This is attri buted to the popularity of the parent company and the promotional strategies that are employed in popularizing the brand within its local and international markets (Sterrett, 2009). The effectiveness of the scientific formulation in allowing individuals to excel in the physical performance of their exercise and sports activity has led to winning of the loyalty of the customers for the brand. Gatorade sports drink is however faced with weaknesses such as low visibility and advertising and unawareness of the consumers on the benefits of consumption of the product during sports, training and exercising activities. The relatively high price of the product is also argued to be one of the major weaknesses of the brand. Pepsi Co has many opportunities for enhancing the performance and competitiveness of Gatorade within the market. This includes more promotional activities through an integrated marketing communication approach and the use of celebrity endorsements of famous sports personali ties to popularize the brand within its market. In addition, the company has market opportunities of venturing into new scientific formulations such as protein regimens. The company would also add more nutrients to the Gatorade formulation such as vitamins. This is an opportunity that will allow the company to compete with rival brands and sports regimens that present the consumers with highly

Chemistry of Chocolate Essay Example for Free

Chemistry of Chocolate Essay Chocolate is made from the cacao bean. According to Rodney Lipson, â€Å"Cacao has been a cultivated crop for at least three thousand years, probably quite a bit more. The people who first utilized Cacao were the inhabitants of what is now Venezuela† (Lipson) This group of people would eventually spread the cacao bean in northwestern South America. Cacao was clearly highly valued by these people and they spread it northward through trade with their neighbors. It was probably the Maya, over 1500 years ago, who brought Cacao to Yucatan in what is now Mexico. The Aztecs who got Cacao from the Maya, used Cacao in a number of ways, one common way was as a bitter spice in food and possibly also as a base for pasta or bread, but the most well-known way that Cacao was as a drink. While the Maya drank Chocolate hot, the Aztecs seem to have often taken it cold. The Aztecs called the drink, and apparently the bean as well, Xocoatl. From this word comes the pan-European word Chocolate. When Europeans first made contact with the Aztec civilization, Cacao was being cultivated and used extensively. The Spanish Conquistadors quickly noticed the benefits of Chocolate and used it to keep their armies marching long distances with little food. From the Aztecs the Spanish took it to Europe. Chocolate was widely used in Catholic countries after 1569 when Pope Pius V declared that Chocolate, the drink, did not break the fast, despite the hearty nutritional aspects of Chocolate† (Lipson). Chocolate continued to be moved from country to country through trade and exploration. Soon chocolate found its way into America, and according to Lipson, â€Å"In 1900 Milton Snavely Hershey, a Mennonite from Pennsylvania, began producing milk-chocolate bars and kisses with great success. He was anti-alcohol and saw Chocolate as a good, profitable alternative. His empire grew even larger during World War I, when Milton Hershey encouraged the US Army to add four Hershey bars to each soldiers daily ration† (Lipson). Because of Hershey, chocolate was now affordable for everyone, and his methods of making chocolate are still used today. Peter’s chocolate tells us that chocolate is made by, â€Å"storing the cacao beans in silos or warehouse. These rooms are well aired, kept at cool temperature and the humidity regularly checked. Before the production stage, the beans are sorted and cleaned. Cocoa does not acquire the richness of its color and the fullness of its flavor until it is roasted. The degree of care given to this operation has considerable influence on the ultimate quality of the end product either cocoa powder or chocolate. When roasting is complete, the beans are cooled and their thin shells removed by a winnowing machine. The husked and winnowed beans are called nibs. Heres where the first secrets of the chocolate manufacturer come in. The nibs are blended, combining as many as eight to ten varieties. It is control of these subtle mixtures that maintains a constant quality and brings out the flavor of each particular variety of chocolate. The roasted and winnowed nibs then pass through refining mills and are ground. The heat generated by grinding causes the cocoa butter or fat to melt and form a fine paste or liquid known as chocolate liquor. This goes to large hydraulic presses which remove most of the cocoa butter. The cake which is left may eventually be made into cocoa powder. The cake goes through several processes in which it is crushed, milled and finely sifted. After the cocoa paste, cocoa butter, milk, sugar and additional flavorings have been carefully weighed out in accordance with the recipe, they go into a mixer where rotating, kneading arms thoroughly mix all the ingredients. The result is a homogeneous, paste-like mixture which is already pleasant to taste, but still feels gritty to the palate. The chocolate is put in a conching machine. While in the machine, the chocolate turns over in the conching machine, a controlled amount of air ventilates the mass, allowing the full aroma and flavor to develop. The still-warm conched chocolate is placed in a tempering machine so that it can be slowly and steadily cooled. The tempering prevents separation in the chocolate when its filled into bar molds and hardens† (Peter’s). This results in the average chocolate bar.

Internal Rate Of Return And Net Present Value Finance Essay

Internal Rate Of Return And Net Present Value Finance Essay In every business, investment appraisal is the very important part. Accounting rate of return (ARR), Payback period (PP), Net present value (NPV), Internal rate of return (IRR), and Profitability index (PI) are the different types of investment appraisal methods. In investment decisions, time is a very vital feature. ARR and PP do not take into consideration the time value of money, and do not give an indication of the amount of capital investment required. NPV, IRR, PI are consider the time value of money and the discounted cash flow techniques. It measures the cash inflows and outflows of a project as if they occurred at a single point in time so that they can be compared in an appropriate way. These are the best methods to use for long-run decisions. Since, IRR and NPV incorporate all the cash flows and time value of money, these criteria can be used to reflect capital investment proposals strategic orientation. It is often assumed that higher is better for both of the net present value and the internal rate of return.   It is usually stated that investments with higher IRR are more profitable than investments with lower IRR. However, this is not essentially so.   In some situations, an investment with a lower IRR may be better, even judged on narrow financial grounds, than an investment with a higher IRR. This interactive lecture explores why and when this reversal takes place. To review, both the NPV and the IRR require the idea of an income stream, so lets start there. An income stream is a series of amounts of money. Each amount of money comes in or goes out at some specific time, either now or in the future.   The income stream represents the investment; the income stream is all you need to know for financial evaluation purposes. In real life, individuals, charitable institutions, and even for-profit businesses have social or other goals when selecting investments.   For businesses, the benefits of community good will are no less real for being difficult to measure precisely.   For enterprises with social as well as financial goals, the measures discussed here are still useful:   They tell you how much it costs you to advance your social goals. In here, FIRMEX Corporation is allowing for undertaking two projects. The two projects will be evaluated using the discounted cash flow methods to decide on, which project is to be selected. Net Present Value (NPV) The Net Present Value analyzes the profitability of a project by discounting all expected future cash inflows and outflows to the present point in time, using the discount rate (Horngren, et al.,1997). Discount rate is the minimum acceptable rate of return on an investment. It is the return that the organization could expect to receive elsewhere for an investment of comparable risk. NPV is a better method of appraising investment opportunities than Accounting rate of return (ARR) and Payback Period (PP), because it takes account of the time value of money and also includes all the relevant cash flows irrespective of when they are expected to occur (McLaney and Atrill, 2002). Appraisal using NPV NPV is positive when the discounted cash inflows exceed the discounted cash outflows, and so a proposal is acceptable if it has a positive NPV. When evaluating two or more mutually exclusive proposals, the one with the highest positive NPV should be accepted. In the given case, NPV of Project B is much higher than that of Project A. So, Project B is preferable. Internal Rate Of Return (IRR) Internal rate of return is another discounted cash flow technique. It is the discount rate at which the present value of expected cash inflows from a project equals the present value of expected cash outflows of the project. That is, IRR is the discount rate yielding a zero NPV (Upchurch, 1998). Appraisal using IRR : A project is accepted only if the internal rate of return exceeds the companys cost of capital. If it is less than the cost of capital, the project should be rejected. While evaluating two competing projects, the one with the higher IRR should be selected. In the given case, we will get two IRR values for Project A, and so this project cannot be evaluated using IRR. Whereas, the IRR of Project B is much higher than the companys cost of capital, and therefore it can be selected. Profitability Index: Profitability index is the total present value of future net cash flows of a project divided by the total present value of the net initial investment (Horngren, 1997). It measures the cash flow return per dollar invested. It is very useful in choosing among projects when the investment funds are limited, because it can identify the projects that will generate the most money from the limited capital available. Conclusion: NPV is the technically superior criteria, because IRR is calculated by trial and error method, and so the results are less precise. Also, IRR do not consider the size of the investment required and the gain/loss which will result from undertaking or not undertaking a project. It is therefore difficult to use IRR for comparing competing proposals, and there is a possibility that both NPV and IRR will give conflicting indications. IRR is also unable to cope with a change in the cost of capital during the life of a project. But, NPV can accommodate such a change. Another problem with IRR is that some projects may have more than one IRR, which makes it a meaningless criterion while evaluating that project. In FIRMEX Corporation, Project A has got two IRR values. So, IRR cannot be used for evaluating this project. The other two criteria, NPV and profitability index are higher for Project B . IRR for Project B is also higher than the companys cost of capital.

Alternatives to Live-Action Fictional Films :: Film, Documentary

Is there an alternative to live action fictional films? And if there is an alternative is there a chance it could be entertaining? Who doesn’t enjoy a good fiction film? In Film: An Introduction by William H. Phillips, we learn that the alternative to such films can be both enlightening and entertaining (299). What type of film could be both enlightening and entertaining? Documentaries are. There is potential in a documentary film, also referred to as non-fictional films, which fictional films cannot grasp. According to Jack C. Ellis, a known documentary film critic, documentaries â€Å"(1) communicate insights, achieve beauty, and offer understanding.† They also â€Å"(2) improve social, political, or economic conditions† (qtd. in Phillips 299). In ways documentary films are similar to fictional films. Both types of films have infinite possibilities of topic choices to choose from and have a crew to influence and manipulate the film so that it can be accepted the way they want it represented. However, documentary films are created to be works of informative and factual art. Fictional films, although they may stem from the ground of truth, they branch into the realm of unrealistic entertainment (316). But why is there a big market for documentaries? The answer is simple. Each person alive; whether they are young, old, intelligent, undereducated, black, white, Baptist, atheist, everyone has an interest in something and documentaries can inform an audience about that particular interest (316). There are two types of documentaries, the narrative and the non-narrative. The majority of documentary films are made up of non-narrative films, meaning that there isn’t an actual story being portrayed in the film rather just a list of information that make an argument (301). Narrative documentaries create and develop a story, normally following a person and their ambitions. This type of documentary is more comparable to fictional films versus non-narrative films because the information presented does not have to be sequential as long as it is factual (302,303). Both types of documentaries use artifacts, such as photographs, that pertain to the subject in their film and are spliced from one frame to another in the editing process, to force the point of view that the director wishes to portray onto the viewer (301 & 306). This is the reason that Phillips refers to documentaries as ‘Mediated Reality’. A documentary film is biased and cannot be objective. It may be perceived as truth by viewers, but there is a difference between the genuine footage that was recorded and the censored scenes that were developed in editing.

jesus :: essays research papers

(BEGINNINGS) DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES 1.) Why is the study of the Old Testament basic to understanding the New Testament? a) The Old Testament is basic to understanding the New because the Old Testament shows what most people have gone threw before they had Christ in their life. Also a lot of the New Testament refers you back to the Old Testament to get a better understanding on how to follow threw with the New. 2.) What was the crucial issue in Adam and Eve’s relationship with God? a) The doubt in the mind of Adam and Eve lead to disobedience which was the crucial issue in their relationship with God. 3.) How was God’s mercy manifested in the account of the fall? a) God gave a promise of a way out of judgment before the effects of the judgment even occurred. 4.) What were the moral causes of the Flood? a) People used God’s given talents to promote themselves in positions to gain power which led to evil and violence. 5.) What was the sign of significance of the covenant with Noah? a) A rainbow was the sign of the covenant with Noah, promising that God would never destroy the earth by flood again. 6.) What motivated the people to build the Tower of Babel? a) The people were proud of what they had accomplished on their present land, so they didn’t want to obey God’s command to spread abroad the earth. The disobedience of the people motivated them to build the Tower of Babel. 7.) Trace the steps of disobedience in the story of the Fall of the human race. Compare and contrast this with human behavior today. a) The first step was the coming of the â€Å"tempter† which people live with every day, the temptation to disobey God and do as they please. The second step was the changing of God’s specific instructions and consequences which led to the follow threw of disobeying God. I see so many times these days’ people try to take the word of God (The Bible) and twist it and make there own beliefs and adjustments to it to make it fit them instead of making themselves fit the word of God. 8.) Write a paragraph to explain the emphasis the New Testament puts upon the following events: Creation (John 1:1, 2; Acts 14:15; Heb. 1:10; 11:3; Rev. 4:11; 10:6) People created in the image of God (1 Cor. 11:7; Col.

Parental Involvement in Education Essay -- Parent Involvement in Educat

Parental involvement in education is a vital essential for creating a cooperative environment for the student to thrive and succeed in. When a student knows that he or she is receiving support both inside and outside the school, the chances of that child becoming responsible for and active in their education are more likely. I know that there can be difficulties including parents for many reasons. Such parents may be too busy, uninterested or just feel helpless. However, as an educator, I will still have an obligation to reach out to these parents and assist them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is important to start the year off making parental involvement a top priority. Establishing clear and open lines with the parent early in the year lays the foundation for successful communications later. This can be done in many different ways, such as with a phone call, an email, or a letter mailed or sent home via the students. When the first instance of communication is positive, it will aid in setting a positive tone for parental involvement throughout the whole school year.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After the initial contact, communication should remain constant. Also, remember that if all of the communication is about solving problems, the parent may feel attacked. Therefore, all communication should reflect concerns as well as successes and accomplishments regarding the child. Dialogue between the parent and teacher should be cooperative, helpful, and meaningful. Both p...

Explain “The Time Machine’s” View Of Humanity?

H. G. Wells was fascinated by the theory of evolution and how far that mankind could control its own destiny. This is evident in other novels of Wells such as â€Å"War of the Worlds† and â€Å"The Shape of Things to Come†. However nowhere is his fear for mankind's future more evident than in his novel â€Å"The Time Machine†. His love of humanity in crisis and scientific theories have produced this great book, that has a surprising reflection of what could be seen as the views and pessimistic jitters of the author. Personally I believe there are two characters in the novel that present Wells' views. I believe that the main character of the book named â€Å"The Time Traveller† was meant to represent the author's fear and disillusion for the future of humanity. The other character being â€Å"Filby† who is the â€Å"Time Traveller's† best friend seems to be an eternal optimist whom is hoping that one day mankind will see the error of its ways and make an about turn from the fate that Wells portrays to be that of man in the future. To study in depth the â€Å"Time Machine's† portrayal of humanity we must further look into the different societies at different periods of the novel and find out the â€Å"Time Machine's † views on these social groups. Being strictly chronological, the first society that we must look at in order to make a comparison was the society of law and order to which he belonged, Victorian England. A poor time and place to live in, the common folk scarcely made enough money to survive and disease soon spread among the cities and eventually caused London to smell repulsively. These times were of flourish to those in the upper classes who wallowed in more money than one ordinary human could ever aspire to accumulate. These people thought of themselves only as as the upper class this was to the extent that those lower would not be allowed to address the upper class citizens. Unjustly those poorer than themselves were not treated as a society in poverty but they were treated as lazy ungrateful mob that were treated as slaves. At this point in history child labour had not yet been abolished and children were still treated like slaves carrying out all the tasks that the upper class would have never even known how to complete. Most citizens of the lower classes were poorly spoken and were uneducated, these people new of only their trade that could earn them a small amount of money to eat and sleep. In comparison to this grueling shameful era, Wells, in the early part of the book is using Filby as the narrator and the only part of this society that is touched upon by the novel is the upper class. I think this shows an ignorance to the people below him almost to the extent where one could say that Wells was ashamed or embarrassed to live in the era that he did and he portrayed this through the early chapters of The Time Machine. We can tell this by looking at the complexity of scientific understanding that Filby and The Time Traveller posses. In and around that period in history only the very upper class would be this finely schooled. Further evidence to support this claim of ignorance towards the lower class is that only the high ranking important local figures are present at the introduction and demonstration of the time machine. Such figures include a Provincial Mayor, a psychologist, a medical man and an Editor. These high class figures all well spoken and showed good understanding of the Time Traveller's theories. I think that all this shows that Wells who is portraying his views through the novel is not happy with the scum and diseased era in which he resides but will do anything to get out into the future. At this point social status played a key part in society and it seems that Wells wants to experience a world with out this binding moral code. After the The Time Traveller takes his first dive into the future he encounters a new society in the very distant future. Which for no apparent reason he names the Eloi. This new society functions in very different way to what The Time Traveller is used to. â€Å"Apparently, the house or even the idea of a household, had vanished. â€Å",†Ã¢â‚¬ËœCommunism! ‘† I said to myself. † These two quotes show The Time Traveller's great shock to seeing the degrading of society, if you could call it society. He reaches the conclusion that the human species had eventually evolved so far that they no longer had any need to fend for themselves or work at all. All work equal in this new communist society and meat was not anywhere on the menu. The Eloi strictly feasted on the fruits that they each harvest when they feel like it from the large fruit garden which is now earth. All reminiscence of architecture and civilization has completed vanished without trace from mankind. The Time Traveller seems to be disappointed at the simple relaxed society he has entered in the far future. As it seems to him that the all of mankind's history and long evolutionary process has all been for nothing. He found nothing that would please him in this place. I think that at this point Wells becomes pessimistic about what mankind's future could hold. When The Time Traveller sees that man has evolved into simple communist beings his hopes of meeting an advanced modern world are destroyed and he will begin to explore the new world to find something that will give him a reinvestment of hope to keep him motivated. Later on in the story The Time Traveller discovers a second underground race. He draws the conclusion that the Eloi or upper world may have evolved from the once favored aristocracy or upper class and the underworld society or â€Å"The Morlocks† by name given by The Time Traveller evolved from the labouring mechanical servants of that very aristocracy. The Morlocks hunted and fed on the Eloi. They hunted in packs and banded together showing the strong social bond similar quest for survival and social gain that the lower classes of Victorian England showed. Discovering the new race did not make The Time Traveller anymore optimistic, in fact this may of even made him even more hopeless than before. Now he has seen the future result of two races evolving to form a simple body of simple beings doing nothing more than providing for their needs and pleasure. There was no technological advance or social advanced. Almost like the human race had reached a peak many years before The Time Traveller had stopped to examine things and then began to devolve into simple happy communist beings that were all equal. I think that The Time Traveller's final view of humanity is not one of hope or optimism, â€Å"Once again I saw the dim shadows, that were evidence of decadent humanity†. This is his final point of view, he has seen the end. He has seen what is referred to in the novel as the sunset of mankind. He has nothing to look forward to. He knows that man is one day or another to become extinct. So do we all, but we still have the greatest hope that our final hour won't be so soon. The Time Traveller gives up all hope of ever being able to change the world enough to avoid the terrible decadence of our race. I think it is hard to tell whether Wells' is a pessimist or not through the actions and words of his characters. I think The Time Traveller's personality is inconsistent. He started out as an optimist with every hope of going forward or back in time and saving or changing humanity for the better. But as The Time Traveller sees more and more of the dim and distant future he becomes a pessimist with nothing in his aspirations. Whereas Filby, has a positive outlook from the onset of the story and in the epilogue gives his opinion and motivational summary to spur on the human race to do well and stay dominant. I think it would be very difficult to decide whether Wells' is representing himself through The Time Traveller or through Filby. But I have come to the conclusion that Wells is the optimist with a positive outlook on life. I think this although without the epilogue the book would have an inappropriate cinematic ending it still is the only place, I believe, where Wells has put his true hopes for humanity into the story. I think Wells has used the Time Traveller to convey some of his other views and theories into World. In conclusion I think that Wells would not have described today's modern world as a dystopia. This is because all that humanity has worked for over the years is in effect and benefiting a lot of people. There is still social order and a justice system. Wells' final view is one of distant but prosperous hope, and I think so long as the book leads the reader to believe this it will draw their ideal world into a brighter future.

Niels Bohr

Niels Bohr is a big person in the history of chemistry. If it wasn’t for him we would not have known as much as we do now about the atom. He came to a conclusion of so many unanswered questions people were left after the discovery of the electron. He also participated in the United State’s biggest project that helped us win World War II. If it wasn’t for Niels Bohr we probably would not have as many things as we do today. He is one, if not, the biggest person in the history of Chemistry. Niels Bohr was born around the time people started to research more about the atom. In his early years J. J. Thomson discovered the electron which would later have a big debate. During Bohr’s college days, he became a pupil of J. J. Thomson. They both began to work on the structure of the atom and trying to figure out how it works. They both started using everyone’s theories and put them together for example; he used Max Planck’s quanta theory, and used what Ernest Rutherford suggested what the atom was like. By putting these together Bohr and Thomson found out that the electrons at a certain distance away from the nucleus which were called energy levels. They also figured out that when electrons absorb energy it goes to higher energy levels moving farther from the nucleus, but when it loses energy it goes down energy levels and gets closer to the nucleus. Even though Bohr’s model isn’t 100% perfect, his model is more accurate then what others came up with. Later on though many others have improved Bohr’s model and made it more accurate. After Bohr completed his atomic model he then won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his model. Bohr got right back to work after he won the Nobel Prize and started to research atomic nuclei and learning more about them and also settled some differences in quantum physics. While he was doing this Bohr went back to his homeland over in Europe during the time World War II started. After Germany was taking over Europe he was able to flee to Sweden and then came to the United States again. In the United States he was invited to help out with the Manhattan Project. Just imagine if Bohr was not able to help out with the Manhattan Project. Where would we be during the World War II, would we have won? All of these questions come back to Bohr, because of his knowledge of an atom and his research of the atomic nuclei we were able to produce an atomic bomb. Bohr had a lot of influence in what our world is like today. If he wasn’t alive we would not have known (or would be decades behind with our researches then where we are today) the atom and how to use it. Bohr also did research on atomic nuclei which got him invited into the Manhattan Project which changed the world as we know it. This project began the nuclear weapon uses throughout the world and also ended World War II and any possible world war in the future. Because of this mostly every country has nuclear weapons and the world can end at any moment from this. Bohr has done a lot and with help from J. J. Thomson, he was able to do the things he did. Without Thomson discovering the electron, Bohr would not need to have discovered the structure of the atom because it was already known. Throughout Bohr’s life he was able to find new things out to help the world out. He might not have done it alone or 100% perfect, but he was able to find out these things and help the world out. Without him there would be no nuclear weapons, and who knows what would have happened at the end of World War II. Because of what Bohr has researched and found, Niels Bohr is one of the greatest people that have ever been involved with chemistry. Works Cited â€Å"Niels Bohr | Biography | Atomicarchive.com.† Atomicarchive.com: Exploring the History, Science, and Consequences of the Atomic Bomb. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. . â€Å"A Science Odyssey: People and Discoveries: Niels Bohr.† PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. .

Allowing Gays To Adopt

In most cases, the legality of adoption is based very strongly upon the principle of consent. Consent refers to the agreement by the child’s parents or the child’s guardian (the person or the agency under whose custody the child is) to accede the child for adoption and to expel the rights and duties with regard to the child. The process of consenting requires that the birth parents of the child notify a judge or court officials in writing.Alternatively, a part from the biological parents, other people issuing their consent can be the agency in charge of the child, the guardians, the court of law, or a close relative or the next friend who has already attained the legal age. In some states such as the Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia for instance, the child should issue consent when or when above 14. Sometimes this may be abnegated if the child is mentally ill. The execution of the consent normally takes 13 days while cases with the fastest ratification speed may take 12-24 hours.Heretofore, the next stage may differ since rules are state-specific. In most states, the written consent is notarized to the concerned public, while in other states; the consenting parents are taken for counseling as touching the matter. A provision for the revocation of the consent is normally very limited but in most cases, the adoption process is irrevocable. States in which there are absolutely no provision for the revocation include; Mississippi, Samoa and the Nebraska.The limited provision come in when the parents or guardians were defrauded, coerced or were under duress when issuing their consent. Some states also issue a time frame within which any case of disgruntlement can be aired by the parents. Conversely if the application to revoke the consent has been found to be in the interest of the child or if both the biological parents and the adoptive parents have reached this consensus, it will be the duty of the court of law to consider the petition.The 14th amendment of the American constitution, a post civil war judicial reconstruction, was originally intended to bolster the 13th amendment which in turn had brought slavery to a grinding halt. This amendment was to promote the rights of the former slaves. When it was proposed in the June 13, 1866, it spelt out equal protection of all by the law, birthing the â€Å"Separate but equal† doctrine. This amendment placed all persons on the same pedestal since all became under one law. It is upon this concept of equality that the marginalized groups began to come out for equal recognition.Privacy rights such as abortion, homosexuality became subject to debates. Currently perhaps the most heated form of debate is the one touching on the prospects of gay adoption (Ricketts, 1991). The laws for the best interest of the child assume that for any normal child to develop well, this should happen under the jurisdiction of the two parents. It is on this backdrop that in the best interest of the child, the law has come up with regulations which are geared towards the child’s protection for instance, in case of a divorce.By default, the law stipulates that upon divorce, both parents should have equal access and responsibility to and over the child. This can only be negated upon a parent being found to be harmful to the child. As far as the issue of the best interest of the child in relation to gay parenting is concerned, the law is not yet unified and therefore varies from one state to another. For instance gay parenting is prohibited in Florida but reconstructions are underway to recognize it in Alabama, Georgia, Ohio and Tennessee.The pro-gay parenting legal practitioners argue that it is better for a child to have a two parent family than a one parent one, and that it will be furthering the interest of the child since a two parent family can easily fend for the child’s needs than if the child had one or no parent at all. A case these lawyers have bro ught to the fore is the fact that there are presently (Clifford, Hertz, Doskow, Curry 2007)119,000 needy children in the US alone waiting to be adopted. Furthermore, they posit that children have more serious concerns than their parent’s sexual orientation.Discrimination against children raised by gay parents is not so far fetched compared to the discrimination encountered by gay parents. In America, this is not much of a problem compared to Australia where the parents are discriminated against in areas touching on taxation, social security, and workers’ compensation. The only case of discrimination against children with gay parents witnessed in Australia is limited to the peer groups and is always manifested in schools and in the neighborhood.This is because the Article 2 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child which was ratified in the 1990 sternly warns against child discrimination of any kind (Ricketts, 1991). Although some maintain that there is no strong bas is for the prohibition of the adoption by gay parenting, yet children rights and welfare agencies cite the child bearing studies on the other hand to maintain that children raised in heterosexual marriages thrive best emotionally, physically and mentally.They maintain that spates of violence are 2-3 times higher in homosexual marriages when compared to the heterosexual ones. In addition to this, they posit that homosexual marriages are always susceptible to dissolution with the normal gay marriage lasting 2-3 years and that homosexual activities are often marked with substance dependence, mental illnesses, suicidal tendencies and a shortened lifespan in comparison to heterosexual marriages.The proponents of same sex marriage and the adoption by the same sex parents have countered that these dysfunctions accrued by this group are as a result of the US socio-economic pressure, to which the opponents of adoption by the gay parents rebutted that the same pressure rests on the normative/ conservative form of marriage without yielding such results (Lerner and Nagai 2001). They further deliberate that children adopted or reared under the same sex marriage are highly vulnerable to sexual confusion, homo sexual behavior and premature sex.Nevertheless, it must be kept in mind that numerous strides have been made to entrench gay adoption and this has also produced gradual acceptance of the practice. A testimony to this is Florida which since 1977 had proscribed gay adoption but as per now efforts are in the offing to abrogate this law due to the push by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on the Supreme Court. In the same vein, the 1997 ACLU fact sheet, â€Å"the gay parenting statistics† to confirm this discloses that approximately, 6-14 million children are living under gay parenting.This could still be an understatement since most gays and lesbians are always reserved about disclosing the structure of their families due to fear of losing children (Mc Gurry , 2003). These changing prospects can be attributed to the fact that the emphasis on traditional form of marriage is gradually waning, and the subsequent overturning of state laws to assimilate gay marriages is in force. A case in point is when the then president Bill Clinton, signed the Defense On Marriage Act (DOMA), thus giving way to same sex marriage in Hawaii (Rimmerman, Wald, Wilcox, 2000).Gay adoption is also growing because of the fast rate with which gay parenting is spreading. Gay parenting, apart from the normal procedure of adoption occurs when one partner pulls out of a heterosexual marriage while still maintaining the custody of a child and moves into a gay marriage or, through lesbians opting for an artificial insemination upon siring a child enters into an agreement with gay partners for adoption. The co-parent adoption occurs when one gay who has an adopted child with him moves in with a partner who automatically assumes the role of a co- parent.This practice is co mmon in Washington, District of Columbia, Vermont, California, Minnesota, Alaska, and Oregon (Tonnerson, Andenaes and Wintemute, 2001). As touching on the stability of the children, the children grow up healthy and well adjusted compared to those who have one or no parent at all. This scores highly with the concept of the best interest of a child since the child’s financial and material needs are met. Conversely, the children under gay adoption turn out successfully just as the ones under heterosexual care.The American Psychological Association (AMA), out of its research maintained categorically that there was no evidence that children brought under gay adoption and parenting were susceptible to maladjustment or that they turned out less intelligent or suffered low self esteem; neither was there a connection between homosexuality and pedophilia or direct influence in the child’s sexual orientation in future. On the contrary, the AMA observed that 90% of child sexual ab uses were carried out by heterosexual men (Baker, 2005).To further dispel the misgivings on gay adoption, both the parents who want to adapt a child undergo a screening procedure which is a meticulous exercise meant to filter out those who have less prospects of making good parents. The fact that many potential gay parents navigate successfully these enchanted waters is a testimony of the type of parents they would make. Bibliography. Baker P. Public Discourses of Gay men. Rutledge: United States, 2005. Clifford D. Hertz F. Doskow E. Curry H. A Legal Guide for Lesbian and Gay Couples. Nolo: United States, 2007. Lerner R. Negai A.No Basis: What studies don’t tell us about parenting. Marriage Law Projects /Ethics and Public Policy Center: United States, 2001. Mc Garry J. K. Fatherhood for Gay Men: Emotional and Practical Guide to becoming a gay dad. Haworth Press: United States, 2003. Ricketts W. Lesbians and Gay men as foster parents. Wendel/ Ricketts: United States, 1991. Rim merman A. C. Wald D. K. Wilcox C. The Politics of Gay Rights University of Chicago: United States, 2000. Tonnerson M. Andenaes R. Wintemute M. Legal Recognition of Same Sex Partnership: A Study of National and European Law. Hart Publishing

Argue and Persuade Essay

I can see why some people may think that there is no benefit to be gained by analysing the poem Half-Past Two, as some may find it tedious and would rather enjoy the poem as it is. Yet, I firmly believe analysing a story/poem definitely does assist our understanding of a certain story/poem. In the poem Half-Past Two there is no doubt in my mind that without discussing the poem with others you can not understand or appreciate it fully. As with all poems there are so many concealed or secret meanings with in it, by discussing the poem these can be revealed so everyone knows the whole meaning of the poem. By understanding a poem/story you will also enjoy it more as you won’t have to try and figure out the plot of the story. After reading a poem you can then analyse it then read it again with a better understanding, therefore relish its full significance. If you were reading a story or a poem, which you do not understand it would become more of a choir to read, rather than a pleasure. By studying the poem Half-Past Two you can see the good use of puns, personification, repetition and other literary devices and begin to cherish the real effort and skill put in by the writer. You can also learn new ways that you could possibly improve your own standard of writing. You may acquire improved methods of adding literary devices into your work, you can also expand your vocabulary by reading professional poets/writers work. When analysing the poem Half-Past Two you are given a good insight on how a young boy’s world might work, when not being able to read time. You can understand his feelings when he is left alone, without a clue what to do, but only left to stare at the clock and fall in to a timeless land. You can see that by not knowing time a child my have his own regime which he sticks too, yet when put out of it would find it hard to get back into it as he may have lost track of his own time. My opinion has been obviously displayed in this essay, I think that without fully understanding a poem/story (mainly poems as they usually have the writers own personal feelings embedded into the poem they have wrote) you can not enjoy it to its full potential. I’m sure everyone has watched a film they did not understand and therefore did not enjoy it fully. Yet after watching it a second time (a form of analysis) you will understand the plot sufficiently and will prefer it on the second viewing. This is what my argument is based on, without understanding you do not have the full enjoyment from anything, be it a film, a poem or a story.

Critically analyze how successful the British government's use of Essay

Critically analyze how successful the British government's use of Spending Reviews has been as a way of making government more - Essay Example Definition and history of Spending Reviews The Spending Review is ‘the HM Treasury led process that allocates public expenditures.’1 It is intended to ‘set a clear direction for reform, focused on shifting power from central government to the local level.’2 In the late 1990s, the New Labour government came into power in the U.K., and embarked on several reforms whereby public spending may be made more effectively. One of these reforms is the introduction of medium-term spending reviews. The first Comprehensive Spending Review was conducted in 1998 and published in July of that year. Three subsequent spending reviews were conducted in the years 2000, 2002 and 2004. The subsequent Comprehensive Spending Review was conducted in 2007, and the next after that in 2010.3 The diagram on the following page shows the progression of Spending Reviews from 1998 when the process was first adopted and the first Comprehensive SR was conducted, to the next CST in 2007. ... Source: OECD Senior Budget Officials Network4 The adoption of the CST98 was in line with the public sector reform for that year, which introduced the three year spending plans, as well as the use of resource based accounting and budgeting. The review stressed greater protection for capital spending, proper asset management, and was anchored on outcome-focused performance targets.5 In 2009, the Government borrowed one pound for every four pounds it spent. As a result, the cost of debt servicing (which is comprised of interest payments on public debt) exceeds what the Government spends for England’s schools in one year.6 Significance of spending reviews as strategic tool for government Spending reviews provide government a tool for controlling public spending in two ways: (1) that during the budget planning process, proposed spending could be more effectively aligned with the strategic goals of government; and (2) that interim reviews could act as a monitoring tool to ensure tha t the actual expenditures are consistent with the budgeted allocations and, if not, that justification could be found which nevertheless serves the strategic goal, and where none could be found, that further spending could be halted along this line before runaway expenses could be incurred. There is a fundamental difference between the Comprehensive Spending Review conducted in 1998, 2007 and 2010, and the spending reviews conducted in 2000, 2002 and 2004. The CSR is a fundamental strategic review of spending priorities, while the SR creates ‘merely incremental changes to existing priorities.’7 There is a distinction between two types of public expenditures that are provided for in the spending reviews. The first is the annually

Do you think that people should be allowed to do whatever they want as Essay

Do you think that people should be allowed to do whatever they want as long as it doesnt harm anyone else Why or why not What qualifies as harm - Essay Example alking totally nude in the public, he is not only casting bad impression on the passersby in general and the children in particular, but he is also inculcating many confusions and complications in the minds of the innocent children. He might seem to be causing no harm, but he is definitely instigating others to commit sin just by looking at him as watching others nude is classified as a sin in certain religions. Harm can be defined as offense. Offense may happen at any level which may or may not be overt to everybody. To make it simple, if an individual does something that can offend anyone in any way, he/she should not be allowed to do that. Critics might comment that by this definition, people doing even good should not be allowed because they offend the evil. To address this comment, we should use common sense to judge which actions are morally permissible and disallow those that do not fit on the moral

Living a Fast-Paced Life Style Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Living a Fast-Paced Life Style - Essay Example For some people, working all the time is a rush, a â€Å"natural high.† They like waiting until the last second so they have to crunch to get things done. They enjoy working at the 11th hour. Feeling the pressure that they know they need to get the work done, they are able to get it done quickly and efficiently, much more so then if they weren’t working against the ever-ticking clock. Also, some people like being busy, and would rather have a million of things to do then to have to sit around and do nothing. Some people find a pile of paperwork more refreshing than a break, and would rather have to speedily work around the clock then sit and be idle. They are the â€Å"busy bees† of our society, and they keep working even when they don’t have to, working all the time quickly is their passion and their love for life is lived through it. There are also negatives to living such fast paces live style. If you are constantly in motion, you tend to wear out quickly, as discussed in "Burned Out and Bored" by Ronald Dahl. If you are not moving all the time you can become bored, and you also can miss out on the finer things in life. Ronald Dahl also discusses the problem of sleep deprivation becoming a habit for kids who are constantly seeking the next exciting thing to do when they find a time, and sometimes compromise sleep for this. Bad habits like this, he says, can be hard to break later in life. People can also become moody, and emotional problems can arise from always being in motion. On the other hand, I believe you need a balance. I find it is nice to sometimes have a lot of work that needs to get done, as it helps me work quickly and efficiently. I also, however, find that I need time to just be alone and chill sometimes. This helps be receive both the benefits of being in a fast-paced world, as well as the benefits of slowing down when I need to.

Employment and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Employment and Society - Essay Example According to the Meaning of Work Survey, there are five principal aspects of life – work, family, community, religion and leisure. Respondents asked to rank the five according to their importance to them indicated in the majority that family came first then work second. However, a good number – accounting for slightly over one-fourth of all respondents – chose work above all, even family. The perspective implicitly assumed by the Survey is that the five aspects the respondents were asked to rank were different and mutually exclusive from each other, and that their apparent meanings are the basis upon which they were ranked.Studies have shown, however, that there are multiple dimensions from which to approach the meaning of work, that explains why individuals would consider it more important than some (or all) of the other aspects of life. The meaning and context of â€Å"Work† Overell (2009) what is obvious to all – that occupational work is importa nt because joblessness is not an economically feasible option. Where remunerated work is viewed as scarce, therefore, the value of having a job rises dramatically. Other than this, however, work provides people with their self-identity, a structure to their time and activities, and a means of self-expression as much as a means to an economic end. Work is not a monolithic whole, however, but has many shades and implications. A study was conducted on three non-economic aspects of the work environment: job demands, job discretion, and job social relationships. According to Karasek (1976), a lack of discretion over the contents of a job tends to make the worker either passive in leisure and community associations or experience mental strain. On the other hand, work that is psychologically demanding does not always lead to deleterious effects, as long as the level of job discretion is not low. When job discretion is high, work that is psychologically demanding tends to make the worker mo re socially active in leisure and in community participation. In a more recent study, Knowles and Taylor (1990) identified two dimensions, each with two â€Å"poles†, that cut across work, family and leisure activities in general. For the first dimension, its positive pole involved activities viewed as challenging, creative and under the individual’s control, and were viewed as enjoyable – communicating with people, creating new business, and finding solutions – whether done at work or at home. Its negative pole involves the routine and mundane activities over which the individual exercises little control, such as completing paperwork, doing the shopping or general administration or housework, which are seen as necessary but stressful. In the second dimension, one pole involved socialization and moral obligation and included settling disputes, attending meetings, and doing things as a family. The other pole involved activities done alone, without any soci al or moral obligation, such as most leisure activities. It was found that whether the respondents chose work or home as preferable over the other, it usually involved pursuit of a lifestyle that was perceived as non-stressful, challenging, and enjoyable, and wherein they are free to exercise their freedom of choice and personal control. Frames of reference: Challenges to the traditional concept of work vs life There is a social context to work that is beside the concept of individual undertaking. In seeking to understand challenges to the traditional sexual/gender paradigm of â€Å"work-life balance† (WLB), it must be noted that a greater emphasis must be devoted to understanding the allocation of the burden of responsibilities discharged by adult members of a household, both as to size and composition. Another important consideration is the quality of recreational activity. WLB decisions take into account the normative expectations linked to gender roles, the regularities a nd patterns with which people meet these expectations, and the lifestyles and consumption habits that result

HOW TO ATTRACT MORE BUSINESS MAJORTO QUEENSBOROUGH COMMUNITYCOLLEGE Essay

HOW TO ATTRACT MORE BUSINESS MAJORTO QUEENSBOROUGH COMMUNITYCOLLEGE - Essay Example And this college holds a good reputation which is because of the good quality education provided by the highly qualified faculty in here and also the environment provided by the administration. They provide well-planned curriculum that helps students in learning. It also provides job training program and short courses for businessmen and professionals so that they can excel in information technology. The college offers nine associate degree courses in liberal arts and sciences and fifteen in career development area and ten specialized certificate programs. Transfer program is for the students who are planning to continue their studies after completing this course. After completing two years program from this college they will be transferred to the senior college. Career program is for those students who wish to go for their careers and jobs right after completing their degrees. The most enrolled programs include liberal arts and sciences, business administration and nursing pre clinical. The Business department of Queens Borough College is one of the best in its respect. It has produced many students which are serving in different organization right now. It offers a good combination of courses in Business administration program that covers accounting, marketing, management and information technology etc. One course that is missing in the list is the Human Resource Management. Mostly business students like to opt Human Resource Management (HRM), as it is very popular and they can go in good career after completing their degree in HRM. So I suggest that HRM should be included in the list of the subjects. The Public Relations department should be improved, the first impression that the students get is about the college is from the attitude they receive from Information Desk or Office. So the people employed in Information Desk should be well-mannered and co-operative. The students who want to study Business as their major, wants to persuade their career in this field, so the college must recognize those students and should support them fully in achieving their target. Their target could be achieved by having quality education and the second thing that counts is that how much you are interacting with the real business environment in the city. They must be given assignments and projects that could be done by going to different organizations, like this they would be given a chance to be in contact with business people and the personnel that are sitting in actual market where they will go tomorrow for job hunting. Secondly, the faculty members should also get themselves in contact with the businessmen in the city so that when the students go to any organization, they should be fully recognized and be given proper attention at that place. The method of teaching and the environment in classroom and college must be unbiased towards minorities, like foreigners, African-Americans and women. If it is not, then it's a reason of creating discrimination and also this discrimination is a major reason of repulsion from any place or any environment. If they felt like this, they would never like to come to this place and would never like to study here. Delegations should be sent in high schools and there should be some training sessions for the students also. As they are the ones who will be getting admission in college and will be the one choosing