Thursday, October 31, 2019

ICT and technology for education Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

ICT and technology for education - Thesis Example Several research studies have concluded that the work of teachers is strenuous and time consuming. In order to provide a measure of relief, it is necessary to develop tools that can be used to monitor the activities and progress of their students. At present, there are a few tools that can be employed to obtain the data of students and to monitor their behaviour (Persico, Pozzi, & Sarti, 2010, p. 6). However, considerable research is required in this area; due to the inability of the existing tools to provide incomplete information. Of late, educators are using internet tools, such as wikis and blogs in their classroom teaching. This has had a tremendous impact on the students, who obtain an opportunity to discuss a wide range of topics with other students, across the world. The formality is much less and discussions tend to extend to topics that had not been pre-assigned. Blogging is not traditional writing, and it represents the personal opinions of the author. In most of the online educational blogs, students post according to their own interests. The massive interactions involved in posting on blogs, generates a vast network of interactions (Downes, 2005). This system resembles community practice, as visualised by Wenger. This will definitely have an effect on the personal development of the student. E – Learning is gaining popularity as it is proved to be effective in reflective and collaborative learning. There are some problems inherent in the e-learning process. Moreover, it is also important to d evelop research and practice in the e-learning process, in order to design and develop effective methods and tools to ensure collaborative learning (Persico, Pozzi, & Sarti, 2010, p. 6). Monitoring online learning activity is an important task Thus, there is a need to develop tools for the purpose of monitoring. In the CSCL environment, tutors perform the monitoring activity. The latter are indispensable in supervising the learning process, and they evaluate the performance and academic progress of students, by means of the monitor process (Persico, Pozzi, & Sarti, 2010, p. 6). As such, the monitoring process helps the student to learn in a directed manner, which in turn makes the learning process flawless. Another area of disseminating information is that of podcasting. Thus, websites like that of McMaster broadcast lectures by engineering professors. Furthermore, information regarding education and careers can be downloaded from the Internet. Publishers prepare the content for e-l earning, and students make use of it. Under these circumstances, e-learning systems resemble a blogging tool. It evolves into a personal learning centre and does not constitute an institutional or corporate application. The ELGG is an e – portfolio application that permits students to create and display their work. Such portfolios make it possible for students to collect, organise, interpret, and discuss information. E – portfolios promote professional development and motivate learners to demonstrate the outcome of their learning (Downes, 2005)E – learning has the capacity to improve or impoverish the educational provision. Computer assisted learning, in the initial stages, was merely

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Black Death Cause and Effect Essay Example for Free

Black Death Cause and Effect Essay The Bubonic Plague or the Black Death has been in the history books since the medieval times. This deadly disease has claimed nearly 1. 5 million lives in Europe (Gottfried). The Black Death hit Europe in October of 1347 and quickly spread through most of Europe by the end of 1349 and continued on to Scandinavia and Russia in the 1350s. Not only did the plague effect the European population by killing one-third to two-thirds (Gottfried), it also hurt the social and economic structures of every European society. How it spread The Black Death actually first appeared in the Himalayan region around 1250 AD. There are several theories as to how the disease made its way to Europe. One theory is that since the plague is transmitted from a bite of a flea, that fleas that lived on marmots that were indigenous to the region were the original transporters (Clay,1). The first recorded appearance of the plague in Europe was at Messina, Sicily in October of 1347. It was believed to have arrived on trading ships that came from the Black Sea, past Constantinople and through the Mediterranean (Gottfried). This route was used to bring import items such as silks and porcelain, which were carried overland to the Black Sea from as far away as China (Gottfried). No one know the exact point of origin of the Black Death but what most scholars will agree with is that the disease reach Europe by rodents. The reason given was due to the climatic shifts in the area which caused a shortage of food. The disease ridden rodents’ migration put them in contact with human populations, thus, putting humans in contact with the disease carrying fleas. So many people were impacted because most people lived in very crammed and tight spaces. This also made waste disposal an issue, which caused people to just tip their waste out the window of their home, bringing the rats. Because everyone was so close, the fleas could easily infect hundreds of people in one day, so no one was safe (Gottfried). The people that did manage to escape death was due to the fact that their immune systems being able to withstand the plague (Gottfried). Types of Plague What killed so many wasn’t due to just one type of plague going around; The disease that devastated Europe was caused by three different types of plague: bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic. All three are bacterial infections caused by Yersinia pestis (Gottfried). The most common form was the bubonic plague. Fleas that lived on the plague-infected rats spread the bubonic plague (Gottfried). After 6 days people who were infected with this strain would develop flu-like symptoms and blood pressure drops, heartbeats faster, and a sudden fever erupts, accompanied by chills, weakness, and headache. Next, a black pus filled bump surrounded by an inflamed red ring shows up at the place that was bitten (Gottfried). The lymph node would begin to swell with pus. When the enlarged lymph nodes would burst they would also emit dark colored blood and pus. This is how the name Black Death came to be coined (Vunguyen). A second type of plague was that of pneumonic. This plague could spread with a sneeze and could quickly jump from person to person and though it was less common than the bubonic form, but more deadly. This form was contracted through breathing in a mutated, airborne strain of the bacteria. The infected person would experience fluid building up in the lungs. This very unfortunate circumstance would, in turn, cause suffocation of the infected individual. This particular form of the bacteria would cause death within a short time span, usually two or three days (Boeckl). The third type of plague was speticemic plague. Though it was the least common out of the three, it was the deadliest. Septicemic plague was carried in the blood and was contracted only through blood-to-blood contact. The person infected with this type would develop a high fever but they would not develop many outward symptoms that they had contracted the plague. The individuals who were infected with this final strain of the bacterium were usually dead within 24 hours. Almost all who contracted either the pneumonic or septicemic plague died from the infection (Boeckl). Causes of the Black Death The causes of the Black Death – the flea, the rat, and the bacillus Yersinia pestis– have been labeled the â€Å"unholy trinity† (Boeckl). The flea is able to live in environmental conditions of about 74 ° Fahrenheit and 60% humidity (Ibid). Before the Black Death reached Europe, they were experiencing those same types of weather conditions. The rat flea, Xenopsylla cheopis and the human flea, Pulex irritans, are both capable of transmitting plague (Boeckl). Sometimes, an infected flea cannot ingest blood because Yersinia pestis obstructs its digestive tract. The blockage causes a flea to regurgitate into a bitten host rather than ingest the host’s blood, thereby infecting the host with plague (Boeckl). Unable to eat, the famished flea will bite with more frequency, accelerating the spread of plague. A flea can be carrying Yersinia pestis without it blocking the flea’s digestive tract, in which case the flea does not transmit plague when it bites a host. Also, Yersinia pestis can only enter a victim through a bite, as the bacilli cannot pass through intact skin (Gottfried). Social Changes The disease took a major toll on the population of Europe but as it wiped out communities it also caused changes in the social structure of European society. Europe was run by a feudal system (Vunguyen). As death took its toll, people started to question the way of life. When the Black Death swept over Europe and wiped out a third of its population, it also dismantled Feudalism. The feudal system was structured like a pyramid with the King being at the top and having complete control. The King owned everything; he had the power to decide who he would lease the land to. If he did allow a citizen to lease part of his land, before doing so they had to swear to an oath of loyalty (Vunguyen). People who did rent the King’s land were called Baron/Baronesses (Vunguyen). The leased land was called a manor, and the Barons were often called the ‘Lord of the Manor’ (Vunguyen). They were allowed to establish their own system of justice, mint their own money and set their own taxes. The Barons had to serve on the royal council, pay rent and provide the King with Knights for military service when he demanded it in return for the land they had been given (Vunguyen). When the King and his court travelled around the country, the Barons also had to provide lodging and food. The Barons kept as much of their land as they desired, then divided the rest among their Knights (Vunguyen). Knights were given land by the Baron in return for military service when demanded, and to protect the manor. The Knights kept as much of the land as they wished for their own personal use, and distributed the rest of it to serfs – although they weren’t as rich as the Barons, Knights were quite wealthy (). Serfs were given land by Knights in exchange for free labor, food and services whenever it was desired. They had no rights and weren’t allowed to leave the Manor. They had to ask their Lord’s permission before they could marry, and were often mistreated and poor (). The serfs or peasants were a key group in the population so when they started to die off, everything went downhill. The serfs served everyone on the pyramid and now Barons were willing to pay higher wages and offer extra benefits (Vunguyen). All their life they had lived off the serfs’ hard work, and were willing to pay them to stay on the manor to continue slaving for them. When the serfs died, the foundation on which feudalism relied upon was broken. The pyramid of power broke, and everything was a mess. Serfs left to find high wages due to the labor shortages. The land that had usually been the primary source of wealth was now worthless (Vunguyen). Entire estates were deserted as families fell to the plague and died, or fled in a vain attempt to escape its fury, were there for the taking (Vunguyen). As Europe evolved away from relying on land as the main source of prosperity, a rising middle-class claimed more and more wealth and prestige, as the once-noble began to quickly lose both (Vunguyen). The end of Feudalism had started and progressed each day as the plague claimed more lives. As the days went on people wondered, if they needed to change the way they lived or worshipped God. Many found that if they continued to live and worship as they had for centuries, the plague was not being pacified (Clay). This caused many people to abandon the way of life that they were accustomed to and chose a life that contrasted with social norms. A large group of people, desperate to point their fingers at someone, alleged and accused many different ‘groups’ which included ‘witches,’ lepers and Jews (Clay). In central Europe, the flagellants convincingly charged the Jews. On a tragic day in Strasbourg alone, over 8,000 Jews were killed for being the target of vain suspicions (). This quote shows just how the mind of Europeans changed: Many were uncertain about the cause of this great mortality. In some places, they believed that the Jews had poisoned the worlds, and so they killed them. In some other areas, that it was a deformity of the poor, so they chased them out; in others, that it was the nobles, and so they [the nobles] hesitated to go out into the world. Finally, it reached the point where guards were posted in cities and towns, and they permitted no one to enter, unless he was well known. And if they found anyone with powders or unguents, they made him swallow them, fearing that these might be poisons (Clay, 2-3)†. Someone who survived the plague wrote â€Å"Everyone appeared to be rich because they had survived and regained value in life. Now, no one knows how to put their life back in order(Clay, 3). No one knew how to put their life back together after the plague hit. When all the chaos died down and order was restored, the society was much different than what it once was. The disease did not discriminate; it killed people from all different social classes. The peasants now saw that everyone was made up of the same flesh, even though who once ruled over them. This epiphany led the serfs see the inequality of the system and they saw it as unfair and unjust (Clay, 3). Because of all the affliction and misery there was much lawbreaking and because most of the law enforcers had also been hit by the plague there was not much that was done about it (Clay, 3). † This quote shows just how their mentality was changing. Lawbreakers could not be stopped especially by the lords and so once peasants realized all ties could be broken, they gained a new level of freedom (Clay, 4). Peasants and lord relationships were not the only thing that changed; individuals in the same social circle were forced to interact with one another differently. As a result of so many deaths, women were now being served by male servants and it did not matter if they were of noble birth or not. Men serving women was something taboo and unheard of before the plague, but the disease made that change. Noble women had to a find a different lifestyle under normal circumstances, these women would have been dishonored and shunned but this was not the case. Economic Effects All the death that fell upon Europe created a major labor shortage. It was a dominos affect, if the plague hit an area or manor in the summer, there wouldn’t be enough serfs to harvest the crops in the fall. If it hit in the winter, there wasn’t enough workers to plant new crops in the spring (â€Å"The Black Death, 1348†). So inevitably there wasn’t any one left on farm and maintain the land. The one’s who did withstand the plague, moved else-where for better wages (â€Å"The Black Death, 1348†). Not only did it affect the farms, it hurt businesses or building projects. Cathedral that usually were beautiful and performed weekly services were left eerily empty with no priests to conduct services. The barons did not have enough knights and serfs to cater to them and so many manors were abandoned. When someone dies normally, there would be a service and immediately be buried, well that didn’t happen during the Black Death era. No one was left to bury the dead. Citizens, lower and middle classes were scared, they stayed in the homes believing they would be safe. The shelter did not stop the disease from entering and since they were poor they did not get the care and attention they needed and most of them died (â€Å"The Black Death, 1348†). Instead of suffering, many decided to take their own lives and committed suicide in the street; others died in their homes but only found because their neighbors smelled the decaying body. Dead bodies were everywhere on every corner and in every home that wasn’t abandoned (â€Å"The Black Death, 1348†). â€Å"Most of them were treated in the same manner by the survivors, who were more concerned to get rid of their rotting bodies than moved by charity towards the dead. With the aid of porters, if they could get them, they carried the bodies out of the houses and laid them at the door; where every morning quantities of the dead might be seen. They then were laid on biers or, as these were often lacking, on tables† (â€Å"The Black Death, 1348†). Bodies upon bodies were brought to the church every day and almost every hour so it was impossible to give them a proper burial especially since they wanted to bury each person in the family grave, according to the old custom (â€Å"The Black Death, 1348†). â€Å"Although the cemeteries were full they were forced to dig huge trenches, where they buried the bodies by hundreds. Here they stowed them away like bales in the hold of a ship and covered them with a little earth, until the whole trench was full† (â€Å"The Black Death, 1348†). Cultural Effects The plague not only affected humans it also impacted the arts. In the Medieval period, people had concentrated mainly on the Church, God, and personal salvation. The plague was evident in paintings, sculptures, and architecture, everything was centered on death. The arrival of plague â€Å"harkened in a new darker era of painting. Paintings were overflowing with tortured souls, death, dying, fire and brimstone† (â€Å"The Effect of Black Death on Art and Artists in the Medieval Period†). Thousands of painters, craftsmen, patrons of the arts died during the plague. The disease tore a hole in the heart of the cultural world. The effects of the plague were lasting, bringing a somber darkness to visual art, literature, and music (â€Å"The Effect of Black Death on Art and Artists in the Medieval Period†). Writers and painters imaginations became dark and gloomy. The unknowing survival created a atmosphere of gloom and doom influencing artist to move away from optimistic themes and turn to images of Hell, Satan and the Grim Reaper (â€Å"The Effect of Black Death on Art and Artists in the Medieval Period†). Many painters simply gave up art with the idea that it was hopeless to try and create beauty in a hellish world. The Decameron by Boccaccio, a collection of medieval tales and folklore is the most famous literary work that came from that time period (â€Å"The Black Death†). The collection is set in the Italian countryside where aristocrats, fleeing the Plague as it ravages Florence, are stranded without their usual entertainments. To pass the time, they tell each other stories, from which Boccaccio harvested a rich storehouse of traditional narrative. The Decameron eventually became the foundation for many other Renaissance works, including several of Shakespeares plays (â€Å"The Black Death†). Positive Consequences It’s hard to find positive in so much death but the plague actually helped in a few ways. First being manpower, because of the shortages, manpower had so much more value. Peasants weren’t readily available in large numbers so the ones still alive found themselves in high demand (â€Å"The Black Death†). The ones who had all the power, kings and dukes, now found themselves bargaining with laborers over working conditions, and also the lower class were able to demand better pay for their services (â€Å"The Black Death†). Also, serfdom was terminated, so those peasants that were slaves and tied to the land were no longer obligated to farm and serve. And one other positive result of the bubonic plague was the development of medicine as a science in the West. Islamic doctors had advocating general cleanliness and the value of studying anatomy but Western healers prior to the black death were still using practices like the theory of humors (â€Å"The Black Death†). But when Plague wiped out nearly all the doctors of Europe, because the doctors had to attend to the dying and because of this were exposed at a higher rate to the more virulent pneumonic form of Plague. With so many doctors dying, it created a change in both personnel and precept (â€Å"The Black Death†). Strangely, western medicine owes much to plague. Conclusion The Black Death started in 1347 and continued for a full five years, this devastating plague spread throughout Europe, leaving more than twenty million people dead. The consequences to Europe were profound. Besides immeasurable death, traditional medieval society broke, the economies were fractured, and art and literature took a turn from light to dark. Though it spread throughout Europe, the Black Death was world-shattering and shows how even the smallest of things, the microbial world, can at times steer the course of human civilization.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Strategic Alliances: Reasons and Types

Strategic Alliances: Reasons and Types Introduction Strategic alliances and why are they formed Strategic alliances can be seen as one of the fastest growing trends for business today; Alliances are sweeping through nearly every industry and are becoming an essential driver for their super growth. A strategic alliance, by definition, is a form of affiliation that involves a mutual sharing of resources for the benefit of all of the strategic partners. â€Å"Mutuality† is key (Beavers 2001). The business consideration is whether both alliance partners need each other. Strategic alliances range in size and scope from informal business relationships based on simple contracts to joint venture agreements, some times where corporations are set up to manage the alliance. According to Vyas et al (1995) strategic alliances are cropping up across the global arena mainly due to the maturation of several trends of the 1980s, such as: intensified foreign competition, shortened product life cycles, soaring cost of capital, including the cost of research and development, and ever-growin g demand for new technologies. However, strategic alliances can be tricky. Partnerships foster mutual benefits, but the alliances exist only as long as they are advantageous to both parties. Research indicates that a high proportion of strategic alliances fail (Forbes 2002; Lorange and Roos 1991; Day 1995). This essay explores concept of strategic alliances drawing from Mintzberg et als schools of strategy and then critically identifies the main factors that determine the design and delivery of effective co-operative strategies. It does so by using the case study that pertains to Avebe and Noveon Alliance. Why? For many multinational firms, strategic alliances have become increasingly important tools for ensuring speed and flexibility in carrying out multinational strategies. A typical example is SEVEL (Societa Europea Veicoli Leggeri), the 1978 strategic alliance between Fiat and Peugeot for the production of a new light van named Ducato. Both parties were short on resources and saved time and energy by combining their RD and manufacturing efforts (Lorange and Roos 1991). Strategic alliances can be effective ways to diffuse new technologies rapidly, to enter a new market, to bypass governmental restrictions expeditiously, and/or to learn quickly from the leading firms in a given field Mintzberg et als Schools of Strategy Strategic alliance is an agreement between two or more individuals, or entities, or organisations to cooperate in a specific business activity, so that each benefit from the strength of other and gains competitive advantage. The formulation of strategic alliance has been seen as a response to the globalisation and increasing uncertainty and complexity in the business environment. Strategic alliances involve the sharing of knowledge and expertise between the partners as well as in reducing the risk and costs in areas like relationship with the supplier and the development of new products and technologies. Strategic alliances usually make sense when the parties involved have complimentary strengths. Its unlike full-scale acquisition, an alliance does not give a firm total control over its partners. Avebe and Noveon Alliance Case Study. Avebe, a Dutch company, established in 1919 as a joint sales organisation for the greater part of the Dutch independent potato starch industry. Through research and development, joint ventures and acquisition in Netherlands, Europe and Worldwide, Avebe now plays a major role in the global sales, marketing, production and development of potato starch and starch specialities used in food, pharmaceuticals, animal feed, textile, paper and adhesives. Avebes specialities are used by the textile industry for obtaining good weaving efficiency, to obtain smooth fabrics, and for sharp and durable printing of fabrics. Noveon, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio with regional centers in Belgium and Hong-Kong, is a leading global producer and marketer of technology advanced speciality chemicals for a broad range consumer and industrial application. Noveon was recognised as leading producer of polymers. It was also acknowledged as the largest producer acrylic acid for synthetic polymer. Reason for cooperation Avebe Avebe was outstanding in printing thickeners but not yet in reactive dye printing market. It was not possible for Avebe to enter into this market as it was purely a starch based industry. Only a combination of starch and synthetic polymer could help them enter this market. For this Avebe had two options- Noveon and Alloid Colloids (under ICI Corporation, England). Combination of Avebes and Noveons products in laboratory test showed excellent printing thickness for reactive printing dye market. The final selection was based on four considerations, namely- Noveon had the same synthetic polymer as that of ICI in dry form and Avebe was expert in dry blending. Dry blends resulted in more efficiency both in space and cost compared to liquid one. Noveons synthetic was proved the best when combined with Avebe than any other. Noveon had excellent market expertise in the US, which Avebe lacked. Combination of Avebe and Noveons expertise expected around 25% of the new market to either company. Reasons for cooperation Noveon Noveons alliance with Avebe started by an accident. Noveon acquired QSI in South Carolina in 1994. QSI used to purchase natural starches from Avebe for its operation. This was the start of their joint venture. Synthetic polymer Noveon had was fairly expensive; while Avebes natural starch was relatively cheap. They expected that blending of these two would result in better quality at reasonable price. Noveon expected that the price of synthetic and natural thickener blends would increase in US and Europe, due to the demand for high quality products. Combination of synthetic and natural thickeners could reduce the cost of dye stuff and chemicals. The saving was estimated to be around $ 1 million per year. Noveon selected Avebe for their technology. Far East and Europe preferred Avebe as their best choice. Initial agreement The agreement was signed by both the companies on 24th March 1995. After two year, to anticipate competition, both the companies formulated a marketing agreement for their joint product. The agreement was as follows- Division of the world market. As per this agreement, Noveon agreed market their product in America and the Caribbean. Avebe agreed to market its product in Europe, Asia- pacific and Russia. China and India was open for both. Restriction on sale of each others product. As per this agreement Avebe was forbidden to sell Noveons product and Noveon agreed not to sell Avebes products to any other company without a prior consent of other. 3) Information exchange/ training. Both Avebe and Noveon agreed for a meeting once in six months to exchange development, manufacturing and technical service information relating to their joint venture. Reasons for alliance 1) Alliances assist the firms learning and diversification into new areas of activities. Alliances help to extend a firms competitive advantage in several ways. A firm enters into strategic alliance because this can potentially provide benefits that are not possible through either internal development or external acquisition. This helps the company to acquire benefit by reducing the cost rather than taking it all by itself. An alliance stand as an intermediate to help the allies enter into new industry and markets. 2) Alliance provide useful platform to test their products in new markets. Alliances help in extending and renewing their sources of competitive advantage while expanding globally. This helps the new companies to enter into new market with little market knowledge. By this these companies learn how to compete in the global market. Working together helps in overcoming the economic obstacles too. 3)  Design School of strategic management- Henry Mintzberg This prescriptive school of Mintzberg see strategy formulation as a process of conception which is responsible for the development of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the organisation (SWOT). In this school the strengths and weaknesses are of the company are mapped along with the opportunities and threat in the market place. This is implemented in order to formulate clear and unique strategies in a deliberate process. In this the internal environment is matched to the external environment. This school mainly helps in reducing ambiguity and is mainly used in stable environments. It supports strong and visionary leadership. The main drawback of the design school is that it is weak in a fast moving environment and there are risks of resistance. It also has many variables and is inherently complex and also inflexible. Types of strategic alliances Strategic alliances can be classified into three main types: Shared- supply alliance Shared- supply alliance bring together companies which join forces to achieve economies of scale on a given component or on an individual stage in the production process. The shared elements are further incorporated in products that are further incorporated in products that remain specific to each other and that competes directly in the market. This type of alliance is formed when the minimum efficient size at a particular stage in the production process is much greater than for the entire product, and when neither of the partner produce large enough to achieve the critical size. Shared- supply alliance are usually formed between partners of comparable size. This alliance primarily involves research and development (RD) and manufacturing activities. Coordination of research activities between the partners makes it possible to optimize the use or resources. These alliances are usually formed by firms operating in the same zone. In this case of shared supply alliance the assets and ski lls that the partner companies bring to the joint project are similar in nature and their goal is to benefit from increased economies of scale. Quasi- concentration alliance This alliance brings together companies that develop, produce and market a joint product. There is no open competition in quasi- concentration alliance. Quasi- concentration alliances are primarily characterized by transactions between the consortium of allies and the market. Transactions between the companies are also carried out within the alliance. This alliance covers all the main functions involved in carrying out an activity, that is, research and development, manufacturing, and marketing. Marketing and sales are either split between the partners on the basis of geographic presence or carried out jointly. Complementary alliance. Complimentary alliances bring together companies which contribute assets and skills of different natures to bring up a combined project. Here one manufactures the product, which is marketed by others distribution channels. There is no competition within the allies. This type of an alliance is mainly formed by only two parties.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Conflict in a Dangerous Spring :: essays research papers

In the novel Dangerous Spring, by Margot Benary-Isbert, conflict is a reoccurring theme between many characters and events that provides the driving force for actions in the story. The story takes place during the final days of World War II. Although this point in time provides the basis for the conflict, there are many other situations where conflict is shown. The main character, Karen Lorenz, experiences the most of this trouble. Conflict is the theme that is shown best in this story, because there are many situations that build up. We then see the resolution of each situation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story begins in spring on Easter Monday, April 2nd, of 1945. Karin Lorenz and her family live in the small town of Erfurt in Germany. The Lorenz family hears news that the Allied invasion is expected to be storming through into surrounding areas of Erfurt. Conflict is immediately shown here in that there is war taking place between Germany and the Allies. The advance of the Allies causes Karen to attempt to convince her family to escape to Eberstein, where Pastor Helmut Lobelius, Karen’s boyfriend, lives. Helmut had invited the family numerous times, but Karen’s father was against the idea because he is a doctor and needs to tend to his increasing number of patients. Karen’s parents also believe they are in safety because they deem that there is not much fighting left to do. This shows conflict in that Karen’s parents do not believe in her ideas. They think she is just an impractical girl with a silly idea, and they believe that eve rything will be fine with time. Word is then heard that Erfurt is in the path of the Allies and that the town is to be invaded soon. Karen finally persuades her parents they need to escape Erfurt while there is still time. At the close of the novel, the war resolves to an end. The Lorenz family returns home to a war-damaged Erfurt. Another resolution is that Karen grows more mature and her parents learn to listen to her more.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Karen’s brother, Till, is a very strong supporter of Hitler at the beginning of the novel. He was involved in the Hitler Youth Movement, called the H.J. Till was carefree, daring, and brave at the beginning. Till must leave the H.J. when the family leaves for Eberstein. While Till’s family is staying at Helmut’s, Till meets a girl who offers him work at her father’s farm.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Karl Marx Essay

Karl Marx who was christened ‘the father of modern communism’ was a well renowned philosopher whose ideologies in the political, economy as well as social perspectives were very significant. To Marx, the issue of inequality in society was a major concern and a central point in his ideologies. He blamed the inequality in society on the economic production. (Healey J 2006). He placed more emphasis on the means of production which simply implied the tools or materials used in order to ensure that goods and services were produced and distributed. To Marx, the means of production could vary depending on the prevailing economic system. In cases of agricultural societies, land would be an important means of production while for the industrial society the machinery and equipment, factories as well as the transportation system were the means of production. Marx further noted that societies were dominated by capitalistic tendencies in spite of them being agricultural or industrial. To him there are two major social classes who are in continued struggle or conflict over the means of production. The two major classes are the bourgeoisie who not only own but also control the factors of production and it is also the ruling class. (Healey J 2006). The other class comprises of the proletariat or the working class. Marx believed that conflicts between the two distinct classes were eminent or rather inevitable. The resultant effect was that the proletariat class would over throw the bourgeoisie and an equitable society would be attained. In the new society exploitation and coercion would be a thing of the past. The new society would be a class less society and inequality would be erased and social change would be attained. Marx presented a conflicting society that was characterised by continued class struggle. (Healey J 2006) Healey in ‘Race, Ethnicity, Gender and class’, noted that Max Weber a German sociologist was a major critic of Marx ideologies. He argued that Marx ideology of inequality in society was a very narrow one. To Weber, the inequality problem in society was complex and not as simple as Marx presented it. He was quite categorical that inequalities in society could not be wholly blamed on economic forces. In this regard he noted the cases where people may belong to the elite class in society but lack wealth attached to it or vice versa. Some people may have the wealth but lack the self esteem. (Healey J, 2006) Marx and Weber agreed on the issue of inequalities in society. Weber expounded on Marx ideologies and he in fact adopted other stratification mechanisms regarding inequalities with ownership and control of factors of production which was similar to Karl Marx’s class ideology. Secondly, he brought about the idea of ‘prestige’ where the amount of honour or self esteem given to people by others was highlighted. To Weber, factors like class, family lineage as well as physical appearance affected the amount of prestige or honour to be placed on people by others. The third stratification according to Weber was power or the ability to influence or control others. A person’s stand in political organisation determined how powerful they were in the society. To Weber, the three groups had similar characteristics in the sense that wealthy, prestigious were likely to be more powerful when compared to the poor people in the society. (Healey J, 2006). Both Marx and Weber agreed that the development of capitalism was as a result of accumulated capital. However, they differed on how the accumulation was ensured. Marx was convinced that ‘owners of the means of production or the ‘bourgeois acquired immense capital through expropriation and exploitation of the working class or the proletariat. On the other hand Weber perceived a society where the accumulation of capital was attributed to the dedication, self denial and hard work of the capitalists. As Etzioni – Halevy in ‘Social change’ noted, Weber viewed ‘social change in society as caused not only by the economic factors but also by values and ideas’ (Etzioni – Halery E). Notably, Weber did not underestimate the role of or importance of economic factors in as far as social change in society was concerned. Some of Weber’s viewpoints earned him no fame as they just blended what Marx had earlier presented. The main distinction pertaining his ideologies was his emphasis on the fact that the ‘advent of modern capitalism could not be wholly blamed on the economic factors’. (Etzioni-Halevy J, 1981). To him, values had a very significant role to play and to this regard had to be considered with the same intensity that was attached to economic factors. Important values cited by Weber included achievement – oriented values which worked to motivate the entrepreneurs to work devotedly while negating from consumption to embrace investment. He perceived a society where entrepreneurs would instead of consuming their profits re-invest to earn more profits. (Etzioni-Halery J, 1981) To Marx, social change would be realised when the two conflicting classes were no more or when the working class overthrew the ruling class over the means of production. Weber rejected this view point on the argument that social change was a complex aspect which was affected by the class groupings as well as the varying or diverse status. (Allan K, 2005) The working class according to Marx earned a living by selling their labour to the owners of the means of production or capitalists. There was an eminent exploitation between the two classes in the society. Marx coined the term ‘pauperization’ to mean the process through which the rich became richer as the poor grew poorer. The exploitation was due to the fact that the wages paid to the working class by the capitalists was not equitable to the work or output they produced. Apart from receiving poor pay, the working class in poor conditions that negatively affected their mental as well as physical well being. (Giddens A and Griffiths, 2006). Weber backed Marx idea that the society was characterised by conflicts for power as well as resources. On how the society was structured Weber negated from Marx ideology that economic factors alone had a role to play in its determination. In contrast he noted that other important aspects like status as well as party had a role in class differences. According to Weber they could emerge from other aspects rather than economic forces. He noted that economic differences could arise from other resources rather than property for instance skills, qualifications or credentials. Taylor G and Spencer S, 2004). Weber argued that capitalism was not necessarily the critical factor triggering alienation and deprivation of the working class. Consequently, elimination of the private ownership would not suffice in resolving the inequality issue in the society. Weber blamed the alienation to ‘the omnipotent structures of the bureaucratic rule’ (Hamilton P, 1991). Weber rejected socialism as a way of resolving the problems associated or linked in capitalism.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Home Management Essay

The ability to work at Home Management people can now perform their work at home. For those who devote more time for their works, they can extend their working hours by performing their office works at the comfort of their own home. As long as there is an internet connection, and as long as the access at home is allowed, anyone authorize person can really become more productive. Problems associated with Online Intranet However, there are problems associated with internet-based intranet like: security, down-time, and internet connection failure. The issue with security as mentioned earlier is controlled by a firewall. Access to information is limited according to the type of authorization that will be given to an authorize user. Like an information system, users might be assigned as an administrator, and a plain or limited user. Those files which are confidential might be accessible only using the administrator accounts. As long as the username and passwords remain secured, the access to the site remains 99% secured. Down-time errors mostly associated with server breakdowns and system failures can be addressed by an effective maintenance schedules. Most IT people assign a once a month down-time period scheduled for system maintenance which takes mostly an average of 1 to 3 hours. This is not bad at all compared to the amount of effective working time of the system. Internet connection failure is mostly associated with weather condition and occurrence of disaster which does not occur at all times. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) had already developed secured connection lines to mitigate these problems. Conclusion Internet based intranet is very beneficial in information sharing, and communication lines for all branches of FYC. It is an effective cost cutting technique, effective reduction of volumes of papers produced in transactions. It helps achieve consistency in information sharing, faster and reliable information retrieval, and offers flexibility in performing all forms of top level management tasks for management people.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

buy custom My Concentrating Skill essay

buy custom My Concentrating Skill essay How I Can Improve My Concentrating Skill This assignment is for my research paper class in which I will propose a solution for my current problem; how I can improve my concentrating skill so that I can be more creative and use my time more effectively. I will also carry out an interview with a counselor whose opinion I will seek on how I can improve my concentration skills. I have been having a serious problem as a student in this school; my class concentration is at its lowest ebb. Instead of doing my college assignments, I have been spending most of my energies in some other stuff that are not quiet important to me like education is. And therefore I have decided to write this essay on how I can improve my concentrating skill so that I can be more creative and use my time more effectively. My concentration problem has affected me to such an extent that I had to go to the library and search for relevant materials to assist me regain my class concentration back to normal. My first search landed me in the university of Cambridge student and staff counseling services website. The site has several ways in which persons like me can be assisted. According to the site, concentration is defined as the ability to direct ones thinking in whatever direction one would intend. They recognize that all of us have the ability to concentrate some of the time but at other times our thoughts are scattered leaving our mind to race from one thing to another. To deal with such times, they advice that we need to learn and practice concentration skills and strategies, in order to concentrate therefore we have to learn a skill and as with this skill needs repeated practice day after day until we achieve enough improvement such that we feel we are able to concentrate when we need to (University of Cambridge). Our ability to concentrate depends on a number of things including but not limited to commitment, enthusiasm for the task ahead, skill at doing the task, our environment, our physical state and our emotional and physiological state. If we are able to improve on the above concentration skills, then we are able to achieve our goals. The obvious step is that improving ones concentration improves memory and to concentrate means to focus on the particular subject intensely. Thus by focusing, I will be able to easily memorize new facts easily or be able to recall previously memorized information (University of Cambridge). According to one doctor Pasale Miechelon, concentration and memory are two mental skills that are directly related. She attributes this to the fact that memory complaints have nothing with the ability to remember things but a failure to properly focus on the task at hand. Many of our actions are performed automatically but focusing our attention is effortful. She gives a one to one step on how to improve concentration (University of Cambridge). Improving concentration methods include: Focusing on the task at hand. When in class I have realized that I should just focus on what am being taught, I should ask questions and be attentive. When am reading a book, I should try to memorize what I have just read to a friend or even a teacher. I should generally avoid and try to eliminate any distractions. I now realize that I should tune off anything else except the subject matter in class. Although I may have fees problems, I should focus on what am being taught at that time and worry about fee problems later. I should try to avoid double tasking. I know that currently am volunteering at a local hospital, am taking three classes and having a part time job at a local restraint and as such I should try to balance my time so that I do not exhaust myself on the job. I have learned that when one tries to do several things at once, they have to divide their attention and as a result concentrate less on each individual task. The doctor also advices the use of meditation. Studies have shown that meditation can be a good brain tool that affects concentration skills. Therefore, if I use meditation the right way, I believe that my concentration will considerably improve (Dr. Michelon, Pascale). On the backdrop of improving my concentration, I also realize that I have to take initiatives to improve my memory. Dr. Michelon gives the following tips on how we can improve our memory; The first point is to pay attention and concentrate. I also realize that I should relate to the information am learning. According to the doctor, the more personal the information becomes, the easier it is to remember it. Thus I should develop a habit of asking myself how it makes me feel. I should also ask myself where else I have heard what the teacher is teaching us and where it can be applied. I should further ask myself whether there is something in my personal life that is related to the piece of information I am being taught. I should also train my brain too repeat information; come back to it more than once. Studies have shown that repeated information is easier to recall. Lastly but not least, I should elaborate on the information and think about it. According to the doctor, things that are concrete and have a clear meaning are easier to remember than vogue and abstract stuff. Therefore, I should try to attach meaning to the information am trying to memorize that will help me to recall the information easier on a later time. The brain as a result will have more cues to look for (Dr. Michelon, Pascale). I also had an interview with a counselor who was really helpful in helping me improve my concentration. This is the one on one conversation with the counselor. Question: where can I begin if I want to improve my concentration? Answer: start building into your daily schedule habits that lead to increased brain power. Question: what are some of the daily schedules are you talking about? Answer: some of these daily schedules include meditation. Mindful meditation for even 10 minutes a day greatly improves concentration. Proper and sufficient sleep ensures that the brain is mentally focused. The food we take should also contain brain enhancement supplements and other vitamins for memory. Engaging in brain games ensures that certain skills are more reinforced in the brain as well as improving ability to concentrate. Question: how can I use my environment to help enhance my concentration? Answer: the environment in addition to building the above described habits, it is also to adjust the environment you are in to improve your concentration when studying. Remove distractions like turning off your phone ringer. Do not study while the television is on or while the radio is playing. Another simple instruction is to create a study spot. This is because the brain loves routine and if you create a space where you use it to study. Question: how can I measure my progress? Answer: it is important that you ensure what you have read about concentration and what you have been told are put into practice and that they are working. If you feel less distracted while studying and that the mind does not wander while you on your books then there is positive changes. Also, if there is improvement in class marks then definitely the change is positive. Buy custom My Concentrating Skill essay

Sunday, October 20, 2019

The Changing Character of Creon In the Antigone Essay Example

The Changing Character of Creon In the Antigone Essay Example The Changing Character of Creon In the Antigone Paper The Changing Character of Creon In the Antigone Paper Essay Topic: Antigone The chief agent is Creon; his is the character, his the faults and merits, which are immediately relevant to the play1. This comment from H.D.F Kitto is the reason for this study into Creons character in the Antigone of the two protagonists featured, I feel his development throughout the tragedy is the most interesting and compelling aspect of the play. We watch him change from an admired, strong ruler into a tyrant who possesses a severe lack of judgement and misguided conceptions of the world, and finally into a shattered, fallen man whose values have cost him dearly. The character of Creon is at fault for all that happens in the play his decisions drastically effect the lives of those around him. However, his difficult position must be remembered when analysing his actions he was king, and believed he was acting in the best interests of the city. Also, he is the one who fares the worst due to his actions, and is left to live with this pain. As is typical of Greek tragedy, there is no sitting and doing nothing2, so Creon had to act in some way, but his misjudgement caused him to act in a manner which caused suffering to all. Through this study I hope to come to a more thorough understanding of Creons character and consequently gain a deeper insight into the meaning of the play as a whole. First impressions of Creon are favourable. The chorus describe him as the new man for the new day3 (line 174) and in his opening speech he seems to do what is right for the country, deeming any who place a friend above the good of his own country as nothing (lines 203-4). But even here we have a hint of one of Creons problems his view of the city. Certainly a king should hold high concern for his domain, but we learn later that Creon sees human beings as tools in the productivity of civic well being4, as Martha Nussbaum describes. This critic believes Creon has reordered the values of the world to justify his actions, and this has resulted in his mental fusing of the city and the family. Nussbaum argues that Creon feels he will eliminate the problems of city- family conflict5 if the two become one. He goes so far as to deny familial ties which accounts for his attitude towards Antigones need to bury Polynices where they clash with civic interest. As Nussbaum states, he is attempting to replace blood ties by the bonds of civic friendship6. He sees the city as the supreme good, and all other values are functions of that good. He feels he has made a world into which tragedy cannot enter, but he is sadly mistaken, as is later proven. From this, we can see one of Creons main failings he is incapable of valuing city inhabitants for their intrinsic humanity rather than just their civic productivity. This is proven in his remark to Haemon regarding Antigone he tells his son to simply Spit her out, like a mortal enemy let the girl go (lines 728-9). He feels that because he sees her life as worthless, his son automatically will too he is denying the love his son holds for Antigone, and giving him no respect for having these feelings. Here we are also beginning to witness Creons lapse into tyranny he is prepared to murder Antigone in front of Haemon his own son simply to vent his anger. We had hints of his tyrannical side in his attitude towards the sentry he would have had him killed just for the purpose of punishing someone if the sentry had not found the real culprit. But the inhumanity towards his own flesh and blood is what clinches our opinion. Him bellowing The city is the kings thats the law! (line 825) at Haemon also presents an image of a somewhat power-crazed individual.  We are beginning to see how Creons lack of judgement affects his actions towards others. He lacks respect for the gods, which is shown by comments such as;  Youll never bury that body in the grave,  not even if Zeuss eagles rip the corpse  and wing their rotten pickings off to the throne of god! (lines 1151-1153)

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Frederick DouglassNarrative and Its Influence

In 1845, many white people did not consider that a slave was able to write their own autobiography. However, William Lloyd Garrison's preface is an evidence for Douglass that he wrote the book by himself. Douglass was afraid to stand up and tell his story, since he had no education and no public speaking skills. Garrison wants us to keep in mind that the most famous black man in the country is a former slave. This was a way of convincing the crowd of the wrongs of slavery and that slaves can become as successful as Douglass did. Douglass was born in Maryland in 1817, as a slave. He educated himself and was determined to escape from slavery. He tried to escape slavery once, but it was unsuccessful. He later made a successful escape of slavery in 1838. Douglass told his story about his own life in order to describe a slaves’ life as one. Bringing up his own parents was a way of explaining how slavery avoids slaves from having ordinary families. When viewing the slavery of Afric an Americans, some will deny the negative effect it had on the African slaves. However, in his Narrative, Fredrick Douglass makes it obvious that some of the slaveholding characters are damaged by slavery. Slavery in the United States began soon after English colonists first established Virginia in 1607 and lasted as an authorized organization until the passing of the Thirteenth Abortion - Is It Moral or Immoral Abortion – Moral or Immoral? I would argue that abortion is immoral. Abortion is a debate that continues day in, day out, year in, year out. We have laws that have been set into place, yet the debate continues. The opposing sides in the debate each strongly believe they are right. The pro-choice supporters see a woman's right to choose as central to the debate. The pro-choice advocates see the life of the baby as the most important concern. Very little middle ground exists on the issue of abortion. I. When Does Life Begin? [1] "Development of the embryo begins at Stage 1 when a sperm fertilizes an oocyte and together they form a zygote." — England, Marjorie A. Life Before Birth. 2nd ed. England: Mosby-Wolfe, 1996, p.31 Regardless of his attire or the tune of his hum, Staples is still a black man; and to racist America the look of prestige or nonchalance has little significance. It is his complexion that labels him a potential rapist, mugger, or murderer, not his clothes, car, or cash. Aside from the racial components of Staples' predicament, the fundamental characteristic of accommodation for acceptance plagues many of us. Staples has embarked on his own battle. The old jeans-wearing, silent-walking Staples is now a person of the past, pushed aside for his "less-threatening" counterpart. In accommodating for others, our motives tend to be based around the concept that upon changing we will alleviate our problems, yet ironically such modifications elevate them. Author Adrienne Rich grapples with feelings of incompleteness resulting from her family's attempt to conceal her Jewish culture. In her piece appropriately titled, "Split at the Root: An Essay on Jewish Identity," Rich illustrates the disheartening truth lying behind identity conflict: the feelings of confusion, division, and discontent. Rich explored her Jewish past in hopes of discovering and glorifying her true identity. Inspiration was also drawn from Rich's need to escape the stereotypes, the stigmas, and her father's Rules of proportion in Architecture and Ancient Greece Proportion is the essence of architecture, and its roots can be traced back to even the ancient Egyptian times. The first recorded information about the theories of proportion comes from Pythagoras’s studies on geometry, ratio and the musical scale. This knowledge has been further explored in relation to proportions of things found in nature, such as the discovery of the golden ratio, and the modulation of the parts that make up the human body. This knowledge is documented in Vitruvius’s treatice, De Architectura, which contains valuable information about how architecture was perceived in these ancient times. His ideas of the ideal proportions of greek temples, and its relationship to the modular system of the human body is most evident in the flawless harmony of parts that make up the Parthenon. In the mid-5th century BC Pythagoras studied the Greek string instruments, called the lyre and he discovered that two strings with the same length, tension and thickness will sound the same. When the strings are at different lengths, they will most likely sound bad (or dissonant). However, he discovered certain string lengths that were different from one another, but they sounded good (or consonant) when played together. For example when he halved one string, he realised that the notes sounded the same, but at different pitches. This was the discovery of the octave, or diapason, and can be represented as a ratio of 1:2.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Project management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Project management - Assignment Example Being one of the biggest and most innovative banks in New Zealand, ASB Bank needed to minimize energy consumption in all its headquarters and branch networks. Besides minimizing energy, cost the bank also wanted a solution that would enable a countrywide communication infrastructure, which would be reliable and secure. In addition, the bank also wanted a solution that would be independent of the bank’s data network. Finally, the fact that the smart metering technology was a new phenomenon in the New Zealand market necessitated the bank to find an experienced M2M partner. All these formed the primary goals of the establishment of the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) smart meter solution project. To minimize energy consumption, the bank aimed at installing a network of more than 200 smart meters in the in its headquarters and branch networks all over the country. The proposition of the project was to install smart meters in each ASB bank branches countrywide and around 10 smart meters in the bank’s data centre, call centre, and headquarters. The smart meters installed would collect data in a 15 minute interval, from eight power sources, and then feed the information collected to a central server in a 30 minute interval on a daily basis. This would enable the ASB Bank to monitor the data in each of its branches in a near instantaneous manner, verify the load profile, and respond to any problems in any of the branches accordingly. Smart meters would be installed in all the bank’s branches, key buildings and individual loads in bigger buildings. After the smart meters collect data from all the branches and offices, the data can be manipulated using numerous customized reports and automatically sent to the main server To enable successful project scheduling, the project goals must be broken down into tasks before the delivery dates, resource constrictions, or task contingencies are considered. When

Midterm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 8

Midterm - Essay Example hy of Islamic was a continuous operation that was started by the Roman and Greek scholarship that was considered lost and found by Christian in Europe. They added their already have knowledge in Al-Idrisi, Ibn-Batuta, and Ibn-Khaldun. The various collections and translations the Islamic scholars have, provided the knowledge to the rest of the world. Judgments that involve geographical matters have various disciplinary perspectives. Economically, the oil sands contributed greatly over the economy of Canada over the next ten years. Politically, the Alberta government portrays more political capability in handling difficult instance raised by oil sands. Legally, it is unconstitutional for sovereign nation to impose regulations and guidelines on the producers of oil sands. Environmentally, the pollution generated from the production of oil sand is a disaster for the domestic environment. Ethically, the domestic residents are treated fairly by multinational organizations that work on the project. Additionally, the judgment can be derived from perspectives of various regions like western Canada, northern Alberta, United States and Middle East. The assessment can be positive from a single point of view and undesirable from another angle. For instance, coming up with Alberta sands appear to be desirable economically, but undesirable en vironmentally. a) Political geography is a section of geography, that integrated the geographical and political platform in a single platform. Addtionally, it deas with geography that highlights the political framework of a nation. Political geography entails studying politics connected to factors like states and territories. Enclave is a situation where by a single nation exists in another nation. The perfect example of an enclave is UAE and Oman. Exclave is a section of a nation located distantly from the nation or in another nation. A perfect example for an exclave is Alaska and Oman. d) Human geography can be explained as the number

Discuss the rationale and impact of the decision on company law Assignment

Discuss the rationale and impact of the decision on company law - Assignment Example The conflict between the personal opinion of judges and the legal provisions of the law has been in existence for years, and this conflict has resulted in the determination of cases in a manner that does not reflect the legal provisions. However, under the case Salomon v Salomon & Co Ltd [1897] AC 22, the supremacy of the law as the principle that guides courts in determining cases was cemented. This is because; in both the High Court and the courts of appeal, the judges held that the merit of the case Broderip v. Salomon [1985] 2 simply warranted the consideration of Salomon Ltd as an ‘alias’, thus allowing for the treatment of Salomon Ltd and Mr. Aron Salomon as one and the same thing (Rickett, 1998:16). Therefore, the High Court and the Court of Appeal ruled that Mr. Aron Salomon was responsible for paying the debts incurred by Salomon Ltd. However, the House of Lords unanimously overturned the ruling, by holding that the opinions and personal perspectives of the judges were subordinate to the provisions of the law, and the provisions of the law under Companies Act (1862) had provided that a company could be incorporated for as long as it had seven members, regardless of whether the members contributed to the company in any substantial way or whether they were just mere individuals enlisted as part of the company ownership (Sealy, 2010:36). Thus, the relevance of the case Salomon v Salomon & Co Ltd [1897] AC 22 in company law is that it cemented the position of law as the principle reference for which the courts should base their judgments, while placing the opinion and fair judgment of the juries subordinate to the principle of the law. This is considering the fact that judge Vaughan Williams J. of the High Court had applied his opinion in ruling the case Broderip v. Salomon [1985] 2, whereby he opined that as opposed to the application of the legal provisions of Companies Act 1862 in the case, it was a bit more

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Internet Technology, Marketing, and Security Essay - 2

Internet Technology, Marketing, and Security - Essay Example In today's era internet is used as a promotional tool by many global and international organizations. Organizations make use of internet to capture market in today's competitive environment. The Internet is useful for attracting customers by providing them a great variety of services and relevant information about the products or services. There are specific digital internet sources mostly used for the purpose including official websites, social networking sites, blogs, etc (Silverstein, 2001). Marketing, customer dealing, promotion, and other operational management procedures have become much easier within past few years due to remarkable advent and advancements of internet technology. With the advancements of internet, communication modes have become very fast, diverse, and smart (Silverstein, 2001). The World Wide Web has brought tremendous change in the way businesses are run in multinational corporations. For successful business progress, advertising and marketing are two most important tools and with the revolutionized modern technology internet has become exceedingly popular among businesses of all sizes. Mainly because internet has pull out all businesses from tissue-thin, pages of directory for contact details and advices from friends and family members for establishing businesses (Silverstein, 2001). Now business professionals have an opportunity to learn business and marketing techniques from e-sources.

Annual reporting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Annual reporting - Assignment Example The company is actively involved in corporate social responsibility (CSR). Members of TELLUS, both current and retired in unison with friends and family members are giving back to the community by volunteering their time (4.2 million hours), donating money ($ 46 million) and participating (more than 5000 team members) in charitable events and to the non-profitable organizations. This social responsibility improves the company’s image creating goodwill as the surrounding community view the company as an institution concerned with the development of the community. Identify the major components provided in the five- or ten-year summary. Summarize the insight provided by each. Look for trends, increases or decreases. Consistent performance signals management has control of the business. Inconsistent performance signals management does not have control of the business. The company’s employees who are members of board of directors is one, that is the chief executive, whereas the non-company directors are 12 in numbers. This implies that there are more outside than inside directors in the

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Discuss the rationale and impact of the decision on company law Assignment

Discuss the rationale and impact of the decision on company law - Assignment Example The conflict between the personal opinion of judges and the legal provisions of the law has been in existence for years, and this conflict has resulted in the determination of cases in a manner that does not reflect the legal provisions. However, under the case Salomon v Salomon & Co Ltd [1897] AC 22, the supremacy of the law as the principle that guides courts in determining cases was cemented. This is because; in both the High Court and the courts of appeal, the judges held that the merit of the case Broderip v. Salomon [1985] 2 simply warranted the consideration of Salomon Ltd as an ‘alias’, thus allowing for the treatment of Salomon Ltd and Mr. Aron Salomon as one and the same thing (Rickett, 1998:16). Therefore, the High Court and the Court of Appeal ruled that Mr. Aron Salomon was responsible for paying the debts incurred by Salomon Ltd. However, the House of Lords unanimously overturned the ruling, by holding that the opinions and personal perspectives of the judges were subordinate to the provisions of the law, and the provisions of the law under Companies Act (1862) had provided that a company could be incorporated for as long as it had seven members, regardless of whether the members contributed to the company in any substantial way or whether they were just mere individuals enlisted as part of the company ownership (Sealy, 2010:36). Thus, the relevance of the case Salomon v Salomon & Co Ltd [1897] AC 22 in company law is that it cemented the position of law as the principle reference for which the courts should base their judgments, while placing the opinion and fair judgment of the juries subordinate to the principle of the law. This is considering the fact that judge Vaughan Williams J. of the High Court had applied his opinion in ruling the case Broderip v. Salomon [1985] 2, whereby he opined that as opposed to the application of the legal provisions of Companies Act 1862 in the case, it was a bit more

Annual reporting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Annual reporting - Assignment Example The company is actively involved in corporate social responsibility (CSR). Members of TELLUS, both current and retired in unison with friends and family members are giving back to the community by volunteering their time (4.2 million hours), donating money ($ 46 million) and participating (more than 5000 team members) in charitable events and to the non-profitable organizations. This social responsibility improves the company’s image creating goodwill as the surrounding community view the company as an institution concerned with the development of the community. Identify the major components provided in the five- or ten-year summary. Summarize the insight provided by each. Look for trends, increases or decreases. Consistent performance signals management has control of the business. Inconsistent performance signals management does not have control of the business. The company’s employees who are members of board of directors is one, that is the chief executive, whereas the non-company directors are 12 in numbers. This implies that there are more outside than inside directors in the

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

West European Studies Essay Example for Free

West European Studies Essay 1. The three-fold divisions of learning by Augustine were: ? Physical- he related it to the working of nature, and posited that there was a cause to all things- the principle of cause-effect. ? Education- the acquisition of knowledge followed some rules, i. e. the methodology of science and procedures used in scientific studies and systematic experimentations ? Practice- Augustine argued that life had some meaning and an end, which people sought in their daily lives through actions and practicing of ideologies and principles. 2. The seven liberal arts outlined by Martianus Capella were: a) The Trivium which comprised of;   Grammar Rhetoric   Logic/dialectic b) The Quadrivium which included; Arithmetic   Geometry   Music   Astronomy Grammar taught one how to write words and understand their meaning. Music signified the cardinal virtues of temperance, prudence, fortitude and justice. Logic was necessary to help individuals distinguish right from wrong so as to avoid evil deeds. Rhetoric was the art of effective use of language to speak eloquently. Geometry was useful in measuring space, distance such as fields and cities. Arithmetic was significant as it aided in assigning numerical values- counting objects. Lastly, astronomy was used to foretell luck or misfortune- it was an essential art in predicting the future. 3. According to St. Augustine, pagan learning was reliant on logic and skeptical criticism of scripture. It appealed to observable evidence and to those things that are physically provable. St. Augustine taught that Christians should shun those elements, which undermined their faith by challenging beliefs that could not be substantiated with physical evidence, e. g. the existence of God. By appealing to logic, therefore, pagan learning dismissed the spiritual aspect of life to which Christianity was intimately connected. Nonetheless, he recognized the significant of logic and reason in a Christian’s life. He observed that the scripture was given by God’s inspiration for correction and reproof of character. Thus, to understand its teachings, believers ought to examine its contents critically to make correct interpretations. At the same time, logic reflected the logical and orderliness of God’s nature, represented by the order he perfected in His creation. Similarly, logical reasoning makes a significant contribution to the ordering of life in the world. Without logic, there would be chaos and conflicts among men. Reason appeals to the common sense that compels people to observe basic rules and obligations. 4. Hugh of St. Victor outlined four types of philosophy in his quaternary of the arts. The first three are concerned with human character, as they shape people into better mortal beings. They include: ? Truth, which is derived from theoretical philosophy- through abstract reasoning and contemplations that leads to insights about acceptable principles Practical philosophy which leads to good virtues that guides human conduct ? Mechanical philosophy which reliefs men from physical burdens ? Logic enables men to make clear and realistic conclusions concerning the preceding three philosophies. 5. The seven mechanical arts as defined by Hugh of St. Victor are: ? Fabric- it is necessary as man is essentially naked, lacking in the fur that is endowed to wild animals ? Armaments- necessitated due to man’s innate weakness for his lack of defensive mechanisms such as the teeth and claws of animals. Commerce- it is necessary to reconcile the world’s nations that have become divided by selfish aspirations. It leads to international relations and diplomacy that calms wars, enhances peaceful negotiations and achieves the greatest good of individual possessions.   Agriculture- it is a compensation of hard labor, what Hugh called the ‘brow’s sweat’ that goes back to Adam’s time, when the ground was cursed such that he had to sweat for a living.   Hunting was a skill necessary to help man get food by preying on wild animals Theatrics- the sooth the mind through laughter, and by providing relaxation and refreshment to a tired spirit; probably after a day’s work. 6. The four senses of scripture of St. Gregory the Great are: literal sense, allegorical sense, moral/tropological sense and the anagogical sense. a) Literal sense- it reveals the plain facts about events or things. For instance, the creation of Adam as explained in the Book of Genesis is a literal understanding of scripture, since the events happened just the way they are stated. b) Allegorical sense- it goes beyond what is plainly stated, to arrive at a meaning that is both metaphorical and symbolic. For instance, the creation of Eve from Adam’s rib symbolizes the subordinate role that a woman plays in her relation to man. This is exemplified in the family unit where the man is the head of the household. Similarly, it symbolizes the significance of marriage, since a woman, with her one rib taken from Adam, is considered incomplete. Consequently, she must seek completeness by uniting with her source- Adam/man. c) Moral sense- it derives from the Greek word â€Å"trepein,† which means ‘to turn. ’ In scriptural interpretation, it refers to the act of ‘turning’ ideas, principles and divine teachings into deeds. It is reflected in an individual’s life through good deeds to all people. In the scripture, the parables of Jesus were reflections on the moral conduct of men. For instance, the parable about the Good Samaritan represents real life situations where Christians are called upon to help those in need, and not to be like the uncaring Levite who walked past the robbed man on his way to Jericho. d) Anagogical sense- it refers to the interpretation of scripture teaching within the wider context of eternity. It attaches a universal meaning to divine concepts, which transcends all boundaries of space and time. For instance, the reference to the Lord’s feast in Mathew 22 signifies the eternal happiness to be enjoyed by the save in heaven. Likewise, the new Jerusalem refers to God’s City, the kingdom that shall reign forever after the second coming.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Communication in Banking Sector

Communication in Banking Sector Developing a proper communication strategy in a banking sector must be built in the context of the customers expectations. In the current time, banking organizations are no longer interested in developing better communication strategies that will serve their clients. This is because they obsessed with making money, and maximizing on their profitability. In view of this, most of this cooperation do not obtain their objectives because they are unable to attract new customers, and their normal customers run away from them, because of poor communication strategies. INTRODUCTION: During the current times, big organizations have a variety of employees who perform various jobs. The organizations employ marketing staffs, to market their services, and seek for clients. To increase their efficiency in communication, banking institutions employ company spokesmen to communicate their strategies and achievements to the stakeholders, to the government and to their shareholders (Bell and John, 23). Communication is an important element that determines the profitability and efficiency of a banking organization. A banking organization cannot attract and retain a wide customer base without initiating better and effective communication strategies. Despite these realities, banking organizations maintain poor communication strategies. One of the main reasons is their desire to maximize profits, at the expense of customer satisfaction. Trends in Communication Strategies: In 1998, Citi Group merged with Travelers, and this made them as one of the largest banking organizations in the world. The company formed CEEMEA, its subsidiary which was in charge of looking for market in Europe, Africa and Asia. The organization realized the importance of communication in a business set up. To improve their communication capabilities, the company made a series of reforms, and introduced high end communication strategies such as the integration of information technology in their business set up. The results were immediate; the profitability of the company increased by more than 100%, and the company won numerous enterprise awards, for their introduction of information technology in the banking industry. The company managed to outperform established multinational business organization such as Barclays Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank. Other banking organizations followed the example of CEEMEA, and introduced information technology in their banking system. In the case of CEEMEA, customers could access their financial details, through the internet. An individual had the capability of opening a new account with the banking organization (Mohan, 20). This made the organization to record an approximate number of two million banking accounts. This is the power of enacting proper communication channels in the banking industry. This is report outlining the effects of poor communication strategies in the banking sector. This report identifies the various needs of customers, and how the banking institution can satisfy these needs. This report identifies the strategies of competing banking organizations in relation to establishing proper communication channels, and thus creating customer satisfaction. It offers recommendations on better strategies, the business organization ought to implement. Effects of poor communication strategies and customers expectations: Banking cooperations will lose customers and fail to retain their existing ones if there communication strategies in inefficient and poor. This will most likely lead to reduced profitability, emanating from the reduction of their sales revenue. This will affect the objectivity of the banking corporation, and therefore give an edge to its competitors in the banking sector. Poor communication strategies will also affect the employees of the organization. For instance, withdrawing important information to the employees in regard to the objectives of the company, will make them loose focus, and concentrate on their desires at the expense of serving the customers. This will lead to poor and inefficient service, leading to loss of customers, and again reducing the profitability of the business organization. Poor communication with a corporation will result to a culture of rigidity, and therefore limit the innovative capacity of its employees (Bell and John, 33). The competition in the banking organization is fierce, and to survive in the market, it is important for the bank to encourage innovation. Lack of it, is recipe for poor performance, therefore giving an edge to its competitors. To encourage innovation, the banking organization must initiate proper channels of communication, and increase incentives to anybody who comes up with better business ideas. Customers expect so much from the banking corporation. One expectation of customers is honesty from the customer care staff, while giving information on certain services of the organization. For instance a customer might approach the customer care staff on the requirements of taking a loan, and how to repay the loan. It is essential for the customer care staff to act in a professional manner, and give out all the details concerning the issue at hand, and the expectations of the customer. By doing so, the customer care staff will help the banking organization to create a brand name, that depicts honesty and reliability. This is an essential element in attracting and retaining customers. Another expectation of a customer is a speedy flow of information. Customers might require certain information from the banking corporation, and to get the information, they need to contact the customer care staff. The employee might need to consult, and gather the information. This process should not take long. This is because it will create anxiety on the employee, depending on the issue at hand. There is also an issue of accessing their bank accounts. Customers require mobility in accessing their bank accounts. Their presence at the banking premises must not be essential, for them to access their banking account. They may need details of their transaction, or to check the balance in their accounts. The cooperation can device measures of ensuring that their customers can access their accounts through the internet or even their mobile phones. This will require a high degree of innovation. Solution to the Problem: One of the most effective methods of solving the communication problem within the organization is to adopt the concepts of open innovation. The cooperation needs to conduct a case study, and observe how successful banking cooperation such as Barclays Bank, Citi Group developed their communication strategies. The organization will thereafter adapt the strategies that are beneficial to them. For example integrating Information Technology in the organization is essential. This is a strategy that CEEMEA, a branch of Citi Group Cooperation enacted as part of its communication strategies (Mohan, 27). Another solution is to train its customer care staff on the better communication strategies. This is to impart on them the necessary skills required to interact with customers, and the various stake holders of the company. Customer care staffs have a responsibility to act as the public relations personnel of the banking cooperation. It is important to equip them with necessary skills of how to handle the various stake holders of the business organization, including the customers of the business (Bell and John, 31). The cooperation should create a proper communication channel, between the top management, and the junior staff. Managers of the organization should act as coaches and not administrator. This will enable them effectively communicate the objectives of the company, and will motivate the employees to work hard, so that they may help the organization to achieve its objectives. The Case of Barclays Bank: Barclays bank cooperation realizes the importance of effective communication in a banking industry. To disassociate itself from poor communication strategies, the organization has merged the marketing department with the communication department. This is because proper communication influences the degree in which a banking cooperation will achieve success in attracting and retaining customers. There is the department of internal and external communication. Internal communication has the responsibility of liaising with the marketing department to ensure the company says the right words concerning their achievements to the internal stakeholders of the company. This includes investors and various high skilled employees (Mohan, 49). The company has integrated Information Technology in its operations. Through information technology, the company is able to develop digital images of its services, therefore attracting new customers, and retaining the existent ones. The cooperation uses websites, and search engine optimizations, to make its presence felt. As a result of these measures, the organization has managed to retain its customer base, and attract new customers. Conclusion: In conclusion, the success of a banking cooperation depends on the superiority of its communication and marketing strategy. Without proper communication channels, the organization will struggle to market its services. In relation to this, it is essential for a banking organization to invest heavily in building proper communication infrastructure within its set up. The organization must re-design its goals, create a channel where junior employees will access their senior partners, and chat on the best ways of creating customer satisfaction. To create an effective communication infrastructure, the cooperation must move from its notion of profit maximization, to customer satisfaction. This will ensure that the staffs are innovative enough to come up with better ideas on how to further advance the objectives of the company. On this note, a company without better communication strategy is a company designed to fail in business.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Essay examples --

Distinguish between qualitative and quantitative data. First we will begin my defining just what qualitative and quantitative data is. Qualitative data is data that can be observed, but not measured. It also deals with descriptions of variables: color, appearance, taste, etc. It is characterized by no numerical values. Quantitative data is data that can be measured. It deals with numbers: length, weight, time, etc. â€Å"While the goals of some data collection may be exclusively qualitative or quantitative, in many cases both are desirable (O’Rourke & O’Rourke, 2000).† For qualitative observations, researchers watch and record whatever seems interesting to them. The people and animals that are observed in these research experiments are called participants and subjects. The locations of the observations are called study sites. Researchers tend to rely on gatekeepers, or informants, in their observations. There are six different types of qualitative observations: participant observations, ethnographic observations, case studies, archaeological data, focus groups, and naturalistic animal studies. â€Å"Qualitative research within development faces particular challenges as it is often conducted by researchers either not socialized in a discipline such as anthropology or sociology, which has clear guidelines for fieldwork and note taking, or so resource constrained as to be unable to follow them (Camfield & Palmer-Jones, 2013).† For quantitative direct observations, they exist in numbers and conditions so that they can be counted. The number may be an actual value, test score, or may reflect an arbitrary value. These observations are conducted by researchers counting the frequency of one or more variables and these observations ar... ...When this takes place, it again reduces the validity of the observation. Even though there are many advantages and disadvantages to self-reporting, no other method would collect the same detailed, in-depth information from participants. References: Camfield, Laura & Palmer-Jones, Richard. Improving the quality of development research: What could archiving qualitative data for reanalysis and revisiting research sites contribute? Progress in Developmental Studies. Oct2013, Vol. 13 Issue 4, p343-338. Ellis, L., Walsh, A., & Hartley, R. D. (2010). Research Methods in Criminal Justice and Criminology: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. O’Rourke, Thomas W. & O’Rourke, Diane P. Bridging the qualitative-quantitative data canyon. American Journal of Health Studies. 2000, Vol.16 Issue 1, p52-54.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Comapring Father/Daughter Relationships in King Lear and A Thousand Acr

Father/Daughter Relationships in King Lear and A Thousand Acres   Ã‚  Ã‚   The bond between a father and a daughter stands as one of the strongest emotional bonds present within many families. From the moment their little girls emerge from the womb to the moment their young women marry, the father reigns as the head of the household, the controller, and the protector. Though this rings true for many families, sometimes Daddy's little girls make all the rules. They possess the ability to acquire what they want through their incessant whining, crying, and batting of their eyelashes. Daddy's little girls assert control over most situations and possess negotiating skills that rival those of the best Wall Street stockbrokers. Pulling at Daddy's heart, Daddy's little girls play their fathers like puppets. Daddy appears as the head, but everyone knows who reigns as the boss. Though a father takes on the leadership role as the male figure head of the family, the role of protector makes the father-daughter bond particularly strong. Fathers protect their little girls from all harm so they proclaim. What happens when something shatters the respect and trust within the father-daughter relationship? What happens if the father hurts the daughter or vice versa? William Shakespeare's King Lear and Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres delve into the subject of father-daughter relationships. Both works of literature carefully examine the father-daughter theme, but, in King Lear, Lear receives the sympathy and not his sinister, evil daughters, Goneril and Regan, while in A Thousand Acres Larry Cook emerges as the villain, the daughters, Ginny and Rose, emerge as the heroines.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In every family resides the favorite. The favorites get eve... ...es stand as the ones that survive through the storm that rages in their lives. Although some of the heroes ultimately die, Lear of King Lear and Ginny and Rose of A Thousand Acres establish themselves as examples of total self-respect. Though people disrespect them, they persevere and live their lives to the best of their abilities emerging as the only true, heroic characters.    Works Cited Harbage, Alfred. " King Lear: An Introduction." Shakespeare: The Tragedies: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood: Prentice-Hall, 1964: 113-22. Knight, Wilson. "King Lear and the Comedy of the Grotesque." Shakespeare: The Tragedies: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Prentice-Hall, 1964: 123-38. Shakespeare, William. King Lear. New York: Scholastic, 1970. Smiley, Jane. A Thousand Acres. Thorndike: Thorndike Press, 1991.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Physical Education Activities Essay

The high school students are full of energy at this point in time of their developmental stage a normal human beings and as such they engage in various activities. In the subject of Physical Education (P.E.) these students manifest their individual attitude towards participation in Physical Education activities. This study is interested looking closely into this situation and would like to determine the effect of the factors of attitude and teachers’ qualification towards students’ participation in Physical Education activities at Basilan National High School. Recent research has shown that degenerative diseases begin in early childhood. As Kaercher (1981) wrote, â€Å"There’s increasing evidence in youngsters of high cholesterol in the blood, high blood pressure, obesity and other conditions that are associated with heart disease, stroke and other disorders† (p. 20). Bucher (1982) stated that medical specialists blame deaths due to heart disease, cancer, and stroke largely on â€Å"changes in lifestyle characterized by factors over which doctors have little or no control† (p.13). Research suggests that regular physical activity, begun in childhood, may help prevent degenerative diseases. According to Hanson (1974), â€Å"The necessity of physical activity for a growing child is well-documented in terms of growth and fitness needs. Physical activity increases muscle tone, improves respiration and circulation, benefits digestion, aids in controlling obesity, promotes rehabilitation after illness and surgery, and stimulates proper growth and development Physical benefits alone could be sufficient reason for supporting physical education programs.† (p. 2). And Reiff (1977, p. 26) reported that high school students involved in an eight-week program of physical activity showed gains in fitness. The above-cited researches on physical education and its importance is taken into consideration in this study on the factors affecting students’ participation in physical education activities of Basilan National High School. Statement of the Problem This study attempted to determine the attitude and teachers qualification as factors affecting the students’ participation in physical education activities at Basilan National High School; Specifically, it tried to answer the following questions: 1. What is the attitude of the students towards participation in physical education at Basilan National High School in terms of: 1.1`gender 1.2 religion 1.3 ethnicity 1.4 socio-economic status 2. Do the factors of attitude and teachers qualification affect the students’ participation in physical education activities at Basilan National High School? 3. Is there a significant difference in the effect of the factors of attitude and teachers qualification in the students’ participation in physical education activities in terms of: 3.1 gender 3.2 religion 3.3 ethnicity 3.4.socio-economic status? Significance of the Study The results of this study provide additional information for the benefit of the following: School administrators – the data in this study will be subject to further study and consideration and could serve as basis for the construction of approaches and programs to enhance students’ participation the school’s physical education activities. Physical Education Teachers – they will be able to access data gathered in this study for their guide in the preparation of effective teaching methods which could motivate the students to actively participate in the physical education in school. Students – they will gain additional knowledge from the findings in this study and will serve as eye opener for them towards better participation in the physical education activities programmed by the school. Scope and Delimitation of the Study This study is concentrated in the identification of the factors which affect the students participation in physical education activities at Basilan National High School. The data to be gathered from the students in Basilan National High School are from first year to fourth year enrolled for school year 2010 2011. The physical activities are part of the prescribed activities in the physical education school curriculum. Chapter II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Under this chapter the following are presented and discussed: Related Literature, Theoretical Framework, Conceptual Framework, Research Hypothesis, and Definition of Terms. Related Literature Physical education is a type of class in which elementary, middle, and high school students are usually required to participate. It emphasizes exercise, and sometimes health and nutrition. This class, sometimes known as PE or gym class, usually takes place in a large gymnasium, but it can also take place outdoors. While there are a number of advantages to physical education, like most things, there are also a few disadvantages. Exercise is typically the main goal of physical education. Sometimes, a physical education teacher may instruct his student to perform drills or exercises. Other times, students may play games and sports. Basketball and dodge ball, for example, are two popular PE games. Larger schools may also have an indoor swimming pool that students can use during their gym class. While many of these drills, exercises, and sports can be played indoors, sometimes a PE class should be held outdoors. Football, baseball, and golf, for instance, are typically outside sports. Weather permitting, some schools may even offer skiing or snowshoeing. Online physical fitness classes may seem unusual, but with technological advances comes innovation. A few schools now allow their students to fulfill physical education requirements on their own time. This can be done by letting a student choose an activity to participate in. She can then keep track of how much exercise she has done. A teacher, coach, or parent is usually required to vouch for the student. Physical fitness in school, however, is not just about motivating students to become more active. It also helps younger students develop their psychomotor skills. Some elementary schools may also combine physical education classes with health classes, educating students about healthy choices and nutrition as well. Traditional classes where students play sports also help them learn to work as a team. (www.wisegeek.com/what-is-physical-education.htm) Clearly, physical education requirements can boost overall physical activity levels in children. The authors suggest that school-based activity be considered an important component in meeting the guidelines for physical activity in adolescents. Myers, Strikmiller, et. al. (1996). Physical and sedentary activity in school children grades 5-8; the Bogalusa Heart Study. Medicine Science in Sports and Exercise, vol. 28, pp. 852-859. Physical activity enhances a person’s life both socially and psychologically. Studies have shown that physical activity may modify anxiety and depression (Sachs 1982, p. 44). Layman (1972, p. 5) gave evidence that poor physical condition predisposes individuals to poor mental health. Hanson (1974, p. 2) stated that â€Å"physical activity contributes to the general feeling of well-being. It is an avenue for expression of anger, aggression and happiness a means for discovery of self as well as a social facilitator.† Moreover, according to Espenschade (1960), â€Å"The status of the elementary school child with his peers is dependent to a great extent on his motor skills and his behavior in game situations† (p.3). Clarke (1982, p. 10) added to these statements, suggesting that the child’s realization of personal and social effectiveness relies heavily on guidance within the physical education experience. Research shows a positive relationship between physical activity and academic achievement. In one study, begun in 1951 in an elementary sch ool in Vanves, France, the school day was divided so that four hours were devoted to academics and one to two hours to physical education, art, music, and supervised study (Bailey 1976). By 1960, not only were health, fitness, discipline, and enthusiasm superior in the experimental program, but academic performance also surpassed controlled classes. Similar experiments in Belgium and Japan produced comparable results (Carlson 1982, p. 68), illustrating the importance of physical education to a successful academic program. The importance of wise use of leisure time was supported as early as 1918 in the Seven Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education (National Education Association). Children need recreational skills and a positive attitude toward exercise to enhance their use of leisure. Indeed, â€Å"Research indicates that motor skills learned in physical education classes may be the stimulus for increased activity during leisure time (Seefeldt 1977, p. 3). Gilliam and others demonstrated that physical education programs involving vigorous activities encourage participants to use leisure time more actively (p. 3). Thus, physical education can play a major role in promoting an active, healthy lifestyle. The importance of wise use of leisure time was supported as early as 1918 in the Seven Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education (National Education Association). Children need recreational skills and a positive attitude toward exercise to enhance their use of leisure. Indeed, â€Å"Research indicates that motor skills learned in physical education classes may be the stimulus for increased activity during leisure time (Seefeldt 1977, p. 3). Gilliam and others demonstrated that physical education programs involving vigorous activities encourage participants to use leisure time more actively (p. 3). Thus, physical education can play a major role in promoting an active, healthy lifestyle.