Article Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Review - Article Example It is observed that once adults start to learn a language they easily grasp those words which are similar to their language to which they can easily relate too. For example, helicopterowhich is in Spanish and helicopter in English are cognates of each other therefore a Spanish child can easily relate to it.These are known as cross-linguistic cognates. There are also certain cognates which have the same meaning but not the same form. Cognates are easy to comprehend as an individual has a very vague idea about it and can join the dots in order to make a complete picture. "When two languages are close, learners will have access to a large number of cognate words" (Ellis, 1999). A lot of researches in the past are based on cognates and how easily one can understand them as a new language learner as compared to words which are not cognates. Cognates act like a stimuli reinforcing and making understanding easier. At times cognates can be semantically quite like each other, there can be res trictions because of grammar found in one language but not the other which can arouse problems occasionally (Odlin, 1989) . The purpose of this study was to understand whether these cognates act as a potential tool for language learning in Early Language Learners (ELL). The authors view on bilingual is that learning languages is essential and just to make it easier and comprehendible cognates are used. Learning English language is essential therefore emphasis is given on considering it as a second language. The author supports his position by providing examples from previous researches andwork done on the same content taking it a step forward. In order to understanding the effect of cognates in (ELL's) various methods were adopted such as research based questions, participation and features of the language. In this the children were allowed to determine and comprehend cognates with their own estimation independently or with certain support depending on his/her caliber. Initially the re wasn’t any drastic difference but gradually they showed improvement with cognates over noncognates. Different techniques were used such as visual and memory aid, age bar, phonological overlapping between the word and its cognate and the prior knowledge of the word. Direct strategy training was used for maximum benefit of 5th grade (ELL). Receptive and expressive help to develop the proficiency in language as well as the pathology of speech and language. Although there wasn’t any study that targeted the cognate status of language which are developing. It was observed that on cognate language of English the bilinguals performed better than the monolinguals but when it came to noncognates both were equal in performance. Statistics were used in order to show the cognate and noncognate items. It was deduced that Spanish students who were ELL did not merely benefit from L1 or L2 on test which were based on receptive vocabulary. An important issue in the methodology that a rises while using the PPVT is item difficulty. Lastly, it was investigated how fast and precisely children knowing only one language i.e. English could match Spanish words to one of the two pictures. This exercise was performed irrespective of language impairment. It was observed that phonological overlap effected performance and language impairment proved to be beneficial. Earlier nonverbal cognate effects were not considered but now

Strategic Planning Management in Tesco

Strategic Planning Management in Tesco Introduction Strategic planning is an essential process to be campaigned within, for the success of the organisation. By performing strategic planning an organisation can determine its short term as well as long term goals along with their implementation and scheme to accomplish them. Strategic planning defines strategy, direction, and strength towards the external as well as internal challenges faced by the organisation. It suggests resources and serving allocations, so strategic planning is one of the important liabilities of management. Performing strategic management leads to the answers of following three questions. Where the organisation does stand? What are the goals to be achieved? Financial Brand name How the goals can be accomplishment? Strategic planning and business planning are the basic requirement to be executed by the management members, the former is related to entire organisation while the latter is relate to an individual product or service. Several strategic planning models have been introduces along with the approaches that are used for the welfare of the organisation. The development of a plan is dependent on factors such as culture of organisation, threats to the organisation, structure of the organisation, skilfulness of plan developer. The plan may be of one year or may be of ten years, depending upon the planner and the activities involved in the plan. More the details are included lengthier the plan would be and clear the goals would be. Process of the plan is more important than former sketching of Strategic planning, threats to the organisation, or its current financial status. A good planner emphasize on excelling the organisation rather than victory over competitors. Several organisations view t his process of determining the standpoint of organisation over next years, to forecast they need to know the current status of the organisation and the place where they see the organisation in coming years, this plotting of the direction can be referred as the Strategic Planning. Although over the period of time, each long term strategic plans needs monitoring and modifications. As the plans are made on the basis of assumption of the external and internal environment of the organisation, everything goes well until the prediction turns to be right. Tesco plc. is an internationally recognised organisation, the company was established in 1929 in Middlesex, U.K.. Today the 3rd largest retailer and the 2nd largest profit earning organisation amongst millions of business is Tesco plc. Across the world; this organisation is serving 13 major countries i.e. 32 stores in Malaysia, 81 in Slovakia, 88 in China, 105 in Turkey, 119 in Ireland, 136 in Czech Republic, 142 in Japan, 145 in U.S.A., 176 in Hungary, 305 in South Korea, 336 in Poland, 663 in Thailand, and in United Kingdom the number of stores are more than the numbers of Tesco stores in rest of the countries i.e. 2482 stores. Since Tesco has reached to such heights analysis on strategic planning would be best understood by looking into strategy followed by Tesco plc. Essential Planning Components: Principles, Theories and Tools. The main activity of the organisation is retailing and finance services, finance services such as banking, insurance services and retailing services such as online shopping form television, internet etc. Tesco has reached such heights by applying strategic planning with keen knowledge of its principles and theories. The principles of Strategic planning are Strategic planning serves the foundation of management process. Plans are sort of guidelines to the company for figuring out the financial resources and non-financial resources. Stakeholders play an important role for execution and progress of the plan. Active members of stakeholder will add the strength to the process effectiveness. Performance of an organisation is calculable so a clear strategy leads to accomplish practice goals As the market condition cannot be controlled so its difficult to predict the future environment and as the organisation is dependent on external environment, the plan cannot be exactly designed and few changes may be made in future as required. As the organisation reaches the expected state again the planning is made for the next few years, dew to this characteristic of organisation planning is persistent throughout the life of the organisation. Stakeholders reviews are essential aspect of the planning process, collecting review make out the contribution and commitment of the staff toward the mission and vision of the organisation. These principles are essential to planning process; integrating principles in a strategic planning process may not lead to success but overlooking these principles may cause a failure. A Marketing Plan for Tesco plc. Marketing planning is a process to determine the requirements of customer and a route to fulfil coming requirement, this is done to increase the sales of the product or service provided by the organisation. The diagram below depicts the scheme to increase marketing strategy of Tesco plc. The aim of this marketing strategy is to improve turn a profit and performance of the firm. Examine current market position: Here Tesco must analyse the present position and stand in the market and sketch them. Determine targeted market: Determine where the management wants to be in coming years. Conclude marketing Objectives: Planner may then set achievable goals to be achieved in certain time duration. Choose suitable marketing mix: What scheme should Tesco follow; to achieve determined goals will be chosen in this phase. Develop plan of action: This phase starts to generate the environment to initiate the plan. Implement marketing program: Now Tesco would turn words into action, the journey to achieve determined goals start in this phase. Establish control: The management determines role of each element and intensity of the force applied by the implementation of plan. Implement control: The figured out control over the plan is than implemented. Practising this strategic marketing management, Tesco can plan and implement the marketing goals and achieve the customer satisfaction Role of Stakeholders in Tesco Stakeholders exert a broad range of liability in an organisation; they may be a single person or a group of peoples interested in an organisation. A large amount of weightage is held by the stakeholders on the final consequence of the plan. Stakeholders comprises; shareholders of the company, management members in an organisation, employee or staff of the organisation, businesses supplying services to the organisation, clients who consumes the services or product of the organisation, the local society and the government. Analysing individuals, Stakeholders may be considered as members who are affected by or who may affect the performance and the objectives of an organisation. Lager the organisation is wider the range of stakeholders are. Stakeholders may be classified into several categories Internal and External Narrow and wide Primary and Secondary Active and Passive Internal and external stakeholders are above board differentiated, they are one inside and outside the organisation, internal stakeholders includes staff and management of the organisation, whereas external stakeholders includes customers, businesses providing services to the organisation, the business providing same products or services i.e. competitors and many more. Narrow Stakeholders are those who are affected by the achievements of the organisations such as management and staff, in other words who are dependent on the organisation. Wide stakeholders are those who are affected to a lesser extent such as government, customers with choice of investment to a product etc. Primary stakeholders are those whose participation in the organisation is very important and the survival without them in market is not possible on the other hand secondary stakeholders are those; on whom organisation is dependent to a lesser extent. Active stakeholders are one who monitors and participates directly in an organisation, this does not mean that management and employee always fall in this category, sometimes external bodies fall in this category and internal stakeholders fail to participate in this group. Whilst passive stakeholders are one who does not participate actively in the organisation such as usually role played by shareholders and government towards an organisation. There are many more categories defined by the scholars and researchers on management, such as voluntary stakeholders and involuntary stakeholders, legitimate stakeholders and illegitimate stakeholders, recognised and unrecognised stakeholders and so on. Needs and Expectations of stakeholders in an organisational process Strategic planning emphasises on surrounding of the organisation, the available resources internal and external to the organisation and the potentiality towards the environment. These inputs are not sufficient for the implementation of a plan, as stakeholders have an influence on companies output, a complete research should be made on them. Strategic planning also depends upon the vision of stakeholders. The process starts from Identifying stakeholders who are interested in the organisation, since each party may have different prospects for organisation it is essential for the firm to recognise the and make them realise how important they are to the venture. Then comes the stage of mapping of stakeholders which comprises of determining the expectations of the stakeholders, exercising this establishes policy-making and their priorities. Expectancy assesses two subjects; How much interested the stakeholders are? Do they have the ability to lead the company to determined height? The power/ interest Matrix determine; to which groups of stakeholders should organisation show their interest in. the matrix classifies stakeholders in context of their power and the interest in organisational strategy, this makes easy for the organisation to determine what relation should be maintained with which group?. Intrinsically, this analysis is practicable to know the difficulties and ease of the society in a strategy. It also depicts the proportions of strategic change. Mission and Vision: Tesco plc. Mission statement is that statement which defines about reason behind the existence of the organisation. The aim of an organisation can be determined by the mission statement. Key points and the achievements to be conquered are can be jotted into mission statement. Basically, mission statement is plotted to make the business plans understood by the stakeholders of the company. Since mission statement carries such details of the business it can be said that a mission statement is a base of the organisation. A mission statement should be represented in such a way that it is easy to understand the motto of the firm. It should depict the principles and ethics of a company along with the process of conducting work. Organisation faces ups and downs in the life span of the firm, organisation changes its strategy of planning, marketing and several aspects but the mission of the organisation never changes. The mission of the organisation should be revised in certain time duration so that mana gement can determine that if they are not losing the track. The language used in mission statement should be that easy to be understood by ordinary man. Vision statement is a statement that reflects the state where an organisation seeks itself in coming years. Vision statement depicts the idea, dreams and thoughts of an organisation represented in such a way that employee gets motivated and attracts customers. The ethics and values of an organisation are reflected from a vision statement, the vision statement is accomplished after the determination of mission statement. Vision statement is represented in such a way that it motivates not only employee but also to the customers so as to maintain a long term relation with them. The basic difference between a mission and a vision statement is that vision statement targets on companies value in future whereas the mission statement is one that represents the current status of an organisation. Mission statement is more precise about the present condition in an organisation. Values and objectives of Tesco Tescos main aim is to generate values for customers so as to earn a lifetime loyalty. Tesco believes that its success depends on those people who shops with us and one who works with us. Tesco believes if it serves well to a customer it is more likely that the customer will come back and shop again.

The Ice Storm Essay -- essays research papers

It is 1973. New Canaan, Connecticut is a prototypical 'bedroom'; community. Modern homes, clean, quiet streets and plenty of greenspace lend an air of contentment to the setting. However, behind the doors of these homes discontent and ennui are thriving.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  '…affluent Americans increasingly clustered in suburban areas, where jobs for women were limited and domestic help was in short supply. Husbands were away from home longer because they had to commute to work, leaving the wives to bear the complete responsibility for the family…The American dream of affluence in a natural, bucolic setting away from urban squalor often made it impossible for women to be anything other than housewives and mothers.'; i. The Ice Storm focuses on two families, the Hoods and the Carvers. Ben Hood, (Kevin Kline), is the aptly-named, self-absorbed patriarch of his family moving through life believing all that matters is what he sees in front of him; his wife, Elena (Joan Allen) is his quietly despairing mate and mother of Paul (Tobey Maguire) and Wendy (Christina Ricci). Jim Carver (Jamey Sheridan) is an enterprising man, who is seldom home long enough to attend to the needs of his wife Jane (Sigourney Weaver) and their two sons Mike (Elijah Wood) and Sandy (Adam Hann-Byrd). These families are linked by relationships, superficially neighborly, but in fact more visceral than they are prepared to admit to even themselves. It takes an outside force, the ice storm, to force them to come to grips with the realities of their lives, both individually and as families. 'The majority of the past and present studies of martial discontent decisively show that non-working married women are much more prone to anxiety, depression, and mental breakdowns than married men, married working women, or single women.'; ii. Elena Hood and Jane Carver are stereotypical suburban wives. Jane is portrayed as a sexual person, her first three appearances show her cleaning spilt wine from Ben Hood's crotch, the next two in bed. She dresses provocatively, in fur, boots, and bangles, her long hair flowing about her shoulders. Elena is shown as a domestic, spending most of the film in the kitchen. Though she is a beautiful, vivacious woman, she locks her emotions away beneath her suburban spousal exterior. She is the prototypical housewife. Both women have husba... ...eir lives learning them. During the Depression and World War II, 'women's work'; became much more than tasks performed at home. The 'go where you want to go, do what you want to do'; mantra of the '60s showed women who felt there was more to life than domesticity that their urge to be 'of the world'; was a viable goal. They wanted, rightly, to be included in the power structure. The obstacle to this end was the existing male-dominated power elite. Men, who through upbringing and experience believed that their position of control was pre-ordained, were too busy convincing themselves and each other of their rectitude to listen to what women wanted. Wendy Carver is a product of all this, a girl blossoming into womanhood, and a person with strong opinions to express. She, in many ways, defines the burgeoning power women felt in their grasp in 1973. They yearned to be part of the great decision-making processes affecting their world. Their perspective, they knew, was vital to making t he necessary changes to the 'boys' club'; mentality that had bred the wars, embargos and political chicanery that plagued America in the early 70s. The world was changing, and it was time to talk about it.

What Is Meant by Appropriate Technology, and Why Is It Important for the Less Developed Countries to Adopt It?

Science and technology is a critical and greatly improving area in most countries if not all. However, as it requires large amounts of man power and materials, a great deal of money is required. Governments provide a substantial amount of this money, and therefore they often make decisions regarding the direction and quantity of the money that should be placed into certain technologies. It is also the government’s role to decide which technologies will be used, and how (Bridgstock 1998:12).During recent times the science and technology field has dramatically changed. For example, stunning developments are being made by the Third World and science and technology has become more focussed on the government’s short-term economic goals. These developments by the Third World are due to the technology transfer from more advanced, industrialized countries. The Third world is only able to use appropriate technologies, which makes their choices limited, but offers many benefits a nd opportunities (Bridgstock 1998:12).Appropriate technology was created as a way of enhancing national independence by encouraging people to use local substitutes rather than imported resources, and is aimed at improving technologies that already exist in the Third World. By making small adjustments to existing technologies the Third World only has to create variations of technologies they are familiar with. This ensures that Third World countries work within their capabilities (Bridgstock 1998:223). Appropriate technology is the idea that lower level technologies, using local resources are more appropriate than higher level technologies that require imported resources.This idea has been used unsuccessfully by England, where inventors tried to sell their new product, based on the Third World’s local resources they were selling to. An example of this was an Englishman who tried selling his new cooking stove in Kenya. The cooking stove was more wood economical than others at t he time and could be built from clay found in Kenya. A total of 250 stoves were sold. Whilst these stoves were being sold in Kenya, a kerosene stove from Japan was also introduced into the market. However, the kerosene stove did not use local resources and as a result the kerosene was imported.A massive 10,000 kerosene stoves were sold via normal commercial channels, which is 9,750 more sold than the wood stove. Before it can be said that appropriate technology does not work, there are some potential reasons that the kerosene stove sold better than the wood stove. Firstly, the kerosene stove was cheaper, which makes a product dramatically more appealing in a country with very little money. Secondly, the kerosene stove was advertised through commercial channels and the wood stove was not advertised at all. Thirdly, the way in which the idea of appropriate technology was presented, did not appeal to the Kenyans.Finally, appropriate technology focuses largely on the organization of dis tribution and construction, which is usually the weakest area of Third World countries (John McCarthy 1996). Less developed countries should learn from and use appropriate technologies and ideas that have been successful in other countries. However, due to less developed countries having fewer people with a talent for organizing or industrial experience, introducing new technologies tends to be harder and a more complex process than in other, more developed countries.A solution to this problem is for less developed countries to adopt appropriate technologies and become more talented and experienced in them. After a period of time the country will become richer as it is able to export these technologies/goods to countries needing them. The money gained from exporting these technologies/goods can then be placed into training people to become more experienced in industries, allow individuals to gain an ability for organizing and raise the average wage. These factors will increase the a mount of technologies appropriate for their country, and the process can then be repeated.When people hear the words ‘technology transfer’ often the first thing that will come to mind is the trade of technology from an advanced country to a Third World country. This interpretation is incorrect as there is much more to technology transfer than exportation and importation. The process also includes an understanding and ability to perform methods and procedures that are required to create the desired result (P. F. Basch 1993:353-358). When the Third World first began transferring technologies from industrialized,Western countries back to their own countries, problems arose due to different resources and machinery available. The Third World did not realise that Western technologies were specific to the conditions of an industrialized country (Bridgstock 1998:216). According to Bhalla, A (1994) this is preventable if industrial countries keep in mind the different requiremen ts of the Third World whilst designing technologies that will be sold to these less developed countries. However, evidence indicates that the industrial world’s research and development (R&D) system is doubtful of responding to any concerns.Less developed countries need to adopt appropriate technologies as these technologies will ensure less developed countries can manage and have the specific resources required. If underdeveloped countries do adopt appropriate technologies, they will be able to increase profits, increase the amount of technologies appropriate for their country, increase the level of their R&D and possibly change their countries status as underdeveloped. However, if underdeveloped countries do not undertake appropriate technologies, they will unfortunately be unable to move forward as a country.

Psychology Perspectives

This behaviourist perspective is that we can understand any type of behaviour by looking at what the person has learned. Pesonality traits for example shyness, confidence, and optimism. Pavlov (CLASSICAL CONDITIONING) Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist working with dogs to investigate their digestive systems. The dogs tested where attached to harness, and Pavlov attached monitor to their stomachs and mouths so he could measure the rate of salvation. He noticed when the laboratory assistant came in with the food before the dog had actually tasted the food the dog began to salivate.Pavlov speculated that the dog salivating because it had learned to associate the laboratory assistant with the food. This is when his theory began. Food automatically led to the response of salivation. Since salivation is an automatic response, he called this unconditioned response. This means a response that regularly occurs when an unconditioned stimulus is presented. As the food automatically leads to t his response, he called this an unconditioned stimulus; this means a stimulus that regularly and consistently leads to an automatic (not learned) response.Pavlov then presented food at the same time as the bell; too see if the dog would learn to associate the bell with food. After many goes the dog learned that the bell associated with food and began to salivate when only the bell rung and no food was presented. This is called conditioned response; this means a new, learned response to a previously neutral stimulus that mimics the response to unconditioned stimulus, it had learned the conditioned response of salivation to the conditioned stimulus (the bell).Conditioned stimulus means a neutral stimulus that, when paired with the unconditioned stimulus, produces a conditioned (learned) response, just as the unconditioned response used to. Skinner (OPERANT CONDITIONING) Burrhus Frederic Skinner, an American psychologist who worked mostly with rats and pigeons, to discover some of the key principles of learning new behaviours. He used a famous device, called a Skinner box. The box contained a leaver which, when pressed, released a food pellet into the box, this reinforcing lever-pressing behaviour.At first when he rat is in the box it will be running around sniffing his new surroundings, which at some point it, will press the leaver, releasing a food pellet. After a while when the rat has repeatedly performed this action, it will learn that this behaviour (pressing the leaver) I automatically followed by the release of a food pellet (the consequence). As the pellet is experienced as reinforcing (something that the rat would like to have more of), you called this positive reinforcement, this is happens when the consequence following a particular is experienced as desirable.Skinner then used a negative reinforcement which is when behaviour results in a consequence that removes something unpleasant. The negative reinforcement he used was a very low electrical curren t on the floor of the Skinner box. The current could be de-activated if the rat pressed the lever. Social learning theory Role models are very important. We can learn new behaviour from anyone but we imitate behaviour if we are strongly influenced by the way we perceive the person. We can be influenced by others when we observe someone who we admire behaving in a particular way; we are more likely to imitate such behaviour.Solomon Asch, social psychologist conducted experiments to show how an individual’s behaviour could be influenced and changed because they did not want to stand out from a crowd. This is known as ‘Majority Influence’ we all have a powerful desire to fit in and belong. He gathered a group of 6 people together. These people were play acting according to instruction. They were joined by a naà ¯ve participant and asked to take part in a visual perception test. Albert Bandura, theory is we learn from people we are exposed to in our environment. We learn new behaviours from people we observe, either in real life or in the media.This is called observational learning. The person we learn from is known as a role model (someone who has characteristics that inspire us to copy their behaviour). The process of imitating is called modelling (a process of basing behaviour, attitude, and style, of speech or dress on someone we admire or would like to be. Introduction This is a theory of human development which emphasises the interaction of biological drives with the social environment. Sigmund Freud, an Austrian psychologist, who developed the theory of psychodynamic psychology and the treatment known as psychoanalysis.Freud suggested that what we are aware of is represented in our conscious mind but many of our memories, feelings and past experiences are locked up in a part of our mind which he calls â€Å"unconscious†. We cannot access the contents of our unconscious, but they often â€Å"leak out† in our dreams or maybe just slip out of our tongue. He said early experiences are also important is in later life behaviours is clearly illustrated by Freud’s development theory of psychosexual several stages; 1. Oral Stage, primary source of interaction occurs through the mouth, so the rooting and sucking reflex is especially important.The mouth is crucial for eating, and the infant derives pleasure from oral stimulation through rewarding activities such as tasting and sucking because the infant is entirely dependent upon caretakers, the infant also develops a sense of trust and comfort through this oral stimulation. 2. Anal Stage, primary focus of the libido was on controlling bladder and bowel movements. The major conflict at this stage is toilet training; the child has to learn to control his or her bodily needs. Developing this control leads to a sense of accomplishment and independence. 3. Phallic Stage, primary focus of the libido is on the genitals.At this age, children also begin to disco ver the differences between males and females. Freud also believed that boys begin to view their fathers as a rival for the mother’s affections. 4. Latency Stage, The stage begins around the time that children enter into school and become more concerned with peer relationships, hobbies and other interests. 5. Genital Stage, during the final stage of psychosexual development, the individual develops a strong sexual interest in the opposite sex. This stage begins during puberty but last throughout the rest of a person's life.He tries to explain the power of early experience and how this may influence the adult personality. Freud divided the mind (the psyche) into 3 structures, the id, the ego and the superego. According to Freud these appear at different stages of a child’s development and are empowered by the libido (energy). The ID, part of the psyche we are born with, it operates on the pleasure principle, contains all our basic instincts such as need for food, drink, warmth. The Ego, part of the mind whose function it is to moderate the demands of the id and prevent the superego being too harsh, E. . Repression is a defence mechanism when a person forgets an event , denial is also a defence mechanism because your pushing am event or emotion out of consciousness. It operates on the reality principle. The superego, roughly equivalent to a conscience, the superego consists of an internalisation of all the values of the right and wrong we have been socialised to believe in. It also contains an image of our ideal self. Erik Erikson, a psychologist who agreed mostly with Freud’s theory in so far as he thought we developed through a series of stages.He also believed Freud’s put too much emphasis on our desire for individual gratification and not enough of our need to be accepted in society and lead meaningful life. The different psychosocial stages: Stage 1 (0-1 Year): This stage focuses on how the infant is parented, the positive outcom e of this is it dependable, responsive, and caring parenting leads to a sense of trust. The negative outcome is parenting lacks warmth and affection or is inconsistent leads to mistrust. Stage 2 (1- 3): This stage is being enabled to do things by yourself; the positive outcome is being supported in growing independence leads to a sense of autonomy.The negative outcome is being criticised and over-controlled leads to a feeling of doubt about your own competence. Stage 3 (3-6): This stage is interaction with the world; the positive is being encouraged to try out new skills and explore the world leads to a sense of initiative. The negative is being hampered in the desire to find things out. Stage 4 (6-12): This stage is to understand how things are made and how they work; the positive outcome is the ability to succeed at realistic tasks leads to a sense of industry. The negative outcome is being published take on tasks they are not ready for leafs to a sense of inferiority.Stage 5 (12- 18): This stage is developing a consistent sense of identify by experimentation, the positive outcome is the experimentation leads to a secure sense of identity. The negative outcome is the inabilities to experiment and develop a sense of identify leads to role confusion and a negative identify. Introduction Humanistic psychology looks at human experience from the viewpoint of the individual. It focuses on the idea of free will and the belief that we are all capable of making choices. Two psychologists associated with this approach are Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers.Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) an American psychologist who believed that we are all seeking to become the best that we can be, spiritually, physically, emotionally and intellectually. He called this self-actualisation, with this he constructed a theory known as the hierarchy of needs, in which he explained that every human being requires certain basic needs to be met before they will be able to approach the next level. Masl ow believed that until our basic physiological needs are met, we will focus on all kind of energies on getting them met and not be able to progress further.When we are all well-houses, well-fed and comfortable physically, we begin to focus on our emotional needs, such and the need to belong and be loved and to feel self-esteem. When our lives are such that these needs are met, we strive to self-actualise. Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was particularly interested in the concept of self. There are many aspects of the self but there are three important ones, self-esteem, self-concept and internalise. Self-Esteem, this is how valuable we feel as individuals. Someone with high self-esteem will believe they are loved and loveable and that they are important and valued.On the other hand people with low self-esteem may feel themselves to be worthless, of no value to anyone else, unloved and unlovable. Self-concept, this is how we see ourselves. In early life this comes from what we are told about ourselves E. g. You’re so Amazing, You’re such a good singer. As we grow older, our ability to think about ourselves develops and we begin to incorporate our own judgements e. g. I was really good at Science, I was the best driver, I wasn’t invited to that party- I was unpopular. Internalise, this is to do the way we take in information from the outside world and build it into our sense of self.It then becomes part of our feelings, thoughts and beliefs about who we are and what we expect from the world around us. Introduction This psychological perspective gas gained enormous ground since the 1960’sm when the influence of behaviourism began to wane. A great deal of research has been devoted to understanding cognitive processes such as attention , memory , perception, information processing , problem solving , though language and other aspects of cognition. Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a Swiss psychologist who initially worked on measuring intelligence.He came to a conclusion that cognition develops through a series of stages m each new stage building on the previous one after he noticed children the same age made the same mistakes in logic. Stage 1: Sensory-motor (0-2), the world is experienced through motor activity and the senses. Stage 2: Pre-operational (2-7), Language develops along with memory. The child is egocentric and unable to conserve. Stage 3: Concrete operational (7-11), the child can now understand conversation but cannot yet solve problems mentally.Stage 4: Formal operational (11+), the child can now use abstract thoughts and represent problems mentally. Introduction The biological perspective is one of the major approaches to doing psychological research, which is focused on the idea that behaviours have biological causes. Common types of biological studies on behaviour include things like the effects of physical child abuse on future adult actions, how injuries such as head trauma affect behaviour, or whether or no t criminal behaviour can be explained by genetics.Maturation theory: The theory holds that the effects of the environment are miminal. The child is born with a set of genetic instructions passed down from its parents, and it’s cognitive, physical and other developmental processes merely unfold over time, rather than being dependent upon the environment to mature. This is the effect, a theory which states that development is due to nature not nature. Arnold Gesell, a psychologist and educator in the 1940s, was interested in child development. He did frequent observations of children, which Gesell formulated a theory known as maturation.This theory stated that developmental changes in a child's body or behaviour are a result of the aging process rather than from learning, injury, illness, or some other life experience. Gesell's idea of maturation was fixed in the biological, physiological, and evolutionary sciences. As a result, Gesell centered most of his theory on the power o f biological forces, which he felt provided momentum for development to occur. Gesell and his contemporaries proposed that development follows an arranged sequence and that the biological and evolutionary history of the species decides the order of this cycle.Maturation supports the idea that each child's unique genetic and biological makeup determines the rate of development despite of other potential environmental influences. Genetic influences on behaviour, genes can affect behaviour in many ways. Some disorders, such as cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anaemia, are caused when both parents pass on the gene for the disorder. Disorders that occur regardless of environmental influences, such as those listed above, are genetically determined disorders. This means that the individual who inherits the gene or genes is certain to develop the disorder, regardless of environmental factors.The influence of the nervous and endocrine systems on behaviour, the autonomic system produces its ef fects through activation of nerve fibres throughout the nervous system, brain and body or by stimulating the release of hormones from endocrine glands such as adrenal and pineal glands. The hormones are biochemical substances and they are released into the blood stream and have a profound effect on target organs and on behaviour. They are present in very small groups and individual molecules have a very short life, so their effects quickly disappear if they are not secreted 24/7.There are all sorts of different hormones in our body including. Melatonin, which is released by the pineal gland and its job, is to act on the brainstem sleep mechanism to help synchronise the phrases of sleep and activity. The second hormone is testosterone; this is released in the testicles in which may influence aggressive behaviour. The last one is oxytocin; this is release by the pituitary gland and stimulates the milk production and female orgasms. Only some hormones are released as a response to exte rnal stimuli. For example, the pineal glands respond to reduced daylight by increasing production of melatonin.M1 After doing my P1 criteria, I’ve look backed and only certain perspectives explain well and here are my opinions on them. These are Skinner (Behaviourist Perspective), Carl Rodgers (Humanistic Perspective), Sigmund Freud (Psychodynamic Approach) and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs helps explain also. On the other hand, I do not agree that our behaviour is simply down to our genes. In my opinion I believe that the environment and what we surround our self with has a huge impact on our behaviour. Due to this explanation I don’t think Gesell explains it very clear.I think Albert Bandura explains it very well as it is true we do tend to try to be like and want to be like people we consider as our role model. However, we only copy behaviours that interest us. In my opinion I don’t think the biological perspective explains behaviour well as I donâ€℠¢t believe that just our genes determine our behaviour, to me there is more to it. Such as our upbringing and environment and personal beliefs. People may say we don’t always copy a behaviour that we have seen by observing others as it may be reinforcing negative behaviour and therefore we recognize it as wrong and for those reasons we do not want to copy it.The behaviour could also be something that you don’t agree with as it may go against your beliefs or the way you have been brought up E. g. Moral and Values. We are more likely to copy behaviour from someone we know E. g. Peers like Family and Friends or aspire to be like. We are likely not to copy if we don’t have the same opinion or if it is simply against our beliefs or what we have been told. If the person has had a bad experience from doing certain behaviours, then we see it as a lesson and as a result we do not do the same, as we see it as negative behaviour.Another reason is if the outcome of that spe cific behaviour wasn’t something we anticipate. Also if the person who behaved in a certain way. In addition to this we are less likely to copy someone who is being punished for a certain action. We only imitate behaviours that interest us. Therefore, in my opinion I feel like the approach that is best at explaining behaviour is Skinner and his skinner box. I think this is the best approach when explaining behaviour as it is truthful and the outcome have shown this.I also believe it is the most successful as I believe it is true when we are satisfied with something and like the way it works. We will continue to use that service as long as it keeps us happy and meets our needs. This is very similar to what the rat was doing inside the Skinner box. Whenever the rat felt hungry it would press the lever which would then release a food pellet. The rat then continues to press the lever. This is similar to an individual being satisfies with a service as it is giving the individual w hat it requires therefore they keep going back.As they see it as a positive experience. Then it became an unpleasant experience when the rat was becoming electric shocked once pressing the lever. The rat then learned that it would continue to receive the shock if it continued to press the lever. So the rat learned to stop as it wasn’t having a pleasant experience. This is the same with us, if we started to have a horrible experience somewhere the likeliness is that we would stop using that service, and in the same way the rat stopped using the lever. Also when we do something where we see positive results, we will carry on.However, when the conflicting event occurs we will learn to stop carrying out that behaviour as it isn’t working in the way we wish. Therefore I believe this is the best approach to behaviour as I feel it is the truest in real life. My second person who I think explains behaviour well is Sigmund Freud. This is because he explained behaviour in a way where people can relate too. As the past we don’t often perhaps think of but sometimes it may hit us and make us realise that we were still carrying those memories and past experiences with us but we just didn’t realise.He also said they often leak out in dreams and slips of the tongue. Although we don’t always think of it as such, it is still there with us and that is what makes us dream about it. We then realise that it is still on our mind and it is something that is still creating an effect on us, even if the event occurred many years ago. My last person I agree with is Carl Rodgers. I judge what a child has been told throughout their life, will affect who and how they develop when they are older.For example, someone who has been called horrible names, will feel of no value will develop a low self esteem and confidence and they won’t feel good enough to do certain events. They will not feel very constructive about themselves. Therefore they may give u p on life and may miss many good opportunities. However someone who has always be pushed in life and have been told that they are smart and will do well, may actually go on in life and do well as they feel they have people that believe them. Therefore they believe in themselves and so this person will have developed a high self esteem and may be quite.

Strategic Review of Associated Business Consultants and their use of IT The WritePass Journal

Strategic Review of Associated Business Consultants and their use of IT Introduction Strategic Review of Associated Business Consultants and their use of IT IntroductionGeneral BackgroundSWOT AnalysisCompetitive AdvantageLow-cost StrategyDifferentiation StrategyPEST AnalysisAdvantages of a New IT SystemDisadvantages of a New IT SystemRecommendationsConclusionShort Term GoalsLong Term GoalsBibliographyRelated Introduction Over the years businesses have become extra reliant on technology and moreover throughout the current economic climate as there is a huge importance for a business to keep up to date technology.   Competition is driving companies to become more efficient and effective through the purchases of IT developments.   Gaining competitive advantage over rivals can play a major part in the use of information technology. Based on the business structure, I have looked at the IT systems that are currently in place to see if there can be any alterations to help increase productivity and also business strategies.   The following report goes through this. General Background The firm is a large sized business based on the fact that there are over twenty offices throughout the UK with 50 partners and also 350 support and administration staff.   The firm provides business and financial information to clients, so it is vital to have a system that holds the relevant information and in one secure place.   The current system consists of standard office software which includes basic word processing, access to spreadsheets and also a range of specialist software.   Some IT provision has been inherited; therefore creating a wide range of systems between sites and has consequently meant communication has been limited to email. SWOT Analysis A SWOT analysis of the competitive environment is used so that the business can identify its position in the market place and recognise potential future strategic options. Figure 1 SWOT Analysis The strengths of the business include factors such as the firm expanding quickly as per the success in various consultancy projects.   This has meant the need for work to be required overseas and is to become a huge benefit to the business.   Other strengths are that the business holds many offices across the UK, which will also provide future prospects. The main weakness are that the business is running on a wide range of IT software and systems, meaning that all data will be scattered around the various sites and almost everything will be in a different format.   These issues cause problems in terms of wanting or needing files that are saved on a different computer in another office.   This also interferes with the lack of communication between sites.   Communication can be shown in all different ways by means of voicemails, meetings, emails, and reports.   In terms of this business, the current system has only allowed communication between sites to be via email.   In a business of this size, poor communication can result in a lack of planning and also mistakes by employees that later cause complication to the business.   This is a major problem as the ability to communicate is one of the biggest factors in business success and an essential part of a smoothly running business, for example business partners need to discu ss future goals and tactics. Another concern is the lack of corporate IT policies and procedures throughout the business, therefore adding to the communication problem.   Policies procedures are required when there is a need for consistency in day-to-day working activities. These procedures allow employees to understand their roles and provide the ability to work to the same rules when dealing with activities that are of importance to the business, such as the acquisition of hardware and software.   There are different IT policies that are needed within the business environment and would include IT Administration, IT Asset Management, IT Training and Support, IT Security and Disaster Recovery and Software Development.   Despite the fact that these offer a firm background, they do not provide the employees with any formal training. While the strength of the business is growing, the opportunity for working overseas has become available, therefore creating many opportunities for future business and in turn more projects. Although the existing system has provided the ability to grow, it is hugely noticeable that due to the quick expansion, the IT system needs to be reliable and accessible in different offices, which the current system is not.   Therefore, the current system is not providing the best resource, so is not allowing the business to give the best possible service.   So the need for a decent system is an important part in the running of this business.   Even though a new system is needed as a matter of urgency, there can be several threats that come about due to the transition from the old system to the new system.   These problems can be anything from teething problems to the loss of important data, so planning is important.   Another possible threat is the competitors, as they can use their IT systems to gain advantage. Competitive Advantage A competitive advantage is an advantage over competitors gained by offering consumers greater value, either by means of lower prices or by providing greater benefits and service that justifies higher prices. The most significant model for assessing the nature of competition in a business is Michael Porters Five Forces Model.   It shows how a firm can use these forces to obtain a sustainable competitive advantage.   According to Porter and the model below, there are five areas of the external environment that affect the profitability of the firm.   These include supplier power, buyer power, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes and also Industry rivalry.   These are used as an action plan to exploit the information system by investigating how IT might spawn new businesses. The business can use their IT systems to gain competitive advantage using Porter’s five forces to do this. Figure 2 Porter’s Five Forces To gain advantage through the threat of new entrants, the business must raise the level of competition by means of providing a unique service that no new entrant can compete against, thereby reducing its appeal. To gain advantage through the threat of substitutes To gain advantage through bargaining power of suppliers, To gain advantage through bargaining power of customers, To gain advantage through Intensity of Rivalry Porter suggests that any firm can be profitable in any industry, it all depends on the strategy that the firm adopts. There are two significant strategies that any firm can follow to improve their profitability. The firms that fail are those that do not follow any strategy, or try to follow both. These firms get stuck in the middle. Low-cost Strategy The firm adopts a position trying to minimise all its expenses. It should set prices below other firms in the market. Ordinarily this would seriously constrain profit margins, but the second aspect of this is that the costs of providing the product are pushed down even further so even though the firm sells at a lower price it still makes more profit than other firms in the industry. Differentiation Strategy If the firms competitors are trying to undercut the prices of its products, there are two choices. Fight them in a price war to keep matching or undercutting their prices, or make the products different so that it doesnt matter how low their prices go, there will still be some customers that prefer the goods that the firm produces. The price war has a tendency to reduce profits almost completely, so obviously a different product is the slightly more desirable method. This is why there are so many subtly different products on the supermarket shelves. PEST Analysis Also by using the PEST framework we can investigate many different factors in a firms macro environment that may be affected by a change in the way the business will be run following an upgrade in an Information System. Figure 3 – PEST Analysis Advantages of a New IT System As with any investment and also every business, many advantages and disadvantages need to be considered to establish the best way forward.   The intention of a new system is to provide a structured framework and a practical approach, providing major increases in processing speed, cheaper memory and improved storage capacity. Other advantages and benefits of updating a system include: Better safety Improved service Competitive advantages Less errors Greater accuracy Higher-quality products Improved communications Increased efficiency Increased productivity More efficient administration Further opportunities Reduced labour requirements Reduced costs Superior financial decision making Superior control over operations Superior managerial decision makingAdded value to products (goods and services) Disadvantages of a New IT System However, every business must consider start-up costs when implementing an IT system.   In addition to the cost of hardware and software, some technology dealers require businesses to purchase user licenses for each employee that will be operating the system.   There are also other costs that need to be anticipated when introducing new software into a business; these can include the cost of training employees and maintenance costs and could therefore get expensive.   Although the initial costs would be high, the possibility of greater competition is of a greater advantage. Other difficulties include business opportunities being missed, lack of integration of systems, and also priorities are not based on business needs.   Some or all of these can occur when the firm does not have the means to plan and manage information systems strategically. Whilst the business works with data, a key concern is the security of the data, as the input of a new information system would enable the business to process more and more personal data.   For instance, as more data is set up and the more information is exchanged, there becomes a greater risk that the information will be lost, corrupted or misused. Information technology systems are vulnerable to security breaches, mainly when they are accessible via the Internet. If the correct measures are not in place, this data could be lost or misused. The Data Protection Act says that: â€Å"Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.† Data Protection Act 1998 The statement above is taken from the Data Protection Act and is the seventh data protection principle.   It means that you must have appropriate security to prevent the personal data held being accidentally or deliberately compromised.   If data is not properly safeguarded, this can seriously damage a business’s reputation.   To protect the business, it must make sure it has the right security, backed up by policies and procedures and also the use of reliable staff. Recommendations There are 50 partners and 350 support staff that require office software and a range of specialist software that include customer and project management packages.   The business would help from a WAN (A wide area network), this is a computer network that covers a broad area and are all connected together.   Their software packages could be held in a centralised place and customers details held on the central server so each employee has access to them and be synchronised, which creates a more secure system and better data integrity.   A WAN could allow for an intranet for better communication purposes, overseas and internationally.   Another advantage of a WAN is the allowance of being able to have remote access from where ever in the world, and due to the firm now achieving business overseas, this is essential. In addition to the WAN, the business would also benefit from the investment of up to date software in both word processing and spreadsheets, as these would help both the employees and also at managerial level.   Offices these days try to keep up to date software as it helps the general running of day to day activities. Conclusion Short Term Goals In terms of short term goals, I recommend that all computers are updated immediately with the latest version of office software as this can be done easily with the right planning.   I also recommend that the IT policies and procedures are written and implemented to start bringing all the offices and staff together to create one whole business across the various sites. Long Term Goals It is imperative that the long term goal of the business is to look into updating and combining their systems.   In order to do this, a strategic plan must be put in place which looks into all aspects of combining systems throughout the business.   This may include the advantages and disadvantages, costs and also problems that may come about in the process.   Once an agreed time limit and plan has been agreed, work can be started to merge the office systems into one. Bibliography ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/data_protection/the_guide/principle_7.aspx bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A593345

Fiscal Policy Paper Essays - Fiscal Policy, Free Essays, Term Papers

Fiscal Policy Paper Essays - Fiscal Policy, Free Essays, Term Papers Fiscal Policy Paper Instructor Sam Pirnazar ECO/372 July 27, 2015 Introduction Here we will discuss as a group of like minds how and why the USs deficits surplus and debt have an effect on tax payers and future social security and Medicare users. Now in many cases deficit can affect multitudes while a surplus creates positive results for those on the receiving end. As you may know debt requires the liability to be paid or the liability in some cases it may be repossessed or rendered bad credit to the individual. Now while Americans face issues with debt, surplus, and even deficit it is important to know that the United States deals with it first hand as well. Several areas the three topics affect include tax payers, unemployed, Social Security, Medicare, imports, exports, and the GDP. A synopsis of Team Bs discussion of the topics follows, however in this reading we will focus on Taxpayers, fyture social security and Medicare users. Tax payers Fiscal deficit means government expenditure exceeds its revenue in any particular year. All taxpayers are affected by U.S.'s deficit and debt. Higher government debt crowds out private investment in the form of higher taxes and inflation. Higher debt raises several question marks on government ability to repay it. Due to higher debt levels, risk premium increases, which leads to rise in interest rates. High interest rates negatively interest rate sensitive sectors of the economy such as real estate, consumer durable. High government deficit results in increasing US debt. In order to reduce the current deficit, government hikes tax rate on taxpayers. High debt and fiscal deficit affect US taxpayers in the form of tax hikes, high interest rate on debt, reduced social security benefits/programs and weakening of currency. The overall effect of all these measures results in lower purchasing power of taxpayers and they are left with less money to invest or spend. Fiscal surplus means government revenue exceeds its expenditure in any particular year. When the government runs surplus, it positively affect taxpayers. There are differing ways in which government could spend surplus money. The surplus money could be used to repay debt. Government can decide to issue tax refund to taxpayers or government can increase its spend on social security benefits and programs. The overall effect of all these measures results in higher purchasing power of taxpayers and they could spend or invest more money. Future Social Security and Medicare users The meaning of deficit is defined as, the amount by which something, especially a sum of money, is too small. The meaning of surplus is defined as, the amount of something leftover when requirements have been met; an excess of production or supply over demand. The meaning of debt is defined as, something that is, typically money, owed or overdue. Now that the terms are in order and understood, the answers to how and why can now be addressed. The reason that the United States deficit, surplus, and debt effect future Social Security users is the following; according to "The Medicare Newsgroup" (2015), "Medicare significantly contributes to the federal budget deficit only through its general revenue financing under its Medicare Medical Insurance (Part B) program. Its outlays financed under its Medicare Hospital Insurance (Part A) or by individual premiums are features of the programs expenditures, but do not show up in federal budget calculations (para. 1). Social Security is currently running a surplus, due to all of its revenue figures that get combined and calculated determining the payroll taxes, trust fund interest, and income taxes earned from some of the Social Security benefits (Morrissey, 2011). According to the Economic Policy Institute, Morrissey (2011), "The trust fund, which currently has $2.6 trillion dollars, is projected to grow to around $3.7 trillion in 2022. But once Social Security starts drawing down the principle in the trust fund to help pay for the Baby Boomer retirement, Social Security will be running a deficit. Also, Social Security is currently running a primary deficit, which means it would be running a deficit absent the interest on the trust fund. (Is Social Security running a deficit?). Conclusion Reference Morrissey, M. (2011). Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved from epi.org/blog/social-security-federal-deficit-part-1/ The Medicare Newsgroup. (2015). Retrieved from medicarenewsgroup.com/news/medicare-faqs/individual-faq?faqId=69028cf0-2ab2-453e-a43d-5f143debc68c How our national debt hurts our economy. (n.d.). Retrieved July

Why Google is Looking for These 5 Key Traits in Employees

Why Google is Looking for These 5 Key Traits in Employees Google did a two-year study of its workers and discovered (surprise!) that fancy degrees and super-genius IQs don’t make great team players. Recent research out of the University of Notre Dame confirms this: what matters most is that coworkers trust each other and believe in what they’re doing. Forget self-interest and pedigree. Forget top-name colleges and the SATs. Google is now shifting course to recruit people who are hardworking and resilient instead- and finally working to diversify their workforce (which is a shocking 70% male and 60% white). Say goodbye to the old elitism of the lone wolf superstar, and say hello to an appreciation of candidates who can overcome adversity.The most important thing companies want to do is building better teams, and here’s what they’ll be looking for:1. Psychological safetyTeam members need to trust each other to take risks. Superegos only get in the way. Team members need to be comfortable being vulnerable together t o do their best work.2. DependabilityThe best teams get it done on time and set the bar consistently high.3. Structure ClarityThe best teams work together with clear roles and goals and strategies.4. MeaningIt’s important to believe in the work you’re doing together and to make it matter.5. ImpactThe best stuff comes out of teams working to make something meaningful and affect change.As a Harvard HR rep wrote in a blog post, â€Å"Who  is on a team matters less than how the team members interact, structure their work, and view their contributions.† The dream team of the future is a powerhouse of people with a wide variety of strengths and talents, people who can trust each other enough to take risks and create a more dynamic future. It doesn’t matter where you went to college. What matters is what you bring to the table and how well you contribute to the group.

Japanese colonialism was fundamentally different from western Essay

Japanese colonialism was fundamentally different from western colonialism. Do you agree Discuss - Essay Example Such, it cannot be generalized that all colonial nations follow the same form of colonialism that bears the same geopolitical meaning and practice across regions and continents. This fundamental difference in colonialism can be best illustrated in the case of Japan when contrasted with its colonialist counterpart in the western part of the world where its colonialist differences were identified in this paper. The most plausible cause that can be identified for this difference was that Japan jumped in the colonialist foray later than its western counterpart that it had an implication why colonialism in the East, particularly Japan, fundamentally differed from its counterpart in the West. It can be surmised that while the west has already a deep experience of colonizing, the idea of colonialism was only impinged into the consciousness of Japan in the 1870’s with the Meiji Restoration (Myers and Peattie, 1984) which has an implication on how it exercised its power and prerogative over its colonized countries. Japan’s exposure in colonialist effort was short while its western counterparts had already a long history of colonizing exploits that stretched as far back as 900 A.D. with the crusades. This wide gap in terms of colonizing experience has an implication on Japan’s motivation, purpose and method of colonizing that fundamentally differed from the West which will be elaborated in this paper. ... II. The Fundamental Difference of Japanese Colonialism from Western Colonialism A. Timeline and motivation for being a colonial power The western colonizers have a very long and deep experience in colonizing. While Japan as a country was still struggling among itself in 900 A.D., Europe has already embarked on a crusade to reclaim the Holy Land from the Turks and Saracens in the Middle East. Needless to say, the West already has already a deep experience with colonizing while Japan only learned the idea of colonialism in the 1870’s. It is also important to note that before the Meiji Restoration in the 1870’s, it came from a 200 year isolationist policy of the Tokugawa Shogunate and as such, was economically and military inferior compared to the west. In addition, Japan began with the same disadvantages just like its neighboring Asian countries. Also, just like any other non-European states, it was forced to sign unequal treaties that chafed the ire of its nationalists a s an infringement of its national sovereignty. Moreso, when Commodore Matthew Perry of the United States came to Japan in 1853 with its fleet that forced Japan to open itself to trade and end its self-imposed isolation (Myers and Peattie, 1984:78). This made Japan realize how backward they were and prompted them to embark on a nationalist endeavor to strengthen itself and become a respected country. This sentiment was recorded by a memorandum of saga samurai, Eto Shimpei in 1856 that â€Å"what was required . . ., was a long-range plan to utilize the talents, not merely of all Japanese, but of talent wherever it might be found in tools, in arms, in medicine, in land development, in astronomy, and so on, should be utilized

Personal Journal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Journal - Personal Statement Example However, I noticed a big change in my lifestyle. With all the pressures of being a student and living on my own, I have realized that it was too soon that I have changed physically. Although I am very active and busy, I have gained a lot of weight in the past year. When I arrived here, I was of average weight. Later, when I visited my family last December, I received comments that I have become bigger. Some said that I looked cute with my slightly chubby cheeks, others said I looked more mature (I am not sure if this is a compliment or what) than my age. I guess what they wanted to say was for me to go on a strict diet lest I wanted to join â€Å"The Biggest Loser† on TV. Of course I don’t want to face that kind of challenge and shame (friends here and back home would be watching and laughing at me). Neither do I want to grow old a big fat man. For this reason, I thought of shedding some pounds so I could keep on playing my favourite sport even if I grow older. Getting slimmer could also lower risks of heart disease and other sicknesses. Therefore, it is something I should take seriously in the next few days or months. I have not made a diet plan and I think I need to research on this to find out what I should eat and drink while trying to become physically fit. Anyway, I have a strong feeling that I need to really lose some weight because I am getting lousy at football. My friends whom I play with are better. They could run faster straight to the goal while I lagged behind, feeling sorry for being this heavy. I wish losing weight would be that easy and manageable, something that could happen in a click. Nevertheless, I also know that I have to work out and really face the problem because if I don’t, I would go bigger and bigger and become unmanageable. I swear, one of these days, I’m going to create a diet and exercise plan good for at least two months. The diet plan that I should make has to be

Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Essay Example Further, turnaround firms, in order to achieve their objectives do not entirely rely on uninterrupted, fast response time, information technology in order to achieve their objectives. Rather, their future applications play a great role in ensuring that they achieve their strategic objectives. On the other hand, factory firms heavily depend on reliable, -efficient, information technology support. It is only through highly reliable system that such firms can survive the danger of failing. However, although development applications in a factory are important in their own right, they are not entirely responsible for the success and profitability of the organization. Support firms however, do not associate performance with information technology; it has low strategic impact in their operations. Such firms rely on support systems in order to support their operations. Although they could survive for a long time without these applications, they require them to leverage their productivity. Organizations currently operate under high competitive environments. Porter argued that for an organization to survive high levels of competition, it must strategically place itself within these competitive factors (Karagiannopoulos, et al., 2005). In porter’s competitive model, he proposed five factors that would give a firm competitive advantage over other firms operating in the same industry. As porter argued, the five forces bring about industry rivalry of the existing firms. Threat of new entrants according to porter determines the ease with which customers can switch to products offered by competitors (p. 129). All industries have numerous substitute products available, and as such, factors such as price and quality contributes significantly to customers switching their products to their competitors. The ease of customers in finding a product offered by one company at a cheaper price, or higher quality goods increases the threat of

Legal Systems and Contract Law - resit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Legal Systems and Contract Law - resit - Essay Example 4. The position of Constance in the existing circumstances and its impact on Calum. 5. Possible remedies available to Calum RULES In order to conduct a critical analysis of the case at hand, it is necessary to examine the relevant components of the English and the Scottish legal systems that differ. However, to set the discussion rolling, it is necessary to examine the general rules that define the concepts of offer, acceptance and contracts in both jurisdictions. English Common Law In order to form a valid contract, there must be an offer and an acceptance. In the general sense, an acceptance must match the terms of the offer and it. The specific method of acceptance must comply with the required method of acceptance1. Thus, if the offeror specifies that an offer must be accepted via one medium of communication, that medium must be used to accept the offer. In other cases, an equally appropriate method of communication of acceptance to the offeror might be sufficient to create a val id contract2. There is a general issue with acceptance of contract offers by post. This is because when a person accepts an offer via post, the offeror might not be aware. Some issues came up in relation to this trend of affairs and hence, a number of significant rulings came up which defined the postal rule in contract law. The postal rule states that an acceptance is effective the moment an offeree posts a document asserting his acceptance3. A lost letter or a delayed letter does not affect the validity of the acceptance4. However, in modern times, the postal rule applies where postal acceptance is specified as the means of accepting an offer5. Offer In the famous case of Routledge V Grant, it was accepted that an offer is valid until there is a revocation. In the case at hand, an offer was made by Grant to lease his premises to Routledge and he stated that he would keep the offer opened for 6 weeks. However, in the third week, Grant revoked the offer and sold it to another person . It was held that there was no contract between them and Grant could revoke the contract at any time and sell it to anyone he pleased6. This is the general law, however there are some modifications under Scottish Law in this. However, in Byrne V Van Tienhoven, it was established that revocation must be communicated to the offeree7. How an Offer May End It is a general position in English law that request for further details does not mean a rejection of the offer8. However, the lapse of reasonable time or specified time of the offer can render it invalid9. Also, failure to meet a given condition of the offer can render it terminated and the offer will not be available anymore10. A counter offer renders an offer invalid, however, in the case of Butler Machine Tools V Ex-Cello11, the House of Lords held that a counter offer creates some kind of bargaining which they called a â€Å"battle of forms† in which the â€Å"last shot wins†. Scottish Civil Law The relevant aspect of the Scottish civil law that is relevant in the law of contract relate mainly to promises, counter offers and remedies. They are discussed below. Promise A promise seeks to invoke a moral rule that obliges the promiser to keep his word. In most jurisdictions including English law, a promise invokes nothing more than a mere moral obligation which is not enforceable in court. However, promises

Define the term culturally competent organisation and elaborate what Essay

Define the term culturally competent organisation and elaborate what actions could be taken by the organisation to increase its cultural competency - Essay Example This is more relevant in service sectors, especially the health care industry. One must appreciate the uniqueness of health care industry before proceeding further. A healthcare professional needs to strike an equation with the patient before any meaningful healthcare can take place since, matching of frequency in thought, feelings and culture is essential for the patient to really start trusting a professional nurse. Unless this trust is developed and nurtured, any hope of speedy recovery can be safely forgotten. The only way such trust can take roots is through cultural compatibility. The patient must feel completely â€Å"at home† for medicines to start taking effect. (Sue, D.W. & Sue, D, 1990) A culturally competent healthcare institution accepts the difference that exists among different cultures and races and not only respects that difference but also adapts itself to serve all those who come from diverse cultures. The first step towards becoming a culturally competent healthcare organisation is to engage in deep research about different cultures and taking professional assistance from persons who are experts in the nuances of these cultures and ethnic groups. The results and findings of these researches need to be circulated in an easily intelligible format among all the healthcare professionals in the organisation so that each one of them gets the opportunity of equipping themselves to face challenges of cultural diversity. But a culturally competent organisation not only tries to adapt itself to diverse cultures of those whom they serve. They also induct such cultural diversity within their ranks by employing people from diverse cultures so that it becomes almost natural for the organisation to automatically adapt to practices prevalent in far off countries. (Cross, T.L., B.J. Bazron, K.W. Dennis, and M.R. Isaccs, 1983) Such a constructive approach towards overcoming the barrier

Oppression Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Oppression - Term Paper Example In case oppression consequences accumulate to institutional customs, practices or law, the institution becomes oppressive whether the people running those institutions have or do not have intentions to oppress (Angelo, pp.8) Law and police themselves are example of this type oppression. In such situations the use of word oppression refers relegation of a social category or a certain group by using societal norms, authority and force unjustly with the aim of achieving indoctrination. Through informal or formal institutionalization it attains systematic oppression dimensions. Oppression is basically experienced in form of aftermath of, and shoed in, prevailing form of, if unconscious, In psychology, prejudices, sexism and racism are always studied as peoples’ beliefs which, though not that oppressive, may cause oppression if they are within law or conform to some culture.   From association, in sociology, these biases are always learnt as being systems that have been institutionalized by oppression in societies.in this field, the oppression tools are inclusive of demonization, dehumanization and denigration which at times always generate accusation that is used to defend aggression in contrary to targeted individuals and groups. The human rights concept and U.D.H.R in general were made with the aim of limiting oppression through clarifying what basic freedoms of any state should all individual it If oppression is practiced through force, violence threats or by government agencies violence of NGO with a political intent, is always known as repression. More delicate political forms of oppression or repression can be got by individual investigation or blacklisting. International governance systems that may at times be oppressive are inclusive of absolute monarchy, imperialism, totalitarianism, dictatorship; colonialism and can produce a revolt to the

Define the term culturally competent organisation and elaborate what Essay

Define the term culturally competent organisation and elaborate what actions could be taken by the organisation to increase its cultural competency - Essay Example This is more relevant in service sectors, especially the health care industry. One must appreciate the uniqueness of health care industry before proceeding further. A healthcare professional needs to strike an equation with the patient before any meaningful healthcare can take place since, matching of frequency in thought, feelings and culture is essential for the patient to really start trusting a professional nurse. Unless this trust is developed and nurtured, any hope of speedy recovery can be safely forgotten. The only way such trust can take roots is through cultural compatibility. The patient must feel completely â€Å"at home† for medicines to start taking effect. (Sue, D.W. & Sue, D, 1990) A culturally competent healthcare institution accepts the difference that exists among different cultures and races and not only respects that difference but also adapts itself to serve all those who come from diverse cultures. The first step towards becoming a culturally competent healthcare organisation is to engage in deep research about different cultures and taking professional assistance from persons who are experts in the nuances of these cultures and ethnic groups. The results and findings of these researches need to be circulated in an easily intelligible format among all the healthcare professionals in the organisation so that each one of them gets the opportunity of equipping themselves to face challenges of cultural diversity. But a culturally competent organisation not only tries to adapt itself to diverse cultures of those whom they serve. They also induct such cultural diversity within their ranks by employing people from diverse cultures so that it becomes almost natural for the organisation to automatically adapt to practices prevalent in far off countries. (Cross, T.L., B.J. Bazron, K.W. Dennis, and M.R. Isaccs, 1983) Such a constructive approach towards overcoming the barrier

Sustainable Water Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sustainable Water - Annotated Bibliography Example In order to conduct this assessment, I have broken down the subject into two well-developed research questions as follows: I have researched regarding the subject matter in the past three weeks from 17th February to 9th March 2013. I have used five sources to assess the subject matter out of which two of the sources are published books, two journal articles and lastly an article from the website. These sources have been published within past five years which allows the research to have updated information regarding the sustainable water programs. This journal article focuses on the ways in which the water recycling can actually help the stakeholders to help in increasing the amount of water for industrial use. The article has determined an approach of assessing and providing statistics of six different sewage treatment plants. The authors have also made use of different tests regarding pH, electric conductivity etc. This has rather made the article credible in terms of information regarding subject matter. The articles targeted audiences are the stakeholders who are responsible for the development needed in the sewage system to make sure that only limited amount of water is being consumed. The tests which have been provided in the article have rather made my assessment regarding the sustainable water much easier. In other words, the usage of a more critical stance of sewage system helped me in knowing about the models which are being applied by many countries for sustainable water. The article from the website is very helpful in the research of sustainable energy because it talks about a variety of methods that can be applied with limited use of technology. These methods are not just applicable in some of the countries but everywhere because these strategies are compatible with all sorts of systems. The targeted audience of the website article is for general audience which makes the article to be quiet

Implementing Green Technology In Malaysian Construction Industry Environmental Sciences Essay

Implementing Green Technology In Malaysian Construction Industry Environmental Sciences Essay This study covers the research on challenges of implementing green technology in Malaysian construction industry. This chapter comprises of background of the study, problem statement, objectives of study, significance of study, research methodology, and limitations of study, organisation of chapter and summary. 1.2 Background of the Study Green is a term that refers to something that environmental friendly in which helps to tackle global warming and climate change. Technology utilizes these green features are known as green technology. According to Kutting (2000), green technology is used synonymously with terms environmental technology or clean technology and can be said to refer to technologies that aim to have little impact on the environment. This technology is an idea and understanding found to be exceptionally beneficial to the environment as it can reduce greenhouses gases release to the atmosphere which in turn causes warming of the earth drastically. Humans these days have already gain awareness and deep understanding that these catastrophic disasters are now affecting their life that they persist in non-stop invention of many environmental-friendly technologies and retail them in the market. They comprehend this technology can reduce impact of activities that causes global warming and climate change. According to Rogier (2012), environmentally friendly technology utilizes many methods for reducing the impact that various activities have upon the earth. There are many types of green technology products available in the market that generate low level of waste and pollution such as solar photovoltaic panel, wind turbine and rain harvesting as stated by Rogier (2012), to be considered environmentally friendly, a product or action should be sustainable, produce as little waste and pollution as possible, and utilize the recycling and reuse of materials whenever possible. Nowadays, green technology plays important roles in the construction industry become part of the construction industry. Green technology such as solar panels and energy efficient appliances become essential features in the building. Besides, renewable and sustainable materials are integrated with these elements to make the building green or so-called green building. 1.3 Problem Statement The worlds climate has changed dramatically and confronted with many climatic problems since the birth of the Earth. This has proven when Bernstein (2007) states that warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea level. Human nowadays are attempting to uncover answers to preclude the large-scale disaster. One measure ascertain to mankind is technology of more towards environmental friendly approach or known as green technology. In the beginning of 21st century, numerous advanced nations adopted the expansive utilization of green technology as they deem its capability in halting the global catastrophic disaster. The implementations to the building, vehicles and electronics have been developed among them. The encouragement and awareness of their populace enable the green technology industry to boost up the production. It differs to lower economical developed countries such as Malaysia; the challenges are superb when implementing green technology principally construction industry. Green technology is the decent invention to reduce level of carbon emission from buildings in Malaysia but all at once restrain the developers and contractors to apply it in Malaysian construction industry. The reasons are the high cost and minimal availability in the market. However, it is not necessarily that green technology involves with high expenses. Green technology need not be high-tech. It can be simple technology but still saves energy or creates very little environmental impact and can be easily used (Singh, 2010). Not only that the cost is the issue, also the local banks in Malaysia also are unwilling to risk in providing loan towards green incentives. Commercial banks were reluctant to disburse loans for green technology-related projects in Malaysia due to the possible lack of confidence in such ventures (Najib, 2010). 1.4 Objectives of the Study The aim of this dissertation is to explore about the challenges of implementing green technology in Malaysia construction industry. In order to achieve this aim the following objectives are recognized: To comprehend the low level of green technology resources. To understand scarce of financial initiatives in supporting green technology. To examine low level of knowledge among construction players and other related parties on green technology. 1.5 Significance of Study This study is expected to identify the challenges of implementing green technology in Malaysian construction industry. This finding eventually undertakes the problems encountered to implement green technology in Malaysian construction industry. It also assists paradigm shift to migrate from traditional construction to cleaner and greener construction. The outcome of this study will certainly benefit to one of the objective of the Construction Industry Master Plan (CIMP) which is to promote more innovative green construction. 1.6 Research Methodology The study on the problems to the embracing of green technology in Malaysia construction industry is a relatively new research area and there are deficient of relevant research in Malaysia require to be referred. Therefore, it must be conducted with the limited amount of resources but the study can be scoped only the Klang Valley area. Two types of data, that is primary data and secondary data. For the primary data, interview section and case study will be conducted. For the secondary data, literature reviews are written from references of books, articles and from the internet that are related to the research. The methodologies have been identified to facilitate the necessary data are as follows: Interviews (primary data) Case studies (primary data) Literature Reviews (secondary data) a) Interviews Quantitative methods such as questionnaire will not be very accurate and appropriate in obtaining the data for the research. This is due to the study requires individual opinions and assessments. Hence, qualitative methods for example interview is the best technique in order to obtain relevant data. This sort of methodology was carried out to request opinions and feedbacks from developers, architects, engineer and contractors about the cost of green technology to be used in construction site, the initiatives of local bank towards green technology investment and level of knowledge and experience on green technology among the players in Malaysian construction industry. b) Case studies This methodology is conducted in line with the interviews and supports this primary methodology. The case studies involved with previous and recent projects in which the buildings are built with green technology. Thus, it was carried out in the vicinity of Klang Valley where many green buildings are constructed. The examples of green buildings in this area are G-Tower in Kuala Lumpur, diamond buildings and LEO building in Putrajaya. These studies are to achieve the objective; to explore the lack of utilization of green technology in Malaysian construction industry. c) Literature Reviews Literature review are used to obtain the previous research predominantly on the challenges of implementing green technology in construction site which includes the cost and local bank initiatives and knowledge and experience among construction stakeholders 1.7 Limitation of Study For the scope of the study, the limitation is conducted in order to focus and narrow down the topic of specific areas in the research. The study will be centered on challenges to implement green technology in Malaysian construction industry: i. Respondents from contractors, developers, architects and engineers in construction industry. ii. G-Tower in Kuala Lumpur, diamond buildings and LEO building in Putrajaya. iii. Urban areas in Klang Valley. 1.8 Organisation of Chapter Figure 1.1: Chapter 1 Organisation 1.9 Summary This chapter comprises of background of the study, problem statement, objectives of study, significance of study, research methodology, and limitations of study, organisation of chapter and summary that cover the challenges facing construction technology to be executed in Malaysian construction industry. Study background embraces the term green technology, various types of green technology existed for sale and application of green technology in the construction industry. Problem statement comprises of the challenges such as lack of utilization, lack of initiatives from local bank and lack of knowledge and experience among construction stakeholders about implementation of green technology in construction site. This make out the objectives of study. The significance of the study can be summarized which it can undertakes the challenges by identifying the main factors of hardship in implementing green technology. There are three kinds of research methodology aiding the accomplishment of the study which are interviews, case studies and literature reviews. Limitations of study span within vicinity of Klang Valley. Organisation of chapter outlines the overall picture of the whole Chapter 1.

Aristotles Logical Foundation of Physiognomics :: Aristotle

Aristotle's Logical Foundation of Physiognomics ABSTRACT: Whenever we meet an unknown person, our first judgment, even unwillingly and often subconsciously, starts from his or her external appearance. Since character can be properly recognized only from words and deeds observed over some time, at first sight we have to rely on what we immediately can see. This physiognomical first approach to each other is as old as humankind, and, though it has never been able to be proved a proper science, in everyday life we all believe in and use physioculture. The earliest extant written work on the subject is the pseudo-Aristotelian treatise Physiognomonica. The author of its first part, in discussing the methodology of the art, refers to Aristotle, who develops the logical foundation of physiognomical inference: as an enthymeme, a syllogism from signs. Yet, concentrating solely on the formal logical analysis, Aristotle does not touch the central point of physiognomics; it C. S. Peirce’s discovery of the triadic relation of the sign t hat was able to shed new light on this central problem and to see physiognomics as a process of semiosis. Thus, Aristotle founded the formal logical basis, from which modern semiotics developed new approaches to physiognomics, taking them in account in several strands of their research. Whenever we meet an unknown person, our first judgement – unwillingly and often subconsciously – starts from his or her external appearance. Almost every aspect of it can be regarded as some kind of clue: for instance, clothing and hairstyle tell something about social status and personal fashion, facial expression and gestures indicate the emotional state of mind, and clinical symptoms allow to diagnose a disease. Yet all those features are superficial and changeable, and therefore don’t tell anything about the inner nature and character of a person, by which we define personality and identity. Since character shows itself only in words and deeds, it would need a long-term observation to detect it (always unrealistically assuming that the character be constant), and still there is hardly a safeguard against wilful deceit. Here, as a short-cut method, physiognomics is used: the art of inferring character from the physique of body and face – especially from those features that can hardly be influenced by their bearer like bone-structure, stature, voice, and the supposedly unconscious parts of body language. An immediate physiognomical inference is necessary for survival in the animal world: to decide at first glance whether the other is prey or predator, friend or foe, that is: whether it is save to stay and to approach or better to flee, to defend or attack.

Uncle Toms Cabin Essay example -- Uncle Toms Cabin Essays

Harriet Beecher Stowe was born June 14, 1811 in Litchfield, Connecticut. She was the daughter of a Calvinist minister and she and her family was all devout Christians, her father being a preacher and her siblings following. Her Christian attitude much reflected her attitude towards slavery. She was for abolishing it, because it was, to her, a very unchristian and cruel institution. Her novel, therefore, focused on the ghastly points of slavery, including the whippings, beatings, and forced sexual encounters brought upon slaves by their masters. She wrote the book to be a force against slavery, and was joining in with the feelings of many other women of her time, whom all became more outspoken and influential in reform movements, including temperance and women's suffrage. The main point of Harriet Beecher Stowe in the writing of Uncle Tom's Cabin was to bring to light slavery to people in the north. In this she hoped to eventually sway people against slavery. The novel Uncle Tom's Cabin focuses on the lives of two slaves, who both start under the ownership of a Mr. Shelby, who is known as a man who treats his slaves well. Mr. Shelby, however, was indebted to a man of the name Haley, who is a slave-trader. In return for the debt owed to him, Haley wants two slaves one being the son of a beautiful mulatto woman named Eliza, and the other the devout Christian Tom, who is called Father Tom because of his sermons. Eliza is also a Christian, as are the rest of the slaves on Shelby's farm. Eliza loves her son dearly and rather than lose him to the slave-trader she takes him and heads to Canada, where she can be free. Haley follows but can't catch her before she goes from Kentucky, the state of the Shelby Farm, to Ohio. Haley then sends slave-catchers after her. He also goes back to the farm, and brings Tom on a steamboat to the South, a place where slaves are known to die, but Tom meets and makes a great impression on a little girl, Evangeline S t. Clare, or Eva as she is called, and she persuades her father, Augustine St. Clare to purchase Tom. Augustine is a man against slavery, but too intelligent and idle to openly oppose it, instead choosing to let his slaves run freely and do whatsoever they please, within reason. Tom is bought as a man who works at the stable, and is the private driver of Marie St. Clare. Marie was a conceited woman who is too busy worrying... ...s towards going against society, seen in St. Clare. She made the slaves more human and the slaveholders appear to be morally wrong, but not by always using morally correct slaves and masters without morals. For example, Stowe creates a character, Adolf, the overseer of sorts for St. Clare. Adolf is a slave who is not morally correct he steals from St. Clare often, yet he appears more human for doing so. The slaves or human but not divine, as are the masters, creating a sense of equality, which Stowe wanted to put across. She wrote the book well, choosing where it was best to put which idea, and making many allusions to historical events around the time, which made her book more popular to the people of her time by involving other things they knew of into the story. Overall, Uncle Tom's Cabin was well written, organized, and historically accurate. Harriet Beecher Stowe used her knowledge of the past to write a clear argument for the abolition of slavery, by creating an interesting enough book to get her ideas to the common people. Her book was influential because it not only told her ideas, but because it states her ideas understandably, something not all writers are able to do.