Leadership and Management Module Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Leadership and Management Module - Case Study Example Ryanair's first cabin crew recruits had to be less than 5ft. 2ins. tall in order that they were able to operate in the tiny cabin of the aircraft! As proclaimed on its website, Ryanair was Europe's original low fares airline and is still Europe's largest low fares carrier. In the current year, Ryanair will carry over 35million passengers on 288 low fare routes across 21 European countries. With 12 European bases and a fleet of over 100 brand new Boeing 737-800 aircraft and with firm orders for a further 125 new aircraft, delivered over the next seven years, Ryanair is ready for an awesome takeoff. These additional aircraft will allow Ryanair to double in size to over 70 million passengers per annum by 2012 recording stupendous growth. Ryanair currently employs a team of 2,700 people, comprising over 25 different nationalities. Ryanair continuous to clock record passenger growth [Appendix 1] Ryanair's CEO, Michael O'Leary, has a vision of a world where the fare could drop to nothing, as local communities would subsidize the airline to bring a steady traffic of business people and tourists to their region. Rather than blending its low fares with some emotional benefits, Ryanair packs its brand with functional benefits such as punctuality and efficiency. In Ryanair's words "At Ryanair, we guarantee you the lowest fares on the Internet. However, our success is due -- not just to our low fares -- but also a winning combination of our No.1 on-time record, our friendly and efficient people and our new Boeing 737-800 series aircraft". Mission Statement A successful example of a European no frills airline is Ryanair. It was established based on the assumption that the demands for short-haul air transport are price elastic. That means, if prices for flights are reduced, it is more appealing and therefore more people will fly. Ryanair strives to sell tickets at the lowest prices possible but at the same time promotes the fact that it is an on-time high frequency flyer. Ryanair does not offer any frills. It is not in the business to offer luxury flying experience or gourmet in-flight meals or a memorable flight. Its mission is to offer flights that cater to mass transportation and simply a 'point-to-point air service' to its customers. It promises just that and offers nothing more. Business model Traditionally airlines based their assumptions on the fact that airline traffic grows in line with the economy and are catered towards the more affluent and that cutting prices will only lead to a decrease in revenues. With the introduction of the 'no-nonsense' concept to the European market, after its deregulation in 1992, Ryanair has been proved right repeatedly in its revolutionary concept. While traditional airlines used the hub-and-spoke methodology to fly, Ryanair introduced the point-to-point method of flying reducing waste enormously. Ryanair has expanded phenomenally in its size and

Special Education Reflection Essay Example for Free

Special Education Reflection Essay Special Education 332 (Education and Inclusion of Individuals with Special Needs) has been enlightening for me as a secondary mathematics educator. In the beginning of the semester, my feelings towards special education were those of apathy and insensitivity. I now understand that my feelings were due to my lack of knowledge and my judgment based on stereotypes. I always knew that making fun of students with learning disabilities was wrong. However, I never felt that inclusion of special education students in general education classes was plausible or made sense. I felt that special education students belonged in their own classrooms; and that is why we have special education educators. As a prospective secondary mathematics educator, I felt that it was unfair that I would have special education students in my classes. I would rationalize my attitude by saying that I signed up to teach normal students, and that the special education students were not my problem or responsibility. I did not want to deal with them. I did not see them as individuals who seek meaning through learning. As a constructivist, my goal as an educator is to provide students with meaning by imparting knowledge. As I reflect on my feelings towards special education students, I ask myself why do I not see them in the same way. If they are students as well, why do I discriminate against them? Why is it, when I think about teaching students with learning disabilities, I get uncomfortable? It is due to my lack of knowledge of students with learning disabilities. It was not until I saw the movie (before our class) I Am Sam, my thoughts about people with learning disabilities started to change. The movie changed my perception that mentally challenged individuals are strange by nature because they do not seem to understand when people talk to them and is different from myself. The movie showed me that they do comprehend information, have feelings as I do, and most importantly, that I have wrongly stereotyped their differences. This course not only gave me the knowledge I needed to understand students with learning disabilities, I was also able to empathize with these students through active participation in the sensitivity activities. Participating in the activities during our class was eye opening; I was able to have a taste of what it was like for people with learning disabilities. I always believed that there was something wrong with people with learning disabilities, and thus classified them as abnormal. The activities made me realize that with their learning disability aside, they were no different from me. People with learning disabilities had their strengths and weaknesses, and I had mine. The activities, without fail, made me frustrated. I wanted to lash out at the world, and I always wondered why students with learning disabilities had emotional problems. I came to realize that people with learning disabilities live with their disabilities for the rest of their lives. That these sensitivity activities were only temporary for us, but it was reality for those dealing with the disabilities. This is what changed me the most, realizing this simple truth. Throughout my years at Lehigh, I have proclaimed that I have a passion to teach, to show students that mathematics is not difficult, and that they are able to understand mathematics. However, when it came to special education students, my philosophy changed, due to their learning disability. I was ignorant to the special education movement of inclusion, because I feared the idea of teaching students who were not normal. I use the word normal in quotations because I now realize that special education students are like anybody else, and that we, special and general education students alike, are all normal. There is nothing wrong with special education students. Special education students are individuals who desire to learn. My feelings towards special education students have also changed through my counseling psychology class. In the class I learned that every student, whether they are homosexuals, rape victims, Jewish, Christian, or special education students, are students. Every student should not be discriminated because of who they are; rather they should be treated as children who need to learn. I was annoyed to find out that students, who had special needs, were included in classes where teachers were not trained or educated and therefore did not know how to instruct these students. I strongly believe that the special education movement of inclusion will succeed only if general education educators become aware of what it means to have learning disabilities and understand the concept of universal design. One of the greatest tools that this class has given me is universal design. Universal design for learning is a process for considering the needs of all students in the classroom and designing curriculum, instruction, and evaluation with sufficient flexibility so that each student benefits (Turnbull, Turnbull, Shank, and Smith, 2004). I will not be able to teach my general education class with special education students in it, by using universal design to teach everyone. I believe that this tool is the most powerful one that will advance the inclusion of special education students in general education classrooms movement. Fortunately, I was placed in a classroom (for my pre-intern teaching experience) where there was a student who had learning disabilities, and was included in a general education classroom. I was able to experience having a special education student in a general education classroom. Through this experience, I was able to get to know the student, and saw that he was an awesome kid. I liked him so much because despite his IEPs, he impressed me with his determination to learn and get good grades. He was a special education student who sought meaning through learning. My transformation became most apparent to me in writing my advocacy letter. I wanted to condemn the publisher of the Website and give him a piece of my mind. How dare he condone such blasphemy? Does he not see the damaging affects that his Website has on the special education community? What I did not see was that I was just like him once. I was also ignorant and apathetic towards students with learning disabilities. Even though, I understand special education students better than I had in the past and empathize with them, I must be careful on how I educate others. How can expect others to listen to me and change their views if I do it in a way that makes them defensive immediately? I have to be sympathetic towards those once in my position, and must communicate myself to produce a change in their view of students with learning disabilities. Furthermore, I must not become disillusioned into thinking that I have learned everything about students with learning disabilities and that I have done a complete one-eighty in my view of these students. There was several times where I caught myself using the term retarded, in describing something that was unintelligent. I must understand that my advocacy towards this issue will only grow if I continue to find out more about learning disabilities, to watch what I say, and to be careful when trying to teach others to change their views. Overall, I must admit that I have been blessed from taking this course. I feel that I have grown throughout the course of the class, where I once stereotyped students with learning disabilities to understanding students with disabilities. Many people judge and classify what they do not understand, and through that ignorance is birthed. I am thankful that I have taken this class as I have become aware of my ignorance and have a deeper understanding and acceptance of those with learning disabilities, inside and outside of the classroom. References Turnbull, R. , Turnbull, A. , Shank, M. , Smith, S. J. (2004). Exceptional Lives: Special Education in Todays Schools. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Diversity Among People Essay -- Diverse Culture Cultural Essays

Diversity Among People "Each person's map of the world is as unique as the person's thumbprint. There are no two people alike. No two people who understand the same sentence the same way . . . So in dealing with people, you try not to fit them to your concept of what they should be." (Milton Erickson) We are all distinguished and united by differences and similarities according to our gender, culture, language, age, race, our sexual identity, and in many cases income level. There are these diversity qualities that challenge our intellect and emotions as we learn to work and live together in harmony. Diversity is not just about gender, skin color, ethnic background, religion, speaking different languages, or belonging to a different culture, it's also about thinking and expressing things differently. One thing that plays a very important role is "Language", what we as people use to communicate with. A language can bring one nation together and separate it the same time. In today's society, unfortunately if you don't speak the language that majority of people speak you're often put down and even ignored. And in the same society being 'different" it is not easy. What I mean by different is having a different background, speaking "a broken English"( Tan), being part of a different cul ture. Even though most of us know that this nation is formed on diversity, people still haven't learned to tolerate one another's differences and somehow learn from them however, everyday that goes by more people are realizing even more that these differences make us who we are. They shape the way we think and express yourself and our opinion about others. As humans, we have a unique ability for language which gives expression to our many-s... ...ity groups within the United States. Should serve as a comparative study of the diverse cultural contributions, experiences, or world views of two or more ethnic or racial minority groups in the U.S. The course should focus on the study of the social, economic, political, or psychological dimensions of relations between and among racial, ethnic, and gender groups in the U.S. All these criteria's would help people learn how to deal with diversity and become more knowledgeable about it. There's many people in this world of ours and they are all different, they are part of a different religion, gender, background, and with different sex identity and what brings us all together is the understanding that we are all unique and by giving each other a chance to express our ideas and opinions we grow as individuals and learn to appreciate others for who they are. home

Provided for Me and My Family Essay

Unions have proven to be quite an essential addition to the labor force as it helps fight for the members’ rights. It simply creates a better working chemistry between the employees and the employers; both of which equally important to each other. A better mutual relationship between the employees and the employers would provide a better work output for the company. Hence, the existence of the Union is quite vital in maintaining this relationship. There have already been some rights breaches in the past. However, there has not been any major conflict between the two so far. The Local 743 is a union wherein my dad is a member of. As far as I can recall, they have continued to provide security for me and my family which has been always good for us. The benefits that we have garnered from my dad’s membership to Local 743 have been always great. The Local 743 has existed for the sole purpose of providing and supporting for the rights of its members in the working force, as well as their families. Its main objective as a union, as any union would have, is to uphold the rights of its members. If the union finds something that breaches the labor rights of the workforce, then it formulates strategies to improve the treatment of employers towards their employees. This would create the most desirable atmosphere for the two classes to coexist minus the conflict. My family has received a lot of benefits from Local 743 as it assured my father a sense of security; financially and in other forms that could help benefit us, especially my father. My father’s membership to Local 743 has been quite a blessing for us as a family since it supported us for what we truly needed. Of course, it is not just us that the union gazes upon but for the other members and their families as well; it does not provide special attention to selfish needs. Only the most essential needs of the members and their families are attended by the union; like education for children, financial security for troubled households, and upholding the rights of the labor force. Last year, I was awarded the Local 743 Presidents Scholarship which helped pay for my schooling. My family and I were very grateful for such an honor that was provided by Local 743 because it took off the financial woes of my parents with regard to my education. It definitely cut the some of the education costs that my parents have provided for my siblings. Cutting such costs can help my parents provide me and my siblings a better life and hopefully, a better future. I am very grateful for being given the scholarship. In showing my gratefulness to what was given to me, I strived to work harder and promised my parents that I will do my best in my school. I know that it was not my own money that provided for my education. So it is just most courteous to show the Local 743 that I truly appreciated what they have given me to help my parents with my education, by showing them a great result in my schooling. Again, I am very delighted and grateful. As a member, my father was ensured better job security by the union Local 743. It helped him and his co-workers uphold their rights, making sure that there is no maltreatment done to them while in the workplace or outside of work. It is the Local 743’s objective, after all which my family and I are grateful for. The benefits that we have garnered throughout my father’s membership have been great so far, which we truly appreciate and feel truly blessed with. With the presence of Local 743, my father felt secured in his job and in providing me and my family what he feels which we need the most. My father is grateful for being accepted as a member of Local 743 and for the benefits we have garnered from them. I believe that every member and their families would also say the same thing about Local 743. The rights of the employees are most important for labor unions like Local 743. They would help employees fight for their rights and correct the wrong that has been done to them by employers, or at least what they felt was wrong. They advocate for the workers’ rights which they think are being breached by their employers. The great thing about having labor unions is the fact that they can help equalize the imbalance that is occurring inside the company. Most victims of oppression in the workplace are the ones belonging to the blue-collar group. The presence of the unions makes certain that balance is kept and that employee oppression is minimized. My father’s membership to Local 743 has been nothing less than beneficial for me and my family. Being able to experience the benefits that were given to me (the scholarship) and my family (financial security), I could say that Local 743 has provided so much for upholding the rights of its members and for aiding their families with what they truly needed most. I would like to thank Local 743 for their continuous support for their numerous members in the workforce, as well as their families.

Advantages of buying a casket now

Death is perhaps the most feared topics of all that people can talk about. Its not that by avoiding it we will thus not die, but most people are superstitious about it and think that by avoiding discussing it then they are driving themselves away from it as possible.The issue goes beyond discussing death and includes preparing for it. Human culture in most societies has it that death is an issue best left to some supreme unknown powers and forces, and any behavior or actions that contravenes this acts in inviting death.Rimpoche (2001) states that the best way to prepare for death in our lifetime is by living life and practicing the vices of life such as patience, love and compassion. It is therefore indispensable to ignore death and considering preparation for its occurrence is as important as living life.Considering preparing for death as building a solid foundation for your death, planning for death today is one of the most important investments one can accord himself. One of the m ajor steps towards this preparation is buying a casket today.Buying a casket today has a lot of advantages that can be foregone if this simple decision is left for another day. Buying a casket involves making choices that depend most on one’s tastes and preferences on such factors as the casket’s color, design and other personal factors. One of the advantages of buying a casket now is to avoid the last minute purchase which is usually influenced by grieving.Most decisions about funeral purchases are made by people when grieving. This affects their choice and in the end what is picked up may not be the ideal casket one would want to be buried in. Further more, purchasing a casket during the grieving period is hindered by time constraints and inadequate variety to choose from.Another factor to consider is that funeral service providers make things expensive just when they know you need them the most and you have very little in terms of choice and options.This can be avoi ded if the purchase is done well before that time comes and that time is now. This is an issue of saving money and is therefore an advantage worth considering. Saving money on the casket can also be achieved by making the choice to purchase the casket now.This is because the purchase will be able to be done from a store of your choice and discounting be discussed. It will also be a big relief to family members or friends who would have to take up the task of finding a casket for you. Every person knows their choice and preference and being able to exercise this is usually given high respect.Having somebody else pick out your casket may be a big task to him, not knowing whether you will be truly happy with the casket or not. Buying the casket yourself today will help in avoiding this situation and at the same time allow one to pick a casket of their choice.The choice for one’s casket is can be done today and the advantages of doing so today are much more than those of postponi ng the task. Prices for most commodities never go down but keep on going up instead. Buying a casket of your choice today can help avoid future expectations in price increases of caskets. It is also an advisable consideration when one wants to make all the preparations concerning their after life.People always make preparations for all events in their lives and so preparing for their death is not a different matter. It is just a phase of life, just like wedding is, and the advantages one derives from buying their wedding gowns way before the wedding day comes are more or less similar to the advantages one would reap from buying their casket today, way before their burial day arrives.People need to realize these benefits and change their casket purchasing habits and plans to save on a lot of costs that would be unavoidable if done otherwise.The place one will lie after their death is as important as the bed they lie today, and just as much as a person loves a certain bed, that it the same way one should love the casket they will lie in. Loving the casket begins with buying it now, for that will ensure you will use a casket of your choice, not an imposed one.Reference.Rimpoche, G., (2001). Good life, good death. New York, U.S.A; Riverhead Books. Â  

Are There Any Conclusions Example

Are There Any Conclusions Example Are There Any Conclusions – Book Report/Review Example Philosophy Responses I take the popularity of existentialism as a sign that many people were casting off or at least questioning the dominant values of culture and society. I disagree that we must conclude that there are no objective values although I do agree with Sartre that the responsibility for deciding or decoding those values lies with the individual and must be discovered through a subjective process. If Sartre is right the burden of â€Å"creating our own essence† falls upon us whether we like it or not and requires taking responsibility for all our decisions. The implications of each person taking responsibility and defining themselves could be both positive and negative. On positive people could not avail themselves to an outside ideology in order to justify their actions. Whether the result of an action is pleasant or unpleasant it falls to the individual to at least take moral possession of their own actions. On the negative some people may choose actions that are unpleasant or harmful to others. I think it is a mistake to say that existentialism would free people in a moral sense any more than people who simply choosing to do harm under other philosophies. People are still morally responsible to themselves, and it would not prevent society from providing disincentives to harmful actions. I don’t know whether there are objective standards, but I do think there are some basic tenants that when followed make society better. Things like one should not cause harm for no reason. My intuition is that moral statements like these are eternal, but to some extent these must rely on ideas like reciprocity. Beliefs and knowledge are the tools, boundaries as and set goals for us as we navigate the world. In the end I think philosophy should be viewed as a tool to analyze the world. Regardless of what a philosophy says, the method behind the conclusions can be useful even I disagree with the conclusion.

Constitionality of Zoning Ordinances essays

Constitionality of Zoning Ordinances essays Testing the Constitutionality of Zoning and Character Ordinances for Nude Dancing The art of dance has been an avenue of free expression in cultures worldwide since human kind first set foot upon the earth, and the culture of the United States is no exception. However, when the clothes come off and the dancing takes on an exotic nature, the constitutional protection of the art form is often called into question. In Santa Barbara, a two-part ordinance involving the location and character of such establishments has brought to the forefront a fierce new first amendment debate. John Meinzer, owner of The Pink Flamingo nude dancing parlor, has brought before this court an objection to this ordinance, claiming that it discriminates against the content of the message he and his dancers are trying to convey. After reviewing the facts, precedent, and all other evidence, I argue that both parts of this ordinance fall under the rights of the city under first amendment review to perform its duty in protecting the welfare of its community. Under this new ordinance, adult entertainment would be permitted, but only in areas zoned for commercial and industrial uses. No adult entertainment businesses could be allowed within 500 feet of any residential area. They could be no closer than 700 feet from any house of worship, school, park or beach, and would have to be at least 1000 feet from each other. In this case, the amount of distances being specified are not the significant concern. Rather, the very existence of a restriction comes into question. In Renton v. Playtime Theatres, Inc. (1986), The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a similar ordinance, which stated that no adult motion picture theatre could be located within 1,000 feet of any residential zone, single or multiple family dwelling, church, park or school. Because the ordinance does not ban the content of adult entertainment, it is properly recognized as a "...

Definition and Examples of Double Entendres

Definition and Examples of Double Entendres A double entendre is a  figure of speech in which a word or phrase can be understood in two ways, especially when one meaning is risquà ©. Also called innuendo. One of the most famous double entendres in American advertising is the slogan created by Shirley  Polykoff to promote Clairol hair coloring: Does she or doesnt she? The phrase double entendre  (from the French, now obsolete, for double meaning) is sometimes hyphenated and sometimes italicized. Examples and Observations Rebecca Kordecki . . . created little booties and a slide kit to use while performing moves that strengthen and lengthen the body. The name Booty Slide is a double entendre, she explains: We wear the booties on our feet, but the workout also lifts your booty.(Carlene Thomas-Bailey, American Fitness Crazes Hit the UK. The Guardian, Dec. 28, 2010)While many mento songs are about traditional folksong subjects, from political commentary to simple day-to-day life, a disproportionately large number of the songs are bawdy songs, often featuring poorly-veiled (and delightfully funny) sexual double-entendres. Popular mento songs include references to Big Bamboo, Juicy Tomatoes, Sweet Watermelon, and so on.(Megan Romer, Jamaican Mento Music 101, About.com World Music)Mrs. Slocombe: Before we go any further, Mr. Rumbold, Miss Brahms and I would like to complain about the state of our drawers. Theyre a positive disgrace.Mr. Rumbold: Your what, Mrs. Slocombe?Mrs. Slocombe: Our drawers. Theyre sti cking. And its always the same in damp weather.Mr. Rumbold: Really.Mrs. Slocombe: Miss Brahms could hardly shift hers at all just now.Mr. Lucas: No wonder she was late.Mrs. Slocombe: They sent a man who put beeswax on them, but that made them worse.Mr. Rumbold: Im not surprised.Miss Brahms: I think they need sandpapering.(Mollie Sugden, Nicholas Smith, Trevor Bannister, and Wendy Richard in Are You Being Served?) She touched his organ, and from that bright epoch, even it, the old companion of his happiest hours, incapable as he had thought of elevation, began a new and deified existence.(Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, 1844)Nurse: God ye good morrow, gentlemen.Mercutio: God ye good den, fair gentlewoman.Nurse: Is it good den?Mercutio: ’Tis no less, I tell you; for the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon.Nurse: Out upon you! what a man are you!(William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act II, scene three)Its impossible to ignore the prominence of water as a primary motif in black spiritual culture- from the debilitated Gospel pleas to be washed white as snow to the rebellion-coded double entendre wade in the water, which referenced both baptism and escape routes from slavery.(William J. Cobb, To the Break of Dawn: A Freestyle on the Hip Hop Aesthetic.  NYU Press, 2006)Womens Use of the Double Entendre in 18th-Century EnglandOf all the improvements in polite conversa tion, I know of nothing that is half so entertaining and significant as the double entendre. It is a figure in rhetoric, which owes its birth, as well as its name, to our inventive neighbours the French; and is that happy art, by which persons of fashion may communicate the loosest ideas under the most innocent expressions. The ladies have adopted it for the best reason in the world: they have long since discovered, that the present fashionable display of their persons is by no means a sufficient hint to the men that they mean any thing more than to attract their admiration: the double entendre displays the mind in an equal degree, and tells us from what motives the lure of beauty is thrown out. . . .The double entendre is at present so much the taste of all genteel companies, that there is no possibility either of being polite or entertaining without it. That it is easily learnt is the happy advantage of it; for as it requires little more than a mind well stored with the most natur al ideas, every young lady of fifteen may be thoroughly instructed in the rudiments of it from her book of novels, or her waiting maid. But to be as knowing as her mamma in all the refinements of the art, she must keep the very best company, and frequently receive lessons in private from a male instructor.(Edward Moore, The Double Entendre. The World, No. 201, Thursday, Nov. 4, 1756) Pronunciation: DUB-el an-TAN-dra

Neoclassicism in Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Neoclassicism in Music - Essay Example Neoclassicism as a musical term was not coined until sometime after its supposed development began. Rather than a style of composition, the term initially referred to a conception or reaction to a musical historical event. That is, Neoclassicism represents a way of viewing music history as a reaction to the contemporary trends in fin-de-sicle France that regarded the current musical trajectory as one that was defined for the most part by German musical historical conceptions and aesthetic trends. Namely, the music of Wagner was perceived by a growing number in France as, decadent and unduly romantic. However, the original use of the word "neoclassicism" did not refer to originally to a reaction to the German Romantics, but a somewhat derisive term to refer to writers and other artists, who parroted Greek and Roman themes as a kind of sterile, lifeless, pastiche-rather than a reinvigoration of the classical spirit that perhaps one might envision such a term connoting. Thus, the neocla ssical style in music was more correctly labeled at the time Nouveau Classicisme. Messing then explicates the role that composers such as Saint-Saens, Debussy and Ravel whose interests in composers before Beethoven such as Mozart, Bach, Handel and even earlier such as the work of the Couperin family played out in some of their compositions. Messing technical analysis of the musicological comparisons between the work of these new classical French composers and their classical counterparts reveals a rhythmic and structural similarity. Yet that similarity did not extend across the new classical scene, rather the particular inspiration that the above composers chose was modified and developed so as to make any comparison between say Saint-Saens and Debussy much more tendentious. Therefore, Messing notes to place this musical aesthetic ideal under some uniform stylistic rubric called "neoclassicism" was invalid. In another chapter, Messing deals with post-war neoclassical analysis through the work of Igor Stravinsky and the eventually polemic that developed between his followers and the Arthur Schoenberg and his revolutionary serialist style. Moreover, as Messing suggests neoclassicism as a distinct music style with specific gestures did not congeal until after the war and its juxtaposition with the work of Schoenberg. It seems according to Messing that the intervening war caused a radical shift in understanding of the term and its followers from one which represent a musico-historical reaction to Wagner in France, to a theoretical shift in composition. The disparate influences of the earlier neo-classicists seemed to have been conflated together in the comparison to the work of Schoenberg and his prodigious number of students. Moreover, it can be seen that Stravinsky's music, which was supposedly indicative of this specific style was no so radically different from the work of Schoenberg, a nd thus suggesting that only are the differences between neoclassicism and serialism overwrought and artificial. It also reveals that to conceive of neoclassicism in

Rapid Rise of E-commerce in Modern Global Business Essay

Rapid Rise of E-commerce in Modern Global Business - Essay Example D. I have conducted a thorough research on this topic to bring out the significant impacts of e-commerce in the general global business environment as well as the challenges or limitations that have been associated with e-commerce. 1. Global business processes are usually characterized by various operational strategies. Some of these strategies entail the use of human resources, while some entail the application of business technology (Kopper & Ellis, 2011). It is apparent, taking into consideration the current business data that, that e-commerce is currently one of the highest technology applied in commercial activities 2. The corpus of e-commerce entails the process of undertaking business activities through enhanced computer networks especially the internet. Research indicates that e-commerce activities depend heavily on technologies such as Inventory Management Systems, online transactions, online marketing, data interchange through electronic processes et cetera (Cohan, 2010). I. With the integration of electronic technology into majority of Company’s operational procedures, e-commerce has been associated with effective and efficient technology, thus facilitating efficient business processes i.e. reduction of human errors usually associated with it (Laudon & Traver, 2012). II. In addition, economic experts have asserted that the essence of implementing e-commerce has been majorly driven by the fact that it entails reduced costs of operation: This occurs in the sense that it reduces costs associated with manual modes of operation specifically, inventory costs, employee management costs et cetera (Cohan, 2010). III. On the other hand, the application of e-commerce in most of current business activities has been ascribed to improved competitive advantage of most organizations; this is due to the fact that it creates a platform for easy

Managerial accounting and finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Managerial accounting and finance - Essay Example which requires the depreciable period to begin from when equipment is available for use to the period when it is derecognized (International Accounting Standards  Board 2003), the depreciation in the given case has been accounted for four months. Besides, on the basis of the fact that extra use of production line for two more months would reduce its scrap value, one can analogize that the production line would not be as ‘good’ as a new machine even in four months and thus should be depreciated month-wise. The annual salary of production staff is decomposed into monthly salary given that salary will be paid to them up till the month when they are sacked. [That’s why the union might have negotiated notice payments for the staff as they would be loosing the salaries on the remaining months of the year when they will be sacked]. Committed fixed costs are assumed as those expenses, such as electricity charges, which are incurred on monthly basis and so the annual fixed cost in decomposed into monthly fixed cost and is taken up till the period of production in the industrial unit. Rent expense, committed fixed cost, and salary expense for initial four months and variable cost of initial 500 units is also considered as sunk cost since these costs have been incurred before taking any step with respect to any of the two options. All the incremental figures are incremental in comparison with the figures incurred before considering either of the deal. That is, each of the two deals is analyzed in incremental form as compared to the cost incurred before going for any of these two options; its not like that incremental figures of one deal are expressed as incremental in comparison with the base figures of either deal. Instead the initial figures are expressed as base figures for each of the deals. This is meant to smoothly compare each deal from the initial situation separately and then comparing the incremental results of each. Facing with the severe cost of writing

ENTREPRENEURSHIP Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

ENTREPRENEURSHIP - Assignment Example can gain marketing competencies. Hence, context of the report tries to focus on the worth and value of entrepreneurial marketing. It is highly rational to conduct such a study because effectiveness of entrepreneurial marketing activities determines long-term success of small firms as well as the entire economic system of a nation (Papalexandris and Galanaki, 2009). According to the views of Donald Kuratko, â€Å"an entrepreneur is a person who pays a certain price for a product to resell it at an uncertain price, thereby making decisions about obtaining and using the resources while consequently admitting the risk of enterprise† (Kuratko, 2013). Entrepreneurs in the business world are treated as human capital. It is claimed that economic capital of an organization becomes more productive with the essence of effective human capital. It is also believed that leadership skills of entrepreneurs determine the circulations and shifts in an economy. It was claimed that fabrication of an economy is created through entrepreneurship (Glover, 2013). According to some researchers, Cunningham and Lischeron had first introduced the concept of leadership school of entrepreneurship in 1991 (Stryker, 1998). The entrepreneur in an organization, similar to a leader, assists workers to accomplish the desired organizational tasks and objectives. Motivation is another skill embedded in good entrepreneurs. The gap between workers’ ability and willingness to work is bridged by motivation instilled by an entrepreneur in workplace (Stryker, 1998). The mission and vision of an organization is achieved with dedicated work of an entrepreneur. It was also noted that work culture of a firm is upgraded with contribution of an entrepreneur (Glover, 2013). In latter stages, these theories of leadership were linked with those of entrepreneurship. Even so, it should be noted that these theories only help to analyze the worth of

Financial Accounting questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Financial Accounting questions - Assignment Example With goodwill, new avenues open up for the company and it’s able to tap into fresh opportunities. Clients of a company are usually more willing to forgive it when it makes a mistake if it has built a good relationship with them. If a company ever needs to liaise with others or expand or sell, with goodwill it’s much easier to get partners and buyers for the business due to the trust placed in it. Goodwill places the company ahead of competition as customers are more likely to favour the company with goodwill when making a decision on which products and services to consume (Weil, Schip & Francis, 2014). As interest rates rise, prices of bonds fall and when interest rates drop, bond prices rise. This is due to the concept of opportunity cost. Investors compare the returns they are getting on their present investments to other investments in the market. A bond coupon rate is fixed; therefore investors are ready to pay extra or less for a bond depending on how attractive the interest rates. Suppose a company offers a new issue of bonds carrying a 7%coupon which is $70 a year in interest. If you purchase a $1000, then later, interest rates go up to 8%, it means the interest will be $80 and buyers will be less willing to pay the face value of $1000 for the bond and you would have to offer it at a discount. However, if interest rates fell, it would be more attractive to prospective buyers as it would be carrying a higher interest rate than whatever is already in the market. Leasing might be preferred by a company because it eases up the cash flow of the company that can be directed to other operating activities. It also takes a shorter time compared to purchasing which involves a long and tedious procurement process. With leasing, the costs are spread over a long time and can thus be matched to the company’s income. The interest rates are agreed upon beforehand hence

Cinematic Comparison & Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Cinematic Comparison & Analysis - Essay Example The character of Shylock is that of a Jewish money lender who has been mistreated and misunderstood by the Christian community, particularly by the character Antonio. Shylock’s character stands out because in spite of his ridiculous demand at extracting revenge from Antonio, his character appears to have a great deal of depth. As the plot unfolds, the audience cannot help but feel sad of him as Shylock is a person who has been stereotyped and hurt by his daughter’s betrayal. According to Burnett et al. although the character of Shylock appears only in five out of nineteen scenes in the play, it is his role that captures the most attention. Al Pacino’s execution of the character is as close to perfection as any actor in today’s times could possibly achieve. The character appears to be an individual with an unkempt beard, who walks with a slight limp. Shylock’s role is that of a Jew, whose character can display a variation of emotions and impeccable d ialogue delivery. Much Ado about Nothing cast comprises of a lot of big names that include Oscar winners Emma Thompson and Denzel Washington as Don Pedro, lead villain. The character of Don Pedro is that of the Prince of Aragon, of all the characters in the film, his appears to be most unpredictable. Unlike Shylock’s character that the audience ends up sympathizing with, in spite of the good intentions of Don Pedro, his character fails to attract positive attention. This character is that of a noble man who meddles in the love lives of two other characters in the film. Although the character appears to interfere with good intentions for his friend, the character ends up appearing as manipulative and one that exploits his authority. Although Denzel is a marvelous actor ad executed the lines well, in my opinion this role was not meant for him. Two Historical and Cinematic Adaptations We would consider the two different versions of the same play by Shakespeare â€Å"Merchant of Venice†. Michael Radford’s directorial eye tries to capture the Venetian setting of the sixteenth century. The film depicts the historically beautiful and watery landscape of Venice; the setting depicts brothels and courtesans as the integral part of the entertainment of the Christian society (Pittman, 2007). The film depicts a very racist society, where there are gates in the city to separate the Jews from the Christians who cannot cordially coexist. It is also noticeable that the director wants to identify Shylock as someone who is very particular about finances. He lays slight emphasis on this, when Shylock puts on his glasses while reading ledgers or calculating finances, which is does not appear to have use of in any other scenes. Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado about Nothing is focused more towards generalization, where costumes, sets and props could belong to any period from 1700 to 1900s. The director has attempted to provide a fairy-tale setting to the film, which was shot in Tuscany Italy with her magical landscape which has not been touch by the modernization for present times (Kenneth Branagh). Two points of view in the Film Michael Radford in his interview with Cynthia Fuchs promoted his movie by suggesting that â€Å"†¦ you have the capacity in movies to bring things alive in ways you just can't in the theater.† The main point of view propagated in the film is the utter mockery of the double standards of the Venetian society of the time in a humorous fashion. The stereotyping of Jews can be

Financial Accounting questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Financial Accounting questions - Assignment Example With goodwill, new avenues open up for the company and it’s able to tap into fresh opportunities. Clients of a company are usually more willing to forgive it when it makes a mistake if it has built a good relationship with them. If a company ever needs to liaise with others or expand or sell, with goodwill it’s much easier to get partners and buyers for the business due to the trust placed in it. Goodwill places the company ahead of competition as customers are more likely to favour the company with goodwill when making a decision on which products and services to consume (Weil, Schip & Francis, 2014). As interest rates rise, prices of bonds fall and when interest rates drop, bond prices rise. This is due to the concept of opportunity cost. Investors compare the returns they are getting on their present investments to other investments in the market. A bond coupon rate is fixed; therefore investors are ready to pay extra or less for a bond depending on how attractive the interest rates. Suppose a company offers a new issue of bonds carrying a 7%coupon which is $70 a year in interest. If you purchase a $1000, then later, interest rates go up to 8%, it means the interest will be $80 and buyers will be less willing to pay the face value of $1000 for the bond and you would have to offer it at a discount. However, if interest rates fell, it would be more attractive to prospective buyers as it would be carrying a higher interest rate than whatever is already in the market. Leasing might be preferred by a company because it eases up the cash flow of the company that can be directed to other operating activities. It also takes a shorter time compared to purchasing which involves a long and tedious procurement process. With leasing, the costs are spread over a long time and can thus be matched to the company’s income. The interest rates are agreed upon beforehand hence

MOD 3 CA ACC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

MOD 3 CA ACC - Essay Example The Chief Financial Officer of the company, Lester Ledger, feels that the product lacks the aesthetic appeal and suggests repackaging them in designer bottles. This will increase the variable cost per unit by $ 4.75 and the fixed production costs will increase by $ 40,000 per year. He predicts that the sales volume will increase by 32 % (264,000 units). However, the increase in sales does not outdo the increased costs and the company will incur a loss of $ 1.334 million (as shown in Appendix 2). According to the Production Manager, Buster Bumble, the reduction in the standard size of the bottle by 10 % would drop the variable costs by $ 2.65 (amounts to $ 13.35 per unit). However, due to the reduced size, the sales will drop to $ 195,500 units. Though the contribution margin is considerably increased, the company still incurs a loss of $ 549,425 (as shown in Appendix 3). The marketing manager suggests that the product requires more promotion and an increase of marketing budget by $ 527,000 will be appropriate. This, combined with a price increase by $4.90 per unit will increase the sales volume by 17 % (234,000 units). The contribution margin is considerably increased as both the sales volume and the unit prices are higher than before. The increase in the contribution margin is significantly higher than that of the fixed costs and hence results in a profit of $ 129,600 (Appendix 4). It is evident from the above analysis that the first three proposals still result in a heavy loss for The Lovely Scent Perfume Company. The proposal made by the marketing manager indicates an estimated profit of $ 129,600. Hence it is recommended that the company should increase the marketing budget (by $ 527,000) and also increase the price by $ 4.90 per

Good vs. Evil Essay Example for Free

Good vs. Evil Essay There are many concepts that are determined in the eye of the beholder. People have different morals; someone’s morals could be seen as corruption to someone else. What someone considers beautiful, another might consider appalling. A person’s definition of justice could be someone else’s definition of illegal. There are many factors as to why we all have different paradigms, such as the way we were raised, our past experiences, our culture, or our faith. Consequently, we all judge accordingly to our own perspectives. In East of Eden, John Steinbeck states that one can be assumed good or evil once the person has died. With our different paradigms, we would have different perspectives on good and evil. Therefore, we do not know the correct definition of good or evil, so it would not be right for us to judge someone at all before or after their death. Everything we see is perspective, but how are we so sure it is the truth? Take for example, a flower. To a human, it is small enough to hold in his hand; to an insect, it is big enough to be a home. The human and the insect are looking at the same flower, but view it differently. Is the ant simply miniature, or is the human just too big? It cannot be deemed because there are different paradigms that manipulate our judgment. There are also more serious cases that this applies to. On July 5, 2011, Casey Anthony was found not guilty for murdering her young daughter Caylee. Observers were stunned and outraged by the jury’s verdict. Jurors claimed that it could not be proven that Casey Anthony was guilty because there was not enough evidence. There were only facts that led up to the conclusion that Casey could be the murderer, but there were no raw and actual facts that clearly showed that Casey was responsible for the death of her daughter. The death penalty weighed a lot on the deliberation of the jurors. They had a life in their hands; conclusions and inferences were not enough to find her guilty. The jury could be deemed good for following the law and abiding by their oath, or they could be deemed evil for letting a potential murderer get away with a crime. There are many positions on this verdict based on our viewpoints, but we do not actually know the truth. There are so many perspectives in the universe, we can never be so sure which is the correct one. Without knowing the truth, our judgments aren’t justified. They say there is a story behind everything. Stories usually have two sides to them, maybe even more. Often times, we want to believe that we know the full story. As human beings, we like closure and we do not like unanswered questions. But should it often occur to someone that there may be multiple unknown sides to a story? Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her bedroom from an overdose on August 5, 1962. Monroe’s death remains a mystery and has become one of the most debated conspiracy theories of all time. Some people believe that her death was a homicide, and some people believed it was a suicide. There could be many unknown explanations to Monroe’s death, and we may never find out. Without knowledge of how she died, our judgments are not rationalized. There are always going to be unanswered questions and ambiguous endings. As humans, what we believe is virtuous usually leads back to our viewpoints and understanding of life. Everyone has their life structured a certain way according to their beliefs. Our beliefs have a huge impact on our mentality and actions whether we believe in God, Buddha, Atheism, Karma, or anything at all. With differentiating religion and beliefs, there is no validity to our judgments. Without the knowledge of the truth, we are not able to judge righteously; we would be assuming blindly. It is a human instinct to judge. We judge to make laws so society can function in an orderly manner, we judge to protect ourselves from harm by distinguishing what seems to be dangerous or harmful, and we also judge to make decisions to benefit ourselves, such as choosing the college to our desire. Although these are rational reasons as to why we should judge, they also lead to war, terrorist attacks, stereotypes, and prejudice. Our assumptions and judgments revolve around our perspective. Our paradigms frame our judgments, and this often results to different positions and viewpoints. The concept of good and evil are in the eyes of the beholder. The true definition of good and evil may never be revealed in our lifetime. Consequently, we are not able to deem someone good or evil before or after their death since we do not have the understanding of these ideas in the first place. Works Cited Death of Caylee Anthony. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Dec. 2012. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Death_of_Caylee_Anthony.

Northern Californias Coastal Redwoods :: Essays Papers

Northern California's Coastal Redwoods ~A Brief Overview ~ "chain saw rising, whining out of a cut, falling thump of a log, limbed & bucked & loaded and where it spills over rocks as if another truck pulling back up the ridge, empty only there-- there was no hearing it only water and the rock where it turns the water singing the forest cut down and there only rock to hear it fall." GRAPH The average Redwood's life spans from around 800 to 1500 years. These anciet Redwoods were here when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, and 65 million years later we can now stroll through these living artifacts in coastal California. Typically people think that redwood forests are made up entirely of redwoods. But that isn't so--a healthy old-growth redwood forest is a mix of redwoods, deciduous trees, ferns, vines, flowers and wildlife. Giant redwoods are so tall, dense, and so crowded in the canopy, that some ground areas rarely see the sunlight, and little grows beneath these large giants. But whenever a tree does fall by Mother Nature or man, it leaves a gaping hole, that goes noticed. GRAPH Redwoods were named for the color of their bark and heartwood. These trees have a high resistance to fungus and diseases due to the high tanin content in the wood. The dense, fibrous bark has an even higher content, and acts as an insulator from periodic fires which have plagued the countryside for centuries. Though these trees are immense, they have delicate foliage. The needles are narrow and sharp-pointed, and combine to form feathery sprays. The cones are an inch long and typically contain fourteen to twenty-four seeds. The older trees offspring sprout form their parents' roots in order to take advantage of the established root system. GRAPH

The Schlieffen Plan Essay -- First World War WWI

The Schlieffen Plan The Schlieffen Plan is commonly – though misleadingy – identified with the German western offensive at the start of the First World War in August 1914, which began as a campaign of rapid movement but ended in deadlock and trench warfare. The plan is generally seen as a desperate gamble almost certain to fail, and its recklessness is counted as part of Germany’s war guilt – the plan held out the false promise of a quick victory, and so it underpinned the â€Å"short war illusion† that led Germany into a long war of attrition, ending with her defeat and collapse in 1918. This analysis confuses two quite different moments in history. The Schlieffen Plan was not designed to meet the strategic challenge Germany faced in 1914, but rather to pre-empt it by winning a more limited and manageable war at the time it was written in 1906. The consensus is that the Schlieffen Plan epitomized the arrogance of German militarism in believing that swift and total victory could be gained in a war on two fronts against a numerically superior coalition. It is held that the Schlieffen Plan initially deployed most of the German army in the west, with a small force left in the east to conduct a holding operation against the Russians. After a lightning campaign leading to a decisive victory over France within six weeks, Germany could turn her full might against the Russians. The standard verdict is that France could not have been comprehensively defeated within such a short time, so the plan was quite inadequate to the strategic dilemma confronting Germany. Anyone who believes all this has simply not read the Schlieffen Plan. That document is solely concerned with a war in the west. It does not call for the deployment of any forces against Russia, and contains no reference at all to a six-week deadline for the defeat of France. The great historical misunderstanding has been to regard Schlieffen’s plan as a half-baked scheme for fighting a war on two fronts, when it was in fact a carefully reasoned scheme for fighting a war limited to the west, at a time when this seemed to be a distinct possibility. The German west-front war-plan in 1914 was devised by the younger Helmuth von Moltke, and while it bore some resemblance to Schlieffen’s proposal, it was extensively adapted to the changed circumstances, in particular to the necessity of now deploying against Ru... ... of a two-front war in which both enemies would immediately go onto the offensive. He could not deploy the whole of the German army in the west, even though he needed a quick decision there to release reinforcements for the eastern front. It was the Moltke Plan, not the Schlieffen Plan, which required a victory over France within six weeks. Nor could Moltke contemplate swinging a part of his right wing all the way around Paris, since that again needed more time and troops than could be spared in a war on two fronts. Moltke’s right wing, already much weaker than Schlieffen’s, was further depleted during the course of the operation when he pulled out two of its army corps and transferred them to the east. The German army that was forced back from the Marne in September 1914 was but a pale shadow of the one that is drawn up against France in the Schlieffen Plan. Moltke held to the basic idea of that plan, but under the time and manpower pressures of a two-front war he was unable to make the right-wing attack as powerful and sustained as Schlieffen had prescribed for a one-front war in 1906. It was a diluted version of the Schlieffen plan that failed in 1914, not the original concept.

ESL teacher classroom techniques Essay

The purpose of this study was to assess the specific classroom techniques used by ESL teachers to prevent /solve possible discipline related problems while employing cooperative activities with students. In this Enriched ESL cooperative classroom the teacher integrates instructional strategies that facilitate and encourage interaction, collaboration and investigation in the learning environment. The students in the class are not passive learners but are actively involved in the learning process, taking responsibility for their own learning. One of the major aspects of a cooperative learning environment is oral communication between and among students and with the classroom teacher. Students get a chance to discuss a multiplicity of issues that are relevant to the class and explore new concepts in their interactions. This type of learning and peer-to-peer interaction allow students to be engaged in the decision making process of their education and to contribute meaningfully to their own learning and that of their peers. In the cooperative ESL classroom interaction is unavoidable. Students have to work with each other in order to make learning meaningful and to develop the communicative skills necessary for useful function in the real-world language setting. Students need to feel comfortable interacting with each other, sharing ideas, investigating and exploring their language environment and working out solutions to problems. Thus on the road to developing competency in English students will have to make both an individual and a collaborative effort since one of the characteristics of language learning is to develop the social techniques that will help the learner understand how to use the language in a variety of cultural settings. Of course since interaction is intrinsic to the ESL classroom so is the potential for conflict and disciplinary concerns in the classroom. The ESL teacher needs to develop the right skills overtime to manage interactive behaviors in the classroom so that objectives are accomplished and indiscipline and other disruptive behaviors are avoided. In the current study the researcher wanted to determine the behaviors most frequently employed by ESL teachers within the cooperative learning context in response to or as a way of thwarting any potential disciplinary or non-task-related matters. The research questions that guided this research were therefore: . What classroom management techniques are ESL teachers using in the classroom in order to maintain discipline while implementing cooperative learning activities? 2. Can effective classroom management lead to successful improvement of cooperative learning activities and control discipline within groups? In order to accomplish the objectives of the study and to respond to the research questions a mixed methods research approach was taken. This involved the gathering of both qua litative and quantitative data. A questionnaire survey, administered to the ESL teacher, was used to gather the qualitative data. The quantitative data was obtained through observations of the teacher’s classroom behavior in cooperative learning sessions. Participants This study was conducted in a classroom setting and involved an ESL teacher and 28 students, in a francophone private school in Quebec City, Canada. The ESL teacher is a fairly young teacher who has been working at this private school for the past 9 years. The students are primarily from very affluent backgrounds. This is probably because the school charges a very high fee for students wishing to attend and thus only the children of parents of a high socio-economic status, who can afford those fees, are able to attend. The students were observed in their ESL class. They were taking the ELA program in grade 5. ELA is a program for high school students in grade 4 and 5. Students in this program would have completed the EESL program and succeeded the ESL core examination at the end of grade 3. The demographics of the students were 16 girls and 12 boys. They were aged between 15 and 17 years old. This group of students and the ESL teacher were selected because they were utilizing cooperative learning strategies at the time of the research. In fact, the students observed in this study had been taking part in cooperative learning for quite some time. Data collection instrument: A variety of instruments were used in the process of data collection. An initial set of data was collected from the ESL teacher using a telephone interview. The interview included a series of question on how the teacher implemented cooperative learning in her classroom (Appendix 1). The 11 questions on the interview were formulated by the researcher. Another instrument used was the Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching, (COLT) observation scheme by Spada and Frohlich (1995) for the periods of observation in the classroom (Appendix 2). The COLT scheme has been used for decades by classroom researchers in examining interactive classroom behaviors. The COLT scheme was used in its original format, without any modifications, except that the researcher used only the sections on activities and episodes, participant organization and content for the purposes of the research. Data collection procedure The study was conducted at the end of February, at the beginning of the last term of the school year. The students were expected to graduate at the end of the term. In the initial phase of the study the researcher contacted the ESL teacher to respond to the interview questions over the phone. This conversation was also used to make arrangements for a meeting at the school to discuss a few things that needed clarification. The purpose of the interview was to discover the teacher’s attitude towards cooperative working activities, how the teacher used cooperative learning in her classroom, the kind of classroom management techniques she used to instill discipline while implementing cooperative activities and students’ participation in group work activities. The second part of the study involved classroom observations of the same teacher, interacting with a group of 28 students enrolled in the ELA program in grade 5 of high school. The purpose of the observations was to validate the information gathered during the interview. The COLT scheme (Spada, & Frolich, 1995) was used to collect this data. The classroom observations were conducted during three (3) separate classroom periods of 75 minutes duration each while the students were involved in cooperative activities. The research made the checks and marks under the appropriate categories of the COLT. The researcher checked each time the ESL teacher had to intervene in order to direct the students back to their work. The participants were observed three times on three different days of the week in ESL classes where the students where involved in cooperative activities. One of the observations weas done during the first period of the morning, the second was done during the second period and the third observation was done during the last period on Friday afternoon. In the classroom the teacher assigned the students to groups of 4. There were 7 groups. Each student chose one of four topics for a project and they were grouped based on their choice. The teacher provided students with 4 different topics which were then numbered. She finally set up the groups by placing the students together trying to respect, as much as possible, the student’s personal choice. The teacher and students arranged the desks arranged in pairs side-by-side opposite another pair. Such arrangement enabled students to talk to each other with ease. The main characteristics observed by the researcher were students’ behavior and teacher’s interventions during the cooperative learning. This kind of observation was chosen because it gave an idea of the actual classroom practice in terms of students’ behavior and the teacher’s interventions. This may allow some generalization of the results to other classes and teachers that use cooperative learning. Data analysis procedure When all the data were collected the information collected from the COLT (Spada & Frohlich, 1995) was analyzed. The teacher’s interventions were tallied for each observation period and the three periods were compared. The teacher’s responses during the telephone interview, and the information from the COLT scheme, as gathered through observations, were also compared. The purpose of this comparison was to determine the correlation between the reported classroom management techniques that the teacher mentioned during the interview and the actual practices used in the classroom. Results and analysis The data reveal the nature of teachers’ interventions and the students’ behavior during cooperative learning activities. The researcher observed the ESL teacher three times. During the first observation, the teacher had to intervene a total of 12 times. The teacher intervened 3 times to give group feedback and remind the students that they were to read and follow instructions in their booklet, 3 times to refocus students on the task because they were doing something besides their project, 3 times to remind students to communicate in the target language and three times 3 times when she noticed that some students were not working on their projects. During the second period of observation, the teacher had to spend some time reminding students that they were expected to play the roles they had been assigned by the group. Also, she reminded them that everyone was to contribute to the success of their project. The teacher intervened 8 times during this period – 3 times to remind students to communicate in the target language, twice to give feedback to some groups, 3 times to counter inappropriate behavior among certain groups where the students did not display behavior appropriate to the classroom. During the third period of observation, the teacher had to intervene 15 times. of the interventions were to remind students to use the target language in the classroom, 3 times to refocus students on the task because they were doing something besides their project, 4 times for displaying behavior inappropriate to the classroom and 4 times because students were not fulfilling their roles in the group. Some of the more common disrup tive behaviors that were noted include drawing obscenities, spending too much time sharpening their pencils, browsing fancy magazines and passing objects other than their project amongst the groups members. Students sometimes were talking to another group. During the third period one important observation was that students stopped working and arranged their bag while there was still about 8 minutes left in the period. The teacher used that time to settle students and remind them that they had only two periods left to finish their project. In examining the teacher’s reported estimation of the frequency of interventions during cooperative activities as stated during the interview and comparing them to the classroom observation, the results showed that the reported and actual practices were closely aligned. With respect to the techniques used to instill discipline during cooperative learning activities the classroom observations and the telephone interview also demonstrate a positive relationship. For the most part the groups were cooperative. Only 42. 86% of the students, 3 out of 7 groups, displayed problems staying on task. These groups appeared not to have shared the tasks amongst themselves fairly. The teacher had to visit this group very often to ensure that they were working. Observations of the ESL teacher revealed that she used effective cooperative activities which decreased the problems of classroom management to a tolerable level which led students to effectively work in cooperative activities in the classroom. In order to create a successful environment so that students could work effectively in groups, the observed teacher tried many techniques to manage cooperative learning. From the interview she indicated that she used cooperative activities quite frequently. She gave students roles such as ‘Captain English’. This student was to ensure that the entire group used only English in the class. The secretary had to note decisions and ideas during brainstorming and other activities. The president was in charge of seeing that everyone had been working and checking that all the documents were submitted on time. Finally, there was ‘Captain Cheer-up’. This person’s duty was to cheer up the team, motivating them whenever they had successfully accomplished a task and was ready to go forward in the project. The ELS teacher assigned the students to group using the student’s choice of a topic. Based on the report from the teacher group formation has an important role in the success of cooperative activities and students would make the best of their experience in cooperative working if the groups were heterogeneous. The students were quite comfortable working with each other and the teacher. They had been taking the same level English course and they had been studying together for two year. Many of them knew each other very well and were close friends. This is also true of the ESL teacher who had been teaching the same group for come time. According to the teacher, students should not be allowed to choose their peers to form their own teams to do cooperative working otherwise they might not work well and spend the time to talk about things out of the subject. The observed teacher had already explained to the students the most important points in order to obtain better results when working in cooperative learning. She had also explained the different roles the students should hold while working in teams. She had also taught the students how to share the task within the group members and she had emphasized the importance of grouping making. Correct choice of group size was one of the techniques that the teacher used to ensure that the teacher was able to effectively manage student behavior during cooperative working. Research suggests that group sizes should not be too big, a reasonable size being two to four students. The teacher also walked among the groups to ensure that they stayed on task and even offered them needed feedback. According to the teacher, feedback is extremely important for the success of cooperative working as it gives the students the opportunity to adapt themselves according to the teacher’s instructions. The teacher randomly selected a student from each team to present his or her group results. It was a good strategy to make sure that students had worked effectively and that everyone in the team was prepared give respond in case he or she was selected. Reward was primordial in order to raise motivation amongst the groups. The teacher rewarded every team that had worked hard. She also asked students to divide the work into parts and write their names according to what each student’s responsibilities were. Discussion There are limited studies examining effective classroom management techniques for cooperative learning activities in ESL classrooms. The purpose of this study was to fill the gap in the existing literature by discovering and highlighting the specific classroom techniques used by ESL teachers to manage cooperative learning activities successfully by addressing the questions: what management classroom techniques can teachers use in the classroom in order to instill discipline and implement cooperative learning activities? nd can effective classroom management lead to successful improvement of cooperative learning activities and control discipline within the groups? This study has attempted to show different ways in which the cooperative teaching method could improve students’ behavior and help classroom discipline. With principles such as positive interdependence, face-to-face promoting interactions, individual and group accountability, interpersonal, small group skills and grou p processing, cooperative learning has all the necessary elements to ensure that discipline is maintained in the classroom. The current research conforms to existing research paradigms on classroom management and the results are representative of previous findings in this area. In examining the effect of classroom management on the success of cooperative learning, this study, like others before it, showed that group formation is an effective classroom management tool for cooperative learning activities. Research recommends randomly assigned heterogeneous groups of students to form success cooperative groups. This study supported the finding that these groups are successfully managed in the classroom and are preferred to homogenous, self-selected groups (Emmer, Gerwels & Austin, 2005). The students in this group performed well because groups were heterogeneous so the students were able to profit from everybody’s contribution. The data collected also showed that group size was a very important factor in helping to ensure classroom management success in cooperative learning strategies. Studies also support that assigning specific roles to each student in a group ensures that everyone stays on task and that cooperative learning strategies would be more successful. This success is even further assured when students respect the roles they have in the group. Researchers have suggested the use of rewards to help motivate students to stay on task and to successfully complete activities in cooperative learning groups. The teacher in this study employed rewards to hardworking groups and this was able to motivate them to perform well. When members of the group look forward to a reward they will ensure that each works in completing the task so that all the members would benefit, they are aware that failure of one person to do what is required would result in the failure of the entire group. One thing that was immediately obvious from the observations was that students were, for the most part, aware of good cooperative skills. The students in this group have been involved in cooperative learning for quite a while and thus this exposure might have helped them to develop proper cooperative learning strategies. While there were some disruptions during the class, these were not significant enough to take away from the cooperative task and students by and large appeared to understand what was required in the cooperative groups and the proper procedures they needed to follow. Overall, the study has shown that it is possible to use cooperative learning and manage the classroom successfully. Nevertheless, all the elements of successful cooperative learning have to be adhered to in order to obtain good results. Moreover, the students must be aware of what is expected in cooperative activities. This study fits well in the existing literature on cooperative learning and classroom management. It could help ESL teacher with their classroom management while doing cooperative learning and administrators when they are examining, planning and implementing alternative teaching strategies and approaches. Conclusion This study supported the idea that cooperative learning, if used effectively, can help teachers manage their classes. If cooperative learning is implemented effectively, it could facilitate the effective management of the classroom. However, there are many elements that should be taken into consideration to attain such result. Based on these finding, teachers need to pay more attention to the classroom management techniques they use during cooperative learning. This study showed that it is possible for ESL teachers to implement cooperative learning and manage their classroom successfully if they have effective classroom management techniques. Knowing that classroom management is an important element for the success of cooperative learning, this study aimed to help teachers who implement this method for the first time to better manage their classes. This study has many limitations. Only one ESL teacher and one group of high school students in grade 5 participated in the study. Moreover, the research group was already organized when the research did the observation. Due to time constraints, the researcher could not observe the ESL teacher with her students more than three times. The results of this study provide a description of the implementation of cooperative learning that is specific to the participating teacher. Amongst all the techniques used by the ESL teacher during the observation, there is one that the teachers did not implement in her classroom. She did not have the students write a daily report to inform what they had done on that day and who had done what in the project. Therefore, more research is needed to determine the extent to which these results could be if such technique should be applied. This study showed how the ESL teacher managed her classroom and how the students behaved during cooperative learning. However, it is not easy to generalize the results because the observations were done by only one researcher. The results needed to be validated by another observer.

Bhutan Clean and Green

We are North Texas' Eco-friendly cleaning service. Keep Green and Clean is family owned and operated business that offers the highest quality, professional home and commercial cleaning service available in North Texas. We individualize our cleaning services for you and your home. Your unique needs are important to us, and we will take the time to listen to your specific requests. From the moment you walk into your home, you will know that we have been there. We offer one-time, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, occasionally, and move-in/move-out cleaning. Keep Green and Clean provides free in-house quotes, call or email today to get yours!! Whatever Matters!! Green and Clean Bhutan – A possibility ‘Keep Thimphu clean and green'- This is a message that many Thimphu residents read again and again. But, are we anywhere close to it? Thimphu is definitely not clean. Litters everywhere. Overflowing drains. 40 tonnes of waste a day is a lot – 85% of the waste being recyclable. Overflowing Memelakha. And no proper waste management system in place. A few ideas flung here and there – whether to employ a private firm to manage the wastes dig another landfill or buy an incinerator (which I don't really agree with). Make a decision and at least do something. Thimphu is not green either. May be a few roofs (I still remember the TCC's absurd regulation to paint the roofs green). Too few green spaces for people to enjoy. Neither a single energy efficient building (the BTF building in Taba may qualify as one) nor any efforts in this direction. The intra-city transportation system is still unattractive to many people. Too many gas-guzzlers. Proposal for electric trains and trams – I think we need more immediate, effective and simpler solutions. If Thimphu is any indicator, a green and clean Bhutan is definitely a distant, difficult dream. But we can achieve the dream if we tackle the problems head on. It is time for more action and less rhetoric. There are a few things that can be immediately done – 1. Make Civil Servants the ambassadors of a clean and green Bhutan – Everybody looks up to the civil servants in Bhutan. The Government should initiate the changes from within. Educate the civil servants on waste management and effective use of energy. Let them practice these things at home and in offices. The 17000 strong smart individuals can spread the messages more effectively to the general public. . Green Projects – The Government owns a large number of properties and vehicles. Evaluate if we are making efficient use of our office spaces? Are they energy efficient? Need we build more offices? And do we need many office vehicles? Make new infrastructures more environmentally friendly and energy efficient by using alternative building technologies and designs. The Environmentally Friendly Road Cons truction projects are some examples. We are building new towns – why cannot new towns like Denchi in Pema-Gatshel be designed as a green town? 3. Encourage the public – During the recent NA session, an MP said ‘attitude of people should change first, before leaving it to the concerned agencies to solve the problem'. This is indefensible. The government is the most able of all organizations and should take on the role of educating the public. If one channel of education doesn't work, try another. Encourage people to make/build their homes and offices environmentally friendly and energy efficient. There are many technologies available now. Provide financial incentives and technological assistance to procure them. The National Environment Protection Act 2007 provides for it. Allocate budget to make the provision 78 in the Act effective so that there is an uptake. We must not fall into the false sense of security that we live harmoniously with our environment and that we are doing enough because we have committed to maintain 60% of forest cover. The problems illustrated above are real and we risk being caught out sooner than later. Greener Way12 April, 2010 – A private firm has beaten the government to initiating a program to collect paper waste. The month-old firm called Greener Way has already collected seven tones of paper waste from various government agencies and schools. Its main objective is to save the environment, provide employment and keep Bhutan clean and green,† the owner of the firm, Kinga Om, said. The waste they collect will be sent to New Delhi, India. â€Å"It takes about 15 to 20 days to reach New Delhi through Jaigaon,† she said. Greener Way has sought all the 10 ministries’ help to collect paper waste. Kinga Om, a fresh graduate, said that, so far, most agencies Greener Way has approached have been cooperative and willing to bear the cost of the dustbins each of them would be using. Like any other private firm, Greener way also works seven days a week, from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm. So far, they have collected paper waste from the ministry of agriculture and forestry services. Rinchen high school, Rinchen Kuenphen primary school and the UNESCO (expand) office. Officiating chief forestry officer (CFO) at the nature conservation division said that they would also follow Greener Way and initiate the same by their ministry. â€Å"We’ll continue to support them and encourage such initiatives,† the officiating CFO said. Recycling is done to conserve on consumption of resources, energy and space used in landfills. Reports reveal that 90 percent of paper pulp is made from wood. Paper production accounts for about 35 percent of felled trees, and represents 1. 2 percent of world’s total economic output. It has been estimated that recycling half the world’s paper would avoid the harvesting of twenty million acres of forestland. The idea struck Kinga Om after four visits for research at Memelakha and finding out that 24 percent of waste is paper. It took about a month to set up their office near the automobile repair centre in Olakha, with help from Thimphu city cooperation (TCC), said Kinga Om. Before, the firm had a temporary junkyard at lower Motithang. Greener Way plans to set up branch offices in Gelephu, Samdrup jongkhar, Samtse, Thimphu and Chhukha. With the help of the education ministry, schools have been helping too. Rinchen high school was the first school to support in collecting paper waste. Greener Way will also be distributing its dustbins in Thimphu schools and later to rest of the schools in Bhutan within 10 days. Kinga Om has employed four university graduates and seven class XII graduates. â€Å"The toughest work is to collect waste from different places,† she said. â€Å"We request everyone in and around Bhutan not to throw paper waste but to collect it for us. †

Research and Development of Anti-Retroviral Drugs Essay

‘Discuss the reasons why the research and development of anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) has impacted differently on people suffering from HIV/AIDS in developed and developing world’ HIV/AIDS still does not have a know cure, but has a treatment that slows down the affects of HIV/AIDS which is called ARV (anti-retroviral drug) The ARV drug is a very â€Å"exclusive† drug because as it is very expensive, around $400 a month if not more depending on which stage you are in, and that is a huge dilemma because many people cannot afford to pay that amount of money so they are not able to receive the treatment. If people in the first world countries cannot receive the drug, how do people in the third world receive the drug? In third world countries the drugs are given to them for free, but on the 47% gets the full treatment. The drugs are given to them by of the drug company itself of other companies that buy the ARVs from the company and send it to the place where it is needed, for example Africa. Africa is the location where the most HIV/AIDS cases are, and is also the one getting the least amount of treatment. The reason for this is because the ARV drug company wants to get their money back for all the research they put in, so giving the ARVs for free would become a great loss economically for them. The first aspect of this issue is the social part. Infrastructure is a big problem because as buildings coast a lot to construct they are not able to put up many, and you must also have trained people able to work there, which are hard to find in Africa. There are very few amount of places where you can go get tested but they have a limited amount of treatments and supplies. This is a huge problem because if people go to get better they have to wait or not get better at all due to the lack of resources. I would solve this issue by having not many small structures but several big structures so the supplies have a greater chance to arrive and more money is used wiser and more efficiently. Another social aspect of this problem is the education. In Africa the education is something that not everyon e gets, so they are not aware about how they get the disease, how they can prevent it or what are  the affects. A reason for why in Africa they do not receive the education is because there are a very few amount of teachers, and the teachers that they have may also be contaminated and are not able to execute their job correctly. HIV/AIDS affects everyone in their community because the disease spreads fast in their case (the people in Africa). This is due to their sexual behavior. Their culture does not have monogamy or a custom of only one sexual partner, but they have many different sexual partners, and that is why HIV/AIDS spreads so quickly in Africa. They also do not use protection because it is not available to most people and so chances are higher to get HIV/AIDS. Another cultural aspect is that there is a lot of prejudice against testing. Many people do not want to get tested for HIV/AIDS because one, they are scared the test might come back positive, second if it does result positive how will they tell their family/friends and thirdly how will they get the treatment they need to get. If the people get tested and do want to not tell anyone, because of various reasons, and as a result the problem amplifies and does not get solved. Another problem for the cultural aspect is get the people to take responsibility and try to change. Of coarse it is easier to ignore the problem and pretend it is not there, but that would not be helping the matter, it would be making it worse. How to solve these problems would be, in my opinion, have protection available to them, encourage testing, reassure the people that there will be a treatment for them, make them understand the severity of this issue and that if we do not take action it may get a lot worse, have session/groups for them to talk about their worries, experience ect. However before doing this we must solve the bigger problem, how do we give them the treatment for free. Another aspect of the issue is the ethical/moral part. The richer countries to some extent have an obligation to help the poorer countries, but the third world countries should not relay or take advantage because also the richer countries have their own problems to solve. For insists America is going though a very tough crisis but at the same time they are helping the less fortunate get better. The poorer countries should also take action and do something to help themselves, because they should be putting the money where it really needs to go to, the people. This leads us to another aspect of the issue, the political portion. Politics have caused a lot of mayhems in the world because they sometimes do not have they  priorities sorted out. For example in Africa instead of investing their money in this issue of HIV/AIDS and the treatments, they have decided to invest their money on weapons and in their natural recourses such as oil. It is very hard to run a third world country but it should not be an excuse. To solve these concerns although it is a difficult task but one way to solve them, in my opinion, is to have people from the first world talk and discuss about what they can do together (with the people of the third world) instead of just have the first world do everything on their own. The last aspect of this issue is the economic part. Africa is already a poor continent, having a poor economy is not helping either. They do not have enough money to circulate and this stops Africa growing, having sick people also stops the economy from growing because it is another matter they have to face. Child labor increases due to the fact that the adults are sick and are unable to work and the poor people have no way in getting better because there aren’t enough doctors. In conclusion a way to resolve the problem in the distribution of the ARVs is to have several multi-national pharmaceutical companies sponsor the ARVs, so other independent companies do not have to buy the drug and then distribute them, but by sponsoring the drug, the ARV drug company directly gives the drug to the third world countries without loosing it’s money. The multi-national pharmaceutical companies get advertisement and so they also gaining not loosing their money. As you can see this is a win, win situation. The main issue here is that the ARV drug company does not want to loose the money that they put in research so they make the drug excessively high-priced because to produce the drug is a coast next to nothing. Once the people receive the treatment, they should help educate not only the affected people but also the people that haven’t been affected yet. I believe by doing this, the transmission of the HIV/AIDS with decrease significantly and things will start to get better. I do believe that this problem is solvable.

The New Republics by Chris Hughes Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The New Republics by Chris Hughes - Case Study Example It might have portrayed a callow and incompetent image of him in public. (Lizza, â€Å"Inside the Collapse of The New Republic†). The eruptive exit of most of the senior editorial staff and critics in a masthead, following the sudden resignation of Frank Foer and Leon Wieseltier, made the atmosphere of TNR turbulent. Many interpreted this as the revamp of magazine-style long reporting structure to follow a Silicon style way of going digital, with the advent of Vidra at TNR (Lizza, â€Å"Inside the Collapse of The New Republic†; Calderone, â€Å"Owner Chris Hughes and CEO Guy Vidra Say the New RepublicIsn’t Dead Yet†). In order to break shackles from the impending management pressures at TNR, Foer and Hughes started looking for a new CEO. Though there was an initial round of disagreement on getting someone hired from the magazine industry, Hughes welcomed Guy Vidra, a person with a strong corporate background for the position. With Vidra, the working climate in NR started changing. The traditional institutional model was fast changing and a separate investment vehicle was launched in the name of New Republic Fund. TNR started proclaiming itself as a vertically-integrated digital-media company of its kind (Calderone,† Owner Chris Hughes and CEO Guy Vidra Say The New Republic Isn't Dead Yet†; Horowitz,† David Brooks Calls New Republic Owner Chris Hughes Callow And Incompetent†). Hughes, joining hands with Vidra, was contemplating means of making more money and preventing wastage overcomplicated things. Hughes is conscious of the financial bloopers and has been always aware of the mistakes (Snyder, â€Å"The new Republic- A Letter from the Editor†). While, on the one hand, going digital might be the fashion trend, but on the other hand, a high level of competition causing immense impact in the journalism industry is unavoidable.

The Battle of the Bulge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Battle of the Bulge - Essay Example It had the aims of annexing and capturing France, Luxemburg and Belgium. The major front through which the encroachment was made included the Ardennes Forest. The aims were to take the enemy by surprise. Since the Germans had a knack of taking the rivals by surprise and gifted with the Blitzkrieg and other war instruments, the aims were to repeat the heroics that they had done so in the first phase of the Second World War when it overtook the minnows of the war in no time. Over two hundred and fifty thousand troops were engaged in this battle by the German high command and the point was clear, it had been done to break the sequence of frustration pouring events that had recently taken place in the course of Second World War. The battle had its repercussions upon the Western powers, United States of America and Germany. Each was deeply moved through the battle, it is therefore termed as one of the most critical points of war in those days of the entire episode of Second World War. The significance of this battle was the fact that the Western powers and their allies were caught completely off guard, they had little expected this and had no war insight of this one coming, as a result the impact fell upon the number of casualties suffered and other major losses incurred in the entire events that unfolded in this particular battle. United States also suffered damages in this particular battle. The battle had a direct impact on the German side as well. Having invested heavy in to this expedition, the Germans had to compromise on other fronts and in other battles in order to compensate for the manpower and the financial funds and armaments that were made for this particular endeavor undertaken. The main target was the American army’s 106 Division (Spiller, p 79). It did not enjoy great expertise or experience of such critical moments and it thereby failed to provide and deliver the heroics that were expected of

Microsoft and Corporate Social Responsibility Coursework

Microsoft and Corporate Social Responsibility - Coursework Example From the study, it was identified that Microsoft’s corporate social responsibility is restricted to the United States and the developed world. Hence, it is recommended that Microsoft must focus on the developing world and create a global CSR and transpose it to local units within which it operates. It is recommended that Microsoft must institute a proactive system of monitoring the civil society to identify what is most needed in a given locale so they can change their structures to provide the best and optimal level of support to people who are in need. It is also recommended that Microsoft must set up a system of creating software for evaluating and reviewing the needs of companies in relation to keeping their carbon emissions low so that their clients will institute and integrate environmental responsiveness into their operations.As the paper declares the fundamental purpose of this paper is to assess the component of corporate social responsibility in Microsoft in order to deduce a model for the conduct of structured CSR in Microsoft. This paper will examine the current features of Microsoft’s strategic plans and how it links up to the different components of the organisation include the economic, political, civil society and environment. From there, the research will recommend a plan for the attainment of CSR standards and targets for the firm.  Microsoft’s mission is to enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential.