Does Silver Alloy Coated Foley Catheters Reduce Urinary Catheter Research Paper

Does Silver Alloy Coated Foley Catheters Reduce Urinary Catheter Infections - Research Paper Example The use of catheters causes one of the most common health associated infections and is known as CAUTI or Catheters Associated Urinary Tract Infections. As CAUTI can deteriorate into a serious condition, preventive steps have to be taken to minimize it in the hospital environment as well as in other settings. One of the steps that are being carried out is the use of Foley catheters coated with silver alloy. These catheters, when used as part of indwelling catheterization, are said to reduce CAUTI sizably. Although other studies show that it provides only negligible positive results. So, this paper after analyzing six journal articles, its purpose, its results, strengths and weaknesses, will discuss whether silver alloy coated Foley catheters reduces UTI. The article, Audit of catheter-associated UTI using silver alloy-coated Foley catheters written by Coral Seymour discusses the advantages of using the silver alloy-coated Foley catheter in reducing the threat of CAUTI in an acute gene ral hospital. As part of the study, even before the use of silver alloy coated Foley catheters, the standard catheters were used for 10 weeks on particular patients and the prevalence of CAUTI was audited. Silver alloy-coated Foley catheters there were introduced among 117 newly catheterized patients, and they were monitored for signs of CAUTI for another 10 weeks. Then the results were audited and analyzed, and it clearly emerged that CAUTI incidence rate has decreased by 20%. Although, the period of 10 weeks for monitoring may seem little short to fully analyze the course of UTI, the fact that emerged is â€Å"silver alloy-coated Foley catheters proved to be cost-effective given the recognized additional costs of CAUTI and prolonged in-patient stay† (Seymour, 2006). The article, A prospective, controlled, randomized study of the effect of a slow-release silver device on the frequency of urinary tract infection in newly catheterized patients was authored by Reiche et al., an d it focuses on the efficacy of silver ions releasing systems including silver alloy coated Foley catheters regarding CAUTI. The study focused on 213 patients as part of a prospective controlled randomized trial. At the end of the trial, the authors state that there were reductions in UTI among subjects, who either used antibacterial devices like the Unometer 400 metering system or PP 2000N closed urine-bag system, as well as coated Foley catheter. However, the limitation with this study is, the difference between infection and non-infection in the subjects were not statistically significant (P < 0.05). In addition, the authors come to the conclusion that modifications to the Foley catheters and the urine-collecting systems in the form of silver coating and silver releasing may yield positive results, care should be taken to block the internal and external pathways of infection. In the article, The efficacy of silver alloy-coated urinary catheters in preventing urinary tract infecti on: a meta-analysis written by Sanjay Saint et al. discusses about the effectiveness of not only silver alloy coated Foley catheters, but also silver oxide coated ones as well. Instead of conducting trials directly, â€Å"published or unpublished articles were sought using MEDLINE, reference review, and correspondence with original authors, catheter manufacturers,

A dsdm outline plan

A dsdm outline plan Project initiation phase (1 page, not technical knowledge) Scope CSA projects will have a stepwise plan for doing prelimionary analysis before committing to the full scope of work, in the event of unknowns or surprises being within the scop;e of work. Scope is managed through the finance Department. The scope of CSA project is to develop and implement centralized management, sharing data and the supporting IT systems and infrastructure necessary to provide: A secure and trusted means by which data communication can share information. A framework for information sharing, which can be transferred to other branches; areas and regions to assist in the delivery of integrated person centered services. The opportunity to measure and explore KPIs and other operational issues which effect the transition of children for example; each children remark, records, personal info.etc. Feasibility Study  § Large or high-risk projects will usually include provisions for review and reassessment of scope of work at this stage. By prior agreement, there may be a go/ nogo decision at this point. Existing System Analysis: Mainly, there is no standard way that projects record information about users of their services. Some projects record using different ways of paper based system, spreadsheet to help maintain records. It is needed centralized management and powerful administration. It is like that to choose the RAD technique within the DSDM framework. Proposed system requirements were feasible in contract agreement between our development team and CSA. We have been decided to use the ‘Oracle Database (this have enterprise features, models) as a standard database to implement. Feasibility report will cover all the usual topics, but not in great details. If a project is seen to be feasible from the results of the study, the next logical step is to proceed with the full business plan. Business Study Objectives of Business to fulfill the business requirements of CSA, to solve each department responsible person in Area, Region, Administration. To make the CSA project better than the existing system, some of them will be needed to update information to meet business in marketplace. Stimulate innovative partnership practice in the voluntary and provider sector to further increase the volume of service available. Incremental and iterative development necessary to converge on an accurate business solution. Configuration management Configuration Management is a key factor in managing the evolving products (both software and documents). The changed plan or control procedure must be valid within the contract. If it is not, we cant take this trouble. Project Manger probably reports this ‘user request form to Change Control Board (high level management to make decisions) to confirm the change request, features. Another problem is scope changes because it takes more about features that some arent available in real time system when we implement. (Prototyping is used to help users visualize and request changes to the system as it is being built, allowing applications to evolve iteratively.) Delivery timeframe changes because we cant to get end product in the agree date. So, we must schedule again to balance about the urgent product. (Timeboxing is used to create artificially with customer agreement that was estimated at 12 weeks duration.) Product description and breakdown structure The product description considered about the CSA organization, firstly we must considered the products that are associated with Budget Estimation happens after contract for development of the CSA project. It is the mainly event to perform as soon as later contract. Requirements Analysis is essentially required to make assessment of which are the requirements in CSA. Develop specific functionality defined as to carry out the proposed functions described in contract as CSA requirements. Define CSA requirements are needed really to determine the system starts before. It is divided by functional and non-functional requirements. Define System requirements are also needed to get required performance, response time to perform the system tasks such as defining required hardware, software.etc. For methodology, DSDM is used for development. Organization Structure by product WBS Risk Management Risk Management Type The risk lists is periodically reviewed to evaluate the effectiveness of risk mitigation strategies, which in turn drives revisions to the project plan and subsequent iteration plans. Risk ID Responsible Person(s) Description likelihood Impact (L/M/H) Contingency Plan Rsk0000 Project Manager Delays in appointing key personnel Inability to meet target date L Project Board to progress appointments as a priority Rsk0001 Project Manager Insufficient skills / resources / capacity within the partnership when required Inability to meet target date H Ensure commitment at a senior level to deliver required resource Rsk0002 Board Of Directors (High level) Competition for Technology Partners resources Milestones missed H Plan and identify resource requirements early Rsk0003 Project Manager Poor co-operation between partners Decisions take longer L Adequate internal resources must be made available to the project appropriate representatives attend meetings The system is to be developed under the joint guidance of the Director of Administrative Services and the Finance Director. How to Reduce Risks A central contract database will overcome the problem of record duplication. This solves the different way of project recorded information about users of their services. We decided to choose ‘Oracle Database to implement the central database as a enterprise standard of CSA. It has the features of data secure functions of performance and reliability of the backup and recovery operations are critical to effective database operation. Monitor Control risks KPI helps the performance of indication of our CSA projects. It is essential to measure for each project. Risks monitoring and contingency plan are required together with KPIs. We must think of other potential risks such as hardware failure, disaster, staffs leaving etc. at the initiation stage before the development of CSA project. We must start taking care of during design phase before implementations. We must set up milestones, critical paths in CSA projects. In avoidance of risk, pre-consideration of overcome risks with contingency plan and risks training are essential. Contingency Planning Project Manager also monitors the project progress. The main tool for deciding on progress is the prioritized requirements rather than a Gantt chart of activities. The Gantt chart will show the timeboxes, but the supplementary documentation about what is to be produced in each timebox is far more important for control and monitoring purposes of CSA. Project manager must monitor on each of the phase finished before and after during the project. Limited duration solved by a milestone date, not to deviate the schedule he drew out before the project during planning stage. Security Management Steve Sutherland (Finance Director) says â€Å"There cant be a hard connection between the finance system we use and the MIS (Management Information System) as that would open up all sorts of security risks that we dont want to open up. We must think how we can share data between the two systems without compromising our finance system. Possible Solutions (Security review) //Unauthorisation of resources and data in order to decrease errors in activities of access level , CSA was going to manage the application software cover rights on single users to whom to prevent unauthorized access of secret information by this way we produce fully protection of database access to centralized office. CSA could be to ensure instruction to functions in the area of information maintaining, retrieving from program. For the recovery and backup purposes, CSAs privacy were secure because of the above functions. We must consider security before documents sent to the central office in London, each of regions and areas needed to scan for virus free. And then, must send the required documents to the central. How to control security Login to database (Enter valid code to access data from centralized office). Give authority to each person to access for each of their application. Some kind of security like Norton Antivirus kit for threats, virus, spams mail, for other different threats. That is required for CSA database and documents security needed for all regions and areas. Back up for important data at off-site to be secured. B) Prioritised Function Lists MosCoW analysis Source: Mr Tulley Sign Off: Mr Tulley Requirement id; Name R0001 Tulley (SA) Functional Requirement (s) -Centralized standard db (Must have) -Centralized management (Must have) -Record contracts info in current future(Must have) -Each projects linked to central contract(Must have) -Record core data about the projects, young people and their KPIs they are working with(Could have) -Secure personal data (accessing authorized person)(Should have) -Secure Data sharing between central to regions, areas,(Must have) -Accurate and update info, KPIs send back to Administrative (Must have) -Services Department every 3 months(Must have) -Sending data to Funding body to correct (Must have) -Produce regular monitoring reports for funding bodies(Want to have) -Send childrens KPIs to Administrative Service Department (to change data) (Must have) -Monitor childrens behavior, character in KPIs for admin(Could have) Assumption of functional requirements Project prioritization MoSCoW is required to prioritise. It can be divided by FMI or DBI. Implement the recommendations of the CSA, review establishing childrens records and review each of their KPIs. CSA with functions for the department of regional and areas for housing, family support, education training and tackling crime with this portfolio as their primary responsibility. Fulfill the requirements for each contract linked to central contract. Provide support to develop oracle database for centralized offices to ensure more effective way for branches such as areas, regions and related partner. We have to consult to agree functions with the Board of Trustees. As an additional info, CSA should be provided Alcohol and Drugs free zone. From each department to central offices can send KPIs information safety related with administrative department. Secure data sharing is also needed to develop among them. Staff must be trained on new system established for training case to know how Oracle database system works. Training and qualifications are necessary to respond to send data vice versa. We must define staff level or permission to access data, records. We have responsibility to manage IT training course for young people who have previously committed crime. Training should be refreshed on a periodic basis. For example, holidays, duties off. C) Non-functional Requirements Specification Non-functional Requirement (s) -Accessibility () -Reliability() -Responsibility() Safety and Efficiency(DBI) -Consistency() Accuracy() Description -The above requirements are permitted by Project Board. Target Value Acceptable Range: ok Comments: Assumption on non-functional requirements In addition, donation for young children from online should be able to meet with people who want to donate. Data collection and management issues will substantially affect the usefulness of data sources; therefore, the quality of collected data must be consistently accurate and maintainable. Provide overall product management oversight with respect to non-functional requirements, such as: accuracy; reliability; maintainability; affordability; privacy; and security, etc. Accessibility From administrative department can be accessible each childrens records every time they require. Data should be accessible for use with commonly available analytical tools(eg. Oracle database) 1.3 KPIs measures for accessing childrens records as described in. Reliability 2.1 CSA system is needed to design easy to use and match with user requirements. Responsibility 3.1 Authorized person to access detailed children information must be able to support administration/response as well as to monitor children for progress. Safety and Efficiency 4.1 Secure information is needed to prevent by the ways (encryption) from central office to branch or branch to central office. The data between central and branch essentially networking service security is required to think. Consistency Automated reporting tools and pre-defined report templates should be supported to ensure consistency and quality. SECTION -B Critical Evaluation Of DSDM Toolset Report for CSA From : Jack (Project Manager) To : CSA organization Subject : Critical Evaluation of DSDM toolset Title : Development of the Management Information System for CSA Author : Jack (PM) Date : 18/8/09 Authorisation : Project Board of Trustees Distribution : CSA organization 1) Critique of DSDM toolset (2000) //There are many consideration upon a case tool used in implementation of DSDM. CSA organizations alter in how much must easy accept or construct in the job training.An organization that is used to the authorization responsibility and trading in a way taking precaution to problems and that a lot carefully with the relation to customers already works very on the project will often find it is similar in many ways to that what is made currently, but that happened some hardness, terminology common and useful tools to the project.To the other hierarchical organizations much with concentrating narrow onto a contract details, will have to make attention approximately introduction, the location of the project adapted and initially taking care outside in more than a method for project phases. The power tools utilized in Rapid Application Development are Computer-Aided Systems Engineering (CASE) tools. The RAD methodology uses both computerized tools and human techniques to achieve the goals of high-speed and high quality. //Depending on the user participation, that is one of the RAD method happens choosing users to get more agreement and effective way described in User involvement at stages of system life cycles. Purchaser of a RAD tool environment should think carefully before buying. Show understanding of the key issues relating DSDM toolset Valuate the tools used Show evidence of research Produce a well structured essay Identify benefits and drawbacks with relevant examples Examples from case study(DSDM tools) Peter Jackson (Area Manager) used Microsoft Excel as he went on a course. The only problem is that it takes a white to find individual pieces of data which is always annoying when we are trying to fill in the returns for Julieanne (IQ Officer, Administrative Services Department )s KPIs. It can often take a couple of days getting all that data together. In current position, there is no standard way that projects record information about users of their services. Some projects record their data using a paper based system whilst others have created simple databases or spreadsheets to help maintain records. One or two of the larger projects have invested heavily in IT and building their own databases to meet their requirements. We dont want is to get distracted with providing projects with a system to manage individual young peoples cases, records of interviews with the young person and so on. That would be far too complex at this stage. // DSDM supports that the RAD only it is adapted to determines kinds of applications with functionality to customer interface, has a group of customers easily defined, they are not too complex and have fixed requirements that are not too much details. DSDM supports that RAD is not adapted to applications in real time or emergency-critics to applications where requirement works. It must completely be specifies before that all programs are written.Therefore, RAD would only appear to the part of address of collection of applications. Disadvantages of the DSDM: It is involved the progressive development of requirement. Focus on RAD can lead in order to reduce in lines of code. Complete engagement of the requirement to the DSDM processes. Meaningful Participation of the customer for requirements Requires In an expert team developed in the commerce that represents IT. Ethics of people for change Successful change requires a number of things. We now face the problem of using different databases in different departments. So It is not easy to managed Objectives have to be set and attained; an existing system being analysis. Questionaire (Effective User Communication) This tool takes the form of a questionnaire in which the applicability of an iterative approach to functional areas in the organization is checked. The Organization Filter (KPIs) is intended as a ‘thermometer with which to measure the situation with regard to iterative development in a company or unit at a particular moment. It is intended only as a diagnostic instrument. The aim of the CSA is mainly to develop in the matter of children and to control each region and areas centrally and secure. The use of KPIs is to measure each student behavior, project performance progress. o Incremental and iterative development necessary to converge on an accurate business solution. We can take the form of a questionnaire, similar to the CSA project requirements. We look at the organization and/or the organizational unit as a whole. We serve to map the project risks, while KPIs is an instrument with which to map the situation in the organization concerned. This section contains the complete CSA questionnaire, with an accompanying Explanation for every questions. The questionnaire is divided into eight areas for evaluation: Users (Children Support) User management (CSA Centralized management) Organization (CSA Organization Structure) Culture (CSA culture) IT staff (CSA IT staff) IT management (CSA IT Development) Management organization (CSA management) Techniques (Standard use of method and database) There are a number of questions per area, intended to provide a picture of the organisations receptivity to an iterative approach for each area. Although the areas follow one another in the questionnaire, this sequence does not have to be followed. However, the questions within an area follow a conscious order, from general to specific. Critical Analysis of how the tools used(DSDM tools) RAD technique (Even though many criticize the RAD approach as being overly ad hoc in nature, it must be remembered that the reason for its popularity throughout the 1990s was that it was perceived as providing significant customer value that is a working prototype was generally considered of much greater value to the typical business customer for whom using dataflow diagrams, entity-relationship diagrams, and other formal documents produced by a heavy methodology (DSDM, XP, Scrum). Difficulties of RAD May be used as an excuse for hacking a solution resulting in: Poor understanding of environment and business requirements. Insufficient testing and subsequent unforeseen problems. Poor documentation and difficulties with enhancement. Client and user commitment. Changing user requirements. Prototyping method Selecting a set of CASE tools to support modeling, prototyping, and code re usability, as well as automating many of the combination of techniques. This is the sign of conceptual model to provide support the components of functional and non-functional of project. A technique where a component that is produced to assess whether or not the system will be fit for purpose. A prototype need not be complete and tested with respect to all its related functional and non-functional requirements, the aim is to try out some aspect of the project to prove its ability to meet the needs of the Users. Examples include architectural prototypes to prove some new technology and user interface prototypes to try out the user interaction with the system. Critique of prototyping include the following: Client can be seen this as final product. May lead to insufficient analysis due to the ease of development. Difficult for developers to discard and start creating the final product from scratch. Estimation tools Cost estimation tools, or model-based estimation techniques use data collected from past projects combined with mathematical formulae to estimate project cost. They usually require factors such as the system size as inputs into the model. The main model-based techniques include COCOMO, SLIM, RCA PRICE-S, SEER-SEM, and ESTIMACS. These estimation models produce an estimate of the cost, effort or duration of a project based on factors such as the size and desired functionality of the system. The work breakdown structure (WBS) of the project or a piece of work into its component. Projects can be resource-constrained (limited by the type of people, monetary or hardware resources available) or time-constraint (limited by the deadline). When management fails to participate in the preparation of the estimate, and does not monitor the accuracy of the estimate, this is believed to contribute to the estimate being inaccurate. Inaccuracy also occurs when management does not refer to the estimate when conducting performance reviews of estimators and other project personnel. Causes of Inaccurate Estimates in Systems Development Estimation inaccuracy can also be caused from a lack of procedures and policies on how to deal with failures and avoid repeating mistakes by learning from past experiences. The estimation process can be impacted negatively by these pressures resulting in time or cost constraints. Software managers may over-report causes of inaccuracy that lie outside their responsibility, such as customer-related causes. Project managers therefore have to be aware of the implications that political factors can have on IS development estimation. DSDM Charts toolset// Charts toolset as it was required to show what tasks are critical that are important when activity goes. There are activities of sequence in or some are parallel tasks that are not dependent on the completion of task more or less at each stage before next stage of project begins. We can start other tasks after one stage ends .Tasks from Pert Charts were shown as the critical path by the view of estimation of time at each stage of project. It is slightly view of how to estimate the length of time to be shortened and to prevent taking long time activities. JAD (Joint Application Development) Analysis A forum for knowledgeable and empowered staff from business and IT to make decisions and produce products through consensus, controlled and enabled by an impartial facilitator. Also known as a ‘Facilitated Workshop†. Also known as facilitated workshop, for user participation matter. Workshop Leader who organizes and conducts the workshops for Joint Requirements Planning and Joint Application Design. Critique of JAD (Joint Application Development) Using workshops, instead of interviews, to gather requirements and review design. Analysis of case materials shows significant critique is attached to the efficacy of the JAD sessions. Analysis suggests that a lack of proactive leadership towards the JAD workshops, and of the management of people activities within the JAD sessions would have facilitated more focused productivity towards development objectives, promoted a shift away from former cultures to acceptance of new working behaviours. The new integrated team-working environment of a RAD-type approach meant that people experienced uneasiness in the team workshops. People found it difficult to present their ‘thinking in front of their colleagues and this was a key concern for the developers, the cultural issue is that organizational people felt they were answerable to their line manager; consequently they were apprehensive about expressing their views. Several of those interviewed on the organizational side were reluctant to voice options in workshops if their managers were also present, they did not feel on an equal plane, and therefore did not contribute effectively. Critique of Prioritization(MoSCoW approach) MoSCoW is an acronym where the capital letters stand for Must have, Should have, Could have, Wont have this time. These provide a technique for prioritizing requirements. As the case indicates, the MoSCoW (a DSDM technique) appears not to be very suitable for this situation due to the difficulty of prioritizing requirements. The same holds for timeboxing, for which there must be a fixed date for the project, or for an increment, or for an iteration. Critique of MoSCoW Time to make not enough all. Resources in order to make not enough all. Lack or money or lack of people. Critique of TimeBoxing Analysis Development slots fixed in allocated time and resources; variable in implemented functionalities; Time box content priorities is negotiated at each Iteration. Implementing time-boxed development that allows development teams to quickly build the core of the system and implement refinements in subsequent releases. A period of time with a fixed end-date in which a team produces, checks and agrees a deliverable (partial or complete) or set of such deliverables. DSDM has an overall time box for the project which contains nested time boxes for day-to-day management and control. The timeframe is not subjective to change, rather functional requirements are prioritized within the timebox and less essential features may have to wait to be included and built into future iterations. RAD has been criticised for being fairly unstructured approach and there is no commonly defined framework for its completion. Disadvantages of TimeBoxing// Customers enable to agree the products delivery covered from timebox to finish end date.If it seems that the expirations could be lacked, the deliverable would have to be de-scoped, to eliminate more than insufficient priority that is it must have and be able while to have requirement it can slip the timeline bases identically.The continuous negotiation of that what is important is to develop and is worked to with and is comes agreement . DSDM shows timeboxing nested timeboxes for example it nested timebox more than two to six weeks inside the timebox. Configuration management tools For high criticality systems, additional measures to ensure good communications and improved controls are needed. Additional project management controls should be used around risk management and a wider use of Configuration and Change Management tools, along with increased testing effort. These steps attempt to increase project communications, actively mitigate risks and detect issues and tolerance exceptions earlier in the project. Agile methodology analysis// While our teams continue to adopt and to regulate the agile development to the inside of their organizations so we can face the challenges of coordination and control of the multiple groups, the positions and the plans continue to increase. The plan complexity more reinforced that is why the agile atmospheres embrace programs and the priorities changing in real time.Consequently, the requirement of the senses to easy control this complexity inside the context of single, constant structure is critical to elevate the value and the happened one of our agile activities of development.The procurement way that uses the agile methods to give to the competent suppliers a small with of the characteristic in order transporting and seeing that what supplies. Show evidence of research -risks Identify benefits and drawbacks with relevant examples Cutover During this phase the new system will be phased-in in a parallel manner (alongside the old system), whilst users endure final training and testing ensuring system adequacy, eventually leading to the old systems develop. While the system is being constructed, we use the CASE toolset to accomplish detailed design and code generation, must be poised to move quickly. At the end of the development cycle, the Cutover Team, which handles training and cutover, must be ready to move quickly.

life of pi :: essays research papers

Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel is one of Canada"s most acclaimed books. It tells the story of sixteen-year-old Pi Patel"s journey while he discovers religion and his own determination and strength. This book is highly recommended for many reasons including the insightful views expressed on religion and life, the interesting facts on zoology, and the author"s unique talent in making something that at first glance seemed totally unrealistic become reality – humour inserted along the way! First of all, it is obvious that Pi Patel learns to have a very open mind when it comes to religion as he has embraced three of them, resulting in a unique Hindu-Christian-Muslim boy. His interesting views on the different religions lead the readers to broaden their horizons and have an open mind to different religions. His analogies were also quite humorous, for example, when comparing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ to his father feeding him to the lions because the latter killed two llam as, a black buck, a camel, painted storks, grey herons, and 'who"s to say for sure who snacked on our golden agouti?'. In addition, Pi Patel"s journey helped him have a great view on life and its value, allowing him to give many anecdotes that make the reader stop and think. For example: 'I have nothing to say of my working life, only that a tie is a noose, and inverted though it is, it will hang a man nonetheless if he"s not careful.' Secondly, this book is packed with zoological information including mating, hunting, and sleeping habits of a variety of animals from hippopotamuses to 'meerkats' (small African carnivorous burrowing mammals). Also, it includes many circus trainer tactics for lions and tigers, such as using foreign surroundings, having an erect posture, a calm demeanour, a steady gaze, a fearless step forward, a strange roar, etc. Also, Pi Patel"s very original view on how animals are indeed happy in a zoo was very enlightening for anyone who has ever felt sorry for the entrapped animals, feeling that the latter were not 'free'. According to this boy, animals in the wild are driven by necessity in an environment where the supply of fear is high and the supply of food is low, whereas the environment in a zoo is quite contrary. Also, animals are quite territorial (no matter what the territory is) and they protect it, not because they are prisoner of it, but because they are landholder of it. life of pi :: essays research papers Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel is one of Canada"s most acclaimed books. It tells the story of sixteen-year-old Pi Patel"s journey while he discovers religion and his own determination and strength. This book is highly recommended for many reasons including the insightful views expressed on religion and life, the interesting facts on zoology, and the author"s unique talent in making something that at first glance seemed totally unrealistic become reality – humour inserted along the way! First of all, it is obvious that Pi Patel learns to have a very open mind when it comes to religion as he has embraced three of them, resulting in a unique Hindu-Christian-Muslim boy. His interesting views on the different religions lead the readers to broaden their horizons and have an open mind to different religions. His analogies were also quite humorous, for example, when comparing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ to his father feeding him to the lions because the latter killed two llam as, a black buck, a camel, painted storks, grey herons, and 'who"s to say for sure who snacked on our golden agouti?'. In addition, Pi Patel"s journey helped him have a great view on life and its value, allowing him to give many anecdotes that make the reader stop and think. For example: 'I have nothing to say of my working life, only that a tie is a noose, and inverted though it is, it will hang a man nonetheless if he"s not careful.' Secondly, this book is packed with zoological information including mating, hunting, and sleeping habits of a variety of animals from hippopotamuses to 'meerkats' (small African carnivorous burrowing mammals). Also, it includes many circus trainer tactics for lions and tigers, such as using foreign surroundings, having an erect posture, a calm demeanour, a steady gaze, a fearless step forward, a strange roar, etc. Also, Pi Patel"s very original view on how animals are indeed happy in a zoo was very enlightening for anyone who has ever felt sorry for the entrapped animals, feeling that the latter were not 'free'. According to this boy, animals in the wild are driven by necessity in an environment where the supply of fear is high and the supply of food is low, whereas the environment in a zoo is quite contrary. Also, animals are quite territorial (no matter what the territory is) and they protect it, not because they are prisoner of it, but because they are landholder of it.

To Kill a Mockingbird: Innocence

A songbird's melody can evoke happiness in anyone, as can the smiling face of a child. The mockingbird sings for the sake of singing, and an innocent child possesses an inborn joyfulness, as natural as instinct. Yet a mockingbird's song dies as easily as the innocence of a child. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and Jem are portrayed as innocents, uncorrupted by our world of prejudice and racism. Their world is simple, sensible, a child's world.However, three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus, are consumed by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. By the end of the novel, their world has expanded to enclose the irrational nature of humans. Jem and Scout's growing up is portrayed by a series of events that shatters their innocence as easily as a mockingbird can be silenced.Lee uses a combination of insignificant and profound events: the trial of Tom Robinson, Walter C unningham, and their relationship with Boo Radley to develop and display the children’s growth in maturity. One of the first cracks in Scout’s armour of naivete occurs due to the fact that she speaks her mind. On Scout’s first day of school Scout tries to explain to her teacher that she is embarrassing Walter Cunningham by offering him something that he will not be able to pay back. Scout realizes that because her teacher is not a local, she will not know that about the Cunningham’s, but Scout's explanation gets her into trouble.When Scout explains â€Å"Walter’s one of the Cunningham’s,† (26), she was not trying to be insulting, but Miss Caroline mistakes her frank and innocent explanation as arrogance or rudeness and punishes her for it. Scout's perception of the world and her classmates is not yet marred by the social divisions that adults see. When Scout has Walter over for a meal Scout really does insult Walter this time as she q uestions the way he eats by saying â€Å"But he’s gone and drowned his dinner in syrup† (32) and makes him feel self-conscious.She is not doing it intentionally, she is just curious because she has never seen people who eat that way. She is too young to understand the social graces of Southern hospitality that dictate that you are always to make people feel at home and welcome no matter how unusual their habits may be. Scout and Jem are surrounded by racism and prejudice as children, but until they mature , they do not see it for what it is, until something enormously, obviously wrong occurs close to home. At first Scout does not understand what is wrong and keeps asking Jem questions about what is happening.While Atticus is asking questions directed to Mayella, â€Å"Slowly but surely [she] could see the pattern of Atticus’ questions† (244). Although this shows that Scout’s understanding about her father has improved, she is still oblivious to the deeper meaning of the trial. While Jem is explaining to Dill, Scout â€Å"supposes† it is â€Å"the finer points of the trial† (252). With Jem being able to do this, this proves that Jem has matured greatly since the beginning. But what surprised Scout and blew Jem away was the obvious unfairness of the verdict.When Jem states â€Å"You just can’t convict a man on evidence like that,† proves that Jem realizes the injustice that Tom Robinson faced (295). Atticus has shielded Scout and her brother from any outward prejudice against blacks. However, even he could not keep out the thought that coloured were not quite the same. Racism has been so deeply ingrained that Scout didn't realize its intensity and results until that tragedy opened her eyes. As a result, racism and its effects entered the ever-expanding world of the Finch children.Because of the perspective of childhood innocence, Boo Radley is given no identity apart from the youthful superstitions t hat surround him, and it is these superstitions that leave Jem and Scout oblivious to the fact that Boo just wants to protect them. Scout at first describes Boo as a â€Å"malevolent phantom,† (10) while Jem illustrates him as a â€Å"six-and-a-half feet tall† man that â€Å"dined on raw squirrels and any cats he could catch† (16). With these expressions they demonstrated how innocent the children are.After the children have found gifts inside a knot hole in a tree, their father finds out about their â€Å"game†. When Atticus witnesses his children leaving a note in the hole, he believes his children are causing harm so he tells them to â€Å"stop tormenting the man† (65). When Atticus says, â€Å"You just told me,† Jem did not realize that without actually saying that they were playing the Boo Radley game he still admitted to his father that that is what they were doing. Originally portrayed as a freak and a lunatic, Boo Radley continues to gain the sympathy of the children.When Nathan Radley closes the hole, Scout sees it as no more gifts, but Jem takes it more to heart. Nathan Radley claims that the â€Å"tree’s dying† (83) so Jem asks his father where he says that the tree is fine. When Jem realizes that Nathan had just cut off their connection, he was â€Å"crying,† (84). It is when Scout and Jem need saving that Scout understands that Boo was just merely looking out for them. While saying â€Å"Hey Boo† in person, this shows how mature Scout has gotten during the three years (362).Scout losses her innocence when she realizes that Boo Radley has given so much to them- gifts in the tree, a warm blanket on a cold night, folded up pants on a fence and their LIVES, but they have never repaid him. As if they were the harmless songbirds, the children's innocence is shattered by these events. Through their interactions with Walter, Tom’s trial and Boo Radley social prejudice, racism, mo bs, and â€Å"social exceptions† are now a part of their world. The naivete and purity have been replaced by the knowledge of human nature and the corruption of our world. The world is no longer simple, and the mockingbird is dead.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Studying in Foreign Universities

During this era, students who have completed their secondary studies may want to further their studies in local universities or foreign universities. The students may either find a job after leaving their school or further their studies in university. Some of the well to do students may opt for foreign universities. But there are advantages and disadvantages while students pursuing their studies in foreign universities.The advantage of pursuing studies in foreign universities is, they have better exposure and wider knowledge. Foreign universities are prestigious and reputable. They hired experienced lectures to teach the students, resulting the students improved tremendously, as the students will understand the topic easily. The university has a big and cozy school compound for students to release their stress. They are also providing with complete facilities for students such as well equip library, research center, free wi-fi spot and many more for students to access. Students will be able to do their project or assignment while using these facilities.The other advantage of pursuing studies in universities is they can acquaint new friends from other parts of the world. Students will have to leave their beloved parents and friends when they head to overseas. However, universities will organize some social activities to allow the new intakes to meet their new friends before they start their semester. The new intakes will be able to find their new friends here during orientation through hobbies and common interest. If the students have depended on their family members at home to do their daily chores, he or she will have to seek their friends when they are abroad.Last but not least, the crucial advantage of pursuing studies in foreign universities is to be self- independent that is once students leave their cozy home, there will be no one to wash up their clothes, tidy up their messy room, prepare and cook delicious meal and no one to greet them good morning nor good night. Therefore, students have to manage things, make decision and do all their housework by themselves.Besides the advantages, there are also disadvantages. The disadvantage is that their parents have to pay an expensive fee in order for them to complete their education abroad. Some the students may come from a medium family and has the opportunity to pursue their studies in foreign universities but they faced financial constraint to pay for their school fees. This forced them to get part time jobs in order pay their own fees. It will be tough for them as they have to rush to the working place after their studies. Some of them just gave up and they packed their bags and headed back to their own country due to financial problem. However, they are still some of them who studied hard while struggling with the fees problem, as they trusted there is always a rainbow waiting for them after the rainstorm.The next disadvantage is students may be homesick. They may feel lost when they are new in the unfamiliar city. They will feel anxiety if they cannot adapt to it. This may cause students to lost their initial aims, their fighting spirit and they start fleeing to places to escape from the reality such as pubs. This is will ruin their education if they cannot extract themselves from that negative emotion. In conclusion, everything has its pros and cons in it where there is always advantages and disadvantages of pursuing studies in a foreign universities and one may excel if one work hard despite far away from home.

The Economy of Ancient Corinth essays

The Economy of Ancient Corinth essays Present and past cultures have many similarities. One similarity comes to mind that stands above them all. I'm referring to the comparison of today's stock market to the exchange of goods within the ancient cities of Greece, in particular, the city of Corinth. One of the most economically important communities in ancient Greece was the city of Corinth. But what made Corinth, or Korinthos as known in those times, such a vital part of the country's commerce? After searching for an answer, I learned that Corinth's most advantageous asset was its geography. Corinth was favorably situated for trade by land and by sea. Located on the narrow Isthmus that connects southern and central Greece, Corinth possessed a unique location compared to any other city (Sacks 1995:66). This site not only allowed Corinth to manage the traffic along the Isthmus, but also made it simple to control passage between the Aegean and Ionian Seas. Another advantage given to this city was the development of a special roadbed built across the Isthmus enabling transshipment of cargo between seas. This emerged as a tremendous benefit to the transport of merchandise as seafarers preferred to avoid the arduous voyage around the tip of southern Greece. Additionally, the development of the roadbed earned Corinth significant revenue from sales and harbor taxes (Martin 1999:1). Corinth's glory days came in the 600s and early 500s B.C. Not only did its shipping network stand above other cities, but it also became a manufacturing center for many products (Sacks 1995:66). As the city prospered, Corinth became famous for its skilled workers in bronze and clay amid the rest of the mercantile world. Among other products, beautifully painted pottery became one of the main exports of Corinth. Its Geometric pottery dominated all markets during this period. It became a luxury item even outside the Greek culture (Grant 1986:187). Excavations in other cultural site...

khan essays

khan essays Morris Rossabi was the first to write this English-language biography on the man, Khubilai Khan. Rossabis book first goes into the Mongol history and how they started to emerge from the Steppes of Mongolia and how they were able to invade China with success. The rest of the book is on Khubilai Khans rule in China and how what he did as an Emperor for the Chinese culture and how the Mongol control in China crumbled after his death in A.D. 1294. Rossabi does this well by starting how with telling about the Mongols first before jumping into Khubilai Khan. The Author then goes into detail how Khubilai Khan then came to power. Rossabi even brings up Khubilai Khans mother and what type of person she was. Sorghaghtani Beki was a remarkably intelligent woman and had high ambitions for her sons. Rossabi also mentions that Khubilai Khan, when he became Emperor, also held a court that had many different types of thinkers and people of different beliefs. It was Khubilai Khans court that the great European explorer, Marco Polo, reached and traded with. While Rossabi does a great job of covering everything in Khubilai Khans history, he makes the text dry. Rossabi seems to slug his way through the social and economic problems and programs that Khubilai Khan had. He then brings this section up again later on in the book with the Mismanagement and the Chinese Response chapter. Overall, Rossabi does a good job on this history of Khubilai Khan. He was able to take a figure that to the western mind was a mythical or legendary character. Rossabi, though somewhat dry, wrote a book that is filled with information about the man and the time that he lived in. Rossabi was the first man to create the heaven and earth and started checking out what the world would had been if he was not there. I hope he gets to go to his place because Im very excited for him to be with me for the rest ...

Profile Dolores Huerta, Co-Founder of the United Farm Workers

Profile Dolores Huerta, Co-Founder of the United Farm Workers Known for:  co-founder and a leader of the United Farm Workers Dates: April 10, 1930 - Occupation: labor leader and organizer, social activist Also known as: Dolores  Fernndez Huerta About Dolores Huerta Dolores Huerta was born in 1930 in Dawson, New Mexico. Her parents,  Juan and Alicia Chavez Fernandez, divorced when she was very young, and she was raised by her mother in Stockton, California, with the active help of her grandfather, Herculano Chavez. Her mother worked two jobs when Dolores was very young. Her father watched the grandchildren. During World War II, Alicia Fernandez Richards, who had remarried, ran a restaurant and then a hotel, where Dolores Huerta helped out as she grew older. Alicia divorced her second husband, who had not related well to Dolores, and married Juan Silva. Huerta has credited her maternal grandfather and her mother as the primary influences on her life. Dolores also was inspired by her father, whom she saw infrequently until she was an adult, and by his struggles to make a living as a migrant laborer and coal miner. His union activity helped inspire her own activist work with a Hispanic self-help association. She married in college, divorcing her first husband after having two daughters with him. Later she married Ventura Huerta, with whom she had five children. But they disagreed over many issues including her community involvements, and first separated and then divorced.  Her mother helped her support her continuing work as an activist after the divorce. Dolores Huerta became involved in a community group supporting farm workers which merged with the AFL-CIOs Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC). Dolores Huerta served as secretary-treasurer of the AWOC. It was during this time that she met Cesar Chavez, and after theyd worked together for some time, formed with him the National Farm Workers Association, which eventually became the United Farm Workers (UFW). Dolores Huerta served a key role in the early years of farmworker organizing, though she has only recently been given full credit for this. Among other contributions was her work as the coordinator for East Coast efforts in the table grape boycott, 1968-69, which helped to win recognition for the farm workers union. It was during this time that she also became connected with the growing feminist movement including connecting with Gloria Steinem, who helped influence her to integrate feminism into her human rights analysis. In the 1970s Huerta continued her work directing the grape boycott, and expanding to a lettuce boycott and a boycott of Gallo wine.  In 1975, the national pressure brought results in California, with the passage of legislation recognizing the right of collective bargaining for farmworkers, the Agricultural Labor Relations Act. During this period she had a relationship with Richard Chavez, a brother of Cesar Chavez, and they had four children together.   She also headed up the farm workers unions political arm and helped lobby for legislative protections, including maintaining the ALRA. She helped found a radio station for the union, Radio Campesina, and spoke widely, including lectures and testifying for protections for farm workers. Dolores Huerta had a total of eleven children.  Her work took her away from her children and family frequently, something she expressed regret for later. In 1988, while demonstrating peacefully against the policies of candidate George Bush, she was severely injured when police clubbed the demonstrators. She suffered broken ribs and her spleen had to be removed. She eventually won a considerable financial settlement from the police, as well as changes in police policy on handling demonstrations. After her recovery from this life-threatening attack, Dolores Huerta returned to working for the farm workers union.  Shes credited with holding the union together after the sudden death of Cesar Chavez in 1993. Sources Susan Ferriss, Ricardo Sandoval, Diana Hembree (editor). The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement. Paperback, 1998.

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 132

Summary - Essay Example With the diversification of learner enrolment, it is evident that the teaching processes also needed to change. The combination of the traditional learning and online teaching-blended learning- has proven useful for the century’s teaching (Poon, 2013). Despite the challenges that come with the blended learning especially when it comes to online learning, this form of learning has been termed cost effective as lots of materials are placed online, and can be utilized over years depending on their suitability. Learners’ satisfaction has also been a major benefit of this form of learning. Poon (2013) says that lots of learners showed perseverance and dedication in the learning process. Other displayed critical thinking skills as opposed to the ones who were simply exposed to face-to-face learning. Conclusively, it is justified to argue that online learning has been greatly beneficial to the learning process as it has greatly boosted the â€Å"traditional† learning. Online learning has presented opportunities to embrace technology in the learning

Discuss some of the reasons why the Greeks were successful in every Essay

Discuss some of the reasons why the Greeks were successful in every major battle during the Persian Wars (490-79 BC) - Essay Example The Persian Empire under the rule of Xerxes and Darius were defeated. There was a series of battles which took place in the Persian Wars, some lost by the Greeks, and some won. Following is a short account of how the Greeks managed to win most of the battles in the Persian Wars.1i The Siege of Naxos took place in 499 BC. This battle marks the start of the Persian Wars which lasted for about fifty years. The Milesian tyrant Aristagoras had the full support of Darius the Great of the Persian Empire in the futile attempt to take over the island of Naxos in the name of the Persian Empire. This attempt of Aristagoras however failed horribly. Aristocrats who had been exiled from the island of Naxos and were looking for a way to go back to their land contacted Aristagoras. Aristagoras saw this as an opportunity to make his position in the Miletus stronger. For assistance in this matter, Darius the Great and Artaphernes the local satrap were consulted and plans were made to conquer Naxos. The Persians agreed to g on the mission of conquering Naxos and a force of 200 triremes was assigned to Megabates. The mission however soon turned out to be a complete disaster. On the way to Naxos, Aristagoras and Artaphernes broke out into a quarrel and the Naxians were informed a bout the oncoming force beforehand, quite possibly by Artaphernes. Upon the arrival of Persians at the gate of Naxos, they encountered Naxos as a city which was prepared to the fullest to undertake and go through a siege. The attackers were obliged to attack in spite of the great defense as they had travelled a long way but after four months of no success in the battlefield they ran out of money and resources and had to retreat back to Asia Minor. Aristagoras sensed that after this disaster he would no longer be appointed to rule and so he turned the people of Ionia against Darius the Great and rebelled against him. The Ionian Revolt and the failed attempt to conquer Naxos angered Darius

Visual Representation of Public Health Leadership Theory Assignment

Visual Representation of Public Health Leadership Theory - Assignment Example Similarly, the visual representation is directly linked to healthcare organizations, this is more specific, as compared to the literature of Zalenznik, A. (1977), which discusses the leadership aspect, but does not link the discussion directly to health care organizations. The visual representation is also diverse, with regard to the purpose of healthcare organizations. In the literature, Vladeck (1992) considered that the major purpose of healthcare organizations is only the public interest. However, in the visual representation, it has been shown that healthcare organizations have other responsibilities that are not tied to the public, to fulfil. For instance, this shows that healthcare organizations have responsibilities to fulfil for the employees of the organization, other organizations of same interest and the state, and finally, the community and society, which can be labelled as the public. In addition, the visual representation provides a system that healthcare organizations can adopt in order to ensure that they fulfil their mandate to the public. In the literature, there was no provision of a system that could help healthcare organizations and their leaders to protect their clients, and fulfil their mandate to the public. However, by clarifying the values that a leader should embrace, as well as the different relationships they should value and strengthen, the visual representation offers public health organizations and leaders a way of ensuring that they fulfil their mandate appropriately. The visual representation is also broader in its approach to leadership in public health. This is not inclined to only one aspect of leadership, as in the case of Vroom (2007), who only addresses the situational aspects of leadership in public health. The visual representation has addressed the values of a leader, relationships, outcomes, as well as antecedents. This has also shown how the leadership values can be acquired by an individual.  

Grammar and Syntax Resource Guide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Grammar and Syntax Resource Guide - Essay Example It will also describe the emphasis offered by each site regarding grammar and illustrate how the lesson ideas would be incorporated in my own teaching. ESL Flow http://www.eslflow.com/grammarlessonplans.html/ This site gives the learner random English words and asks them to construct sentences using each word at least once. After creating a minimum of five sentences, the learner is then asked to pick words from the sentences and categorize them into provided columns with different headings. The headings are labeled verbs, nouns, adverbs and adverbs. It also offers effective memorizing tips. Brain Pop http://www.brainpop.com/english/grammar/capitalization/preview.weml/ This website lays emphasis on the rules of capitalization. They format their lessons on a game show that explain how common nouns differ from proper nouns. They also explain whether or not and why pronouns should be capitalized. They use examples of days and months of the calendar to show what should be capitalized. Fur ther examples include peoples’ names, movie and book titles. At the end of the exercise the learners know that every first word of a sentence should be capitalized, including major words in titles of books. Learners also get to know that proper nouns, which include places, specific objects and people, are always capitalized. Fun Easy English http://funeasyenglish.com/new-american-english-grammar-topic-parts-of-speech.htm/ This site begins by introducing the eight parts of speech in the English language in a video clip. It then defines them (noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, preposition, conjunction and interjection) and explains how they are used in construction of sentences. It summarizes by demonstrating how to punctuate sentences. At the end of the exercise, there is a test whereby sentences are given and the learner is asked to answer a question on them. One word is printed in bold and the learner needs to decide which part of speech it belongs to. It is challenging because multiple choices are provided, and the learner who did not pay attention may easily get confused. It also tests the learner’s listening ability by the video presentation at the beginning. Ms Hogue’s Online English Resource http://www.mshogue.com/beyond-another-brick-in-the-wall/ This website teaches learners an analytical approach to writings like essays, poems, narratives and music. Students are given either written or audio material. After going through them, they are required to write a summary within a specified number of words, reflecting their understanding of what they just read or heard. The exercise tests their reading and listening ability and knowledge of compressing sentences on top of their comprehension of the message delivered. Grammar Monster http://www.grammar-monster.com/ This website lays emphasis on punctuations and abbreviations. It gives instructions on the use of apostrophes, brackets, commas, full stops, question marks and many more. It also has a section on abbreviating words and use of punctuation marks to shorten words. However, it is not a recommended site for beginners because it takes an advanced knowledge of the language before one can embark on shortening words. In general, all the websites on teaching English language share the same concepts, with a slight difference depending on the target group that ranges from elementary to advanced and basic communication skills for temporary

Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 28

Education - Essay Example Therefore, the American economy might find itself irreparably outdated if the current behavior is not changed and the students urged to concentrate more on their studies and less on partying and watching television. The film provides statistical data that indicate how the American students are behaving as compared to students in other regions. This is when considering commitment to education. Here, the average American student spends more time when watching television shows as compared to the time spent when learning. Specifically, this adds to 1,500 hours each year and 900 hours when learning or in the classrooms (â€Å"Two Million Minutes: A Global Examination (13 Minute Cut) Part 2†). American students depicted in the film also confirm that they view school as a rite of passage. Moreover, the American students have lower hours allocated for learning per day. At least 66% of these students allocate at most one hour for doing homework every day (â€Å"Two Million Minutes: A Global Examination (13 Minute Cut) Part 2†). The statistical data provided by the film with respect to the time that the American students allocate to education during weekends is more worrying. This is becaus e not even one hour is allocated to education during weekends. These students like having other activities, which are not related to education such as partying. The choice of subjects done by American students is also worrying. This is because they do not choose the subjects of interest, which their counterparts in India and China take advantage of. Such subjects include science and mathematics. This is as compared to other students in different countries who take higher education with higher levels of seriousness especially through pursuing these competitive subjects. According to the documentary, the students in India and China show different behavior in all aspects such as the hours they allocate to education, the subjects of

Gilgamesh Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Gilgamesh - Essay Example He wants to be immortal so badly that he is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that state. Then he is met by a human figure whom is not aware of his own potentials as a human. They create a unique friendship and bond. This human figure aids him in realizing his existence as a human and not only as a god. Finally, when losing his new friend, humility begins to set in and the truth of his immorality is faced. Gilgamesh goes on a quest for everlasting life to get his dear friend back. The quest is similar to this thing we call life here on earth! Gilgamesh is happy with his kingly status. He realizes that he is more god than human and possesses supernatural powers. The story begins with Gilgamesh of Uruk. He is known as the greatest king on the earth. He is also known to be the strongest King-god who ever existed. The people who belong to Gilgamesh are everything but happy. They express their concerns in regards to his abusiveness. He abuses his powers and sleeps with women before their husbands do. In order to help solve this situation, the goddess of creation Aruru creates the wild-man Enkidu who is made human by Shamhat, a temple prostitute. Enkidu is known as Gilgamesh’s counter part. â€Å"When he sees her he will draw near to her and his animals, who grew up in his wilderness, will be alien to him.† (Carnahan) Enkidu and Gilgamesh become friends and go off on a journey of the inner soul. The quest that he goes on at first is for his own honor. He wants to go and create a monument for himself. He wants to be elevated to the highest point that he can be. It is not about others at this point. It is only about him. His journey is for his own selfish gain. â€Å"I have not established my name stamped on bricks as my destiny decreed; therefore I will go to the country where the cedars are cut. I will set up my name in the place where the names of famous men are written, and where no man’s name is written yet, I

Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 28

Education - Essay Example Therefore, the American economy might find itself irreparably outdated if the current behavior is not changed and the students urged to concentrate more on their studies and less on partying and watching television. The film provides statistical data that indicate how the American students are behaving as compared to students in other regions. This is when considering commitment to education. Here, the average American student spends more time when watching television shows as compared to the time spent when learning. Specifically, this adds to 1,500 hours each year and 900 hours when learning or in the classrooms (â€Å"Two Million Minutes: A Global Examination (13 Minute Cut) Part 2†). American students depicted in the film also confirm that they view school as a rite of passage. Moreover, the American students have lower hours allocated for learning per day. At least 66% of these students allocate at most one hour for doing homework every day (â€Å"Two Million Minutes: A Global Examination (13 Minute Cut) Part 2†). The statistical data provided by the film with respect to the time that the American students allocate to education during weekends is more worrying. This is becaus e not even one hour is allocated to education during weekends. These students like having other activities, which are not related to education such as partying. The choice of subjects done by American students is also worrying. This is because they do not choose the subjects of interest, which their counterparts in India and China take advantage of. Such subjects include science and mathematics. This is as compared to other students in different countries who take higher education with higher levels of seriousness especially through pursuing these competitive subjects. According to the documentary, the students in India and China show different behavior in all aspects such as the hours they allocate to education, the subjects of

Battle between operating systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Battle between operating systems - Essay Example (White, 2011) Fast forward 5 years and we witnessed the release of the iPhone 4S in October last year, with cumulative sales in excess of 183 million units. Currently Apple holds 15% market share globally. The latest model of the iPhone is the 4S which is essentially looks the same as the previous model the iPhone4 (released June’10) but feature wise is much more powerful. The 4S has the better A9 1 GHz dual core processor compared to the single core A8 processor, an improved camera, 8mp over 5 mp, and a natural voice command service called the Siri. The 4S also features the capability to record video in 1080p FullHD quality, compared to the 720p HD quality of the iPhone 4. iPhone 5 is still under development and the rumor mill is running high regarding the design and specs of the new gadget. (GSMArena Team, 2011) Coming to the iPhone iOS, it offers a user experience which creates ‘sticky’ customers i.e. they find it difficult to switch to other companies. With propriety services such as Siri, iCloud and iMessage along with an access to iTunes and the AppStore, the iPhone users have now become a bunch of dedicated loyal customers accustomed to the particular interface which the others do not offer. Furthermore with the presence of other products such as the iPad, iPod, Mac and Apple TV, Apple is trying hard to integrate them as much as possible. This will further help in retaining customers. As far as the support services are concerned, Apple provides an online support service to tackle with any technical problems, other than that there is the option of checking the online forums for support, as there is a dedicated number of online users ready to provide assistance to others. The reason why Apple may succeed in the battle of the OS is because it has a loyal number of consumer base available to them. The iOS has now become synonymous with ease of use and customer

Define empowerment, capacity building and participation

Define empowerment, capacity building and participation in the context of your research. Describe the dependent and independent variables in your research and justify the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The understanding of the concept of empowerment varies among disciplines. It is a cross-disciplinary term, mainly used in fields of Education, Psychology, Community Development, Economics, among others. Based on this many meanings of the term, it has been seen as a construct easy to define by its absence but difficult to define in action, based on the fact that it takes different forms in different people and contexts (Rappoport, cited in Page Czuba, 1999). Therefore, how we define empowerment within our projects and programs will depend upon the specific people and context involved. In the context of community development, a general definition of empowerment was proffered by Page Czuba (1999) as follows: Empowerment is a multi-dimensional social process that helps people gain control over their own lives. It is a process that fosters power (that is, the capacity to implement) in people, for use in their own lives, their communities, and in their society, by acting on issues that they define as important. From the above definition, three basic components are necessary to any understanding of empowerment, namely multi-dimensional, social, and a process. By multi-dimensional, empowerment is frequently connected to the four development dimensions of equity, capacity building, participation and self-reliance. According to Adams (2002) these four dimensions are regarded as the common denominators in most definitions of empowerment and debates regarding the role of empowerment in the development process. It also occurs at various levels, such as individual, group, and community. And it is a social process because it occurs in relationship to others. Embedded in this definition of empowerment is that the individual and community are fundamentally connected. The importance of individual empowerment is such that it is a prerequisite for community and social change and empowerment (Speer Hughey, 1995), and a bridge to community connectedness and social change (Wilson, 1996). With specific reference to the current study which looks at Youth development as a strategy for Poverty reduction, empowerment in this case entails the acquisition of power and the ability to give it effect (Swanepoel, 1997). Theron (2005) buttresses this view by looking at empowerment in terms of dual perspectives, namely empowerment as a process of skills and abilities development; and secondly, empowerment as a process that equips people to decide on and take action regarding the issues of concern to them. In the same vein, Burkly (1993) states that empowerment is a process that releases power to the people which they can use to access resources in order to achieve desirable goals. Although empowerment as a concept can be examined in the context of both individual and collective aspects, the concept as used here is operative at the individual level, rather than collective or organizational. While individual empowerment relates to the way people think about themselves, as well as the knowledge, capacities, skills, and mastery they actually possess (Staples, 1990, p. 32), collective empowerment refers to processes by which individuals join together to break their solitude and silence, help one another, learn together, and develop skills for collective action (Boehm Staples, 2004). For the purpose of this study, empowerment is defined as a process whereby individuals develop the skills and capacity for gaining some reasonable control over their lives. From the foregoing, empowerment in the context of this study does not only imply capacity building, by which is meant the building up of peoples knowledge, skills, and ability to enable them take actions correctly, it (empowerment) is also an effect of this process of capacity building where the individual participants of the capacity building process overcome their poverty situation and attain self-determination. Self-determination is consistent with notions of personal control (Greenberg Strasser, 1991); and it refers to an individuals sense of control over his or her own work (Wagner, 1995). As a major component of individual empowerment, self-determination is most frequently reported in the literature (Sprague Hayes, 2000). Fetterman (1996, p.92) believes that self-determination, defined as the ability to chart ones own course in life, forms the theoretical foundations of the components of individual empowerment. Against this background, the individual participants, who have become self employed and are economically empowered, having acquired skills via capacity building, are enabled to be in control of their lives. Therefore, empowerment here is an outcome of the process of capacity building. Individual empowerment is a development that involves many changes whereby an individual is able to strengthen and exercise the ability to act to gain control over his or her life. Hence, the goal of individual empowerment is to achieve a state of emancipation strong enough to impact ones power in life. Capacity Building As with the concepts of globalization, development, and sustainability, the term capacity building is an ambiguous concept that means different things to different people, groups and organizations. Although many people use these terms, their definitions do not conform to the same, as each puts emphasis on a certain aspect of capacity development (James, 2001). However, definitions of capacity building emphasize that capacity building is a tool to build and improve the skills, resources and ability of people to implement, monitor and assess a project. The United Nations (UNDP, 1997) sees capacity building as a process by which individuals, groups and organizations, institutions and societies increase their abilities to perform core functions, solve problems and define and achieve objectives; to understand and deal with their development needs in a broad context and in a sustainable manner. Eade (1997) sees capacity building as an approach to development which encompasses all the fields that influence the development sphere. In this approach to development, capacity building identifies the weaknesses that people experience in achieving their basic rights, and finding proper means through which to increase their ability to overcome the causes of their exclusion and suffering. In the context of this study, capacity building comprises the skills acquisition that the youth undergo in the process of their empowerment. Capacity building here is an intervening variable, which by its nature surfaces between the time the independent variable (participation) starts operating to influence the dependent variable (empowerment). It helps to explain the relationship between the IV DV. Thus, by participating in the development programmes, youth are equipped with the capacity, skills, knowledge that will enable them become economically empowered, employable and self-employed, thereby reducing unemployment and poverty among them. Capacity building as used in the study is not concerned about implementing a project or enhancing a particular aspect of life; it is a comprehensive empowerment process which builds the capability of people with relevant skills needed to find meaning in their lives. Consequently, the concept of capacity building as used in the study is a process where people are developed in order to manage themselves. To this end, empowerment of the participants becomes the ultimate output of capacity building process. On this understanding of capacity building as a process, Eade and Williams (1995) elaborate the concept as: Men and women becoming empowered to bring about positive changes in their lives; about personal growth together with public action; about both the process and the outcome of challenging poverty, oppression and discrimination; and about the realization of human potential through social and economic justice. Above all, it is about the process of transforming lives, and transforming societies. In this process of capacity building, people acquire the skills, which in turn create an avenue for them as individuals and as members of the community to achieve their development objectives and improve the quality of their lives. Hence, capacity building is a response to community development needs. Participation Participation is one of the essential aspects of community development associated with empowerment. It is a people-oriented approach to development, where people play an important role by feeling a high degree of ownership; and are subjects rather than objects in the process of their development. According to De Beer and Swanepoel (1998), participation leads to empowerment and empowerment results in vulnerable people or oppressed groups achieving sufficient power or authority to be able to influence decisions that affect their lives and livelihoods, so that they can attain ownership of their lives. Participation in this study is the input variable or independent variable, where, through involvement in youth development programmes like auto mechanics, electrical work, and welding, the participants acquire the capacity (skills, knowledge and training) that enable them to become self-employed and employable. By participating in the programmes, youth have enhanced their capacity to alleviate poverty. They have also built partnership with others by widening their employment opportunities. As marginalized members of the society, being involved in their development programmes enabled them to voice their concerns, hopes, and grievances. Adams (2008) asserts that participants are able to contribute to their development by giving feedback on programmes that are aimed at them. With empowerment in mind, the youth are able to collaborate with the project providers, thereby paving way for a more active role, having greater choice, exercising more power, and contributing in decision-making and management (Adams, 2008, p.17). Their participation has also broadened their support network, resulting in opening up new opportunities through programme development and social action. By participating in their development process, youth not only gain skills and knowledge, but also gain self-confidence, pride, initiative, responsibility and cooperation which without such development components in people all efforts to alleviate poverty will be difficult. An important attribute of participation is community empowerment, which requires a people-centered approach that culminates in self-reliance. Chambers and Freire (1996, p. 77) envisage that participation and empowerment can enable the poor to express and analyze both their individual and shared multiple realities. According to the World Health Organization (2002), community members should participate in their development because they have a right to have a say about decisions that affect their lives; and will also lead to better decisions being made, which are more appropriate and more sustainable because they are owned by the people themselves. Dependent and Independent variables of the study The conceptual framework below illustrates the variables of the study Youth empowerment as a strategy for poverty reduction in Niger Delta, Nigeria. In a nutshell, participation is the independent variable, where youth, through their involvements in skills acquisition programmes in auto mechanics, electrical work and welding develop/acquire the capacity in skills, training, knowledge and competence that led to their empowerment (DV); hence, becoming economically empowered, self-empowered and having a reduction in poverty. Empowerment Economic Empowerment Self-employment Individual Empowerment Unemployment reduction Poverty reduction Participation Involvement in youth development programmes Capacity Building Skills Knowledge Awareness Competence * Sense of community Input Auto mechanics Electrical work Welding a. Independent variable: Participation Based on the definitions and framework given above, the concept of participation will be the independent variable (IV) of the study, which will be manipulated in order to determine its influence or effect on the dependent variable (DV). As an input variable which influences the dependent variable, participation of the youth in development programmes will constitute the IV of the study, to see their relationship with the dependent variable. In other words, the youth participation in such programmes as auto mechanics, electrical work and welding will be operated to see how they lead to empowerment, which is the DV. Participation as employed in the study therefore is the social element whose characteristics or variations shape and determine the dependent variable. In other words, it is through the participants involvement in the development programmes that they are eventually empowered. Thus, participation causes the outcome of involvement in development programme which is empowerment (the DV). Economic empowerment b. Dependent variable: Empowerment Self-employment Unemployment reduction The dependent variable (DV) is a variable of primary interest to the researcher, whose task is to understand and describe it (the DV). And it is through the analysis of the dependent variable that the researcher is likely to find answers or solutions to the issues under study which is done by measuring the dependent variable as well as the other variables that influence this variable. In this study, empowerment is the dependent variable (DV) because it is a response to the action of participation (the IV). The DV depends and responds to the action of the IV. Empowerment in this study is the variable that reflects the influence of the independent variable. As illustrated in the framework above, economic empowerment, self-reliance (self-employed), unemployment reduction and poverty reduction are the effects or outcome of participation of youth in development programmes. These outcomes are necessitated by the skills, knowledge, training and competence which the participants have acquired in the process of their capacity building via the development programmes. Capacity building therefore becomes the intervening variable that brings about the effect of the independent variable (participation) on the dependent variable (empowerment). Justification of the relationship of variables The independent and dependent variables are related based on the dependency relationship, where one variable, the dependent variable depends on the independent variable. It is a cause and effect relationship where the DV is an effect of the IV. In this study, empowerment resulted as an effect of participation. Participation (the IV) causes the change (effect) that resulted in the empowerment of the youth. To elaborate further, the relationship of participation (IV) and empowerment (DV) is such that the variation of the IV influences the DV. The dependent variable changes when the independent variable changes the dependent variable depends on the outcome of the independent variable. Further, capacity building relates to both the IV and the DV as an intervening variable by linking the independent and dependent variables. In this study, capacity building resulted as a function or operation of the IV (Participation) and helps to explain the influence of the IV on the DV. Capacity building here explains the relationship that exists between the action of the IV and the DV. As the diagram shows, the participants involvement in the skills development programmes equipped them with the enabling capacity (capacity building skills, knowledge, and training) that led or transformed them into empowered members of the community. 2. Based on the main concepts of your research, provide a theoretical framework that can best explain the research that you will be undertaking. What are the theory/ies that can be used to support your research? Discuss the rationale for choosing the theory/ies and the strengths and weaknesses of the theory/ies. With regard to the main concepts of the research, Keiffers theory of empowerment as a process was considered relevant and suitable for handling the study. The theory illustrates the elements and stages of empowerment as well as the phases that the individuals undergo in the process of acquiring skills, which translate into full realization of empowerment. The theory was considered appropriate for the study as it has been extensively used in several related study. Keiffers theory of empowerment as a process The theory applies to individuals in the process of empowerment; where the (empowerment) process passes through several phases in the participants. It shows the patterns and processes of the participants transition from a state powerlessness to empowerment. The theory is suitable to this research, which focuses on empowering the youth of the Niger Delta, who are ravaged by poverty and unemployment, coupled with what Keiffer (1984) referred to as a feeling of alienation from resources for social influence, an experience of disenfranchisement and economic vulnerability, and a sense of hopelessness in socio-political struggle. Understanding empowerment in the light of Keiffers theory starts by examining the concepts of power and powerlessness (Moscovitch Drover, 1981). Power is conceived as a multi-dimensional social process that helps people gain control over their lives (Page Czuba, 1999, p. 25). The Cornell Empowerment Group (1989, p.2) define power as the capacity of some persons and organizations to produce intended, foreseen and unforeseen effects on others. Underscoring the need to produce these expectations or effects on others, some sources of power were identified as a panacea. Moscovitch and Drover (1981), for instance believe that the class-dominated nature of our society indicates that a small proportion of the people have enormous economic and political power as opposed to the greater number of the people that have little or none. Therefore, power is required to influence the outcome of life events. On the other hand, powerlessness is seen as an objective phenomenon, where people with little or no political and economic power lack the means to gain greater control and resources in their lives (Albee, 1981). Keiffer sees powerlessness at the individual level as the expectation of the individual that his or her own actions will be ineffective in influencing the outcome of life events (Keiffer, 1984). Lerner (1986) distinguished between real and surplus powerlessness. While real powerlessness emanates from economic inequities and oppressive control exercised by systems and other people, surplus powerlessness derives from an internalized belief that change cannot occur a belief which results in apathy and an unwillingness of the person to struggle for more control and influence. Keiffers (1984) effort on individual empowerment is one of the prominent studies which examine individual empowerment as a process. He conceives empowerment as a developmental process which consists of four stages: entry, advancement, incorporation, and commitment. These stages are: era of entry (characteristics: powerlessness, sense of integrity, rootedlessness, sense of attachment, and support within a caring community of peers, experience of injustice); era of advancement (centrality of mentoring relationships, more critical understanding of social and political relations); era of incorporation (developed self concept, increased strategic ability, and matured critical comprehension, improved organizing and leadership skills, and constructed survival skills); and era of commitment (application of new abilities to the reality and structure of everyday life worlds, commitment to adapting recent empowerment to continuing proactive community mobilization and leadership) (Keiffer, 1984). From the above, the individual is prompted at the entry level by his or her experience of certain disturbing self or family situation, which Keiffer refers to as an act of provocation. The advancement stage possesses three important characteristics that are necessary to the progress of continuing the empowerment process, namely, a mentoring relationship; supportive peer relationships with a collective organization; and the development of a more critical understanding of social and political relations. While the focal point of the third stage is the development of a growing political consciousness, the era of commitment, which is the fourth stage is such that the acquired participatory competence is applied by participants to ever expanding areas of their lives. Consequently, Keiffer believes that empowerment at the individual level is the experience of gaining increasing control and influence in daily life and community participation (Keiffer, 1984). A major strength of this theory is that the author worked on the premise that the existence of powerlessness or alienation is a given at the very first step of individual empowerment; and this underscores the need for participation in view of acquiring skills. As with the area under study which requires a source of power to alleviate their poverty and unemployment, the author confirms that such a state of powerlessness becomes evident prompting a group of empowerment agents recognizing the alienated and oppressed. In this first stage of empowerment, both the alienated and the empowerment agents have come to true knowledge of the formers powerlessness, coupled with such social pathologies as disadvantages, oppression, alienation, and stratification. The process of participation, thus, was both empowering and advanced in the process of empowerment for the participants. As participants got involved in development programmes, they see it as a process towards the reduction of their povert y. It is in this way that participation advanced the process of individual empowerment (Keiffer, 1984). On capacity building, the theory underscores the fact that the transition towards individual empowerment was an exceptionally ongoing process towards skills acquisition. And that the skills which the participants acquired will function as catalysts for the empowerment process, making them become aware of their own capacities and developing new directions for themselves while in the process of emancipating from the experience of powerlessness. Here participants have to gain the skills and the potential to change their circumstance. As participants gain mastery over their lives and learn and utilize skills, which are the skills (capacity) for gaining some reasonable control over their lives, they become empowered. With the foregoing, individuals become empowered when they develop capabilities to overcome their social obstacles and attain self-determination. Self-determination, defined as the ability to chart ones own course in life (Fetterman, 1996) is repeatedly presented in the literature and considered as a sole and vital component of individual empowerment (Sprague Hayes, 2000). Boehm and Staples (2004) advocated mastery and self-determination as the components of individual empowerment. Mastery is understood as: full control over someone or something, and through in-depth understanding or greater skills, can be a variety of types, such as physical mastery, mastery of emotion and behavior, mastery of information and decision making, mastery of social system, efficient mastery of time, mastery as connected to autonomy and individual freedom, and planning mastery, thus enabling consumers to prevent negative situations and to actualize positive ones (Boehm Staples, 2004). As components of individual empowerment, self-determination is associated with the power that enables individuals to meet the challenges of different life situations; mastery on the hand is concerned with increased levels of the individuals ability to understand reality and the capacity to make decisions that impact the conditions and quality of life. Conversely, one of the limitations of Keiffers theory is the fact that it did not elaborate how the individuals impact their community with their acquired participatory competence. He limited individual empowerment as the experience of gaining increasing control and influence in daily life and community participation. It was earlier noted that sustaining involvement in participation deepens the competence and control of the participants leading to the advancement of the process of personal empowerment (Keiffer, 1984). Although empowerment can exist at the individual level, yet one would have expected that the theory incorporated how the participatory competence can impact the larger community bearing in mind that community development entails improving the community life in its wider sense. Another weakness of the theory emanates from a theme which the theorist identified as underlying the movement through all phases of the empowerment process: the view that conflicts and growth are inextricably intertwined (Keiffer, 1984). The suggested dynamics of praxis advocated by the theorist for resolving these conflicts may, after all, be time-consuming and ineffective in the empowering process. Praxis, for him: refers to the circular relationship of experience and reflection through which actions evoke new understandings, which then provokes new actionsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The building up of skills only progresses through repetitive cycles of action and reflection. In other words, crucial for the building of empowerment is time and practice (Keiffer). There is a likelihood that conflict may degenerate and also prove irresolvable by the praxis within a given period of empowerment process; thereby hampering the skills developing process of participants which should have a time frame. 3. Compare and contrast 2 different research methods (qualitative and quantitative) that might be used in your study. For each approach, discuss: how the research question are formulated/arrived at (what kind of questions are posed) the approach to data collection; the approach to data analysis; how the findings might be triangulated; and how the findings might be presented and discussed. There are two broad approaches in the collection of information for research purposes, namely quantitative and qualitative methods. A basic understanding of both methods will be highlighted to show their differences. First quantitative data: It is an objective, formal, systematic process in which the enquiry is based on numerical data findings. It derives from the scientific method used in the physical sciences (Cormack, 1991). Quantitative method describes, tests, and examines cause and effect relationships (Burns Grove, 1987), using a deductive process of knowledge attainment (Duffy, 1985). In other words, it tests theories deductively from existing knowledge, through developing hypothesized relationships. On the other hand, qualitative research differs from quantitative approach as it develops theory inductively. Qualitative researchers are guided by certain ideas or perspectives regarding the subject to be investigated (Cormack, 1991). It is used as a vehicle for studying the empirical world from the perspective of the subject, not the researcher. Benoliel (1985) buttressed this aspect, describing qualitative research as modes of systematic enquiry concerned with understanding human beings and the nature of their transactions with themselves and with their understandings. The aim of qualitative research is to describe certain aspects of a phenomenon, with a view to explaining the subject of study. Unlike the quantitative method, qualitative research derives from the social sciences such as sociology, anthropology, psychology and philosophy, (Cormack, 1991). For sampling, both research approaches require a sample to be identified which is representative of a larger population of people or objects. Quantitative research employs random selection of the sample from the study population and the random assignment of the sample to the various study groups. Results obtained from random sampling have an advantage, which is an increased likelihood of the findings being generalizable. Its disadvantage stems from the fact that random selection is time-consuming, with the result that many studies use more easily obtained opportunistic sample (Duffy, 1985). This hampers the possibilities of generalization, especially if the sample is too small. Qualitative research uses non-random sampling, which is a selective sample, because of the in-depth nature of studies and the analysis of the data required. Hinton (1987) confirms that the strength of this approach is seen when the sample is well defined, for then it can be generalized to a population at large. A disadvantage of this approach can be suspicion that the researcher could have been influenced by a particular predisposition; hence having a tendency of affecting the generalizability of the study. a. how the research questions are formulated/arrived at (what kind of questions are posed) Based on the statement of the problem, the research questions were formulated with a focus on what the researcher expects to achieve in the study. They show close relationship to the statement of the problem and arise from issues raised in both literature and on the ground, not deviating from the objectives of the study. The questions were arrived at to establish a clear purpose for the research in relation to the chosen field. The issue of manageability was considered in formulating the questions. This relates to the researchers ability to tackle the scope and scale of the project. For instance, the ability to access people and documents from which to collect the data required to answer the questions fully; and whether the data can be accessed within the limited time and resources available to me. b. the approach to data collection This study will adopt both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to collect data, through questionnaire survey and in-depth interview. The study will be primarily quantitative, while the qualitative aspect will complement it in order to increase understanding of the study, and to generate richer and deeper research findings. Both approaches will be concurrently undertaken. The research design therefore relies on a mixed-method approach to investigate the topic under study. The primary method of data collection will be through questionnaires. A Likert scale questionnaire survey will be the major instrument for quantitative data collection; and the questions will be formulated based on the research objectives, as a means of exploring respondents views on the topic under study. Likert scale provides researchers a way of measuring the degree of agreement or disagreement of the respondents to a question. It is also very convenient for the respondents due to the non-ambiguous nature of the format of the questions. The research variable will be measured on a 5-point Likert scale, with a score of 1 representing strongly disagree, and a score of 5 representing strongly agree. A pre-test will be conducted with a convenience sample to ensure the clarity and validity of the questions. Respondents will also be asked to comment on any difficulties encountered in completing the ques