A Prescriptive Agenda for School Restructuring Essay

A Prescriptive Agenda for School Restructuring - Essay Example In their study School Restructuring as a Policy Agenda, Mussoline and Shouse (2001) highlights this relationship - between school restructuring and their consequent effect - by asking, "[t]o what extent should one expect the technical reforms linked to restructuring to produce consistent achievement effects across all types of schools" (p. 45). Taking a similar position, this essay will argue that school restructuring will not be successful, especially in less affluent schools with low socioeconomic status, if restructuring practices are reduced to a list of prescriptive policy agendas imposed upon schools due to the effect contextual factors have on the success and eventual outcome of restructuring. Looking into the literature of school reform, there has been numerous practice identified by different schools of thought outlining ways for restructuring schools. From such literature, it is apparent that each restructuring practice have its own set of requirements for successful implementation. On the other hand, each school also has its own set of organizational and instructional characteristics that determine its ability to implement changes within the overall school structure which affect the effectiveness of school restructuring (p. 47). ... and Murphy's study entitled "The Social contest of Effective Schools," Mussoline and Shouse identifies principal-teacher relations, decision-making, and parental involvement as factors that distinguishes a school's organizational and instructional capabilities (Mussoline and Shouse, 2001, 47). These factors also distinguish schools between high and low socioeconomic statuses (SES). According to Shouse, given the distinction between schools with low and high SES, there are certain kinds of restructuring practices that did not yield the same beneficial results when implemented in low SES schools if compared to schools with high SES (p. 48). Contextual factors therefore have a hand in altering the effects of restructuring practices among schools with low SES. Hence, it is only logical to conclude that prescribing a single policy agenda for school restructuring may not be beneficial for the school system, in general, and for low SES schools, in particular, if not all schools can positive ly benefit from the prescribed restructuring practices. Contextual factors have significant effects on school restructuring in two ways: first, given the lack of social resources among low SES schools, these schools do not have the necessary safety nets present among high SES schools that reduces the risks of flawed, poorly executed, or highly complex instructional practices (p. 49). As Mussoline and Shouse argues, schools with high SES have more responsive students that increases the positive effects from restructured practices, especially those that prescribe constructivist and student-centered reforms. In addition, the academically oriented support structures present in these communities also helps reinforce the restructuring practices being implemented. Together, student

Role of Media in School Children Education Essay Example for Free

Role of Media in School Children Education Essay Media is invading our personal lives with the scale and power given to those who are involved in the activities related to this mass information provider. When you can make a choice, you are free to control what data or information you believe in and how you can use it for your own purposes. In some situations and for some people, however, the choice is not that simple and preliminary knowledge is not extensive enough to make right and logical conclusions. When I say this, I mean the choice and conclusions that kids make from the media programs and information that it provides them with. In modern society with, to some extent, excessive information supply, information filters and control becomes an important and difficult challenge for individuals as well as social cells of the communities. It is a privilege of families to enable access of children to the information that will influence their development positively. On the other hand, it is a joint responsibility of parents and society to limit and reduce negative effects that the same media sources have on the young and developing minds of the school-aged children. Lack of personal experience and knowledge make children absorb and generalize information they receive from their closest relatives and social environment, and in case they do not have examples for particular behavior patterns around them, they will start searching for them in other sources, such as media. If cruelty and violence are exposed through media channels, it can obviously create very negative effect on children. It is extremely difficult to agree on the level and degree to which media is solely responsible for these consequences. The level of responsibility should be shared with family and society in order to achieve the equilibrium point. It is, thus, important that both sides are held responsible and are clearly aware of the consequences that â€Å"wrong† information can have in a long run.

Grief and Bereavement Essay -- essays research papers

The time that immediately follows the death of a loved one can be very distressing. Bereavement is something that we all experience at some stage of our lives, but not often, therefore we do not get much opportunity to learn how to deal with it. Everybody reacts differently to the loss of someone close. Grieving is a natural process which ever way it is manifested. The time that immediately follows the death can be filled with a stunned belief even if the death was not totally unexpected.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sometimes it is not until later that the emotional feelings reveal themselves. Some people need to actually see the body of the deceased in order for the death to register in their minds. Other people would rather not see the body if this is the case then it is recommended that they do not.1 Sometimes it is best to remember your loved ones the way they were.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The funeral itself often brings a feeling of closure. The person is now at rest forever and life goes on. Some people will experience grief for many years after the death, particularly if the death was unexpected. Some people never fully recover but learn to cope with their loss instead. After a death it is natural to feel angry, perhaps toward the medical staff or the doctors who were trying to prevent the death. You may feel anger toward other members of the family. It is even possible that you would feel anger toward the person who has died.2 Anger can be expressed in many ways, but usually it is expressed openly and verbally. When the anger is verbalized, one may listen supportively, even if these emotions appear irrational. Anger after bereavement is understandable, and individuals who vent anger usually are not in the position to examine irrationality. Simply saying ‘’I understand’’ may be an effective way of helping the bereaved d evelop an understanding of his anger.3   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another common emotion is guilt. The bereaved are always likely to go over and over in their minds the days leading up to the death, wondering what they could have done to prevent it. This emotion is especially true when the death is due to an accident. Bereaving people who are experiencing this emotion should be reminded that death is beyond their control and nothing they could have done would have prevented it.4   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Closer the relationship, the more chance for guilt to be a part of the response.5 With members of ... ...’pull yourself together’’. It is also important to understand why bereaving people keep going over the same ground, saying the same things over and over and becoming repeatedly distressed. This is an important part of the grieving process an should be encouraged.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When we love someone and they die, it can feel devastating. This seems to be a universal part of our human experience. We make friends whom we go to school with and work with. It is part of our makeup to form strong bonds of caring and affection with other people. The forces that draw us to others are deeply entwined in our nature. But we are not solitary, and the price we pay for our attachment is vulnerability; the risk of loss. Because we depend on other people, because they do matter, they occupy a special place in our hearts. When someone we love is gone from our lives, it is as if a piece of us is torn away. Grief is that process by which our minds heal this hurt. Through the process of mourning, we gradually accept the loss. We allow the dead to be gone from our lives. At the end of mourning, there is still sadness, but it is a wistful sadness that is tempered by the happy memories that we still possess.

Reflection of the Film’s Every Child Is Special Essay

We all know that there’s a difference between special children and normal children but both have similarities. For instance, they both have talents and perspective towards life. They can play and have fun in their own. Both need attention and discipline from their parents to avoid any misconception while they are growing and guide them from learning. Special children need more attention and extra help to develop their social skills. Parents must be extra careful with their special children because they have special needs to be attended. Also, they need to be understood by their family and everyone around them to gain more confidence about themselves and can interact well. On the other hand, normal children can develop their social skills on their own and can gain friends. They can play with another child and gradually learning to share and take turns. They can join in groups and enjoy group experiences. Their needs are easily observe and directly accommodated but still need gu idance. These children are part of the society, whether they have disabilities or just normal ones and they must be respected. see more:every child is special reflection Every one of us has rights in the society we are in and that includes them. They have the right to choose whoever they want to become and whatever they want to do but with a proper given guidance and attention. The happiness and joy they brought will never be unmatchable especially to their parents. The story of the film Every Child is Special is a kid suffering from dyslexia and with the help of an understanding teacher he overcomes it against all odd. There’s a scene when the protagonist runs away from school and loiters on the road for the whole day for the fear of being punished for not having done his homework. It never happened to me and I never did a thing like that in school but I didn’t say that I’m not lazy rather than I’m not like the protagonist of the story who runs away and would not do anything. The comparison might not be warranted but this is just one of those scenes which made me realize the importance of guidance and understanding of parents. Unlike the protagonist who suffered from learning disabilities such as reading because for him the letters are dancing, his writing don’t match the right spelling of words and dealing with numbers with difficulty, I learned quite fast and I also helped myself from learning the things that must be learned while in starting years in school. In spite of his learning disabilities, there’s a person who willingly teaches him and knows best for him because of his illness. His new art teacher, also a teacher of a child school with disabilities found out the reasons why he’s not active and always down.

Academic Argument Essay

Academic Argument Essay The Need for Rehabilitation Momm, like many brothel girls, had become addicted to methamphetamines. Often the brothel owners give girls meth to keep them compliant and dependent. In her village, the craving had overwhelmed her, and she was consumed by the need to go back to the brothel and get some meth. Women everyday, all over the world are being held against their will. Many of these women are bought, sold, and used for sex or labor. In the book Half the Sky by Nicholas D.Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn they focus on the prevention of sex trafficking by giving shocking statistics and first hand accounts of gruesome situations women have been through (Kristof). Sex trafficking is often seen as a non-issue because women often give consent to the sex after being involved for a long period of time. Because brothel owners are harsh and unsympathetic, women are left powerless and defenseless. Even after being rescued from brothels, women need rehabilitation in order to live a productive, successful life because they are brainwashed and drugged, have nowhere to go, and acquire no skills to maintain a normal job.On the United Nations website, it states that people participate in trafficking women â€Å"for the purpose of exploitation† (United). By exploiting women in the case of sex slavery the women are raped and brainwashed. Women often times refuse to have sex with clients at first, but after continuously being threatened, beaten, and drugged, the women have no other option but to give in to having sex. After years of this kind of mistreatment, women eventually get used to the horrible circumstance that they are in and often don’t even see it as much of a problem. At this point, the brothel owners have succeeded in brainwashing the women.Women being trafficked are rarely fortunate enough to be saved. However for the lucky ones, once rescued the women view the rescuer as a bad person for taking them away from the life that gave them food and drugs. Anywhere between 700,000 and four million women and children are trafficked around the world (Sexual). Without rehabilitation, women would just go straight back to the brothels because they no longer see a problem with what they are doing. People in support of sex trafficking view women as participating voluntarily despite the fact that they are held against their will. By keeping women in ehabilitation after being rescued, they have a much better chance of breaking their drug addiction, reversing the brainwash, and becoming educated citizens. Not only do trafficking victims have to recover from the brainwashing and drug addiction, they also have to find a place to live. Women are often held for years at a time in brothels. After being free of a life of prostitution, they have nothing and nobody to go to for help. This is where rehabilitation comes into play. It lets women get accustomed to everyday life out of the brothels and it can help them find a place to go an d people to help them.In one case, volunteers helped Neth and Momm to find their families that they had not seen in over five years (Kristof). Without these volunteers and this type of rehabilitation, these two women would have had a very slim chance of making it out of the red light district. Brothel owners may think that they are doing these women a service by providing a place to live for them, but ultimately the women could do that for themselves if they had the ability to make and income. In addition to finding women a place to go after the rape, it is vital that these victims are given the chance to be educated.With education comes opportunity. Debatably the hardest part of fighting drug trafficking is to recover the women and give them a life after the struggles of being prostituted. With education comes skills for jobs, knowledge of what happened to them, and the ability to help out with others going through the same situation. Education in third world countries is often a c hallenge for families because they don’t have the money or resources to send their children to school. However, if a woman is educated, it decreases her chance of living in poverty and being trafficked (Kristof 167-170).Although some may think the cost of education outweighs its benefits, it gives opportunities to advance in society. As volunteers assist women in escaping the brutalities of sex slavery, it is important to recall that the solution is not simply taking them from the source of the problem. Rehabilitation is also vital for the women’s success because it treats them for being brainwashed and addicted to drugs, gives them a place to live, and provides much needed education. Traffickers themselves may think that rehabilitation is not necessary, but that is for their own financial gain.So let’s give our support in every way possible to help stop the cold realty of sex trafficking and the negative side affects if brings to the women involved. The solutio n to ending trafficking lies within us all. Works Cited Kristof, Nicholas D. , and Sheryl WuDunn. Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. Print. â€Å"Sexual Trafficking Facts. † The Facts. Initiative Against Sexual Trafficking. Web. 01 June 2012. â€Å"United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. † What Is Human Trafficking? United Nations. Web. 31 May 2012.

Free Essays on The Path To A Profession

The Path to A Profession I’ll never forget the night my mother, sister, and I left my father. After years of emotional abuse at the hands of my father, we finally packed up our things and ran away in the middle of the night. We ended up at Ms. Donna’s house, a good friend of my mothers. I remember lying on her couch bed later that night thinking, â€Å"Was this real?† I couldn’t believe that we had finally gotten out. I felt like my life had turned into an after school special. My whole body was paralyzed. Everything around me was a blur. For a moment, I was the only thing that existed and I lay that way in Ms. Donna’s couch bed the whole night. After the dust of that first night had settled, we found an apartment off of Government Street. It was nothing compared to the big house I was used to. I remember the first time I set foot into the 3-bedroom apartment. I felt like I was in an empty dollhouse. No matter how much furniture we put in there, it was always empty to me. Every time I walked on the hard wood floors, I would tiptoe like a child afraid of getting caught awake after bedtime. I don’t know why I did this. I guess maybe I was afraid that if anyone heard me walking around, I would realize that this wasn’t a dream. It was always cold there and not once in the two years we lived there did it feel like home. It was rough being in a single-parent household. My father didn’t pay child support or help us with any of the bills so the burden fell on my mother. My father stayed in our house, constantly throwing dinner parties and going on vacations with his friends. The three of us would of ten argue over the last package of Ramon noodles, insisting that the other two eat them. When my parents finally decided they wanted to make their marriage work. They decided to drag my sister and I to family therapy. My decision to become a Psychologist was cemented during this time period. Once ... Free Essays on The Path To A Profession Free Essays on The Path To A Profession The Path to A Profession I’ll never forget the night my mother, sister, and I left my father. After years of emotional abuse at the hands of my father, we finally packed up our things and ran away in the middle of the night. We ended up at Ms. Donna’s house, a good friend of my mothers. I remember lying on her couch bed later that night thinking, â€Å"Was this real?† I couldn’t believe that we had finally gotten out. I felt like my life had turned into an after school special. My whole body was paralyzed. Everything around me was a blur. For a moment, I was the only thing that existed and I lay that way in Ms. Donna’s couch bed the whole night. After the dust of that first night had settled, we found an apartment off of Government Street. It was nothing compared to the big house I was used to. I remember the first time I set foot into the 3-bedroom apartment. I felt like I was in an empty dollhouse. No matter how much furniture we put in there, it was always empty to me. Every time I walked on the hard wood floors, I would tiptoe like a child afraid of getting caught awake after bedtime. I don’t know why I did this. I guess maybe I was afraid that if anyone heard me walking around, I would realize that this wasn’t a dream. It was always cold there and not once in the two years we lived there did it feel like home. It was rough being in a single-parent household. My father didn’t pay child support or help us with any of the bills so the burden fell on my mother. My father stayed in our house, constantly throwing dinner parties and going on vacations with his friends. The three of us would of ten argue over the last package of Ramon noodles, insisting that the other two eat them. When my parents finally decided they wanted to make their marriage work. They decided to drag my sister and I to family therapy. My decision to become a Psychologist was cemented during this time period. Once ...

The Geographic Adventures of Captain James Cook

The Geographic Adventures of Captain James Cook James Cook was born in 1728 in Marton, England. His father was a Scottish migrant farm worker who allowed James to apprentice on coal carrying boats at the age of eighteen. While working in the North Sea, Cook spent his free time learning math and navigation. This led to his appointment as mate. Searching for something more adventurous, in 1755 he volunteered for the British Royal Navy and took part in the Seven Years War and was an instrumental part of the surveying of the St. Lawrence River, which helped in the capture of Quebec from the French. Cook'sFirst Voyage Following the war, Cooks skill at navigation and interest in astronomy made him the perfect candidate to lead an expedition planned by the Royal Society and Royal Navy to Tahiti to observe the infrequent passage of Venus across the face of the sun. Precise measurements of this event were needed worldwide in order to determine the accurate distance between the earth and sun. Cook set sail from England in August, 1768 on the Endeavor. His first stop was Rio de Janeiro, then the Endeavor proceeded west to Tahiti where camp was established and the transit of Venus was measured. After the stop in Tahiti, Cook had orders to explore and claim possessions for Britain. He charted New Zealand and the east coast of Australia (known as New Holland at the time). From there he proceeded to the East Indies (Indonesia) and across the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. It was an easy voyage between Africa and home; arriving in July, 1771. Cook's Second Voyage The Royal Navy promoted James Cook to Captain following his return and had a new mission for him, to find Terra Australis Incognita, the unknown southern land. In the 18th century, it was believed that there was much more land south of the equator than had already been discovered. Cooks first voyage did not disprove claims of a huge landmass near the South Pole between New Zealand and South America. Two ships, the Resolution and the Adventure left in July, 1772 and headed to Cape Town just in time for the southern summer. Captain James Cook proceeded south from Africa and turned around after encountering large amounts of floating pack ice (he came within 75 miles of Antarctica). He then sailed to New Zealand for the winter and in summer proceeded south again past the Antarctic Circle (66.5 ° South). By circumnavigating the southern waters around Antarctica, he indisputably determined that there was no habitable southern continent. During this voyage, he also discovered several island chains in the Pacific Ocean. After Captain Cook arrived back in Britain in July, 1775, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and received their highest honor for his geographic exploration. Soon Cooks skills would again be put to use. Cook's Third Voyage The Navy wanted Cook to determine if there was a Northwest Passage, a mythical waterway which would allow sailing between Europe and Asia across the top of North America. Cook set out in July of 1776 and rounded the southern tip of Africa and headed east across the Indian Ocean. He passed between the North and South islands of New Zealand (through Cook Strait) and towards the coast of North America. He sailed along the coast of what would become Oregon, British Columbia, and Alaska and proceeded through the Bering Straight. His navigation of the Bering Sea was halted by the impassible Arctic ice. Upon yet again discovering that something did not exist, he continued his voyage. Captain James Cooks  last stop was in February, 1779 at the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) where he was killed in a fight with islanders over the theft of a boat. Cooks explorations dramatically increased European knowledge of the world. As a ship captain and skilled cartographer, he filled in many gaps on world maps. His contributions to eighteenth century science helped propel further exploration and discovery for many generations.

6 ways to end your workday so your morning is peaceful

6 ways to end your workday so your morning is peaceful We all want to be that person that strolls out of the office with a wide smile and not a care in the world. Those people tend to sail in the next morning wearing the same rosy glasses. What’s their secret? How can you, too, design your life so you’re not just stressed and frazzled when you leave your desk- or really, any time you’re near your desk? You need to be strategic about how you end your days. Rather than realizing it’s five minutes past quitting time, grabbing your dirty Tupperware and coffee mug from the morning, and jetting home with your desk in disarray, try a few of these tips to leave work happy and at ease. Then, you’ll know you can arrive in the morning calm and ready to face the day ahead.1. Wrap up everything you possibly can.Set yourself an alarm or a notification to make an assessment of your workload hour before you’re scheduled to leave, and use that last hour to wrap up any lingering tasks- especially the little annoyi ng ones left over from the day before. Clear your inbox, and fill in that pesky form or expense report you’ve been putting off. De-clutter your to-do list so you can cross off as many tasks as possible to leave a clean slate for the morning.2. Straighten up your space.Do a five minute tidy of your workspace. Put your loose papers (or desktop files) away in the appropriate files, drawers, and folders. Clean your coffee mug, and take out your trash. You’ll be surprised at what an impact a nice clean space will make on your mood the next day.3. Plan for tomorrow.Spend the last five or ten minutes or so before you head out the door making your to-do list for the next day. Start fresh with a blank sheet of paper and make sure to note tasks that have persisted for a while, tasks that are immediate and easy to accomplish, and ongoing future projects so you can triage when you arrive and get straight to it.4. Reflect on your day.What went well today? What went poorly? Give you rself the appropriate pats on the back and pep talks you’ll need to move forward. Are there any resources you need to complete a project that you can work on collecting in the coming days? What challenges did you face, and how might you neutralize those tomorrow to be more productive? Taking a moment to assess will help you clear your mind and help you focus on anything that might be standing in your way.5. Truly unplug for the evening.Disconnect with a clear conscience. Don’t bring your work home with you unless you have to. Actually recharge. Turn off your computer and your work phone and concentrate on your non-work life for a precious few hours. You’ll find this makes you a much better worker the next day.6. Reward yourself.Make sure you have something to look forward to outside the office to help differentiate the different segments of your day. Meet up with a friend, see family, or plan a fun night for yourself. Take a class or join a book club, or just bl ock off a few hours for Netflix and takeout. Treat yourself for a day well done and you’ll wake up feeling refreshed and ready for another one.

Infant Death in Developing Countries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Infant Death in Developing Countries - Essay Example People therefore, have the mandate of donating any amount of assistance which would later be transferred to areas of need by these non-governmental organizations (Semba, 2008, p 88). Connection of the world to become a global village has made it possible for people to interact with each other and help each other. Each person has a mandate of ensuring that all people either in developing or developed countries enjoy their stay in the world. This is through giving out the sharing the little that one has in order to save the life of another one. The people are connected by one spirit of being humans (Semba 2008, p.90). It is therefore, responsibility of each person to ensure that the no one is starving when one has the ability to help. When each person takes the mandate of helping the starving children, it would be possible to eradicate hunger in earth making it possible for each person to enjoy life. In conclusion, it is the mandate of each person to ensure that starving images of children in developing countries are eliminated completely. This is through sharing the little that a person have with the rest of the

Team Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Team Communication - Essay Example Sometimes happens that the leader is not aware of members` interaction and decision making, which also results in loss of status of the leader. It is extremely important for a team to hold regular meetings on which every member would have a chance to speak out. A leader`s assertiveness, clarity, and the ability to hear each team member will prevent tension and frustration. It is crucial for the team members to have the same understanding of the direction and the processes in the team. A leader must be able to set clear goals and analyze the stage of their achievement. One of the most difficult moments of the team work is dealing with problems. Sometimes certain conflicts or problems appear due to bad performance of one of the members. A good leader will be able to address the problem without pointing to the person. Drawing too much attention to the failure of a team member as well as concealing it is not the best practice as it can result in depression.In my schools, most leaders sup port participative leadership style, which means that they consult with a team before taking important decisions. I find this style to be the most relevant and effective. If there is much evidence that the team leader is not capable to control, direct, and manage the team the members have to voice their complaints and in some cases choose another leader.Therefore, keeping constant contact with team members, setting direct achievable goals, and solving the conflicts efficiently will make team work successfully.

The competitive nature of the big supermarket chains in the UK Essay

The competitive nature of the big supermarket chains in the UK - Essay Example It will further discuss whether the market structure is beneficial or has a negative impact to the customers. The four brands take more than seventy-five percent of the market shares with Tesco enjoying the largest share of the UK market. The supply of commodities is always on demand; hence, the production scale tends to be large to have space to accommodate the economies of scale. When the issue of economies of scale comes into play, the variable cost is always low due to the advanced technology that results to full utilization of the investment. The consumers get more products at lower prices. The oligopoly market structure tends to attract large manufacturers. In addition, the manufacturers are required to have higher levels of technical and financial strength in production of commodities (Obitz, 2009, p. 59). It results to more benefits to the people as evident in the large quantities of low price products. The oligopoly market in United Kingdom supermarket chains does possess an aspect of interdependence. If a company makes a price or market strategy that has influence on the other companies, the whole market particularly the firms, become interdependent (Leahy & Neary, 2010, p. 25). This means that if one supermarket decreases or increases the price of its commodities, the other supermarkets will also adjust their price. The supermarkets, in most instances have a common agreement of how they make changes on the output and the price. In addition, most of their strategies seem to be similar in order to maximize on their profits. This results to a non-price competition in oligopoly market and price rigidity. The supermarkets in the UK avoid engaging in price wars. The prices are relatively same in all the large supermarkets. In the business world, some firms will tend to lower their price than the others while the quality of their goods is not securitized. This makes the consumers buy t he products at low prices and

Russian Symbolism and Mikhail Vrubel Research Paper

Russian Symbolism and Mikhail Vrubel - Research Paper Example From his earliest pieces of art, Mikhail Vrubel demonstrated an exceptional natural ability in modeling and figure drawing, however, he also engaged and valued the traditional academic pragmatism of the school. He quickly developed a taste for cooperating improvisation and symbolism, which would lead him to develop his personal style of painting with its exclusive brushwork, imitating the visual effect of mosaic art .He becomes influential sculptor, and draftsman who was a pioneer of modernism with an original vision. In his works, he was a pioneer of modernism in the styles, innovative and the techniques he put together to ensure that he was able to convey his feelings, complex inner life as well as an expression of spiritual world through his work art. Vrubel actually did not commence his artistic work until 1880s, after a successful effort in his pieces of art works, he become recognized in the early 1990s. He turned out to be symbolist and an expressionist at a time when the majo rity artists were still attributed to the pragmatic custom of the Wanderers. Being more practical and rejected these traditions and become more individualistic in his pieces of work, however he was misunderstood by his contemporaries though he was still considered the forefather of symbolism. Mikhail Vrubel usually chose to do his works from the real life situations this was later followed by most contemporary artists. Most of his scenes and characters were drawn from literature and tradition.

Artist report paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Artist report paper - Essay Example His father, Ser Piero da Vinci is a prominent notary of Florence and had a great grange left from their ancestry. However, da Vinci was born to unmarried parents because his mother, Catarina was not from a rich family. After few years later da Vinci was born, Catarina left her own son and married to someone else. This caused da Vinci to not have any connection with any female in his life other than work. Moreover, from the one of famous art piece â€Å"The Mona Lisa† illustrates the idea woman for As a son of notary, da Vinci had been well educated in his childhood from his father, uncle, priest and self-study because he is an illegitimate child. Even so, it did not affect da Vinci’s intelligences still surpassed those people who have been educated in school. He can play a lot of instruments, sing, and study mathematic also nature, due to the large grange he had near his house. Other than the large grange near his house, da Vinci also spends most of his time in outdoor observing nature during his childhood which influenced the future of his art style. Until the age of fourteen, da Vinci’s father sent him to be an apprentice of a great artist, Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence because of talent in art. As an apprentice, he helped Verrocchio to finish one of the angels in â€Å"Baptism of Christ† and the landscape. His ability was amazed Verrocchio because da Vinci understood how to use the color to demonstrate the light and distant. Moreover, he also known the environment will affect the vision such as the rain, cloud and dust. A great person is not only what he is good at, is also what he did to benefit people. Da Vinci is the first artist who combined Science, Mathematics, anatomy, and engineering into an art piece. He demonstrates the divine proportion of a human body that all the living things have follow the specific ratio, divine proportion. He is also the first person to draw a dissected human body and studied the human structure.

We Would All Eventually Develop Cancer If We Lived Long Enough Essay

We Would All Eventually Develop Cancer If We Lived Long Enough - Essay Example The other causes are genetic predisposition inherited from families and medical factors such as certain viruses linked to cancer including human papillomavirus, which causes cervical cancer, hepatitis B and C and which cause liver cancer (7). Based on what cancer is and its causative agents, this paper tackles the questions of whether or not everybody will eventually get cancer at some point in their lives. With supportive evidence from scientific cancer studies, this paper takes a stance not everyone eventually gets cancer, including those who live long lives. Incidence rates for all types of cancers have increased for all age groups in Great Britain since the mid-1970s. However, the largest increase has been in the 75+ age bracket. The rise has been smaller in the other age groups with the 25-49 registering the smallest increases of 31% between 1975 and 1977 and 2009 and 2011. Although many factors cause cancer, people should not be misled that everyone will get cancer. Not everyone does. The interactions of factors of cancer make the basis of this discussion. The first factor is risky behaviour, by which people indulge in dangerous behaviours that predispose them to cancer or increase their cancer risks (6). These behaviours include smoking, excessive consumption of alcohol, bad or an unhealthy diet (10). In other words, people who take better care of themselves compared to their more careless counterparts are not likely to get cancer, regardless of how long they live since the type of lifestyle a person lives has real and far-reaching consequences on their propensity to get cancer. The table below shows the observed and projected lifetime risks of contracting or being diagnosed with all types of cancers in the UK. Paradoxically, whereas some people take good care of their lives really well and still get cancer others who seem not to care at all and never get cancer.     

Artist report paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Artist report paper - Essay Example His father, Ser Piero da Vinci is a prominent notary of Florence and had a great grange left from their ancestry. However, da Vinci was born to unmarried parents because his mother, Catarina was not from a rich family. After few years later da Vinci was born, Catarina left her own son and married to someone else. This caused da Vinci to not have any connection with any female in his life other than work. Moreover, from the one of famous art piece â€Å"The Mona Lisa† illustrates the idea woman for As a son of notary, da Vinci had been well educated in his childhood from his father, uncle, priest and self-study because he is an illegitimate child. Even so, it did not affect da Vinci’s intelligences still surpassed those people who have been educated in school. He can play a lot of instruments, sing, and study mathematic also nature, due to the large grange he had near his house. Other than the large grange near his house, da Vinci also spends most of his time in outdoor observing nature during his childhood which influenced the future of his art style. Until the age of fourteen, da Vinci’s father sent him to be an apprentice of a great artist, Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence because of talent in art. As an apprentice, he helped Verrocchio to finish one of the angels in â€Å"Baptism of Christ† and the landscape. His ability was amazed Verrocchio because da Vinci understood how to use the color to demonstrate the light and distant. Moreover, he also known the environment will affect the vision such as the rain, cloud and dust. A great person is not only what he is good at, is also what he did to benefit people. Da Vinci is the first artist who combined Science, Mathematics, anatomy, and engineering into an art piece. He demonstrates the divine proportion of a human body that all the living things have follow the specific ratio, divine proportion. He is also the first person to draw a dissected human body and studied the human structure.

Workforce Diversity at IBM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Workforce Diversity at IBM - Essay Example IBM had already implemented Workforce diversity as early as 1953 while this only became a requirement over ten years later under the Civil Rights Act of the US in 1964. This shows that IBM has always been committed to implementing workforce diversity unlike other firms who do it because it has to be done. IBM had already realized the importance of diversifying the workforce for the sake of the firm in order to not only increase productivity but also to increase their strategic advantage. The fact that IBM had already embraced the idea of workforce diversity as early as the 1950s is very important in considerations that the globalisation of trade had not begun. Globalisation, which was very fundamental in forcing organisations into embracing workplace diversity, only came much later in the 1980s and it is at this time that most international firms realised they had to diversify their workforce in order to ensure that they are globally competitive and that they can meet the challenges of a global market (Strachan, French and Burgess 4). In this regard, IBM can be regarded as the pioneer of the principle of workforce diversity. Looking at the information provided about IBM workforce diversity in this section, it becomes clear that the person is increasingly clear that implementing workforce diversity should not be driven by the affirmative action of the Civil Rights Act of the US in 1964. ... a modern world, any firm, especially those operating in the global environment should be able to make sure that their work is as diversified as much as possible. A diversified workforce is not only more likely to give the firm more innovations but is also able to meet the needs of the diverse market. IBM was the first to realize that diversifying the workforce would help the reorganisations to be able to be competitive in a global market. In fact, according to Richard (477), modern organisations are realizing that diversifying the workforce is not just the right thing to do, but a requirement for the organisation in order to acquire competitive advantage in the market. This probably explains the reason why IBM went on to become one of the most successful companies in the world. The other issue which comes out from the topic is the fact that implementing workforce diversity is not an easy task and it is a task which must be looked at in a very serious manner. Firms should be able to u nderstand workforce diversity is not just about hiring individuals from all categories of people such as from different races, different abilities etc. Workforce diversity however is being able to look for talents from all walks of life. IBM was the first firms to break the ice at a time when segregation in the workplace was very high. Many firms misunderstand workforce diversity and implement it in the wrong way. Not only do firm misunderstand diversity, but also the legislations which have been made such as the Civil Rights Act of the US in 1964 have the wrong view of what diversity should be. Diversity should not be inspired by giving the minority groups an added advantage over the majority. Equal opportunity employment should be inspired by the need to have all people of all sorts of

Learning is a major part of life. Essay Example for Free

Learning is a major part of life. Essay People tend to learn in every steps of their life. Learning does not necessarily involve complex terms, it can also be primitive things that keeps happening in day to day life of an individual. Everybody has different interest, likewise they have a different pattern of learning things. Some people learn faster through visual medium, some through audio, and some just writing down the things depending upon what the subject matter is. I believe that learning process does not start when one settles in a formal environment but it start right from the birth of an individual. Walking, talking, decision making etc. are some examples including every other primary things are the result of learning. Every time anyone has to acquire a new skills, they need to be focused and scrutinize the subject matter thoroughly, that is how learning happens. Learning affects the confidence of a person as well. If someone learn things quickly than they have higher confidence in doing things and learning new things as well. After going through the video couple of times I realized that one who puts hard work and devotion in learning new things can automatically adapt into the ways the things are done and will become successful. I myself am very much interested in music and vaguely inspired by the beauty of it. I think music can be the most influential thing in an individual life. Music can make a person relax after a hard day at work, cure the illness, provides maximum level of comfort to an individual. Being so much influenced on music I have managed to learn a very few instruments and it always gives me pleasure and comfort when I am playing them. But I do not want to stop here. I want to learn more about music. I want to be able to read the music and understand every keys and notation in it. I want to be a musician like David Gilmour from the greatest band ever, â€Å"Pink Floyd,† who is able to play any string musical instrument that exists in planet today. I am currently doing my major in Business with Information Technology however in order to fulfill my ambition in music I have also planned to take music as my minor subject and later on carry it as my profession along with my  Business major degree. It is very much important to me because of my vague interest in it, but mostly it makes me very happy. Finally, I am profoundly inspired from the video that I just watched and it helped me to boost up my morale. I do have much respect for the people attempting to make things happen and these people are just one of those few who dare to take the challenges and do something that makes difference to others.

Heat Transfer Within A Jacketed Reactor System

Heat Transfer Within A Jacketed Reactor System Modeling of heat transfer within a jacketed reactor requires basic knowledge on process heat transfer; reactor design etc. literature review sum up the fundamental on energy balance, method of overall heat transfer coefficient determination and basic understanding of crystallization. These are the basic methods which allow engineers to predict more accurate capabilities during chemical process as well as timing on the process. Introduction Heat transfer is important in agitated vessels due to fluid temperature is the most significant factor for controlling the outcome of chemical, biochemical and pharmaceutical processes. [6] Jacketed agitated vessels for heating and cooling are commonly used in vary types of process applications. Engineers should have working knowledge of how heat transfer and temperature control principles applied to such vessels. Cooling or heating agitated liquid in vessels is a basic technological operation on the chemical, biochemical, pharmaceutical, food and processing industries. The cooling or heating rate depends on how the heat is supplied or removed, the mixing intensity and many other parameters. [5] The temperature needs to be controlled precisely at its desired to meet the requirement of downstream operations. Hence a mathematical model is essential which can predict temperatures accurately. The rate of heat transfer to or from an agitated liquid mass in a vessel is a function of the physical properties of that liquid and of the heating or cooling medium, the vessel geometry, and the degree of agitation. [8] Other factors which may affect the rate of heat transfer include type and size of the agitator and agitator location in the vessel. Most of the jacketed agitated vessels are used as reactor, thus chemical reactions with exothermic or endothermic effects must be taken into account as well. In a vessel containing an agitated liquid, heat transfer takes place mainly through conduction and forced convection, as it does in heat exchangers. [8] Crystallization is a unit operation for separation and production of pure solid materials with desired properties. To develop a batch cooling crystallization process, various operation strategies need to be investigated in relation to seeding, cooling, mixing, fines dissolution, and so forth. [18] In commercial scale process, the reactor size grows larger. In this situation, various problems like ancillary nucleation, attrition, breakage, agglomeration, and dead zone may become severer in relation to the increasing inhomogeneities in the solution temperature and hydrodynamics. Literature Review Modeling of reactors is useful for analyzing data, estimating performance, reactor scale-up, simulating start-up and shut down behavior, and control. [12] Uncertainties such as scale-up options, explosion hazards, runaway reactions, environmental emissions, reactor internals etc, may be explored through modeling. [12] A key aspect of modeling is to derive the appropriate momentum, mass or energy conservation equations for the reactor. One typical application in heat transfer with batch operation is heating the process fluid in reactor, maintaining temperature during the reaction period and cooling the product after reaction complete. [11] Energy Balance The overall thermal energy balance includes the heat entering the system, heat leaving the system, heat accumulation and heat loss. The equation can be written as: In batch process, there is no liquid or fluid entering or leaving the system. If the system is assumed to be perfectly insulated, the energy balance equation can be simplified in: [7] By integration of both sides: For a batch manufacturing process, heat transfer in an agitated vessel is used to design a suitable process or reaction. It is necessary to calculate the time to heat or cool a batch or the cooling capacity required to hold an exothermic or endothermic reaction at constant temperature. [1] The technique is to develop an expression which is relating time for heating or cooling agitated batches to coil or jacket area, heat-transfer coefficient, and the heat capacity of the vessel contents. [11] By rearranging the energy balancing equation, the relevant equation to calculate time is as follow: This equation only can be used in where the utility fluid temperature remains constant or the fluid temperature difference between inlet and outlet is not greater than 10% of the log mean temperature difference between the average temperature of the jacket and the temperature of the vessels content. [8] Precisely, for heating and cooling condition, this equation must be represented in separately: For heating: For cooling If the situation is greater than 10% of the log mean temperature difference, the apply equation will be: W = the mass flow rate through the jacket, C = the specific heat of the fluid in the jacket K = Assumptions are made for solving energy balance equation [11] [17] U is constant for the process and over the entire surface Liquid flow rates are constant Specific heats are constant for the process The heating or cooling medium has a constant inlet temperature Agitation produces a uniform batch fluid temperature No partial phase changes occurs Heat losses are negligible Agitated vessel heat transfer coefficient Process side heat transfer coefficient can be determined by speed and agitator type. For low viscosity fluids, high-speed turbine type agitators will provide good performance. For high viscosity fluids and non-newtonian fluids, larger diameter agitators will be more suitable. [1] Various types of agitators are used for mixing and blending as well as to promote heat transfer in vessels. The correlations used to estimate the heat transfer coefficient to the vessel wall. [2] For agitated vessels: Where hv = heat transfer coefficient to vessel wall or coil, Wm-2à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™-1 D = agitator diameter, m N = agitator, speed, rps (revolutions per second) Ï  = liquid density, kg/m3 kf = liquid thermal conductivity, Wm-1à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™-1 Cp = liquid specific heat capacity, J Kg-1à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™-1 ÃŽ ¼ = liquid viscosity, Nm-2s. The values of constant C and the indices a, b and c depend on the type of agitator the use of baffles, and whether the transfer is to the vessel wall or to coils. Some typical correlations are given below: [2] Flat blade disc turbine, baffled or unbaffled vessel, transfer to vessel wall, Re < 400: Flat blade disc turbine, baffled vessel, transfer to vessel wall, Re> 400: Overall heat transfer coefficient Most utility and process fluid will foul the heat transfer surfaces in an exchanger to a greater or lesser extent. The deposited material will normally have a relatively low thermal conductivity and will reduce the overall coefficient. Fouling factors usually are considered in determining the Overall heat transfer coefficient U. The overall heat transfer coefficient is calculated in this way: Where ÃŽ ± and ÃŽ ±s are the heat transfer coefficients for the process and utility side respectively. On the utility side, fouling resistance 1/ÃŽ ±f can be found from local experience or from Kern (1950). [1] Heat transfer utility fluid Syltherm 800 is a silicone heat transfer fluid. It is a highly stable, long-lasting silicone fluid designed for high temperature liquid phase operation. It exhibits low potential for fouling and can often remain in service for 10 years or more. The recommended using temperature range is. [15] Crystallization Crystallization occurs with generating a sufficient level of supersaturation. The method of generation of supersaturation is to provide heat transfer, which is used in cooling and evaporative crystallization processes. There are two essential steps for crystallization: nucleation and crystal growth. The problems of scale-up in crystallization process can be classified into induced, hydrodynamically induced, and mixes. For example, attrition, breakage, and agglomeration are related to solution mixing and are investigated from the hydrodynamic point of view. On the other hand, ancillary nucleation is caused by increased temperature gradient within the solution together with seed particles generated by attrition or fluid shear and can be considered as an example where the thermal and hydrodynamic effects are mixed. To improve the hydrodynamics deterioration during the scale-up, impeller type, agitation power, and baffle or draft tube design2,8,9 can be modified or newly designed as required. The thermal aspect improvement is performed by the heat transfer enhancement, but the remedies are limited because the heat transfer area to volume ratio decreases inevitably during the scale-up unless other techniques such as vacuum or evaporative crystallization is introduced. Methodology Calculation of time to heat or cool a fixed amount of liquid inside a batch reactor usually assume the process and utility heat capacity and the overall heat transfer coefficient to be constant throughout the calculations. Equations (liquid in jacket) heat input to reactor at T = heat loss by utility liquid with inlet temperature T1 and outlet temperature T2 Rearrange the equation to solve unknown jacket outlet temperature T2 The rate of temperature change of the liquid inside the vessel is given by Solving the above two equations to get process temperature as a function of time Finally, solving for time t where T = Tf Conclusion

Veronica - Why Doesnt Veronica Leave For The City? Essay -- essays res

The city is an elegant place to live. It calls to the people from the inferior village life. The well led life followed by the city people offers many opportunities compared to the hopelessness of village surroundings. It offers hope, the chance to be independent, the chance of a job. In the story Veronica by Adewale Maja-Pearce, Okekà © the ever lasting friend of Veronica is drawn by the attraction of the city for the opportunities he sees for himself. Veronica on the other hand does not desire to leave their decomposing village for the city. She decides this for a number of reasons. One of the reasons why Veronica decides not to go to the city is due to her lack of education. She feels that the city has nothing to offer her and her place is the village. She says, 'What will I do when I get there, I have no qualifications not even a standard six' She is aware that she needs qualifications to succeed in the city and without them, she sees no point in going. Another reason associated with this is to do with Veronica's expectations. If Veronica's expectations were not so low, she may have gone to the city with Okekà ©. Veronica says, 'They are my family that is enough' This line is an example of Veronica's low expectations. She feels her family is enough and she needs nothing else. Another example of Veronicas low expectations is when Okekà © comes back after ten years to find Veronica with a child a husband. Another example is, 'God has blessed us with a son. Is that not e...

The Importance of Poetry

Laura E. Smith Ms. Rachel MacNally English Honours 11th January 11th, 2012 The Importance of Poetry To each person, poetry has a varied significance and importance in their life. Some people may value poetry highly while others may consider it as something of lesser importance. The importance of poetry in today’s literary society is substantially important because it has an ability to express the thoughts and emotions of a writer through flowing words. Throughout history, poetry has been important because it gives us a historical representation of what previous generations found beautiful, important, or profound.It can show us words and concepts from the past. Poetry can even depict historical events. Poets in the past may have written a poem after a big event had occurred and by reading their poems, we can see how the event affected everyday people. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said â€Å"Poetry, above any other art form, comes closest to fulfulling the goal of art. Art is th e representation of the unrepresentable. Through language, space, and metaphor poetry is able to skirt the edges of capturing an ever changing world's beauty and ugliness better than any other art form. Many people may ask themselves, is poetry closest to fulfilling the goal of art? The reason is because anyone can write it without being judged because there is a variety, and so many ways to write poetry. From free verse to haikus, structured poems to couplets, the sky is the limit. Anyone can write poetry because it is your ideas and emotions that you are letting flow onto a piece of paper. The variety of poems allows people to be able to fashion their own combinations for writing poetry and ultimately creating their own unique style. Its shortness can be a vehicle to convey an idea that longer pieces may not fully capture.Poetry captures the urgency of a moment in the life of the writer. The art of poetry has always surrounded us, ever since we were little children. We began by li stening to our parents sing us Nursery Rhymes which at the end of the day are fun poems that we all remember. Communication is essential for life to continue. So the reading and writing of poetry is very involved with the interplay and dialogue between humans. Without poetry, life would be a very long lecture on morality. It is a way for young writers to let off steam and dream without being judged.It is also a way for an adult writer to express their madness, regrets, desires, aspirations and belief system. Poetry is the deep and powerful expression of the human condition; it encompasses all emotion, all modes of living; it can be mourning or celebration, song or scream, revelation or denial, acceptance or resistance,  and sometimes all of these at once. Poetry puts your observations, opinions, and even train of thought out in the open. Once people see how you think, they might have a feeling of why you say what you say, do what you do, or react like you do.This can prevent misun derstandings. Poetry can make it easier to step into the shoes of someone else. Due to this, poets are some of the first voices to protest social and political injustices; they are some of the first to mourn losses, cultural and personal; and they are some of the first to rejoice in the wonders of the living in and for the world. Unlike most forms of literature, poetry conveys more emotion than logical progression. It's the origin of songs, and is an indispensable way to express one's self since it is unbound by rules on grammatical clarity and precision.Poetry is perhaps one of the most versatile of literary forms since it can convey great emotion, lyrical aesthetic, and a story all at the same time. It is some sort of a midpoint between songs and stories. And yet for all its magic, poetry is found in our daily speech. It uses words that are known to all of us, but in a sequence and order that surprises us out of our normal speech rhythms and linear thought processes. Its effect is to illuminate our lives and breathe new life, new seeing, new tasting into the world we thought we knew.Poetry allows children and adults alike to explore the English language. Mixing words in sentences to find the right fit to create a sense of rhythm and flow. Poetry is real. Real people have written it to express real emotion that is normally hidden. Poets write to show that people have felt certain things before which someone else may be experiencing at another time. A poem allows you to see beyond the surface. Sometimes this is done through metaphors or other abstract ways which cause you to really think. Beauty is expressed, and art is emphasized through poetry.Finding and using words to fit exactly how you want them to takes time and thought. When people read poetry, they have a chance to really see the world with some of the bells and whistles stripped away; it lets them concentrate on the details which remain. Poems often describe life and illuminate aspects of it using fl ashes of imagery. Finally, poetry is a kind of multi-dimensional language. It is directed at the whole person, not just at his understanding. It must involve the reader's senses, intelligence, emotions and imagination.Poetry achieves its extra dimensions per word by employing devices including metaphor, allusion, sound, repetition, rhythm, irony, symbol, connotation and imagery. Using these resources and the materials of life, poetry, in its highest form, comes alive on the page. Poetry is important because it tries to render things that aren't easy to express in words. It does this by making use of attributes of language which aren’t commonly seen to instill deep thought and contemplation. In a sense, poetry uses words as doors to many possibilities. It carries our imaginations or stirs new dreams. Mainly, it extends the power of words to communicate.

Great Power Hegemony

Name: Sayed Jamaluddin Firozi, St no: 1B1019 Great power hegemony There is a question that which system (empire, balance of power, concert of power or great power hegemony) provides the best conditions for advancing peace, prosperity and civilization? There are several opinions about the advantages and disadvantages of each system and the functions, abilities and disabilities of them to maintaining the peace and stability in international arena. But I want to argue on hegemonic power system as a preventer of war among states and a maintainer of peace as comparison to other suggested types of system for advancing peace, stability and civilization in all over the world. Hegemonic power system is the best system for advancing peace, prosperity and preventing war among states comparing to other types of systems such as empire, balance of power, and concert of power. In this paper I will argue that as history of international relations show most wars and conflicts among states occurred in a lack of a hegemonic power because a hegemonic power try to act as a policeman and don’t let the states to start war. If war happens mostly the super power will enter the war to stop it because the hegemonic power does see itself as a policeman to have the right to intervene. So, hegemonic power is good for making peace and stability in the world. There are many reasons that great power hegemony system could be the best option for developing peace and preventing the war. It is clear that two world wars happened in the absence of a great hegemonic power. For example if in the 1910s there was great power hegemony the First World War may did not happen. In addition, hegemonic power system naturally makes its allies and don’t want to go just for its own interest but also look for others as well. In contrast in balance of power each actor in the system try to pursue its national interests and want to increase the power in terms of military or other resources. Furthermore, great power hegemony can be very helpful in cooperation among states, because the hegemonic power bear the most cost of transaction in the system. For example USA as a hegemonic state â€Å"pays the 22 percent regular expenditure of United Nation and 25 percent of the budget while UN goes for peacekeeping operations around the world. On the other hand, â€Å"the system of balance of power doesn’t seem to contribute the cooperation among states but in contrast it pushes the states to go for a competition and armament race because each state in the system will increase its capabilities to make the balance in the system. Eventually this competition will lead nation state to build its arm forces†. However, there are some arguments about the weakness of hegemonic power to prevent states from going to war. They argue that hegemonic power has its own limitations in term of internal and external barriers to go as policeman around the world. This arguments see very good and logic. But they don’t have any proposal that which system could be the best to make the world more peaceful and prosperous. So, despite these points of view the other types of system such as balance of power or concert of power likely aren’t good replacement for great power hegemony system to be succeeded for making peace and stability in the world. So I will try to give more examples from history of international relations to show the other systems (empire and balance of power or concert of power) couldn’t make a stable and peaceful world. But mostly went to war and there was fear of attack from other country in the era of those systems. In conclusion, there might be some suggestion for advancing peace, prosperity and stability within the system of great power hegemony. References: 1. Luard, Evan. The balance of power: The System of International Relations, 1648 – 1815, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1992. 2. Kennedy, Paul, The Rise and Fall of Great Powers, Random House, New York, 1987 3. Huntington, Samuel P. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1996. 4. Journal of Peace Research. 5. Brooking Institution Press. 6. The Better World Campaign. ——————————————– [ 2 ]. . U. S. Dues and Contributions to the United Nations, The Better World Campaign, http://www. betterworldcampaign. org/issues/funding/us-dues-and-contributions. h tml , [ 3 ]. . Journal of p eace research, 1964-2007 (Vols. 1-44), http://www. jstor. org/stable/422972? seq=3

City and Urbanization

Urbanization is a socio-economic process by which an increasing proportion of the population of an area becomes concentrated into the towns and cities. The term is also defined as the level of population concentration in urban areas. The proc ess of urbanization increases both the number and size of towns and cities. Urbanization is the most significant phenomenon of the 20th century which has almost affected all aspects of the national life in India. Being the second most populous country in the world after China India's fast growing urbaniza tion has a regional as well as world- ide impact.India's urban population constitutes a sizeable pro portion of the world's urban population. This can be well corroborated from the fact that every 12th city dweller of the world and every 7th of the developing countries is the Indian. India has as many small towns (population 20,000-49,999) as in the United States as many as medium towns (population 50,000 – 99,999) as in the former Sovie t Union; as many cities (population 100,000-499,999) as in the United States; and as many metropolises (population+500,OOO) as in Australia, France and Brazil combined.India has a long radition of urbanization which has continued since the days of the Indus Valley civilization. According to an estimate the percentage share of urban population to total popu lation was higher in the last part of the 17th century in comparison to the last part of the 19th century. The development of cottage industries and tertiary ac tivities during the medieval period helped in the evolution of about 3,200 towns and 120 cities in the country around 1586 A. D. (Raza, M, 1985, p. 60).The damage to this indigenous industrial structure during the colonialism gave a serious blow to the process of urbanization. The roots of the existing process of urbanization lie in Western model of factory industries which started developing in the country during the early part of the 20th century. Urbanization, in India, can be studied through Census data provided at a regular interval of 10 years since 1881 onwards. These data help us in analyzing the trends of growth in the urban popula tion, decennial increase, and urbanization and number towns during the 20th century.At the time of the reliable Census taken in 1881 the urban population contributed 9. 3 per cent of the total population of the country. The growth-trend was sluggish and even negative in some decades (1911-21) due to outbreak of epidemic (plague) and natural calamities, trend of slow growth in urbanization continued unto 1931. The decade 1931-41 observed about 32 cent growth in the urban population which increase' its share in total population to 14. 1 percent. The growth trend was further accelerated during the following decade which witnessed a decennial growth of 41. 2 per cent (Table 28. II) Raising the percentage share to 14. 1 . Here rehabilitation of refugees from Pakistan into cities played a significant role. During 1951-6 1 the growth trend as slowed down (26. 4 per cent) which contributed marginal increase (percent) in the urbanization ratio. It was due to change in the definition of urban places and declassification of 803 towns in 1961 Census. Since 1961 onward there has been steep rise in the urban population and urbanization ratio so as to reach its highest point during 1971-81 (decadal growth being 46. 2 percent and addition of record number of 900 new towns). This was the peak point in the urban growth of the country during the 20th century. The trend ot growth nas been slightly slowed down during 1981-91 (39. 32 per cent) and 1991-2001 (31. 8 per cent) which is a matter of serious study by urban geographers and urban sociologists. Causes may be many folds including increasing pollution, decreasing opportunities of employment and liveli hood in urban areas and development of new sources of livelihood in rural areas to reduce the flow of rural migrants.Above description leads us to conclude tha t during the last 90 years of the 20th century the number of towns has increased by 144. 6 per cent? urban population by 140,23 per cent, and urbaniza tion ratio by 133,6 per cent. Industrialization con comitant with economic development and rural o urban migration has made significant contribution towards this phenomenal growth. But compared with developed countries this rate of urbanisation is still slower. Wulker has rightly observed that while in Western countries urbanization is expanding towards rural areas but in India rural life is influencing the urban areas.

Communications & IT Technology and its impact on Poverty Essay

Communications & IT Technology and its impact on Poverty - Essay Example ess the potential to act as tools in support of poverty reduction because of their flexibility, addressing issues in education, healthcare, banking, and livelihoods. They can also empower people locally and strengthen promotion of human rights, which makes them an increasingly essential presence in emerging economies (UNCTD 94). By basing these economies around information and technology, governments in emerging economies could potentially enhance the livelihoods of their citizens, while also creating new livelihoods. Technology can help reduce poverty in rural areas of emerging economies through lending support to agriculture activities. An example is the Israeli state-owned Techno-Agriculture Program that seeks to shore up food security in sub-Saharan Africa and already boasts successful initiatives in Niger, as well as South Africa (Chilimo & Ngulube 98). By partnering with NGOs in these countries, such as World Vision and Green Senegal, the program has also been successfully introduced in Senegal. These programs make information better available to farmers in rural areas about best practices, especially when there is drought. ICT can also create employment opportunities directly through manufacture of hardware and indirectly by increasing their productivity, for example, through improving market information access and decreasing costs of transaction for poor traders and farmers. E-commerce programs can also help artisans in rural areas bypass exploitative middlemen, as well as corrupt governa nce, to market their products directly to the market (Chilimo & Ngulube 98). In addition, ICT provides multimedia applications for use in schools, thus enhancing skills and knowledge. This will provide students with knowledge required to become employers and skilled or semi-skilled employees. Overall ICT implementation is also a potential contributor to national GDP since a highly skilled, well informed, and skilled workforce will strengthen and complement multi-sectoral

Resort Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Resort Management - Case Study Example The mission of Oceania Club is to provide customers with all-inclusive high-quality services in order ensure customers satisfaction and loyalty. Oceania Club sets out to create a range of high-quality serviced that are distinctive in type, and especially appealing to people who had acquired a taste for good holidays. Oceania Club guarantees the best room, the warmest atmosphere on average price. Oceania Club is aimed to achieve competitive advantage and sustainable competitive creating value for their customers, select markets where they can excel and present a moving target to their competitors by continually improving their position. Three of the most important factors are innovation, quality and inventory reduction. â€Å"Blessed with a rich flora blossoming, its amphitheatric setting, surrounded by pines, olive groves, cypress trees and a golden long sandy beach, makes Oceania the ideal place for a dreamy holiday† (Oceania Home Page 2007). The resort provides lodging and room facilities. The main lodging facilities include: lounge/tv rooms, conference/meeting facilities, business/internet center, outdoor pool, indoor pool, children playground, restaurant Piano, bar, nightclub/disco, fitness center, sauna, beauty salon. Room facilities are â€Å"A/C individual, heating, satellite/pay tv, safe box, direct phone line, terrace, etc. Also, Oceania proposes a wide range of sports and entertainment activities, children and football swimming pools and beaches† (Oceania Home Page 2007). Oceania Club market is very fragmented in terms of supply, with a large number of smaller operators being characteristic. Consolidation is an ongoing process in the sector. A frequent complaint is marketing's preoccupation with short- term thinking, and an almost total lack of 'strategic thinking', or considering the longer-term implications of external and internal influences on the organization (Hayes & Ninmeier 2003). Seasonality is one of the main weaknesses of this business. Economic strains do exist, however, and some of the most sensitive factors relate to seasonal variation in Greece. In order to attract tourist around the world, Oceania Club introduces special summer and winter offers. The price varies from $12,15 in winter to $251 in summer. This strategy helps Oceania Club to avoid empty hotels, carriers and tour operators with idle wheels, and employees jobless. Also, skillful marketing, expensive, but effective, helps Oceania Club overcome some of the problems associated with seasonality (Hayes & Ninmeier 2003). Resort Property A model building is one of the hallmarks of Oceania Club. Oceania Club is "built in a luxurious, contemporary Mediterranean style and inspired by the Greek architectural traditions" (Oceania Club Home Page 2007). Land-use zoning and the spatial separation of accommodation from the buildings increase resort carrying capacity in locations. This model distinguished between the resort which represented culture and the sea which represented nature. What emerged was a transitional zone between culture and nature, a zone of 'ambiguity' - the beach. Oceania Club has 1 building with 5 room wings, 297 rooms, 3 floors and 10 lifts. It proposes the following accommodations: double room, junior suit and deluxe junior suit, suit and deluxe suit (Introduction to

Tourism in Canada Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Tourism in Canada - Research Paper Example HISTORY & CHARACTERISTICS - WEM Located at Alberta, Canada the concept of WEM had begun in 1981 prior to which the Ghermezian family who had left New York went to Montreal and then later on settled in Edmonton during 1960’s and 1970’s. Till that time they were involved in their family business of selling Persian rugs. In the late 70’s the idea of Edmonton Mall hatched in their minds and in September 1981 Phase-1 was completed with 1.1 million square feet space facilitating 220 stores. In September 1983, Phase-2 got completed by adding another 1.12 sq ft area accommodating 240 more shops. Phase 3 was completed in 1985 with a total of 5.2 million sq ft occupying 120 acres of land. The property can accommodate over 800 stores, 20,000 vehicles and staffs around 23,000 people. TOURISM HISTORY EDMONTON Edmonton being the capital city of Alberta is known for its scenic river valley and wide varieties of art and music forms. Edmonton has a unique history of architecture which has been portrayed through its Muttart Conservatory – a horticultural spectacle and the Alberta Legislature building. Fort Edmonton Park which is one of the largest living museums in Canada portraying the life, culture and arts of periods in history of Alberta right from the Fur trade Era (1846) , The settlement era (1885) and the Metropolitan Era of 1905. The Park is open each year starting with the beginning of May through the end of Labour Day. Edmonton is also famous for its humid continental climate with extreme seasonal temperatures and is considered as Canada’s one of the sunniest cities. MAJOR ATTRACTIONS Galaxyland – indoor amusement park located in the north side of the mall considered as second largest in the world with 24 rides of attraction. World Waterpark – world’s largest water park covering approximately 4.9 acres of land including wave pools, sky screamer, twisters and many other water sports. Sea life cavern – an ind oor lake with salt water habitat with a sea lion which is placed beneath the main floor of the mall with submarine facility. Ice palace – located in the centre of the mall, this ring is currently used for other sports like hockey and others. Other attractions include a Professor’s WEM Golf Course, Movie house ( originally with 4 of them, currently running only one) , Ed’s recreation centre housed with bowling alleys, music stage, arcade and restaurant, Fantasyland hotel, Petting Zoo, Gold’s Gym, Nightclub ( Whiskey Jack’s and Empire Ballroom) , four radio stations, theme areas like – Bourbon Street featuring clubs and restaurants according to New Orleans style Europa Boulevard consisting of Eclectic shops, Chinatown catering to Asian population. Alberta Aviation Museum, Telus World of Science, Art Gallery of Alberta, and City Arts Centre are some other important range of tourist spots which can accommodate people of all ages. Downtown Edmont on, the neighbourhood of Edmonton town is a commercial centre housed with Arts and Warehouse District, Rice Howard Way – the CBD of Edmonton and Art gallery of Alberta. The Royal Alberta Museum is located at Glenora which is home for Scottish inspired mansions TOURIST ACCOMODATION WEM consists of some of the most famous hotels in house to accommodate tourists from various destinations. Fantasyland Hotel –

Brand Identification Plays In Brand Loyalty and Brand Promotion Essay

Brand Identification Plays In Brand Loyalty and Brand Promotion - Essay Example The paper proposes to review the studies accomplished earlier on this particular area of concern. The earlier studies will include a number of journals articles such as ‘Social Identity Theory and the Organization’ by Ashforth and Mael, ‘Self-Categorization, Affective Commitment, and Group Self-Esteem as Distinct Aspects of Social Identity in the Organization’ by Bergami and Bagozzi. Defining Brand A brand acts as the nucleolus of a company; it helps to strengthen the image of a company in the minds of the consumers. Defining a brand is indeed the first step in the way of creating the brand strategy. By defining the brand, one constructs a foundation on which the rest of the components may later be constructed. The brand definition plays the role of a measuring stick with the help of which, the marketing strategies and materials can be evaluated. Brand defining requires the knowledge of products or services offered by the company, their quality, core values of the products or services, core values of the company, the company’s mission, the company’s expertise, the target market, the company’s tagline and the message it sends to the prospects. A brand in simple words is the term, design, symbol, name or anything that distinguishes one product from that of the other. Branding can be done based on various aspects. A brand is a conglomerate of memories, links, stories, and expectations that have a combined effect on the consumer to help him select a particular product or service in comparison to others available in the market. The consumer can be anybody ranging from a voter to a buyer. "A brand is a company's face to the world. It is the company's name, how that name is visually expressed through a logo, and how that name and logo are extended throughout an organization's communications". There are a number of ways by which branding can be accomplished. The most common of them are corporate branding, individual brandi ng, rebranding, family branding and personal branding. In order to cite an example Dove is an individual branded product from Unilever. While on the other hand IBM, G.E can be cited as the instances of corporate branding. Thus on an overall basis on whatever aspects it might be branding is important for a company. A brand is responsible for influencing the perception of the customers about the company. Consumers reflect the existence of brand value by paying a premium or spreading the word across the social network. The value of a brand is basically the aggregate of the amount consumers are willing to pay extra to buy the products or services of a certain brand while other companies rendering similar services or products cheaper by that amount are accessible to them in the market. DeMozota defined brand as the perceptions which is being determined by experience as well as through communication. Brand is also about developing and delivering the propositions to the consumers. In the m odern business era, brands are enormously focusing upon the betterment of the offering. It also remains focused towards the development of society and also to preserve the environment. However only developing or creating a brand does not mean, it will offer recognition and value to the company. The newly developed brand needs to offer value to the customers in all the aspects.

Analysis of The Good News Is that Sports Is Bad for Us Passage Essay

Analysis of The Good News Is that Sports Is Bad for Us Passage - Essay Example Assessment of reason for assumptions: The main reasons given for this are the widespread sporting malpractice currently recorded in the field of sports. This means that more and more players, their coaches, as well as other private stakeholders, use sporting. Authorities Cited: A number of authorities are mentioned in the passage, including the International Cricket Council, and Premier League football. These authorities make it plausible for readers to understand the depth of sporting corruption and malpractice in the society. Further Evidence: Further evidence about the failure of sporting corruption refers to the penalties that sportsmen’s and women get because of failing to adhere to sporting rules and regulations. Explanations: It is evident that the sports industry is too corrupt with new cays of cheating coming up every new day, such as using drugs and boosters to increase their performance capabilities in the field. Some cricket players even use illegal drugs in order to outperform their competitors during such tournaments. Comparisons: There are no major comparisons made through this text Further Conclusion: Sporting malpractice and corruption is on the rise because more sportsmen want to get ahead of others through illegal means instead of winning successfully Parallel reasoning: there is no parallel reasoning in the passage. General principles: The passage does not use any general principles. Do the reasons support the conclusion? The reasons were given to support the conclusion as there is a significant possibility of increased sporting malpractice within the society. Passage 2 â€Å"Demi-Gods and Mortals,† By John Harris Conclusion and Reasons: This passage is trying to get me to accept the fact that Demi-gods and immortality exist. These bases because science can now engineer possibilities of having a life prolonged for long years as contrasted to the current life expectancy levels. In addition, the more the development of science, t he more the realization of life elongation techniques, such as those relating to how long a person can live. Future generations may soon become Demi-gods as science tries very hard to beat death at its own game. The reasons given for these are: Scientific research is leading to the indefinite extension of life as reported by researcher all over the world. The possibility of humankind becoming immortal is more than science fiction fantasy In the long-term it may be possible to switch off the aging process and maintain a repair program in cells Assumptions: The assumptions of this passage are that science has the capabilities of designing new ways of prolonging life by making adding impossible. As such, death will no longer be part of the human life cycle, and this means that human beings will be immortal with time, as the future progresses, and somehow become Demi-gods.

History of African American Music Essay Example for Free

History of African American Music Essay The result is usually described as soul music, a mix of blues, rhythm and blues, and gospel voices. But, if Ray Charles was one of the originators of soul music, Aretha Franklin reshaped it, by bringing even more of her gospel background to bear on secular love songs (Wade and Picardie 27). By combining popular elements with her stunning voice, her great musicianship, and the feeling for a song that she learned in church, Aretha became one of the greatest soul singers to ever live. Aretha Franklin is a well-known pop, Ramp;B, and gospel singer. She has been nicknamed â€Å"The Queen of Soul† and is an internationally known artist and a symbol of pride in the African American community. Her popularity soared in 1967 when she released an album containing songs â€Å"I Never Loved a Man†, â€Å"Respect†, and â€Å"Baby I Love You. † Throughout her career she has achieved fifteen Grammy Awards, Lifetime Achievement Award, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Legend Awards, and many Grammy Hall of Fame Awards. In 1987 she became the first woman inducted into the Rock amp; Roll Hall of Fame. Time magazine chose her as one of the most influential artists and entertainers of the 20th century. She sang at Dr. Martin Luther King’s funeral and at former President Bill Clinton’s inaugural party. Although she has all these accomplishments and awards there are other reasons that have driven Franklin to fame and landed her on the front cover of Time magazine on June 28, 1968. The reasons I believe allowed Aretha Franklin to become so successful are the following: Her family’s involvement with religion, the inspiring people that surrounded her, and the pain she suffered. It is clear that because her family’s involvement with religion would be one reason why Aretha Franklin became as famous as a Gospel singer. Some people would say that her love for religion is unbelievable, but after researching her childhood it is very believable. Her father, Reverend Clarence LaVaugh Franklin lived in Shelby Mississippi and preached while living the life of a sharecropper. As soon as he had enough money, he would move to Memphis, Tennessee to become a pastor of two churches. After a couple of years he attended LeMoyne College, and he studied Education and English Literature. With his education he was able to bring a more liberal view to his preaching’s. Then he moved the family to Buffalo, New York. When he had the resources, he moved the family again to Detroit, Michigan were he settled and became a pastor of a churched called New Bethel Baptist Church. He quickly became one of the most famous pastors in the city of Detroit. Aretha was two years old when they made their final move, she would grow up here and grab the emotion of Church and incorporate it into her music. Aretha Franklin’s mom, Barbara V. Skaggers, served as choir director and pianist. Aretha describes her mom as â€Å"a Superb singer, her voice was clear and distinctive†. (Franklin and Ritz, 6) Her parents taught her how to sing with great pride. This was a big issue because the late ‘50s, early ‘60s was a time of turmoil for African Americans. Her father especially tried to instill pride into her. He was a Civil Rights activist and he was a close colleague with Dr. Martin Luther King. With her parents keeping her involved in Church she was bound to become one of the world’s greatest singers. At around age 12, the father recognized Aretha’s talent as a singer. So he took her on the road with his traveling gospel show. This was important because it shows the kind of support Aretha received from her family. It was said, â€Å"She was a spellbinding performer at the age of fourteen. † (Franklin, 3) So her family really supported and inspired her to become a gospel singer. What also made her a great artist was that she had inspiring people all around her. Aretha grew up in Detroit which at the time was a rousing city or a city of hope for the African Americans running away from the brutality of the South. Though Detroit still had its problems such as race riots, many famous musicians grew up there. Also since New Bethel Baptist Church was so prominent, many musicians and political leaders used Reverend Franklin’s pulpit as a platform to sing or speak to the Black’s of Detroit. Aretha was introduced to classical music by Smokey Robinson’s sister Sylvia Burston. She listened to well known local DJ’s like Ruth Brown and Senator Brystal Brown. When Aretha was younger, she would ride her bike to the local park, and on her way home she would stop by a night club where you could here B. B. King perform. She says, â€Å"You could hear the soft sound of his guitar all the way to the sidewalk (Franklin and Ritz, 22). National and local political leaders would give there speeches. Speakers such as Dr. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. , Dr. Martin Luther King, and Reverend Jesse Jackson would speak powerfully to the church. Aretha was directly influenced by Miriam Anderson, Sammy Davis, and Roy Wilkins. Detroit was overflowing with talent and speakers which I believe also contributed to Aretha’s success. Pain was probably what really drove Aretha Franklin’s success. As stated before, Franklin’s family was highly religious and was continually involved in the Church. But that doesn’t mean that she hadn’t been through a tremendous amount of pain. Early in life her mother and father got a divorce. The father was better suitable to raise Aretha and her four Siblings. The mother moved to Buffalo, New York and tried to make regular visits to see her children. She was supported her children in the best way she could, but when Aretha needed her, she still was not reachable. Matters became worst a few years later when Aretha’s mom dies of a stroke. Aretha described her mom by saying â€Å"she was the absolute lady† (Smith, 3). At age 15 she had her first child and two years later another would come. But Aretha still wanted to go out and be with friends, so her grandmother usually babysat for her periodically. In a time when Black Activism, Feminism, and Sexual Liberation were high, she needed to provide for herself. So when Aretha was old enough and was ready to start performing, she hired a man named Ted White to be her manager. He later became her husband. In the future she would divorce him for a famous actor which would end in divorce, too. Even though in 1968 to 1969, Franklin’s career was rising rapidly. She was still described by her Producer Jerry Wexler as â€Å"a person whose depressions runs deeper than the sea† (Ritchie Unterberger, 3). Then one of Franklin’s highest admirers, gospel giant Mahalia Jackson died. Right after her death a extremely emotional gospel album was released my Aretha â€Å"Amazing Grace† This record was considered to be one of the most emotional records of its time. Much of the pain that Aretha suffered was not really publicized, but still it had to be one of the reasons for her to have such a powerful voice. Aretha Franklin was a successful artist and still inspires musicians today. Her voice is still described as incredible. She has all the awards that she needs to show her talent. Works cited Franklin, Aretha, and David Ritz. Aretha: From These Roots. New York: Villard, 1999. Print. Carroll, Jillian. Aretha Franklin. Chicago: Raintree, 2004. Print

Reading Aloud: Challenges and Solutions

Reading Aloud: Challenges and Solutions This assignment is my guide to the final step of my dissertation. In this assignment, I will discuss in details about what I will do for my dissertation. First, I will discuss my topic and why I have chosen, it and I will indicate my research questions and sub-questions. Next, I will identify key areas I need to read about and I will summarize 11 books and articles that give useful theoretical background for my research. The topics I am interested include define reading, then the process, models, methods of teaching reading, strategies readers use and the miscue analysis in relation to reading strategies. This second section will help me build the literature review for my dissertation. Finally, I will describe my research procedure and research methods I am going to use. Section one: My topic and why I chose it My topic is about problems my pupils have in reading aloud and find ways of improving my pupils reading aloud. I have chosen this topic because in my experience as a teacher I faced and taught different kinds of pupils from different levels, I have found that most of them have problems in reading, particularly reading aloud. Some of them are good in reading aloud but have many do substitute other words, have omission of words or letter-sounds while reading. This could be due to lack of sight vocabulary, lack of phonic skills, lack of strategies for reading. Some of them cant produce a single word. I discovered that pupils were learning nothing if they could not read aloud. My pupils who cannot read aloud have general difficulty in decode any reading text successfully. I believe my research is important because reading aloud is very important for my pupils in grade 9, which is closer to the final school leaving examinations in grade 12. I hope it may able me and my colleges to find the diagnoses to help the participants and in future to help all my pupils with their reading problems . In my research I wil try to analyze and describe their miscues in reading aloud according to their levels good, average and week. That time I couldnt do any thing about it because I didnt have the experience to help them. After I joined the B.A course and studied EDUC 2031 TEYL, EDUC2033 Initial Literacy, EDUC2028 Language learning from these modules I realized the nature of young learners how do they learn, how do they acquire new language and how to teach reading to young learners. As I understood the older ways of teaching reading focused on letters and words and how to say them, all language books are concerning on that view only. The new researches showed a different view which rely on development of all language skills so, because reading in a second language is seen as a thinking exercise thats not only concerned on reading words, sentences and pages only but it is on developing language as a whole. Reading is the main reason to build the personality of a person as I mentioned before and it is the main thing that teaching and learning stands on because it is a communication way between the learner and the academic culture in the schools . I would like my pupils to be able to use reading for study, for pleasure , to understand and to interact with what they learning. My pupils are in grade 9 of general education school at the age of 14 years old with different ability levels. They have been studying English for five years only using Our World Through English. They started leaning English from grade 4. In addition, they are similar in many things such as pupils environment, strengths and weakness areas they have. I decided to do research for my dissertation where I will focus on finding the difficulties my pupils face in reading aloud and helping me find ways to improve my pupils in reading aloud. Although my research will focus on reading aloud, from my experience a pupil cannot read aloud well, he can have little or no comprehension when he read silently. My research question is: How can I develop the reading aloud abilities of my grade nine pupils?. My sub-questions will be: What miscues my good pupils and weak pupils make when reading aloud? Based on my miscue analysis, what reading strategies do my good pupils and my weak pupils use when reading aloud? What reading strategies can I encourage my pupils to develop to improve their reading? In my research the subjects will be six pupils from 2 of them are good , the other 2 are average and the last 2 are weak pupils) (785 words) Section 2 Summaries of relevant literature The key areas I will need to read about for my research are: reading process models of reading Methods of teaching reading. reading strategies miscue analysis How miscue analysis can be used to identify the reading strategies that pupils use and the errors they make. In this section I discuss 11 books / articles that I want to use for my dissertation because they will help me to develop my understanding of issues related to my research. The aspects that are relevant to my study are summarized below. Urquhart and Weir(1998) Urquhart and Weir discuss three models of reading and I will state them here : Bottom up approach. They say this analyses begin with the stimulus, i.e. the text, or bits of the text. They say that in Goughs (1972) model, the reader begins with letters, which are recognized by a scanner. The information thus gained is passed to decoder, which converts the string of letters into a string of systematic phonemes, then word, then sentence then text. So bottom-up models are sequential in that one stage is completed before another is begun. Top-down approaches. Since bottom-up models starts with the smallest text unit, either letters or letter features, we could expect, then, that top-down models begin with the largest unit, the whole text. According to Urquhart and Weir for top-down model of reading, readers first use their background knowledge to help them make a sense from the text. So for top-down approaches background knowledge is very important. Interactive approach. In interactive models (Urquhart and Weir refer to Rumelhart, 1977), there is no regular sequence from top to bottom or from bottom up. They quote Stanovich the best known proponent of interactive models, that in interactive models a pattern is synthesized based on information provided simultaneously from several source (1980:35). So in interactive approaches reader uses both small text units and background knowledge to make sense out of a text at the same time. Urquhart and Weir describes reading strategies to be a conscious response to difficulties in the text while reading action selected deliberately to achieve goals (Is this a Quotation?). Aebersold and Field (1997) Aebersold and Field also have sections on models of reading (bottom up , top down and interactive). They also focus on the readers experience in learning how to read and the ways reading fits into their lives. They give five common influential sources for information that affect reading development, particularly family, the community and the school influence. They mention that despite relatively small size, a family can foster a variety of experience that affects a childs reading development. They say that the community influence provides readers with a set of varied life experiences that also shape their individual knowledge. Thirdly the school can bring children into contact with communities other than their own or they can be homogeneous institution that reflect shared values. This is interesting because in Oman children learn English without much support from the family or the community and school does not bring child in contact to many other communities. Riley (1996) This article has a section on models of reading (bottom up , top down and interactive). The author discusses how schema theory describes the process by which readers combine their own background knowledge with the information in a text to help them comprehend that text. All readers carry different schemata (background information) and these are also often culture-specific. This is an important concept in ESL teaching, and many books have pre-reading tasks that are designed to build or activate the learners schemata. The author also highlights some of the limitations of the use of the schema-theory approach and points out the importance both of developing the learners vocabulary and of encouraging extensive reading. (This sounds as if it is copied. Beware plagiarism, Saif.) Wray and Medwell (1991) This article focuses on reading process , models of reading and approaches to teaching reading. In reading process, they mentioned that reading is a highly complicated process, and there are a number of insights and concepts that the successful reader must develop. In models of reading, they discuss bottom-up models, top-down models, and interactive models and they strongly criticize the bottom up model. They also have a section on teaching reading approaches look and say, phonic methods of teaching reading and language experience approach. I discuss these under Graton and Spratt (1998) below. Graton and Pratt (1998) This book have useful sections on methods of teaching reading (whole word , phonics , language experience ) the methods teachers can use to teach pupils how to read. Most teachers use these methods to help their student in reading , sometimes they chooses one of these methods but some teachers work on two or more because they think each method is completed by the other. The phonic method as widely used from the language teachers to teach reading and writing in the English for second language learners. It is relies on children being taught the alphabet first. Then they learn to pronounce the sounds of the letters . However it is difficult to depend only to phonics because English is not a regular spelling language. The second method is look and say or whole word method. Here pupils learn to recognize whole words or sentences rather than individual sounds. The pupils will look at a word which the teacher sound, often with a picture, and in turns will repeat the word. The problem is that it does not teach children to work out new words for themselves. The context support method can be used when the pupils are just learning to read and it is important to choose exercises or activities that really interest them. If the pupils like cars, choose an activity or exercises with pictures and simple words about cars. This will keep their interest and they will enjoy learning with the teach. OMalley and Valdez Pierce (2001) OMalley and Valdez Pierce give a useful part about miscue analysis (p 124-5). They say it involves listening to a student reading aloud and recording the miscues. In types of miscues, they mention repetitions, substitutions, insertions, omissions and self-corrections. They also recommend the teacher must get the student to answer reading comprehension questions. They say miscue analysis can provide information about (1) the readers ability to use language and the reading process (2) it can be used for assessing reading, the readers approaches to reading and reading comprehension (3) information for revising approaches to teaching reading, how it can be used by teachers effectively to improve their learners reading. This book has useful lists of reading strategies (p 121-123) and suggest how miscue analysis can be used to identify reading strategies readers are using. The authors talk about reading in the native language then reading in second language, which I am interested in. The writers said that learners who do have native language literacy skills might not know how to transfer their skills to the second language without specific strategy instruction. Carter and Nunan (Eds.) (2001) Carter and Nunan (Eds) (2001) define reading strategies as Ways of accessing text meaning which are employed flexibly and selectively in the course of reading. In teaching, attention is paid to the manner in which the reader is able to draw effectively on existing linguistic and background knowledge. They list the good reading strategies that learners use to help them read in a very efficient way, to get maximum benefit from their reading with minimum effort. These include drawing inferences, predicting and using information in the text such as pictures. They also discuss miscue analysis in relation to reading strategies: As they say, miscue analysis refers to the study of the text alterations conducted by the subject while the pupil reads the text and would be very impossible without reading aloud. Carter and Nunan (Eds) (2001) assert that for early readers miscue analysis can be used by teachers to assess the quality and quantity of learners errors in their processing of text. First, this is especially useful for L2 learners who because of their interlanguage system may show systemic syntactic and phonological departures from Standard English. In addition, they argue that miscues will be based on learners current interlanguage rather than because of misunderstanding the text. Wallace (2001) p26 in Carter and Nunan (2001) Wallace discusses miscue analysis and she focuses on how miscue analysis can be used for early readers to assess the quality and the quantity of learners errors. Beard (1987) Beard has a section on miscue analysis and methods of teaching reading (whole word , phonics , language experience). The author focuses on miscue analysis and gives some models of how to use miscue analysis to develop pupils reading and how miscue analysis can fulfill an important diagnostic function of a kind not readily offered by other more established means of reading assessment. Cameron (2001) The author has sections on reading strategies , models of reading (bottom up , top down and interactive) , methods of teaching reading(whole word , phonics , language experience ) and discusses how miscues can help the teacher identify the reading strategies a reader is using . The author gives an example from her experience of reading with a little Malaysian girl. The author mentioned that she had introduced her to the strategies such as: With the word bar, I pointed to the first letter , the sound of which she knew, and then she managed to sound out the word. With the word rather I just told her the word and did not spend any time on it , because it was not crucial to the meaning of the story and is not a particularly useful word to learn at her stage. ith the word meals I told her the word and then explained the meaning as the story progressed and the heroine moved from break fast to tea. When she came to watching TV she said washing . From this miscue I could see that she was making a good attempt at the word and had noticed the initial consonant and the final rime. www.mindtools.com/pages/articals/ According to www.mindtools.com/pages/articals/ miscue analysis refers to the study of text alterations made by the subject while s/he reads the text aloud. They summarise the research of Clay, Goodman and Weber (Davies 1995, p13) and they give a useful list of types of miscues. They say that the alterations often made by a reader are: Substitution (another word is pronounced instead of the printed word) Self-correction (the reader realizes his/her mistake and corrects by him/herself.) Repetition (the printed word is repeated orally) Omission (a word is missed from the text) Insertion (a word not in the text is added by the reader) Reversal (the word order gets changed or inverted) Hesitation (the reader pauses or makes a sound indicating hesitation) A long pause. The article also relates the miscues to approaches. It says that if a reader shows more hesitations, long pauses and self-correction, this shows a bottom up approach with the reader giving most attention to pronouncing the printed words. If a reader shows more miscues such as omission, insertion, reversal and substitution, this shows a more top-down approach where the reader is paying attention to the meaning of the whole text, not reading word by word. (Check this is not plagiarized. Can you give authors?) (1,910 words) How I will investigate my research question As discussed above, my research question will be How can I develop the reading aloud abilities of my grade nine pupils ? My Approach: For my approach and method, I read Blaxter, Hughes, Tight, (2000), Cohen, Manion, Morrison (2000), Nunan (1992). For my research approach, I will use an action research approach enabling me to investigate my own pupils over a period. Action research grows from the idea that a good teacher is one who reflects on what happens in the classroom à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" possibly with a view to changing it. (EDUC3079 session3). My Method For my research I will plan to use miscue analysis and interviews. The miscue analysis will provide quantitative data and the interviews will provide qualitative data. I will select a text from the course book which is not familiar to my pupils , I will let them each to read aloud this text , I will record them while reading , then I will use miscue analyses to help me analyse their mistakes. Finally I will interview each pupil, I will ask questions to to assess their comprehension of the text, to get them to tel me what strategies they used to work out the meanings of some words and to try to find out why they failed to read certain words correctly. The research Procedure My research will include an unknown reading text from the OWTE course book that the six pupils will read it in order to have effective and organized results for my research question. This text from the course book OWTE that I think will be not familiar for the pupils because I gave it to them for the first time (See the appendix). First I will use pre-reading questions to prepare each pupil for the reading. Pre-reading is a way of sampling where the students are familiar to the content that you are going to give them. It is a useful strategy for beginning with a class, especially when classes contain students with mixed abilities coming from a diversity of backgrounds. Then each pupil will read the text and I record it. Then I will note down all the miscues. Finally I will interview them to examine their understanding, to assess their comprehension of the text, to get them to tel me what strategies they used to work out the meanings of some words and to try to find out why they faile d to read certain words correctly. My Expectations: I expect some problems, and here I discuss how I will overcome them: Miscue analysis, I cannot assume that any two pupils will have the same miscues. In addition, anxiety may cause artificial results. To overcome these problems, I will choose six pupils from different levels. I will try to get them relaxed, so I will tell them about the reason for my research, and I will do the recording in a quiet place, so we are undisturbed. Pupils may feel boring from doing reading every time, so I must prepare a good situation for them to feel comfortable. The main problem I think it is the time. These kinds of studies should not used in a short period because the researcher need to try many ways to investigate his pupils and his study in order to collect a valid, reliable data. Conclusion: The EDUC 3079 helped me a lot on finding solutions for many problems that I will face in future in my life as a teacher to help my pupils to reach the successes in their life as students. I learned how to read a lot and how to use the linguistics theories to help my pupils and to learn and discover the problems. The use of miscue analysis is a very useful way to solve pupils weaknesses in reading because it is allows me to focus on the problem it self , and how to deal with each problem individually.