Facebook and Privacy Essay

Objective Summary: Ex-Apple Engineer, Peter Warden, has collected public fan page data from 215 million Facebook pages, revealing current trends, such as ‘God’ being the number one most popular fan page among Facebook users in the Southern U.S., whereas ‘Barack Obama’ featured heavily for San Francisco users, and ‘Starbucks’ was number one in Idaho. Warden plans to release this data to the academic community because he sees great potential in the data that can be extracted from these sites. This process is called data harvesting. The article suggests future academic work in this area is likely to occu impacting on people’s privacy. (FACTS – 100 words) Response: The ETHICAL issue central to this article is privacy and control. On one hand, Warden claims his intentions are altruistic (helpful to others) and that the data he is making visible here is a matter of public discourse. However, the FACTS are that individual users who are generating this data have neither been consulted about the data collection nor have they given permission for Warden to use it. Clearly Warden does not VALUE other’s people’s privacy as much as he WANTS (emotion) to create the website. The argument could be made that once a user ‘becomes a fan’ of a page on Facebook or, indeed, publishes any content to the internet, that information becomes public. User who have deployed privacy settings to carefully maintain a strong sense of control over their profiles, however, might well feel very ANGRY about this use of their data. Facebook can harvest that data (and does, for targeted advertising purposes) because they have a commitment to those adve rtisers (emotion)and engineers like Warden can develop data-trawling engines to collect accessible information across a massive dataset. The LAW needs to be much clearer about the rights of consumers, companies and advertisers in these situations. As Facebook is presumably bound by its own set of critically considered ETHICAL guidelines, these are neverthess underpinned by commercial VALUES and a vested interest (emotion) in keeping the data of its users from competitors. Warden claims to be operating under his own set of ethics that privilege (value) the furthering of knowledge. The issue then shifts to the academic community. Warden contends that one of his central motivations for collecting this data was so that he could share it with the academic community. Although this claim may be true, most (if not, all) Universities have clear ETHICAL guidelines for research that explicitly VALUE and therefore require consent from participants. If none of the users gave consent for their data to be collected in this way, this in effect denies them a sense of AGENCY. Thus, academically, this data is tainted. While its implications are important the trends it makes visible are crucial to understanding the localised structures of social network sites like Facebook. Personally, I would believe people should be able to tick a box that gives consent for the use of their personal material. I do not believe, either, that it should be one of those boxes you are obliged to tick before being able to use a site: that removes my personal AGENCY and I VALUE this very much. It should be up to me to decide whether other people get my data. If this sort of system was in place, everyone would know the FACTS, everyone would understand what is going on and no one would feel (emotion) betrayed or exposed unfairly.

Pastrol Cycle Essay

The incident that I am going to be talking about, involves a year 10 female pupil. This member of the youth was always willing to participate in activities, willing to help at the end of the sessions or events that were being organised. Unfortunately, this member always wanted something far greater. An achievement that she could say I did that! I poured my heart into that! Over the next few weeks, I began to see a change in this member. I felt like she was giving up on helping us as thou she did not see the point no more and could not see things progressing. Her attitude towards other people also seems to change as thou she was jealous of other people who were helping out, or other people who were getting bigger jobs in the youth. Thou she never asked or came forward asking for a bigger part (confidence?) I did not know what to do with youth, I knew she wanted more and I could see that but did not know what path to take. I decided to talk with other leaders and they mentioned about the next youth camp coming up later in the year. Thou it sounded like a great idea I was concerned she was not ready or confident enough in her self to take up such a huge challenge, because she was new to the club. However, am I then putting my own fear in front of her ambition? Was I then going to put a halt on something so life changing? As a leader of the youth club, I knew it was in within my power to change something and act upon it. I decide to confront my own personal worries and pluck up the courage to talk to her guardian, I mentioned about the camping trip that the youth club was participating in, and some youth members there was an option to join in the service crew. I went to mention some of the roles that they could undertake and what was involved in being a service crewmember. At first, this guardian was concerned and unsure about sending their daughter to do something far greater than helping at the youth club, but slowly came to the understand that this could be the break and confidence boast that they needed. With her willingness to send her daughter to camp to be a member of the service crew, I decided to get to know this individual more and at the club. I would sit between her and her fellow friends and chat and listen to see what hobbies they enjoyed, activities in the club and what they wanted in life, there goals, but this member was also shy or scared of opening up to me. Over many weeks and recent talks, she became more confining in me. She was able to talk and share feeling about what she wanted to do in life. From this, I could see that there was great potential for this youth to gain a wider aspect in life’s achievements. It reminded me of me when I was growing up in a youth club, how I was shy and sacred of new things. How I felt alone and nobody understood me. How I felt that I was being ignore for being good or helpful. From my pass experience of my own life in a youth setting, I decided to draw on the willingness of her kindness and slowly over time got this member to open up more; I gave her an opportunity of being a my personal helper in the club. So that later on in life she could later work her way up if she so choose to and become a trainee leader. Sometimes it felt wrong for me to picking on a just one member but never did I feel like the youth were against me. I felt like they understood the situation and I also began seeing changes in the circle of youth I was interested in, they were also showing a willingness to lead a helping hand. It was like the first stepping-stone. Not only was I was helping one member of youth but her circle to. I decide to look up self-confidence in the bible for this member of the youth and maybe for my self as well. I found a passage that goes on to say: There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love (NRSV 1John 4:18) This passage begins to answer the question on how much God loves us and believing in him is so important. Fear and worry signal that we are not yet perfect in our belief in how much God loves us. If we believe that the God of infinite power and wisdom loves no one in the universe more than us, what do we have to fear or worry about? We believe in how much He loves us, and then we know the trial is for our own good. Because of His love, we should know that a trial is not just an arbitrary act without rhyme or reason. Because He is God, it cannot be an accidental circumstance happening without His awareness or concern. From reading this passage I felt that this member needed a little pushing, I started to understand that fear should not stop no one in gaining something so huge in life. So I decided to mention about the service crew team at the campsite. I was waiting to hear silence or the answer of I will think about it, but instead I got a strong yes! There was no umm or r-ing it was as if they had gained so much confidence and needed something more. I felt a sense of achievement that I had changed, accepted, and understood this member. I am glad that I did not over look this person and gave up my own time to help them. I am glad that I listened to the other leaders and looked to the bible for inspiration. Looking back and reflecting on the way that I acted to this situation, I would say that there were grey areas. For example, I decided to talk with the guardian first maybe that was not the correct way or best way of things. I think I should have just gone straight to individual form day one and started a conversation to try to understand there difficulties and reasoning behind events. The reason for my thinking is because I am a youth leader and my job is there to get to know and understand individual needs. Thou granted this was my first time of acting on something, something I thought needed action and doing about but still I did play the safe card. Thou on another hand I am extremely happy that I achieved this person particular goal and changed them so great that even other leaders and parents congratulated me. That this person is now so confident they do believe that fear is no object that fear is just a simple word. However, it was just not one person I changed. Her circle of friends also changed and that was because I stepped into that friendship circle, and I now know and understand more than one person. I feel like I have personally changed to, because I would say for me it was a learning curve, and probably I grew in confidences to. Why, because I showed my self that I can do things for my self and others. Those other leaders do not have to do my work for me. From this experience, I decided to act more upon events in the club that if something did not feel or seems right I would investigate more into. From this I also feel that I have helped changed other members of the club and hopefully one day they will do the same for others. My goal is that one day the youths that I helped will help other in similar situations, and I happy to conclude that this member I mentioned about it now a trainee leader of our youth club, so now she can share her own experiences with other members of the club.

The Privilege of Being White: An Auto-ethnography

One of the most distinct and powerful aspects of the American society is diversity.   It is constituted by different people of various races, ethnicity, origin, color, beliefs and even languages.   America leads in this global phenomenon as it features itself as the home of the free, the land of cosmopolitanism and universality.Immigrants in the US such as Latin, African and Asian Americans have become an integral part of American society. And as part of the American culture, unique individual identities of immigrants are encouraged to be asserted and accepted for assimilation and continued growth of the American culture.Behind that so called American dream that many immigrants yearn for is the issue of racism that continues to pervade American society. Racial discrimination has metamorphosed in new forms and channels in the modern age.   It has been institutionalized and cunningly integrated within the fabric of society as both institutional and cultural phenomenon. (Kivisto a nd Rundblad)The established forms of racial inequalities before remains very much existent but manifests itself in institutional mechanisms today which provided a new dimension of racial segregation in the form of privileges and racial stigma.An ordinary everydayUpon getting this assignment, I quickly started a conscious reflection of my regular activities and made a critical analysis of my social environment in order to recognize the so called privilege that white people enjoys in society.  Ã‚   The first thing that come up in my mind on my way home is that in a society dominated by whites, the white people is a norm.Thus, non-whites are regarded as different or non customary.   In the most peculiar yet common way, I can easily socialize with or get into a company of white people most of the time.   On the other hand, I would have some hesitations in approaching or getting along with non whites.   At this point, I realize that there seems an unconscious prejudice within me that I can relate better with white people because I am one of them and subconscious assumption that they see me as a reflection of themselves as well because I am white.On the other hand, my hesitations to approach non white people may have also stemmed from some kind of bias that non whites are hostile or unwelcoming.   In worst scenarios especially towards non-whites in the streets, there seemed an automatic supposition on my part that they are gang members and are potentially dangerous.I believe that these subconscious feelings are reinforced and sustained by the popular media particularly how non whites have been negatively affected by stereotypical portrayals and the how whites are given privilege. (Branscombe and Doosje)The motion picture is one of the many media through which systematic racial, cultural, and historical discrimination and stratification in society is depicted as a reality in society.   The movie, â€Å"Boyz in the Hood† for instance, tells of the s truggles and perils of a young black man living in the ghetto were joining a gang is a survival kit and that violence in the neighborhood is a way of life.The controversial film â€Å"Do The Right Thing† in 1989, on the other hand accounts a series of events that described the racial tension in a predominantly black neighborhood that resulted to violent conflict in the end.   The movie, â€Å"higher learning† on the other hand, tells of the discrimination that extends in academic institutions that led to the murder of students as well.   The constant portrayal of non whites as gang members made me think that most blacks and Latinos are gang members and are therefore potentially treacherous and threatening.

Tourism situation analysis ( Qatar ) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Tourism situation analysis ( Qatar ) - Essay Example With this study we will try to answer questions like: how will Qatar build upon its existing infrastructure and make tourism centric hotspots and venues in its cities? What are the predictions in tourism industry in Qatar? What is the average time frame that Qatar needs to follow while executing a tourism development plan? Which model or strategy in tourism development will help Qatar make fast progress? Qatar has a promising economic situation (Hong, 2008, 12), in which seventy percent of the revenue is derived from petroleum. Petroleum export is also a major constituent of their exports as it makes a solid 85 percent contribution in the export industry. Overall, Qatar has a bright prospect of turning into a tourism hotspot if it concentrates on building infrastructure and cities that attract tourists with appealing buildings and scenic locales. In 2009, the overall tourism revenue gathered by Qatar was estimated to be a total of USD 0.7 billion, which was way behind the UAE at USD 7.2 billion and Bahrain at USD 1.1 billion (Euromonitor International, 2010, p.2). Currently, Qatar wishes to build on its tourism infrastructure to be able to successfully host the football World cup in 2022, which makes it the first Arab country to be able to host such a prestigious global sports event. It had previously hosted the Asian Games in 2006 and has been successful in giving players and organ izers sufficient numbers of rooms and hospitality options. Today, Qatar is looking to attract investments in tourism, concentrating mainly on hotels, sports utilities and infrastructure, and hopes to utilize its existing plans to build around tourism industry in the meantime. The question that arises is will Qatar succeed to the level it has targeted or will it only lag behind the other Gulf States? Visitor Market – The most important section of tourists that visit Qatar regularly comprises business professionals who are flying

Critical thinking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Critical thinking - Essay Example In our case, the child is so young to face such kind of situation where one of his hands is injured and he has to go for radiographic tests. The radiographer needs to make the child feel relaxed and stress-free in order to do radiography. Some of the nonverbal ways which radiographer can use to provide comfort o the child include putting a hand on the back of the child while explaining him the procedure of tests, giving smiles to the child, using hands in order to explain the procedure more effectively, and maintaining eye contact during communication. Use of kinesics and paralanguage can be very helpful for the radiographer to make the child feel comfortable with the procedure. Sending of nonverbal signals plays a very expressive, meaningful, and effective role in communication (Ehrlich & Daly, 2008). Therefore, use of nonverbal communication along with verbal communication can be very effective for the radiographer to make Adam feel comfortable and ready for the test. There can be a number of urgent situations, which may require a doctor or a medical professional rapidly retrieve information from the patient’s chart. â€Å"A Patient Chart is opened using the Patient Selection process, or by selecting a patients name from the Calendar or the Patient Tracker† (Anonymous, n.d.). Doctors need to provide proper treatment to the patients based on accurate analysis of the medical history of the patients. Without sufficient information or proper analysis of information, a doctor cannot provide required treatment to a patient (Ehrlich & Daly, 2008). In these urgent situations, a doctor really needs to retrieve information from the patient’s chart as soon as possible in order to avoid the occurrence of any kind of risk to the health of the

Project Management (organizing a talent show) Essay

Project Management (organizing a talent show) - Essay Example Second section presents critical reflection of team work, key skills of project managers and skills and competencies gained during the project. Last section critically discusses the four articles on Project management from academic journals that are related to the study area focused during the project management task. Table of Contents Section No Title Page No Critical Evaluation 1.1 Introduction 1.2 SWOT Analysis 1.3 PESTLE Analysis 1.4 Gantt Chart 1.5 Cost Volume Profit Analysis 1.6 Summary Critical Reflection 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Team Work 2.3 Leadership 2.4 Skills and Learning 2.5 Summary Critical Discussion 3.1 Evaluation of Journal Articles Critical Evaluation 1.1 Introduction This section is an endeavor to critically evaluate the significance and implications of four out of the ten techniques namely SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis, Gantt chart and CVP analysis in managing the project. The analyses of these tools and techniques would then be made part of the subsequent presentat ion to discuss their validity. From an objective point of learning, the study and utilization of these techniques is not only critical to educational domain but also crucial to existing practices in the industry. 1.2 SWOT Analysis SWOT Analysis is an instrumental subjective tool to identify the internal organizational factors, Strength and Weakness, and external factors, threat and opportunities to best align the organization with its strategic objectives and identify the best possible scenario for operation by augmenting the decision making process as guide reference and not with precision. Although it is a much acknowledged and widely used tool in industry, but Fine (2009) has questioned the limitations of SWOT analysis to effectively determine the strategic objectives and course of actions to be adopted by any organization. Wikipedia (2011) pointed that it is quite possible for an organization to overlook certain key facts and view the overall scenario as quite simple since the t ool lacks precision in its application. Because of its simplicity to become a mere list of facts, Cartwright (2002) suggested carrying out further analysis and research for determining the relation between negative and positive factors and how they affect each other, their magnitude and their significance in comparison to that of competitors. Piercy and Giles (1989), is of the view that categorizing facts in internal and external factors is a subjective exercise and may not deal with inherent uncertainty prevailing in the market. According to Pickton and Wright (1992), since the tool is subjective in its application, there is strong probability that accomplishments may be categorized as strength, threats as opportunities and weaknesses as decisions. As a counter argument, Coman and Ronen (2009) stressed that SWOT analysis is an effective tool to build a company’s strength, maximize opportunities, reverse its weaknesses and overcome threats. He further adds merits to the capab ility of this tool for effectively identifying the core competencies of the company. Felton (2004) goes on adding that it is not the failure of the effectiveness of a tool to present good analysis rather failure of applying it effectively. Besides the inherent limitations associated with SWOT analysis and criticism by many authors questioning its

Data Analytics and Understanding Big Data Literature review

Data Analytics and Understanding Big Data - Literature review Example Te article is relevant to the rest of the sources in that it also discusses the uses of artificial intelligence although in a different professional field. In this article, the researchers have found that artificial intelligence has not been widely accepted as a tool to use in medical settings although some of its earliest applications were healthcare oriented. Currently, artificial intelligence tools are being used individually for different purposes, such as, for device control and waveform analysis. The researchers have also found that because of the availability of big data and opportunities for improved healthcare delivery efficiency, AI tools must be applied in the intensive care environment for a variety of purposes including controlling of bedside devices and monitoring of electronic data systems. The researchers have concluded that with the use of artificial intelligence tools, healthcare delivery costs can be reduced and patient outcome can also be improved. The article has been written in a well-organized manner and the reader does not get out of focus at any stage while reading the article. Summing it up, the article includ es a wide range of information that can be used to the research paper regarding uses of artificial intelligence in different organizational settings. Bahrammirzaee, A 2010, ‘A comparative survey of artificial intelligence applications in finance: artificial neural networks, expert system and hybrid intelligent systems’, Neural Computing and Applications, vol. 19, no. 8, pp. 1165-1195. This article deals with the use of artificial intelligence tools in financial settings. The main purpose of the article is to establish the role of artificial intelligence tools in making true financial decisions. Portfolio management, credit evaluation, and financial prediction and planning are those three domains of a financial market that need a proper and careful analysis in order for them to come

Coparing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Coparing - Essay Example On the hand, the characters of Lost suffered injuries of varying degrees – some survivors were revived with CPR, some wounds were stitched up, while others were fatal. There were even survivors who were killed on the island when the wreckage blew up. Another apparent difference between the two scenarios is the fact that in the novel, the plane wreck was not on the island. So the boys had to make everything they need out of what are available on the island. The only thing that they have from civilization is Piggy’s eye glass which they used to create a fire. In stark contrast, in the TV series Lost, the wreckage of the plane was on the island. Hence the survivors were able to retrieve their belongings as well as the cargo of the plane. The Lost survivors had food, fire, clothing, blankets as well as first aid kits to keep them warm and safe on their first night. Because they already have their primary needs, they had the time to look out for one another and to think things over. Moreover, while the novel features a rather homogenous cast of innocent pre-adolescent boys, the series Lost have a more realistic composition of characters with a representative sample for different age groups, race, gender and even skills. While the boys had to conduct a meeting in order to organize themselves, the adults of lost do not need supervision from anybody. Everyone took the initiative to be of help to one another. One creates fire and asks another to keep it going while another person gathered food and distributed them to the other survivors. Finally, between the boys of the novel Lord of the Flies and the men and women of the TV series Lost, the latter have far better chances of survival and of being rescued back into civilization. First, the boys were at an age where they are still generally under the care of their parents. There is the presumption that they still lack the

Polysystem Theory and the 'Cultural Turn' Essay

Polysystem Theory and the 'Cultural Turn' - Essay Example Polysystem Theory means a "refocus on alternative experiences which are socially defined and can be classified as peripheral or marginal states of affair challenging some center of authority within a variety of cultural and social systems (literature, religion, politics, economy, historiography, etc)" (Munday 43). The value of polysystem theory is that it allows translators and researchers to analyze a literary text from multiple perspectives: different social discourses and voices. This theory demonstrates social order and highlights agonistic tension between different social and cultural agents. Polysystem Theory uses social-cultural instructions for explanation of phenomena and complexity of culture within one community. Polysystem Theory sees translation in terms of "saying," restating in the target language more or less precisely what the source author said in the source language, and performative linguists of translation as those who see translating as "doing," doing something to the target reader, then the contemporary scene comes to look rather different. Then, obviously, the politically engaged cultural theorists of translation-the postcolonialists and the feminists-become performative linguists: translating as colonizing, or as fighting the lingering effects of colonialism; translating as resisting global capitalism (Venuti); translating as fighting patriarchy, as liberating women (and men) from patriarchal gender roles (Munday 110). 'Cultural Turn' means developments in the philosophy of the human sciences around the beginning of the twentieth century. 'Cultural Turn' describes extra-ordinary growth in the significance of work concerned with the nature and forms of language. The readers use cultural texts in ways that cannot be predicted from analysis of the text alone. In this case, "cultural turn" helps to describe and analyses a text in terms of cultural am social influence. Discourse analysis, is the one branch of linguistics that supposedly addresses itself to issues of production and reception that might be useful in a translation-studies purview; but unfortunately the few linguists who have attempted to apply discourse analysis to the study of translation have hobbled themselves methodologically by tying all discursive studies of translation to equivalence (Munday 108). For theorists in these schools it doesn't matter what the translated text looks like; or, well, it does, but not to the theorist, only to the receiving culture (DTS), the client (skopos), or the translator himself or herself (TAP). What matters theoretically is what the translator does, and what complex forces influence that doing (Munday 111). Now perhaps this seems like no great gain: taking all the approaches of the so-called "cultural turn," all the action-oriented theories that have overwhelmed and overthrown the hegemony of linguistics, and lumping them together under a new name-even if that name is rather tendentiously "linguistics." "This is the term used in translation studies for the move towards the analysis of translation from a cultural studies" (Munday 125). Translation is a sensitive pointer of cultural tensions. Translation practice is always grounded in a set of issues in which linguistic forms carry cultural meanings in an implicit form. Understanding the

Gm Swot Analysis Essay Example for Free

Gm Swot Analysis Essay General Motors Company is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. One of the top automaker companies in the world. General Motors most well known as GM has purchase several brands over the years. Everything started with William â€Å"Billy† Durant who was the founder of General Motors on September 16, 1908 (History and Heritage) Durant was a manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles in Flint, Michigan but saw great opportunities in the automobile industry. As demand grew over the years so did GM. The automobile company bought Chevrolet, Vauxhall and Opel. GM opened many plants inside and outside the United States and they wanted to create â€Å"a car for every purse and purpose† (History and Heritage) World War I and II were hard times for every company but GM found opportunities on consumers who were eager to purchase goods that were not possible during war. The key to the success of GM was the innovative designs that made consumers felt in love such as Chevrolet Corvette and BelAir, Cadillac El Dorado. At the same time, the company supplied the Allies during war with trucks, tanks and airplanes. GM made a lot of money and more importantly learn from this experience. However, everything was not perfect as companies need to keep innovating and adjusting in order to keep leading an industry. Foreign automakers companies from Japan and Germany made efforts to compete against GM and export cars to the United States that were smaller and had better gas mileage and they were also better for the environment. This new types of cars brought interest to consumers and GM started experiencing losses in the market. Since GM was a large company it was very difficult to change direction. In order to compete against foreign companies, GM had to reorganize the company and compete as a single global company. In addition, GM purchase more brands to get a better variety of vehicles but the company still could not keep pace of the fuel efficient and space of other foreign companies that were growing and taking part of the market share of GM. In spite of everything, GM keeps working hard to regain share from competitors and the fuel efficient is a key area to improve. Nowadays there are other sources of energy such as electric vehicle technology and hydrogen powered fuel-cell. GM was making big efforts to compete but a recession occurred during 2008 and the company filed for bankruptcy. The U.S. treasury gave a loan to General Motors to continue in business and restructure its operations. Nowadays, GM is a more lean company and it has restructure it is operations in order to be more focus on the market. GM has experience great sales and is selling more cars outside the U.S in key markets. Consequently, GM is the leading automaker company in China, Brazil, United Kingdom, Germany and United States. GM has a new face, they have restructure the organization and the company has a new business model with a new vision and experience employees that understand what it takes to be the leading automaker company in the world. GM is focus on delivering the world’s best vehicles with nice designs, efficient fuel and good prices. At the same time, they have learnt from the past that geographically, the demand for cars are different so they have work on delivering cars depending on the continent in which they are working. GM knows that in order to be a leading company they cannot just sell cars; they have to sell the right car to the right market. GM has shown that they are capable of having the latest technology with the Chevrolet Volt and they would keep innovating to satisfy customers demand in every space in the globe. Finally GM wants to have a proactive approach instead of a reactive approach and they know that they need a proactive approach to stay on top of the industry and define the industry standards. GM knows that they still have weaknesses in the company such as a large company that it is difficult to control. At the same time, foreign companies such as Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Kia, Volkswagen have gain customers loyalty and it would be a challenge for GM to gain market share from them. Other weakness of GM would be the complex supply chain of the company since it is a large company and it would have different components from different manufacturers and it is very difficult to keep track of all the orders. GM needs to develop a way to have a low fuel efficient in all of their vehicles because most people know that American cars spend lots of gas. The opportunities of GM are several. GM has many models that are parts of the automobile industry and they have redesign some models so people would buy them. Also they have the support of the U.S government and they are able to give better loan to customers. GM is also present in emerging markets. For example, China is experiencing grow in their automobile industry because more Chinese people are able to afford one. GM is well position in China and they have learnt from joint venture what Chinese people is looking in a car. Moreover, they have restructured the business model of the company and they are aware of their competitive advantage and they know the areas in which they have to improve. The threats face by GM could be the rise of fuel price or the innovation of a competitor that would provide a car to customer that uses a cheaper energy to use it. Also, competitor may improve their designs, prices or quality. Another threat may be the car sharing service or a new Chinese policy that disrupts businesses in China. In my opinion, the biggest threat of GM is the fuel economy standards. The company would need to work harder in this area to get even better than the leading automakers in this area which is Honda and Toyota. To conclude, I believe that GM is doing a great job having a leaner operations and selling different models in each continent since the situation in America is definitely not the same as in Europe. However, they need to work very hard to stay in business because other companies are gaining customers’ loyalty and improving every year. Works Cited â€Å"This is the New GM†. 2010 Annual Report. General Motors Company, n,d. Web. 16 Jan. 2013. History and Heritage. History and Heritage. General Motors, n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2013.

Tourism Theories And Practices Tourism Essay

Tourism Theories And Practices Tourism Essay Tourism Theories and Practices What do tourists do and why? Critically discuss Tourism industry has emerged as one of the fastest growing industry and largest employers in the modern world. This sheer vastness of the industry is understood from the fact that the numbers of tourists worldwide are anticipated to be doubled to one billion plus by the end of 2010.(Kamra, p 184) This essay will discuss in brief the different theories of tourism which define tourist behavior, their roles, activities and motivations which in turn influence the industry. Thesis statement: Tourists and their thought process, their behavior and motivations are centrifugal to the concept of tourism. Many scholars have tried to define the typology of the tourists, their classifications in order to understand the concept of tourism. The essay will outline some of the old theories and the modern day approach and why there is a need for more research based studies to exploit the potential of this industry. Meaning of tourism-What is tourism Michel Eyquem De Montaigne said, A man should ever be ready booted to take his journey. Man because of his gregarious nature is bound to travel from one place to another to fulfill his various needs be it social, emotional or physical. Traveling is thus characteristic to human society on the whole. Travel and tourism was traditionally considered as a luxury item. But with the turn of the century, definition of travel and tourism has evolved. Tourism no longer stands for simple traveling or temporary journeys and stays mainly for pleasure, leisure and or recreational purposes or a luxury element. Twentieth century ushered in the paradigm shift in the concept of tourism. In fact it will not be unjustified to say that there has been transition from the 19th and early 20th century concept of tourism as an exercise in leisure and pleasure domain to the concept of tourism as an exercise in business, economics. It is more of a consumer product; tourism industry is a vibrant market where tourism products can be sold now as any other consumer product, consumer here is the tourist. (Kamra, p 157) According to statistics brought out by the statistics of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) in 1994, tourism contributed 12 per cent of the worlds Gross National Product. (Kamra, 12) Tourism industry is one of the fastest growing industry employing hundreds of millions of people worldwide, which explains the reason why the study of the tourism and tourism research has become so important in not only the academic field but also for the economy on the whole. Modern day tourism is much more than simple traveling; it is pure economics, which is determined by theories of demand, and supply, which brings in the question of sustainability. Tourism is no more synonymous to traveling. Today tourism is just like a normal consumer product, which is driven by market dynamics, demand supply, sold through retail outlets. It no longer remains a luxury of the upper class but has become a mass product for the growing consumer market, in this case the growing tourist community. (Swarbrooke and Horner p 4) In fact there has been a combination of factors which have resulted in the proliferation of tourism industry. The prime being increased leisure, higher incomes of burgeoning middle class. One of the main drivers to growth in the coming era would be the growing middle class. The study of tourism theories and practices therefore would mainly revolve around the needs, motivations, role, experiences of the the tourists. What do tourists do and why? The most general classification of tourists is on the basis of the needs of the tourist. This would mainly classify the entire tourist community into two groups-the traveler and the tourist. While the former is mainly conceived as one who would basically travel to understand the place and thus would rather prefer longer trips and would plan it individually. The latter classified, as a tourist in laymans version would be characterized as one with superficial interest. One who would indulge in shorter trips and group tours or charters and would mainly depend on tour agents. But this classification is very vague. Motivations Most of the tourists travel for change of environment because of which new concepts of tourism like eco-tourism, rural tourism have come into existence. Cultural attractions, education, gaining knowledge about new cultures might be other important motivations. For example attraction towards Buddhist culture has made Myanmar and some parts of North East India a major hub for Buddhist tourists from all around the world. People from all around the world travel to these places to get experience the Buddhist spirit. There can be other motivations also like quest for new experience, personal visits etc. Some of the most prevalent theories of destination development and classification of tourists Some scholars have tried to classify the tourist on the basis of their needs, which explains the reason for their travel. For example a tourist can be classified as explorer, elite, offbeat, unusual, mass or charter on the basis of his/her demand. While an explorer tourist group will want discovery, adventure, exploration, a elite tourist might have a special personally customized tailored trip to any exotic places. Or for example an offbeat tourist might travel to get away from the crowds. The classification according to demand describes the main purpose of travel. There can be a pure mass group also under the demand-based classification where the tourist might prefer normal tour packages and holiday trips to conventional places. Thus classification on the basis of demand to a large extent determines the needs and the activities of the tourists. There can also be classification on the basis of the meaning and requirement, where tourists might travel for the sake of simple recreation, diversion, experiential, experimental reasons. There can be also motivational based classification. Understanding the motive behind traveling might help to predict consumer psyche. An American researcher named Plog (Mason 26) put forth his theory based on the psychology of tourists and these were published in 1973. Plogs theory was based on a case study conducted on New York residents and their attitudes to travel. Plogs discussed the tourist behavior and motivations based on the psychology of the tourists. Thus there are two types of tourists, the allo-centric and psycho-centric types of tourist. He argued that there are particular psychological types who do not like unfamiliar environments or cultures, so when they select a holiday they will seek the familiar regions than unfamiliar remote regions (these he termed psycho-centric). Plog further added that there are still some groups in society who will be prepared to risk a far more uncertain holiday destination. These tourists will search for strange or unfamiliar and these he termed allo-centric. While the psycho-centric would not travel far from the local environment the allo-centric would travel long distances to unfamiliar locations. He concluded that the majority of the tourists were neither fully psycho- centric nor fully allo-centric. Rather most of the tourists were located in the center point between the two extremes of psycho-centric and allo-centric.And that majority of the tourists would seek the familiar and prefer not to travel great distances to get there. An important point that emerged from the destination development of Plogs theory is that different tourists destinations are attractive to different types of tourists based on the kind of traveler they are, psycho or allo-centric and that majority of the tourists will prefer to travel for short distances than longer ones to go for holidays. Thus it suggests that the tourist destinations in most of the developed countries which are in close proximity to major population areas, busy areas, markets, residential areas are likely to be developed and grow more quickly than those in the distant remote areas. However, in actual practice, sometimes this theory may also prove wrong. On the contrary many of the remote areas are now getting faster developed than those near the major population areas. While Plogs theory was based more on the psychological part of tourists, Erik Cohens theory relate to the behavior of the tourists. Erik Cohen who developed a classification of tourists where there was a four chief classification. First was the organized mass tourists who travel in groups, who prefer packaged holiday (travel, accommodation, food etc.) usually arranged by a travel agent. The second type was the individual mass tourists who use the same facilities as the organized mass tourists, but the difference lies only in decision making. This group makes more individual based decisions about their activity and trip. There are also the explorers and the drifters. While explorers would most often arrange their own trips, meet and interact with the locals drifters avoid all contact with other tourists and leave with the locals. This classification of tourists lives longer than the other groups. If both the above mentioned tourist theories which basically delve into the characteristics of human behavioral aspects are combined then we would see that majority of Cohens mass tourist and independent mass tourists would converge with Plogs psycho-centric tourists. Later in the mid 1970s, Doxey proposed the Irritation Index or the Irridex. The Irridex was based on the relationship between the tourists and the locals. The fundamental idea as it is evident from the name of the index itself is that over a time period as the number of tourist increase in a particular area, a greater irritation and hatred would build up amongst the locals towards the tourists. So, over the time as the locals gets more irritant with the visitors and become hostile, the number of visitors might actually decline or might not continue to grow at the same rate as previously. But the problem with most of these theories was that most of them were not based on proper field research but on discussions. Butlers Tourist Area Life Cycle (TALC) (Mason, 33) model on tourism which is still the most widely accepted and important theory deals with a particular destination, his theory explains how a destination emerge as a tourist destination after several stages. Butler suggested a model where a tourism destination develops over time as a result of several factors. Destination is a very important element in tourism. A destination is defined most widely as a product is marketed to its consumers. And like all other products, tourist destinations also have a life cycle. Butler proposed a model for tourism area life cycle in which he showed how a destination begins as a relatively unknown place and visitors first come in small fractions because of lack of access, facilities and local knowledge (Miller and Galluci, 2004) The key point in Butlers model was that planning and proper remedial action by the tourists can help arrest the decline in resorts and tourism infrastructure. One of the major challenges that the World Tourism Organization made in its Global Forecasts for the year 2000 and beyond is the issue of sustainability, which relates to the absorptive capacity of an economy with respect to tourism. This does not refer to the physical capacity alone but also to the capacity of a particular area to provide tourism infrastructure, pool in investments, manpower, and natural resources. While manpower would not be a constraint, other natural resources might be. The theory of sustainable tourism thus off late has emerged of greater relevance, which is necessary to promote environmental awareness and boost tourism industry on the whole. Sustainable tourism in a nutshell can be explained as a means by which tourist growth is achieved as well as environment and earths scarce resources are preserved. Apart from the environment issue another burning issue, which might emerge as an impediment is lack of trained skilled workforce to deliver value additions. In conclusion it can be said that although several tourism theories have been put forth by several scholars to determine the roles and activities, the characteristics of tourists to boost the industry. There is a general lack of awareness about these theories amidst the policy makers. Tourism industry is still one of those industries, which is regulated by government administration. There are wide varieties of conceptual and theoretical approaches to tourism, which have to be tested in reality. This apart there is a further need for more field studies and employment of professionals in conducting the research, which will help achieve greater theoretical orientation and practical application. The tourism industry has been growing at a phenomenal rate for the last fifty year especially, after the Second World War. The recession has had an effect on the industry, but the numbers of tourists worldwide are anticipated to be doubled to one billion plus by the end of 2010. Keeping in tune with the changing times consumer demands will also change, more classifications based on growing needs of tourists might emerge. What can be the cultural and social impact of tourism development Researchers have identified a whole gamut of positive impacts of tourism development on societies. For example the direct outcomes of tourism development would be the modification of the internal structure of the community, increasing employment opportunities of the local residents, social change, economic affluence, improvement of the quality of life through infrastructure development. Similarly the interaction between the host and tourist increases tolerance and communication skills etc. On the cultural side the arts, crafts and culture of the local area might be revived. Researchers have also identified several cons like deployment of natural resources, increased pressure on existing infrastructure, commodification of culture and its negative effects etc (Beeton 18) Thus it can be seen in the essay how tourist behavioral needs, motivations, actions directly and indirectly affect tourism development in a place. Only right kind of practices would be able to give the necessary boost to this industry, which alone will contribute the largest chunk in global trade. Understanding the needs and motivations of the tourists will help boost tourism industry manifolds. What is required is the right approach. Tourists behavior research in tourism has to be based on motivations, typologies, destination choices and the decision process. While this is good some scholars criticize it as stereotypical and generalized which might not be the same in reality. The gap between the theories and the reality can be bridged through research and constant study of tourist behavior. References K Kamra 1997, Tourism: Theory, Planning and Practice, Second Edition-2008 Peter Mason, Tourism Impacts, Planning and Management Online book version), Second edition- 2008,   Mason, P. Cheyne, J. (2000). Residents Attitudes to Proposed Tourism Development, Annals of Tourism Research. Peter Mason, Tourism Impacts, Planning and Management Second Edition Abraham Pizam, Yoel Mansfeld, Consumer behaviour in travel and tourism Softcover edition published 2000 John Swarbrooke, Susan Horner, 2007, Consumer behaviour in tourism, Edition: 2, p 4, 428 pages Sue Beeton 2006,   Community Development through Tourism., p 18.  

Seasons Of A Mans Life Essay -- essays research papers

Daniel J. Levinson wrote The Seasons of A Man's Life. Mr. Levinson conducted his research for the book in the late 1960's. At that time he was a Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry of the Yale University School of Medicine, Director of Psychology in the Connecticut Mental Health Center and Director of the Research Unit for Social Psychology and Psychiatry. Early in the book, Mr. Levinson states his reasons for engaging in the research of male adult development and for ultimately writing the book. "The choice of topic reflected a personal concern: at 46, I wanted to study the transition into middle age in order to understand what I had been going through myself. Over the previous ten years of my life had changed in crucial ways; I had developed in a sense I could not articulate. The study would cast light on my own experience and, I hoped, contribute to an understanding of adult development in general." The book is completely about Levinson's theory of male adult development. Levinson acquired his research by interviewing 40 men between the ages of 35 and 45 from four different occupational groups. Through his interviews, Levinson believed that all males pass through a series of stages, each of which presents a different problem to be solved. The first stage is known as the early adult transition (ages 17-22). The problem is to develop a sense of independence by separating from one's family and trying out different lifestyles. This is the stage where hopes and dreams are formulated. The next stage is entering the adult world (ages 22-28). The problem at this stage is to explore and obtain the many adult roles that are needed to be happy and successful in one's career and relationships. A set of priorities begin to form. The age-thirty transition (ages 28-33) happens next. In this stage the man establishes his role in society, builds a nest, and pursues more long- range plans and goals. His problem may be evaluating earlier career choices and goals. Immediately following the age-thirty transition is the settling down stage (ages 33-40). The problem here is to develop a sense of success in the major areas of one's life, primarily one's career and relationships.  ... ...th previous decisions, such as by becoming more committed to one's family or career. I feel that the book was written very well. It went in-depth in mapping out the stages and the events in each one of the stages. I could relate to some but most I could not since Levinson limited his research to only males. I am a female and only 22 so I have just barely entered into the early adult era. Looking at older males around me I can see some of what Levinson has stated to be true, however, I just don't believe that every male is going to go through the life stages just as he says. I think that for the time when this book was written, Levinson probably did a great job in describing the stages. Most of the men that he interviewed were born before and during the Depression. What was true for the men that were interviewed may not be true for today's 40-year-olds. By reading this book I can atbest say that I have a more complete understanding of male adult development. Reference Levinson, D. J. (1977). The Seasons of a Man's Life. Ballantine Books.

e-mail and electronic mail :: essays research papers

The Hacker It was a lonely Saturday night. The wind was howling through the branches of the old oak tree outside my window. The branches swayed back and forth, creating faint tapping and screeching sounds on the glass. And so, I sat†¦ It was a night like any other; my music playing in the background and the room was illuminated only by the changing shades of green from my lava lamp. I waited. Suddenly, a came from the system unit of my computer, signalling that it was ready. I sat in my big leather chair, leant forward, and logged on. Immediately, the computer went through a series of programmes, checking the system was operating correctly, and so on. The status bar reached 100% and the computer was now ready for action. I sat with the bright glare in my eyes. The once room, once light by a perpetually changing shade of green, was now light up with a brilliant sky blue. â€Å"Good evening, Dave. Would you like me to log on to the Internet?† It was a synthesised voice coming from the computer. It was a voice interface I had made by piecing together things my girl friend had said. I had it on the computer to remind me of her, and to give me hope that one day I would see her again. â€Å"Hmm†¦yeah, log me on.† I said. My voice was grotty and weak. Although I had a voice interface, I rarely spoke, even though I used my computer 24/7, I’d normally use the keyboard and mouse. Still, having a voice interface was pretty nifty, but I couldn’t help but think that one day, it may not recognise my voice†¦.it was getting worse by the day. The modem clicked. â€Å"Log on complete. Have a nice day.† It said. I almost broke down. I hadn’t heard this voice for some time†¦.it brought back memories. I had forgotten what she sounded like†¦She? My god! I’d started to think that this machine was my girl friend. ‘The late nights must be getting to me.’ I thought â€Å"Thanks.† I said. I could hardly stand it†¦it felt like there was a rock in my throat; you know the one I mean? When you’re upset and you feel like your going cry? Well, anyway, I cracked my knuckles, for no reason what so ever, knowing full well it could give me premature arthritis.

David Livingstone :: History

David Livingstone David Livingstone was one of Africa’s most important explorer. He lived from 1813 to 1873. He was originally a Scottish doctor and missionary. Livingstone was born on March 19, 1813, in Blantyre, Scotland. In 1823 he began to work in a cotton-textile factory. While studying medicine in Glasgow, he also attended classes in theology, and in 1838 he offered his services to the London Missionary Society. After completing hid medical course in 1840, Livingstone was later sent as a medical missionary to South Africa. In 1841 he reached Kuruman, a settlement founded in Bechuanaland, now Botswana, by the Scottish missionary Robert Moffat. Even though the Boers, the white settler, mostly of white background were extremely hostile to him, Livingstone kept trying to make his way northward. He married Mary Moffat, daughter of Robert, in 1845. Together, the Livingstones traveled into regions where no other European had ever been to. After crossing the Kalahari Desert in 1849, he discovered Lake Ngami. In 1851, accompanied by his wife and children, he discovered the Zambezi River. On another expedition while looking for a route to the interior from the east or west coast, he traveled north from Cape Town to the Zambezi, and then west to Luanda on the Atlantic coast. Then, retracing his journey to the Zambezi, Livingstone followed the river to its mouth in the Indian Ocean, in this way discovering the great Victoria Falls in Zambezi. After Livingstone's explorations, a revision of all the contemporary maps took place. He returned in 1856 to Great Britainm, where he was already acknowledged as a great explorer. He wrote a book called Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa which made him famous. He resigned from the missionary society, and in 1858 the British government appointed him British consul at Quelimane, what is now in Mozambique, for the east coast of Africa and commander of an expedition to explore east and central Africa. In 1859 he explored the Rovuma River and discovered Lake Chilwa. During his exploration of the country around Lake Nyasa, Livingstone became greatly concerned over the depredations on the indigenous Africans by Arab and Portuguese slave traders. In 1865, on a visit to England, he wrote Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambezi and Its Tributaries, including a condemnation of slave traders and an exposition of the commercial possibilities of the region, now mostly part of Malawi and Mozambique.

Record Keeping

Leander Picton Course Pttls Good record keeping The importance of accurate record keeping assists in establishing a reliable source of data for each client. The initial collation of client data such as diagnostic results and initial assessments provide the supportive information required for the preliminary development of an individuals learning programme. Initial and referral assessments provide an insight into a client’s previous learning experience, prior achievement, expectations and any learning difficulties which require consideration when preparing a lesson.Using these assessments a personal development plan can be implemented and used for reference and the recording of a client’s progression providing a diverse source of data for a tutor to draw upon when preparing for a client review. The recording of diagnostics results, learning style questionnaire and academic work allows a tutor to inform a client of their progression and where and how their learning and pe rformance can be improved and identify a client’s aptitude and ability for a particular learning style.Continuous maintenance and regular review of these records is vital to evaluate a client’s progression and provide positive encouragement and direction. These records provide a means to recognise further learning and development requirements and aid in the structure of assignments which are challenging but achievable accommodating the client’s specific learning abilities and meeting the client’s expectations and aspirations.The continuous maintenance and regular review of client documentation must undoubtedly contribute in sustaining a level of quality and commitment in providing a clear and constructive learning experience for all clients and ensure contractual agreements are met. As collation and recording of data is a regular necessity for a learning centre the data protection act provides assurance to clients by setting out clear and concise guidelin es for the processing and storage of an individual’s details. Personal data must be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose for which they are to be processed.They must be fair and lawful and it must be transparent about how the data is intended to be used. Reviews are an integral part of the process for recording and monitoring academic achievements, progression, behaviour, a client’s wellbeing and for the evolution of the learning centre and tutors. They are crucial in the delivery and collection of tutor and client feedback and it is therefore, essential reviews are held regularly and command an importance within the learning program impressing on the client the commitment of the learning centre.Reviews must be held in a confidential environment and be transparent as to encourage open and honest communication from both parties when providing feedback, informing the client of their academic progression, encouraging a positive change in behavio ur and supportive with development programmes. The client must be clear on the tutor’s expectations and what academic progression is required. Feedback should be given with care and attention to standards of respect for diversity and equality.The reviewer must facilitate the meeting and in achieving this goal should consider using a variety of methods in the delivery of feedback. This could be achieved by discussing a client’s work folder, interests and dislikes, achievements and barriers, discussing previous tasks set and setting new tasks, creating mind maps, tables for long and short term goals, explanation of performance charts and the clients own self assessment. The alternations of visual reference data provides for both client and tutor an understanding of the feedback being delivered and engages with the client on specific topics.The conclusion of a review must include the encouragement of the client, with the guidance of the tutor, in setting a number of SMART targets and provide initial steps to developing academic goals. A personal development plan must be agreed by both client and tutor and dates set to review individual tasks and overall progression.Reference: ‘Importance of Recordkeeping’ by Steve Glenn www. back. ac. uk/learningandteaching www. ico. gov. uk Record Keeping Leander Picton Course Pttls Good record keeping The importance of accurate record keeping assists in establishing a reliable source of data for each client. The initial collation of client data such as diagnostic results and initial assessments provide the supportive information required for the preliminary development of an individuals learning programme. Initial and referral assessments provide an insight into a client’s previous learning experience, prior achievement, expectations and any learning difficulties which require consideration when preparing a lesson.Using these assessments a personal development plan can be implemented and used for reference and the recording of a client’s progression providing a diverse source of data for a tutor to draw upon when preparing for a client review. The recording of diagnostics results, learning style questionnaire and academic work allows a tutor to inform a client of their progression and where and how their learning and pe rformance can be improved and identify a client’s aptitude and ability for a particular learning style.Continuous maintenance and regular review of these records is vital to evaluate a client’s progression and provide positive encouragement and direction. These records provide a means to recognise further learning and development requirements and aid in the structure of assignments which are challenging but achievable accommodating the client’s specific learning abilities and meeting the client’s expectations and aspirations.The continuous maintenance and regular review of client documentation must undoubtedly contribute in sustaining a level of quality and commitment in providing a clear and constructive learning experience for all clients and ensure contractual agreements are met. As collation and recording of data is a regular necessity for a learning centre the data protection act provides assurance to clients by setting out clear and concise guidelin es for the processing and storage of an individual’s details. Personal data must be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose for which they are to be processed.They must be fair and lawful and it must be transparent about how the data is intended to be used. Reviews are an integral part of the process for recording and monitoring academic achievements, progression, behaviour, a client’s wellbeing and for the evolution of the learning centre and tutors. They are crucial in the delivery and collection of tutor and client feedback and it is therefore, essential reviews are held regularly and command an importance within the learning program impressing on the client the commitment of the learning centre.Reviews must be held in a confidential environment and be transparent as to encourage open and honest communication from both parties when providing feedback, informing the client of their academic progression, encouraging a positive change in behavio ur and supportive with development programmes. The client must be clear on the tutor’s expectations and what academic progression is required. Feedback should be given with care and attention to standards of respect for diversity and equality.The reviewer must facilitate the meeting and in achieving this goal should consider using a variety of methods in the delivery of feedback. This could be achieved by discussing a client’s work folder, interests and dislikes, achievements and barriers, discussing previous tasks set and setting new tasks, creating mind maps, tables for long and short term goals, explanation of performance charts and the clients own self assessment. The alternations of visual reference data provides for both client and tutor an understanding of the feedback being delivered and engages with the client on specific topics.The conclusion of a review must include the encouragement of the client, with the guidance of the tutor, in setting a number of SMART targets and provide initial steps to developing academic goals. A personal development plan must be agreed by both client and tutor and dates set to review individual tasks and overall progression.Reference: ‘Importance of Recordkeeping’ by Steve Glenn www. back. ac. uk/learningandteaching www. ico. gov. uk

Stop Welfare Abuse to Build the Work Ethics

Valbona Bajrami Stop welfare abuse to build the work ethics America the promised land, America with 37 million poor citizens living under welfare recipients! But, are all these people really poor? Are all these people in real need to live in the shoulders of American taxpayer, or are they â€Å"spineless creatures† who abuse state benefits? These questions deserve to be answers for all taxpayers who not only sweat by working, but they must also pay for all those that are nothing more than parasites.Our government is all about training these people to live in poverty and in return they have children who grow up to believe that the government should pay their way. According to the Census report, 11. 3 percent to 15. 1 percent of the population was living in poverty over the past 20 years. Around 45 percent of them own their own homes, have car, cable, and satellite TV. Overall, when Obama became president, he decided to equip with mobile phones all those who receive welfare.The average poor American has more living space than the average individual not classified as poor living throughout Europe. The number of teen pregnancy increases day by day, and unfortunately the most of them were raised in circle of poverty and dependent on the benefits of welfare. What is poverty indeed? The word â€Å"poverty† suggests destitution: an inability to provide a family with nutritious food, clothing, and reasonable shelter, so the above mentioned facts do not show any degree of poverty.It seems that collecting welfare has become a way of life for some, which caused laziness, increased the number of drug users, increase of family violence because they don’t have nothing else to do except to attract and seek benefits from state. They prefer to be let go from work so that they can get paid to sit on their behind. Now the government plans to let the food stamp card to be used in fast food chains and buy junk food instead of cooking? This has to stop! Some tax payers can't afford to eat out, now these irresponsible people want us to pay for their fast food?Wake up law maker, we are tired of this. Drug test them and let the people vote whether they want to be so generous with their tax dollars or not. Give them 3 months to get back on their feet, and then shut them off because they apparently are not aware that they are damaging their children by learning them to live in cycle of welfare. Reported cases of child abuse and neglect among poor children is almost 7 times as great as the incidence among non-poor children .These people complain about their living budget, always in search of humanitarian organizations and often complain that the state is not fulfilling their needs. Because of their behavior the famous quote of Douglas Coupland comes to my mind â€Å"Blame is just a lazy person's way of making sense of chaos. † I see people my age who receive unemployment checks, food stamps; you name it, and they are doing absolutely nothi ng to change it, even turning down advancements at their jobs so they can continue to receive the same amount of aide.It is important to recognize that job opportunities do exist for individuals willing to accept them. The government should end welfare because there are more people that abuse it then need it. People on welfare do not respect the value and hard work of US taxpayers. It is really upsetting that they don’t do anything to better themselves. If we stop the welfare, poor people would be more likely to go to work, starting to climb the ladder that will lead out of poverty and teach their kids the value of education and work ethic.

Bases of Power and Their Effects on Employee Communication

All major business organizations dealing with economic conditions of uncertainty, opportunity costs, and scarce or depreciating resources have to develop capital budgets. The three major steps to developing a capital budget are: conducting a decision analysis to establish a base for knowledge building, establishing option pricing to secure an accurately assessed market position, and creating discounted cash flow (DCF) for making appropriate investment decisions for the organization.No organization can manage capital projects by simply looking at the numbers of discounted cash flows.A financial analyst for any organization must look at the entire decision and assess all relevant variables and outcomes within an analytical hierarchy. Decision-making regarding capital budgeting is increasingly complex today because of uncertainty, particularly in the health care environment where safety assessments of pharmaceuticals, health care insurance allotments, and other factors may affect the fu ture of the organization. All capital projects will involve numerous variables and possible outcomes—but health care perhaps more than most. (Evans, pp. 1-2)In the second phase of capital budgeting, financial management, or consideration of options within capital budgeting is called contingent claims analysis or option pricing. Timing (when to enter certain ventures), abandonment (what past ventures to discontinue) and growth (what ventures to expand upon) are all critical—one must ask such questions as, what aspects of health care in the organization are revenue-producing and/or necessary to the community, what areas are more necessary at certain times of year, and what can be discontinued? (Evans, p. 3) Discounting refers to taking a future amount and finding its value today.Future values differ from present values because of the time value of money. Financial management recognizes the time value of money because of inflation, uncertainty, and opportunity for investm ent. Thus, the more uncertain the economic environment or industry, the more necessary such revenue analysis becomes—and hence, once again, the necessity of such capital analysis for health care. Bibliography : Evans. Matt. H. (2003) â€Å"Course 3: Capital Budgeting. † Excellence in Financial Management: Professional Training Course Files. Retrieved 17 Apr 2005 at http://www. exinfm. com/training/pdfiles/course03. pdf

English Language development – “Danny and his mum”

The extracts in which I have analysed are conversations between a young child, Danny and his mother. The three stages are approximately 3 months apart from each other. Stage A at 21 months, Stage B at 24 months, and Stage C at 27 months. All children are unique in their language development and they're difficult to study. Their concentration span usually affects how they can be studied, often the child will wander off or just simply be uncooperative in any way possible. Children are usually very inconsistent and sometimes it is difficult to determine whether the child is actually learning language or whether imitative behaviour is playing a role. E.g. â€Å"Hello† â€Å"Hello.† Everybody has a limited vocabulary, this is especially obvious in young children often the evidence of a child putting a sentence together is ambiguous. E.g. â€Å"I doing like this all day† depending on the context and the tone of voice this sentence could mean He likes doing something all day (with incorrect word order) Or he's behaving like this all the time (where the problem may be a limited vocabulary) Finally, there is a time lag between understanding language and production of language, especially where children are concerned they can always take in more than they can produce in their own language. Concerning language theories it is difficult to determine at what age a child should be able to a specific skill, however below is a guideline of which acquisition skills are usually achieved and at what age. 6-8 weeks: cooing (repeating vowel sounds) 6-7 months: babbling (consonants and intonation) Reduplicated babbling (babababa) 10 months: gestures, pointing 11-12 months: variegated babbling (bigodabu) 12 months: one-word utterances â€Å"ball,† â€Å"water,† â€Å"up† 18 months: Telegraphic speech Two-word utterances in their simplest form (â€Å"baby cry,† â€Å"push truck†) 2 – 3 years Morphology Use of function words, prefixes, suffixes (ing endings prepositions, plural) Over-regularisation's, Syntax Sentences gradually become longer, more complex â€Å"Daddy ball† â€Å"Daddy throw ball† â€Å"Will you throw the ball, Daddy?† Below are some theories of Language Development Nativistic-There is an inborn language acquisition devise (LAD) that transforms the surface structure of language into an internal deep structure that the child readily understands. Cognitive-Developmental- Cognitive and language development progress together. Children are analysing content prior to extracting grammatical structures. Environmental Learning – The environment provides children with requisite learning experiences to acquire language. Parents facilitate language acquisition by providing a language acquisition support system (LASS). The preverbal period – Speech Perception – Babies are born with categorical perception of many speech contrasts, including many that do not occur in their own language. Exposure to specific contrasts of their own language facilitates discrimination ability, such that older children and adults can no longer hear many speech contrasts that young infants can discriminate. Babies prefer speech sounds to other sounds, particularly the rising and falling intonations many adults use when speaking to young children (i.e. â€Å"motherese†). The preverbal period – Early Sounds and Gestures. The first sounds are cries and guttural physiological noises. – Cooing appears at about 2 months, while reduplicated babbling begins at 6 months. Near the end of the first year, babbling becomes more speech-like in sound and intonation. Gestures serve many pragmatic functions for infants, initially taking the form of requests (e.g., gesture to be picked up) and referential communication (pointing), and later functioning as symbols to label objects, events, and attributes. At approximately 12-months children utter what is recognised by most parents to be their first words. While the first word utterance may appear sudden and discontinuous, it is in fact part of a gradual and continuous process. At approximately 18-months, children's vocabularies increase rapidly, with nouns comprising the majority of children's first words. This has been called the naming explosion. There are large individual differences in the proportion of nouns children use. Some children use a high proportion of nouns in what is termed a â€Å"referential style.† Others use more of a mix of phrases, including frozen phrases such as â€Å"What's that?† and â€Å"Lemmee see,† that characterise what has been termed an â€Å"expressive style.† This latter style emphasises pragmatic functions of language rather than labelling. Some research suggests that girls are more likely to use a referential style and some researchers believe that this may be related to differences in rearing environments for boys and girls. Doll play may involve more labelling than truck play. The nature of children's early words à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Overextensions- calling the cat a â€Å"doggie† à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Underextensions – less common than overextensions, calling a pigeon robin a bird but not calling a robin a bird. Coining – children create new words that are not part of adult language à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ First Word Combinations occur as children begin to approach 24-months of age. There is tremendous cross-language commonality in the occurrence of two-word combinations and other aspects of language unfolding. In the case of Danny at 2 years (24 months) he shows inconsistency in coherence and grammar. Danny is at the two-word stage â€Å"more statue† however he does not fully understand the use of plurals and verbs and therefore cannot produce a correct sentence. He finds it difficult to produce a long sentence due to lack of conjunctions â€Å"and† therefore he uses fillers and stutters to keep his turns going. His pronunciation is not good he is not fluent and stutters in some parts of the conversation â€Å"the big long lo long long train† which may be down to his limited lexis. However towards the end of the conversation his pronunciation develops â€Å"fast car vintage† as a direct cause of new lexis being learnt. His word order is incorrect in most sentences however, this does improve towards the end of the conversation which could be due to imitative behaviour â€Å"splash piggy† or that Danny has actually understood the language â€Å"Becca draw on there† his word order improves but areas of speech such as tenses prove difficult for Danny. At this stage Danny's mum's input is sometimes quite confusing and seems to leave Danny more confused than anything â€Å"What's he lifting up? What's the crane lifting up?† this could be because she is trying to find the correct level to come into the conversation at, however Danny is left simply confused. On many occasions her sentences are far too complex for Danny or even a more advanced 2-year-old â€Å"What do you think it's doing if it's got brushes on the car?† â€Å"What do you think he's putting the water on the road for?† His mother uses prompt â€Å"isn't it?† she attempts to involve Danny in the conversation whenever possible she also repetition and imitation to back up what he says whether it be correct or nearly â€Å"fast car vintage.† this is a successful technique because instead of trying to rush his development by correcting every small error she looks for sentences where a part of speech is correct. E.g. word order may be correc t but he fails to use tenses, instead of confusing Danny completely she picks up on the good parts of his speech. For the first time Danny uses endings â€Å"ing† and â€Å"s† and produces his first perfect sentence â€Å"look there's one† although it is basic statement it shows Danny is improving every day. He uses a double negative â€Å"no not sitting† because he is yet to develop the skill of disagreement. Danny even corrects his mother â€Å"Daddy sit there† this shows a growing confidence in the youngster and growing ability. Towards the end of the conversation he becomes more coherent, his grammar improves, his vocabulary becomes wider and he begins to develop the skill of turntaking. At 27 months Danny produces longer turns â€Å"I don't want to go to Watchett† he is more coherent and his understanding develops immensely. As regards imitation, Danny leads the conversation, which shows how he has developed in a mere three months. In parts he uses telegraphic language â€Å"I got a library book† However, he uses self correction to again show how his understanding has developed â€Å"I†¦we don't want go and see them.† Another development from 24 months is the use of conjunctions â€Å"no I don't want I want to go when I get bigger want to go on my own a a Watchett.† This example is a long turn for Danny with fairly complex features, he incorporates a new learnt ending â€Å"er† which he uses correctly and doesn't mix it up. Adults tend to use â€Å"we† instead of â€Å"I† It is evident with Danny that children do pick up on this. â€Å"We're going to be good today aren't we?† The child doesn't understand why the â€Å"we† is used and simply imitates it because it is believed to be correct. Danny uses three verbs in one sentence â€Å"I don't want to go to Watchett† which is an incredible achievement from three months previous. Danny begins to incorporate his own vocabulary into the conversation â€Å"television† he sets the agenda in the conversation, his mother however, still takes the lead but not as directly. Danny uses past and future â€Å"when get bigger† tenses towards the end of the conversation however cannot quite master perfect tense although they are not completely grammatically correct it is evident that Danny really is learning competently and steadily. His mother uses tag questions to prompt Danny â€Å"called Harry isn't he?† this is effective to a certain degree as Danny replies â€Å"Harry† whether this is due to knowledge or simply imitation is not evident. She tries to help Danny to develop his labelling skills â€Å"that dog† however, this technique isn't as successful as others are possibly because Danny is too young or maybe he simply doesn't understand what his mother is trying to do. She seems to make more sense to Danny in this particular conversation, and is no longer needed to over power Danny as leader of the conversation they are more equal, which brings out the best in Danny it is almost as though they are socialising and taking part in a proper conversation instead of Danny's mum trying to get the best out of Danny by constantly prompting and correcting her son. To conclude, the major developments made have been the endings learnt, the expansion on vocabulary without imitation, the use of tenses, longer more correct turns and understanding. Danny's progress is evident in most aspects of speech. Compared to the guidelines of how a child's speech should have improved with age Danny is slightly behind, this isn't because he is less intelligent or has a problem it is simply because no child is average, no one has the same learning speed because this is part of being an individual. Danny's mum became less in charge as Danny got older, she was no longer needed to lead the conversation and therefore both Danny and his mum were on more of an equal status, she no longer needed to correct Danny because towards the end he began to understand her. The turns of both Danny and his mum became longer as he aged this shows the major development in Danny's language acquisition that he is no longer dependent on his mother and has his own be it small vocabulary. Danny is still to learn a more vast vocabulary but this will come with age and experience, he is yet to perfect his use of tenses and sometimes telegraphic language plays a part in his turns. The majority of his language is good but not perfect, but even teenagers have difficulty in this area nobody's language is ever perfect. He has to improve fluency but this will come once he has a wider vocabulary. Overall Danny has progressed competently in all areas of speech, he is not ahead for his age but as explained we are all individuals and do not follow a trend by any means.

Sexual Harassment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sexual Harassment - Essay Example The aim of this study is to present scenario of the sexual harassment that occurs in the school environment. This stirs great concern because approximately 81 percent of students experience any form of sexual harassment during their stay in school and 27 percent repeatedly encounters such situations. These students may encounter harassment from other students, which comprise 85% of the student while 40 percent from the teachers and other personnel of the school ("Sexual Harassment Information for Teens" 2006). Sexual harassment is one issue that has a subjective definition. Its meaning varies on the context of different groups, organizations or bodies that implement sanction against harassment. To this effect, teens and adults encounters confusion on the grounds of sexual harassment, thus, they may not voice out such experiences ("Every Teen Counts" 1997). As quoted on the study conducted by Susan Strauss, according to the National Advisory Council on Women's Educational Programs sexual harassment is any action that attacks the sexuality and the sexual aspect or a person acquired with the emphasis on the authority over students that can hindrance the development of full potential and capabilities (1993). Some forms of sexual harassment that female students encounter may include having physical contact, making sexual comments, receiving unwanted communications and indecent propositions. Physical contact can occur in different ways like grabbing or holding sensitive areas of the body and kissing against the will. Giving offensive names, starting rumors or sexual jokes about a person along with bad gestures are forms of sexual harassment. Also, any form of communication that is not welcomed, which may be hostile or distressing to the recipient, is considered as sexual harassment. This may include calls, letters and any form of stalking. Another action that is considered as harassment is indecent proposals. For students, this usually comes in the form of higher grade or academic standing in exchange for sexual favors ("Sexual Harassment Information for Teens" 2006). A survey of the American Association of University Women on 1993, whose results were quoted by Kathryn Wells Murdock and D avid Kysilko in their research, other forms of sexual harassment in school includes any actions that assault the sexuality of a student. Oftentimes, being called gay or lesbian, and other acts of gender-related public humiliation toward same or opposite sexes are included in the grounds for sexual harassment. More than half of the respondent students, 66% were victims of sexually-offensive jokes or actions, which are frequently considered as harmless stunts. This is a misconception because it leaves marks on the victim's personality (1998). Effects of Sexual Harassment Being the object of sexual harassment causes changes in a person's physical and emotional well-being. Effects can be observed in the significant changes in the behavior of a victim of sexual harassment. Some of the indications include self-consciousness, lost of self-esteem, depression and anger towards the attacker. With regards to emotional aspect, female students have more observable indications of sexual harassment experiences compared to male students, although the percentage of the female and the male students that experiences harassment is almost the same. Physical indications

Security is a major problem with the Internet Essay

Security is a major problem with the Internet - Essay Example The internet has become so huge that it is now nearly impossible to keep a check on all the activity that goes on in the internet. What are these threats The most common security threats of using the computer are hacking, phishing, viruses, worms, spam, and spyware. According to Victor Sabadash, Hacking is unauthorized use of computer or network resources. (2004) This includes hacking into other people's computers and also hacking other people's passwords. This has become very common nowadays. According to Symantec Software Solutions, new threats have increased from 125243 to 711912 from 2006 to 2007. This is a 468 percent increase in just one year. (Business Standard, 2008) These figures show why this is a major problem with the internet. You can make your computer safe by installing a firewall on to it. A firewall is a program that detects unauthorized users who try to hack into your computer and it stops that activity. Phishing is uses emails to ask for personal information by using the names of reputable organizations for example Citibank etc. This fools people into giving their personal information to these hackers. These hackers use this information for financial theft, identity loss, and fraud. (Russel Kay, 2004) Symantec has seen 87963, which is a 167 percent increase, in phishing hosts in just the last sic months of 2007. (Business Standard, 2008) This increase also proves how security is a major problem of internet. The only way phishing can be avoided is to understand the occurrence of this and think before giving out your password and other personal information online. You can also check the reliability of the source of the website.A Computer virus is a program which replaces itself or attaches itself to other programs in an individuals computer without the knowledge of the owner. These infect the computer in different ways. Sometimes viruses are not noticeable while sometimes they can de stroy the hard drive. Worms are something similar to a virus. It is a program which usually proliferates through network connections. It needs a host program, otherwise it would not be able to function. (Markus Hanhisalo) In 2003, $55 billion was spent on cost of computer viruses by businesses. (Cyberoam, 2004) There are different anti viruses nowadays that deal with all sorts of viruses. Installing these anti viruses onto your computer can help you detect and delete the virus before it spreads and destroys the PC. Email is the cheapest way to pass a message to many people at the same time. Spam unwanted emails that come into your email inbox which you refer to as junk mail. These mail usually promote products and sometimes even ask for personal information, for example credit card number etc., in the email. These emails were only a nuisance but now viruses are spread through this and phishing is also becoming common because of this. The statistics show that spam is increasing. According to a source, 92.3 percent of emails sent in the first three months of 2008 were all spam and 23300 spam related web sites are discovered everyday. (Robert Jaques, 2008) This is why spam is becoming a major problem for internet security. Spywares are programs that are installed onto one's computer without his permission. These programs basically spy on the activities that take

Human Resource Outsourcing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Human Resource Outsourcing - Case Study Example However, outsourcing itself has got associated advantages and disadvantages in many of these firms. This paper will look at the human resource outsourcing in the UK's largest and most successful airline, the British Airways. The airline started in 1919 with Houston's airport as its home. On 25th August 1919 the first flight from Le Bourget to Houslow was launched. Afterwards these were the establishment of the Handley page and unstone airlines with older modified bomber applied in them. To counter stiff competition from the French airlines who offered low fares the airlines merged and created an airline that could fly distant place for example Egypt and India, the airline was called Imperial Airways.2 It was after a committee chaired by President Ronald Edwards in 1967 British airways was born in 1976 British European Airways (BEA) and British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) merged, a thing that left British Airways with big fleets for instance Lockheed Tristar, Boeing 747 among others. These developments saw the British Airways, becoming one of the leading world's cargo airlines. After the September 11th 2001 bomb attack there was an airline crisis and British airways was not an exceptional since it faced severe economic problems which it took some time for it to recover. However, it has now recuperated with increased returns a characteristic of future economic boom. In 24th October 2003 what was the then trademark of the company for the twenty five years, the Concorde made its last flight. To strengthen its global market position the airline is forging alliances with the world's major airlines and has been outsourcing its human resource functions.3 The company's main objectives include; the achievement of greater management effectiveness, application of business - oriented organizational approaches, meeting the organizational goals applications of the critical success factors (CSFs) approach in the management system and overcoming the technological barriers in the company. The company's challenges ahs been its failure to accurately focus on the organizational goals with a feeling that the critical success factors approach might not be appropriate for managers investigations at all levels within the company. Lower level manages has been experiencing problems in the application of the CSF concept.4 British airways human resource outsourced functions include the risk management, temporary staffing, recruitments, employee benefits administrations, pension administration, retirement planning assistance, development programs relating to training and management executive staffing, counselling of the staff members, administration of wage and salary, background checks, incentive plans payroll and training implementation. The main reasons as to why British airways opt to outsource its non -core business operations are as follows: To improve its accuracy. So as it can put more focus on its core business oper

A letter to University Program Leader for an enquery Essay

A letter to University Program Leader for an enquery - Essay Example n thrown into uncertainty by the fact that the structure of my academic program will change from a 15 credits module to a 20 credits module in the September semester. This change is going to affect my study schedule since it is likely to raise the number of credits required for a complete semester and I may end up with fewer modules completed. In March, I made enquiries with the E-learning team on when and what modules would be available for enrolment in the April Semester and I was notified to take two modules in Biological Psychology and Social psychology even though I was aware that the semester had three level 4 modules on offer; Biological, Social and Developmental Psychology. Following the unsatisfactory response that I received from the E-learning team, I contacted the E-learning team for the second time, enquiring for the possibility of adding Developmental Psychology to my program for the Semester beginning April 2012. In response, the E-learning team informed me that the program leader would not allow me to take three modules, leaving me with the unfavorable option of taking the two modules that the program leader advised. However, at the beginning of my Second Semester in mid April, I realized that some students who started in January were taking three modules (Biological Psychology, Social Psychology and Developmental Psychology) for the January Semester. I sought the advice of the program leader and the E-learning team again but did not get any responses and so I had to proceed with the two modules. In the period April to June, I frequently contacted the program leader and the E-learning team to allow me takes the third module without much breakthrough. The E-learning team later informed me that the program leader would not allow me take the third module since the Semester was just four weeks away from the assessment date and so he advised me to wait for a few more weeks when I would obtain my new study pathway. I have since received my study plan

Investigate an aspect of Western Society Term Paper

Investigate an aspect of Western Society - Term Paper Example There is a contradiction and conflict within ‘liberalism’ between those who maintain that less government and more freedom are the correct course of action, against those who think that the government ought to play a stronger role in areas such as the enforcement of equity or affirmative action. Therefore, while Liberalism can be said to be a core value in Western Civilization, it is also responsible for some of the most deeply embedded conflicts in the West too. It will be argued that the central conflict in liberalism, is the role of the state in individuals lives. It is difficult to pinpoint an absolute juncture for the origins for liberalism. However, it can be said that the origins of liberalism are inseparable from the beginning’s of the modern form of British Parliament. By this, what is referred to is the revolution in England in the mid to late sixteen hundred’s which culminated in 1688 [Walsh, 1997: 14]. During this revolution, what was fought ove r, was the fact that there was a growing number of bourgeoisie land owners, who could not gain representation in government. In short, this rising middle class contested to the government that as significant property holders they had a significant stake in the countries politics, and as such, they argued that Parliament should represent those who were not simply aristocrat’s, but any other land owner as well [Dickerson and Flanagan, 1994, p. 94]. Thus, liberalism is coextensive with democratic politics to some extent in its origins, and further, its origins can be found within those who fought for greater representation in the British Parliament in the Seventeenth century [Goodwin, 1992, p. 41]. What is important about the origins, is that it is essentially coextensive with market capitalism itself. The central protagonists in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century of liberalism, were figures such as John Stuart Mill and Adam Smith, and further, the American Fathers of the Constitution [Garry, 1992, p. 49]. Thus, although it can be said that liberals are interested in making changes within the system, and indeed, liberals have been key in various political reforms in almost all Western nations, it can also be said that the history of liberalism is a history that has little part in any attempt to actually change the system itself -- that is, market driven capitalism. This said, more must be said about both the history of liberalism on the one hand, and the central tenets of this political philosophy, or ‘ideology’, depending on whether one agrees with liberalism or not. As mentioned in the introduction, one of the key figures of liberalism is John Stuart Mill, who was a philosopher and also the son of a philosopher named James Mill, who was also a close friend of Jeremy Bentham. Mill’s central works were On Liberty, Utilitarianism and his major treatise on Political Economy. In many respects, Mill might be argued as a good e xemplar of modern or contemporary liberalism. By this, it is implied that he was interested in the following aspects which remain as general concerns. First, he maintained a certain primacy for individual freedom, and in particular, he thought that aspects like the absolute right to free speech was an unquestionable cornerstone of liberalism. At the same time that he expressed a concern for the lack of government restraint on the individual, he was also a champion of