Children Learn Best

H61012A L9914234 Pham Minh Tu Discursive Eassay Children learn best by observing behavior of addults and copying it The major disparity between adults and children is the imitating learning scientifically. Although the incidental learning facilitates the studying of children, this conventional methodology has been considered as a contentious dicourse due to its latent detrimental impacts. This essay will demonstrate the affirmative and negative arguments for the immitating learning of children regards as the best methodolody.Firstly, the imitation of the behaviors of adults is a quick learning methodology for children. It is highly doubt that this eliminates the time spending on the explanation for children since these behaviors accumulatively exert young learners on their habits, personality and the outlook. To illustrate, no confusing question impedes the fragile mind of children from the reason wasting their time. This facilitates the adults to monitor the critical skills as they will explain the vital reason for some unclear and misleading action.Secondly, this imitation creates the natural incentives for children to learn the intractable things. With the mutual basis on the interpersonal communication with adults, particularly parents, these acquaintances appear as the massive profound inspiration. Consequently, these behaviors are understood as welcoming actions by children and manipulate them, in turn shaping their future personal like the civility.For example, to instill a love of books, parents could read books for children everyday instead of using TV as a pastime. Additionally, small children pick up several new words from parents’ conversations. These are the positive arguments for this learning methodology. Next the manifold oppose arguments will be illustrated for this issue. The predominant disadvantage of this imitating methodology is the pitfall of misleading or the limits for autistic children.It is explicit since this form of learning requires the high quality from the interpersonal environment solely, not from the learners themselves. Thus, without the interaction with parents, those children with autism do not enable themselves to study. Moreover, the imitation of adults’ behaviors leads to the latent profound reduction of creativity in children. The strings attached children with surrounding environment might create the laziness and then the shortage of the ability of provoke-thinking and solving problems.Subsequently, being a passive learner in a long-term period, the creativity can be reduced in children inevitably. In conclusion, when the imitability in learning always contains its advantages and limits on children. Nevertheless, it is the natural step of human’s evolution of studying. Therefore, children could encounter the surrounding environment and new concepts to learn the best from this step, which is assumed as a launching pad fro them before entering the world of formal schooling.

Bible as Literature Essay

One of the central arguments of the Old Testament book Genesis is its credibility as a historical account. Nobody may never really know if the events written in this book actually happened or not, especially parts (or chapters) where hints of culture and detailed places can be read. Except maybe chapters 1 and 2 which is the beginning of existence itself. Then again, details may have been passed through oral tradition, but considering the eternity of years between the time of creation and the time words were even put on to the most primitive of ways, details may be greatly distorted. After the creation story (Chapters 1 and 2) virtually all introductions of all chapters start out with the father siring a son, and that’s son’s son. A family tree in other words. An elaborate one at that, because the writer can trace back up to Adam. The Chapter starts out as, again, that familiar family tree starting from the children of Abraham and Keturah, Abraham’s other wife, up to the twins Esau and Jacob. By this, Genesis chapter 25 provides evidence that it should be taken as part of history and not as fiction. Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshirim, and Letushim, and Leummim. And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epherm and Hanochm and Abidahm and Eldaah . All of these were the children of Keturah. (Genesis 25: 1- 4) It is not clear whether Abraham married Keturah when he was still with Sarah or after her death. At any rate, Keturah seemed to be more fruitful, which just helped Abraham seal his place as the Father of All Nations. Patriarchal Theme Indeed Abraham is the father of all nations, heck, we even have a nursery rhyme to prove it, but what about the mother of all nations? Or in this case the mothers of all nations? The patriarchs are always one of the great figures in history and literature, which what the Bible actually is, a piece of (very old) history and literature. Patriarchy is the accepted system in most societies since people evolved into social creatures. Social groups are based in this system, governments, religion, and the family alike. Perhaps the most controversial of all, would be in religion, God is branded as â€Å"He† even though no one can ever really tell. But if Jesus and God are one in the same, logic tells us that the Supreme Being is also male. There’s a popular saying that in order to be of worth in this world; one must either write a book, plant a tree, or sire a son. Sons were always cherished by families, especially fathers since they would be able to inherit the family’s wealth and continue the blood line. In fact, during biblical times, and in some countries, even today, people are addressed by their names following who their father is: I am (name) son of (name of father), or I am from the house of (name of father) They only recognize who the father is. The theme of Patriarchy is a sensitive topic today, especially when women now are becoming more and more involved in the society, and sometimes more successful than most men. It has long been argued what the role of women are in the world. If they are fit in every position the world has to offer. Tradition (and our patriarchal society) tells us that men are supposed to be the leaders, but things has changed since Abraham’s time. There’s no doubt that men should hold high positions in the church, that’s just the way it is. Feminists can’t argue with that, but with everything else, men and women should have fair chances in finding their place in society. Covenant Theme Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go forth from your country, and from your your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so, you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. (Genesis 12:1-3) This is the covenant that God made with Abraham, it’s more like a promise of God to Abraham than a mutual agreement since Abraham benefited a lot from this covenant regardless of his future actions. As long as he leaves his country, his relatives, and his father’s house, all of God’s promises to him would be fulfilled This covenant making business isn’t new to God, e has done this in a couple of occasions. First was his covenant with Adam and Eve after they ate the forbidden fruit and was expelled from Paradise, God cut them some slack so they could still live and procreate. Another was during Noah’s time after God destroyed the rest of Mankind, except Noah’s family, He promised Noah that he would no longer destroy man by the use of flood. Then came Abraham. (Genesis 6-9) Abraham lived a comfortable life before God called upon him. What God was asking Abraham wasn’t easy. Nomads were considered inferior during that time plus the fact that God didn’t specify where exactly He wanted Abraham to be. Regardless of this uncertainty, he followed God’s will, and left the city, with all its comforts, to live the life of a nomad in the desert plains. (Genesis 12:1-3,7; 13: 14-18; 15: 4, 5, 13-18; 17-19; 22: 15-18) The covenant that God made Abraham is known as an Unconditional Covenant, for the promises that God made to Abraham would not be revoked even if he does not continue to comply on his side of the bargain. As long as Abraham leaves the city, all the conditions would be fulfilled by God. There’s more to it than God blessing Abraham’s descendants and making them more numerous than the stars. Let’s see what are some of the things that Abraham got from this deal: 1. Abraham will become the father of all nations (technically just Israel) 2. Abraham would inherit Canaan 3. He would be blessed 4. His name would be great 5. He would be a blessing to others 6. He and Sarah would have a son despite their old age Brewer, David, God’s Covenant with Abraham These promises however aren’t instantaneous, some are in the distant future ranging from Isaac’s birth, about 20 years later, and the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, which is a good 400 years later after the covenant. Critical Analysis of the literary, cultural, and religious issues The first issue that may be noticed in this chapter is from the first verse. Abraham taking a new wife, Keturah. The author does not say if Keturah was concubine of Abraham or if she was â€Å"taken† by Abraham after his wife’s death. One thing’s for sure, God is fulfilling His promise that Abraham would have descendants more numerous than the stars. It might sound a bit odd for a Christian to read about a Christian figure having concubines, but apparently, Abraham have had lots of concubines, and have had many sons with them. Another issue is Abraham’s death. Genesis tells us that he died one hundred and seventy five years old probably three times, on average, of today’s life expectancy. Sure, people back then lived a lot longer than today, but 175 is way too old. The calendar year then may have been different from today. Abraham gave gifts to his sons and sent them away towards the country to the east, while everything else he gave to Isaac. There’s Hebrew story that Abraham sent the other sons away fearing that they might begin conflicts. He might be right, because Islam can be traced back from the other sons of Abraham. On the family level, favouritisms were already a part of the family during that time. Isaac preferred Esau while Rebecca likes Jacob. Isaac probably liked Esau more, because he was a hunter, he provided the family with his game. Esau would make any typical dad proud. Esau liked the outdoors and was very masculine . Jacob on the other hand stayed at home, tending to the tents or in modern day terms, doing household chores. Of course mothers would have loved this. (Genesis 25: 27-28) Divine election is the power of God to choose whoever He desires, to do something or receive his blessing. God had already chosen Isaac and Jacob to be the recipients of Abraham’s blessings way before they were born. However this doesn’t mean that God chose them because he already knew that they would be more pious than the others. In Jacob’s case, Esau might have been more worthy of God’s blessing since Jacob took advantage of his brother’s weakness. Esau sold his birth right to Jacob for food, saying that he doesn’t need it since he is dying. God had chosen them simply because it is his will. He is God after all. (Deffinbaugh, Th. M, Divine Election) Arguably the most controversial issue is Jacob, as mentioned, Jacob schemed to buy his brother’s birth right so he can have most out of the inheritance he would get from his father. He need not do this because he was already chosen by God. Which Rebecca probably revealed to him already since he is her favorite. (Genesis 25: 31-33) Genesis’ Author The author of Genesis was probably a nomad just like Abraham, who raised livestock like cattle, and sheep on the plains of their land. The author may have written the book out of the urge to tell a story to trace their roots, or if it’s true, really trace his family tree up to Abraham. The author must have felt that he had to write into account his family’s heritage. What Genesis is, is really just an extensive family tree from Adam, to his last descendant in the book. The author might have written the chapters of the book, sitting under a shade of tree after tending to his flock. To pass time, he might have decided that he might as well do something productive during his break. It’s possible that these stories were later told at his household and soon became popular that it was told to every tent in the community. There’s also a chance that the author was a scholar, born several hundreds of maybe a thousand years after the estimated date of its last chapter. He (assuming he was a man) maybe the very first ethnographer of the world. If in deed, he was, he was very successful. He gathered a large number of information; from traditions/cultures: what the ancient people actually do during those times and how they lived, what they wore†¦etc. , history; detailed accounts of what happened, including probable conversations that might have happened between the people and God, and among themselves. What the author has done is simply astonishing, generations upon generations of ancient history, written in just one book, and its not even as thick as today’s novels. which may hypothesize that the book wasn’t just made by a single author but by the family historian in each generation. Works Cited Deffinbaugh, Th. M. â€Å"The Principle of Divine Election† bible. org. September 1, 2008 http://www. bible. org/page. php? page_id=104 New American Bible. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 3211 4th Street, N. E. , Washington, DC 20017-1194 (202) 541-3000

A Story Of An Hour Feelings Essay

A Story Of An Hour: Feelingss Essay, Research Paper A Story of An Hour: Feelingss In the short narrative? A Story of An Hour? by Kate Chopin, the whole scope of emotions are felt by the chief charter Louise Mallard. Upon acquisition of her hubby # 8217 ; s decease she is instantly overcome by unhappiness. However, one time she is entirely she allows herself to see her feelings of joy at the chance of being free from? repression. # 8221 ; She is no more able to staff off the feeling that was nearing her than seeking to halt the moving ridges from hitting the shore. Basically stated we are powerless over our feelings. First, one can province that no affair how difficult we try we can non maintain a experiencing from coming over us. Louises # 8217 ; feelings come from deep within her psyche. Physical exhaustion followed her first storm of heartache. At first she did non cognize what was coming to her. She could non even give it a name. When she started to acknowledge it, she was seeking to crush it back with sheer will power. Merely to happen that will power is no lucifer for the entire encompassing of feelings. Once she had abandoned herself the word? free? had escaped from her lips. She did non intentionally want it but it had come anyhow. Unmistakably, a joy over took her. Not that she would non be sad once more, but for now she was like a bird allow out of the degree Celsius age. Mrs. Mallard was a good illustration of Shakespeare # 8217 ; s line? To Thine ain ego be true. # 8221 ; She did non let guilt to rise up it # 8217 ; s ugly head but alternatively merely felt her feelings. She allowed no 1 to witness her self averment. But, it was the strongest urge of her being. As she was projecting spring and summer yearss to come, a feeling that her life would be her ain once more gave her a contentment that she had non felt in a long clip. No 1 really knew what Mrs. Mallard had experienced behind her closed door. Although, the human bosom was meant to cover with that much hurting, joy and letdown in one twenty-four hours neer mind one hr. To her sister ( Josephine ) it would look that she died of joy when she saw her partner was non dead. The truth was buried with Louise. Tragically, what seemed to be great joy was a heartache felt for her freedom that had been so short lived. Concluding, the roller coaster of emotions was to extreme for Louises # 8217 ; delicate bosom to bear, go forthing her no pick but to decease with her secret. It # 8217 ; s a fact that people are governed by their emotions. Trying to command them has neer been something that the human race has been able to carry through. God gave us a free-will. Therefore, we are non powerless over our actions, nevertheless, feelings sneak in to our psyche without being asked.

"Bullying in Schools" Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

"Bullying in Schools" - Assignment Example This conducts amounts to negative repercussions because some students end up dropping out of school while other resort to suicidal incidences. School authorities and parents are trying to curb this habit by watching their children at home and within the institutions. In this regard, bullying arises when one student intends to harm the other, victimize or provoke for self-fish interests. It is detrimental to the learners’ safety and development in the social setting since it reduces the self-esteem and study ethics. The central idea is that measures should be adopted to avoid the occurrences of bullying in learning facilities. Bullying in schools occurs in different aspects and forms, including online harassments, physical, emotional and verbal abuses. It is apparent that some bullies target their victims on electronic platforms where they harass them. This takes place on social media channels, especially between peers and classmates who interact frequently. Considering this, bullying can affect the mental health of adolescents who face harassment from peers (Langan, 2013). This is because the trauma stays with them into adulthood whenever they encounter similar treatments in their marriage lives. According to Langan (2013), the physical, emotional and verbal abuses are the prevalent forms in schools and can be performed by both boys and girls. This is because it is observed that boys engage more in physical abuses while girls use verbal and cyber harassments. This habit is also common among the popular students who take advantage of their influence to mistreat others. It happens in the presence of other students who influence the climate and the ability of the mistreatment to occur. This is because of the peer culture that makes it easy for the bullies to perform the bullying. It is also common that the different aspects of bullying normally happen during the transition periods from one stage to the other

Education Programme of Tayside Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Education Programme of Tayside - Essay Example To direct my own learning process, I made use of a learning contract with my mentor and the Diabetes Specialist Dietician and prepared a learning program. Diabetic patients are increasing in number which incurs a lot of healthcare cost to the government. 1.2mg of Victoza taken daily is a cost effective way to treat Type-2 Diabetes. Victoza enhances insulin secretion and reduces glucagon secretion. Patients can take Victoza when the blood glucose becomes higher as measured by the HBAIC blood test, or when they have BMI greater than or equal to 35kg/m. Diabetic patients are referred to the nurses by the diabetes consultants for treatment. The GLP-1 Victoza Group Education Program was started only two years ago but became very popular in very short time, thus imparting the need to start the treatment in group setting. The group setting increased the productivity of the DSNs. Various studies have found Victoza very effective for the treatment of Type-2 Diabetic patients. Particularly whe n it was taken with Metformin daily, it improved the blood sugar control in patients and helped them lose weight. Control of diabetes and patient education reduces a patient’s susceptibility to the risk of nephropathy, retinopathy, and cardiovascular diseases. All diabetic patients should receive structured education to be able to self-manage their disease. The cheapest way of educating patients is group education as more patients are educated in lesser time, thus saving the time and effort of both the nurses. Group education encourages the adoption of innovative learning approaches, and is thus recommended by payors, educators, and policy makers. I experienced slight difficulty when the teaching session commenced, but the stress wore off me as time passed. I have learnt how to educate the patients with due assistance of the specialist dietician using visual aids which made the sessions interesting for me as well as for the learners. Learners were taught how to administer Vic toza. They were asked to do their first injection themselves. Knowledge of the treatment made the patients feel relieved. The patients were also taught the use of blood sugar meters and the principles of healthy eating. It was an overall good experience, though patients would have developed better concepts of treatment, had they been provided with structured education about diabetes and its treatment beforehand. In addition to the treatment education, patients also need to be made aware of the potential implications of not taking the treatment upon their health, so that they are intrinsically motivated to get the treatment. The treatment program should be supplied with adequate resources. Every treatment program should be supported with a structured curriculum. The current education programme can be accorded with the criteria established by NICE by integrating the philosophy of GLP1 (Victoza/Exenatide) Group Education Programme, curriculum, hand-outs, patient evaluation tools, perio dic peer review, internal quality assurance, and improvement of patients’ diabetes control twice a year in the program. To integrate these factors into the current education programme, I have used the Tayside Diabetes Education Programme to enhance the structure of the GLP-1 Victoza Group Education P

Electricity Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Electricity - Assignment Example Franklin's key contribution to the understanding of electricity was his discovery that lightning shared similar characteristics as the electricity that was found in rubbed amber by the ancient Greeks. Franklin's work was situated at around 1752, whereas the work of the ancient Greeks extend way back into the early history of western civilization, to the time of the flowering of Ancient Greek literature and philosophy (The Electricity Forum, 2012). Meanwhile, work on the early modern history of electricity exists that date back to 1769, testifying to the jump starting of the science of electricity generation not too long after Franklin's work with lightning (Priestley, 1769; Tom Henry's Code Electrical Classes Inc., 2012). Volta and Galvani would advance the understanding of electricity even further, by giving to the world the understanding of how electricity works in the context of Galvani's experiment with frogs. Volta's understanding of the way electric current is made from Galvani 's frog experiments would drive the field forward. Volta understood that when two metal conductors contact water/moisture in frog bodies, electricity was generated. This insight paved the way for the creation of the first modern batteries, in 1792. Moreover, another important derivation of Volta's work on electricity is that of the ability of electricity to travel through conductor wires (The Electricity Forum, 2012): In this way, a new kind of electricity was discovered, electricity that flowed steadily like a current of water instead of discharging itself in a single spark or shock. Volta showed that electricity could be made to travel from one place to another by wire, thereby making an important contribution to the science of electricity. The unit of electrical potential, the Volt, is named after Volta (The Electricity Forum, 2012) On the other hand, whereas Volta demonstrated electricity transfer by wire, the development of large-scale transmission of electricity is credited to Michael Faraday. Faraday inverted the hypothesis that electricity is able to generate magnetism, and posited that magnetism could also bring about the generation of electricity, a hypothesis that was proven to be correct from his own experimental setups. The answer to Faraday's problem of generating electricity with the use of magnets lay in setting the magnets into motion. He was able to then show that magnetic fields in motion set into play the dynamics of electricity generation in this fashion. Four decades from that work by Faraday, on the other hand, Thomas Edison would set in motion the experiments that would bring about the production of the electric DC generator on a scale that could be considered practical. It was with DC electricity that Edison first lit up his experimental transmission and lighting infrastructure in New York and in his lab. On the other hand, while the Edison setup was functional, DC current faced many criticisms of its shortcomings, which led to AC elec tricity being developed and eyed as a more suitable mode of electricity generation and transmission on large scales (The Electricity Forum, 2012). The work of Edison deserves special mention for the vast number of peripheral

Compare and contrast research method Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Compare and contrast method - Research Paper Example There are over twenty different types of research methods, but the ones discussed in this paper include focus group method, ethnography methods, in-depth interview, participant observation methods, action research methods, and bibliographic method. Reconciliation Focus Group Methods Focus group is a type of group interview that focuses on communication between interviewees to generate data. Unlike group interviews that are often used to collect data from several individuals simultaneously, focus group usually involves group interaction as part of the method. This implies that a researcher does not ask each person to respond to a question in turn, but encourages people to ask each other question, exchange ideas, comment on other people’s perception and experiences (Chilisa, 2011). This research method is valid for exploring persons’ experiences and knowledge. The focus group method is based on the idea that group interactions can help people to clarify and explore their views and experiences in a manner that would not have been possible with a one-on-one interview (Liamputtong, 2011). The questionnaires used in focus group method have a series of open ended questions and encourages interviewees to answer the questions in their own styles, and even generate further questions and pursue their own priorities. Focus group method helps researchers to include the different forms of communication that people use in their day to day interaction, including arguing, jokes, teasing, and anecdotes. Accessing such forms of communication is significant because the interviewees’ attitudes and knowledge are not restricted in reasoned responses to present the questions (Faherty, 2009). This is what distinguishes focus group methods from other forms of qualitative research methods. Its other advantages include: it does not discriminate against persons who cannot write and read; it encourages participation from individuals who are reluctant to be interviewed a nd encourages participation from persons who feels that they have nothing to say (Faherty, 2009). The downside of this method is that articulation of group norms may derails individual voices of dissent. Additionally, the presence of a group may also compromise the confidentiality of the research process. In the business field, focus group methods are useful when conducting studies that focus on empowering employees. The employees are allowed to share their ideas and present a report about their findings. The results obtained are then used to implement that change required, which is believed to favor all employees (Ozerdem, 2010). Ethnography Ethnography is the study of social behaviors, perceptions and interactions, which occur in organizations, communities, groups, and teams. It primarily focuses on providing rich and holistic insights into an individual’s actions and perceptions, including the nature of the location they occupy, through the collection of detailed interview s and observations (Scott-Jones & Watt, 2010). Ethnographers typically collect participants’ observations, and encourage direct involvement and engagement with the samples they are studying. During research processes, ethnographers usually use conversational and informal interviews that enable them to probe and discuss emerging issues, or pose questions about unusual events, in a

A Critical Role in Deterring Smoking Both in the US and in the UK Research Paper

A Critical Role in Deterring Smoking Both in the US and in the UK - Research Paper Example Particularly, according to statistical data, the number of adult smokers in the U.K went down by approximately one million between 2006 and 2007 (Easton, 2009). However, contrary to this observation, the number of heavy smokers has increased to 29% from 24% during the same period and those who planned to quit reduced by approximately 5% from 72% (Easton, 2009). The fall represents an estimated 1.2 million people. The U.K also required the manufacturers to print health warnings on the cigarette packs in an attempt to deter people from smoking. According to the most recent statistics, the U.K has 22% and 19% male and female smokers respectively. Although the U.K has approximately 10 million smokers, there are 15 million ex-smokers indicating that the ban has been effective (Smoking Statistics, 2013). Nevertheless, the U.K has been receiving some troubling news concerning the number of children starting smoking, which stood at 200,000 annually (Cancer Research UK, 2013). On the other ha nd, the U.S has more smokers than the U.K. According to a 2012 statistic, the U.S has at least 42 million smokers, which represents 18.1% of the overall population (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014a, p. 30-32). This number comprises of adults alone or individuals with at least 18 years of age. Of the overall U.S smokers, 78% were heavy smokers. According to race, the American Indians led the smokers with 21% and the behaviour is more common among the males than females with males taking on almost 21% while females represent 15.8%.

Tata Consultancy Services entry strategy in international markets Essay

Tata Consultancy Services entry strategy in international markets - Essay Example One of the interesting reasons for the company’s success can be attributed to its entry approach that the company used in different markets. TCS being the first software company in India, has been in domestic operations since 1968 and its first big export came during the period 1973-74 when it took up the job of building inventory control software solution for an electricity company in Iran. (Agarwal, 2008, p. 19). During the same period TCS also took up a similar assignment in UK developing hospital information system. From that period and with its continued success, TCS has been a delight for its clients globally. The company’s principal activity is to provide information technology and business process outsourcing services. The company offers its services to varied types of industries but its prime focus is in on industries such as banking, insurance, financial services, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications and infrastructure. Innovation can lead the company as at niche player. The Niche for TCS is its BPO Services wing. â€Å"the key idea in niching is specialisation† (Kotler and Armstrong, 2006, p.543). TCS has operations all over the world including in Americas, Europe, Asia as well as Asia-Pacific. The IT consulting and other services market has shown impressive growth in recent years, offering an attractive prospect to potential new entrants. Entry into this market may be done by diversification of the existing activity or by founding a new company. (Datamonitor 2009, p.14). In the year 2008, the company has set its foot in other newer Asia Pacific markets such as Tha iland. Let us now look at TCSs and its country specific entry modes in view of its strengths, weaknesses, Opportunities and Strengths. TCS’s association in Europe has been there for the last 2 decades. . Indian software services firms such as TCS and second ranked Infosys technologies are expanding in Europe

Silence of the Lambs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Silence of the Lambs - Essay Example He sees himself as a genius surrounded by idiots. Since Hannibal is a criminal psychologist, every profile and police technique used against him would be known to Hannibal. Thus he would treat the police with contempt. Since Hannibal was not born in America, the chances of him returning to Europe would be high. The FBI should work with INTERPOL. His European background makes Hannibal associate with more refined set of acquaintances. The first place to look for Hannibal would be in high society Europe. He would not be around royalty due to security, but people with money. His acquaintances would be intelligent. Hannibal would find average people boring. The final aspect of Hannibal’s profile would be his cannibalistic manners. Any hint of a body missing parts would need to be checked out, whether a natural or unnatural death. Different offenders commit different acts. Hannibal’s crimes would carry traits that could only be attributed to him. 2. Develop a detailed profile on Buffalo Bill. a. Consider that your profile will assist law enforcement in apprehending Buffalo Bill. (Less is known about Buffalo Bill since the police did not have his identity at first.) Buffalo Bill would be a white male. I would agree that the butterfly/moth would be a sign of transformation. Based on this, Bill would probably a pre op transsexual. If that is correct, he would be twenty-five to thirty-five. Any older, Bill would have had his operation. Any younger, Bill might still be confused about his gender. Bill would not have had his sex change completed, because he would fail the psychological test needed for this type of surgery. Bill’s motivation would be domination of women. Since he only hunted women, Bill must have had ill will towards women. The lack of sexual abuse, once again shows his lack of interest in women sexually. The women he chose were women like his first victim a size fourteen. If Bill wanted more skin, then he

Why Not To Carry A Gun Essay Example for Free

Why Not To Carry A Gun Essay Too often do we hear about people accidentally shooting their family members, and parents committing a family massacre. Even when people buy guns for the best of reasons, somewhere down the road, it goes terribly wrong. Guns cause nothing but harm, and should only be used by policemen. Guns being used by regular people have caused guns to fall into the wrong hands, be used against its owner, give a false sense of confidence, and be used against the wrong person, therefore I refuse to contribute to the problem. When being attacked a gun could easily fall into the hands of the attacker. In the story, A Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries A Gun written by Linda A. Hasselstrom, the main character talks about making men get off of her property by the sight of a pistol. She also says that one of the guys was so close to her that he was a few inches away from her face. In present times if someone of more strength is that close to you, it is just too easy to wrestle a gun away from someone. Then next thing you know, you are begging for you rlife. Pulling a gun on your attacker is just too risky. When the gun is turned against its owner, the situation usually turns fatal. There are just too many cases of owners being killed by their own weapons. This reasoning once again applies to A Peaceful Woman It seems that the main character almost purposely gets herself into these situations, to try and prove the pwer of her gun, which seems to be a popular thing among may people. One too many times this power gets turned on the owner, because the owner was cocky, and let their guard down, and in the end there goes another life. When a person has a gun in their hands, it gives them a false sense of confidence. When a person has a gun in their hand they feel that they have all the power. There have been many cases where a person shoots and kills someone just for saying something mean or being connected to an enemy. For example, a close friend of mine in high school, had a friend who was pregnant by her gang member boyfriend. One day she was in front of her house, when someone from a rival gang, drove by and shot her. Needless to  say, she did not live. Tragedies like this happen all the time because it is so easy for anybody to get their hands on a gun. It seems many times that guns are used against the wrong people, such as friends and loved ones. A prime example, is the mistake that my fiancee made almost eight years ago when he was only 18 years old. Him and his best friend were at his uncles house for a get together. While he was downstairs his friend was upstairs playing around with a gun. When his friend, found a bullet, he decided to play russian roulette, not only with his life, but the life of my fiancee as well. When my fiancee entered the room, his friend pulled the trigger, but it was an empty shot, although his friend was not so lucky. His friend gave him the gun, and he wound up killing his friend. My fiancee went to jail for a year and was on probation for five years. The gun caused nothing but problems. No one should be allowed to carry a gun, but they are, so I am taking a stand by refusing to carry one. I have seen and heard too many tragedies to ever be entised by a gun. I may be one of the few people who feel this way, but it keeps me alive, and thats what matters.

Scooter sales in Vietnam Essay Example for Free

Scooter sales in Vietnam Essay Hom kia ong th? y em g? i cho em 1 cai article kha hay v? th? tru? ng xe 2B VN kha hay, m? i cac bac xem. EM xin l? i vi no la ti? ng Anh nhung vi? t cung kha d? hi? u . Qua bai bao nay em gi? t minh khi bi? t con s? ban ra c? a xe AB hon 120K , kh? ng thi? t . Va cac bac th? ng? m Hon Da VN da moc tui bao nhieu ti? n c? a dan minh [pic] Em xin phep VietNamNet Bridge – Two years ago the Vietnamese media was driven into a frenzy when Hollywood stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie came to visit Vietnam for the first time. The image of the couple in casual clothes riding a black Yamaha Nouvo scooter in downtown HCMC was widely seen in newspapers and magazines. Scooter riders seen in downtown HCMC. Vietnamese consumers have an increasing preference for scooters. This actually gave free publicity to Yamaha. Sales of the Yamha Nouvo scooter have rocketed in Vietnam as this scooter has become a fashion for not only women but also men. Yamahas good business has led to other motorcycle makers to enter the market or boost scooter production to capitalize on the growing demand. The race starts. Italys Piaggio, the worlds fourth largest scooter and motorcycle manufacturer, started construction of its first factory in Vietnam. Honda and Yamaha from Japan will open their second Vietnam factories soon. Honda Vietnam, the largest motorcycle manufacturer in Vietnam, has shifted focus to scooters for men. It started a campaign to enter the market six months after the trip of Vietnam by Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It launched the Air Blade scooter designed with a sporty fashion. As a favorite motorcycle brand, Honda caused an instant fever on the market after launching this scooter. When placing an order for an Air Blade at a Honda authorized exclusive dealer in HCMC, customers will get a shake of the head. The dealers are flooded with a lot of orders. A Honda dealer on Nguyen Trai Street in District 1 says it still has more than 600 orders to fulfill. But those really wishing to own an Air Blade scooter can go to plenty of private retailers in the city, but the price is usually VND8-10 million higher than Hondas list price. Despite the strong demand, the company says it is unable to scale up production as its factory in the northern province of Vinh Phuc is running at full capacity. As an adaptive measure, Honda has increased shifts to fulfill the mounting orders. Koji Onishi, general director of Honda Vietnam, says that by end-April this year, more than 120,000 Air Blade units had been sold, becoming the best-seller of the scooter category on the local market. Not to miss the race, Yamaha introduced the new Yamaha Nouvo Elegance scooter that comes with an engine of 135cc in late April, which is higher than those of the previous scooter versions. With a list price of VND29. 2 million, including VAT, the new Nouvo scooter is going like hot cakes. Just around 10 days after the new Nouvo version came out, Honda announced the launch of two new Air Blade versions with a sportier and more fashionable design. They retail for VND28. 5 million (VAT included) and come with three colors dark blue, white and red. In addition to the new Air Blade, a sporty Air Blade Repsol version with the color of Repsol Honda racing team in MotoGP World Championship has been introduced this time at VND29. 5 million. The market is so lucrative that another Japanese motorcycle maker, Suzuki Vietnam Corp. , has also forayed into the scooter market, with the launch of  the Hayate priced between VND21. 8 million and VND22. 8 million. The 125cc Hayate has a sporty design and targets male motorcyclists and is expected to strongly compete with Hondas Air Blade and Yamahas Nouvo. The Suzuki prices are lower VND7-8 million than the other two brands, so the Hayate has a competitive advantage in pricing. The competition in design Vietnam Manufacturing and Export Processing Co. (VMEP), Sanyangs motorbike maker in Vietnam, was the first to make scooters in Vietnam with the SYM brand. Taiwans SYM is one of the successful stories. The company launched the Attila scooter in 1997, which has since gained increasing popularity among young people. SYM leaders say that the introduction of the Attila has paved the way for the company to gain a competitive edge over cheap Chinese motorcycles, which overwhelmed the local market in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as well as others. The Attila was then the best-selling locally assembled scooter model. Imported scooters like Dylan,@ and Spacy of Honda, Majesty of Yamaha, and Epicuro and Aventis of Suzuki are prohibitively expensive but the compact and fashionable design and moderate price have made the Attila more competitive. The Attila retails for about VND30 million, around one- and two-thirds of imports. Buoyed by SYMs success, other foreign companies including Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda from Japan later jumped into the market. Experts formerly showed concern that SYM would find it hard to maintain its dominance on the scooter market since more Japanese producers were aggressively increasing investment in scooter innovation and design to gain a slice of the pie. But brands like Honda Click, Yamaha Mio Classical and Suzuki Amity seem to be not the archrivals of the Attila which is particularly popular among urban females. SYMs Attila Elizabeth version has become a favorite among young women thanks to its fashionable, elegant and compact design. The demand for the Attila Elizabeth has outpaced SYMs supply, leading to its price outside the company dealers increasing by VND2-3 million per unit. The good outlook The growth prospects of the market are good as young consumers in cities have an increasing preference for scooters. Many motorcycle assemblers have switched to scooter production to capitalize on this market trend and have been expanding production to meet local demand. Taiwans biggest bike maker Kwang Yang Motor Co. Ltd. (KYMCO) is an example. It has become the majority owner of Hoa Lam Kymco Motors Corp. after acquiring a 60% stake from its local partner. Hoa Lam Automobile-Motorcycle Joint-Stock Co. transferred its 60% stake in this joint venture to the Taiwanese company, thus reducing its holding to 30% from the previous 40%. KYMCOs stake in the venture, meanwhile, is up to 90%. Nguyen Tien Sy, deputy general director of Hoa Lam Kymco Motors Corp. , says that the authorities have endorsed the stake transfer between the two partners. The acquisition, whose value is not disclosed, is part of the Taiwanese companys plan to deepen its investment in Vietnam. KYMCO will develop a new factory in HCMCs District 2 besides the joint venture factory that is mainly assembling motorcycles in Binh Chanh District. The new factory in Cat Lai Industrial Park will produce motorcycle parts for local sale and export to ASEAN markets, Sy says. KYMCO will move its production lines from a factory in Taiwan next month to the new factory, which will mainly manufacture scooters. KYMCO attributes its increased investment in Vietnam to the strong demand for motorcycles. This firm forecast the domestic scooter market will continue expanding in the next five to 10 years. KYMCO entered Vietnam in late 2004 by buying a 30% stake in the bike manufacturing plant, which was wholly owned by Vietnams Hoa Lam Automobile-Motorcycle Joint-Stock Co. The value of the factory then was set at US$15 million. The brand name KYMCO, however, is not popular in Vietnam, but the Taiwanese company has reaped success elsewhere, exporting products to 81 countries worldwide, including Europe. KYMCO has set up nine motorcycle factories in Asia. The two market leaders, Honda and Yamaha, also started work on their second factories in northern Vietnam last year. Hondas new factory worth US$65million will mainly produce scooters. The plant, which is located next to the first one in Vinh Phuc Province, is part of Hondas expansion plan after its success over the past 13 years. The new 28-hectare plant is scheduled for mass production in the third quarter of this year, with initial annual production capacity of 500,000 units, says Koji Onishi, general director of Honda Vietnam. Together with the existing plants annual capacity of one million units, this plant will help meet the increasing demand of Vietnamese customers, he says, adding state-of-the-art technology would be applied to ensure high quality. The most modern and latest technology of Honda will be applied to this new plant that may produce the perfect quality products for Vietnamese customers, he says. The income level is increasing and the infrastructure is developed. Thus, the demand for scooters becomes higher and higher. In addition, its easy operation and modern design can sharpen customers personality. Thanks to the growth of the Vietnamese economy, we realize that young people especially in big cities prefer the scooters, says Yasuhiro Imazato, director of Honda Vietnam brand in HCMC. Meanwhile, Piaggio, the worlds fourth largest scooter and motorcycle manufacturer, is building its first factory in northern Vietnam. The company will spend US$45 million on the factory which covers eight hectares in Binh Xuyen Industrial Park in Vinh Phuc Province, and will be commissioned in mid-2009, with an initial annual output capacity of 50,000 units for local sale and export. The project is part of Piaggios broader three-year plan to expand its operations in Asia by setting up shop in Vietnam and India, Piaggio chief executive Roberto Colaninno. He says the companys products are already available in Vietnam, but it still wants a factory plus a sales network in the country. Piaggio brand is generally targeted at high-end customers. The Italian firm has five local companies as distributors Sapa Trade Co. , Xuan Cau Co. , Viet Nhat Motor Co. , Y Viet Motor Co and International Friendship Co. However, Piaggios investment in Vietnam is still smaller than Japanese and Taiwan motorbike producers. Taiwans Sanyang Industry, which is known for SYM brand, looks to Vietnam as one of its major motorbike production hubs in Asia and its biggest investment markets. Under a motorcycle industry development plan recently approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam will become a major Asian center for motorcycle design and production. The plan envisages local motorcycle demand reaching 2-2. 2million units a year. By 2015, there will have been some 31 million motorcycles in use nationwide and some 33 million by 2020, compared to the current 20 million, according to the plan. An additional 1. 8 million motorbikes will hit the road a year. (Source: SGT).

Human Resource Management the employer employee relationship

Human Resource Management the employer employee relationship The main focal point of human resource management (HRM) is on managing people within the employer-employee relationship, in more specific terms, it involves the productive use of people in accomplishing the firms strategic business objectives and the satisfaction of individual employee needs. As HRM is a strategic process incorporating the interests of the firm and the individuals, it goes far beyond a set of activities co-ordinating human resources related practices. HRM specifically is a major contributor to the success of an enterprise because it is in a key position to affect customers, business results and ultimately shareholder value (Gubman, 1995; Wright, McMahan McWilliams, 1994). HRM in a sense is classified as management, but management is more than HRM. HRM is only a sector of management which deals with individuals, whereas management also includes other functions that is marketing, research and development, etc. Managers manage people and the role of the HR Manger is somewhat changing and becoming more relevant to organisations due to our fast paced and growing society. Due to the changing trends within technology, diversity, ethics and globalisation it creates a perception of what functions the modern HR manger undertakes in order to react to competition and create organisational success. Some companies might consider the role of a HR manager to be only a minor driving force of their strategic objectives, whereas others may argue this case and indicate the increasing role that the HR manager plays in their strategic success. By defining the concept of HRM with relations to strategic business and people relations hopefully, this will give you a greater understanding of the roles that a HR manager performs in the workforce. 2) Summary of articles: In a paragraph or two for each study, briefly explain the purpose, how it was conducted (how information was gathered), and the major findings. When referring to an article, use the last name of author or authors and date of publication in the text. Example: Calvin and Brommel (1996) believe family communication. Communication serves two primary functions in familiescohesion and adaptability (Galvin and Brommel, 1996). The role of the HR manager has been and is still currently changing drastically. We see that the concept of HRM has gone through many transformations in order to get to the current HRM practices that are followed today. Its origins erected from the Industrial Revolution where the workers did not have any protection and undertook dull jobs. As an expansion from this concept an adoption of Taylorism which seen jobs being broken down into various elements in which was the most efficient way of performing the job. Post Taylorism the Trade Union movement involved the collective bargaining process and combated against unfair labour practices and introduced laws with relevance to pay and benefits. This idea was later enhanced by the Human Relations movement and driven by Elton Mayo which identified that there are vast psychological and social factors that affect the performance of an employee, thus resulting in the productivity output. We see now that the Human Resources approach dominates the workplaces, which is based on job satisfaction and motivating employees. This new philosophy within the HR context which focuses on the long term approaches and adopts encourages the dual contribution of management and employees in order to achieve the strategic goals of the organisations.In the recent past, many organisations thought of the HR role as simply a support service to the real operations departments of the firm (Buhler, 1999). There was a period when the majority of human resource activity was in processing the payroll, so that the human resource section formed part of the Finance and Administration department (Santiago, 2003). Stone (2008) indicates that as HRM becomes more business oriented and strategically focused in which four methods of HR can help deliver organisational excellence (Ulrich, 1997). Firstly, HR should assist with the strategic implementation with the firm (Strategic Partner). Secondly, the efficiency and effectiveness should be contributed by HR in order to increase the performance of work and as an outcome maintain the quality and be cost effective (Administrative Expert). Moreover, ensure that there is a balance of representation towards employees and senior management in order to ensure that employees contribute to the organisation to express commitment to the organisation (Employee Champion). Lastly, HR should, on a regular basis, assist in the changing process to enhance the organisations capacity to grow and react to competition (Change Agent). According to Ulrich (1997), the key to the HR role as a strategic partner is the participation of HR in the process of defining business strategy, not merely responding to the strategy edicts presented by senior management. HR professionals play a strategic partner role when they have the ability to translate business strategy into action (Ulrich, 1997). In a sense, this makes leverage or way for the HR manager and facilitates them into the business team. In other words, the HR manager must be able develop business like acumen and adapt their expertise and skills and link them to the business strategy to HR policies and practices. Alas, (Nankervis, 2000) that the strategic partner role is not being fulfilled, research indicates that executives position such as CEOs do not adequately involve their HR managers within the business strategy field. P9:50. There is an awareness that proves that there is a necessity and growing need for the HR managers to become active in the strategic leve l and identify that that the significance of HRM have a competitive advantage. P9:53 (Fisher and Dowling). In saying that practices and policies in HR need to be sophisticatedly up to date and consistently need to be reviewed so that it doesnt lead to alienation, reduced motivation and labour unrest (Jackson, 2002) P9:52. Evidently Australia comparing its statistics on a global scale (McCaw and Harley, 2003) they are behind or in other words lagging. P9:51 Administrative expert = refers to the efficiency of HR managers and the effective management of HR activities (i.e. RS, TD, PM, Rewarding) so that they create value Ulrich (1997) outlines that HR professionals must be able to re-engineer HR activities through use of technology, rethinking and redesigning work processes and the continuous improvement of all organisational processes; see HR as creating value, and measure HR results in terms of efficiency )cost and effectiveness (quality) P9:54 Employee champion = requires the HR manager to be the employees voice in management discussions Be able to meet needs of employees Ulrich (1997) achievable by being employees voice in management discussion by being fair and principled, assuring that the concerns of employees are being hears, finding new resources to perform jobs successfully. P10:56 Change agent = a person who acts as a catalyst for change In other words the channel for change in the org. or firm Can be achieved through (Brockbank, Ulrich, 1994) leading change in HR functions and by developing problem solving communication and influence skills. In other words how to manage change A past CEO of Sharp once said all companies have access to the same information and the same technology. The true difference in our firms, he suggested, is found in our people (Buhler, 1999). People are the core of a companys competitive success in the marketplace, and this is where the HR department becomes critical to a firms success (Buhler, 1999). The HR departments today are emphasising higher value activities with company wide benefits that add value to the organisation (Buhler, 1999). Achieving organisational excellence must be the work of HR (Ulrich, 1998). The work of HR cannot be disconnected from the real work of the firm, but rather must be clearly integrated with the work of the business More organisations are restructuring their human resource departments to reflect the true partnership with operational managers throughout the firm (Buhler, 1999). Some organisations choose to structure in a more centralised manner with a corporate HR department that supports each of the strategic business units Including specialists providing service to SBUs This structure allows for HR employees to become resident experts in their given field and the managers throughout the organisation benefit from this expertise (Buhler, 1999). The most important part of the role change for HR is change in perspective of managers, meaning managers must view their HR counterparts as true strategic partners rather than as administrative support appendages to the company (Buhler, 1999). When managers utilise their human resource partners to their full extent, they can realise much higher levels of performance in their own units (Buhler, 1999) The recognition that all managers in the firm are essentially HR managers (Buhler, 1999). There is a relationship between line managers and HR professionals (staff) which has been viewed as adversarial in the past (Buhler, 1999). Today however, the new perspective requires each side perceive the relationship as an interdependent one, one whereby each needs each other (Buhler, 1999). Saul conducted as part of Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills (1995) found major changes in the work and job design of first line supervisors. They found there had been a major shift in their role from cop to coach. This required a significant increase in leadership, communication, interpersonal and learning competencies. It also required them to be proactive and resourceful problems solvers In addition, the role of the HR departments is being transformed as line managers assume greater responsibility for a number of people management activities and as HR specialists focus more closely on integrating HR and corporate strategy. (Kramar 1999) In view of the ongoing debate about the future of HR managers and departments (Pfeffer, 1994: 190-6) it will be increasingly important for HR professionals to demonstrate how they contribute to organisational effectiveness in both the short and long term. Today, HR departments are expected to contribute to organisational performance (Ettore, et al., 1996; Fitz-enz, 1994; Matthes, 1993) and many organisations now believe that the success of the strategic management process largely depends on the extent to which the HR function is involved (Butler, et al., 1991) To better manage this human factor, organisations continue to move toward a SHRM approach (Martell and Carroll, 1995). SHRM refers to the pattern of planned HR deployments and activities intended to enable an organisation to achieve its goals (Wright and McMahan, 1992: 298). The trend towards and enlarged role for HR managers in strategic planning calls for researchers to gain a better understanding of the perceptions of HR managers regarding the effectiveness of their organisations and the factors they use to judge organisational effectiveness. (Zellars Fiorito, 1999) 3) Conclusion: Briefly summarize the major findings of the studies chosen. Comments about what questions need to still be answered may be included. 4) Reference List Ulrich, D. (1997) Harvard Resource Champions: The next agenda for adding value and delivery results, Boston, Harvard Business School Press Zellars, K.L. Fiorito, J., (1999), Evaluations of Organisational Effectiveness Among HR Managers: cues and implications, Journal of Managerial Issues, Vol. 11(1), pp. 37-55 Buhler, P.M. (1999), Managing in the 90s the changing role of HR, partnering with managers SuperVision. vol. 60(6), pp. 16-18. Wright, P. G. McMahan, (1992). Theoretical Perspectives for Strategic Human Resource Management, Journal of Management, 18: 295-320 Butler, J., G. Ferris N. Napier, (1991) Strategy and Human Resource Management, Cincinnati, OH: Southernwestern Publishing Co. Matthes, K. S. Carroll, (1995), How Strategic is HRM? Human Resource Management, 34: 253-267 Ettore, B., D.J. McNerney B. Smith, (1996), HRs shift to a center of inflence, HR focus 73(6): 12 (5) Fitz-enz, J. (1994) HRs New Score Card, Personnel Journal, 73(2): 84(4) Gubman, E.L. (1995) People are more valuable than ever, Compensation and Benefits Review, 27(1), p.12; and Wright, P.M. McMahan, G.C., and McWilliams, A. (1994) Human Resources and sustained competitive advantage: a resource-based perspective, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 5(2), pp. 301-26. From architecture to audit Harvard Business Review (January-February 1998): Ulrich, Dave: A new Mandate for Human Resources Pfeffer, J. (1994), Competitive advantage through people. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press Pfeffer, J. (1997) Does Human resources have a future in D Ulrich, M. Losey and G. Lake (eds), Tomorrows HR management, (pp.190-6). New York: John Wiley Sons Sheldrake, P. Saul, P. (1995) First line managers: a study of the changing role and skills of first line managers. In industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills, Enterprising nation: renewing Australias managers to meet the challenges of Asia-Pacific Century. Karpin Report, Canberra-AGPS Kramar, R. (1999) Policies for managing People in Australia: what has changed in the 1990s, Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 37(24), pp. 26-32 Seven (7) dimensions of effective people management (HRM) that produce sustainability enhanced economic performance: Employment security Rigorous selection Self managed teams and decentralised decision making Comparatively high compensation linked to individual and organisational performance Extensive training Reduced status distinctions Extensive sharing of financial and performance information throughout the organisation Pfeffer (2008) P44 (8) Other indications of extensive research within the field illustrate that such high performance HR management policies and practices generate profitability gains, share price increases, higher company survival rates increase sales, higher export growth and lower labour turnover P44 (10) In other words the new sources of sustainable competitive advantage available to organisations have people at the centre their creativity and talent, their inspirations and hopes, their dreams and excitement (Stone, 2008) Stone (2008, P9) indicates that as HRM becomes more business oriented and strategically focused, four key roles for the HR manager can be identified: Strategic partner Administrative expert Employee champion Change agent Human resource management (HRM) is basically the policies and practices that influence employees behavior, attitudes, and performance within an organization. There are several important practices involved in HRM: analyzing work and designing jobs, attracting potential employees (recruiting), choosing employees (selection), teaching employees how to perform their jobs and preparing them for the future (training and development), evaluating their performance (performance management), rewarding employees (compensation), creating a positive work environment (employee relations), and supporting the organizations strategy (HR planning and change management) (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, Wright, 2007, p. 19). These practices have now begun to branch into the different trends that makeup many organizations today. E-business has been a huge part of human resources. A lot of companies have adopted a web-base system know as the Oracle Human Resources Management System (HRMS). This allows access to centralized workforce data through a core HRMS system not only enables companies to measure and leverage their workforce capabilities, it also allow them to manage risk by monitoring and recording compliance with statutory, regulatory, and industry requirements relating to their employees.(AME Info, n.d.). The stronger use of technology has allowed HRM professionals to invest more time in counseling, outreach, more careful selection, and coaching managers and front-line supervisors. Senior level human resource executives are being brought into the CEOs office as corporate leaders recognize how critical human resource capability is to their success. The growing integration of economies and societies around the world has resulted in most organization to rely on globalization. To guard against the downside of global competition, HRM must be more proactive in recruiting and maintaining a responsive and efficient work force. Planning should start at the early stages so that organizations do not bloat needlessly. Human resource managers must be able to map out human resource strategies such that flexible, dynamic employees are attracted, selected and then trained and motivated to be more productive than the competition (Santiago, in press). In every organization ethics should be include in business decisions as well as HRM decisions, but the evidence suggests that is not always what happens. Recent surveys indicate that the general public and managers do not have positive perceptions of the ethical conduct of U.S. businesses (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, Wright, 2007, p. 19). In the context of ethical human resource management, HR managers must view employees as having basic rights. Such a view reflects ethical principles embodied in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Ethical, successful companies act according to four principles. First, in their relationships with customers, vendors, and clients, ethical and successful companies emphasize mutual benefits. Second, employees assume responsibility for the actions of the company (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, Wright, 2007, p. 19). Third, such companies have a sense of purpose or vision that employees value and use in their day-to-day work. Finally, they emphasize fairness; that is, another persons interests count as much as their own (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, Wright, 2007, p. 19). HRM has a key role in transforming the organizational culture so that it more closely reflects the values of our diverse workforce. Some of the reason why diversity has become such a key word in human resources is that Women and minorities are now playing a significant role in society. Women are now major bread winners for the family as they takeover roles of leadership and decision making positions. A large majority of the working population now balances career responsibilities as well as dependent children. There is also an increased number of dual income families as well as changes made to the conventional family structure with single parent families (Small Business Bible, n.d.). Some of the skills needed to understand diversity are: an understanding and acceptance of managing diversity concepts, recognition that diversity is threaded through every aspect of management , self-awareness, in terms of understanding your own culture, identity, biases, prejudices, and stereotypes ,will ingness to challenge and change institutional practices that present barriers to different groups (Berkeley, n.d.). In conclusion, HRM policies and practices influence employees behavior, attitudes, and performance within an organization. Some companies might consider it to be an important part of the companys strategic plan as well as aiding in developing and implementing the organizational goals. It is safe to say that HRM is the key to helping organizations deal with the rapid change of technology, diversity, e-business, and ethics and growing demands to better serve customers and to better differentiate themselves from competitors.

Essay --

Keywords—recommender system; fuzzy system; social matchmaking; crisp set; fuzzy set I. INTRODUCTION In the ‘information era’, one of the key problems is to deal with more information than to practice to make practical decisions. User is bombarded with information whether or not he positively looks for it. Recommender systems are designed to help individuals to deal with this information overload problem and enable them to make evaluative decisions [1]. Traditional RS provides items, information and services to the user. These items are like products, movies, CDs, music, news, books etc. Tapestry [17] is the first manual RS and Usenet newsgroup launched by GroupLens is the first automatic collaborative filtering RS [6]. The most popular existing recommender systems are Amazon.com for e-shopping [7], MovieLens recommending movies, news by Googlenews, music at Pandora, EntreeC giving restaurants [11], CDs at CDNow [18] etc. In many past years, for building recommender systems various approaches have been developed that utilize non-personalized, demographic, content based , collaborative filtering, knowledge based and hybrid [11]. Evolved research areas like social matchmaking RS enable people to people matchmaking [2] like matrimony system recommends bride to groom and vice-versa. Using such systems, users can meet the other individuals of complementary needs like getting jobs (employee-employer), college admissions, mentor-mentees, student helper, addressing community issues, solve technical problems and counseling [3]. In social matchmaking systems, successful reciprocal recommendation occurs where two users find each other based on their complementary needs. For example, a bride finds the ideal groom, and the same groom li... ...= â€Å"Very Low† (0.2) The sample of recommendations for the active lady is shown in TABLE IV. The snapshot of the result for same expectations is given in Fig. 2. The system is not providing the partners who having â€Å"Low† value for crisp sets (religion, caste, occupation, diet, smoke, and drink). The experiments are observed for ten users and precision, recall, F1-measure is calculated. For getting these values, recommended results are used. The average of precision, recall and F-score are 79.45%, 85.65%, 82.43% respectively. V. CONCLUSIONS This paper focuses on Partial Fuzzy Recommender System used for matrimony in the context of the Indian society. This system addresses the abundance of information and directs users to precise data requirements in terms of matches, eliminating irrelevant information. Recommendations can be further improved for reciprocity.

UPS Strike Essay -- essays research papers fc

UPS Strike   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In early August of 1997 the United Parcel Service (UPS) had a predicament on its hands, a teamsters strike. UPS, the world’s largest package distribution company was coming off a year [1996] in which they reported sales of $22.4 billion. UPS Employed 75,000 management and non-union employees compared with 185,000 teamsters who are part of the AFL-CIO that were going on strike. The teamsters rejected a contract extension offer from the company leaving the fate of millions of packages carrying everything from lobsters to laser printers up in the air (Johnson). Tensions between union supporters and management began mounting in the years preceding the strike. In April of 1994, the International Union led a three-week strike against major tracking companies in the freight hauling industry in attempts to stop management from creating $9 per hour part-time positions. This would only foreshadow battles to come between management and union. Later, in 1995, teamsters mounted an unprecedented national union campaign in attempts to defeat the labor-management â€Å"cooperation† scheme that UPS management tried to establish in order to weaken the union before contract talks (Witt, Wilson). This strike was distinguished from other strikes of recent years in that it was an offensive strike, not a defensive one. It was a struggle in which the union was prepared, fought over issues which it defined, and one which relied overwhelmingly on the efforts of the members themselves (http://www.igc.org/dbacon/Strikes/07ups.htm). The teamsters campaign at UPS was unique in that there were many special circumstances surrounding it. UPS controlled 80% of the ground package delivery business, which ensured them that a strike would have a significant impact on the economy and pressure the company to settle. The company was not a conglomerate that could withstand the walkout since it did not have other lines of business. Also, UPS delivers to every address in the U.S., adding a hometown story in most cities and towns. The last circumstance was the fight was taking place during August when Congress is out of session, making it easier to gain national attention (Witt, Wilson). This strike was a battle over several issues. One factor that escalated the strike intensity was the pensions battle. Billons of dollars in pensions were on the line. The Teamste... ...bsp;Full-time workers receive just 3 percent raises, one percentage point above the current low rate of inflation Bibliography Baird, Charles W. (1997). The future of the Union Movement: Clues From the UPS Strike. (2001, November, 1). [Online] Available http://libertyhaven.com Frank, Allan D. (1997) â€Å"After the UPS Settlement: Who gained, who lost, and what will the fallout be in the end?† CNNfn (August 19). Johnson (1997). â€Å"Bundles of Troubles: UPS workers decide to strike.† Intelligencer Journal (August 1). The UPS Strike. (2001, November, 1) [Online] Available http://www.igc.org/dbacon/Strikes/07ups.htm â€Å"The UPS strike puts a pinch on business.† (1997). Business News New Jersey (August 11). UPS Strike Affects the Movie Business. (2001, November, 1). [Online] Available http://www.channel2000.com/news/stories/news-970805-191537.html UPS vs Teamsters: A look at greed and discontentment in the workforce. (2001, November, 1). [Online] Available http://www.jeremiahproject.com/ups_strike.html Witt, Matt, and Rand Wilson (Spring 99). The Teamsters’ UPS Strike of 1997:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Building a New Labor Movement. Labor Studies Journal, Vo. 24 Issue 1. UPS Strike Essay -- essays research papers fc UPS Strike   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In early August of 1997 the United Parcel Service (UPS) had a predicament on its hands, a teamsters strike. UPS, the world’s largest package distribution company was coming off a year [1996] in which they reported sales of $22.4 billion. UPS Employed 75,000 management and non-union employees compared with 185,000 teamsters who are part of the AFL-CIO that were going on strike. The teamsters rejected a contract extension offer from the company leaving the fate of millions of packages carrying everything from lobsters to laser printers up in the air (Johnson). Tensions between union supporters and management began mounting in the years preceding the strike. In April of 1994, the International Union led a three-week strike against major tracking companies in the freight hauling industry in attempts to stop management from creating $9 per hour part-time positions. This would only foreshadow battles to come between management and union. Later, in 1995, teamsters mounted an unprecedented national union campaign in attempts to defeat the labor-management â€Å"cooperation† scheme that UPS management tried to establish in order to weaken the union before contract talks (Witt, Wilson). This strike was distinguished from other strikes of recent years in that it was an offensive strike, not a defensive one. It was a struggle in which the union was prepared, fought over issues which it defined, and one which relied overwhelmingly on the efforts of the members themselves (http://www.igc.org/dbacon/Strikes/07ups.htm). The teamsters campaign at UPS was unique in that there were many special circumstances surrounding it. UPS controlled 80% of the ground package delivery business, which ensured them that a strike would have a significant impact on the economy and pressure the company to settle. The company was not a conglomerate that could withstand the walkout since it did not have other lines of business. Also, UPS delivers to every address in the U.S., adding a hometown story in most cities and towns. The last circumstance was the fight was taking place during August when Congress is out of session, making it easier to gain national attention (Witt, Wilson). This strike was a battle over several issues. One factor that escalated the strike intensity was the pensions battle. Billons of dollars in pensions were on the line. The Teamste... ...bsp;Full-time workers receive just 3 percent raises, one percentage point above the current low rate of inflation Bibliography Baird, Charles W. (1997). The future of the Union Movement: Clues From the UPS Strike. (2001, November, 1). [Online] Available http://libertyhaven.com Frank, Allan D. (1997) â€Å"After the UPS Settlement: Who gained, who lost, and what will the fallout be in the end?† CNNfn (August 19). Johnson (1997). â€Å"Bundles of Troubles: UPS workers decide to strike.† Intelligencer Journal (August 1). The UPS Strike. (2001, November, 1) [Online] Available http://www.igc.org/dbacon/Strikes/07ups.htm â€Å"The UPS strike puts a pinch on business.† (1997). Business News New Jersey (August 11). UPS Strike Affects the Movie Business. (2001, November, 1). [Online] Available http://www.channel2000.com/news/stories/news-970805-191537.html UPS vs Teamsters: A look at greed and discontentment in the workforce. (2001, November, 1). [Online] Available http://www.jeremiahproject.com/ups_strike.html Witt, Matt, and Rand Wilson (Spring 99). The Teamsters’ UPS Strike of 1997:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Building a New Labor Movement. Labor Studies Journal, Vo. 24 Issue 1.

White Fang :: essays research papers

Jack London is an author known for his stories of the North. My author’s contribution to American literature is gargantuan. Jack London has produced many well-known American novels. He has had a difference on the approach writers take on crafting their literature. His most well known novel â€Å"To Build A Fire† is one of the greatest American short stories ever created. In a good number of his stories the central conflict is man vs. nature. His impact on American literature has altered the way people write stories.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My favorite character in the story would have to be White Fang. White Fang is the key character of the novel. His mother Kiche, (she-wolf) mated with a full wolf and had a litter of pups. White Fang was the only pup to survive a series of famines. White Fang starts his life out in the wild rather than being pampered. He progresses and becomes more of a dog rather than a wolf. This is all the added reasoning to why White Fang is my favorite character. He dodges adversity and becomes more like a man rather than a monster. Though, as the book progresses he becomes more fierce and untamed. This undoubtedly leads to his demise, but White Fang pulls through. Scott eventually saves White Fang, and is the first human to show him kindness. Scott changes White Fang’s comprehension of human’s and becomes an affectionate loving dog.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The character I detest the most would have to be Gray Beaver, White Fang’s first master. A harsh and unkind man like Gray Beaver showed no care for White Fang. Nevertheless for some odd reason White Fang bonds to him out of certain mutual admiration. White Fang becomes extremely vicious because of Gray Beaver’s care for him. When Gray Beaver becomes addicted to alcohol he heads to Fort Yukon to buy and sell goods. He eventually sells White Fang to monster of man named Beauty Smith. This is why Gray Beaver is the antagonist in the novel White Fang and why I dislike him the most.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Judge Scott, Weedon Scott’s father reminds me of my dad. Judge Scott throughout the novel doesn’t believe in White Fang until White Fang saves his life. Judge Scott ultimately refers to White Fang as the â€Å"Blessed Wolf.† This event connects to my life a lot, when I was out driving with my father he wanted to teach me to parallel park.

Rebecca Notes Essay

– Gothic: terror, mystery, supernatural, ghosts, haunted houses and Gothic architecture, castles, darkness, death, decay, doubles, madness, secrets and hereditary curses. – Physiological thriller: characters are reliant on their mental resources, whether it is by battling wits with a formidable opponent or by battling of equilibrium in the character’s own mind. – Subversion of romance: sets up the conventions of a romantic genre then slowly subvert or undercut/demolishes our expectations. – Crime: crimes, their detection, criminals, and their motives. The novel is written first person by the narrator, who is never named within the book, and can be considered an ‘unreliable narrator,’ because everything is shown through her ‘unreliable narrative’ ? ‘she’ is persecuted, ‘she’ is inadequate, ‘she’ has an inferiority complex and ‘she’ is haunted by Rebecca. The narrator dreams twice, once in the beginning and once in the end, which conveys the truth that her conscious mind cannot. In the beginning of the novel the most evident genres are Gothic and anti-romance, but as the novel progresses the genres crime and physiological thriller appear more often. There is the continuity of reference back to gothic, but in the last 7 chapters, it is it dominated by more of the crime genre. Rebecca is dominated by the Gothic genre throughout the whole novel because of the continuous presence of Rebecca and the overshadowing Manderley. Even in the end, seems to have risen from the dead to have her final revenge ? through Mrs Danvers and the burning of Manderley. †¢In the very beginning of the book, the narrator introduces us to Manderley as an empty â€Å"inviolate, untouched†, cold â€Å"no smoke came from the chimney†, mysterious place â€Å"desolate shell, soulless at last, unhaunted† †¢Whenever Rebecca’s name is mentioned Maxim de Winter seems to become excessively emotional †¢The rhododendrons, â€Å"blood-red and luscious† – symbolic of Rebecca †¢Mrs. Danvers seems very mysterious, â€Å"deathly cold,† â€Å"skeleton† and â€Å"lifeless† †¢The constant references back to Rebecca â€Å"I was sitting in Rebecca’s chair, I was leaning against Rebecca’s cushion. Even though the Gothic genre is the most dominant genre there are also the secondary genres: Physiological thriller – mystery and ‘crime of the death of Rebecca, the continuous haunting of Rebecca on the narrators mind, also the continuous irony of how right after the Manderley dress ball Rebecca’s body is found Crime – the formal inquest is held and Maxim’s committed murder and his motives are shown †¢The past in opening chapters is itself a mystery – why is Manderley a ruin? †¢Unclear as yet but Rebecca’s death a mystery, which seems to affect everyone at Manderley†¦ who was she? †¢Narrator feels like she doesn’t belong â€Å"This was their routine†¦long custom† ? caught in an alien world of tradition. †¢Rebecca’s presence in the household still evident ? makes the narrator feel like an intruder †¢Keeping alive the spirit of Rebecca â€Å"the room was filled with them† ? people keep putting more flowers into the room like Rebecca used to †¢The irony of how Rebecca who had died a year ago is discovered again right after the Manderley ball â€Å"Rebecca, whom they describes as beautiful, talented†¦ having drowned a year ago, and then Maxim marrying again the following spring, bringing is bride straight to Manderley and giving a big fancy dress ball in her honour.. the following morning the body of his first wife being found trapped in the cabin of her sailing boat, at the bottom of the bay. † â€Å"Both papers used the same word, ‘ironic’ . Yes, I suppose it was ironic. It made a good story. † Subversion of romance – the narrator expects to be whisked away to a grand big house ‘Manderley’ and be loved and grow old with Maxim for the rest of her life, but everything doesn’t go as she expected or what we expected. †¢She expects to grow old and live happily with Maxim for the rest of her life and she will always be loved by Maxim â€Å"We should grow old here together, we should sit like this to our tea as old people, Maxim and I, with other dogs† †¢She thinks Maxim asked her to marry her because he loved her, but in fact he just need a ‘companion’ and Mrs Van Hopper seems to know exactly what would happen â€Å"you know why he is marrying you, don’t you? You haven’t flattered yourself he’s in love with you? † Themes: The themes are ambiguous but some can be identified Marriage – the 1st marriage was fake ? controlled ? ‘arragont’ – the 2nd marriage was submissive ? better then the 1st Obssesion of Rebecca †¢Narrator †¢Maxim †¢Mrs Danvers †¢Favell Control/insecurity Death – the effect on the living and the consequences of causing death.

How Can Global Thinking Support You?

How can Global Thinking support you? Inform The Global Thinking team offers fresh perspectives on learning from our long experience in diverse local and global contexts. Inspire We provide advice and training, resources and research to bring insight, challenge perceptions and enable creative thinking for 21st Century learning. Innovate We work in partnership with clients and education specialists on practical and innovative approaches for differing teaching and learning needs. Global Thinking provides inspiration and innovation in global learning.Our specialist team provides training and consultancy to educators who enable young people to shape their futures in a fair and sustainable world. Education The term was increasingly applied to initiatives in international education and was advanced by  Stuart Grauer  in his 1989 University of San Diego publication, Think Globally, Act Locally: A Delphi Study of Educational Leadership Through the Development of International Resources in the Local Community. In this publication it was attribed to  Harlan Cleveland. 15]  It is said that this term was used by German-American  sociologist  Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy[citation needed]  in the 1950s or earlier, prior to the formation of the  United Nations Organization. It is not only corporations that are acknowledging the importance of environmental issues, but also the education system. Government officials and school boards across the world are beginning to develop a new way of teaching. Globalization is now thought of as an important concept to understanding the world.Certain schools believe it is important to discuss global issues as young as 5 years old. It is students who are our future, therefore understanding the concept of â€Å"think globally, act locally† is fundamental to our future. [16] Definition â€Å"Think globally, act locally†Ã‚  urges people to consider the health of the entire planet and to take action in their own communitie s and cities. Long before governments began enforcing environmental laws, individuals were coming together to protect habitats and the organisms that live within them.These efforts are referred to as grassroots efforts. They occur on a local level and are primarily run by volunteers and helpers. â€Å"Think Globally, Act Locally† originally began at the grassroots level, however, it is now a global concept with high importance. It is not just volunteers who take the environment into consideration. It is corporations, government officials, education system, and local communities. It is now extremely important to consider global markets and communities when doing business.Global markets and large corporations have one of the largest impacts on the environment, it is their influence and actions that are vital to the survival of our planet. Large corporations have the most impact on the environment, therefore â€Å"thinking globally and acting locally† can make a major dif ference in the survival of our planet. Warren Heaps states â€Å"it's really important to recognize that markets are different around the world, and company compensation programs should reflect a balance between global corporate philosophy and local practice and culture†. 1] About the Department The Faculty of Arts and Letters is an institution of learning geared towards the development and fulfillment of the total person, the Universal Man, focusing on the Arts and the Humanities, mainly, and spreading out to include the sciences, social and natural, guided by Christian faith and avowed Thomasian ideals and the highest social, national, international and even global standards and objectives.The envisioned goal is the Colege's turning out not only of learned but wisened individuals who, motivated by the highest standards of excellence, excel in their chosen fields, eventually becoming role models in society, potential leaders and achievers of the country, all in the spirit no t only of personal but also social and more importantly, spiritual commitment. The Faculty's goals and objectives are: An ideal confluence of mind, heart and spirit, in the service of the total rounded man.Expertise in one's own chosen field and an adequate spreading out of interests, skils, concerns, in other, fields, allied of otherwise. An enhanced and enriched cultural background including a sense of history and tradition while being abreast with the modern technology of a network world. Ample exposure to and immersion in research as well as creative and critical endeavors. Sympathy and concern for the socially needy and handicapped through consistent efforts and interst in community service.Constant cultivation and preservation of Philippine values at the same time cognizant of what are timeless and universal. History The liberal arts and philosophy had been taught in the University of Santo Tomas since its foundation in 1611. The Faculty of Philosophy and Letters was establish ed in 1896 and the College of Liberal Arts in 1926. In 1964, however these two colleges were merged and given the general name of Faculty of Arts and Letters. Courses offered then were Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Literature, and Bachelor of Philosophy.In the course of time, new majors were offered. In the academic year 1971 to 1972, the Faculty started to offer the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies, Behavioral Science (which evolved form the originally offered LiA-Com), Communication Arts, Economics, Journalism, Literature, Philosophy,Political Science, Sociology, and Translation(which was eventually phased out). In 1994, another major, Legal Management, was created to serve the relevant needs of students who intend to go to law after graduation.And so, presently, ten majors are offered in the Faculty of Arts and Letters to wit; Asian Studies, Behavioral Science, Communication Arts, Economics, Jouranlism, Literature, Legal Management, Political Science, Philosophy, and S ociology. Common courses offered in the Faculty of Arts and Letters are designed to develop the minds and sensibilities of the students and to inculcate in them human values and the appreciation of the country's cultural heritage in the light of Christian faith and tradition.Furthermore, they intend to provide the students with the necessary background for them to develop into informed, responsible, and concerned rounded citizens of this country, guided by the mission-vision not only of the College but more importantly, of the University of Santo Tomas. â€Å"Mga Uri Ng Pagsulat†Ã‚  StudyMode. com. 01 2011. 01 2011 .

Assignment Transport

Homework 1. The graph below shows the changes in blood pressure and velocity of blood flow as the blood travels from the heart to the leg and returns to the heart: [pic] (i) Compare the blood pressure in the artery with that in the vein. Suggest two reasons for the difference. (3 marks) (ii) Explain the importance of the low velocity of blood flow in the capillary. (2 marks) (iii) In the vein of the leg, the blood pressure is very low while the velocity of blood flow is quite high. Describe how such a high velocity of blood flow in the vein is maintained. 2 marks) (iv) Using the same x-axis given above, sketch a graph to show the change in the oxygen content of the blood as it passes through the blood vessels. (3 marks) 2. The photograph below shows the transverse section of a pig’s heart, which has a structure similar to that of the human heart. [pic] i) Which chamber of the heart, A or B, is responsible for sending out blood to all parts of the body except the lungs? Explain your choice. (3 marks) (ii) (1) Name valve X. (1 mark) (2) In a type of heart disorder, valve X cannot close properly.A man suffering from this disorder may faint easily when he performs vigorous exercise. How would you explain this? (4 marks) (iii) Vessel Y is an artery found in the heart wall. Explain why the risk of heart attack would be higher if fatty substances are deposited on the inner wall of vessel Y. (2 marks) 3. The diagram below shows part of the human circulatory system: [pic] (i) Explain why the lymph in vessel X of a person turns from clear to milky after he has eaten some barbecued pork. 3 marks) (ii) Describe how a continuous flow of lymph in vessel Y of the leg is maintained. (2 marks) (iii) For a patient suffering from a disease called elephantiasis, the lymph vessels in his leg are blocked by a kind of parasitic worm. The leg becomes greatly swollen due to the accumulation of tissue fluid. Explain why the tissue fluid accumulates. (2 marks) (iv) Structure Z may become enlarged when a person has a sore throat. Explain why structure Z is enlarged. (2 marks)

Assessment and Students Essay

Journal assessment Conclusion Reccomendation III. INTRODUCTION: Why do Assessment? Are you asking too little of your class? Are your students approaching your course as hurdlers, barely clearing required levels of performance? Or are they approaching your course like high jumpers, pushing themselves under your guidance to increasingly more challenging heights? If your students aren’t high jumpers, maybe it’s because you aren’t asking them to high jump. By using appropriate assessment techniques, you can encourage your students to raise the height of the bar. There is considerable evidence showing that assessment drives student learning. More than anything else, our assessment tools tell students what we consider to be important. They will learn what we guide them to learn through our assessments. Traditional testing methods have been limited measures of student learning, and equally importantly, of limited value for guiding student learning. These methods are often inconsistent with the increasing emphasis being placed on the ability of students to think analytically, to understand and communicate at both detailed and â€Å"big picture† levels, and to acquire lifelong skills that permit continuous adaptation to workplaces that are in constant flux. Moreover, because assessment is in many respects the glue that links the components of a course – its content, instructional methods, and skills development – changes in the structure of a course require coordinated changes in assessment. IV. RESEARCH (CONTENT) What is Assessment? Assessment is a systematic process of gathering, interpreting, and acting upon data related to student learning and experience for the purpose of developing a deep understanding of what students know, understand, and can do with their knowledge as a result of their educational experience; the process culminates when assessment results are used to improve subsequent learning. Huba and Freed, 2000 Key Points Assessment is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning Multiple methods Criteria and standards Evidence Students know, can do and understand It’s more than just collecting data Sequence in Preparing Instructionally Relevant Assessment INSTRUCTION Indicates the learning outcomes to be attained by students LEARNING TASK Specifies the particular set of learning task(s) to be assessed. ASSESSMENT Provides a procedure designed to measure a representative sample of the instructionally relevant learning tasks. Is there close agreement? What is the Assessment Process? AIMS ASSESSMENT ACTION ADJUSTMENT Importance of Assessment To find out what the students know (knowledge) To find out what the students can do, and how well they can do it (skill; performance) To find out how students go about the task of doing their work (process) To find out how students feel about their work (motivation, effort) What is Student Assessment for? *To help us design and modify programs to better promote learning and student success. To provide common definitions and benchmarks for student abilities that will enable us to act more coherently and effectively to promote student learning. *To provide feedback, guidance, and mentoring to students so as to help them better plan and execute their educational programs. *To provide improved feedback about student learning to support faculty in their work. Functions of Assessment Diagnostic: tell us what the student needs to learn Formative: tell us how well the student is doing as work progresses Summative: tell us how well the student did at the end of a unit/task What can be assessed? Student learning characteristics -Ability differences -Learning styles Student motivational characteristics -Interest -Self-efficacy -goal orientation Learning Content knowledge Ability to apply content knowledge Skills Dispositions and attitudes Performances Direct and Indirect Assessment Measures Direct methods ask students to demonstrate their learning while indirect methods ask them to reflect on their learning. Direct methods include objective tests, essays, case studies, problem solving exercises, presentations and classroom assignments. Indirect methods include surveys, interviews and student reflection and/or self-assessment essays. It is useful to include both direct and indirect assessment measures in your assessments. How should we assess? True –False Item Multiple Choice Completion Short Answer Essay Practical Exam Papers/Reports Projects Questionnaires Inventories Checklist Peer Rating Self Rating Journal Portfolio Observations Discussions Interviews Criteria In Choosing an Assessment Method It should be reliable. It should be valid. It should be simple to operate, and should not be too costly. It should be seen by students and society in general. It should benefit all students. Who should be involved in assessment? The teacher The student The student’s peer Administrator Parents What should we do with the information from our assessment? Use it to improve the focus of our teaching (diagnosis) Use it to focus student attention of strengths and weaknesses (motivation) Use it to improve program planning (program assessment) Use it for reporting to parents Classroom Assessment Paper and pencil assessments: Ask students to respond in writing to questions or problem -Item level: Assessing lower vs. higher skills -Knowledge vs. application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation -Authentic tasks e. . multiple choice, T/F, matching (recognition), short answer, essay (recall) Paper and Pencil Assessment Strengths -Can cover a lot of material reasonably well -Fair -Effective in assessing declarative knowledge of content – Easier to construct and administer than performance assessments Weaknesses -Require forethought and skill -Less effective in assessing procedural knowledge and creative think ing -Construction of good higher level recognition items is difficult -Recall items that do a good job of assessing higher level thinking (essay questions) are difficult to score. Performance Assessments – assessment that elicits and evaluates actual student performances Types of Performances: Products: drawings, science experiments, term papers, poems, solution to authentic problems Behavior: time trial for running a mile, reciting a poem, acting tryouts, dancing Performance assessments Strengths – Effective for assessing higher level thinking and authentic learning -Effective for assessing skill and procedural learning -Interesting and motivating for students Weaknesses -Emphasize depth at the expense of breadth Difficult to construct -Time consuming to administer -Hard to score fairly How can we assess student learning? Traditional assessment: assess student knowledge and skills in relative isolation from real world context. Traditional assessment practices reflect what students are able to recall from memory through various means, such as, multiple choice, true/false, fill in the blank, and matching questions. Authentic assessment: assess stu dents’ ability to use what they’ve learning in tasks similar to those in the outside world. Occurs when the authenticity of student learning has been observed. It requires information from a variety of source such as content work samples, observation during class activities, and conferences with students. Classroom Assessment Informal Assessment: teachers’ spontaneous, day to day observations of student performances. Examples Verbal -Asking questions -Listening to student discussions -Conducting student conferences Nonverbal -Observing -Task performances -On-and off-task behavior -student choices -student body language Informal Assessment Strengths -Facilitates responsive teaching -Can be done during teaching -Easy to individualize Weaknesses -Requires high level of teacher skill -Is vulnerable to -Bias -Inequities –Mistakes Classroom Assessment Formal assessment : assessment that is planned in advance and used to assess a predetermined content and/or skill domain. Strengths -allows the teacher to evaluate all students systematically on the important skills and concepts -helps teachers determine how well students are progressing over the entire year -provides useful information to parents and administrators. Portfolios A collection of student samples representing or demonstrating student academic growth. It can include formative and summative assessment. It may contain written work, journals, maps, charts, survey, group reports, peer reviews and other such items. Portfolios are systematic, purposeful, and meaningful collections of students’ work in one or more subject areas. Importance of Portfolios For Students Shows growth over time Displays student’s accomplishment Helps students make choices Encourages them to take responsibility for their work Demonstrates how students think Importance of Portfolios For Teachers Highlights performance-based activities over year Provides a framework for organizing student’s work Encourages collaboration with students, parents, and teachers Showcases an ongoing curriculum Facilitates student information for decision making Importance of Portfolios For Parents Offer insight into what their children do in school Facilitates communication between home and school Gives the parents an opportunity to react to what their child is doing in school and to their development Shows parents how to make a portfolio so they may do one at home at the same time Importance of Portfolios For Administrators Provides evidence that teacher/school goals are being met Shows growth of students and teachers Provides data from various sources What do portfolios contain? Three basic models: Showcase model, consisting of work samples chosen by the student. Descriptive model, consisting of representative work of the student, with no attempt at evaluation. Evaluative model, consisting of representative products that have been evaluated by criteria. Disadvantages of Portfolio Require more time for faculty to evaluate than test or simple-sample assessment. Require students to compile their own work, usually outside of class. Do not easily demonstrate lower-level thinking, such as recall of knowledge. May threaten students who limit their learning to cramming for doing it at the last minute. Rubric It is a scoring guide that seeks to evaluate a student’s performance based on the sum of a full range of criteria rather than a single numerical score. It is a working guide for students and teachers, usually handed out before the assignment begins in order to get students to think about the criteria on which their work will be judged. Rubrics are scoring criteria for Free-response Questions Scientific reports Oral or Power point presentations Reflections/Journals Essay Laboratory-based performance tests Article review or reactions Portfolios Many others Open-ended Question Concept Mapping It requires students to explore links between two or more related concepts. When making concept maps, they clarify in their minds the links they have made of the concepts and having visual representation of these links, they are better able to rearrange of form new links when new concepts are introduced. Laboratory Performance In this format students and teachers know the requirements in advance and prepare them. The teacher judges the student performance within a specific time frame and setting. Students are rated on appropriate and effective use of laboratory equipment, measuring tools, and safety laboratory procedures as well as a hands-on designing of an investigation. Inventories Diagnostic Inventories: Student responses to a series of questions or statements in any field, either verbally or in writing. These responses may indicate an ability or interest in a particular field. Interest Inventories: student responses to questions designed to find out past experience and or current interest in a topic, subject or activity. Classroom Assessment Presentation : a presentation by one student or by a group of students to demonstrate the skills used in the completion of an activity or the acquisition of curricular outcomes/expectations. The presentation can take the form of a skit, lecture, lab presentation, debate etc. Computers can also be used for presentation when using such software as Hyperstudio, Powerpoint or Corel presentations. Peer Evaluation : judgments by students about one another’s performance relative to stated criteria and program outcomes Journal Assessment This refer to student’s ongoing record of expressions experiences and reflections on a given topic. There are two types: one in which students write with minimal direction what he/she is thinking and or feeling and the other requires students to compete a specific written assignment and establishes restrictions and guidelines necessary to accurately accomplish the assignment. Journals can evolve different types of reflecting writing, drawing, painting, and role playing. REFLECTIVE JOURNAL What did I learn? How do I feel about it? What happened? SYNTHESIS JOURNAL How I can Use It? What I learned? What I Did? SPECULATION ABOUT EFFECTS JOURNAL What could happen because of this? What happened? V. CONCLUSION A fair assessment is one in which students are given equitable opportunities to demonstrate what they know and can do. Classroom assessment is not only for grading or ranking purposes. Its goal is to inform instruction by providing teachers with information to help them make good educational decisions. Assessment is integrated with student’s day-to-day learning experiences rather than a series of an end-of-course tests. Why link assessment with instruction? Better assessment means better teaching. Better teaching means better learning . Better learning means better students. Better students mean better opportunities for a better life. VI. RECCOMENDATION Specific assessment tools, listed below, are strongly recommended to faculty and department heads for their ability to provide useful information for accountability and, more importantly, to foster dialogue to improve student learning within courses. These three assessment tools are strongly recommended because they are concise and effective direct evaluations as opposed to indirect evaluations. Direct evaluations can be both formative (the gathering of information about student learning during the progression of a course or program, usually repeatedly, to improve the learning of those students) and summative (the gathering of information at the conclusion of the course, program or undergraduate career to improve learning or to meet accountability demands. ) 1. Rubrics:  These are the most flexible types of direct assessments and can be used to score any product or performance such as essays, portfolios, skill performances, oral exams, debates, project/product creation, oral presentations or a student’s body of work over the course of a semester. Since we are talking about assessing â€Å"official† course learning outcomes that are stated in course documents, all faculty teaching that course must agree on a detailed scoring system that delineates criteria used to discriminate among levels and is used for scoring a common assignment, product or performance or set of assignments, products or performances. Information can be obtained from the course document’s assignment and evaluation pages to help guide the creation of the rubric. Pros: †¢ Defines clear expectations. †¢ Can be used to score many kinds of assignments or exams †¢ Faculty define standards and criteria and how they will be applied Cons: †¢ Faculty must agree on how to define standards and criteria and how they will be applied 2. Common Final Exam or Common Capstone Project:  These direct assessment methods integrate knowledge, concepts and skills associated with an entire sequence of study in a course. Either use the same final exam for all sections offered in a course (commercially produced/standardized test or locally developed final exam) or require a culminating final project that is similar (using the same grading rubric to evaluate). Pros: †¢ Good method to measure growth over time with regard to a course †¢ Cumulative †¢ The data is more robust if all students complete the same assessment †¢ Provides an additional buffer between student learning performance and an individual instructor’s teaching performance Cons: Focus and breadth of assessment are important †¢ Understanding all of the variables to produce assessment results is also important †¢ May result in additional course requirements †¢ Requires coordination and agreement on standards 3. Embedded Test Questions:  Embed the same agreed upon questions that relate to the course’s student learning outcomes into the final exam for all sections of the course and analyze tho se results and/or embed the same agreed-upon requirements into the final project/assignment for all sections of the course and analyze those results. Pros: †¢ Good method to measure growth over time with regards to a course †¢ Cumulative †¢ The data is more robust if all students complete the same assessment †¢ Provides an additional buffer between student learning performance and an individual instructor’s teaching performance †¢ Embedded questions can be reported as an aggregate Cons: †¢ May result in additional course requirements †¢ Requires coordination and agreement on standards If some instructors embed and others do not, the data will be difficult to compare and analyze †¢ Separate analysis of embedded set of questions is required VII. REFERENCES https://www. google. com. ph/search? q=ASSESSMENT+TOOLS+PPT;rlz=2C1GTPM_enPH0537PH0537;aq=f;oq=assessment+tools+;aqs=chrome. 0. 59j57j61j60l2j0. 3437j0;sourceid=chrome;ie=UTF-8 http://www. slideshare. net/armovil/assessment-of-student-learning? from_search=2 Fulks, Janet, â€Å"Assessing Student Learning in Community Colleges†, Bakersfield College, 2004