Current Rights of Women in India Essay

In America women have the right to work, vote, and own just about anything that they can afford. The only thing limiting them is their credit score, or the limit that the bank determines. These may seem like rights that are universal because the reality of America is not the dismays that other countries have to deal with. In other countries this luxury of Equal Rights is not common, and is actually rejected and avoided by all costs. Some countries do not believe in these rights because of their religion, and what they’ve been taught. How can a fundamental value not be learned? Other countries just do not know any different than the man as the hunter or provider, and the woman as the caregiver or housekeeper. These roles in America only recently began to be shared amongst the genders, and to this day these roles are not confirmed by any means. Other countries are beginning to open their mind to other policies mostly because of influences of other cultures, and it is about time this happens. Some of the horrifying conditions that women in India have to deal with are issues that no women would ever want to fathom, and is very unfortunate. Not always being granted the ability to gain an education, being married at a youthful age without any say in the choice of a partner, and unwanted abortion of female fetuses are just a few that surface news channels. Those disturbing issues listed above are what these women have to deal with regularly and have no hope of these problems ever changing because of what some people in some cultures call beliefs. Media has placed great emphasis on the stories that depict that the women’s rights in India have been improving over the past few decades. Improvement can be misinterpreted when a third world country is involved, because any change that is not for the worst can be considered an improvement. What has really improved? Is it going to be up to the women to determine at which point they feel like they are an equal gender in this country? Until this point, there is no telling how long this can take. Cultural Belief of Equality The problem lies in the internal practices of the country. India is a country which mainly operates from the religious inclinations of the population. Be that as it may, how can anyone question their beliefs, and furthermore, who is to say that these practices do or don’t work? Shouldn’t the answer of whether or not their current policies are effective come from the source – the women in this country? In 1926 Sarojini Naidu, the first female president of the Indian National Congress party, had helped achieve the right for women to vote along with the men. It had taken, like most political victories in India for women, a great deal of time and patience (Roy, 2012, para. 15). Indian society is also one of the world’s most culturally diverse, with innumerable linguistic, cultural, and religious groups. Due to the diversity of the Indian populace, Indian policy makers have faced a tough challenge in ensuring that the individual rights of its citizens, including women, are protected (â€Å"Balancing Minority Rights and Gender Justice: The Impact of Protecting Multiculturalism on Women’s Rights in India,† 2005, p. 05). This is a country where religion has always ruled their judicial and ethical structure, and because of this it will need to be a common agreement that there needs to be a change from within. The Butalia (1998) website describes a poor woman Rojammas who took a literacy class. She read a story about a woman who had to endure physical abuse from her husband due to his drinking habit. The woman in the story went through the village speaking with the other women to see who had the same problem as her. She determined that the reason for most of the abuse is that their husbands would go to work, and come home and spend all of their money on alcohol. The husbands would get upset when the women weren’t able to feed them because all of their money was spent at the liquor stores. The women rallied and protested at the liquor stores and eventually, in Andhra Pradesh liquor was banned. As a result, families were able to save, violence rates dropped, and life seemed to improve for these people. Unfortunately women are no longer able to be seen in the streets protesting. These brave women were able to make a difference, and had the strength and tools to do so. Since then, their power of protest and voice has been taken. Is this an improvement, and if so, what is next? The nineteenth century was to be considered â€Å"the age of the women†, because all over the world women’s rights and wrongs were the main topic of heated discussion amongst the world. Different countries such and France, Russia, England and Germany began spreading women consciousness, and more towards the mid nineteenth century, Russia began having issues with reformers and anarchist because of the question that was being widely spread across the nations; should women have rights? Although these issues were now arising throughout most countries, in India, the men still see it as men have all power and women obey as they are told. This now brings us with today’s issue that is still being fought in India and even in some other countries. Women now come across broken promises and the â€Å"possibility† of women rights when those rights were already being fought for and stated in the Indian Constitution. In the Constitution it states that â€Å"every single woman’s and girl’s well-being and safety paramount; that their liberties and rights are not to be challenged on the basis of attire or profession; that they are treated equally. † (Women’s Rights in India, 2009) With that being said, this is not the case of what is going on with the women in India; one in particular that was being socially, economically, and politically deprived. This is what is being said about this situation. â€Å"The police commissioner on the other hand has referred to the recent attacks on women as mere incidents of â€Å"eve teasing. † While eve-teasing is itself a term specific to the South Asian region, associated with unsolicited verbal harassment like catcalls, whistles and/or remarks directed towards women, the incidents that he so casually referred to were actual assaults on women for being dressed in western attire. More importantly, even eve teasing calls for action against the perpetrators† (Women’s Rights in India, 2009). It is not ethical for any one person to use their stature for their own personal gain. Although, different countries do have different ethics/cultural ethics, morals and religious beliefs they choose to abide by, does not mean it is not right to degrade women as sexual objects, â€Å"different† because of their personal beliefs, or even their own sense of style. How can one be punished because of the attire they chose to wear? Women have come so far from being just a â€Å"house wife†, to working while World War 1 was taking place, to joining the army to help our fellow soldiers fight for this country, to running as a presidential candidate. Women bleed, breath, think, feel emotion and get hurt physically just like men do, so why do we treat women any differently than a male? If you look back into Egyptian history, Greek Mythology and even some of the â€Å"Gods† that were â€Å"Political† figures to us at one point in time were women: Aphrodite, Artemis, Isis and etc. Women should be granted the exact same rights as the men in this world because they contribute to a lot of the findings we discover, cures we find, the birth our children, some of the things we study and so forth. Will we ever be able to look passed all of the things that we say and do about/towards women? Is it possible to give the rights that we promised for so many years to the women of our country and the other countries that have promised the exact same thing? Discrimination is such a huge discussion amongst our community today because it continues to thrive off of those that are not subjective to change. Change is exactly what we need to bring out the different opinions between cultures, and religious beliefs. Although it is a belief, that does not mean that it is morally right to believe it is ok to treat women in a certain fashion that we see as correct. The mixed bag of laws, bills, commitments, broken promises, new pledges and fresh possibilities for women’s rights comes with its share of anticipation and disappointments. Will promises be converted into laws and will prejudices make way for a little more tolerance and a little less chauvinism? Will social perceptions of women and their traditionally assigned roles in society witness a change under the collective pressure of government laws and social campaigns? And will society eventually look at girls through the same lens that they see boys? And yet hope survives†¦

Absoulutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian Struggles of Arnold Spirit Essay

In the book â€Å"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian† by Sherman Alexie, Arnold Spirit the main character struggles with being an Indian and going to Reardan, the all-white school where he wants to find hope. He struggles with acceptance because of his disability and he is an Indian. He also struggle with losing his best friend Rowdy as a friend, and he also struggles with losing loved ones. Though he has many, he copes with them and fixes them in the end. Throughout the story Arnold struggles with his disability. He is a very smart person but because of his disability his appearance makes him look like he is stupid. To top this all off he is also an Indian attending an all-white school. This causes the white people to make fun of him as well as the Indians and he feels different and unwanted by everyone. â€Å"And once I arrived at Reardan, I became something less than less than less than Indian. Those white kids did not talk to me. They barely looked at me†(83). This shows that he was not accepted on the reservation as an Indian or at Reardan because of what he was. He had no friends at Reardan, not even a friend on the rez anymore. When Arnold decided that he wanted to go to Reardan he wanted his only and best friend, Rowdy to go with him. When he told Rowdy about going to Reardan he felt like Arnold was abandoning him. He got really upset and angry and made it clear they were no longer friends. â€Å"I stayed on the ground for a long time after Rowdy walked away†¦But I had to stand eventually, and when I did, I knew my best friend had become my worst enemy†(53). This shows that Rowdy resented Arnold so much for going to Reardan he didn’t want to be friends with Arnold anymore. In addition to losing his best friend he lost many other people, only in a different way. One final struggle Arnold faced was losing many loved ones. He lost his dog, grandmother, Eugene (His dads best friend) and his sister. He not only blamed himself for the deaths but also many others blamed him because he left the rez and betrayed them in a way by going to Reardan and making friends with white people. â€Å"‘Your sister is dead because you left us. You killed her.’†¦Rowdy was right. I had killed my sister†¦It was all my fault†(211). This shows that Arnold felt like in a way it was his fault and some of the Indians on the rez felt the same. He blamed himself for every bad thing that had happened all his life. Arnold had a tough life, he struggled to fit in, to keep his best friend and with losing many loved ones. Arnold slowly made friends at Reardan by just being himself. In the end he and Rowdy made up. They put the past behind them. Arnold also forgave himself for all the loved ones he lost; he also hoped that everyone else forgave him too. Losing loved ones is a normal part of life. No one should take the blame when it was never their fault. Making friends is also hard Especially when you are in a completely new environment or you are shy. Sometimes best friends will fight. It can last for a short time or a long time. Its important to remember we can not judge someone because of who they are or where they come from. Put yourself in their shoes; how would you feel?

Should both parents assume equal responsibility in raising children Essay

Should both parents assume equal responsibility in raising children - Essay Example Although this may be different to previous years, it seems that this direction is much fairer for women and gives men more interaction with their offspring. In this paper, I will be exploring the reasons behind this move towards equal parenting and whether it is right that both parents are assuming equal responsibilities for their children and how they are raised. I argue that it is fairer for women and better for children that parenting responsibles are equal. One of the main reasons why parents should assume equal responsibility in raising children is so that these children know their mother and father equally and have a good relationship with both parents, something which is important in lives. In previous years, it has been hard for children to get to know their father because he is always at work, earning money, whilst their relationship with their mother was usually good. Having a male and a female influence in the home is important for increasing harmony within the household and making the children feel as though they are loved by both parents and are valued. Another one of the main reasons that both parents should assume equal responsibilities for raising the children is that it is fairer for the women. In previous years, it has been that the woman has done all the housework and raised the kids alone, whilst the man of the home went to earn money. Although both parents worked hard, a lot of women came to feel that their talents were being wasted, particularly if they had a college education and they were fairly smart. From an outside perspective it does seem unfair that the man can have a career whilst the women is doing menial tasks and continually looking after the children. Another reason why this shared responsibility is fairer for the women is that it can be quite difficult for a women to balance all the childcare, a social life and a job, which means that she usually has to give one of

Does the internet make you smarter or dumber Essay

Does the internet make you smarter or dumber - Essay Example Shirky states that those who are opposed to the development of the influence of the internet on a global scale are backward individuals who are against advancement; that they are the enemies of progress. The statements made by Shirky can be said not to show the true picture concerning the internet; that while it has some uses, it is also working towards making individuals dumber than in previous generations. This is because of the fact that while plenty of information can be found within it, this information tends to be extremely shallow and does not encourage reflection by those who have access to it. The internet is slowly but surely leading to less reliance on books and more on unsatisfactory online sources which barely have enough information which can be used to come up with proper conclusions. It can be said that a world without books would be a dreary place within which to live because books have traditionally been the means of transmitting knowledge from one generation to another. Through books, issues are discussed more deeply and in the process, the reader gets to have a better understanding of the subjects being discussed. This is not true of the internet, because it is o ften scarce in content and this creates a situation where individuals get only a shallow understanding of the subject matter. This makes it extremely difficult for knowledge to be transmitted and the lack of this knowledge, it is possible, might end up making people dumber. The use of the internet for the purpose of getting information might end up creating a society which is not equipped to deal with the issues of day to day life and it may instead become artificial. While one would agree with Shirky that the internet has become of immense use for the purpose of gaining instant information, it can be said that it should not be the only source of information. Instead, it should be

U01d2 Cost Shifting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

U01d2 Cost Shifting - Essay Example There are a number of different treatments like the surgical, non – surgical cancer, organ transplants and other imaging like CT, MRI, PET scans and numerous other highly sophisticated tests which need to be considered and covered for. America’s health care system in the country is also structured in a manner which contributes to the rise on costs (Griffin, 2000). The concept of cost shifting is one of the major reasons that the costs have also gone up. Cost shifting simply implies at how the cost of care has shifted from one set of people to another group. The concept is such that if one group of people is unwilling to pay the bills, then the costs are redistributed to another set of people who can’t refuse to pay for the costs. One of the few reasons for the inclusion of cost shifting in the health care industry is the creation of Medicaid and Medicare. Shi and Singh explain that the cost shifting was included to offset costs when the charity received was used to make up for the difference. Feldstein explains that when there is a belief that cost shifting occurs, this could possibly be when the hospitals raise their prices to compensate for the patients that are lower charged (Morrisey, 1994). Feldstein also unveils that the costs have increased for two reasons, namely, an increase in the variable costs in terms of the wages and secondly, there are changes in the hospital payer mixes, i.e. an increase in the less price sensitive patients which allows the hospitals to increase the mark ups. This is viewed to be a profit for the hospital however this is a selfishly induced process and is controlled by the cost shifting. The knowledge that people have on the increase in the costs of the providers to make profits has led the industry to be impacted negatively and is also impacting the human charity as well. There is a clear sense of mis happenings within the industry where the rich are being given complete access to quality

Analysis modeling, Design Concepts and Architectural Design Assignment

Analysis modeling, Design Concepts and Architectural Design - Assignment Example ER diagrams reflect the relationship between entities and associated attributes in the data model, whereas class diagram reflects the relationship between classes and their associated attributes of the proposed system handling real-life business scenario. ER diagram defines underlying business logic in tables of database and their relation, whereas class diagram business process of objects into the real-world (Pressman, 2005). ER diagram provides logical representation of tables in the data model and their relationship. Class diagram defines the structural element of the system and their process to create software. Software design is not a program, but it defines high level abstraction or pieces of logic for satisfying business requirement from a client into creation and delivery of software before even coding starts (Pressman, 2005). Software design creates a plan from inception phase of software till final piece of software in alignment with desired outcomes expected from client. Software design needs to utilize all information available regarding business objective and technological requirement to make successful creation of software. Programming is an important aspect of software that requires data synchronization through communication between technical and business players to make information system successful. Different modules defining different functions of the program is a preferable option in comparison to putting whole logic into one large module because of maintenance, readability, debugging, and the ease of writing. Modular programming provides independence of developing and testing irrespective of what other different pieces of logic are doing. It also makes the main part of code easier to understand and maintain as only simple function and procedure is called instead of a large program written in the main section of

Future for Purchasing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Future for Purchasing - Essay Example But the situation changed with the introduction of Information technology, which brought significant changes in the dealings of business operations. The package it provided to an organization to overcome the limitations of traditional purchasing is 'e-purchasing'. Viewing the importance of E-Purchasing the paper tries to bring about some information on e-purchasing but specifically focusing on what an E-Purchasing actually means, how it is carried out and its overall contribution to the business in the next decade. The introduction of information technology has brought dramatic changes in the business operations. In spite of the huge investments were fabricated by the business organizations in the action ability planning arrangement implementations they could not get appropriate advice for authoritative able business decisions. But the placing of 'e' in front of any process or function proved to be the magic formula for the untold success and the rapid returns for the organizations. One such example to give is E-Purchasing. E-Purchasing is considered as the basic component of an e- procurement capability. Through e-purchasing the business organization can automate and extend the manual buying processes right from the creation of the requisition through to payment of the suppliers (Biechler, 1997). Thus the process of using of internet facility by the business organizations for purchasing goods and services is referred to as e-purchasing. E-purchasing essentially involves the buying of goods and services via internet. In other words it can be told as a system using information technology to streamline the purchase of goods and services in order to reduce costs. The internet can perform all the steps required manually for performing the purchasing function including ordering, payment and delivery. To avail this so many online banking services have been introduced by the financial institutions such as electronic bill payment, and funds transfer, so that the business can improve its operational efficiency. In accession to this the business alignment can use e-mail as a accelerated and reliable way to acquaint with suppliers or to acquire and acknowledge to chump queries like quotations, information, acquire orders, assassinate deliveries, and aggregate ante from the customers. The e-business can also make the operations of business effective through the greater use of electronic bookkeeping and records management. Thus the supplies received through internet helps to reduce the storage cost and the space required for the goods in the business organizations and thereby serving the customers faster and more effectively (Chia, 1998). E-purchasing is usually referred to as a user-friendly, Internet-based purchasing arrangement that offers e-purchase adjustment processing and added authoritative functions to the buyers that after-effects in added operational efficiencies and abeyant amount accumulation to the business organizations (Breite, 2001). The e-purchasing ability provides the Business organizati

How did the American Revolution impact Concordians, and Americans, not Term Paper

How did the American Revolution impact Concordians, and Americans, not just physically, but emotionally and politically - Term Paper Example This laid the foundation of a democratic society where everyone had the right to voice their opinions in important matters. This also had the effect of bringing ruling class closer to the working class and consequently more rights began to be granted to them. In addition to this, the revolution also stirred up positive emotions among the Americans. After their role in the Revolution, women started to stand up for their rights and they began to get hired in important positions without being looked down upon. Also, even though slavery did not end with the end of revolution, people started to recognize its menace and began to raise their voice against it (A.Gross, 2001). The Revolution, in other words united the hearts of the different communities living in Concord and America, who all had the same purpose of seeing their country achieve the epitome of success. American Revolution certainly influenced a major change in American thinking, which marked the beginning of the America’ s journey to become a superpower. Works Cited A.Gross, R. (2001). The Minutemen and Their World. Hill and Wang; First American Edition edition.

Analysis the Sprint Nextel Corp Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Analysis the Sprint Nextel Corp - Essay Example In 2001, it became the first company to introduce a wireless Java for networking. Sprint Nextel Corporation offers a range of fixed, mobile, and broadband communications products and services. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies. Internationally, it is known for internet networking and major development in technology. The cost of debt for the company can be computed by analyzing the various components of debts. These include bond issues, treasury bills, loans etc. Sprint Nextel has a variety of bond issues with different maturities (see table 1). This analysis will focus on the head quarter’s debt component analysis only (see table2). The coupons outlined here are three with the respective maturity dates. The value of a similar bond at similar rates is analyzed as having a par value of $1000 for the Canadian debt and $2500 for the unsecured notes. These are used to find the price of each bond. By discounting the annuity and the lump sum at maturity for each bond, the price of each bond is obtained. This method uses trial and error to ascertain the cost of each bond. The assumption made is that similar bonds yield $1000 and $2500 respectively. This is for the purposes of discounting the return of the bond towards a set amount of expected as per today. Further analysis shows that the price of each bond is effective once we added the tax factor. The assumed taxation factor in the United States is 35%. The after tax cost of each bond is obtained by multiplying the cost of bond (pre-tax) with the factor (1-tax rate). Another aspect to consider is that the company is financed by a long term loan. Given the worldwide economic crisis, the cost of repayment of loans has tremendous increased by 5%. An assumption is made that the loan of $166,855 has an interest rate of 16%. This is the cost of this loan. The total cost of debt is the mean of the cost of the loan and the bond issues. Accounting for th is, the cost of debt is obtained as 6.19% The cost of equity: The equity components are ordinary share capital and preference share capital. To obtain the cost of equity, I will include the ordinary capital in this case. This is done by obtaining the dividend payable in the coming year divided by the current market price and then multiplying it by dividend growth. For the last three years, the financial statements indicate no dividend payment made by the firm. This trend is assumed to be continuous in the coming year. Therefore the dividend value per share is zero and the growth is also zero. The current market share value stands at $ 2.74. By doing the necessary computation, the cost of equity is zero. Weighted average cost of capital WACC is obtained by adding weight to the various capital components i.e. debt and equity. Capital is made up of equity and debt in this firm. By summing debt and equity, I get their weights as: the debt has a total weight of 44% and equity has a total weight of 56%. These percentages are then multiplied by the above computation of cost of debt and equity respectively. The two are added giving WACC of 3.45% The firm’s beta The firm’s beta is a measure of risk to the company. This is obtained through the use of the indexes for United States multiplying with the cost of capital. The beta stands at 1.16 which is indicates low risk measure. This can be unlevered by adding tax aspect to obtain 0.61. Debt to equity ratio of Sprint is obtained as 27.7 this indicates low risk to the company. Calculations: Table 1 - combined industry bond issues SECURITY Coupon Amount Maturity Unsecured senior notes 7.625 1650 1/30/11 Unsecured senior

General Motors Essay Example for Free

General Motors Essay A car for every purse and purpose – Alfred P Sloan Jr, Former President CEO General Motors. General Motors, one of the world’s largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 205,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in some 157 countries. GM and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 31 countries, and sell and service these vehicles through the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Daewoo, Holden, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM’s largest national market is the United States, followed by China, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Italy. Company History: General Motors was founded on Wednesday, September 16, 1908, in Flint, Michigan, as a holding company for Buick by William C. Durant. Durant started acquiring many companies like Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Cartercar, Elmore, Ewing, Pontiac etc. Durant lost control of GM in 1910 to a bankers trust, due to the large amount of debt (around $1 million) taken on in its acquisitions. Durant left the firm and co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Company in 1911 with Louis Chevrolet. After a brilliant stock buy back campaign, he returned to head GM in 1916. GM surpassed Ford Motor Company in sales in the late 1920s thanks to the leadership of Alfred P. Sloan. Sloan was inventing new ways of managing a complex worldwide organization, while paying special attention to consumer demands. Car buyers no longer wanted the cheapest and most basic model; they wanted style, power, and prestige, which GM offered them. During the 1920s and 1930s, General Motors assumed control of the Yellow Coach bus company, and helped create Greyhound bus lines. They replaced intercity train transport with buses. GM needs a sense of urgency regarding revising a strategic plan that incorporates the next generation of vehicles. In today’s global economy and highly competitive auto industry GM has no time to procrastinate. As stated, GM has just too much at risk in not becoming an industry leader in alternative fuel technology. Fuel-economy legislation is sparking the race. This is a critical time in auto industry with many threats, but opportunities as well. The next several years will redefine GM. Vision Statement The GM vision is as follows: GM’s vision is to be the world leader in transportation products and related services. GM will earn our customers’ enthusiasm through continuous improvement driven by the integrity, teamwork, and innovation of GM people. The proposed new vision for GM is as follows: For GM to become the automotive industry leader in alternative fueled vehicles and providing superior quality products that global consumers call to mind when they think of quality and innovation. My vision for GM is to be the industry leader in innovation, and where all other industry competition strives to imitate. Mission Statement The current GM mission statements are as follows: Drive improvements in market share, revenue, brands, people, responsiveness, and cost effectiveness through the implementation of global common metrics and best practice sharing. The new proposed mission statement will be as follows: GM will become an industry leader, not a follower. To regain lost market share that was lost to foreign competition, and once again be the auto industry leader in sales and market share in today’s global market. Values Statement The auto industry just like the global economy is going through tremendous change, due to rising fuel prices, and environmental worries, such as global warming. GM must use these threats as opportunities, and take advantage of changing consumer buying habits. GM needs to change consumer perception of the company, from a dull, poor quality, vehicles to innovative, quality, and environmentally friendly company. To do this GM must portray an image that states that GM values what the consumer wants and what the environment needs. Listen to what consumers are saying directly and indirectly about GM’s current products, and create innovative, green, vehicles that turn consumers into customers. At the same time provide GM stakeholders pride and financial incentives to remain with GM. Environmental Analysis GM and the entire auto industry are currently challenged with the perfect storm. The auto industry is being hit by a weak US and global economy, rising fuel prices, and social and political environmental concerns and issues. In order to overcome these potential threat, GM should consider mass producing a range of alternative fueled vehicles, i. e. fuel cell, electric, and hybrid. SWOT Analysis Strengths 1. Large Market Share Although GMs market share in the US has dropped it is still very much competitive at 26 percent. They also have an increasing share in the Chinese market. With the right decisions there is no reason for GM to not become the automotive leader it once was. . Global Experience As explained above even with GMs recent decline they still have the market share and the experience to bounce back. They have been a worldwide company for nearly a century now and have established themselves as the global leader for most of them. If you recall I mentioned above that a current opportunity for GM is to expand globally and as we can see they already have the experience to do so. It is just a matter of the correct planning and proper implementation of those plans that will decided whether or not GMs goals are achieved. 3. Variety of Brand Names GM as I mentioned has been the automotive leader for the majority of the last century. A large reason for that is the wide variety of quality brand names that appeal to all target markets. The current GM brands include: Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, Saab, Daewoo, Opel, and Holden. 4. GMAC Customer Financing Program Since its establishment in 1919 it has proven to be GMs most reliable source of revenue. 5. OnStar Satellite Technology Developed in 1996 OnStar currently has over 3 million subscribers and is standard on all GM vehicles. This technology allows the vehicles to be tracked in the event of an emergency or theft. It also allows the driver and or passengers the ability to communicate with OnStar personnel at the click of a button. Weaknesses 1. Behind on Alternative Energy Movement This is GMs biggest weakness. The alternative energy/hybrid trend has begun to take place in the automotive industry and GM has been one step behind the competition in terms of alternative energy vehicles. This has led to many problems including loss of market share and a decrease in company profit. In order for any automotive company to be successful from this point forward they must be Hybrid friendly and fuel efficient. 2. Poor Organizational Structure As we can see in exhibit 1 of the case GMs organizational structure seems to be too vertically integrated. This causes a lack of communication between employees from top to bottom and may have played a part in GM falling behind on the alternative energy movement. 3. Stagnant Profitability Looking at GMs profit we see that they are certainly struggling with respect to the size of their company. Their profit margin was about 1. 5% and the ROE has dramatically decreased over the recent years dropping to 10% in 2004. This is a situation that shareholders will not be pleased with. 4. Overly Dependent on US market GM has become too dependent on the US market and must take advantage of the opportunity to expand globally. The competition is becoming too strong to focus on just one country. 5. Overly Dependent on General Motors Acceptance Corporation(GMAC) Financing GM has become too dependent on its financing program. Granted it is a great strength for GM, however they once again cannot rely solely on financing in order to turn profit, especially if they want to compete with Honda and Toyota who are rapidly growing. 6. Poor Credit Status GMs credit status has like everything else has been steadily declining. Their current ratio is just barely above 1 and their acid test is even lower. Although, I dont see them getting denied based on their credit at this point, the seriousness of the matter is certainly apparent. Opportunities 1. Alternative Energy movement It is obvious that GM was behind its competition with regards to the research and development of hybrid vehicles. However hybrid technology is still very much new giving GM the opportunity to once again become the automotive industrys leader in innovation and technology. 2. Continuing to Expand Globally. Recently GM saw an increase in the Chinese automotive market, which proves their needs to be more emphasis put on foreign markets. If GM can infiltrate these markets and successfully grow along with their continuing focus on the US market they will be headed in a positive direction. . Low Interest Rates With the right marketing strategy the low interest rates have the potential to generate an immediate increase in sales. 4. Develop New Vehicle Styles and Models This is an opportunity that will never be satisfied, meaning that GM should always be attempting to develop the automotive worlds most popular vehicles, and as we know, what is in today will be out tomorrow. Threats 1. Rising Fuel Prices With GM being a large producer in both trucks and SUVs, sales have drastically decreased due to the lack of fuel efficiency. The rise in fuel prices has played a significant role in creating the opportunity for development of both hybrid and more fuel efficient vehicles. As you will find with most threats, an equal opportunity will usually emerge as is the case here with GMs opportunity mentioned above. 2. Growth of Competitors GM no longer has the luxury of being the known leader in the automotive industry and faces the reality that they are in serious trouble. As I mentioned earlier Toyota took the first step in the direction of hybrid echnology and has since drastically grown and become the questionable automotive frontrunner to start the 21st century. 3. Pension Payouts. Part of this threat is their own doing and the other is simply unavoidable. GM is responsible for providing generous pension benefits to its employees, which at the time seemed like a great idea, however they are now experiencing problems as more and more people begin to collect. 4. Increased Health Care Costs GM, like many large compa nies with quality employee health care benefits, is experiencing a large financial hit that only gets worse as time continues. . Rising Supply Costs, i. e. Steel Once again this threat affects the entire automotive industry and forces each company to cut manufacturing and production costs as much as possible, without taking away from the quality of the product. Core Competence The core competence of General Motors is innovation. This is the driving force behind its $190 above turnover. General Motors has been utilizing innovation in service ad technology to secure itself a dominant position in the automobile industry, since 1908. In 1911, it conceptualized, engineered and commercialized the self-starter engine for the first time. Then in 1926, its product Cadillac was the pioneer in devising a nationwide service strategy. In 1996 General Motors introduced OnStar satellite technology which allows equipped vehicles to be tracked in case of an emergency or theft and allows the passengers to communicate with OnStar personnel. Other new car concepts include minicars such as Chevy Aveo. However in the case of hybrid vehicles, General Motors was unable to keep up to the pace of the market demand.

How the Interplay Between Two Different Perspectives Essay Example for Free

How the Interplay Between Two Different Perspectives Essay Explain how the interplay between two different perspectives on characters and situations found in two of Lawson’s stories set for study and one other related text of your own choosing highlights the distinctly visual. In Henry Lawson’s stories, the â€Å"Drover’s Wife† and â€Å"The Loaded Dog†, and in Wilfred Owens’s â€Å"The Last Laugh†, the different perspectives on characters and situations interplay to give the audience a story through which they are caught up. Through the use of alliteration, some metaphors and similes, as well as onomatopoeia and personification, Lawson and Owens give their audience a feeling of the distinctly visual. Both authors convey distinctive experiences through different ways. Lawson describes scenes to the audience in such detail that he makes it possible for the readers to place themselves in the particular situation he is creating, even if they have never had that experience. This technique helps to link the reader with that specific feeling. An example is in â€Å"The Drover’s Wife†, the quote â€Å"It must be near daylight†. This brings the audience to the present situation, after they are lost in the past memories of the woman, using the perspective of the woman. The views of the characters are depicted through the eyes of the wife. The characters are those whom she interacts with, such as her children, the dog, the swagman, and to an extent, her own husband. The situation is there being a snake stuck in their house, and she is scared yet brave enough to kill it and prevent it killing her children. One example would be â€Å"Close and hot†. Using the sense of touch, it makes the reader feel like they are breathless, cut off, with no sense of space, being over-heated due to the sense of being worried and tense. â€Å"Suddenly† brings a break and a height in the tension. The speed and length of this sentence contrasts with others like â€Å"a thrill runs through his body†. In the â€Å"Loaded Dog†, it is evident that Lawson uses an abundance of dry humour, as well as sarcasm. The view of the characters the story gives us is that of three men and a dog. In this story, the situation is that of the dog getting a hold of a bomb cartridge, and nearly killing them. The quote â€Å"It was very good blasting powder† changes the mood of the situation as it is the breaking point of the tension. It is a lead-up from the dog sniffing the cartridge. The use of dry and sarcastic humour helps to provide the audience with a view-point of the action taking place. It gives it a humorous undertone in order to help the audience adjust better and not feel as shocked, when the re-tell of the explosion takes place. In the â€Å"Last Laugh†, Wilfred Owen uses character views to give his opinion on war- its injustices and sadness. He states that it is in fact the weapons that have the last laugh. The situation is World War 1, and how there are many young men, excited about war who go to fight, and end up dead, their lives wasted. Owen uses mainly personification, where upon he depicts the human qualities and attributes of the guns. Using words such as â€Å"guffawed†, â€Å"chirped† and â€Å"chuckled†, he communicates to the audience the mockery the guns are making of the men, as they die. â€Å"Mother, mother, Dad! † gives the reader the horrific image of a young man, almost a boy, dying uselessly on the battlefield, and never having the chance to experience life. This communicates to the audience the distinctly visual as, with the â€Å"Drover’s Wife† and â€Å"Loaded Dog† , it gives the responder the mental image of the events happening in the poem. The relationship between the view and the situation help to give the audience a clearer image of what Lawson and Owens are trying to depict, or communicate. In other words, this emphasizes the distinctly visual as the author, interplaying the view and situations, passes on a mental image of the scene being set. Owens and Lawson succeed in depicting sharp, and clear, images to the audience through the use of character views, situations and various techniques. This is turn gives the audience a distinctively visual experience.

Visual Aids Help Tths Students Improve Their English Education Essay

Visual Aids Help Tths Students Improve Their English Education Essay In Vietnam, English is considered the most important foreign language, which is taught as one of the main subjects in schools as well as in universities and is also used the most in communication among other foreign languages. According to the Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics, English is used as a foreign language or a second language to communicate with foreigners who speak the English language in non-English speaking countries. The English teaching and learning at Thuong Tin High School is not very significant in terms of the students achievement. Especially, the big concern is for English vocabulary retention. At the end of the first term 2009 2010 only about 50% of the students got an average of 5 and 6, and only 8% got 7 or 8 and the rest got 3 or 4 in the English oral test in the 2009 State First Term Examination. These figures have made the teachers of English in TT High School feel worried, they need to consider the serious problem carefully and find out the best methods to improve the situation quickly. This poor achievement is not new but has lasted for years, and there have been many things done about it but the situation has not improved. Students have been given extra lessons so that they have more time to practice their English, especially English speaking lessons, they have been helped a lot with revision before every test. They have even been provided with well-prepared hand-outs of the points on which they are going to be tested and told what to learn to do the tests well. In spite of what they have been informed and reminded of, unexpected things have still occurred, students have not improved their achievement, and the fact that most students were not very proficient in speaking and writing tests which were shown on the report of first term. To find out which factors are important in language learning, it is necessary to have a close look at social factors as well as a number of psychological dimensions of difference. Attitudes and motivation, self-confidence, intelligence, language aptitude, and language learning strategies have also been found to have an effect on language learners success in their language learning (Gardner, 2001). The research project took place at Thuong Tin High School located in Thuong Tin, a town about 30 kilometres from Ha Noi Capital and has been developing very fast. The people have become richer and a large number of families have invested money in after school activities and private tutoring for their children in English and other core subjects. If students and learners have an excellent level of English, they will gain acceptance to higher schools of learning and better-paid jobs. English is an important and compulsory subject at almost every school in Vietnam. Thus, usually students have to learn English for at least 7 years, from grade 6 to grade 12. In many schools in cities children start learning English in grade 3. There is even a trend to learn English before elementary school as their parents believe that the English language is a useful investment for their childrens future. Most jobs now require the applicants to have knowledge of English language at certain levels. Though English is taught from grade 3 in primary schools, most high school students are difficult to read an English paragraph fluently, talk to each other in English as a conversation, listen to a short introduction on television or write a letter or even a paragraph of description in English well. The issue that why most TTHS students have still had low results on speaking and writing tests though they have been helped a lot before tests, and what possible solutions could be found. The TTHS teachers have had a serious discussion and come to conclusion that most TTHS students have low English vocabulary retention and this has great influence on their speaking and writing tests. Students can not speak, listen, read and write English if they do not have enough necessary English vocabulary. But what we, teachers, have to do to help our students improve their English vocabulary. More things must be done to change the situation for the better, and the concerns were carried out, such as; motivation, methods of teaching and learning, environment of teaching and learning, materials and inclusive of Visual Aids. The defined solution for this issue was that Using Visual Aids to help students improve English vocabulary retention, because the teachers believed that there is no ways of lear ning vocabulary better than seeing the real things or illustrated things. Most teachers of English agree that it is difficult for them to have successful lessons on vocabulary or communication without visual aids and students will not be easy to understand and practice if they do not have certain visual aids for every task because students do not have enough necessary vocabulary to practice. The purpose of this research is to determine using Visual Aids helps TTHS students improve English vocabulary and the effects that visual teaching strategies have on the academic achievement of TTHS students. Research questions: How do VISUAL AIDS help students improve English vocabulary retention? What effects do visual teaching strategies have on the academic achievement of TTHS students? LITERATURE REVIEW Visual aids Brown (1973:1) emphasizes that using variety of media, visual aids, will increase the probability that the students will learn more, retain better what they learn and improve their performance of the skills they are expected to develop. Moreover, Finocchiaro (1974:63) states that the students will understand and retain better when they have been shown or taught some objects that associate with it. Educational professionals have acknowledged the fact that students who struggle in reading comprehension because they may lack the ability to comprehend words. Joseph (2006) realised, there are several approaches to teaching word-reading skills but few incorporate systematic procedures that facilitate mastery, build fluency and lead to retention of skills for struggling readers(p.803). Students who struggle in acquisition skills need specific interventions to increase their reading level and word knowledge. These interventions should be ongoing and occur early in the learning process in order to ease the cognitive load at the students current reading level and for the next grade level. Using visual aids to enhance English vocabulary and vocabulary retention is a strategy that has been researched and implemented into TTHS English classromms. With the use of visual aids, such as; authentic materials or illustrated things, students could increase their English vocabulary retention as well as they can base on their vocabulary to improve their speaking, writing, listening and reading comprehension skills. Joseph (2006) confirmed that students tend to be more motivated and choose to complete assignments and tasks that contain some items that are known to them and that appear to demand lower level of effort because they feel confident about their ability to complete such tasks. If implemented properly, visual aids, which are authentic materials or illustrated things, can make ongoing deffernces in students ability to read with confidence independently and continually. It is the consistency of vocabulary interventions that allows the struggling students to see the vocabulary terms within the reading passage if they are to expand their knowledge of the vocabulary term. This can make the difference in their proficiency of languag e acquisition Dave (1975: 10-11) also proposes some of the visual aids as follows: Real things and toys with different sorts, sizes and colors are useful to draw students interest. Real things can be presented to students by means of field trip or bringing the object to the class for direct observation. Chalkboard or blackboard are certain to be the most useful teaching aids, used in the class. They have the advantage of providing points of attention for the class and they can be used for many purposes. Pictures are flashed for a brief moment, therfore, the pictures should be simple and big enough to be seen clearly by every student in the class. Wall charts or wall pictures are big papers with some pictures and words, useful for presenting vocabulary to the class. From the explanation above, not all of media can be applied in the classroom; the teachers have to select the appropriate media that directly related to the learning process. Vocabulary assessments should also be used for a precursor to evaluate students comprehension. Johnston (1997) pointed that as childen spend more and more time reading and writing, many routines and common patterns become automatic, picking up speed and actually going through a different part of the brain, no longer involving conscious efforts (p 145). This is an important factor if students are to become independent of the classroom teacher. It is important to increase students toolbox of vocabulary strategies. According to Haycraft (1983: 102) teaching aids can be used for consolidating vocabulary, practicing structure and word order or for variety of games. Besides, teaching aids can also give a great help to the teacher in the class. A learner cannot always successfully learn English just by listening to the explanation from the teacher. Visual aids help teacher give more emphasis on pronunciation of the words, utterances and incorrect written of words. Moreover, in vocabulary class, the learners are encouraged to give their opinions about the visual aids that are presented by the teacher, thus the learners can be more active in teaching-learning process. Visual aids are also very useful to train the students to speak and memorize the words automatically. Visual aids, especially pictures are very useful in teaching vocabulary to encourage and motivate the students to learn the language. As stated by Coppen (1969: 88) pictures are parts of visual aids.The purpose of picture is to provide a stimulus which will elicit a particular response from the learner. The picture represents some action and in order to learn the appropriate words to describe the action itself must not be in question. Pictures are parts of visual aids. They may be used in teaching the elementary school students to avoid boredom. Brown (1973: 410) states some functions of pictures as follows: Media are used to teach the students to learn effectively. Pictures help the students read the books and eventually interpret and memorize words. Edmund Fason (1959: 416) states that teaching-learning process with pictures will get succeed if the pictures are related to the material of the study, pictures should be coloured and varied, colourful pictures intensify the students imagination. Using visual aids can give a great help to the teacher in the class. The students will not always be successful in learning English just by listening to the explanation from the teacher or by reading many books. Using visual aids in vocabulary class encourage the students to give their opinions about the presented pictures. The teacher can make them more active during the teaching-learning process. Moreover, flashing visual aids for a short time is very useful for the students to speak and memorize the words automatically. Retention Retention should be a requirement for the acquisition of vocabulary terms. Joseph (2008) makes these recommendations, in specific environmental conditions, words that were taught were considered learned when they were read correctly on next-day retention probes. Words that were not read correctly on next-day retention probes were not considered learned. Previously taught but unlearned words were retaught with the same instructional condition until they were read correctly on next-day retention probes (p 298). This would be a good procedure to follow if learners are to highten their retention of vocabulary terms. These retention probes were designed to measure students vocabulary acquisition. Retention probes were always administered the day immediately following the instructional condition and before another round of instructional conditions bagan. Each retention probe consisted of all the visual aids of unknown words that were taught in the previuos daily sessons. The visual aids we re exchanged and presented as one group of words to the students. Reiser and Dempsey (2007) states, maximizing learning with rich media involves two memories systems; working memory and long term memory that shapes human learning (p314). METHODOLOGY Subjects This research study took place in Thuong Tin High School in Thuong Tin town, 30 kilometres away from the centre of Ha Noi Capital. The subjects involved in this research were 40 students, they were in two different classes 12A2 and 12A3 (aged 16-18). They were randomly selected to put into two groups: 20 students in the control group (12A2) and 20 other students in the experimental group (12A3) (This means that the class 12A2 has 20 participants who belong to the control group, and the class 12A3 has 20 participants who belong to the experimental group). All of them are grade-12 students in the school year 2009 2010 and go to school everyday from Monday to Saturday. They have 3 English periods every week, each period lasts 45 minutes. The experiment lasted one month. After forming two groups, a test was given to students to check their English vocabulary so that the researcher could ensure students in two groups had the English vocabulary equivalence (Appendice 2). Instruments. Many visual aids were used when conducting this research, this was done by using pictures, real things and illustrated things. To make clear the research question, these following types of data were collected: surveys, pre-tests and post-tests, interviews, observations, and test scores. A survey was given at the beginning of the study to determine if the students enjoyed learning English and their attitudes to the instructional style of the class (Appendice 1). This helped me understand students perception of the class and if any changes, other than those used during the study, needed to be made to maximize the students academic performance. A Pre-test and Post-test were used before and after the research to find out the difference between the pre-test results and post-test results in order to know whether studentsvocabulary retention has been improved (Appendice 3A, 3B). Observations and test scores were also used as measurement tools. In order to take notes and determine the participation and attitudes of the students, observations were used daily. Did the students respond differently to the various visual aids? Were the students on task during a certain visual strategy? Did the students enjoy some visual strategies over others? Observing also made it possible to determine if outside variables affected the students test scores. Were the students having a stressful day? Did the students just come back to school from a holiday break? To determine if the use of visuals affected test scores, test scores during the four week study were compared with those from the previous four weeks. At the end of the study, the answers to the questions must be found; Why do TTHS students speak, listen to, read and write English so badly? How do visual aids help them improve their English vocabulary retention? Which effects do the visual teaching strategies have on the academic achievement of TTHS students? Design and Methods of Data Collection When implementing the experiment, the researcher used different visual aids in lessons, for example; pictures, real things and illustrated things were utilized alternatively so that students could understand the mentioned words and memorize them more effectively. Interviews were done before and after the research in order to know whether students were interested in the experiment, how they behaved during the research and what they achieved after the research. Observation was implemented in the process of research, this helped the researcher know that all the students in the experimental group took part in the experiment regularly. Test scores were done after the experiment finished, the test scores were collected from the pre-test results and the post-test results to show the improvement and difference of using visual aids in teaching and learning English vocabulary. Teaching activities that used visual aids were provided to the experimental group students in the class 12A3 in all the lessons; listening, speaking, reading and writing lessons every week. RESULTS Survey Results. The survey that was given to the two English classes included five questions and five answers, numbers 1-5 (Appendice 1). When asked students the five questions, the researcher found that there was a big difference about students attitude to learning English, and learning English vocabulary with the help of visual aids before and after the experiment. The result was compared in the Pre and Post-survey (Appendice 1). Questions Answers Before the experiment (n=students) After the experiment (n=students) 1. Do you enjoy learning English? Yes 32 68 No 48 12 2. If you do not like learning English, why? Because : Teaching methods 34 18 Lack of visual aids 46 62 3. Would you like to learn English vocabulary by watching visual aids, such as; pictures, real things or illustrated things? Yes 52 68 No 28 12 4. Do you think you will improve your English vocabulary better by looking at the visual aids when you are discussing a topic? Yes 46 67 No 34 13 5. Should visual aids be used and taught regularly and variously in classes Yes 48 66 No 32 14 There were several tests (a sample test in appendice 2) given to students in the both groups to ensure that the students in the experimental group was equivalent with students in the control group about the English vocabulary before the experiment. Groups Percentage of words that recalled and written down before the experiment 0 20% 30 50% 50 70% 80 100% Control group (n=20) 2 8 7 3 Experimental Group (n=20) 3 9 6 2 Interview Results In each group, 5 students were randomly invited to interview before and after the experiment. They were asked to give answers to 3 questions (Appendice 4). The 5 students in the experimental group produced the same words as the 5 students in the control group before the experiment but the experimental students produced more words than the control students after the ezperiment. a. An interview before the experiment b. An interview after the experiment. Tests Results Pre-tests: Groups Number of words 10 40 40 70 70 -100 Control (n=students) 8 9 3 Experimental (n-students) 7 10 4 Pots-tests Groups Number of words (n=100 words) 10 40 40 70 70 -100 Control (n=students) 5 10 5 Experimental (n-students) 2 11 7 From the results of the post-tests, it was easy to find that if students were provided with visual aids in their lessons. They could increase their vocabulary much better. Before the experiment, the two groups were equivalent in their vocabulary, but there was a big gap between the control group and experimental group after the experiment. The experimental group increased their vocabulary a lot more than they were before. However, the control group did not improve their vocabulary a lot. Questionnaire Results After the study time, the 20 students in the experimental group were given a five question interview about their feelings towards the class. The answers were categorized as either being agreement and disagreement and compared with the results before the experiment.. Comparison of Agreement and Disagreement Responses from the Interview QUESTIONS Answers from Ex-group (n=students) YES NO Before After Before After 1) Do you like the English class? 8 15 12 5 2) Do you enjoy learning with visual aids 12 17 7 3 3) Do you think the visual aids are helping you? 10 14 10 6 4) Do you want to have visual aids in future lessons? 11 16 9 4 5) Are you motivated with and interested in learning English vocabulary with visual aids? 10 18 10 2 Discussion The objective of my research was to find out how visual aids help students improve their English vocabulary and to discover if visual learning strategies have an effect on ESL academic achievement in a high school English classroom. The main findings of this research show that there is a positive correlation between the use of visual aids and the results when using surveys, interviews, observations, and test score comparison Comparison of Averages from the Control and Study Periods According to Dong (2002), he found that when teachers use visuals, the students ask more questions. During the study period, I observed that the students in the experiment asked more questions than the control group. The students were interested in the visual aids and always asked questions to clarify their misunderstanding. CONCLUSION This research indicates that students may learn in many different ways and teachers should do many things possible to support and to meet the needs of all students. Visual aids can break the language barrier that separates students from teachers. Pictures, ral things or illustrated things always helped to explain both special and common English words fully. For example, the word fire an employee was given to students in a question on a test, but none of the students in the class knew what that word meant and trying to explain it did not help either. The meaning of the word was then made clear when I made a picture on the board. This research would recommend that teachers use as many visual aids as possible in their classroom. This research also shows that visual aids can increase students English vocabulary and improve their vocabulary retention. The most useful and popular visual aids were introduced in class were pictures, illustrated things, such as; toys or model forms. For example, during the unit on cars, it was so easy for students to guess and to know the parts of a car when they saw pictures of car parts or a toy car. My research had a positive impact on student learning, English is quite a difficult subject with lots of vocabulary and visuals are the best way to learn those words. There are also a lot of topics that have to be covered in an English class. Visuals, especially pictures, are a great way to show students the overall concept and the minute details of a topic. The students in my English class have learnt and improved their vocabulary a lot when I applied the visual aids in the class. As already mentioned, pictures were the most popular and effective. There was a purpose behind each and every visual. I carefully planned out how I would do and explain each visual so that students could performed well. REFERENCES Collier, V. P. (1992). A synthesis of studies examining long-term language minority student data on academic achievement. Bilingual Research Journal, 16 (1-2), 187-212. Dong, Y. R. (2002). Integrating language and content: Education and Bilingualism, 5 (2), 40-57. Duran, B. J., Dugan, T., Weffer, R. (1998). Language minority students in high school Hamblen, K. A. (1993). Theories and research that support art instruction for instrumental outcomes. Theory into Practice, 3 (4), 191-198. Mayer, R. E. (1989). Models for understanding. Review of Educational Research, 59 (1), 43-64. Gardner, R.C. (1985), Social Psychology and Second Language Learning: The role of attitudes and motivation, London: Edward Arnold Gardner, R. C. 2001. Language Learning Motivation: The Student, the Teacher, and the Researcher.Texas Papers in Foreign Language Education, Volume 6,  Number 1,  Fall 2001. Joseph, L. (2006, May). Incremental rehearsal: A flashcard drill technique for increasing retention of reading words. International Reading Association, 51 (1), 90-92. Petrie, G. M. (2003). ESL teachers views on visual language: A grounded theory. The Reading Matrix, 3 (3), 137-168. Tan, A., Nicholson, T. (1997, June). Training poor readers to read words faster improve their comprehension of vocabulary. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89(2), 276. Appendice 1 Survey The servey was given to 2 classes (each class consists of 40 students). Questions Answer Before the experiment (n=students) After the experiment (n=students) 1. Do you enjoy learning English? Yes 32 68 No 48 12 2. If you do not like learning English, why? Because : Teaching methods 34 18 Lack of visual aids 46 62 3. Would you like to learn English vocabulary by watching visual aids, such as; pictures, real things or illustrated things? Yes 52 68 No 28 12 4. Do you think you will improve your English vocabulary better by looking at the visual aids when you are discussing a topic? Yes 46 67 No 34 13 5. Should visual aids be used and taught regularly and variously in classes Yes 48 66 No 32 14

The First World War (WWI) :: World War 1 I One

World War II or the Second World War was a global conflict that began on 7 July 1937, in Asia and 1 September 1939, in Europe and lasted until 1945, involving the majority of the world's countries and every inhabited continent. Virtually all countries that participated in World War I were involved in World War II. It was the most extensive and expensive apocalyptic armed conflict in the history of the World. Attributed in varying degrees to the Treaty of Versailles, the Great Depression, nationalism, and militarism, the causes of the war are a matter of debate. On which date the war began is also debated, cited as either the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, the Japanese invasion of China on 7 July 1937 (the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War), or earlier yet the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Still others argue that the two world wars are one conflict separated only by a "ceasefire". Fighting occurred across the Atlantic Ocean, in Western and Eastern Europe, in the Mediterranean Sea, Africa, the Middle East, in the Pacific and South East Asia, and it continued in China. In Europe, the war ended with the surrender of Germany on 8 May 1945 (V-E and Victory Days), but continued in Asia until Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945 (V-J Day). Approximately 57 million people died as a result of the war, including acts of genocide such as the Holocaust, the Rape of Nanking, and General Ishii Shiro's Unit 731 experiments in Pingfan. As a case of total war, it involved the "home front" and bombing of civilians to a new degree. Atomic weapons, jet aircraft, and RADAR are only a few of many war-time inventions. Post-war Europe was partitioned into Western and Soviet spheres of influence, the former undergoing economic reconstruction under the

verizon center :: essays research papers

Building facilities like the Verizon Wireless arena and other large sporting and special event venues can be costly. The cost of the Verizon Wireless Arena cost roughly $60 million dollars to compose. Many factors go into this finalized $60 million dollar facility, such as the cost per square foot, the cost per A and B space, and operational costs. To figure out how much money goes into the arena, it is important to keep track of how much income is generated and what forms of marketing and fundraising are done to promote and create profit for the facility. The Verizon Wireless arena has 230,000 sq. feet, which makes the cost of the facility, $260.87 per square foot. There is a vast amount of costs associated with the operation of the arena, for example: The furniture, fixtures, and equipment purchases- everything from the folding chairs, tables, basketball court, hand tools in the shop, office computers, Zambonis and the scoreboard are just some of the items off a list that is seven pages long in very small print. Other overhead costs include water, sewerage, electricity, phone service, internet access, natural gas, cable TV, staff salaries, and benefit packages. In order to upkeep all the equipment and technology the facility has daily operational costs, these include: labor and materials to repair damage, upgrading of current systems, maintain capitol equipment and perform preventative maintenance. In addition, each event within itself has its own related costs such as: labor and material that are requested by the event that are used exclusively for the event, for example: propane gases for pyro special effects, business equipment the show needs that we rent locally (copiers, fax machines, etc.), labor to convert the facility from hockey to concert mode, event housekeeping, event staff (security, ushers, supervisors, ticket takers, etc.). In order to stay in business a facility must make a great amount of income to flourish in its industry. There are many forms of incoming profits from many sectors of the arena. The most important form is Patron generated sales: tickets, premium seat packages these packages are VIP suites, party suites and club seating. Food and Beverage help to keep the customers satisfied while being entertained by events and is a big money maker. Merchandise is sold at each event and the arena even has its own store for Monarch hockey gear and the football arena team the Wolves sell souvenirs as well.

The United States Lends Credibility to the International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court (ICC), created in 1998 (Thayer and Ibryamova 2010), is responsible for investigating and prosecuting the most extreme cases, including crimes against humanity, aggressive crimes, war crimes, and genocide. The credibility of this institution, however, has been compromised due to the United States revocation of support and membership. Initially it is important to recognize the arguments against the United States becoming a member state of the ICC and what precipitated the U.S. withdrawing its signature from the document that instituted the Court. Once this has been established, the arguments in favor of ICC membership will be developed by addressing and refuting these objections. Finally, this analysis will lead to proving how the United States becoming a member state will increase the effectiveness and integrity of the International Criminal Court. One opposing standpoint to the union of the United States and the International Criminal Court is the concern of sovereignty. Those who support the United States’ decision to revoke its signature from the Rome Statute argue that by joining the ICC, America’s sovereignty would be threatened, for the country would be required to answer to a higher court. In accordance with this, many on the opposition believe it is necessary to create legislation that protects Americans from the ICC and allows the U.S. to retain its sovereignty. Consequently, the international community has expressed outrage in the United States’ actions to combat the International Criminal Court’s authority. As a world leader with one of the most sophisticated and respected judicial systems, these types of actions present the U.S. as appearing indifferent to the plight of human rights vi... ...s in International Relations (New York: Longman). Elsea, Jennifer (2006), â€Å"U.S. Policy Regarding the International Criminal Court,† in CRS Report for Congess (Washington D.C.; Library of Congress), 4. Bogdan, Attila (2008), â€Å"The United States and the International Criminal Court: Avoiding Jurisdiction Through Bilateral Agreements in Reliance on Article 98,† International Criminal Law Review, 8(1-2), 5. Barnett, Laura (2008), â€Å"The International Criminal Court: History and Role,† Library of Parliament, 2(11), 12. Chicago Council on Global Affairs (2010), â€Å"Constrained Internationalism: Adapting to New Realities,† [http://www.amicc.org/docs/Chicago_Council_Global_Views_2010.pdf], accessed 9 April 2012. American Non-Governmental Organizations Coalition for the International Criminal Court (2012), â€Å"US and ICC Info,† [http://www.amicc.org/info], accessed 9 April 2012.

Emotional intelligence has become a major tool

Dear mentor,  Emotional intelligence has become a major tool in effective human interactions at home in school and within every organization, because of its usefulness in utilizing the powers of emotional on thoughts. According to Daniel Goleman, there are five components, which include self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills [Goleman, 1995]. Each component employs the self-understanding and appreciation as a foundational tool to discover ways to improve every relationship one has within others. Self-Awareness is the ability to recognize and understand personal moods and emotions. Self-Regulation: The ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods and the propensity to suspend judgment and to think before acting.. Motivation: A passion to work for reasons that go beyond money and status; a tendency to pursue goals with energy and persistence. Empathy: The ability to understand the EMOTIONAL makeup of other people. Social Skills: Proficiency in managing relationships and building networks and ability to find common ground and build rapport [Goleman, 1995]. Having taken a personal survey of these skills, I believe there are ways |I can apply to suit my status quo, so that the desired results can emerge. My main challenge has been to connect with other members of my team as individuals.   What I have decided to do is to first evaluate my personal skills with respect to this matter. I also want to do a self-portrait so that I can ascertain my current status. This would the stating point. This would afford me to know my positives and negatives in communication and human relationships [Goleman, 1995]. Besides, I would also undertake a dutiful effort in understanding every member of the team. This includes finding details about their lives such as date of birth, location of residence, their likes and dislikes. Having known this, I would pay visits, set mails regularly as inspirational tools fort their daily challenges. Within the lint of resources I have, i would also appreciate every effort in cash [gift] and kind. My motive is not to know so that we can relate better but to be a part of their life. I believe that organizations can do certain things to help develop the emotional intelligence of their managers as well as other employees, first is the education on the components and intricacies of this; this can be done through training /retraining session for both leaders and employees.   Seminar, workshop and case studies are methods that can be adopted for this training.  Apart of this, there can be a constant review of employee or manager skills in the company that employs emotional intelligence as tools in human resource management, such efforts could be identified and rewarded accordingly. This is another way emotional intelligence can become a useful tool in any organization. Sir, I believe if you can work on these things, I would improve tremendously and build a viable working team. REFERENCE Goleman, D. (1995, November/December). Emotional Intelligence. Harvard Business Review. Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence. http://www.12manage.com/methods_goleman_emotional_intelligence.html Goleman’s model. www.businessballs.com/eq.htm http://www.businessballs.com/emotionalintelligencecompetencies.pdf      

Reflective Essay on Management of Urinary Incontinence

There are many elderly clients quietly enduring continence issues, believing that frequency, urgency, and incontinence is an inevitable part of aging. Advanced practice nurses can play a significant role in discovering continence problems (Lea R. et. al. 2007). Urinary incontinence is defined as the complaint of any involuntary leakage of urine(International Continence Society,1997). A thorough physical assessment and evaluation is necessary to identify the problem at the early stage and to ensure its necessary management.In my placement area I found many residents either with urinary catheter or using incontinence pads. That is suffering from this problem. Thus I selected this as one of my learning outcome. I choose Gibbs Reflective cycle 1988 to write this reflective essay on assessment and management of urinary incontinence. This model of reflection allows me to evaluate and analyse my own experiences to bring out new learning and changes.DESCRIPTIONWhen I started my clinical prac tice I identified there are lot of elderly people with the complaint of urinary incontinence.It is important that incontinence be treated since it impacts not only the physiological, but also the psychological realms of a person's life. Depression and decreed quality of life have been found to co-occur in the person struggling with incontinence (Barbara Ann,2003). The most important effect of incontinence reported in men was â€Å"being out of control† while most women considered â€Å"feeling impelled to take several precautions† to be the most important consequence of UI (Doreth et al,2006). In my placement area I noticed that most of the patients with parkinson’s disease also suffer from the problem of urinary incontinence.When I searched in the literature ,a study by Dr. Vaughan points out that those with Parkinson’s disease usually experience urgency and incontinence as a common problem. When I started my placement , Mrs . X who was suffering from Pa rkinsonism since 5 years and dementia since 2 years was on Indwelling urinary catheter for the management of urinary incontinence. Adhering to the results from the literature review I planned for initiating several steps to control incontinence in Mrs. x. My mentor was always with me with full support and guidelines.FLUIDmanagement was the first step started. An input output chart was kept and well maintained. Then steps wre also taken to manage constipation. Exercises were the last method practiced and the final result was really appreciable as she got a great reduction in the incontinence rate.FEELINGSAfter the experience I felt so glad and proud to myself as it was a great success towards its end. In the beginning, during the time of planning I thought it may be bit difficult for a patient with parkinsonism and dementia to make follow our instructions and continue till the end of this practice.But when we started the programme her response was so nice that she found very cooperat ive and understanding. This made me more happy and I tried my level best to make every interaction to bring out something positive. I always tried to keep good inter personal relationship with the patient by using the different techniques of communication.EVALUATIONEven though I felt some difficulties during the beginning, as a whole I could feel a progressive response in my patient. My mentor was there with me when I felt some problems and helped me a lot to overcome all those.  She gave me more resources to manage difficult situations and it was really beneficial. I realised proper delegation of duties is necessary for a better implementation and also learned about the factors to be considered while delegating the duties and responsibilities.ANALYSISActually the experience was beneficial to me in different ways. First and foremost I could upgrade my level of knowledge. I read different journal articles and each one was a big store of new knowledge for me. I learned about the dif ferent techniques of management of urinary incontinence.  I could also understand the importance of behavioural intervention in the management of incontinence. I could understand some of my weak points and my mentor helped me to improve them.CONCLUSIONUrinary incontinence is a disease condition which not only affects the physiology of a patient but also affects his psychological status and needs a continuous assessment and evaluation. It is very clear that practice can make a difficult problem more easy and manageable.ACTION PLANMaintain proper fluid balance  Assess and find out the symptoms of constipation at an early stage and manage it effectively Maintain a regular assessment of urinary incontinence and record each incidence if possible Understand the importance of communication and the positive effects of it. Keep a therapeutic relationship with the patient. Utilise the resources like man, money and material in the best effective manner Plan with the patient to ensure his c ooperation and win his confidence Support and encourage the co-workers as and when required Evaluate and record each days progress so as to have best result at the end.

The social responsibility of a business Essay

Nowadays, the idea of social responsibilities supposes that the corporation has not only economic and legal obligations, but also certain responsibilities to society which extend beyond these obligations. Moreover, social responsibility is the obligation of decision makers to take actions which protect and improve the welfare of society as a whole along with their own interests. In other words, virtually all definitions of CSR include the notion that corporations have obligations toward society beyond their economic obligations to shareholders. Yet many authors have argued and still some continue to argue that social responsibility should not cater to the society at large but only to the organisation’s own interests. For instance, some believe that business has only two responsibilities: to obey the elementary canons of everyday face-to-face civility (honesty, good faith and so on ) and to seek material gain. Therefore, the definitions of CSR appear to fall under two general school of thoughts and throughout this study, we made an attempt to demonstrate that CSR is not limited only to economic duty. Literature Review: The roots of CSR can be traced back to the medieval era. According to May et al. (2007), various questions regarding organizations’ impact on society have been present for centuries. In fact, the corporate form and modern labor union were derived from the early medieval guild (May et al., 2007). In the 1870s large corporations began to have a significant impact on different aspects of society, including the environment, employees, customers, and the public as a whole. Although there are many definitions of CSR available, we centre our attention on more recent concepts of CSR. According to Richardson, Welker and Hutchinson (1999), CSR behaviours can be defined as discretionary actions undertaken by companies that are intended to advance their social issues. Joyner, Payne & Raiborn (2002) noted that CSR are categories of economic, legal, ethical and discretionary activities of a business entity as adapted to the values and expectations from society. They also added that, CSR are the basic expectations of the company regarding initiatives that take the  form of protection to public health, public safety, and the environment. In this concept, they explained that values and ethics influence the extent of a corporation’s perceived social responsibility that is influenced by societal activities, norms or standard. In today’s world, CSR can be defined as regards to all aspects of business behaviour so that the impacts of these activities are incorporated in every corporate agenda (Orgrizek, 2001; Coldwell, 2001). So, with the literatures definition of CSR, it can be concluded that CSR is the continuing commitment taken by business organizations to strengthen their ethical concepts and social involvement in society, contribute to economic development, sponsor charitable programs, and improve the quality of the workforce and also the increment of services provided. However on the other hand, Freeman & Liedtka (1991) argue that CSR can promote incompetence by leading the managers to get themselves involved in areas beyond their expertise, that is, trying to repair society’s ill. To sum up, those CSR theories and approaches are focused on four main points: (1) Long term profit maximization, (2) Responsible use of power, (3) Social demand integration, and (4) Achieving a good society. The adoption of the approaches in CSR on some level reflects the motivations of a company behind its CSR implementation. Discussion & Findings: Is CSR limited to economic duty? The evolution of international markets, easy and inexpensive communication structures, increased consumer awareness, wider distribution of risk, environmental awareness, and concern for global equality have put more emphasis on the social responsibility of corporations. Many organisations have introduced new policy instruments to promote corporate citizenship and corporate social responsibility. As mentioned above, there exists mainly two school of thoughts, some believe that social responsibility is limited  only to economic duty that is the welfare of an organisation’s stockholders while others believe that organizations should adopt a broader view of its responsibilities that includes not only stockholders, but many other constituencies as well, including employees, suppliers, customers, the local community, local, state, and federal governments, environmental groups, and other special interest groups. Firstly, the neoclassical paradigm of management explains ethics and corporate social responsibility as nothing but a new strategic instrument to ensure long-term shareholder value. As Milton Friedman wrote long ago â€Å"The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.† He argues that â€Å"there is one and only one social responsibility of a business- to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud†. Milton Friedman’s claim that the sole social responsibility of business is to increase its profits places businesses into an adversarial relation to society. That is, businesses become the enemies, the exploiters, of the society of which they are a part. His statement implies that a business is allowed to behave in a socially irresponsible, and even socially destructive, manner, if this increases its profit. There are ways of increasing a business’ profits which are damaging to the society of which it is a part. Indeed, it is a tendency of business to seek to externalize all costs. Thus, to pollute, to ignore worker safety regulations, to engage in misrepresentation if not fraud, etc. If the business is in competition, and these things are permitted, it must do them, since its competitors, similarly situated, will also do these things. Its competitors, if allowed to externalize costs by polluting, will do so, and so it must also. Its competitors, if allowed to externalize costs by skimping on worker safety, will do so, and so it must do so also. Equally, many authors like Porter and Jensen, agree to Milton Friedman statement and they also argue that social responsibility is only an economic duty. They articulate arguments to demonstrate the irreconcilability of economic aims with broader social concerns. Michael Porter argues that corporate philanthropy is only meaningful as a part of the economic strategy of a firm while Michael Jensen maintains that it is logically impossible for a company to serve more than one objective. Moreover, Drucker (1984) had the opinion  that: â€Å"business turns a social problem into economic opportunity and economic benefit, into productive capacity, human competence, into well paid jobs, and into wealth†. Therefore, Drucker also argued that social responsibility is limited to economic duty. Although these kinds of arguments can be defined in order to emphasize the economic advantages of corporate social responsibility and economic advantages of corporate social responsibility and the economic duties of corporations, they do not capture the broader role that corporate citizenship plays in society. The world is changing and nowadays cor porations are now held accountable not just by the government, but also by the public. Corporate responsibility must now take into account how dealings with customers, shareholders and employees are seen by the world. Large global corporations know that people are watching them and that any wrongdoing will not go unnoticed. Many companies have a social conscience, treat employees fairly and try to do the best for their shareholders while trying to be socially responsible. There are, however, many other corporations who see nothing wrong with employing third world country workers to make their products. It is only due to groups who monitor such activities that these issues become public. Many corporations have been forced into taking corporate responsibility at a broader level that is now businesses do not limit corporate responsibility only to economic duty. They know that it does not make good business sense to be seen as a company that is damaging the world that we live in. Huge penalties and fines also await corporations that break ethical and environmental laws. Corporate responsibility has a huge impact not only on the local community, but also on the world. Its affects are social, economic and environmental. Bad and good corporate responsibility has effects that reach from the worker in the third world country to the air that we breathe. Furthermore, a growing number of writers over the last quarter of a century have recognized that the activities of an organization impact upon the external environment and gave suggested that such an organization should therefore be accountable to a wider audience than simply its shareholders. In the 1970’s many writers evincing concern with the social performance of a business, as a member of society at large. This concern was stated by Aukerman (1975) who argued that big business was recognizing the need to adapt to a new social climate of community accountability, but that the orientation of business to financial  results was inhibiting social responsiveness. Similarly, Mc Donald and Puxty (1979) maintain that companies are no longer the instruments of shareholders alone but exist within society and so therefore have responsibilities to that society, and that there is therefore a shift towards the greater accountability of companies to all participants. Moreover, author like Carroll (1979; 2008, 500) stated that â€Å"The social responsibility of business encompasses the economic, legal, ethical and discretionary expectations that a society has of organizations at a given point in time†. Carroll’s definition is often pictured in the above CSR Pyramid, and is where many CSR practitioners and theoreticians start. As can be seen above, he argued that companies should have economic responsibilities. Obviously, without making a profit then a company will cease to exist and CSR dies. However, the key issue is that CSR is not anti-profits, simply is all about how profits are made! The economic responsibilities cited in the definition refer to society’s expectation that organizations will produce good and services that are needed and desired by customers and sell those goods and services at a reasonable price. Organizations are expected to be efficient, profitable, and to keep shareholder interests in mind. Carroll then goes on to mention legal responsibilities but doesn’t consider those countries where the law is ignored (corrupt Governments for instance). The legal responsibilities relate to the expectation that organizations will comply with the laws set down by society to govern competition in the marketplace. Organizations have thousands of legal responsibilities governing almost every aspect of their operations, including consumer and product laws, environmental laws, and employment laws. Ethical responsibilities come next, but it seems that ethical behavior is not so easy to define. It concerns societal expectations that go beyond the law, such as the expectation that organizations will conduct their affairs in a fair and just way. This means that organizations are expected to do more than just comply with the law, but also make proactive efforts to anticipate and meet the norms of society even if those norms are not formally enacted in law. At the top of the pyramid is ‘philanthropy’. This may involve such things as philanthropic support of programs benefiting a community or the nation. It may also involve donating employee expertise and time to worthy causes. But in most  cases, philanthropy is seen as a first step toward CSR and all the other levels are often ignored by most businesses. Therefore, Caroll argues that business ethics, values-driven management, and corporate social responsibility are standards of governance that make it possible conceive of the corporation as both an economic instrument and a good corporate citizen. Conclusion: The importance of serving the society where the companies are operating is a legal and moral responsibility for both the public and private companies. Big companies are always exploiting the resources of a place and they should compensate for that. Companies should understand that, it can stay in the market with the help of the customers and the society in which it operates alone. Neither financial abilities nor the smart governance or management will help the companies in achieving their long term goals. In order to achieve long term goals, the companies need to execute their social responsibilities in a fruitful manner. On a concluding note, corporate social responsibility is not helping the poor and needy people alone. The company should keep morality and ethics in all its operations in order to fully execute their social responsibilities. Companies should never try to exploit the natural resources injudiciously. Moreover they should never engage in activities which are harmful to the environment. In short, corporate social responsibility is a wide topic which includes a company’s commitment to the society, stakeholders and the environment in which it operates. REFERENCES: Archie B. Carroll, Ann K. Buchholtz Business & Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management David Crowther; Gà ¼ler Aras Corporate Social responsibility Davis Keith, L Blomstrom Robert, 2002 Business & Society: Environment & Responsibility† 3rd Edition MC Graw Hill International Edition. Mark S. Schwartz. Corporate Social Responsibility: An Ethical Approach Porter M.E & Kramer M.2006 Strategy & Society, The link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility, Harvard Business Review.

The meaning of beauty essay

I believe that beauty Is In the eye of the beholder. What one person would consider a flaw; another might think it an adorable quirk. Since no one is Identical, this means there's no true definition of beauty. It's all based on our perception. First of all, the way we perceive beauty Is affected largely by the media. Growing up In a heavily media Influenced culture; many people believe that being beautiful Is synonymous to being â€Å"hot†.In movies, the ugly† girl rarely ever â€Å"gets the guy'. The way television portrays beauty Is wrong, and hurtful, because It reinforces the Idea that to be beautiful, you must be attractive. Beauty Is more than Just skin deep. The word â€Å"beautiful† encompasses the mind and soul of a person, not Just their body and face. Regardless, people may argue that the meaning of beauty Is Ingrained In us biologically. What we find â€Å"naturally attractive† helps us define who an Ideal mate would be.But now that the arrival of our race doesn't depend on our reproduction, we can redefine the definition of beauty to suit our psychological needs. People have ruined their health and taken unnecessary risks, since they're willing to do whatever it takes to be â€Å"beautiful. † In conclusion, saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder would embrace the fact that there are infinite definitions for this word. For this reason, I celebrate that beauty is more than what is merely on the outside.