Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Common Sense Economics

Macroeconomics Professor Coppedge December 5, 2011 Common Sense Economics Common Sense Economics is packed with valuable information, and approaches presenting this information in a way that is less dry than a conventional textbook. Although there is a lot to learn in this book, I feel like I have already been introduced to 90% of the content in class, this book is simply a supplement and review. The book is broken down into 4 sections: Ten key elements of economics, Seven major sources of economic progress, Economic progress and the role of government, and Twelve key elements of practical personal finance.I believe the discussion of personal finance outlined in the fourth section, while important, is outside of the scope of this course and will therefore not be discussed in this paper. This book is very much a textbook, therefore going through the material and listing off what is in the book will not be feasible in such a short paper, I will however cover the information that struck me as the most interesting or important.Almost everything in the first part of the book is common sense, there is nothing free, people respond to incentives, decisions are made in the margin, profit drives business decisions, the invisible hand. The points that I found more interesting were points 7 and 10: People earn income by helping others and too often long-term consequences of an action are ignored. The book states that if you figure out a way to help other people you will be rewarded with a large income.Even people who are damaging themselves believe that they are getting what they want, for instance cigarette smokers, they are ruining their bodies and destroying their lives, but they want the cigarette and by helping them get the cigarette, companies make a very large amount of money. Cigarette smoking can also tie into point 10: Too often long-term consequences, or the secondary effects, of an action are ignored. Many people who smoke will tell you that they simply â€Å" don’t think about it† because they know if they consider the secondary effects, or he opportunity cost of their decision to smoke, they would quit. Of the second section in the book: Seven major sources of economic progress, I find point number 4 the most interesting. An efficient capital market, this is something that I had not thought of when considering things that need to happen for the economy to grow, it is something that happens behind the scenes and you don’t hear much about it, but it seems like one of the more important driving forces.If there is no-one investing capital into wealth creating projects then the economy will continue to only grow minimally until there is a way of getting money into the hands of investors. I believe that investors need to have low barriers to entry, IE taxes and fees, but they do need to be held accountable for any botched projects, this will give investors a reason to seek out good investments and let the bad investments s ink rather than making Americans pay for them.Perhaps one of the more interesting topic of discussion is: Economic progress and the Role of Government. This topic can go on for days, but the basic functions that the government needs to fulfil in order for the economy to progress are: protect the private rights of individuals and supply goods that cannot be provided through markets. There are many things that can impede the government from doing it’s job, the most prevalent in my opinion is human nature. Voters vote for politicians promising the most benefit to them, ignoring rule 10 of part 1.The book states that â€Å"unless [the government is] restrained by constitutional rules special interest groups will use the democratic process to fleece taxpayers and consumers. † The reason this happens is because of rule 1 in part 1, incentives matter, everyone is attempting to get the most out of the system for themselves, without considering external costs. Overall, this boo k breaks down complex economic ideas into something that is easily understandable and the examples given are easily relatable. I will definitely keep this book for my reference, and I will refresh my self on it every couple of years.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

My stepmother

I have a perfect family now.   Like all proud parents, I have my mother to thank for everything.   Unlike all proud parents, however, I have my mother to thank for showing me the perfect example of how not to be a parent.   This â€Å"mother† that I refer to of course is not my birth mother but rather my stepmother.   She was forever the bane in my life.   She is, however, the reason why I am a good parent and why I have always strived to become a good parent.Now that I have two children of my own, I realize just how important it is for their upbringing to have a solid family around to support them and parents who encourage instead of discourage.   I like to think of my own family as a â€Å"can do† family and not a â€Å"don’t do or else† type of family.   I show my children the same love and affection that I received from my father and my birth mother and perhaps, I may even show my two children more love and affection because I know what i t feels like to live in fear and cower in terror.As I lay here recovering from my latest battle with my terror of a stepmother, I recall how I sensed it from the moment that I met her that we were never going to get along with each other.   While I did sense the animosity as our eyes met each other on that fateful day when I was but a child of six years old, I have never understood why my stepmother resented me so much.   There seemed to be nothing that I could do right.   This latest emotional battle that I and my stepmother had but a day ago has left me so drained.   It was not even a big deal.   It was only with regard to me wanting to speak to my father since I had not heard from him in a while and it soon heated up into full blown mud flinging.I was never this brave, for lack of better term, towards my stepmother.   I remember a time when I was six years old.   This was the same moment that I met her and I saw how she pretended to be very nice and kind towards my father and his family, meaning me and my siblings. From her mouth spouted all sorts of sweet nothings and words of praise and admiration for how fine a parent my father was and how lucky we all were to have a dad like him.   I heard from her the honeyed words of praise but saw deep in her eyes the petrifying glance of a medusa.   I was correct in my assumption as soon after my father left to attend to an errand and the monster that was lurking beneath began to emerge.The succubus who had seduced my father had now set her sights upon me, the only other woman in my father’s life and I was to be her next victim.   She pounced upon me swiftly and caught me off guard.   I was taken abrupt as she began to terrorize me and likening my appearance to that of various parts of the anatomy that I shall not mention.   To top it all off, she even dared call my own birth mother a woman of ill repute to whom I would most likely turn into.   Suffice it to say that from that moment on there would never be peace when my stepmother and I would meet.That moment in my childhood changed my life not only because from that point on I had somebody there to terrorize me but also because of the fact that it taught me a valuable lesson about parenting; never leave your children in the hands of a stranger even if other people trust them.   One can never be too cautious these days with all those veiled demons lurking and waiting for you to leave your children alone and then they pounce and harm and terrorize your children.   While that experience did turn me into a stronger person and a better parent, I firmly believe that my children do not have to undergo the same mental and emotional torture that I encountered in order to learn their lesson.It used to take me awhile to recover from the battles that me and my stepmother used to have.   There were times when I would be in shock for an entire month and would spend several days just hiding in my room and refusing to speak to anyone.   This type of experience is something best left in stories about monsters or evil stepmothers.   This is the reason why I have asked God to make me strong for my children and to give me a long life so that I can be there for them always to ensure that nobody will ever make my two children suffer.   I also ask that God make me a good mother so that I will always be able to provide for my children to keep them with me and keep them happy.Being God fearing, I felt that I could change the way my stepmother treated me by doing what Jesus told the apostle Peter and turn the other cheek.   Though my stepmother was a hypocrite, I tried my best to carry on a working, if not good, relationship with her.   I thought that my efforts had finally paid off when I heard that my stepmother had spoken to my other asking her in a very nice and friendly manner if she would be amenable to letting me stay with her.   She said that she would bring me to the United States and give me a life that was better than the one I currently had.   She could declare me as her daughter and then, together with my father, we could all go to the â€Å"Land of the Free†.   I will never forget those exact words because those were the ironic words that she chose to use when she was explaining all of this to my birth mother.It did not take a lot of convincing to make my mom amenable to the idea and soon I found myself in my room preparing for that long trip to the â€Å"Land of the Free.†Ã‚   As I packed the last of my belongings I heard my father telling my birth mother that everything would be alright and that she had nothing to worry about regarding my safety.   I was on my way to a better place and better life.   The thought made me smile yet little did I know that I this day would mark the end of one life and the beginning of another one, a life of fear, terror but ultimately happiness.My stepmother never intended for me to have that good life in the â€Å"Land of the Free.†Ã‚   She had ulterior motives at that time and simply wanted to punish my mother by taking me away from her.   The reason for her vengeance was because I was born to my birth mother while my father was married to my stepmother.   Since my stepmother could not directly go against my birth mother for fear of incurring my father’s wrath, she turned to making me suffer.   She was convinced that I was to blame for all the trouble and anxiety that she was going through and she intended to make me feel what she was feeling and more.Of course at that time, all of these ulterior motives and malicious plans were beyond my comprehension.   As a little girl I always tried my best not to hate or resent her for anything that she did to me.   I always tried to do my best to make her feel good and happy with me and to ultimately make her feel proud and happy of me.   As I eventually learned, however, such a scenario was never meant to happen.   Instead, with every act of good that I attempted, I was to be chastised and embarrassed in front of strangers and treated like I was the lowest life form on this planet.If there is a lesson to be learned from all of this, it is probably that fear is a good teacher.   If it were not for the fear that my stepmother instilled in my heart, I would not probably be the good mother that I am now.   While it is arguably a terrible feeling that I always need to fear for the safety of my children, I always tell myself that one can never be too cautious.Another lesson that I learned from all of this happened when I was around 18 years of age.   Now, my father never had any idea of the abuses that I suffered at the hands of my stepmother.   He always assumed that we were happy that way and I kept it that way since I did not want to tell on my stepmother for fear of making my life worse than it already actually was.   It was early morning when one of life’s lessons hit me sma ck on the head.   I awoke to the fists of my stepmother on my face as she berated me for not attending to some of my chores.   Apparently I had neglected to make sure that the dishes in the kitchen were as clean and shiny as she wanted them to be.   My stepmother was determined to make me pay for such an oversight and took justice in her own hands and began pummeling me with her fists.For the first time in my life, I felt an intense hatred towards my stepmother.   Nobody has ever laid a hand on me.   Not in anger.   Not in frustration.   My father was never around to console me and help me cope with my situation since he had no idea that such an atrocity was being committed under the roof of his own house.   It was that day, however, that I decided that I would no longer put up with any of this and I decided to leave home.   It was the best decision to make at that time and the worst decision to make in hindsight as I left with some guy that I had recently just met .Things soon turned bad as I fell into a string of failed relationships but just as quickly my fortunes began to improve as I met good people during the times that I needed it the most.   These recollections pain me because as I traversed this journey called life and served my sentence I met other people; people who were good unlike my own stepmother.I ask myself sometimes whether I had done anything to deserve the treatment that was receiving from my stepmother.   I asked myself if I indeed was the cause of all her troubles.   I realize that I never really asked to be born into this world.   All children are supposed to come into this world as innocents but I entered this world pronounced guilty and destined to serve my sentence from the moment that I took my first breath.My birth mother has no idea what I have been through and I don’t intend to tell her about it.   I guess that it how things should be.   As a mother, I do not want to know that my own children ha ve suffered or been hurt.   I guess the warmth and glow that overcomes a mother as she first hugs her child is the reason for that.   I was born and I too have given birth.   I was born into this world a slave, a victim of a vengeful demon.   I have been emancipated by the birth of my own children and I know that when my time comes I will have enough good memories with my own children to last me till eternity.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Research Proposal: Youth Unemployment And Attitude Towards Employment: Comparative Study Between Migrants And Non-Migrants

Abstract Nigeria’s adolescent & young adult population (aged 15-24) is currently facing a crippling problem that will endanger the future of the nation. The median age data from the world.bymap.org website is used to define the term â€Å"youth migrant and non-migrant population, or youth population†. The median age of the migrant and non-migrant population throughout the developing world does remain in a late adolescent phase with ages ranging from the 15th birthday until the 24th birthday (world.bymap.org, 2013, median age). This study expects to find that youth population attitudes toward unemployment will be similar in the migrant and non-migrant populations. I seek to examine this assertion by carrying out a qualitative investigation on the relatedness of unemployment among the youth and their attitudes based on a population analysis of the youth among the indigenous non-migrant locals and migrant immigrants in Nigeria. The migrant and non-migrant youth population is primarily located in Latin America and on the African continent to which Nigeria has a median population age of 19.1 (2010 Est.) (world.bymap.org, 2013, median age). Global unemployment rates among the youth population are on the rise (indexmundi, 2013, 1). The same case is observable in Nigeria where the number of unemployed youths accounts for more than half of the total number of unemployed people in the country (Youth Speak Community, 2013, 1. It has been suggested that attitudes of the youth may be the main reason behind the high levels of unemployment among the youth. Introduction The global rate of unemployment indicates high levels of unemployment among the youth. The median age data from the world.bymap.org website is used to define the term â€Å"youth migrant and non-migrant population, or youth population†. The median age of the migrant and non-migrant population throughout the developing world does remain in a late adolescent phase with ages ranging from the 15th birthday until the 24th birthday (world.bymap.org, 2013, median age). In fact, the rate of growth of unemployment among the youth population is higher that the case of adults (Alanana, 2003). The reported incidence of youth unemployment is even higher in developed economies as compared to emerging and developing economies. However, in the recent years the cases have been so sporadic in developing countries especially in Africa (Alanana, 2013). This is because according to Alanana (2013), the numbers of the youth population is increasing at an alarming rate as compared to the rates at which job opportunities are being created. The case of unemployment among the youth in Africa is alarming and is currently a threat to social-economic stability and peace. Nigeria is also a major immigrant destination in West Africa with over one million immigrant population. The youths accounts for a majority of the immigrant population. This represents about 0.7 percent of the population. The case of unemployment among the youth cuts across both the locals as well as the immigrants (Alanana, 2003). This paper purposes to analyse the case of unemployment among the migrant and non-migrant youth population in the country and how the attitudes affects the rates by analysing unemployment among the local youths and the immigrant youths in Nigeria.Problem statementGenerally, the rate of migrant and non-migrant youth unemployment in Nigeria is very high. However, the rates of unemployment among the youth are incomparable to the older male working population in the country. Several reasons may be behind the abnormal differences in the unemployment rates between the youth and the adult population. Several studies have associated the differences in the unempl oyment rates between the migrant and non-migrant youth populations and other adults to the attitudes posed by the youths regarding job specifications. Other studies referenced in Alanana (2013), Youth unemployment in Nigeria: some implications for the third millennium have indicated that the local youth are very selective towards jobs as compared to immigrant youth. This dissertation will examine the extent of truth in this statement by generally observing the link between unemployment among the youths and their attitudes and also examine the attitudes of immigrant and local youths towards employment opportunities in the country.Research objectivesThis research study will be guided by the following objectives: To analyse the link between unemployment among the youth and their attitudes To analyse the difference in unemployment rates between local youths and immigrant youths To examine how attitudes affects the differences in unemployment rates of the local youths and immigrant youths.Organization of the studyThis study will be divided into five chapters. The introduction will provide the background and need to study how attitudes influence unemployment in the country. This will also include a description of the research hypothesis, objectives, questions, limitations, assumptions, significance, and the approach adopted in the investigation. The second chapter will provide a detailed analysis of literature review of previous investigations relevant to the research problem. The third chapter will provide the research methodology that will be used in addressing the hypothesis and the research questions. Chapter four will represent all the data that will be collected and analysed in this planne d study. Finally, the fifth chapter will delineate on the conclusions that will be drawn in the study as well as the recommendations. Literature review For the development of an effective gap analysis, this study will analyse several previous imperial investigations and authentic statistics on unemployment among the youth in the world and specifically in Nigeria. The literature review will focus on the unemployment among locals and immigrants on a general perspective globally as well as local perspective in Nigeria. The literature reviewed in this study will be sourced from credible sources such as national and international newspaper sources that cover Nigeria, government publications and other academic journals to ensure that the process of gap analysis is founded on a comprehensive, valid, sound and reliable set of data. The study will focus on most recent studies and publications dating back to a maximum of 7 years ago to ensure the data used in the study represents the most recent situation as far as unemployment among the youth is concerned. According to Youth Speak Community (2013), Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populated country, has one of the highest unemployment rates in the world. By 2011, the unemployment rate was at about 24 % of which the rate of unemployment among the youths was estimated to be about 50% (Youth Speak Community, 2013). However, the case is similar in many other African countries such as South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana, which have unemployment rates of 25%, 40 %, and 11 % respectively (Youth Speak Community, 2013). The most critical issue affecting Nigeria and Nigerians today is the issue of unemployment and subsequently the problem in the future of unemployment is with current levels of youth unemployment in Nigeria (Bakare, 2013)Bakare states that World Bank statistical data list Nigeria’s youth unemployment rate at 38% (Bakare, 2013) but Bakare believes the real rate of Nigerian youth unemployment is closer to 80% (Bakare, 2013). The rate of youth population education continues to increase with Nigerian universities producing 150,000 graduates per year (Bakare, 2013), however; the rate of job production has not kept to pace with the production of university graduates per year (Bakare, 2013). The focus of Nigeria’s future as a result of the youth unemployment problem is also part of the research agenda of the Nigerian Universities. The Department of Business Administration and Marketing, at the Delta State University are in the process of determining how the current youth unemployment crisis will impact Nigeria’s economic and social future. According to Salami (2013), The problems Nigeria faces tomorrow will depend on how the youth population of Nigeria matures as adolescents into adulthood. â€Å"Records from the National Population Commission (2001) indicate that youths under the age of 30 constitute over half of the approximately 150 million Nigerians. According to Doreo Partners (2013) unemployment rate in Nigeria is growing at the rate of 16% per year with the youth impacted the most and accounting for three times the general unemployment.† (Salami, 2013) Damilola (2013) describes the rise in unemployment in Nigeria as â€Å"one of the major social problems affecting the growth and development of this country.† (Damilola, 2013) The situation is described as so dire the population of Nigerians cannot meet basic needs due to the lack of jobs. Damilola also describes a problem of cronyism in Nigeria that awards jobs to college graduates with political connections rather than based on individual merit. The suggestion by Damilola is for the youth to be â€Å"creative and learn different vocational skills.† (Damilola, 2013) A startling report by the Department of Sociology at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria has indicated that youth unemployment has led to a rise in violent crimes (Ajaegbu, 2012) The overall level of despair of the youth population is blamed for the level of youth unemployment. â€Å"By using the deprivation theory proposed by Ted Gurr, this study has explored the proximate and ultimate causes involving the youths in violent crimes. If factors that create the feeling of deprivation and frustration created by unemployment are addressed, Nigeria’s youths will not engage in violent crimes.† (Ajaegbu, 2012) According to the Christian Science monitor, the youth unemployment problem leaves the Nigerian youth population so despondent that militant groups are better able to prey on these populations and recruit them into criminal organizations. â€Å"The vulnerability of unemployed youth in Nigeria’s northeast leaves them open to Boko Harem’s narratives, which have only been augmented by weak governance and the poor delivery of basic services. Boko Haram members, who live in the city’s poor communities, command the loyalty of those who have languished into poverty.† (Parker, 2013) This issue of militant groups in Nigeria leaves the migrant and non-migrant youth population prone to exposure of issues relating to criminality and recruitment into militant groups. Methodology The survey response questionnaire will be of a qualitative research design to measure the subjective response from the migrant and non-migrant youth population in Nigeria. The focus of the survey questionnaire will be to assess the sentiment, or feelings, of the youth population with regard to their current and future employment prospect. Qualitative research involves the use of a subjective inquiry into the survey questionnaire, which is necessary to establish a base for analysis to include meaningful words, observations, stories, individualities, and chromatic renders with minimal consideration of the number of participants (Higgs & Cherry, 2009). This approach will enable the investigation and examination of the youth unemployment issue with a small sample population, and hence allowing the investigation to proceed with a limited budget. Furthermore, since the investigation requires a deeper analysis and explanation on the links between attitudes and unemployment among the y ouths, the use of qualitative methodology will allow the study to analyse the objectives effectively. The data will be collected from each participant of the sample population using interview questions derived based on the objectives identified in the introduction. The data will be coded by linking a number (1, 2, etc.) to each survey response question. The investigation will collect data via semi-structured interviews. After data collection is the analysis process. The analysis will be based on the observer’s impression as the main analysis technique. The use of observer’s impression has been proven to be simple and effective in producing in-depth analysis (Higgs & Cherry, 2009).Ethical statementGenerally, this study will observe all the ethical requirements in all the processes of data collection and analysis as is expected under an Internal Review Board (IRB). Some of the factors that will be considered include protection of participants’ privacy and confidentiality. Conclusion From the above introduction, it is evident that unemployment among the youth in Nigeria is a major social and economic issue in the country. Developing a deeper understanding on the reasons behind the high levels of migrant & non-migrant youth unemployment is necessary to ensure effective steps are taken to deal with the issue. This study will provide an examination and render a conclusion to the notion of the assertion that attitudes of the youth contribute to the high levels of unemployment. This will expand the current knowledge on the issue of youth unemployment and hence allow policy makers to have a better understanding of the issue for effective policy development References Alanana, O. O., Youth unemployment in Nigeria: some implications for the third Millennium, Global Journal of Social Sciences, 2 (1), 21-26. 2013 Bakare, Bilikis. â€Å"Addressing youth unemployment in Nigeria.† BusinessDay |. 2013 http://businessdayonline.com/2013/11/addressing-youth-unemployment-in-nigeria/ (accessed November 21, 2013). Higgs, J. & Cherry, N., Doing qualitative research on practice’, in Higgs, J., Horsfall, D. & Grace, S. 2009 (eds.), writing Qualitative Research on Practice, Rotterdam, Netherlands: Sense Publishers F., J. â€Å"Why is youth unemployment so high?.† The Economist. 2013. http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/05/economist-explains-why-youth-unemployment-so-high (accessed November 21, 2013). Salami, Youth unemployment in Nigeria: A time for creative intervention. International Journal of Business and Marketing Management, Vol. 1(2); pp. 18-26, July 2013. Retrieved from: http://www.resjournals.org/IJBMM/PDF/2013/July/Salami.pdf Damilola, Saanu. â€Å"Nigerian Tribune.† How to tackle youth unemployment in Nigeria. 2013 http://www.tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/component/k2/item/18043-how-to-tackle-youth-unemployment-in-nigeria.html (accessed November 21, 2013). Parker, Gillian. â€Å"In Boko Haram country, Nigeria’s new crackdown brings mixed feelings.† 2013. The Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2013/0528/In-Boko-Haram-country-Nigeria-s-new-crackdown-brings-mixed-feelings (accessed November 21, 2013). Youth Speak Community, Youth Unemployment In Nigeria: Shocking Statistics, Facts And Why The Future May Not Be So Bright Afterall. 2013 Retrieved from http://risenetworks.org/2013/05/16/youth-unemployment-in-nigeria-is-there-hope-for-nigerian-youth/ â€Å"Median Age – world statistics and charts as map, diagram and table.† Median Age of the World. 2013 http://world.bymap.org/MedianAge.html (accessed November 21, 2013).

Trends - Social Networking sites Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Trends - Social Networking sites - Essay Example It has quickly become a major source of information with many people relying on it to get news from all over the world, for research, to do market research and make purchases and to keep in touch with one another over great distances. One of the most influential consequences of the internet is social networking, which has become big business for those who run social networking companies since they not only charge people to pay to advertise on their websites, but many have also developed the tendency of selling the personal information of their users to other commercial companies. Social networking has come to set many trends in the world today, since it has changed the way people interact with one another as well as created a medium for people from different parts of the world to communicate. Approximately 10 percent of workers world over telecommute and this figure is exponentially high in developed countries. The most influential trends brought about by social networking sites incl ude the virtual world becoming almost as real as the physical one, phenomenal growth of information over the internet, creation of mobile devices and finally, an increased transparency into the private lives of individuals, since many share their private matters over the social networks. The psychological impacts of social networking especially on the youths have been phenomenal over the last decade; â€Å"15-24 still represent the most highly-engaged segment of social networkers† thus they make the bulk of internet users (Sighn). To many of them, the internet has become such an important role that they have become obsessed with it and they cannot function without it. Today, millions have become addicted to social networking and they literary live and sleep online for some people being disconnected makes them feel unsettle and anxious, not unlike deprived drug addicts. Nevertheless the internet has also radically changed and improved communication; social networking can be ap plauded for the developments which they have made in interpersonal communication. Interaction among people in different parts of the world has become easier and more convenient, because there is no longer any need to have physical contact for communication to take place. Instead, they have made communication virtual, with more people subscribing to the use of social network sites to communicate every day. Social networks have effectively ensured that the need for human beings to socialize has been satisfied, as well as enabled those individuals who use them to be able to communicate with large numbers of people at the same time (Singh). Thus, social networking sites have not only managed to fulfill the need for individuals to communicate with one another, but they have also created a situation where physical interaction is no longer necessary for communication. In addition, social networks have made the virtual world, to be almost as real of the physical one; in fact, for some peopl e, the virtual presence is more real than the physical one since most of their interactions with others are done over social networks (Brown 31). These networks have become the best platforms on which individuals can use to effectively communicate with each other, and this explains the reason as to why quite a large number of people prefer spending their time in these sites. It is equivocal

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Event Handling And Web Forms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Event Handling And Web Forms - Essay Example Since their inception in the early 1990's, Web forms have become the essential interface of the transactional Web. They are a central component of e-commerce applications and are used to collect business-critical information. It has also been said that Web forms are changing the paradigm of Business workflows. Do you agree with this? Discuss this in the relation of Business workflows and data collection at various points of these workflows. Any company that is engaged in e-commerce has to deal with information at three stages – ordering of a product, processing of that order and shipping the product to the customer. Different information needs to be available at these three points and also needs to be transferred from one point to another. Web forms are one of the most exciting innovations of modern times. They allow the business to interact directly with clients, prospective customers and even the employees of the organization. With the advent of web forms, business workflows of organizations have changed drastically. The first effect of web forms has been the creation of a platform-independent environment for e-commerce. Business workflows are basically concerned about collecting of information which might be unstructured and then moving this information in a structured format to the back end where it can be used for information processing. Until the advent of web forms, structured data was the purview of database applications and the unstructured information was collected through different tools.

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Hispanic American Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 4

Hispanic American Diversity - Essay Example Hispanics share the heritage of the Spanish language but many do not speak Spanish at all. Among the Mexican Americans, 23 percent speak English, 26 percent are bilingual and 51 percent are Spanish dominant. The society is concerned about their immigrant status and is often confused whether their stay is legal or illegal. The Mexican Americans comprise of the affluent as well as poor peasants. They usually come from low income background and have less formal education. They have made gain in formal schooling but still lag behind most Hispanics. Family and religion are a great source of strength to the community. They have religious preference for the Catholic Church. The court of law does not provide protection for the poor, Spanish-speaking. The community has a culture of poverty as they have no future planning, no commitment to marriage and no work ethic. They prefer to adhere to their Mexican culture. As the number of Mexican Americans is growing, they have become conscious voters . Thus subgroup is politically conscious and when they did not get any response from the established politicians, they set up their own party. The Mexican Americans are eligible for dual nationality. Even if their children are born in America, they can claim Mexican nationality, although dual nationality does not give them voting rights in Mexico. They can be found in large number in New York. Puerto Ricans are English-oriented with about 39 percent being English-dominant and 40 percent of the population being bi-lingual. Only 21 percent of the Puerto Ricans are Spanish-dominant. This subgroup too, is challenged by the immigrant officials but they have the same voting rights as other Americans. Puerto Ricans are no longer concentrated in New York but are dispersed throughout New Jersey, Illinois, Florida and California. They are more familiar with the US culture and the English language. Unemployment among the mainland Puerto Ricans is high. They have a vibrant

Friday, July 26, 2019

E-Commerce and Information Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

E-Commerce and Information Technology - Essay Example IT implementation, therefore, requires evaluation measures that are effective in order to be successful in implementing the new technologies intended for the organization. Theories have been evolving in recent years that are able to give guidance to an organization in implementing innovations. Technology Acceptance Model Technology acceptance model theory specifies the casual relationship present in system design features, the behaviour of usage and how the toll is easy for usage. TAM predicts the acceptability of a specific tool and any modifications that should be put in place for the tool, to be acceptable by the end users. For an information to be accepted the users will analyse its usefulness and how easy it will be for them to use it. Behaviour intention affects the usage of information systems including the perception of how it is going to be utilised. An individual’s attitude and the impact the tool to be used has on the performance greatly affects the usage of a syste m. It is true to say that if an individual does not welcome the use of information system in the workplace but has perceptions that it will improve work performance; the individual will eventually use the information systems at the end of it all. With TAM, there is a link between what an employee at the work place perceives and the usefulness of the tool to be implemented. The extent to which technology will be used in an organization is mainly caused by technology diffusion;1 moreover, an employee’s ease of use attitude at the workplace will be influenced by a self-efficacy mechanism and his instrumentality. The behaviour and intentions a person creates towards a system will influence the person’s perception about the said system. In some cases, an individual may form a behavioural intention of a system and not necessarily have an attitude towards it. This creates a strong relation between a system that is the self-reported usage and has a perceived usefulness and it affects an individual’s intention. On the contrary, perceived ease of use has a significant effect on the behaviour intention of and individual and it later subsides over a period. Behaviour intention of a person towards a system, therefore, is greatly influenced by its perceived usefulness and the perception of ease of use. DHL Express Finland, in a case study carried out by Kuula and Annu, adopted an IntraShip application in order to improve on their B2B customers who make orders at DHL.2 The orders that were made to DHL gave the customers a number one experience. Shipping orders, being an important part of a company’s daily operations, made the consumers have a high level of usability and the experience they had been varied within a period of 6 months to 7 years. Majority of the users had been using the applications for a period not more than two years and later changed to other service providers other than DHL Express. The customers were satisfied with the changed situation at DHL Express, and it was problematic, but it is also smooth using IntraShip application. The main issue with the customers was the fact that there were issues relating to the ability to learn of IntraShip, and this was regarding facilitating conditions such as training. Even though, the application had certain features that were harder to learn, most customers thought the application was simple and in a matter of time, they would get used to it. Having internet and technology

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Analyzing Ragged Dick and comparing its depiction of status and Essay

Analyzing Ragged Dick and comparing its depiction of status and identity with that of Black Protest and the Great Migration and - Essay Example The boundaries which are created through each story show how culture is based on creating divisions within society because of stereotypes, status and ways in which relates to material goods. The first concept related to identity and status and the divisions which this creates in American society comes from the ideal of class. In each of the stories, there is a division of class which occurs, specifically between the lower, middle and higher classes. The point which is made with each of these classes shows that this is based on wealth and money, which allows any individual to change their class if they can make wealth. When these specific classes clash or the information about wealth is recognized, then it creates the division. For instance, in â€Å"Ragged Dick,† Dick is known to have lived on the streets and without a home; however, if this is disclosed to those in the middle class, which he is trying to turn to through wealth and money, then it will create division. For inst ance, when he is seen walking with Frank, there is recognition that Frank has a wealthy home while Dick has been on the streets.1 This information shows the divisions between class and how it turns from financial situations into social status. The concept of social status and the relationship to wealth is not only important in determining divisions between rich and poor. The concept of status created more divisions that were based on other stereotypes created within American society. One’s identity was furthered with divisions of color, race and the area which one was from, such as displayed in â€Å"The Great Migration†.2 This story is similar to that of Dick’s, specifically because the looks which one has and the ethnicity which they belong to create the same division. The identity then relates to the class which one belongs to. The revelation in this story is important because it defines not only divisions created in American society through race, but shows h ow society has created the boundaries of identity beginning with stereotypes of race, then leading to wealth expectations, neighborhoods which one should live in and the lifestyles which one has. Each of these attributes of division are seen with the movie â€Å"Lady and the Tramp† as a way of showing how the identity and status become a sense of conflict. The main plot of this story shows how a dog from the other side of the tracks falls in love with a mongrel from the other side of town. When looking at the division between these two, it can be seen that there are complexities with wealth, looks, race and the class divisions between the two. The boundaries are based on the identification of several attributes which are incorrect in the two being together3. This creates the central conflict in the story and shows how division is based on the superficial identities which are created in society. The differences which occurred within in society and identity, all which are divid ed according to the wealth, ethnicity and identity of an individual, come into conflict when the stereotypes of class are no longer effective. The economic, social and political concepts tie together, specifically because of the status which is held. If one has a specific social status based on wealth, then begins to change into a

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Sleeping Pill Ambien Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sleeping Pill Ambien - Essay Example The jobs, relationships, productivity, health and safety are all put at risk. And lack of sleep due to sleep loss or sleep disorders is taking a serious toll globally. There are many who experience problems with sleep and often depend on sleeping pills. Sleeping pills belong to a larger group of substances known as the sedative-hypnotics, which slow down or "sedate" the central nervous system that includes the brain, and spinal cord. This affects thinking, feeling, and body movement and function (AADAC, 2003). Sleeping pills are not a new concept. Herbal potions and the opiate laudanum were used centuries ago to induce sleep. Barbiturates were introduced by the early 1900s. Later in 60s benzodiazepines were introduced. And in 90s a safer class of drugs for sleeplessness known as nonbenzodiazepine hypnotics came into the market (Mayo clinic staff 2007). Sleeping pills act by binding with protein molecules called GABA receptors on the surface of nerve cells. The same protein receptor molecules bind at the same time with a neurotransmitter chemical called GABA. Barbiturates and other sleeping pills accentuate the action of GABA which causes the receptor molecule to allow the negatively charged chloride ions to enter the nerve cells. The chloride ions then make the inside the nerve cell more negatively polarized, which in turn, makes the nerve cells less active. In the 1970's, a new group of sleeping pills became popular, molecules which chemically are named benzodiazepines. The main advantage of benzodiazepines is that they are less likely to produce acute overdose deaths than barbiturates (Kripke 2006). Chemical Structure of Zolpidem (Ambien) Source: Wikipedia Zolpidem (Ambien): Mechanism of action Zolpidem (Ambien) is used for the short-term treatment of insomnia. Zolpidem is a prescription short-acting nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic that potentiates gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an inhibitory neurotransmitter, by binding to benzodiazepine type 1 (BZ1) receptors. However, zolpidem binds more exclusively to some of the several kinds of benzodiazepine receptors, and as a result it causes less anti-anxiety effect, less muscle weakness and less anti-epileptic effect than most benzodiazepines. It has been claimed that zolpidem distorts EEG sleep patterns less than other hypnotics and that it produces

The Death penalty versus Life Without Parole Research Proposal

The Death penalty versus Life Without Parole - Research Proposal Example Such people argue that life sentence without parole is far better than death penalty since death penalty is immoral and highly expensive compared to other means of punishment. In my opinion, capital punishment is not suitable for a civilized society like America and I would like to research this topic further in order to help my readers to better understand why life sentencing without parole is better than capital punishment. â€Å"If we execute a person, what is the difference between us and the criminal who has committed the horrifying crime of killing another individual?†(10 Pros and Cons of Capital Punishment). The criminal justice system normally give capital punishment to the criminals for taking the life of innocent people, citing the reasons that nobody has the right to take the life of others. However, by giving capital punishment, the criminal justice system is also repeating the same mistake done by the criminal. â€Å"According to a study by the Indiana Criminal L aw Study Commission released in 2002, executions cost the state 38 percent more than the costs of keeping an inmate incarcerated for life† (Capital Punishment - The Costs of Capital Punishment). Capital punishment is highly expensive because of the complexities in the trial procedures in such cases.

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Five Trends that Will Shape the Global Luxury Market Essay

Five Trends that Will Shape the Global Luxury Market - Essay Example A watch is more than a timepiece and forms part of an individual’s appearance and jeweler. The watches have been made through careful craft as an integral allure of mechanical watches. The brands share a tradition and cultural prestige derived from centuries of innovation and expertise that is not readily reproduced. The design aesthetic is central to the selection of watches, but it requires cultural capital so as to make artistry worth the price tag. This dissertation explores how the art value of timepieces stirs up consumers to have a desire to purchase luxury watches, especially in reference to Cartier watches, which embrace art element and normally manifest a story behind them. The high reputation that Cartier enjoys can be linked to the art value of Cartier timepieces, especially owing to the history, meaning, and the story behind the Cartier watches collection. Cartier produces watches and jewelry that are typified by an understated, timeless style with a harmonious co mbination of personality and discretion, aristocratic touch, and elegance (Barrett 2000, p.349). Cartier watches also have other strengths dwelling on functionality and easy accessibility, which means that the products can be accessed by anyone across the globe (Barrett 2000, p.350). Cartier watches can be regarded as the ambassador of luxury owing to the high relation that the brand enjoys in prestige watch-making. Presently, Cartier brand is proud of its private collection comprised of collector watches, the company’s range of fine jeweler’s watches, its extravagant timepieces that perfectly embody the Cartier dream and sports and products that have won a place for the brand in history. On the other hand, Vacheron Constantin incorporates personality to the brand and human interaction. The products can be regarded as have an alluring packaging, intriguing ads, and its sensuous looking appearance.

Monday, July 22, 2019

Happy Days Essay Example for Free

Happy Days Essay Remember that old television show Happy Days?† Well, when I was in the fifth grade I remember thinking, My family is like ‘Happy Days’. We were happy and there was plenty of laughter and love to go around. Furthermore, like the television show, there were plenty of struggles and some kind of dilemma to solve before the night was over. No matter the problems the day may have brought, I always went to bed feeling happy, safe, and loved. Unlike the majority of kids in my fifth-grade class with broken homes, I just knew that my parents would be together forever. After reading Bradshaw on: The Family by John Bradshaw, I can see now that I may not have had a perfect family. My mom and dad got married in 1962 when she was just 16 and my dad was 23. She was in high school and he was in the Marines when they met, fell in love, and got married. My dad got out of the Marines just before the Vietnam War and went to work for Union Pacific Railroad. They were married two years before they decided to start having kids. My brother Shawn was born first, then me, and last but definitely not least, my little brother Bobby. We were all two years apart. We grew up in a small house on five acres out in the country. There, my mom had plenty of room for her horses and my dad had plenty of room to groom my brothers into great athletes and dirt bike racers. We were like the average all-American family. We were taught to be proud of our country, to respect our elders and to do as we were told. We enjoyed sports, picnics, the drive-in movies, walks on the beach and trips to Disneyland. We would get together with family friends to barbeque every Fourth of July and set off fireworks. We went camping every summer. We flew kites in March when the wind would start to blow and waited up for Santa to come every Christmas Eve. We watched the ball drop with Dick Clark on television every New Years Eve. Sometimes on the weekends my parents spent time with friends playing cards and dancing while us kids played board games and watched movies in another room. As far as we knew or were concerned, we were the perfect family. In his younger days, my dad looked just like Buddy Holly. He was passionate, loving and hot tempered but would do anything for anyone. He never met a stranger and went out of his way to make a friend wherever he went. He was that guy whom the neighbors would seek out if they needed help with something. My mom was beautiful. She looked like a cross between Sophia Lauren and Jackie Onassis. She had a great sense of humor, was easy going, mild-mannered and could be very stubborn at times. She was nice but unlike my dad, she enjoyed keeping to herself and didnt go out of her way to talk to people. My mom and dad did argue sometimes. Dad would usually yell, but they always worked it out. They both worked hard to provide the best of everything for my brothers and myself. My parents taught us that it was important to work hard and to put pride into whatever job you may be doing, whether it be cleaning toilets or flying a plane. Do your job as if you were doing it for Jesus, is what my dad u sed to say. My dad was the kind of dad who wanted his kids to be the best at everything, especially my oldest brother Shawn. He was always one of the coaches on Shawns baseball and football teams. And of course, Shawn was a great athlete. He was a pitcher in baseball and a quarterback in football and a national champion in flat track motorcycle racing. Bobby was really the more talented of the two, but for some reason, my dad put way more time and energy into my oldest brother Shawn. Bobby was kind of over looked. He always used to tell Shawn that he had to set a good example for his brother and sister. And he did. Shawn got straight As all through school, excelled in sports, and became quite successful in his business career as a project manager in an electrical engineering firm. I can see now that my brother Shawn was encouraged to play the rigid role of â€Å"Hero.† â€Å"Another child will take the role of Saint and Hero, becoming a straight-A student, president of his class and winn ing honors. This person gives the family a sense of dignity† (Bradshaw 33). In a healthy family there may be roles being played but they are flexible and changing. It is dysfunctional for one person to play a rigid role such as â€Å"Hero† and that is what was going on with Shawn. I dont think my family was drastically dysfunctional, or that we really needed to have a hero, but for some reason, my dad felt we needed one. By putting so many demands on my brother to be perfect, he took away his freedom to think, feel, to take risks, and to be his true self. This was a form of the Poisonous Pedagogy (Bradshaw 7) that Bradshaw talks about. â€Å"Children are considered ‘good when they think and behave the way they are taught to think and behave† (Bradshaw 7). This was exactly my dad’s way of thinking. He drilled that into us as children. I think my dad really meant well and wanted us to succeed in life. Even though he drilled this success talk into us, he was still kind and did always encourage us and tell us good things about ourselves. One way he demonstrated this was every morning he would wake me up and sing these words to me â€Å"Hey did you happen to see the most beautiful girl in the world (Charlie Rich)†. It’s funny, I find myself singing to my boys in the morning, and sometimes they get so irritated, just like I used to. I bet someday they will sing to their children in the morning. My mom was really a great mom. She went on all the field trips during my elementary school days. I was always so proud because she was really pretty, and all the boys wanted to sit next to her on the bus during the field trips. She was a hard worker. She worked at the walnut factory during walnut season, often working 10-hour days, and seven days a week. All the while, she would get up early to make us breakfast, and to be sure we had everything we needed for school that day. She was not perfect though. When things would get crazy, and we would argue and fight as most kids do, she would often threaten to leave town and run away. Sometimes she would tell us to go ahead and kill each other or ask us how we would like it if we lived in an orphanage. She would then leave to her room to escape and go lay down. It worked when we were little, but after a few years, we knew that was mom’s way of saying enough. She would often say â€Å"you guys are driving me crazy; you are going to put me in the nuthouse!† I do not think Bradshaw would say that these were effective ways of communicating he would refer to these as â€Å"cause and effect distortions† (Bradshaw 56). This simply means that her statement about driving her crazy is wrong, it is impossible to â€Å"drive† someone crazy. It was, however, better than beating us. One of my favorite memories of my mom is how she would tuck us in every night at bedtime, kiss us softly on the forehead and say our prayers with us; this made me feel so loved and safe. Growing up I could tell my mom anything, and she would not lecture me, she usually just quietly listened. Even though my mother had an ineffective way of communicating, we did end up having a wonderful relationship and became the best of friends. I moved a few hours away from my parents and my mom, and I still would talk on the phone every other day or so. Until she passed away, my mom never missed any of my boys first days of school or any of their sporting events. My younger brother Bobby was the cutest little boy ever created. He actually looked like a little cherub, with blond loose curly hair, big blue eyes, long eyelashes and dimples. My little brother was cute for a reason. That guy could find trouble like no one else and get out of it because of his charming cuteness. We used to joke that he must be like a cat and have nine lives, he was always getting hurt. I spent a lot of time bandaging him up. Now that I look back, I think he was always trying to keep up or compete with his older brother, going full force, not thinking about the consequences of his actions. Bobby was magnetic, and everyone loved him. Bobby did grow up feeling like second best and used to confide in me that he felt like the black sheep of the family. I can see how my dads dysfunctional obsessed relationship with my older brother made him feel that way, for I used to feel the same way too. I do believe that Bradshaw would probably say that Bobby was acting out the scapegoat role (Bradshaw 33), trying to get attention any way he could. Bobby went through some rough patches in his lifetime but with therapy and a lot of hard work, he was able to get straightened out and found his true identity. He still enjoyed living life on edge but this time it wasnt because he wanted my fathers approval or disapproval. He lived life with joy and for himself. Sadly, my brother passed away two years ago while on a mission trip for an orphanage in Mexico. He was struck while riding his motorcycle head-on by a watermelon truck. I can definitely say that in his last few years, he loved life and lived it well and to its fullest. I was the classic middle child. I spent a lot of my time trying to make everyone happy and keeping the peace. I was the middle child just as Bradshaw described, â€Å"Second children naturally relate to the emotional maintenance needs of the system† (Bradshaw 35). I could always sense what people in my family needed, and it made me feel good to help. When my brother would get in trouble with my dad he would call me to help patch things over. I could always tell when my mom needed a shopping or lunch date to vent about her frustrations with dad. I could usually cheer my family up or make things better. I was and still am an eternal optimist. I was tall, thin and tomboyish growing up. I was often told that someday, when I grew up and into those long legs, I would be beautiful. Heck, I wanted to be beautiful now! Oh well, I was good at sports and enjoyed playing whatever was in season with my brothers. All of us enjoyed trying to out run, jump and play the others. There was always some sort of friendly competition going on. I played softball on a team one year and really enjoyed it. My moms friend signed me up and took me to all the practices and games. We won first place that year. My mom worked a lot during softball season, but she still was able to make it to most of my games. Sadly; my dad never came to any of them. I have no idea why I didnt play after that one year, I really liked playing softball. I think because by that time most of my parent’s free time was consumed with my dad and older brothers new interest in dirt bikes and racing. They traveled to different towns to race on the weekends. I enjoyed it sometimes but most of the time I stayed with my grandma. The time I spent with her was a blessing. She would read to me every night. She taught me my time tables, how to make yummy pies and most importantly she told me that I was special. My grandma taught me that God loves everyone the same, no matter who you are or what you d o. She took me to church on Sundays, where I learned other valuable lessons. I learned to be forgiving and how to treat others. I truly believe that everyone should grow up with that kind of love. The kind that you know you can do or be anything, and if you fail you are still special, loved and welcome. I know Bradshaw would have given my grandma an A for helping me to create solid self-esteem in myself. She allowed me the freedom to be me, the freedom to choose, feel, and take chances. No matter what, she would love me for being me. Bradshaw lists the five freedoms and says, â€Å"These freedoms amount to full self-esteem and self-integration† (Bradshaw and Satir 53). This means that when a person is free to be themselves without fear of persecution or rejection they will feel good about themselves and be able to relate to others and the world in a better way. Instead of attending the small farm town elementary school down the road from where I grew up, my parents chose for my brothers and I to be bused to a brand new cultural arts school in the middle of a predominantly African-American neighborhood. At first, it was kind of strange being one of the only few little white girls in class, but it didn’t take long before I fit right in. During that period in time, in the early 70s, integration in schools was being encouraged and my parents thought that we would get a well-rounded education at this new school. My parents sincerely did a considerable job in instilling the importance of a good education in us kids. I got a great education there and learned about many different cultures, which was truly interesting. I also became close friends with a diverse group of people. I graduated high school in 1985 and moved with some friends to Lompoc, California. We held many odd jobs like babysitting and working in clothing stores. The most interesting was our job at a celery packing plant. We were the only two English-speaking people in the plant besides the boss. I learned a lot from those women there, especially about good Mexican food. I ended up moving back home and my parents were pretty happy about that. A week or so later my dad introduced me to my younger brothers best friend, he said, â€Å"Hey Chris, I would like you to meet your future husband.† Oh, my gosh, Yea right! I wanted to kill my dad, how embarrassing. There was no way I was ever going to date a guy younger than me, not cool. He was kind of cute, and after a few months of this guy hanging around staring at me, I decided to ask him out on a date. A year later we were married. My dad may be kind of corny, but he is pretty cool in my eyes for knowing that Lee was the guy for me. My husband Lee is a very patient, kind and loving man. He understands me and allows me to be my true self. We bring out the best in each other. I grew up into a confident, positive, mature person with solid self-esteem. â€Å"The mature person is emotionally free and can choose to move near without anger or absorption, and move away without guilt† (Bradshaw 44). I do feel that I am bonded to my family, yet free to be myself and have my own identity. It did take some work to get over some of the resentment that I had toward my father and older brother. I have a great relationship with both now. And my mom was my best friend up until she passed away twelve years ago from brain cancer. My mom and dad set an amazing example of how to love each other and how to work through problems and not ever give up or never go to bed mad. I do believe that no family is perfect. All people are flawed. Therefore, all families are flawed. I do agree with Bradshaw in that love is a decision, and it takes work and good communication to make a functional marriage. â€Å"A good relationship is based on committed love. It’s not some maudlin feeling-it’s a decision† (Bradshaw 51). I married my best friend, Lee, when I was 21. We have three loving, talented, and well-adjusted sons. After reading Bradshaw on: the Family, I see now that my family growing up was a bit dysfunctional. My parents never elaborated on how they were raised. They never spoke ill words about their parents so I am not sure of the dysfunction they may have experienced in growing up. I am pleased with the way I turned out and still have fond memories of my â€Å"Happy Days† family. Works Cited Bradshaw, John. Bradshaw on the Family: A New Way of Creating Solid Self-esteem. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, 1996. Print. Rich, Charlie. The Most Beautiful Girl. Charlie Rich. Rec. Dec. 1973. Sun Records, 1973. Vinyl recording. Satir, Virginia. Conjoint Family Therapy. 3rd ed. Palo Alto: Science and Behavior, 1983. Print.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

The Weimar Republic of 1919 | Analysis

The Weimar Republic of 1919 | Analysis The Weimar Republic of 1919 characterised the struggle and failure to establish democracy in Germany following World War One. Despite possessing near-identical elements required to govern as successfully as the Federal Republic of 1945, the government was fragile and short-lived (Smith, 1991). Those in authority neglected to increase the power of the parliament or commit fully to the system, choosing instead to stumble along forming weak coalitions that did not stand the test of time (Conradt, 2009). Weimars constitutional weaknesses allowed Hitler to come to power and the dark reign of the Third Reich began in 1933. By contrast, post-WWII democracy was successfully implemented and maintained because the policy makers of the Basic Law ensured a politics of consensus dominated (Slagter and Loewenberg, 2009). Roberts (2009) further believes they were influenced by the material, political, and ethical legacy of the two world wars Germany was a part of. Germany was divided into the dem ocratic West and the communist East, before achieving unification in 1990. Despite the brief history given here, it is easily recognised that Germanys political history is a complex story of a country struggling to achieve a stable democracy in an unconventional way. The Federal Republic of 1949 distinguished itself from Weimar through its constitution and electoral/party system, which are key factors when explaining democracys success. This essay will specifically contrast the constitutions and electoral/party systems of Weimar and Bonn, as well as other factors such as the economy briefly, to explain why democracy succeeded after 1949. The Federal Republic demonstrated clear changes from Weimar, but also contained elements of continuity from the past both in its constitution and party system (Roberts, 2000). Both federal systems had similar institutions in place, such as the Constitutional Courts to resolve disputes, and the representation of 16 LÃ ¤nder (federal states) at a national level through the Bundesrat (federal Council). Their constitutions were quite advanced, with a Bill of Rights guaranteeing every German citizen the freedom of speech, religion and equality. Both governed through coalition parties; no party has been able to govern alone in Germanys history save one (Gordon, 1991). This demonstrates that permanently built into the system is the need for different political groups to reach out across the political chasm and co-operate in a politics of consensus. With such similarities, why did the Weimar government collapse a few years later? Pulzer (1994) believes that if it had been dealt a better dec k of cards, [the Weimar Republic] might have survived longer (1994, p. 4). The answer is also that it is institutions and everyday practices that promote stability in the system, and in Weimar, neither was stable. The Federal Republic distinguished itself from Weimar through the governing framework of its constitution. The Basic Law bolstered the parliamentary system by downgrading the president, who became a largely representative, indirectly elected head of state, and by enhancing the stature of the chancellor (Smith, 1991, p.48). This was a clear reaction to the dual executive in Weimars constitution which authorized the president to act autonomously of the Reichstag (Conradt, 2009). Although the president of the Weimar Republic was given more power to avoid political paralysis in the Reichstag, Article 48 allowed Hitler to come to power in the end. Hence the Basic Law made the presidential role more ceremonial than anything else. By using the failings of Weimar to measure the effectiveness of the present democracy, the policy makers of Bonn achieved to still fears of a second Hitler (Paterson, 2000). The constitution of 1949 also helped democracy by dispersing power from the centre of German authority. The Basic Law worked against centralised power, guaranteeing autonomy of responsibility to Germanys different regions, and thus preventing the rise of authoritarian rule (Paterson, 2000). In the Bonn Republic power was diffused to institutions, not the general population, despite the frequent invocation of the phrase Die Staatsgewalt geht vom Volke aus, [the government authority emanates from the people] the famous Article 1 of the Weimar constitution (Paterson, 2000, p.25). This diffusion of power ensures institutions must operate together during the decision-making process, thus promoting a democratic atmosphere. The Constitutional Court, for instance, exemplifies the separation of powers by upholding the Basic Law and defending civil liberties, in contrast to Weimar, whose court was easily subverted and unstable. It can be argued that such diffusion of power might negatively aff ect governing by creating too many agencies and actors. Alternatively, if one institution decides to create paralysis in the system, fragmentation could occur. However, the systems stability has not been greatly threatened. This is testament to Germanys constitutional strength and determination to uphold democratic rule (Paterson, 2000). The reforms to the party system after 1949 also aided in democracys success. Consensus among the political parties in the Bundestag (Federal Diet) ensured institutional stability after 1949 (Slagter and Loewenberg, 2009). In contrast, stable majorities could not be formed in Weimars Reichstag (parliament) due to the existence of proportional representation (Conradt, 2009). The republic was therefore a polarised pluralist system of numerous small parties, with no consensual decision-making taking place. The hyperinflation of 1923, for example, fuelled new political parties which the Reichstag was unable to socialise to its norms (Slagter and Loewenberg, 2009, p.470). Orderly parliamentary procedure disintegrated once the centre parties came under the assault of the radical extremists. By contrast, the success of post-WWII democracy can be explained through consensus promoting institutional stability, because this was absent in the Reichstag. After 1945, there was co-operative federali sm and consensual decision making among the political parties, especially with the issue of comparable living standards in all regions. Democracy also succeeded because of the modifications made to Germanys political/electoral system after 1949. In the Reichstag, consensus was neglected because radical groups pursued electoral votes, not caring that it lost them all effectiveness within the chamber as they contributed to its paralysis (Slagter and Loewenberg, 2009, p.471). After 1949, however, parliament developed into a moderate pluralist system. Parties could only enter with more than 5% of the national vote or 3 constituency seats without. New parties which entered the Bundestag were therefore socialised to the parliamentary customs (Slagter and Loewenberg, 2009).Through this measure, consensus dominated because it encouraged stable, moderate politics while discouraging extreme politics. This helped democracy succeed, because fewer parties meant more stability, the establishment of a co-operative opposition and prevention of anti-system parties (Paterson, 2000). Therefore, the electoral system, as with all other a spects of the system, encourages moderation and consensus. Other factors such as economic conditions after 1949 might also explain why democracy succeeded. With democracy stabilising around the 1950s, Germany also experienced full employment. This is vastly different to the economic and democratic situation in 1919, because the existence of a weak government with limited policy making skills meant there was no active labour policy and millions were unemployed (Schmidt, 1992). However, with Marshall Aid speeding Germanys economic recovery, the 1950s showed rapid progress both in terms of the economy and democratic governing. The German Model further developed the state after 1945, in contrast to poorly-developed welfare state of Weimar (Schmidt, 1992). Modell Deutschland, with the concept of the managed firm and co-determination, became renowned throughout the world (Smith, 2005). Products made in Germany demonstrated that it had become an economic force to be reckoned with, especially with its car industry. It can therefore be argued that un precedented economic stability after WWII also helped ensure democracys popularity. Another factor explaining democracys success after WWII emanates from the national and foreign policies Germany has implemented. This country presents a complex and layered picture which is revealed through the challenges it has dealt with in the past. Germany promoted itself as a responsible power and avoided an aggressive foreign policy so reminiscent of Hitler, choosing instead to join NATO and promote pro-European policies at the height of the Cold War (Glees, 1996). Chancellor Brandts policy of ostpolitik (Change through Rapprochement) exposed the conflict surrounding national identity following unification, where East Germans continued to feel like second class citizens in their own country (Wiesenthal, 1998). The 1970s saw the upsurge of the extreme Left, but despite these negative impacts, the structures of the German political and social systems remain strong. Therefore, Germanys promotion of European integration and the political culture of the time ensured democratic rule succeeded. In conclusion, it is clear that despite what some may see as an abnormal path taken by Germany towards normalisation, it seems to have worked (Smith, 2005). It is argued that the countrys first attempt at democracy failed due to a specific set of circumstances facing interwar Germany, coupled with defects in the Weimar constitution [] (Conradt, 2009, p.7). It can certainly be agreed on that important evolutions in the system to the constitution and party/electoral system, coupled with better economic and social conditions were vital in sustaining democracy after WWII (Smith, 1991). The Basic Law remains largely the same as in 1949, which is a testament to its success in founding and maintaining a democratic Germany. In addition, Germany also recognised a politics of consensus is a pre-requisite for federalism to work. Its decision to take this unconventional path and follow the federal political system with a consensus democracy demonstrates that sovereignty may not always be the a nswer; homogenising such a large country with different regions and practices would be impossible. It is institutional stability and every day practices, coupled with the politics of consensus, which established democracy successfully in Germany. Bibliography: Conradt, D. (2009). The German Polity. 9th ed. USA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Glees, A. (1996) Reinventing Germany: German political development since 1945. UK: Berg Paterson, W. E. (2000). From the Bonn to the Berlin republic. German Politics, 9(1), 23-40. Pulzer, P. (1994). Unified Germany: a normal state? German Politics, 3(1), 1-17. Roberts, G.K. (2009). German Politics Today. 2nd ed. UK: Manchester University Press. Slagter, T.H and Loewenberg, G. (2009). Path Dependence as an explanation of the institutional stability of the German Parliament. German Politics, 18(4), 469- 484. Schmidt, M. G. (1992). Political consequences of German unification. West European Politics, (15)4, 1-15. Smith, G. (1991). The resources of a German chancellor. West European Politics, 14(2), 48-61. Smith, M. P. (2005). Introduction From Modell Deutschland to Model Europa: Europe in Germany and Germany in Europe. German Politics, (14)3, 275-282. Wiesenthal, H. (1998). Post-unification dissatisfaction, or why are so many East Germans unhappy with the new political system? German Politics, 7(2), 1-30.

Saturday, July 20, 2019

Enhancing Quality of Palmyrah (Borrasus Flabellifer) Jaggery

Enhancing Quality of Palmyrah (Borrasus Flabellifer) Jaggery STANDARDIZE AND ENHANCE THE QUALITY OF PALMYRAHÂ  (Borrasus Flabellifer) JAGGERY S. Mary, K. Velauthamurty, S. Srivijeindran, G.Sashikesh Palmyrah (borrasus flabellifer) Jaggery is one of the ancient sweetening agent known to man and is an integral part of traditional diet in many parts of Sri Lanka. Jaggery is produced by concentrating the Inflorescence sap of Palmyrah palm (Sweet Toddy) to a thick consistency. The product has sweet in taste and golden yellow in colour. However existing jaggery available in the market is inferior in its quality as liquefaction and deterioration of color. It shows poor keeping qualities due to the presence of moisture. Through this research attention to be made to eradicate its hydroscopic nature in the existing jaggery to upgrade it. Optimization of quick lime (CaO) and pH of sweet toddy to produce jaggery are to be carried out. In the period of May to June different areas in Jaffna peninsula four field trials were carried out to collect sap by using quick lime with above 95% purity produced at Palmyrah Research Institute. Physical and chemical quality characteristics of produced jagg ery in laboratory and commercial samples were studied according to comply with Sri Lankan standards for jaggery. Quality of jaggery was enhanced using proper technology and sweet sap with acceptable lime with higher degree of purity. For suitable jaggery production, 2.508 Â ± 0.411 grams of lime (96 % purity) per one liter of sweet sap was optimized and this jaggery was scored high score than jaggery from other field trials. Key words: Palmyrah (Borrasus flabellifer) Jaggery, quick lime and sweet sap Introduction Jaggery industry is one of the ancient and large cottage industries in palmyrah society. The product normally made in household level has bitter taste due to the presence of excess amount of lime with low purity. As sugars are known to be hygroscopic it is possible for melting of jaggery (Molasses) due to presence of excess moisture in the environment and other moisture absorbing impurities from quick lime and triple super phosphate for deliming the quick lime and minor improper practices in processing. Even if the demand for jaggery according to their food based applications is continuously growing in the rural, urban and semi-urban markets palmyrah jaggery cannot be marketed whole of the year, means up to next season. Because sweet toddy production is seasonal and produced jaggery shows poor keeping qualities. Quick lime used in the preparation of jaggery is generally obtained from furnacing oysters (mostly sea shell in Jaffna) using coconut husk charcoal and the temperature is not up to the optimum level to produce pure lime. Therefore there is a high possible for adulteration by impurities presence in quick lime. Traditionally lime used to prevent the fermentation of sweet sap, is produced mainly from sea shell and hardly from oysters. But no studies were yet carried out on the composition and purity of quick lime used in local production. Another major issue is the local tappers are using excess amount lime which present in sweet toddy. Availability of quick lime at higher degree of purity will ensure the maintenance of extreme alkaline pH of the sweet toddy with minimum amount of it.When tappers bring limed sweet sap to the production unit at different time periods few of them get fermented and it is also used for the production. This issue leads to the poor quality of jaggery. According to these basic principles this research is proposed for improving and standardizing the quality of palm jaggery. This project will upgrade the quality of palm jaggery and increase the market demand for palmyrah jaggery. Materials and Methods Matured and healthy female palmyah palms were labeled near to jaggery producing areas of Jaffna peninsula in the period of May to June. From this palm, well prepared and healthy inflorescence were identified for sap collection and the sap was collected in earthen pots, which was kept under hygienic condition. Selected inflorescences were tapped in the evening between 5 to 6 p.m to ooze out sweet sap. Before attaching sap collecting pots with inflorescence according to tappers experience day before experiment day with the inflorescence underwent experiment, known amount of quick lime with 96 % purity was applied to arrest fermentation. Four field trials were carried out. Fresh sap exudation was collected at morning between 7 to 8 a.m. The pH of the sweet sap in each pot was measured by pH meter2 and brix was measured by hand refractometer. Collected sweet sap in separate cans was brought to laboratory in aseptic, sterile and dark condition. Within one hour whole samples were pooled an d pH of pooled sap was measured. Jaggery was produced and packed in polyethyene packets. Sensory evaluation of produced jaggery was carried out to select best samples on the basis of sensory attributes. The colour, odor, appearance, flavor and texture were evaluated by 12 untrained persons. The total acceptability of the samples was evaluated using five point hedonic scale subjectively. Collected data were statistically analyzed using the MINITAB statistical analysis package according to the Freedman nonparametric test at 5 % level of significance. Results and Discussion Different field visits were conduct to optimize lime for the processing of palm jaggery and all the summarized results were recorded in the table 01. In field visit 1 (T1), field visit 2 (T2), field visit 3 (T3) and field visit 4 (T4) amount of applied quick lime were 4.668 Â ± 0.847 g/L, 3.188 Â ± 0.242 g/L, 2.508 Â ± 0.411 g/L and 2.051 Â ± 0.833 g/L and pH of them were 11.51, 10.62, 9.43 and 8.23 respectively. According to Sri Lankan Standard1 fresh jaggery samples from T1, T2 and T3 field visits at the time of packaging moisture content of all was below 10 %. Sweet sap samples with pH between 7 and 8 quickly changed into acidic medium with time and this indicates the microbial activity is present considerably. Jaggery from field visits 4 shows melting property and moisture content was below 12.5 %. It was identified that fermented sweet sap also course melting of jaggery. Therefore pH of sweet sap needs to be maintained above pH 9 in large scale application. For the suitable jaggery production without deliming step 2.508 Â ± 0.411 grams of lime (96 % purity) per one liter of sweet sap was optimized. Table 01: Summary of all field visits Sensory evaluation Sensory data obtained through the five point hedonic evaluating test, revealed that there were significance difference in colour (p = 0.012), appearance (p = 0.003) and texture (p = 0.001) characteristic among the jaggery samples produced in the laboratory. However there were no significant difference in flaver (p = 0.296) and mouth feel (p = 0.145) among the samples. The sample code 115 gained the highest sum of the rank for the colour, appearance, and texture. Therefore code 115 sample was selected as best sample Produced jaggery in laboratory scale from all the field visits, according to the sensory evaluation quality of colour, texture and appearance were increased with decreasing pH. Produced jaggery sample from each field trials were in the figure 01. Table 02: sensory attributes of the jaggery Figure 01: Jaggery samples from four field visits (codes 175, 101, 115 and 142 were jaggery samples from first, second, third and fourth field visits respectively.) Conclusion Palmyrah jaggery would be a most popular sweetener in Srilanka. However it shows poor physico-chemical qualities. On the basis of facts jaggery can be produced without deliming step from fresh, unfermented and filtered sweet sap of palmyrah palm. Sweet sap should be maintain in pH 9 by using purified quick lime to arrest fermentation and it can be useful to get quality improved jaggery as high consumer acceptance in market. References SLS 512: 1981-Specification for jaggery – moisture content. Pp. 23 Mandal D, Tudu S, Mitra SR, De GC (2006). Effect of common packaging materials on keeping quality of sugarcane jaggery during monsoon season. Sugar Tech., 8(2/3): 137-142.

Heroes and the Journey Home Essays -- Hero Muir Adams Roosevelt Essays

Heroes and the Journey Home A hero is someone who works to change things toward a certain ideal or succeeds in making change, usually to the benefit of many others besides him or herself. Heroes come in just about every form and almost every group or cause has its heroes. One of the definitions for a hero is that they are someone who is "admired for qualities and achievements and is regarded as an ideal or model."(New World Dictionary, 657) There have been many men and women who I consider to be heroes for the National Parks, because they sought change, preservation, appreciation and protection for our National Parks. Most of the heroes that I have focused on used a form of art or a skill to draw people to want to experience the wilderness, and in turn protect it. These heroes for the Parks include John Muir, Ansel Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, and the many boatwomen of the Canyon Country, particularly Georgie White. All of these heroes sought to establish, preserve or improve the parks, for the benefit of the public, so that anyone could experience and understand the love affair with the wilderness that they so loved. They saw these expanses of raw wilderness, and felt that they should be passed on to and enjoyed by everyone for generations to come. They also sought to educate people by using their own forms of expression and influence such as writings and photographs of these natural treasures. Their motivations were not just in the public interest, but also had more selfish goals in mind. All of these people felt it necessary to fight for the protection of the parks because they had formed intimate bonds with the places that they tried to save. Edward Abbey, yet another hero of the parks, expressed it best by calling it the... ...e in some way they all believed that it is important to find a home for your spirit; that place in your mind must exist, and when you find it, it will seem as though heaven has come to Earth. Works Cited 1. Roosevelt, Theodore. "A Speech at the Grand Canyon." New York Sun 7 May 1903 Taken from Filler, Daniel. "Conservation as the Guardian of Democracy". <http://pantheon.cis.yale.edu/~thomast/essays/filler/filler.html> 2. Abbey, Edward. Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness. New York: Ballantine Books, 1968 3. Teal, Louise. Boatwomen of the Grand Canyon: Breaking into the Current. Tucson: U of Arizona Press, 1994 4. Library of Congress. "Today in History: July 19". <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/jul19.html> 5. Muir, John. Our National Parks. Madison: U of Wisconsin Press, 1981 6. The New World Dictionary 7. Video: John Muir

Friday, July 19, 2019

earthquake Essays -- essays research papers

Earthquakes have plagued our lives for as long as people have inhabited the earth. These dangerous acts of the earth have been the cause of many deaths in the past century. So what can be done about these violent eruptions that take place nearly with out warning? Predicting an earthquake until now has almost been technologically impossible. With improvements in technology, lives have been saved and many more will. All that remains is to research what takes place before, during, and after an earthquake. This has been done for years to the point now that a successful earthquake prediction was made and was accurate. This paper will discuss a little about earthquakes in general and then about how predictions are made. Earthquake, â€Å"vibrations produced in the earth's crust when rocks in which elastic strain has been building up suddenly rupture, and then rebound.†(Associated Press 1993) The vibrations can range from barely noticeable to catastrophically destructive. Six kinds of shock waves are generated in the process. Two are classified as body waves-that is, they travel through the earth's interior-and the other four are surface waves. The waves are further differentiated by the kinds of motions they impart to rock particles. Primary or compressional waves (P waves) send particles oscillating back and forth in the same direction as the waves are traveling, whereas secondary or transverse shear waves (S waves) impart vibrations perpendicular to their direction of travel. P waves always travel at higher velocities than S waves, so whenever an earthquake occurs, P waves are the first to arrive and to be recorded at geophysical research stations worldwide.(Associated Press 1993) Earthquake waves were observed in this and other ways for centuries, but more scientific theories as to the causes of quakes were not proposed until modern times. One such concept was advanced in 1859 by the Irish engineer Robert Mallet. Perhaps drawing on his knowledge of the str ength and behavior of construction materials subjected to strain, Mallet proposed that earthquakes occurred â€Å"either by sudden flexure and constraint of the elastic materials forming a portion of the earth's crust or by their giving way and becoming fractured.†(Butler 1995) Later, in the 1870s, the English geologist John Milne devised a forerunner of today's earthquake-recording device, or seismograph. A simple pen... ... warned that a major quake would occur along the New Madrid fault before the end of the year. Like most predictions of this type, it proved to be wrong. â€Å"Groundwater has also played an important part in earthquake predictions. A peak in radon in the groundwater at Kobe, Japan 9 days before the 7.2 earthquake cause quite a stir. Radon levels peaked 9 days before the quake, then fell below the normal levels 5 days before it hit.†(Monastersky July, 95) In North America, the series of earthquakes that struck southeastern Missouri in 1811-12 were probably the most powerful experienced in the United States in historical time. The most famous U.S. earthquake, however, was the one that shook the San Francisco area in 1906, causing extensive damage and taking about 700 lives.(Nagorka 1989) The whole idea behind earthquake predicting is to save lives. With the improvement in technology, lives have been saved. New ideas and equipment is starting to prove to be very helpful in pr edicting were and when an earthquake will strike. The time and research put into earthquake predicting has already started to pay off. It is only a matter of time before earthquakes will no longer be a threat to us.

Thursday, July 18, 2019

Empowerment on Girl Child Essay

With sacrificing family resources to educate a girl child and a potential future leader still a big societal challenge, any effort to see the education of a girl is a huge boon. So when millions of dollars are poured into the effort, the impact cannot be overemphasised. The Campaign for Female Education (Camfed), introduced some few years back, has seen remarkable change of fortunes to many a rural folk. Now, a US$19 million bursary programme has been launched to benefit 24 000 girls from disadvantaged families in rural Guruve, Mashonaland Central. The launch was conducted at colourful ceremony at Chifamba Secondary School in the area recently. With testimonies of previous beneficiaries of the programme giving the clear picture of changed lives, more girls are set to change for the better. Already, lives have changed and tales are being told. More are coming, definitely. Twenty-five-year-old Bridget Moyo was born in the dusty village of Wedza in a polygamous family. Her mother sired six children and the other children under the genealogy of her father are incalculable. She needs to sit down and count them from her father’s first wife until the last. Being a girl on a polygamous family, she was not spared from challenges women as a whole face. From birth she was automatically rendered a future beggar. Her education was considered optional and it was the first thing to be sacrificed in a crisis. Her brothers, uncles and male cousins’ needs had to come first for the family. The family’s future was seen to be in their hands and blood, so it was to them that the family’s resources should be spent primarily. As if that was not enough, the family was so much immersed in poverty. School fees and levies were a luxury they could only dream of and there wasn’t enough for the family to eat. â€Å"I lost count of how many other people’s fields we worked in to make ends meet with my mother. It was not unusual for people to approach my mother and offer me a job as their housemaid,† Bridget said. She said it was very tragic in that some people had the audacity to exchange her labour services with a bucket of maize a month. â€Å"I am a proud member of the Johane Marange Apostolic Sect and my growing up in the church came with benefits and challenges. â€Å"I feel at home hen at church where I am accepted with expectations like other girls who have to get married at a tender age. † â€Å"In my teenage years, I was only supposed to dream about the kind of husband I was going to marry. Even if it meant dropping out of school, I did not drop out until I attained my university degree,† Bridget went on to narrate her ordeal. The turning point in Bridget’s life came after she got a bursary before attending secondary education. â€Å"In primary school I vividly remember being nominated a prefect before the school authorities reversed the decision because I did not have a school uniform. I never had a worry about the strategy to use to sneak back into classroom after being sent home on numerous occasions to collect the fees . Currently I am a holder of Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Business Management and Entrepreneurship,† she said. This is not the only sad tale about girls who rise from invisibility to visibility after attaining education. Another is Talent Tokoda, who grew up as an orphan and single child. Talent was born and bred in Chivhu, where her mother took care of all the family needs. â€Å"It was a nightmare getting shoes or having a proper uniform. I struggled through primary school to completion but fortunately I passed with five units which are a sharp contrast to the struggles I went through. † â€Å"Time to enrol for secondary education came and my hope was like a dim light at the far end of a tunnel which could turn off anytime. A week before I was supposed to go to secondary school, I neither had school fees nor secured a place at any school. † â€Å"I could spend the whole day in the garden with my mother. I got the surprise of my life when I was told that my fees were going to be paid for until I complete Advanced Level,† Talent said in front of the dumbfounded crowd. She passed Advanced Level and was enrolled at the University of Zimbabwe where she is doing her final year studying for a Bachelor in Medicine and Surgery. â€Å"I am proud that I proved to doomsayers that I can achieve any goal men can achieve. In August next year I will be a qualified medical doctor,† Talent said in front of the cheering crowd. This mirrors how the personality can be moulded to greatness. Guruve District’s pass rate is pegged at 25 percent with the national pass rate sitting at 21 percent. Assisting the girl child with resources will help improve the pass rate at rural schools. For example, at Chifamba Secondary School the pass rate for girls is pegged at 10 percent. Research revealed that in Sub-Saharan Africa, 24 million girls cannot afford to go to school and as a result a girl may marry as young as 13. Camfed executive director for Zimbabwe and Malawi, Ms Angeline Murimirwa said it is vital to improve educational access, progression and completion for marginalised secondary school girls. â€Å"The coverage of bursaries will span for four years in 28 rural districts including resettlement areas. The other money will provide a package of support to schools, training of school development committees and support for parents to enable children currently out of school to enrol,† she said. Ms Murimirwa said it is imperative to enhance participation of women in national activities from district level. â€Å"Most secondary school girls drop out of school opting to get married or as a result of lacking financial support. â€Å"Organisations need to cherish marginalised communities and the idea that women constitute a greater percentage to the national population,† she said.

The Importance Of Motivation In The Language Classroom Education Essay

motivation is peerless of the biggest thrusts of teaching a second lingual chat and it is a cardinal keen deal of what a teacher faces all cardinal hours. The face ground level of study for primary and standby give lessons clearly state of matters that it is a teacher s duty to heighten and excite from each one and every scholar s bequeath to acquire and to turn. Being fit to levy school-age childs and derive support from co- stoolers and p atomic number 18nts is an built-in portion of the function of MFL instructors. ( Teaching Agency, 2012 )The MFL topic has nt vie such an of issue function in the National Curriculum in the yesteryear that business leader be due(p) that captivatening a linguistic dialogue as a GCSE topic is and was non mandatory.What is the EBC?The EBacc was introduced as a public presentation feel in the 2010 public presentation tabular arraies. The step recognises where students receive secured a C level or amend in GCSEs o r accredited international GCSEs ( iGCSEs ) across a nucleus of topics English, mathematics, two scientific disciplines, storey or geographics and a linguistic parley ( including Modern Foreign Languages ( MFL ) or ancient linguistic communications ) . ( surface-to-air missile Clemens, 2011 )However, surveies found that with the de only of the new English Baccalaureate Certificates ( EBCs ) scholars necessary to as certain(a) a linguistic communication could alter.It realisems to me that at the students do non see the intent for take c atomic number 18ing a linguistic communication as the worldwide capture in is every one speaks English For to a greater extent(prenominal) in the UK, English is their head start and alone(predicate) linguistic communication. On evidences of functionality, wherefore would they swear to acquire their ca retchs around the grammar, vocabulary and literary unravels of aliens? They comfort themselves with the belief that everyone s peaks English when that s non true of 75 % of the universe s population. ( The Observer, Sunday 26 June 2011 )This paper give interrogation motor in the secondary school cat self-importancery room with the focal commove specifically on studying a second linguistic communication, L2. First I result research what is meant by Motivation, I believe it is utterly of import that the reviewer see to it what is meant with the term pauperism as this term is examined by means of fork out up this research paper. The 2nd portion of the audition exit psychoanalyse motivational factors and motivational jobs. It allow side at what motivates human existences and what does non egg on them. This is worth(predicate) as it is portion of a instructor s tool box if he/she requisites to act upon their pupils agent. In decision this essay leave behind look at motivational schemes a instructor bottom riding ha small-arm to act upon pupils motive.What is meant with the term Motivat ion?To repartee the inquiry of what is motive 1 has to ascertown(prenominal) that the squad is real various. The Latin verb motivus , a signifier of m overe which means to travel and as a mo is related to to the immensity of motive. Generally Motivation is described as destruction orientated air. A translation of the word motive might be factors at bottom a human cosmos or just about other animate be that aro utilize and direct goal-oriented behavior ( britannica.com, Motivation ) . Gardner and Masgoret put forward that Motivation refers to resolveful behavior ( californium, Heckha single-valued functionn, 1991 ) , and when one is trying to measure motive, at turn tailing, sewer be directed toward a Numberss of characteristics of the psyche. ( Gardner and Masgoret, two hundred3 )A broad scope of literary productions has been pen on that subject and on that predict be m each contrastive thoughts place at that place on what Motivates lot and pupils .Ev ery homo being has varied committedness begs. Those gather up differ from integrity to atomic number 53 as everybody has their maven desires to instigate themselves. Depending on how propel we be, it washbasin buzz off the attempt we put into our work and thusly increase the criterion of the productiveness.Motivation has been contemplated as one of the just ab knocked out(p) of import constituents loaning to linguistic communication evolveing success. Research over the last decennaries has over and over once more(prenominal) underlined the of import place of motive in successful linguistic communication scholarship. ( Gardner & A lambert, Deci and Ryan, Ushioda, Dornyei ) .Two of the pickings theories cover song with 2nd linguistic communication science were proposed by Stephen Krashen and J.H. Schumann.Krashen s thought was that linguistic communication attainment is a subconscious and natural procedure during which the scholar improves with real-life pattern. Grammar-translation violates slightly every constituent of the Input Hypothesis, and it is thereof predicted that this method go out h previous(a) the consequence of seting the pupil on the defensive ( Stephen D Krashen, P 129, 1982 )While Schumann s socialising theoretical account high spy an integration of the scholars find linguistic communication, subt allowy and community. Harmonizing to Schumann the scholar regards the TL talkers as a mention group whose life air and regard ass he consciously or unconsciously desires to follow. ( Schumann, P 340, 1986 )Both theories can be applied in the classroom for a positive consequence.What does Motivation delineate for the linguistic communication schoolroom?I believe it is highly of import to understand how motive works in the schoolroom. in that location ar endless processs instructors use to ravish through coveted aftermaths from their pupils, nevertheless there be overall forms these motivational tools follow. In o rdination for instructors to convey with their pupils, they must(prenominal) place with their craves on an idiosyncratic footing.This purpose is matching to Maslow s Hierarchy of invites, which states staple fiber demands must be met to obtain well-to-do motive. These demands, in go uping tramp, atomic number 18 as follows Physiological Needs, Safety and Security Needs, hunch and Belongingness Needs, Self-Worth and Self-Esteem Needs, the Need to Know and Understand, aesthetic Needs, the Need for Self-Actualization ( D. Martin and K. Joomis, Constructing Teachers A Constructivist Approach to Introducing Education, pp. 72-75.1997 ) .The most of import point about Maslow possibleness is for pupils to hold a educational end and that learnedness is taking topographic point. some other of import factor is to do this impertinently gained perception and information purposeful every bit goodish as substantive to pupils so that it whitethorn be retained. as well as pupils s hould see the intent for retaining the cognition and how they could engage it throughout their lives.An indispensable factor gnarly in run intoing these ends is motive. If the pupils be wanton in one mien or another, it is in all likelihood that bargonly any acquisition will piss topographic point or it is really likely that cognition will non be retained.This theory had a great impact on educational take a shitions. In his ulterior old ages, Maslow earn that an environsal stipulation of stimulation, or challenge, was needed to proceed persons.Maslow s first demand of physiological satisfactoriness is really basic. This inquiry alone asks if pupils are in a well-fixed and compliancyable environing for their acquisition. In apparent English, are pupils hungry, likewise cold, excessively hot and is the surroundings arouse to larn in? If a pupil s physical surrounding does non fit decent with the pupil s demand, he/she will non be encourage to larn or to move in any higher demand.Similarly, if pupils do non vex safe ( via the 2nd demand, security ) , they will non be able to concentrate larning something. Consistent outlooks and the evaluate and non-judgmental side of the instructors can anyhow bring forth pupils who feel secured and confident in their instructors. On the juncture that a pupil feels threatened by another pupil or by the instructor, he/she may non come on every bit good as hoped. Furthermore in many instances, he/she reverts from the focus rather than reacting to it. In indian lodge to decrease relishs of menace, a instructor can attest feelings of certificate and love, which is the 3rd hierarchical demand.The demand for the greenness whiz of love and belonging in pupils are of import either in the teacher-student relationships or in the student-student relationships. A instructor s personalisedity should be empathic, considerate and raise in the persons, patient, carnival, belongings positive attitude and be ing good hearer. Teachers who have these features will supply the pupils with more say-so and consequently students will be able to larn and break off better in their surveies. With respect to the pupil to student relationships instructors should promote chum tutoring or category meetings. By holding good relationships with instructors and equals, pupils will hold set up their demand to belong, and besides have the feeling of being cared and loved.In Maslow s quaternary demand, respect, a instructor must be careful non to overload on some(prenominal) unfavorable judgment and congratulations. Students must have got as if they deserve congratulations in revisal for them to absorb difficult work with congratulations. Teachers besides should non bury that unfavorable judgment, attention when applied right, can damage students feelings and can make a deficiency of motive. Students must recognize the demand of egotism-respect and to be respected by the others. Teachers should doctor piling develop new cognition ground on the background cognition, they besides have to assist to guarantee success ( hold up ) and to gait financial statements to suit single demands. Teachers should besides concentrate on the person s strengths and assets when be aftering lessons and transporting them out.To fulfill the pursuance demand of understanding and cognition, the instructors should let the pupils trim down to research countries of wonder and to supply lessons that are intellectually disputing. By utilizing the find ack-ack subjects, the pupils can larn to be sovereign and larn from assorted angles. By acquiring involved intellectually, the pupils can fulfill their demand to carry through their demand to research, strike and work out new things. Teachers must besides be careful to cite authorization nevertheless, they must besides respectfulness pupils for their attempts.The demand for aesthetic is besides really of import for the pupils. By forming sch oolroom stuffs in a neat and appealing manner, the pupils will be attracted to larn about the things related to the stuffs. Pleasing, good maintained and fresh scent schoolrooms with attractive wall hangings can make s parryness in the pupils who will give birth cosy to analyze in such surrounding.The highest demand in the Maslow s pecking order of demands is the demand for self realization.Teachers anticipating the pupils to make their scoop will force the pupils to use their ain potency and at the same set to fulfill their ain demand of self fulfillment.By giving the pupils freedom to research and detect on their ain, the instructors are able to do larning more meaningful for the pupilsA pupil who fails to fall upon any of the old four demands may non be propel to go on in the academician scene because of the intensions of defeat and misgivings in the instruction system.While Maslow s hierarchy makes sense from a sociology point of position, there are defects in his theor y.When Maslow undertook his research he did nt take 3rd universe states in consideration. thither frequently safety is non given or their might non so far pick up comfy with in their environment, nevertheless, acquisition is still taking topographic point, as pupils are cause by other factors. Thus might be hope of a better life, being cognisant that geting a 2nd linguistic communication will let them to go forth their milieus one twenty-four hours. Even in the UK as germ and my first school arrangement the first basic demand of Physiological Need was non fulfilled. Their some pupils came to school without holding had eat in the forenoon. The environment they had to larn in was non in my point of you educational exciting as Windowss could be closed or opened. Therefore, frequently pupils were to hot or excessively cold. However and this is of import to indicate out larning took topographic point. Therefore, the inquiry arouses why is that so if the first demand was nt fulfille d why did nt pupils make a higher stop anyhow?As mentioned before a broad scope of literary productions has been written on Motivation and there are many disparate thoughts out at that place on what Motivates pupils . Every pupil has different demands. Those need differ from single to single as everybody has their single desires to actuate themselves.Gardner and Lambert ( 1959, 1972 ) have done idea work to look at the genius of motive specifically to linguistic communication surveies. Gardner high spots in a paper from 2007 that Motivation to larn a 2nd linguistic communication is non a simple concept.It can non be calculated by one gradational table possibly the whole scope of motive can non be assessed by even three or four graduated tables. It decidedly can non be assessed by simply inquiring persons to give case for why they think larning a linguistic communication is of import to them. ( Gardner, 2007 )In 1982 Gardner and Lambert ( 19723 ) defined two different types of motive1 ) A submissive motive the desire to larn a linguistic communication because it would carry through authentic useful ends, such as acquiring aA occupation, go throughing an scrutiny, etc.2 ) A Integrative motive Gardner s position is based on that the integratively make pupil is one who is do to larn the 2nd linguistic communication, has an openness to appointee with the other linguistic communication community, and has a favourable attitude towards the acquisition state of affairs. ( Gardner and Masgoret, 2003 )Differentiations have been made in the literature between integrative and instrumental motive. However, centime suggests ( 2005276 ) that, research since so has cast uncertainness on the application of this claim to outside linguistic communication scholars in general.A In any instance, at least(prenominal) one other survey has indicated that it may be impossible in pattern to set forth between the two.An alternate differentiation, perchance more uti le for instructors, is that between essential motive ( the impulse to pursue in the acquisition exercise for its ain interest ) and unessential ( motive that is derived from external inducements ) . A homophile existences in general are so different from each other. This does nt merely use to people but to pupils besides. Different pupils get motivated by different factors, therefrom might be motivated per se or extrinsically.Up to a certain age pupils tend to acquire motivated by the possibility of having a squeamish. Those dainty could be in the signifier of Sweets or more often used as witnessed by myself merit spines. When I was a kid within the German instruction system we would have small casts in the signifier of bees in the dorsum of our cooking journal. We besides received classs from the first year ahead. This besides was extremely actuating. Even so it merely extrinsically motivated us as pupils until we saw the intent of acquisition and our motive changed into intrinsic motive. We both types of motive I can see flaws. What ascertains if no struggle system is introduces with in the schoolroom environment through classs, Sweets or virtues spines will larn still take topographic point? And on the other manus how do you actuate a kid to prosecute in larning for its ain interest?Captured within extrinsic and intrinsic motive are the thoughts of positive and electro minus support. These incentives are unremarkably used in schoolrooms in order to arouse a desire to accomplish in pupils. Positive support is a manner of adding a enjoyable experience to a pupils head in order to prosecute that student. Praise is a common signifier of this a instructor who properly utilizes congratulations commends the student for his or her unexpended piece of work, non personal qualities that make the work particular.However, a instructor must be every bit sensitive to different civilizations as to the bulk civilization. Hitz and Driscoll ( 1989 ) point out that pupils from different socioeconomic categories, ability breaker points, and genders may non react in the same manner to praise and may do pupils experience less worthy if they do non ever receive congratulations.Self-government TheoryDeci and Ryan ( 1985 ) introduced self-government theory and claimed that motive has three orientations to wit amotivation, extrinsic, and intrinsic. Amotivation takes topographic point when pupils do non value the activity that they are making, do non experience competent, and do non believe that the activity will profit them or take to a desired result ( Deci & A Ryan, 2000 ) . outside and intrinsic orientations are distinguished by whether the bribe received is external such as having good classs or avoiding penalty, or internal, such as enjoyment and satisfaction in making a certain activity ( Dornyei, 1994 ) . When pupils are motivated because of a wages or effects that they will have for making or non making an activity, they are said to be extrinsically motivated.Deci and Ryan ( 2000 ) put extrinsic motive into four ordinances harmonizing to their tier of orientation toward self-government. External ordinance is the least self-determined extrinsic motive. Students who are externally adjust are those who do an activity due to an external wages or other considerations. The following degree is introjected ordinance. Students in this degree of extrinsic motive do non bask making an activity but they have a system of wages and penalty that is internally governed. The 3rd degree is identified ordinance where pupils are more self-determined. Students in this degree are in use(p) in an activity because they apprehendd that the activity is valuable to them. Finally, the most self-determined of extrinsic motive is integrated ordinance. This ordinance is performed by pupils who do non merely make the activity because the societal value says it is of value to them, but they do it because they themselves value the activi ty. This orientation resembles DornyeiaYs ideal ego ( 2005 ) in that all the properties that one would regard to possess can work as a really powerful incentive. It is besides really similar to intrinsic motive, that at this phase pupils do non of necessity bask making the pioneers.In some state of affairss, nevertheless, congratulations is non appropriate to get by and modify pupils? behaviors. In general, behavior and attitude are highly of import aspects in the kingdom of motive, and instructors must be cognizant of agencies to halt behavior that is harmful to his, or other pupils larning. In some instances, the wont of negative support is appropriate. The construct of negative support is hard to learn and larn because the word negative confuses the significance, but the construct refers to beef up ing a behavior because a negative status is halt or avoided as a effect of the behaviour. ? ( Levine, 1999 ) .In the schoolroom, this would be warning a pupil to halt a spend thrift behavior, such as researching inappropriate mesh sites on the Internet. Rather than utilize a wages to corrupt pupils to remain on undertaking, instructors can take off a positive force to take away the negative action. Many pupils are motivated by the chance of delighting the instructor, hence avoiding negative support, which can be abashing to a pupil.These general forms of motive are utile in the schoolroom, but instructors must besides be cognizant of a altering family in order to provide to pupils demands. In today s universe where 10 twelvemonth olds can easy cleave strings through the cyberspace, instructors must he trained in ways to use engineering in a schoolroom scene self-sufficiencyUshioda ( 2001 ) claimed that liberty is the demand to experience volitional.It is the province in which pupils perceive themselves as holding some picks in making a certain undertaking including a pick non to make the undertaking.Autonomy is one of the metacognitive elements that are needed in motivational behavior when acquisition. It is an attitude towards larning where pupils are responsible for their ain acquisition. It has been closely fasten with the fulfillment of one s demands that creates intrinsic motive ( Deci & A Ryan, 1985 ) . Dickinson ( 1995 ) argued that it leads to a better and more effectual accomplishment. Dornyei and Csizer ( 1998 ) listed advancing studentsaY liberty as one of the ten dollar bill Commandment that instructors have to maintain in head in heightening studentsaY motive.Motivational SchemesLast, Dornyei and Csizer ( 1998215 ) performed an extended study where they investigated how 200 Magyar instructors of English worked with actuating their pupils during category. They came up with 10 of the most used schemes and these can be seen as a crisp overview of what has antecedently been presented1. Set a personal illustration with your ain behavior .If the instructor acts as he/she would desire the pupils to move, the opportu nities are greater that they really will so by demoing that the topic is merriment, interest and of import this attitude might be transmit to the pupils.2. Create a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere in the schoolroom .If the ambiance is pleasant, the pupils are more likely to hold the bravery to show themselves in a 2nd linguistic communication, something which can frequently experience scare for many.3. Present the undertakings decently If the undertakings are presented decently the pupils are less likely to happen content and assignments to be confounding and thereby lose motive to work because they do non understand what to make.4. Develop a good relationship with the scholars .If the instructor has a good relationship with the pupils, they are more likely to experience comfy and unafraid during category. This will so increase the opportunities of the pupils experiencing motivated to larn the topic.5. Increase the scholars lingual assurance .If the pupils assurance is incre ased, they are more likely to experience it is deserving their while to analyze and larn. Without assurance, the pupils tend to believe that it does non count whether they study or non, they will non win in the perch anyhow.6. Make the linguistic communication classes kindle .If the content of the English categories are perceive as interesting by the pupils, they are more likely to desire to larn it.7. Promote scholar liberty .If the pupils learn how to work by themselves during category and to win after holding taken charge of an assignment themselves, this might do them see that they accomplished this by themselves and thereby actuate them to go on acquisition.8. Personalize the acquisition procedure .If the acquisition procedure is personalized, which in this instance refers to the utilizing of relevant stuff and the combine of the pupils ain personalities in the content of the topic, the pupils are more likely to encompass what is to be learned.9. Increase the schola rs goal-orientedness .If the instructor helps the pupils to put ends for themselves of what they want to carry through and larn, it becomes easier for the pupils to concretize how they need to travel about it in order to make the end. This manner, a end does non resemble an unsurmountable obstruction which might interpose with the pupils motive to larn an L2.10. Familiarize scholars with the mark linguistic communication civilization .If the pupils accredit about the English states and their civilizations, the pupils attitudes towards the linguistic communication might better and thereby version the linguistic communication more interesting and actuating to larn.