Monday, September 30, 2019

Personal Leadership Development Plan (PLDP) Essay

The Personal Leadership Development Plan is a resource tool to be used by associates of the PFR/ATTC Network Advanced Leadership Institute to organize and articulate their goals for what they want to learn and develop as a part of the institute experience. Similar to the Individual Leadership Development Plan that was completed as part of the basic PFR/ATTC Network Leadership Institute, this planning process is designed to help each associate personalize and focus their participation in the program. Each associate will use it to identify, plan, articulate, and document their development as they progress through the experience of the Institute. This plan should be developed, implemented, and revised by the associate, working in consultation with their supervisor, their coach, and the ALI program facilitators. The initial plan document is to be completed and submitted to the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership within 30 days following the Immersion Week experience. Instructions for Completion: Please complete all of the sections of the plan form. Use the insights and perspectives that you have gained through the assessments, activities, and reflections of the Immersion Week to inform your choice of goals and strategies that you will seek to develop through the Advanced Leadership Institute. It is especially useful to have the help and support of your supervisor, so the Plan is to be developed in consultation with them and you are asked to secure your supervisor’s signature. This is a way to gain their commitment and support for your plans. The specific elements of the plan and the contents of each are as follows. Career Aspirations and Goals Leadership development goals and plans are useful and relevant when they are grounded in the leader’s aspirations for their career. Thus we ask you to explain your career direction, aspirations, and goals. For what purpose will you continue to build your leadership capacity? What aspirations for impact do you have, whether in your organization or in the larger field? Competencies to Develop Drawing on the insights you gain from the various elements of the ALI, especially the 360-degree feedback and the various elements of the Immersion Week assessments and discussions, please identify the key competencies (or sets of competencies) that you wish to develop to enhance your leadership capacity. These then will become the basis for your development goals and strategies. Long-Term Leadership Development Goals What specific goals will you work to accomplish, during the coming three to four years, to build your leadership capacity and enhance the potential for achieving your career goals? Be specific in stating three to five goals and indicate the competencies that will be developed through their accomplishment. ALI Developmental Activities (with Target Dates) After you have identified the competencies and long-term goals, then it is important to identify the activities that you will engage in during the coming year to begin to accomplish these goals. What specific activities will you implement, during the ALI events, the intersession period, and during the rest of the year, to continue to build your leadership capacity? In particular, please consider how you could leverage assignments at work and follow up on the ALI experiences and assessments (including organizing your work in the ALI team project) to gain maximal experience and benefit from each element as you continue to develop your leadership capacity.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Film Analysis: Decalogue(10 Commandments) Essay

1)The Exodus’ literal meaning is the journey of the Israelites from Egypt under Moses. God wants the Israelites to not have other gods before Him because He, in the ways of the Exodus, has spoken to them. 2) Moses was subjected to death because of the pharaoh’s order to kill the first born son. His mother was scared for her first born to be killed so Moses was brought to the river and got dragged to the Princess palace. He got adopted even though she knew that he was a slave child. And from that event was Moses’ enlightenment shone. Through his life as a Egyptian child. Moses encountered God through the burning bush. God talked to him and told him that he was the chosen one, the one to free the Israelites. Moses disagreed because he doesn’t want to go back to Egypt and he’s already living peacefully in the desert camp. The Egyptians have many gods and they worship to of all of those gods. The Israelites has one God and was losing their faith to Him because of their torment of slavery. The desert people, on the other hand, celebrate as their form of worship; for great harvest. The plagues were: Plague of Blood; Plague of frogs; Plague of lice; Plague of flies; Plague of Pestilence; Plague of boils; Plague of hails; Plague of Locusts; Plague of Darkness; Death of the firstborn. God wanted the Israelites to worship only Him for what He has done and what He will be doing to them. God dictated the covenant to the Isralites, not negotiated. For He has a promised land to give to Israel. The Israelites complained that there were no food and water so Moses talked to God about their complaints. God sent manna from heaven which was the food for them. God then ordered Moses to break the rock with his staff from which flowed water. The two sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer. His father-in-law was Jethro and his wife is Zipporah whom he met from the desert camp when he escaped from Egypt. The Israelites spent about 400 years in Egypt. There were about 2.5 million Israelites that went out Egypt. They avoided the main road because the Egyptians would be ambushing them there to block them from escaping. The passover used Lamb to be sacrificed and eaten. Its blood would be shed on the top of their houses’ doors and be eaten at night of the Passover. From the bible’s scripture Exodus 13:21: â€Å"By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.†; And that was how they went out of Egypt day and night. The twelve sons of Jacob was Reuben, Gad, Joseph, Judah, Simeon, Levi, Zebulun, Issachar, Naphtali, Asher, Benjamin, Dan. The tribes were called; Reubenites; Gadites; Josephites; Zebulunites; Issacharites; Naphtalites; Asherites; Benjaminites; Kennizites; Levitites; Simeonites; And Judahites. 13) It was, for me, an epic movie. It amazed me how the people of God lived in Israel and how they went out of its slave order. The miracles of God are really touching stories. The movie was really great!

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Leadership, values, and the bible Essay

The Bible is a book that refers to collections of canonical text and religious writings that has its origins in Judeo-Christian traditions. The Bible is not a mere bulk of texts, but in fact a collection of books that process within it various historical traditions and accounts of the religion of Christianity. Now, it is important for us to understand that referring to the Bible does not necessarily point towards the Bible we all know of. In fact, there is a Jewish version of the Bible which is often referred to as the Hebrew Bible, a collection of 39 books which is the foundation of the said religion. According to believers, it is God’s direct word transcribed through human hands but inspired by divine means. The Christian tradition divides the Bible into two parts, the previous consisting of 46 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament. The Bible had been originally written in Greek and many versions exist as of today, but all claiming that it has preserved the original essence in order to hold the argument that it has been inspired by God and in fact are the transcribed words of the divinity. Now the question of having the Bible as our main and central point of reference for this paper is how authoritative it really is. Is it merely a collection of fictional works or indeed something that could be attested to by many of its authorities to be direct words and transcriptions of divinity? And the more important and pressing question is can it still be relied on after almost 2000 years of existence and could the stories and works found inside still be applicable for modern setting? First, the argument of time. Although it is also true that the Bible could be dated as long as 2000 years old for the King James version – more or less the same version that we are reading now if we are Roman Catholics – the totality of the Old Testament had been written much more before that. In fact, the Jewish religion, perhaps dating as long as 3000 years ago, claims that most of the text of the Old Testament were one of the most earlier writings second only to Zoroastrianism. The first books of the Bible had been written in Egyptian papyrus, ended its only much later that it had been translated into Greek. When it comes to academic text, time is indeed a valuable factor in considering its impacts to modern society. In order to reaffirm its importance, perhaps it would be wise for us to look back at that time and realize that most of the books that were written and created in that eon of human history had indeed profound effects and how our society and our thoughts as a collective society had been affected. Just take Plato’s book the Republic for example. It is basically one of the oldest texts of political philosophy. However, even if that holds true, the Republic still stands as one of the most basic examples of democracy and how it is applied. Just a few decades later when Aristotle wrote his first books, his collections of metaphysics and the many other contributions to science had been the building blocks of other studies even to the modern day. In many such areas like literature, physics, chemistry, and the many other disciplines of the modern world, it is through old texts that modern scholars look towards and reaffirm the believe that even the oldest of books hold much grain of truth compared to those which are new. In fact, on argument by most writers is that most of the books written today are merely copies or modifications of the old books of our society. They have merely been rephrased in order for us to understand better, but the same ideas and essence still remain. If this is not proof enough, one merely needs to look at authoritative leadership books as of the present and TrackBack their reference until one reaches the Bible. The second is the argument of content. Many scholars are in direct conflict with theologists because the latter group claims that the Bible had been written by some divine assistance. Academic scholars who values science more claim that it is only humans who had conceptualized and read the books of the Bible. if you were to discuss and reflect upon this debate, we would be biting more than we can chew, for this argument has existed as long as the Bible itself has existed. For our academic purpose, let us at the least reliant the fact that either way, it is not problematic for us on the source of the Bible as long as it is able to maintain the same basic truths that we consider essential to our review. Even if it’s true that it is not God who had written the Bible but a collection of imaginative man, since we are discussing the lessons of leadership that could be learned from the book, we are at a certain advantage because both theories could prove useful to us. If it is indeed written through divine inspiration acting through human tools, then perhaps we could authoritatively claim that the Bible’s leadership styles are indeed universal leadership styles that are not merely human but divine. On the other hand, having an argument that it is men who had written the contents, this our study could benefit from that idea because even in the early stages of our history, leadership signs had been detected in humanity in their heights of civilization, and these leadership styles and values still exist as of today. Having had qualified or major source, let us now proceed to our paper and identify the various leadership styles that could be found in the Bible.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Envision the sustainability city Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Envision the sustainability city - Essay Example The trees grown at an equal distance of San Gabriel Valley portrayed a view of an entrance gate with street lamps replaced with trees. A big tractor-like vehicle would come and water the flower-pots in front of each house. The water would wake them up from their slumber. In Rowland Heights the buildings were not very huge which would easily let the sunshine fall into the streets. I used to spend my time and would roam around in California Hacienda Heights, downtown, shopping malls, which had sparkling ponds in which rare fishes of different kinds would swim. The water was crystal clear and one could easily see the movements of fishes beneath the water surface. Their swift movements and struggle to live life out of their habitat enabled me to think of sustaining the life I had. I the mall, I used to meet immigrants from China, Taiwan and Korea and was able to widen my vision of diverse cultures to some extent. The shopping malls had green bushes growing in the corners and from the top of their ceilings, which made it more natural and ever alive. Next to the city area was the small region known as ‘mini safari’. One could find a wide variety of animals including tigers, elephants etc. There they happily roamed around. All the species of animals were available in their natural habitat. The people who lived there were very social and used to arrange social gatherings every week. Also, there were marathons every month, NO-Tobacco campaigns and Zumba Classes every week, which made the people healthy and they lived longer. Part 2 A few blocks away were the houses built in circular dome shape so that all sunshine would concentrate on it for the production of electricity. These circular domes were numerous and they were surrounded by green belt. The tiny trash bins were available at every step and anything thrown inside would automatically be recycled. There were some robots, which with their laser visions would search for the dirt and remove it if they fou nd any. The silent electric cars would pass by without signalling their arrival and had black solar cells covering their whole body. Covered with silicon solar glasses all over, the people working inside would park their bicycles in a parking lot and start working. From a distance, one could see the gigantic windmills moving with the speed of wind on lofty mountains. Alongside the roads were the street lamps which were quite high with pitch-black solar cells attached to them. At night, they gave a beautiful view of a dark city sunk in a river of illumination. Under the ground were the sewage pipes totally invisible to the people, which transported the sewage from the houses to the specific depressions in a far off city so that the filth can be converted into recycled manure to be used by farmers. Cleaner air meant that the ecosystem was healthy and the animal habitat survived longer. No doubt, people used to live ages more than 100 years. Although, technological advancement has gene rated communication gap by offering virtual identity and life style, the city I envision would be a habitat of diverse ethnic groups living closely together. The community would adapt old fashioned social norms to communicate and live. Close knitted family system would enable people to cherish the joy of living together and would enliven the sentiment of compassion towards others’ sorrow and pain. My vision is not impossible to achieve but requires a little

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Research Paper on Children Toys Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

On Children Toys - Research Paper Example In addition to this the educator also needs to take into deliberation few factors while indulging in toy purchases. The factors in relation to the toys purchased for the children should entail aspects such as cost-effectiveness, ensuring creative prospects for the children along with the safety feature of such toys. While purchasing toys it a vigilant examination of the design of the toys needs to be conducted in order to ascertain the sharp and pointed corners which might harm the children. The children needs to be kept away from materials like knives, blades and other sorts of sharp materials as these might result in creating a sense of violence and power among the children (National Association for the Education of Young Children, â€Å"Good Toys for Young Children by Age and Stage†). There are a numbers of factors which requires to be considered while purchasing toys for the children among which few have been explained below: Children’s’ Age It is quite impor tant that the toys selected for the children must comply with their age and stage. It should also meet the basic safety requirements identified with regard to the children (National Association for the Education of Young Children, â€Å"Good Toys for Young Children by Age and Stage†). ... Safety Aspects Every parent needs to ensure increased cautiousness with regard to the safety needs of their children. Hence, the toys selected for their children must be non toxic in nature, well painted and should be completely non-harmful for the children (National Association for the Education of Young Children, â€Å"Good Toys for Young Children by Age and Stage†). Educational Aspects Toys selected for the children should entail characteristics for the purpose of enhancing and developing skills within the children such as promoting emotional and intellectual characteristics. The toys selected must serve dual functions by helping the children to learn and understand new things and also by serving the purpose of an object to play with thus, providing increased degree of fun to the children (National Association for the Education of Young Children, â€Å"Good Toys for Young Children by Age and Stage†). Part 2 Toys for Six to Twelve Months Old Children Usually the child ren of 6 to 12 months of age slowly move towards comprehending their surroundings. At this stage the babies are learnt to make attempts in order to stand by taking the support of furniture or such other things. For this particular age group toys such as dolls, wooden vehicles, water toys, musical toys and balls are considered to be quite appropriate. Dolls are the image of the human beings which are found to be available in different sizes, shapes and colors. These toys are believed to aid the children in comprehending the diverse form of emotions and along with triggering the development of certain skills. Wooden toys are found to be quite cheaper in comparison to the plastic toys. It also needs to be

Race and class in New York Conspiracy Trials of 1741 Essay

Race and class in New York Conspiracy Trials of 1741 - Essay Example This further has led a presumption that the blacks are revolting against the whites. The main reason for this conclusion appears to be the threat perception of whites due to the fact that Black population steadily increased to make up for â€Å"one sixth of the population† by 1741 (Parrillo 45). The people allegedly involved in this purported conspiracy have mainly been blacks and poor whites. The court that heard the trials bas been biased against the black race and poor class, due to which it interpreted a case involving â€Å"common theft and arson† as an â€Å"enormous conspiracy† (Zabin 3). Thus, it transpires that racial and class supremacy of the dominant white people of higher social echelon has resulted in poor judgment and prejudice in the New York Conspiracy, due to which many blacks and some lower class white men have been executed in the aftermath of the trial. All the men involved in the alleged theft and subsequent developments have either been bla cks or white people of poor social standing. Another major member of the accused party has been a â€Å"papist priest and Spanish spy† which attributed a conspiracy angle to the episode (3). It can be evidenced from relevant sources that when the city of New York expanded, the affluent have moved away from the docks leaving it open for soldiers, sailors and the blacks to mingle and Hughson’s tavern, by virtue of its location within the close proximity of Hudson River has been ideal for catering the needs of the â€Å"transient residents as well as to the slaves† (7). During this time, the â€Å"religious revival movement† of the 1740s also becomes relevant, which has also caused bitterness among different segments of people (Parrillo 53). The 1741 winter had been very harsh and many witnesses have testified acute shortage of food and fuel but Burton as well as some other witnesses deposed that Hughson hosted â€Å"great feasts† (Zabin 9). Some stat ements even went to the extent that after the coup Hughson aspired to become â€Å"king† and John Gwin the â€Å"governor† while others pointed to the resentment about the disparity between the rich and the poor (10). Thus, the court, despite the absence of solid evidence, concluded that there indeed had been a conspiracy and executed the blacks and poor whites on racial and class prejudice. Evidence also suggests that during the trials, a â€Å"carefully calibrated† social rank system has been apparent, which determined the â€Å"authority and credibility of speeches and interactions† (11). The prevailing system in the early eighteenth century decided the social rank in terms of â€Å"gender, race and economic status† (11). Thus, it becomes obvious that the black people on the basis of race and some white men on the basis of lower economic status have been discriminated in the trials due to which the judges have awarded them the punishment of exec ution. Therefore, many believe that Horsmanden’s account, as one of the city’s elite, can only be seen as a version of the prosecution rather than a record of the actual events. Similarly, religion also has had an upper hand in Colonial America and the religious leaders also favored the higher echelons of the society rather than the poor man. In addition, a designated â€Å"civil government of its own† was absent and thus religion assumed additional power, which it could be used for favoring the elite white people (Godbeer 19). Thus, it

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Is the Study of Past Military Leaders Valid for a Modern Military Essay - 1

Is the Study of Past Military Leaders Valid for a Modern Military Professional - Essay Example Historical studies move from one war to another, bringing out the list of a number of great military leaders who have changed the order of the world through their courage, strategies and heroic deeds. It is interesting to note that the contribution made by strong military leaders to the twists and turns of history are equal or more stable than religious leaders, intellectuals, scientists or philosophers could make. The most powerful political leaders the world has seen do have a military background. Leaders like Frederick the Great, Ulysses Grant, Napoleon, Alexander the Great and Hitler did start their political careers as soldiers or people who served the military. The observation that the â€Å"most influential leaders in world history have come not from the church, the halls of governments, or the scholastic centers but from the ranks of soldiers and sailors† is not an exaggeration. Wars do figure out in the modern world too, reinforcing the need and necessity for the mode rn military professionals to go back to the historical stories of success and failure, defeat and conquest of the past military captains, and learn either from their destruction or achievements. No doubt, warfare over the past 150 years have undergone a lot of changes: the nature of war has changed drastically with the modern man’s access to all types of advanced technological devices, machines and bombs.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

The best time to get married Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The best time to get married - Research Paper Example This paper describes the best time to get married and marriage as it is. Before investigating the ideal time of getting married, it is important to investigate the reasons why people marry in the first place. Lamanna, et al, defines marriage as â€Å"an association between a man and woman, which give due legal recognition to the children born to the woman as offspring of both partners†. This definition implies that a heterosexual marriage is a universally socially recognised union, which excludes other unions that do not result to procreation. Marriage comprises of responsibilities and it accords the partners and the resulting children several rights and privileges. In a typical heterosexual relationship, the issue of children plays a critical role in making decisions on when to settle down in a marriage. In single couple relationships where the man and the woman do not have children either adopted or biological from previous relationships, two scenarios could arise regarding children, which determine the time to get married. One scenario is that the couple aspires to get children in the marriage. In such a case, the ability of both of them to biologically sire children of their own comes into question. The biological ability of the woman to conceive is time bound unlike that of the man. Marriage counsellors recommend the couples in relationship to date for a considerable length of time in order to learn about their partners and make informed decision on whether they are ready to cope and live with them in marriage.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Managing Creativity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Managing Creativity - Essay Example I have been always a lover of art and thanks to my older sister I grew up by going as often as we both could go to the High Art Museum of Santiago, Chile. She loved to take me to this rather small museum if we compare it with some of the European ones, but loaded with some extraordinary paintings that till today are some of the best to me. We were then delighted with the works of such talented Masters as Pedro Lira (1845-1912), Camilo Mori (1896-1973) and Alberto Valenzuela Llanos (1869-1925), among so many other ones. Lately, in 1994, the Museum showed for the first time an exhibition that made us to be breathless with the perfection of paintings from Claudio Bravo (born in 1936). I was living in Spain at that date, but she told to me about this great exhibition and I immediately took interest by knowing more about him through the newspapers and related literature I was able to get. I must admit that I have always consider myself with a much more classic and conservative tendency th an modern on art feelings. It is still somehow difficult to me to understand the so called beauty of avant-garde or ultramodern paintings with abstract figures that symbolize whatever the viewer wants to see. However, my husband had reason when telling me about the great artist I could found on the non-classic but surrealist Master Salvador Dali (1904-1989). Even though I lived for 3 years in Spain, I never really took the trip to Figueras, to his Museum and natal city in the province of Gerona. But today I live in USA and knowing how famous Dali has always been and loving the idea of a small trip from our home in Greenville (SC) to the Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg (Fla), we prepared ourselves for this adventure on art. It was then and there, three years ago when my eyes were opened to his work. I was tremendously impressed with his paintings. I truly never expected I was going to fall in love with them. They are not the classic style I am always looking for. The subject of his paintings is not obvious to my eyes and senses as the ones I know what I am seeing at the first sight of them for the first time. In contrast, they are very liberal figures and shapes, colors, symbols, several paintings and ideas in one canvas, but mixed in a way that captivated my full attention till today. Since then I cannot ignore how splendid this eccentric artist was. He was eager for the new, not only for the subjects that he picked up to paint, but for the new ways of presenting them to the world. Always using different tools, from brushes to everything else that could allow him to accomplish what he had on mind at the time he was painting (Descharnes and Neret, 1998). Creativity and Business At this point you might be wondering what this brief talk about my personal feelings on art has to do with business. But believe me, it is related. According to Wikipedia, the free web encyclopedia, creativity by definition is a mental process that involves the generation of new beliefs, ideas, observations, or new associations between existing ones. And Dali is just one

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Types of Volleyball Practice Essay Example for Free

Types of Volleyball Practice Essay †¢ massed practice and distributed practice †¢ whole practice and part practice †¢ blocked practice and random practice †¢ varied and constant practice †¢ drill and problem solving Massed Practice; is a training routine in which a skill is practised continuously and consistently. E.g. 50 softball pitches, 25 basketball free throws, volleyball 40 serves. A barrier to massed practice includes fatigue and motivation and is usually undesirable to beginners. Distributed Practice; consists of short, frequent practice sessions with rest intervals. This type of practice is effective for learning skills. E.g. 5 sets of 20 chest passes with 2 minute rests. Most evidence indicates that distributed practice is more effective in improving performance. Whole Practice; is the learning of the skill in its entirety. This type of practice is effective in skills that are high in complexity and low in organisation such as jump shot or skating. Part Practice; is the learning of each of the separate components of the skill. It is particularly effective when the skill being taught is complex and has clearly defined components e.g. golf swing. Both Part and Whole Practice can be used to teach the same skills e.g. breaststroke. Blocked Practice; is where learners attempt the same skill repeatedly in order to refine and improve their performance. E.g. Tennis –15 forehands,15 backhands, 15 volleys. More effective for learners in the cognitive stage. Random Practice; is when all components of the multi task skill are practiced in random order within each practice session. Constant Practice; refers to the practice of only one skill without any variation e.g. kicking a ball to a target 10 away. Varied Practice; refers to practicing a class of skills using variations within the one practice session. E.g. kicking to a target 10m away then 20m away and 30m. Drills; Learning through repetition (eg. Dig, Set, spike drill we do in class) Problem Solving; learning through investigation and discovery. (if the teacher gave you a ball and said â€Å"work out how to serve the ball with no instruction or feedback)

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Dichotic Listening Task Analysis

Dichotic Listening Task Analysis Miss Emma Elizabeth Dorothy Meredith What does the dichotic listening task tell us about how we attend to information? Discuss this with reference to early and late selection models of attention. Attention is a selection process and is invaluable to our everyday lives. We use our attention for many things such as crossing the road, watching over our children, or even while multi-tasking (which is an invaluable skill in today’s world). Psychologist William James (890), talked about two modes of attention; Active attention which is indicative of an individual’s goals and expectations and controlled in a top-down way; and passive attention which is controlled in a bottom-up way and is effected by external stimuli (Eysenck, Keane, 2010). The way attention works brings about a host of questions which has generated much research in to this field; questions such as how much information can we take in at once? What happens to the information to which we are not attending? Do distractions from unwanted information cause attention to fail? Other questions are how do we process the information coming through our senses? And when in the process do we filter out that which i s not relevant? (Naish, 2010). This essay will be concerned with where the filter lies in the process and will compare and contrast early and late models of selection, drawing on research in this area which has used dichotic listening tasks to help explain how we attend to information. The dichotic listening task is a method commonly used by researchers in psychology to explore selective attention. Participants are asked to wear headphones, in which they are then presented with multiple sounds representing that of the real world. These different sounds are played in each ear and are easily manipulated (Naish, 2010). Broadbent (1952, 1954) used the dichotic listening task to support the bottleneck theory of attention. This theory proposed that information is selected on the basis of ‘low level’ physical characteristics such as location of sound, pitch and gender of speaker, and only this information is processed which would suggests that this bottleneck in the attentional system is such that only a limited amount of sensory information passes through it. Broadbent argued that this bottleneck occurs early on in the filtering process. To demonstrate this theory, Broadbent used the dichotic listening task in which he used two conditions where the participa nts are asked to listen and repeat different numbers. Pairs of different numbers are played to each ear. They then have to report these numbers back either by confirming the numbers heard in each ear (condition 1) or reporting the numbers in the order they were heard (condition 2). Broadbent’s findings were that generally participants found condition 1 easier than condition 2 and that participants generally couldn’t remember the ignored message in one ear when close attention was paid to the message in the other. However he found that with short messages, participants could access the neglected information a short time after, as it would be stored in the echoic memory. Physical features such as pitch and location were also found to be used by participants to track messages. From this, Broadbent concluded that switching attention back and forth between ears took up more cognitive resource and that the physical features were also used to filter information. He also propo sed that all information is received in parallel and then sorted based on the perceptual characteristics. It is only then that the signal wanted is passed on for processing, anything else is blocked which protects again overloading of the semantic processor (Naish, 2010). Broadbent’s early filter theory has been criticised he argument being that if we haven’t extracted meaning out of the sensory information then how do we know to discard it as not relevant. Theories which contrast Broadbent’s early filter theory shall be looked at next. Attenuation theorists suggest that only the shadowed message in dichotic listening tasks are fully processed, however everything else is not blocked, it is just attenuated. Treisman (1960) discovered that some participants, when shadowing a message, would say a word that had been presented in the unshadowed message. She found that this was usually because the word was plausible in the context of meaning in the shadowed message (Eysenck, Keane, 2010). This led Treisman (1964) to propose the attenuation theory which is that all information is perceptually processed in parallel then sent through for processing semantically. The attended message would be left untouched and then, in contrast to Broadbent, all of the other information would be attenuated and analysed, rather than blocked which explains why the attenuated message will sometimes be attended to (such as in the cocktail party effect where you can be attended to a conversation in one part of the room, hear your name in another part of the room and then switch your attention to that conversation) and also illustrates a flaw within Broadbent’s early Filter theory. Treisman used the dichotic listening task and shadowing to illustrate attenuation. Participants were asked to shadow a story being played in one ear ignoring what was being played in the other ear. She found that participants began to shadow the other ear if the story switched ears, contradicting Broadbent’s theory as they shouldn’t be aware of the story continuing in the other ear. Treisman proposed that this was due to priming where the temporary sensitisation of a word due to the presence of another causes the listener to assume what the next word will be. She also claimed that the location of the bottleneck was likely to be more flexible than Broadbent had suggested (Naish, 2010). Certain words, such as own name, may also be recognised easily in the unattended message. It was demonstrated by Underwood (1977) that the primi ng effect became stronger if there were several linked ideas used to prime rather than a single word. Underwood also concluded that sentences are processed as whole units but only when attended as the priming effect was also much stronger when the story starts in the attended ear and then switches to the unattended ear rather than vice versa (Driver, 2001). It has already been mentioned that Broadbent had found that information could be stored in the echoic memory and it is also true of the iconic memory when it come visual modality. He argued that if we could switch attention rapidly into the appropriate sensory buffer then it would be possible to process unattended information. Broadbent was, however, cynical about this as he believed that it took 500ms to shift attention, but it actually takes 50ms (Tsal, 1983 cited Eysenck, Keane, 2010). This means that shifting attention to that information in the echoic memory can be as efficient as shifting attention to the actual object. Tre isman argues that the reason for this sporadic semantic processing of the unattended information is due to a leaky filter. In contrast, Broadbent argues that it depends on what is called ‘slippage’ by Lachter et.al (2004). That is attention shifted to supposedly unattended information, therefore it is not unattended (Eysenck, Keane, 2010). There are three other studies that showed unconscious awareness of the unattended material. Corteen and Wood (1972) conducted an experiment where participants were conditioned with a mild shock to city names until they showed a Galvanic Skin Response (GSR). They still showed GSR to these words and cities they hadn’t been conditioned in, when they occurred in the non-shadowed message, although consciously they were not aware of them (Naish, 2010). Corteen and Dunn (1974) also conditioned their participants to certain words so that they would exhibit GSR upon hearing them. To demonstrate non-awareness, participants were instructed to make a conscious response when a conditioned word was played. They failed to do this most of the time when the conditioned word was played in the unattended ear and exhibited GSR. This suggests that some processing for meaning must take place and contradicts Broadbent’s early filter theory (Driver, 2001). Von Wright, Anderson and Stenman (197 5) suggested that meaning can be processed without awareness. They established that a GSR was caused by related words, even synonyms, for the conditioned word by conducting a dichotic listening task where the participants were presented with two lists of words auditorially and asked to shadow one list and ignore the other. The findings were that this indeed happened and a GSR effect occurred when the words were in the non-shadowed list or were very similar sounding words (Eysenck, Keane, 2010). As already mentioned, attenuation theory helps to explain the cocktail party effect and also Corteen and Dunn’s finding. It confirms that unattended information might be available for identification not meaning. There is also less perceptual information to be identified with special words such as own name. Attenuation theory also explains why participants will follow a message from one ear to the other as both messages are being processed however priming makes related words in attenuated messages easier to identify at switching point (Driver, 2001). It may also be possible to explain auditory attention (how we deduce distinct â€Å"sound objects† to attend to, such as one person’s voice among many) by extending visual attention theories that explain how we deduce and attend to objects in our spotlight of attention. This suggests the same neural mechanisms may lie beneath both types of perception (Shinn-Cunningham, 2008). It is proposed by late selection theorists that all information is processed. It’s only the pertinent material that is made available Deutsch and Deutsch (1963) suggested that all messages are processed both perceptually and semantically, with the most important or relevant stimulus deciding the response. This puts the bottleneck much closer to the end of the processing system than both Broadbent’s and Treisman’s theories (Eysenck, Keane, 2010). Another theory suggested by Norman (1968) was that all information must be processed to the point where meaning is designated from memory (Naish, 2010). However, late selection theories were later falsified by developments in neuroscience. Neurophysiological studies took place which provided evidence against the theories of Deutsch and Deutsch. Coch, Sanders and Neville (2005), using the dichotic listening task, asked their participants to attend to one of two auditory messages. The task for the participants was to spot p robe targets which were presented on both the attended and non-attended messages. Event-Related Potentials (ERP) were recorded from each participant. It was found that ERPs appeared 100ms after the probe was presented and was greater when the probe was presented on the attended message. This suggests that there was more assessing of attended probes rather than unattended probes. However, if processing happened in the way Deutsch and Deutsch theorise, then there wouldn’t be any difference in the ERPs recorded (Eysenck, Keane, 2010). Each of the theories uses the dichotic listening task to provide evidence to support their theory. We know that attention is a limited resource and that we can’t focus on everything within our environment. The three major theories do give us an insight in to this. Broadbent’s early selection theory argues that the filter comes before the information is given meaning, but if this was the case then we wouldn’t be able to identify our own name when spoken in the unattended ear. Deutsch and Deutsch went on to argue that the filter happens after the information has been given meaning , so you register and assign everything a meaning then the filter decides what to pass on to conscious awareness. However, as attention is limited, this seems like a waste of resource to assign meaning to information that you will never need. So, Treismans attenuation theory fits nicely in between Broadbent’s early filter and Deutsch and Deutsch late selection filter and argues tha t the information into the unattended ear weakens but is not eliminated, that some of it will get through to the perceptual processes and be given meaning. The input from the unattended ear will still be given meaning but not as high priority as that in the attended ear. If, at this point, the unattended information is important (like hearing your names across a crowded room) then attention can be switched and you attenuate the previously attended to ear. The jury is still out on which of these theories is the ultimate when it comes to helping in our understanding of selective attention, however, each if the theories has been pivotal in how we view selective attention and this is important because attention is crucial to any other cognitive function that we perform. Word count: 2046 References Driver, J. (2001). ‘A selective review of selective attention research from the past century’,British Journal of Psychology,vol. 92, pp. 53–78. Edgar, G. (2007). ‘Perception and attention’. In D. Miell, A. Phoenix, K. Thomas (Eds), Mapping Psychology (2nd ed., pp. 3-50). Milton Keynes: The Open University. Eysenck, M. Keane, M. (2010). ‘Visual perception and attention’. In Cognitive psychology: a students handbook. (6th ed. Pp 153 – 201) Hove, Eng. New York: Psychology Press. Naish. P., (2010). ‘Attention’. In Kaye, H. (Eds).Cognitive psychology (pp 29 – 62). Milton Keynes: The Open University Shinn-Cunningham, B.G. (2008). ‘Object-based auditory and visual attention’,Trends in Cognitive Sciences,vol. 12, pp. 182–6.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Assistive Technology On Disabled Students Impact Education Essay

Assistive Technology On Disabled Students Impact Education Essay Abstract This study proposes to determine the impact of Assistive Technology (AT) on disabled students in South African higher institutions. The disabled people in any society are generally facing many debilitating quandaries, including physical, emotional and physiological degradation. As a result, empowering people with disabilities to realize their self-esteem as well as enhance their skilling and employability represents an interesting and challenging task to government, industry, interest groups and individuals worldwide. However, the emerging assistive technology provides a unique opportunity to alleviate the challenges of people with disabilities. Exploiting this novel technology, our current goal is to determine the impact of AT on disabled students in South African higher institutions. Randomized control group pre-test and post-test experimental design will be used for impact determination. Cronbach alpha will be used to measure the reliability of the data solicited from participatin g students in a kind of participatory survey. Bootstrapping statistics will be used to analyze the result of the experimental design and correlation will be used to discover relationship between data samples. As a case study, we would like to validate our design using randomly selected students from University of Pretoria, Tshwane University of Technology and University of Witwatersrand, which due to their closeness to the researchers makes the study cost-effective. We are hopeful that our design would be systemic enough to be easily extrapolated into other institutions. The expected contributions of this study are to: (a) explore different types of AT available to disabled students, (b) determine the user-friendliness of the AT, (c) compare the performance of disabled students with non-disabled peers and (d) determine the impact of AT on disabled students in South African higher institutions. Keywords: Assistive Technology, disabilities, South Africa, disabled students 1. Introduction The disabled people in any part of the world are generally facing many debilitating quandaries and they are not experiencing the kind of comfort, dexterity and optimism that most non-disabled people enjoy. The number of people with disabilities, continuous to insistently increase due to high rate of accidents, natural disasters, diseases and increasing number of aging people. For instance, disabled people in South Africa account for 5% (2  255  982) of the total population (Statistics South Africa, 2001), which significantly outgrows the previous statistics of (please supply previous statisticsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.) and in many parts of the world, the story is sympathetic. As a result, the impact of having some more people with disabilities in our society than ever before is immeasurable. The South African government has embarked on encouraging initiatives to have more disabled South Africans obtain formal education as a way to provide succour so that disabled people are better empowe red in the society. For example, the Ministry of Education improvises that South African schools should provide AT services and equipments for disabled students to enable a balanced (free and appropriate) public education. These initiatives make the use of AT practically relevant in our schools be it higher or lower institutions of learning. An emerging AT is any mobile device or infrastructure that can be used to maintain or improve the capabilities of individuals with disabilities (IDEA, 1990). With careful planning and guidance, the vast number of AT devices and software can be potentially beneficial to disabled students (Duhaney Duhaney, 2000). AT can enable people who are suffering from a wide range of natural disabilities to enjoy more comfortable lives. These technologies are being used at home, schools, work places and also in communities as a whole by disabled people (Howell, 1996). The use of AT is allowing people with disabilities to be more independent, productive, self-confident and for them to easily integrate into the mainstream society. The technology, for example, can enable a student with physically impaired hands or arms to be able to operate a computer with a switch or an onscreen keyboard, a mute student to communicate using a device that speaks and a student who cannot walk can be assisted to do so with specialised mechanical devices (Mirenda, 2001). As a result, the impact of AT on disable students in South Africa is undoubtedly enormous. Moreover, not only is AT beneficial for teaching and learning purpose, the living style of disabled students can be greatly improved socially by allowing them, for instance to play games and communicate fluently. However, many issues and obstacles such as lack of AT knowledge, training, funding, poor coordination between service providers and technology developers as well as fear of these technologies are hindering the successful application of AT in the society at large. That is why this study proposes to evaluate the impact of AT on disable students in South African higher institutions. 1.1. Problem Statement and Research Questions Today, the greatest challenge confronting the South African students with disabilities is to smoothly integrate into the society, participate in a competitive educational system and be equipped for the professional economic world. A number of emerging technologies: assistive and adaptive have been developed to cater for disabled students. But, very little literature has been written about these novel technologies. Additionally, the evaluation of their impact on the end-users has also not been widely reported. One way to ensure best outcomes for disabled students in South Africa would be to evaluate the impact of AT on these students. To do so, different types of AT would have to be identified and equal opportunities would have be given to disabled and non-disabled students to compete. Thus, a participatory research is necessary to determine the impact of AT on disabled students in South Africa. The main research question to solve in this study is: what is the impact of AT on disabled students in South Africa? To answer this question satisfactorily, first it is important to identify various AT available and determine their contributions towards improving the academic performance of disabled students in South Africa. As result, following research sub-questions will be squarely addressed in order to solve the main research question. What are the different types of AT are available to disabled students? How user friendly are the available AT to disabled students? Does AT smoothly integrate disabled and non-disabled students? Does the use of AT improves the academic performance of disabled students? How is AT used by disabled students to facilitate social networking? What influence is AT playing in the life of disabled students? 1.2. Goals and Objectives of the Study The core goal of this study to determine the impact of Assistive Technology (AT) on disabled students in South African higher institutions. This could help to uncover some unresolved issues introduced by disabled students on the impact of AT in their learning environments. This goal will be accomplished by implementing the following primary objectives. To identify different types of AT that are available to disabled students in South African higher institutions. To determine the user-friendliness of the available AT to disabled students in South African higher institutions. To determine whether the use of AT smoothly integrates disabled students with non-disabled students. To determine whether the use of the AT improves academic performance of disabled students in South African higher institutions. To determine how is AT used by disabled students to facilitate social networking. To determine the influence that AT is playing in the life of disabled students? 1.3. Expected Deliverables Within a 2 year project leading to an award of MTec degree, it is important to ensure that there are clear expectations for what can be delivered in these timescales. We hope to deliver the following. A comprehensive account of disabled students learning experiences and a clear documentation of the impact of AT on disabled students. A set of recommendations for practitioners, support staff, institutional managers and program developers on ways to manage the challenges of disabled students in the society. 2. Literature Review Most of the recent literature focusing on the impact of ICT on students in Universities across the world can be classified into three sources: Literature and case studies that have been developed from publicly funded studies to determine the impact of AT in higher education exist in academic domains and are mostly inform of case studies (e.g. Skills for Access, DART, ALERT).Other studies that support this include Seale(2006). Research studies that have explored the general education experiences of disabled students exist in both academic and non-academic domains (e.g. BBC, OUCH, SKILL). Other studies that support this include; (Mortimer Crosier, 2006), Shelving et al. 2004 and (Fuller et al. 2004). Research studies that have explored the specific e-learning experiences of disabled students Have generally been conducted in the UK,an example of this is Draffan et al. (2007) in a survey of the use of and satisfaction with AT by disabled students in UK higher institutions. Another survey by Cobham et al. (2001) also tried to explain the specific experiences of disabled students when using AT. The important conclusion from these studies is whether their findings are true for all students, especially the disabled students who may need emerging technology such as AT effective learning? The unique novelty of this study in relation to these studies listed above are abvious.With the use of participatory research methods, this study shall; (a) be a voice for the disabled students; (b) get raw (first hand) information from the uses themselves. This enables to answer the paradigm of Nothing about me, without me since the users are involved in every phase of this study. The important conclusion from these studies is whether their findings are true for all students, especially the disabled students who may need emerging technology such as AT effective learning? In particular, some of the most significant change in the education of students with disabilities in South Africa has been the initiative to adapt the inclusive education theory into their education system (Patton, 1992). This form of initiative is mainly a collaborative setting that includes a content specialist paired with a learning specialist and then leads to sharing of the teaching responsibilities, which will later benefit the education of all students. The use of inclusive education may change from one institution to other, but it clearly indicates that it is extremely important as enabler for students to achieve their ultimate educational goals. The rapid developments in innovative ICT infrastructure, particularly in the field of AT rekindles the hope and aspiration for those who have so long been deprived of opportunities with which life has burdened them: visual impairment, physical disability, hearing impairment and Communication impairments (Levin Scharffenberger, 1990) . More importantly, disability is being recognized as a social construct created by ability-oriented and ability-dominated environments. Traditional methods for studying the impacts of AT on disabled students in South African higher education includes: (a) interviews, (b) questionnaire surveys and (c) focus groups. However, in recent time, there has been a need to develop methods and practices that enable the student voice to be more focus on AT studies (Levin Scharffenberger, 1990). However, it should be clarified that efforts to include disabled students in studies of the impact of AT in the learning environments may need new alternative methods besides the traditional methods. Researcher can draw their learner-centred AT research studies from two related filed methods to analyse the impact of AT on disabled students in universities, these include: (a) participatory design and (b) participatory research. These methods are commonly used for designing AT and to incorporate the related fields of user-centred design, co-design and inclusive design (Hanson, et al., 2007). Participatory design according was defined as th e involvement of disabled students throughout the entire phases of the study (Hanson et al. 2007). This study involves: (a) working directly with the disabled students to fully participate in the study from phase one throughout to last phase, (b) involving the real disabled students in their real contexts, ignoring window dressing to keep the deficiencies of their school secret, (c) a continuous cycle of development and evaluation phases until both the researcher and research participants (disabled student in this case) reach an agreed solution, (d) dual participation between participants (disabled students) and designers in development of key AT methodologies. The benefits of participatory design methods are obvious when researching intensive study on the disabled students and how they use these technologies in daily activities (Davies et al. 2004). The strong in-depth analysis offered by such methods appears to be highly applicable to research studies focusing on hearing the stude nt voice. This study, therefore nominates participatory methods to be used to explore the impact of AT on disabled students in three higher education institutions in South Africa, taking three universities: (a) University of Pretoria, (b) University of Witwatersrand and (c) Tshwane University of Technology as a case study. This study advocates that there is the need for research to be written from the disabled students perspective and that is why participatory research is an appropriate approach for this study. Although most of the educators in south Africa are trying to make sure that the disabled students use the same technology as non-disabled, it has been hard for the disabled students to deal with the fact that most of the software being developed do not accommodate the aspect of inclusive education and design for all (Fischer, 1995). Research Design and Methodology The methodology of this study will try to demonstrate how the use of participatory methods of research will be used to show how the goals and objectives and problems questions of this study were meant. The most common forms of participatory methods are by use of interview plus, questionnaires and focus groups. The first objective (to identify different types of AT that are available to disabled students in South African higher institutions.), this study shall design a template of various AT from different literature study on AT. This AT template is then presented to the research participants (disabled students) to choose what are the different types of assistive technologies they are currently using. The second objectives (to determine the user-friendliness of the available AT to disabled students in South African higher institutions), this study proposes to include in the questionnaire a question that enables the disabled students to select one option from 1-10 how user friendly they think the AT they are using are. The higher the number, the more use-friendly that participant feels about that AT. The third objective (to determine whether the use of the AT improves academic performance of disabled students in South African higher institutions), this study proposes, after ethical approval has been granted from the various university, this study shall ask the University Authorities to provide academic transcripts of the research participants, to see if using these ATs have helped them improve on their academics. The fourth objective (to determine how is AT used by disabled students to facilitate social networking), this study proposes with the use of a questionnaire and interview plus, the research participants will be asked to choose or list the social networks that they are using at that current state and how much easier ATs have helped these students while using these social networks. The fifth objective (to determine the influence that AT is playing in the life of disabled students), this study proposes to have a controlled and experimental sample of participants. Since the South African government encourages the use of inclusive design, most of the ATs are used by both the disabled students and their non-disabled peers. During the interviews and answering of questionnaire, the research participants shall be asked to list how they feel ATs have helped them; both negative and positive responses shall be encouraged. Thus study will encourage these participants to even include non-academic influences of ATs on them. The focus group and interview plus shall be mainly used when the participants and answering to the questionnaire. These forms of participatory research methods shall also be used to enable the research participants to provide any additional information that they feel that this study might have left out. This study shall during the first focus group meeting provide each research participant with the proposed questions that this study intends to use. Each participant shall be asked to first tick which questions they feel are relevant to this study. Using an excel sheet, every question shall be listed in one column and another column showing how many students have chosen a particular question. This number is then divided by the total number of research participants to determine the mean score. The higher the mean score, the more relevant a question is to this study. The same format shall be used when deterring the best relevant data collection tool to use. These mean scores can also be classified as alpha scores. 3.1 Overview of data collection tools The data collection tools that will be used in this project consist of (a) interview plus (b) questionnaire and (c) focus groups. The use of these tools is not unique to research that uses a participatory approach; several general studies of disabled students in higher education have employed these methods. However, what is unique about the use of these data collection tools in this study is that participation influenced the nature and focus of each tool: 4. Project Plan 4.1 Summarised Project Plan WORKPACKAGES March April May June July August September October November Startup/Project Planning Communication Questionnaire Student recruitment Phase 1 all inclusive Phase 2 purposive Data collection Data Analysis Evaluation /Reporting Table 1:Project Plan 4.2 Master Project Plan Work package and activity Outputs Start date End Date WORKPACKAGE 1: Startup/Project Planning Objective: To provide project management for the project 1. Produce project plan, workpackages, and dissemination plan. march Ongoing 2.Reading of project material Gathering literature from library and internet March Ongoing 2. Choose of University to use List of University March March 3. Write Chapter One Presentation of Proposal March June WORKPACKAGE 2: Communication Objective: Maintain communication with Cordinator, and external interested parties Team Communication with Cordinator Minutes of meetings/emails weekly March Ongoing Academic and Student Services Staff University of Minutes of meetings/emails weekly March Ongoing External interested parties (Disability South Africa) Minutes of meetings/emails weekly March Ongoing Focus Groups Minutes of meetings/emails weekly July Ongoing WORKPACKAGE : Questionnaire Objective: Develop questions that will answer the Goals and Objectives Developement of Assisitve Technology Types Questionnaire Questionaire May May Developement of Goals and Objectives related questions Questionnaire May June Revised Chapter One Hand in Research Proposal(Chapter One) June July WORKPACKAGE 3: disabled Student recruitment Phase 1 all inclusive Objective: Participation of max available of disabled students Student Services support and Ethics Committe Acceptance of outline questions and support of project July July (Re)formulate interview questions with disabled students Pilot / Questionnaire acceptable to participants and evaluation of changes made. July August Data Analysis from initial questionnaires and contact with students from Phase 1 Analysis and report on outcomes of initial questionnaire, e-mails and discussions with students. August August WORKPACKAGE 4: Phase 2 purposive Objective: Recruitment of students who agreed to participate during Phase 1 Participatory research of methodology initial discussions,on-going evaluation and implementation Analysis and report on Methodologies August September Interviews/ participation/development of artefacts Analysis of interviews summary report September September WORKPACKAGE 5: Data collection Objective: Systematic Storage and re-formatting of data Collection of Data from participants Raw data available to team September September Accessible Multimedia artefacts Data available to team with captions, text descriptions, etc. September September WORKPACKAGE 6: Data Analysis Objective: Evaluation of all the data and other artefacts collected Analysis of interview data from Phase 2 Synopsis of transcripts accepted by individual participant September October Analysis of all artefacts provided by participants Agreement with participants, as to which artefacts are used for dissemination. Ocotober October Analysis of all external the data gathered in relation to the project. Agreement with team as to inclusion of external data relating to the project e.g. accessibility guidelines etc. October October WORKPACKAGE 7: Evaluation /Reporting Objective: Evaluation of methodologies used and completion of progress and final reports Progress report Draft to Advisory Group and Team Itemised report of progress to date October November Final evaluation of the questions used and Research Question Report Draft summary report detailing how the research questions have been addressed and drawing out lessons learned from the particular institutional context; October November Methodology Critique and analysis Draft report of a critique of the chosen methodology November November Recommendations/Guidelines on impact of the use of Assistive Technologies Draft recommendations and guidance for practitioners, support staff, institutional managers, learners, content providers, instructional designers, technical and program developers November November FINAL THESIS Hand in final research paper November November Table 2:Master Project Plan showing the activities that will be involved

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Sophia Loren :: Star Hollywood Actress Biography Loren Essays

Sophia Loren It has been said that Sophia Loren was and is one of the most beautiful women in the world, but Sophia did not have an easy time getting to the status of Hollywood star. She started her life in poverty, lived through and saw the horrors of world war two. She became a beauty queen and from that tried her hand at acting. She went on the act in one hundred movies and won an Oscar award in her lifetime. Sofia Scicolone was born in Rome Italy on September 20, 1934. She would eventually change her name. She used a different spelling of her first name, Sophia, and tried out the last name Lazzaro. After one film she then decided that Loren would be a better choice and stuck with it. Sophia was born to an unwed woman named Romilda Villani; her father would not marry her mother but finally signed an affidavit that confirmed that Sofia was his child. Sophia soon had a little sister named Maria. Sophia's father was also Maria's father; however, this time he refused to sign the affidavit for Maria because he did not want to pay anymore child support. That meant that she was able to use her father's last name. In Italy , at that time, a child could not even start school if they did not have their father's last name, so Maria could not go to school and was ostracized because she didn't have a proper name. World War Two started and Sophia's town was a bomb target. At night Sophia and her family would have to take shelter in a railroad tunnel and soon the town was evacuated. The family moved to Naples and stayed with some distant relatives during the rest of the war. Sophia was old enough to understand what was going around her. She would sit on her balcony and watch what was happening around her. She was not unaware of the horrors of war, but once the war was over she found something else to watch; the movies. She absolutely fell in love with what she saw on screen and wished that she too could one day be and actress. She didn't care about the fortune and fame she just wanted to be like the people she saw on screen. Sophia was growing up and was now a teenager. She was turning into a beautiful young

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

The Fall of the House of Usher :: Literary Analysis, Edgar Allan Poe

In the short story, â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher† by Edgar Allen Poe, diction is extensively used to create an air of suspense. Poe’s use of diction along with symbolism contributes to establishing a mood of despair. By using symbolic comparison between the Ushers and their house, the story’s suspense builds and the characteristics of the Ushers are portrayed. Poe’s cunning tactics are evident in the way he achieves a story of both suspense and horror. In â€Å"The Fall of the House of Usher†, Poe’s use of dark, descriptive words allow him to establish an eerie mood. Poe’s unique style of writing along with his foreshadowing vocabulary is significant in creating a suspenseful gothic story. At the beginning of the short story, Poe describes the House of Usher to be â€Å"dull†, â€Å"oppressive†, and â€Å"dreary† (1265). His choice of words strongly emphasizes a mood of darkness and suspense as he builds on the horrific aspects of this daunting tale. At first glimpse, the house itself is surrounded by the feeling of â€Å"insufferable gloom†, (1265) â€Å"[t]here was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart, an unredeemed dreariness of thought [...]† (1265). The atmosphere that Poe describes in the statement above establishes a spine-chilling mood. Poe uses words such as â€Å"insufferable gloom† (1265) along with other disturbing words to stress the mood of horror. Furthermore, the house evokes suspense as it strikes the reader with curiosity as to why the building presents such a dreadful and uneasy feeling. Poe describes the house with further detail emphasizing its ghostly traits: â€Å"Dark draperies hung upon the walls. The general furniture was profuse, comfortless, antique, and tattered. Many books and musical instruments lay scattered about, but failed to give any vitality to the scene† (1267). Poe describes the house using very descriptive and daunting words contributing to the story’s depressive mood as well as its suspense. Poe also uses symbolism to represent the connection between the house and the Usher family. The description of the house itself has a shocking resemblance to that of Roderick and Madelyn Usher. Upon the main character’s arrival, Poe offers an interesting description of the building’s physical state. â€Å"The discoloration of age had been great. Minute fungi overspread the whole exterior, hanging in fine tangled web-work from the eves† (1266). Poe is able to establish an air of suspense by relating the state of the house to that of Roderick and Madelyn Usher.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Parent and Child Relationships Essay

â€Å"I Am Sam† is a powerfully touching film that tells the story of a parent and child’s love for one another. It shows that love is pure, and that no matter how great the mind is, love is even greater. The film’s protagonist is Sam, a mentally-challenged adult with a mental age of 7. Sam has a daughter, Lucy, with a prostitute who left them. Sam works at the local Starbucks to support Lucy, and everything is going along well until Lucy turned 7, because she already surpassed her father’s mental abilities. This creates problems, because early on we see that Lucy is precocious and inquisitive, and she is no longer satisfied with her father’s nonsense answers to her questions. When she starts wanting to read more difficult books than what Sam reads to her, she fakes having difficulty reading so as not to offend her father and make him feel inferior. On Sam’s part, even when he sees that Lucy is already growing up, he tries his best to support her the best way he knows how. Lucy does not see this yet because she is still a child, but she understands that her father is different, but she loves him because he is a very loving father who takes her out to the park and to eat pancakes and generally takes good care of her. Later in the film she is embarrassed when her classmates tease her that her father is a retard that she denies him and tells them that she is adopted. The authorities take her away from Sam, and later on sent to a foster home. When the authorities take Lucy away from him, he does everything he could to get her back. He even gets the fearsome lawyer Rita to help his cause. Rita, a successful and stringent lawyer who values winning more than anything, decides to take Sam’s case just to prove that she is not as selfish as she looks. Through the course of helping Sam, she realizes that Sam is a good father, that Sam’s mental inadequacy has not hampered his ability to love and care for his daughter at all. That in fact, he is a better parent than she is. When at first she sought to win Sam’s case because she did not want to lose, eventually Rita sympathizes with Sam’s cause. Sam visits Lucy regularly, and Lucy realizes that she wants her father back, and that she is going to fight back just to be with him, even if she is smarter than him, even if the world laughs at her for having a retard for a father. At this moment, Lucy has matured, and although she is just 7, she has taken responsibility not only of her own actions, but also decided that she will take care of her father when he could no longer take care of her, that she needs to be smart and capable and strong for the both of them. She saw just how much her father loves her and how he does not give up on her even when she denied him. However, even with Rita’s help, Sam loses the custody battle at court. Sam breaks down as he is convinced that he cannot take care of his own daughter. All this time, he was doing everything he could, enlisting the help of his friends and employers and colleagues to prove that he has what it takes to raise his daughter, but he finally accepts the fact that he is mentally inadequate to give her needs. If he really loves his daughter, he would do what is best for her even if it means letting go of her so that she could be the best that she could be. And Sam does that. He accepts that he cannot take care of Lucy, but even when he concedes, he does not give up on being a father to her. He moves in to an apartment just to be nearer to Lucy, so that even if he cannot raise her at least he could be there for her whenever she needed him, and so that he could watch her grow up. Lucy is hurt that she cannot be with her father, but she takes matters on her own hands, Late at night she sneaks out of her foster home to be with her father. Her foster parents find her out, and she does not deny that she longs to be with her father, even if they think that they can be better parents than him. Eventually, the foster parents let her go back to Sam, for Sam to have custody of her. The film tells us that love is great driving force that cannot be measured by financial success, or by intellectual achievements. Society may look at Sam as a retarded, inadequate man, but he fought for his daughter against all odds, when Lucy’s own mother simply walked out and left them. Lucy was smarter than Sam, but she learned about love from her father because he showered her with it. That is why even when she was presented with a better future with a â€Å"better† set of parents, she still chooses to go back to Sam, because she knows that her father loves her and she loves him. At the end, the film teaches us what a parent can give best to his child, and what a child needs most from a parent – love. And that is something that cannot be bought or substituted with material things, because children will always know if their parents have shown them enough love.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Last three paragraphs of “The Great Gatsby” Essay

This passage is the last three paragraphs of the story. The passage is Nick’s thoughts on Gatsby and the future. This passage ends the story and concludes Nick’s narrative. It happens while Nick is going home to Minnesota in a train. It illustrates the main theme of the un-attainability of the American Dream. In the first sentence of the passage, Fitzgerald uses the word â€Å"brooding† to show the mood of Nick, the narrator. Brooding gives an impression of deep, dark thinking. Next, he talks about the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock, a symbol that pervades the writing throughout the work. It symbolizes Gatsby’s hopes and dreams for the future. Fitzgerald uses the word â€Å"wonder† to show Gatsby’s excitement for his future with Daisy. Fitzgerald also uses the word â€Å"obscurity† to describe the land west of New York. This gives the tone a careless tone because Nick doesn’t explain what he really means. Nick also proceeds to call the Midwest â€Å"the dark fields of the republic.† In the second paragraph, Fitzgerald mentions the green light again, calling it â€Å"the orgastic future.† This description shows the expectations everyone has for future, but only a few people attain it. The diction of the second paragraph adds to the tone of the passage, showing the un-attainability of the American Dream. The last paragraph is only one sentence and is also the last sentence in the book. Fitzgerald uses this sentence to show that the â€Å"current† is flowing towards the East, and hence corruption. He uses the word â€Å"ceaselessly† to describe the movement of time into the past. Nick’s physical movement west is also his movement into the past and traditional values. Fitzgerald’s word choice affects the mood of the passage in many ways. In the first paragraph, Nick sounds bitter about the un-attainability of Gatsby’s dream. He says that it was â€Å"so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.† This sounds bitter and resentful. Nick then goes on to talk about how the dream that Gatsby strove for was fake and an illusion. He says that what he was really looking for was in the vast Midwest. In the second paragraph he becomes sentimental and dreamy, using ellipses to show how he keeps stretching for the American dream, which is just ahead of him. Nick turns even more sentimental in the third paragraph, saying that he is moving into  the past and embracing traditional values in spite of the overwhelming corruption. The Great Gatsby is dedicated to the theme of the decay and the unattainability of the American dream and the last three paragraphs of the book fully illustrate that theme.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Operations Business Report – Case Study: Qantas

Executive Summary Cantatas Is Australia largest domestic and International airline Cantatas was founded In the Queensland outback In 1920 and It began Its operations with one aircraft carrying mail and now it has expanded to 146 planes transporting people all over the world Cantatas' major influences they have to deal in today's market with include globalization, technology and the increased cost-based competition and the strategies that they have Implemented to meet these influences are outsourcing and a mix of established and leading edge technology .Competitive Advantage Cantatas, having two flying services (Cantatas and Starters) allows them to organism and book two aircrafts to serve the passenger to compete the competitive advantage more than others Cantatas established the frequent flyer program that different from other Lorene to make customer loyalty. Cantatas Is also In coalition with many local companies.Woolworth is the most known and the idea is to provide a competitive advantage to each other Cantatas is known for premium service so they incorporate Starters as a budget flight giving a competitive advantage, but also a cost advantage Cantatas is one of the worlds most recognizes and reputable brand, which gives them an opportunity to exploit their competitive advantage. 3. Operations Cantatas manages to sustain a competitive advantage In the market, predominantly due to how their operations function and how they manage It. 3. 1 – strategic Role of operations Cantatas has three different strategic roles of operations.These strategies that Cantatas has incorporated are cost leadership, differentiation and market focus Operations management within Cantatas includes scheduling, determining staffing levels and staff training and has demonstrated its ability to respond quickly to challenges and the success of rival low cost airlines Cantatas' operations are strategically important because most organizational activity comprises the day-to-day acti vities within the operation function Its strategy and operations go hand-in- hand and Is a key determinant of its ability to achieve long term success and ultimately, a competitive advantage within the marketThe influences and current operational responses by Cantatas include globalization, rapidly developing technology and increased cost-based competition Globalization has made Cantatas re-think about their operations as they need to not only keep up with constant fluctuations and how the world is responding to it, to sustain their competitive advantage.The responses from Cantatas regarding globalization include o launching new airlines in Asia due to the Asian century we are experiencing and o cost minimization to be more internationally competitive. The rapidly developing technology from Cantatas has allowed for operational processes to be a lot more efficient and effective. The changes have included o newer planes o new check ins o Q bag tags Due to the expanding market of aircr aft, it has resulted in an increased cost based competition.Cantatas has had to respond to these changes within the market and the responses from Cantatas include o outsourcing o online bookings o employing more labor saving techniques The influences that Cantatas has had to deal with has made them change a lot of heir operations but the way they have responded to it, has allowed them to sustain a competitive advantage 3. – Operations Processes The operations processes are classified into three separate groups, inputs, the transformation process and outputs Inputs are classified into sub groups, which are transformed and transforming resources This means, Cantatas focuses on food ingredients for their catering services, computers, labor, and capital. The transformation process are also classified into subgroups, which include volume, rarity, variation in demand and visibility (the four Vs..) and monitoring, controlling and improvement. In terms of the four vs.., Cantatas expe riences a predictable major increase in demand for the school holidays and other major events but also had to cope with major decreases such as the 9/1 1 bombings Monitoring and controlling at Cantatas involves taking corrective action and making new plans if necessary Customer service is Cantatas' major output and they continually focus on delivering the highest levels of customer service. They have recently adopted the â€Å"Net Promoter Score† as a key measure of customer service. The processes that Cantatas have implemented, how they identify peak times of the year and then deal with those situations has given them a competitive advantage over other businesses, which fail 3. 4 – Operations Strategies There are a number of strategies for improving operations at Cantatas and the two major strategies that Cantatas have implemented are outsourcing and technology Outsourcing is on the increase within Cantatas and currently, Cantatas outsourcer early all of its IT operat ions and some small call centre operations.The advantages that outsourcing has given Cantatas include saving in capital outlay, saving in labor and saving in cost Cantatas relies heavily on technology, but airline technology is complex and it is continually being advanced and updated. Cantatas was one of a number of airlines, who placed advance orders for the new Airbus AWAY, but they were opted to make sure they were not the airline to receive the very first ones asCantatas are all about quality for the customer Cantatas made sure that they could sustain their competitive advantage within the market by ensuring that they got leading edge and established technology that was well reviewed and started outsourcing the right things to keep the operations effective and efficient 4. Conclusion Through Cantatas' strategies they have adopted, the way they have changed and adapted to the influences within the market and the efficiency of the their processes, it has allowed for Cantatas to no t only gain a competitive advantage but sustain it as well

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Particle Accelerators

What are particle accelerators used for? A particle accelerator is a device that uses electric fields to propel electrically charged particles in a vacuum, which approach the speed of light, towards each other and collide. The result hopefully being that the kinetic energy in the particles and other energy converted into subatomic particles or various types of nuclear radiation. There is more than one type of particle accelerator; they come in two basic types: †¢Linear †¢Circular Linear Accelerators The linear accelerator, or linac, uses microwave technology to accelerate electrons in a part of the accelerator called the â€Å"wave guide†. Particles pass through a line of hollow metal tubes enclosed in an evacuated cylinder. Within a hollow conductor there is no electric field so a charged particle travels at constant speed inside each of the tubes. Between one tube and the next there is a potential difference which varies in size and direction as an AC voltage is applied to the series of tubes. Bunches of charged particles are accelerated from tube to tube, moving with the voltage wave as it travels along the linac. The largest linac in the world, at Stanford University, is 3. 2km long. It is capable of accelerating electrons to an energy of 50 GeV. Stanford’s linac is designed to collide two beams of particles, accelerated in turn by the linac and temporarily kept in storage rings. The two most important problems in the linac design are the accelerator cell voltage flatness and the transverse mode impedance of the cell. Disadvantages †¢The device length limits the locations where one may be placed. †¢A great number of driver devices and their associated power supplies is required, increasing the construction and maintenance expense of this portion. If the walls of the accelerating cavities are made of normally conducting material and the accelerating fields are large, the wall resistivity converts electric energy into heat quickly. On the other hand superconductors have various limits and are too expensive for very large accelerators. Cyclotron The cyclotron was the first circular accelerator. A cyclotron is somewhat like a linac wrapped into a tig ht spiral. Instead of many tubes, the machine has only two hollow vacuum chambers, called dees, that are shaped like capital letter Ds back to back. A magnetic field, produced by a powerful electromagnet, keeps the particles moving in a curved path. The potential difference between the dees constantly alternates in direction, so that every time the particles reach the gap they experience a forward acceleration. Within each dee the particles travel at constant speed during each half-revolution. As the particles gain energy, they spiral out towards the edge of the accelerator, where finally they exit. Advantages of the Cyclotron †¢Cyclotrons have a single electrical driver, which saves both money and power, since more expense may be allocated to increasing efficiency. Cyclotrons produce a continuous stream of particle pulses at the target, so the average power is relatively high. †¢The compactness of the device reduces other costs, such as its foundations, radiation shielding, and the enclosing building. The world’s most powerful cyclotron, the K1200, is capable of accelerating nuclei to an energy approaching 8 GeV . Synchrotron The synchrotron is the most recent and most powerful member of the accelerator family. It consists of a tube in the shape of a large ring through which the particles travel; the tube is surrounded by magnets that keep the particles moving along the centre of the tube. The particles enter the tube after already having been accelerated to several million electron volts. They are accelerated at one or more points on the ring each time they make a complete circle around the accelerator. To keep the particles in a rigid orbit, the strengths of the magnets in the ring are increased as the particles gain energy. In a few seconds, the particles reach energies greater than 1 GeV and are ejected, either directly into experiments or towards targets that produce a variety of elementary particles when struck by the accelerated particles. The synchrotron principle can be applied to either protons or electrons, although most of the large machines are proton-synchrotrons. Differences between Cyclotron and Synchrotron †¢Synchrotron has a single ring unlike the cyclotron which has two. †¢Synchrotron is surrounded by magnets, cyclotron has two magnets in all. †¢Synchrotron accelerates the particles at one or more places as opposed to cyclotron which accelerates the particle with the potential difference between the two dees. †¢Synchrotron is much cheaper way to achieve high energy particles than the cyclotron and therefore the original cyclotron method is no longer used. Particle Detectors Particle Detectors are instruments used to detect and study fundamental subatomic particles and are one of the most important pieces of equipment in the particle accelerator. The particle detector sees the particles and the radiation after the collision created by a particle accelerator. Geiger Counter A â€Å"Geiger counter† usually contains a metal tube with a thin metal wire along its middle, the space in between them sealed off and filled with a suitable gas, and with the wire at about +1000 volts relative to the tube. It measures ionizing radiation, and detects photons, alpha, beta, and gamma radiation, but not neutrons. An ion or electron penetrating the tube tears electrons off atoms in the gas, and because of the high positive voltage of the central wire, those electrons are then attracted to it. In doing so they gain energy, collide with atoms and release more electrons, until the process snowballs into an â€Å"avalanche† which produces an easily detectable pulse of current. With a suitable filling gas, the flow of electricity stops by itself, or else the electrical circuitry can help stop it. The instrument was called a â€Å"counter† because every particle passing it produced an identical pulse, allowing particles to be counted but not telling anything about their identity or energy. Cloud Chamber The fundamental principle of the cloud chamber was discovered by the British physicist C. T. R. Wilson. The cloud chamber consists of a vessel several centimetres or more in diameter, with a glass window in the top and a movable piston forming the lower side. The piston can be dropped rapidly to expand the volume of the chamber. The chamber is usually filled with dust-free air saturated with water vapour. Dropping the piston causes the gas to expand rapidly and causes its temperature to fall. The air is now supersaturated with water vapour, but the excess vapour cannot condense unless ions are present. Charged nuclear or atomic particles produce such ions, and any such particles passing through the chamber leave behind them a trail of ionized particles (see Ionization) upon which the excess water vapour will condense. This makes the course of the charged particle visible as a line of tiny water droplets, like the vapour trail left by an aeroplane. These tracks can be photographed and the photographs then analysed to provide information on the characteristics of the particles. A cloud chamber is often operated within a magnetic field. The tracks of negatively and positively charged particles will curve in opposite directions. By measuring the radius of curvature of each track, its velocity can be determined. Heavy nuclei such as alpha particles form thick and dense tracks, protons form tracks of medium thickness, and electrons form thin and irregular tracks. Although the cloud chamber has now been supplanted almost entirely by later devices, it was used in making many important discoveries in nuclear physics. Bubble chamber The bubble chamber, is similar in operation to the cloud chamber. In a bubble chamber a liquid under pressure is kept at a temperature just below its boiling point. The pressure is lowered just before subatomic particles pass through the chamber. This lowers the boiling point, but for an instant the liquid will not boil unless some impurity or disturbance is introduced. The high-energy particles provide such a disturbance. Tiny bubbles form along the tracks as these particles pass through the liquid. If a photograph is taken just after the particles have crossed the chamber, these bubbles will make visible the paths of the particles. As with the cloud chamber, a bubble chamber placed between the poles of a magnet can be used to measure the energies of the particles. Many bubble chambers are equipped with superconducting magnets instead of conventional magnets. Bubble chambers filled with liquid hydrogen allow the study of interactions between the accelerated particles and the hydrogen nuclei.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Bussiness Plan for Start-up Restaurant Dissertation

Bussiness Plan for Start-up Restaurant - Dissertation Example This dissertation demonstrates a business plan, that is designed for a restaurant named ChopChop, that deals in organic food items such as salads and health juices in Doha, Qatar. As per the market analysis performed, it was observed that majority population of Qatar is expatriates that increase the scope for continental food flavors among the target customers. A primary analysis performed among the target market customers showed tendency towards consuming healthy food in comparison to fast-food items. Price is not a major issue for the customers of the selected region. The services of Chopchop will be designed in an individual manner wherein the customers can select the ingredients to be put in their salads from a large variety of vegetables in the store. Also, wraps can be served along with the salads with meat, beef and shrimp. The strategic aim of ChopChop is to capture the target market with a differentiation focus. The pricing of the products will be designed with price skimmin g strategy for increasing product life in market. The finical calculations showed that ChopChop can achieve its break-even point by the end of 7 months of its initiation. It has been recommended that the online activities such as website development should be minimized during the first year and replaced with the provision of launching ChopChop with two stores. In conclusion, the researcher recommends a possible future strategy for the company, that will be mostly focused towards identification and penetration of other potential Middle Eastern markets.

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Christmas carols Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Christmas carols - Essay Example The word carol means dancing to something in a circular manner, and it originated from the Latin word ‘carula’ and French ‘carole’. Thus, carols are songs of joy and praise during sang celebrations such as the Christmas season. Christmas carols are important part of the Christmas celebration because they not only put people in the Christmas mood, but also tell the joyous stories surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ. Therefore, Christmas carols center on Christmas theme, or may not refer to Christmas specifically, but are associated with the holiday season, as they are sang during the period that immediately surrounds the Christmas holiday. This research paper explores Christmas carols from the origin, meaning, kinds, difference between past and present carols, and their impact on unity and identity of the people that practice the Christmas tradition. The first carols sung in Europe were surprisingly pagan songs instead of Christmas songs. The pagans sang the carols during the celebrations of the Winter Solstice while dancing round stone circles. Though the original carols involved both singing and dancing, only the singing part survived, as dancing is not common in the Christmas tradition of singing carols. However, early Christians took the solstice celebrations from the pagans and turned it into Christmas, and consequently, introduced Christian songs for people to sing during this period instead of the pagan songs. The first Christmas hymns appeared in Rome around 129AD when a Bishop introduced the ‘Angels Hymn’ to be sung at a Christmas service.1 Similarly, Comas of Jerusalem wrote another early Christmas Hymn for the Greek Orthodox Church in 760AD. Other pioneer Christmas hymns include Veni redemptor gentium and Corde natus ex Parentis, among others that focused on statements of incarnation regarding the theolog ical doctrine. Thus, followed a period in Europe when many composers wrote several popular Christmas carols. However, most of

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Questionnaire Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Questionnaire - Assignment Example Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis Department of Health Sciences Instructions: Choose the best answer to each of the questions. Only one answer is correct 1. The muscle tissue that shows no striations is ________ muscle. A.skeletal B. cardiac C.smooth D.voluntary E. multinucleated 2. Intercalated discs and striations are characteristic of A.smooth muscle tissue. B. cardiac muscle tissue. C.skeletal muscle tissue. D. all of the above E. none of the above 3. A tissue that transmit information in the form of action potentials, stores information, integrates and evaluates it * A. epithelial tissue B. connective tissue C. nervous tissue D. muscle tissue 4. The site of hair formation A. cortex B. medulla C. hair bulb D. hair follicle 5. Apocrine sweat glands could be found in A. palms B. soles of the feet C. axilla D. lips E. chest 6. When the epiphyseal plate is replaced by bone, A. puberty begins. B .interstitial bone growth begins.