Drug testing Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Drug testing - Research Proposal Example There is a need to assure the publics safety when lives are placed in the hands of a pilot or a policeman. There is also a need to protect the privacy and rights of the individual that are a part of the American way of life. How do we reconcile public safety against the backdrop of the principle of presumed innocence? For most occupations drug testing is an excessive intrusion into privacy that violates the constitutional principles of self-incrimination and legal search and seizure. The constitutional guarantees that protect our privacy and require probable cause are illegally suspended when employers require mandatory and random drug testing. According to the US Department of Labor guidelines, "The current law in the private sector generally permits non-union companies to require applicants and/or employees to take drug tests" (Drug Testing). The long lasting remnants of drug residue and the possibility of false positive results erodes the reliability of these tests. Constitutional rights and the liability for poor results should not be a condition of employment in America. Schools have often been at the forefront of drug testing, but students also are protected by the constitution. Random testing should be eliminated in favor of the same laws that require probable cause that a crime has been committed. "Reasonable suspicion/cause testing involves a school requiring a student to provide a urine specimen when there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the student may have used an illicit substance" (What is drug testing). These are the same rules, laws, and constitutional protections that are granted to all Americans. Eliminating random drug testing in schools is simply abiding by our laws and constitution. Critics will argue that random drug testing is the surest and best way to eliminate drug use from the workplace and schools. They contend that the mere possibility of being tested greatly reduces drug use. However, the

Special Ed. Essay Example for Free

Special Ed. Essay With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2001 and revisions of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), schools have implemented the pre-referral process encouraging individual based level of education for a particular student. Historically, before recent updates to state and federal special education guidelines, students typically received special attention to their specific needs through parent conferences, generic observations, a few general intervention techniques, psychological evaluation, or simply a review of report cards, social records. Since the implementation of IDEA, students are now receiving proactive approaches to match his or her level of need. Two such approaches of evaluating individual students are Positive Behavior Support (PBS) and Response to Intervention (RTI). Both PBS and RTI are structured on a different model, but both have the same goals. Each intervention approach takes into account components and accounts for critical universal factors that target a specific individual, group, or level. These two models offer a range of interventions that are scientifically applied to a student, based on the student’s level of needs through previous monitoring in the classroom. Response to Intervention (RTI) is defined as â€Å"the practice of providing high-quality instruction and interventions matched to student need, monitoring progress frequently to make decisions about changes in instruction or goals, and applying child response data to important educational decisions† (Batsche et al. , 2006). RTI has emerged as the more popular of the two intervention model’s and has been accepted by most schools in the United States, as the new way of thinking about early intervention and identifying a child’s educational disability. The RTI approach considers the application of an individual student’s difficulties in schools by evaluating student’s environment and then provides intervention as soon as the student shows signs difficulty, lack of focus, or academic problems. The goal of RTI is to ensure all students receive the highest quality of education and instruction and reduce any possible false referrals to unnecessary classes, or programs. RTI has a three tier model for also eliminating unqualified teachers as a reason for a student’s lack of performance, or grades. For example in, tier I of the three modeled tier, teachers are required to implement different teaching techniques in order to gauge a student’s performance and focus toward learning. This form of teaching is a method only most qualified teachers can provide in the RTI process. Tier one is described as a universal assessment using formal and informal instructional techniques. Tier two targets students that have not made progress in a given amount of time and are monitored frequently. These students are considered as having some academic weakness. Tier three is more of an intensive intervention and for students that do not respond to instruction form tier two. Tier three students may be eligible for special education classes and programs. When a student is evaluated and qualifies for tier three, the students will be specially monitored and eventually reviewed for receiving an individual educational program (IEP). Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS), is based more on a model of how to solve inappropriate behavior and prevent that behavior through teaching and reinforcing appropriate behaviors. â€Å"Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) is a process for creating school environments that are more predictable and effective for achieving academic and social goals. For some schools, PBIS will enhance their current systems and practices, for others it will radically change the culture for the better† (www. cms. k12. nc. us). Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports (PBIS) is a systemic approach to proactive, school-wide behavior based on a Response to Intervention (RTI) model. â€Å"The concept of PBIS has been researched in education for approximately 15 years† (www. cms. k12. nc. us) and has been implemented successfully in thousands of schools in over 40 states. PBIS applies evidence-based programs, practices and strategies for all students to increase academic performance, improve safety, decrease problem behavior, and establish a positive school culture. Schools implementing PBIS build on existing strengths, complementing and organizing current programming and strategies. The PBIS model had resulted in dramatic reductions in disciplinary interventions and increases in academic achievement. Data-based decision making is a hallmark of PBIS and is a scientific approach to the pre-referral process to special education. There are many ways to define, or explain the concepts of PBIS and RTI, but each provides a specific three tiered pre-referral process to special education that will enhance the quality of life for students participating in these interventions. Whichever intervention a student is placed, he, or she should receive a higher quality education and instruction. Elements common in these models indicate a system of intervention based on a student’s performance that will indicated whether there is a legitimate learning disability, not just the need for additional instruction for no reason. References RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION. (2006). In Encyclopedia of Special Education: A Reference for the Education of the Handicapped and Other Exceptional Children and Adults. Retrieved May 23, 2012, from: http:library. gcu. edu:2048/login? qurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww. cred oreference. com/entry/ wileyse/response_to_intervention CPI Educate. Empower. Enrich. (2012). Retrieved May 23, 2012, from: http://www. crisisprevention. com/Resources/Knowledge-Base/Positive-Behavior-Support SEDL Advancing research, improving education (2012). Retrieved May 23, 2012, from : http://www. sedl. org/pubs/sedl-letter/v19n02/rti. html CMS Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. (2011). Retrieved May 23, 2012, from: http://www. cms. k12. nc. us/cmsdepartments/PBIS/Pages/default. aspx Response to Intervention (2012). Retrieved May 23, 2012, from: http://www. nasponline. org/resources/handouts/revisedPDFs/rtiprimer. pdf

History Of Oppressed Groups

History Of Oppressed Groups Discuss how oppression related to your chosen area can manifest itself in institutions and societies, and how it can impact on the lives of individuals and communities. Consider and make specific reference to the social policy response. The term oppression is not simple to define. It is complex and can take many different forms. Sometimes it is clearly visible and at other times more subtle and difficult to identify. The purpose of this research will be to explore oppression and how it can manifest itself in institutions and societies and how it can impact on the lives of individuals and communities. In order to explore oppression this research will use people with a learning disability at its focus. Firstly this research will look at what oppression is and how oppression of people with learning disabilities has come to manifest itself in institutions and societies. This research will then explore the oppression faced by people with a learning disability and the legislation that challenges oppression. Theory such as Thompsons (2006) PCS model will be explored in order to aid an understanding of how oppression and discrimination operate within society. Finally this research will explore vales and ethics necessary to promote anti-oppressive practice. Throughout the assignment a social policy response to oppression will be considered. Thompson (2006) describes oppression as the inhuman or degrading treatment of individuals or groups. It is the unjust and unfair treatment of these individuals or groups of people through the negative and degrading exercise of power, both individually and structurally (Thomas and Wood: 46). Power is used to implement unfair judgements, often widely, over specific people or groups within society (Thomas and Wood: 46). At a personal level oppression can lead to demoralisation and a lack of self-esteem, while at a structural level it can lead to the denial of rights and citizenship (Dalrymple ad Burke 2006: 121). Any factors which may perceive a person as being different from the majority increase the possibility of oppression. Discrimination and oppression are often found when considering people with learning disabilities. This could be due to the confusion between mental illness and learning disability and also the way people with a learning disability have been perceived over time (Thomas and Woods 2003: 49). Thompson suggests a four part models that can be used to inform institutional and societal views and provide an understanding of how people with learning disabilities are viewed (Thompson 1997: 151). The four models include the threat to society model, the medical model, the subnormality model and the special needs model. Thompson (1997) highlights that the first model illustrates the majority view of society at the beginning of the 20th century. Social and cultural constructs manifest themselves in a fear of abnormality in relation to disability (Llewellyn, Agu and Mercer 2008: 17). This societal view believed that people with physical or learning disabilities should be contained in special institu tions as they were a threat to society. This model led to the medical model which believed in using a scientific approach to manage people and control and contain what society saw as abnormal behaviour (Llewellyn, Agu and Mercer 2008: 14). The medical model became predominant in health and social care and conflicts between the medical model and social model are still apparent in social policy for vulnerable groups (Llewellyn, Agu and Mercer 2008: 14). The third model Thompson suggests which can be used to inform institutional and societal views which provide an understanding of how people with learning disabilities are viewed is the subnormality model. This model is the measurement of medical impairment and the ability to achieve academically (Thomas and Wood 2003: 49). An IQ test was invented to be used to diagnose a learning disability and to identify whether the IQ level was below normal (70), if it was below normal subnormality was diagnosed highlighting differences leading to o ppression (Thomas and Wood 2003: 49). The final model Thompson used in gaining an understanding of how people with a learning disability are viewed is the special needs model. This model considers integration into society but relies on the identification of the special needs of the individual (Thomas and Wood 2003: 49). By using this model, similar to the subnormality model, peoples differences are highlighted, making integration into society more difficult. Integration into society is difficult due to the fact that people are fitted into society and society does not adapt or change to accommodate them (Thomas and Wood 2003: 49). Thomson suggests that elements of each of these models may affect current societal attitudes. Each could play its part in explaining the reason for discrimination and oppression towards people with a learning disability. What all these models have in common is a tendency to marginalise and disempower, to a greater or lesser extent, people with a medical imp airment (Thomson 1997: 152). As mentioned earlier the medical model and social model for understanding people with learning disabilities is still in conflict. Historically perspectives on cure, research and treatment have heavily influenced how disabled people are viewed and treated within society (Llewellyn, Agu and Mercer 2008: 59). The focus on the medical model rather than the social model can be seen in language up until very recently. Terms such as spastic and retard can be seen in policy and medical procedures throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries implying lack of function and therefore lack of worth (Llewellyn, Agu and Mercer 2008: 259). The medical model seems to focus mainly on the impairment and ignore how society reinforces barriers for disabled people and so the social model of disability emerged (Llewellyn, Agu and Mercer 2008: 260). From the social model perspective it is society and structures that are the more significant problem rather than the illness or disability itself (Llewelly n, Agu and Mercer 2008: 261). The media is a powerful institution for shaping societal views and continues to portray people with learning disabilities negatively which majorly contributes to structural inequalities and oppression (Llewellyn, Agu and Mercer 2008: 262). The Marxist perspective on sociology saw the industrial revolution and the rise of capitalism as increasing widespread social oppression. With labour power at this time seen as such a huge commodity and as society is about the relationship between capital and labour, the disabled person is of no use or value (Llewellyn, Agu and Mercer 2008: 262). Learning disability made it difficult to work which led to institutionalisation and segregation. Statistics show that fewer than 5,000 disabled people in England were confined to asylums but by the 1900s this had increased to 74,000 (http://www.isj.org.uk/?id=702). Oppression from this perspective must be challenged by looking at key structural issues such as political or eco nomic organisations, the media and areas such as employment (Llewellyn, Agu and Mercer 2008: 261). It is these barriers to participation in society rather than the disability itself that leads to societal and institutional widespread oppression of individuals and communities (Llewellyn, Agu and Mercer 2008: 261). The social model of disability rejects the medical model stating that it is society that causes disability not impairment (Llewellyn, Agu and Mercer 2008: 262). Having explored how oppression of people with learning disabilities has sociologically developed over time and the types of oppression faced by people with learning disabilities, this research will now explore legislation which challenges oppression and attempts to promote anti-oppressive practice and empowerment. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 was introduced to alleviate discrimination on the grounds of disability. Disability in this Act is defined as physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on ability to carry out normal day to day activities (Brayne and Martin 1997: 416). This Act creates legislation which deems discrimination on grounds of disability in employment unlawful except for certain circumstances such as the police or armed forces and highlights guidelines of how disabled people should be treated at work or in places of education (Thomas and Wood 2003: 52). The Human Rights Act 1998 was created to attempt to promote indiv idual rights. For people with learning disabilities this means that the Act may help them to live fully and freely, on equal terms with non-disabled people (Thomas and Wood 2003: 52). In terms of economics The Independent Living Fund and the Community Care Act 1996 aim to help disabled people to control and organise their own care and budgets (Llewellyn, Agu and Mercer 2008: 259). Disabled people have become more politicised and campaigned for change, an example being the Disability Rights Commission which advocates for a rights to independent living (Llewellyn, Agu and Mercer 2008: 264). The Adults with Incapacity Act 2000 introduces a new way of supporting adults who do not have the capacity to make decisions for themselves due to impairment (Thomas and Woods 2003: 53). This Act realises that although some complex decisions may not be able to be made other more simple and straightforward choices can be. The Act enables adults with incapacity to maximise their own ability, encourag e the development of new skills and ensure that whichever intervention is provided is the least intrusive possible (Thomas and Woods 2003: 54). There is much limitation within legislation through weaknesses of wording and restricted implementation which does not always reflect anti-oppressive practice towards people with a learning disability, however when used positively the law can be used to promote self-determination, equality and rights, key aspects of deconstructing a socially and culturally oppressive society. (Dalrymple and Burke 2006: 91). Thompson (2006) saw anti-discrimination and anti-oppressive practice as occurring on three levels: personal, cultural and societal and developed a PCS model to challenge oppression. He believed that in order to both understand and tackle oppression looking at the individual alone is not enough, a consideration of the individual, cultural and structural factors is necessary (Thompson 2006: 30). The personal level is the individual level of thought, feelings, attitudes and actions (Thomson 1997: 20). As individuals we have our own beliefs and values which are heavily influenced both by our past experiences and our current understanding of ourselves and the society in which we live (Parrott 2006: 13). Individual values and beliefs are learnt from a variety of sources including family, school, culture and religion as well as the society in which we live, political influence and the media (Thomas and Woods 2002: 55). Personal values are intrinsic to the culture in which we live and in eac h culture certain social and cultural values will be exercised (Thomas and Woods 2002: 55). These cultural values influence our individual ideas of what is acceptable behaviour and how to treat people who are different and so cultural values can underpin how we act towards people with a learning disabilities which may lead to discrimination and oppressive attitudes (Thomas and Woods 2002: 55). The structural level of oppression refers to the network of social divisions and relates to the ways in which oppression is institutionalised and sewn in to the fabric of society (Thomson 1997: 20). People with learning disabilities can be affected through social division and the power of society in deciding what is acceptable behaviour and which groups of society require and deserve support (Thomas and Woods 2002: 56). By showing how society influences cultural views, which may in turn impact upon personal values and beliefs Thomson highlights the importance of recognising all three levels at which discrimination and oppression operate (Thomas and Woods 2002: 56). In order to challenge and combat oppression it is essential to have an awareness of the types and ways oppression can occur. At a personal level it is important for social workers to critically reflect on the different values they may hold in order to facilitate a greater ability to challenge oppression and re-evaluate practice (Thomas and Woods 2002: 56). At a cultural level the ability to change attitudes becomes harder however it is essential for practitioners to attempt to promote anti-oppressive practice at this level as well as structurally. Thomson (1997) states that in order to promote anti-oppressive practice on all three levels individuals must collectively challenge the dominant discriminatory culture and ideology and, in doing so, playing at least a part in the undermining of the structures which support and are supported by that culture (Thomson 1997: 23). As mentioned previously, values are intrinsic to practitioners being able to practise and promote anti-oppressive practice. Guidelines for professional behaviour have been developed through professional values into a code of ethics which describe behaviours in the form of standards and multi-disciplinary reference points for social care practitioners. The values associated with social work are incorporated within the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) code of Ethics and Codes of Conduct for Social Care Workers and their Employers published by the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC) in 2002 (Dalrymple and Burke 2006: 87). According to Brayne and Carr (2005) Practitioners have statutory duties, underpinned by professional codes and personal values to support the most vulnerable members of society (Brayne and Carr 2005 cited in Dalrymple and Burke 2006: 97). Through these various codes of ethics the promotion of rights, choice, positive education and awareness in soci ety are highlighted which challenge oppression with people with learning disabilities as well as many oppressed groups within society (Thomas and Woods 2002: 61).

Light, Darkness, and Idolatry in The Damnation of Theron Ware :: Essays Papers

Light, Darkness, and Idolatry in The Damnation of Theron Ware In the first chapter of The Damnation of Theron Ware, Harold Frederic describes in tedious detail every sight, sound, and structure comprising the annual Nedahma Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Using images that evoke Dante's Empyrean or "Tenth Heaven" (Cantos XXX-XXXIII of Paradiso), Frederic remarks upon the hierarchical alignment of the clergy in attendance as well as the tendency of every eye present at the conference to be fixed upon a common objective point. Here Dante's and Frederic's versions of "the saved" diverge. Frederic's Methodists gaze not at an all-encompassing, all-penetrating light, but at a Bishop whose vision fails him as he reads through a list of minister's assignments for the coming year. The difference here, as distinct as the light Dante sees, begins Frederic's meditation on a major and seemingly unanswerable question in the novel. With Theron as his guinea pig, Frederic systematically poses the question of where truth originates. The locus of a ttention of the entire assembly at Tecumseh proclaims nothing of overwhelming truth or even permanence. "The light," on the other hand, originates "...from numerous tin-lined circles of flaring gas-jets arranged on the ceiling..." (Frederic 1). This light transcends and shines down upon the entire group. Here Frederic sets up the notion that truth comes not from one particular point but from several, some of which we might not be able to see. Dante, remarking on his final vision of the "Eternal Light," says, "In its profundity I saw--ingathered / and bound by love into one single volume-- / what, in the universe, seems separate, scattered..." (Paradiso XXXIII, 85-87). Setting aside obvious colloquial, linguistic, and stylistic differences which account for the six-hundred years which separate these two authors, the above quotation bears striking resemblance to the words of another seemingly enlightened character, Father Forbes. He states, in his first conversation of length with Theron: "So the truth remains always the truth, even though you give a charter to ten hundred thousand separate numskulls to examine it by the light of their private judgment, and report that it is as many different varieties of something else" (Frederic 70). This assertion that the truth exists beyond the realm of earthly understanding is echoed in Father Forbes' final words to Theron, which reverberate like the sound of the door slammed in the minister's face: "The truth is always relative, Mr. Ware..." (Frederic 326).

Food sonsumed away from home Essay

Food can be put into 2 categories, namely, home made food and away frome home food. Home- made foods are those whose ingredients are bought and processed and prepared at home for consumption. On the other hand, away from home foods are those that do not have to be prepared for, including those consumed from fast food outlets, public places, schools, restaurants, vending machines etc. Away from home foods are ready-to-eat and consumed, and the consumer has less control over portion size and nutritional content (Lin et. al, 1999). There are a lot of environmental influences that affect eating behaviours including the food prices, increased variety of snacks choices, increased variety of restaurant etc. Furthermore, people have busy lifestyles, both parent works in some families, so that the popularity of eating out is increasing due to the time limitations. The increased popularity of eating out was taken into concern about its impact on diet quality. Lot of research was carried out to investigate the nutrient differences between food consumed at home (home-made) and food consumed away from home. Evidence showed that higher consumption of foods prepared away from home may cause poorer quality of diet among adolescents and the portion sizes are usually larger and contain high energy density compared to food prepared at home. These unhealthy dietary properties has a higher likelihood of increasing body weight. In addition, foods ate away from home and fast foods are more likely to be fried, or contain more oil. In other words, this would increase the intake of saturated and partially hydrogenated fat, which is known to increase cardiovascular disease risk. Thompson et al(2004) found that adolescent girls in the UK had greater mean increase in BMI who consumed food purchased away from home twice a week compared with those who consumed food purchased away from home once a week or never. Studies also suggested that higher consumption of food prepared away from home lead to overweight and increased body fatness. (Taveras et al. 2005) Research from Adamson et al. (1996) said that food consumed away from home, school meals provided a higher density of fat and a lower nutrient density of protein, iron, Non- starch Polysaccharides than the intake from home. And food from shop/cafe/tuck shop and other homes had a slightly lower density of fat (9. 5g/MJ) compared to the intake from home (10. 5g/MJ), but the density intake of sugars is considerably higher than intake from home( 26g/MJ Non- milk extrinsic sugars and 9-13g/MJ respectively). Other nutrient density, including protein, Non- protein polysaccharides, iron, calcium, vitamin C and retinol equivalents were all lower than the home intake.

Free Essays on Seatbelts

The speech, â€Å"Seatbelts: A Habit That Could Save Your Life,?by Andrew Kinney was a very well written and delivered speech. It basically fulfilled every good thing about the persuasive speech, with a very low quantity of defiance from the guidelines for a persuasive speech. It seemed that he got everything he wanted to say out in the open in a very easy to understand manner. The specific purpose was to persuade his audience to wear a seatbelt whenever they ride in a vehicle. This was a very easy to pick out specific purpose. It was very clear what his point was for his speech. He pretty much stated the specific purpose in his introduction. Andrew’s techniques for his introduction were strong. He made the importance of always wearing a seat belt hit home. He related to the audience by sharing a previous personal experience; Andrew had three surgeries on his hip and because of that, he was on crutches for several months due to an accident when he was not wearing a seat belt. As he continued his introduction, he became less effective by basically summarizing his whole speech. The summary of the main points should have been left until the speech’s conclusion. The main points of Andrew’s speech included the National Highway Safety Administration’s statistics for seatbelt use, and its effects, extent of seatbelt protection, and reasons why people do not wear seatbelts. Andrew established credibility when discussing his main points by citing very reputable sources, and showing his knowledge of the topic. While discussing seatbelt protection, he mentioned a couple statistics. Andrew stated that those people who choose not to wear seatbelts when on the road are four times more likely to be killed than those who do wear them. He stated that he borrowed this information from the Department of Transportation of Wisconsin. Even though Andrew established credibility by stated where he found his information, he said tha... Free Essays on Seatbelts Free Essays on Seatbelts The speech, â€Å"Seatbelts: A Habit That Could Save Your Life,?by Andrew Kinney was a very well written and delivered speech. It basically fulfilled every good thing about the persuasive speech, with a very low quantity of defiance from the guidelines for a persuasive speech. It seemed that he got everything he wanted to say out in the open in a very easy to understand manner. The specific purpose was to persuade his audience to wear a seatbelt whenever they ride in a vehicle. This was a very easy to pick out specific purpose. It was very clear what his point was for his speech. He pretty much stated the specific purpose in his introduction. Andrew’s techniques for his introduction were strong. He made the importance of always wearing a seat belt hit home. He related to the audience by sharing a previous personal experience; Andrew had three surgeries on his hip and because of that, he was on crutches for several months due to an accident when he was not wearing a seat belt. As he continued his introduction, he became less effective by basically summarizing his whole speech. The summary of the main points should have been left until the speech’s conclusion. The main points of Andrew’s speech included the National Highway Safety Administration’s statistics for seatbelt use, and its effects, extent of seatbelt protection, and reasons why people do not wear seatbelts. Andrew established credibility when discussing his main points by citing very reputable sources, and showing his knowledge of the topic. While discussing seatbelt protection, he mentioned a couple statistics. Andrew stated that those people who choose not to wear seatbelts when on the road are four times more likely to be killed than those who do wear them. He stated that he borrowed this information from the Department of Transportation of Wisconsin. Even though Andrew established credibility by stated where he found his information, he said tha...

Patrick Henery vs. Johnathan Edwards Essay Example

Patrick Henery vs. Johnathan Edwards Essay Example Patrick Henery vs. Johnathan Edwards Paper Patrick Henery vs. Johnathan Edwards Paper Essay Topic: Jonathan Edwards Sermons Jonathan Edwards established the Puritan faith. Both of these powerful men have Influenced the outcome of America, one way or another. Mr.. Henry strives to convince his fellow congressmen to step out of their comfort zone, accept reality and fight for the American values. Mr.. Edwards on the other hand shook the listeners with vivid descriptions and gruesome details of the punishments of the nonbelievers. Though they talked in different time periods and manipulated a different audience, they were successful in their own way. Patrick Henry and Jonathan Edwards used different techniques to convey their message. Henry reverted to logic, and Edwards focused on emotions, when talking to the people. At the time of Patrick speech and Jonathan sermons the communities of America were very religious base. Children learned to read by reciting the bible. In many cities people were expected to attend church on Sunday and refrain from doing other work. Both men had different purposes but they had to shape their talks according to the society. In his speech, Mr.. Henry makes countless mentions of God. Is a Just God of nature who presides over the destines f nations and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for (Henry 205). Also, if we make proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power?C,-? (Henry 205). At one point he even asks God for help. It, Almighty God! I know not what course others may (Henry 206). Patrick also praises God here, of an act of disloyalty toward the Majestic of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings? (Henry 203). Jonathan talks are mainly about God and religion, however, John takes a different perspective. Mr.. Edwards describes God. He paints an image of God in people minds. Instead of using godly terminology like Patrick Henry to win the interest, Jonathan Edwards associates powerful words with God, like; omnipotent, sovereign, wrath, fury, and destruction (Edwards 102-03). He strikes fear into the hearts of the people by telling them that power Is unlimited and his anger Is uncontrollable. These two magnificent men have their own stratagems (unit 4) of conveying their message. When Patrick Henry starts his speech, he begins by complimenting his audience. In this way Henry is able to capture their attention and interest. Well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed this Henry 203). Jonathan Edwards on the other hand start his sermon with a slap on the face. Is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ: That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, Is extended abroad under you?c,-. ?CLC (Edwards 102). He Is straightforward. Edwards openly states that anyone outside the Puritan belief better prepare himself for the flames of the wrath of god?C,-?D (Edwards 102). In this way he scares the daydreams out of the people? mind and can work with the full attention of the audience. Both Henry and Edwards wanted the same outcome of their talks. They both wanted the listeners to go home and think about the things they had heard, and based their choice on those Ks Henry Ana towards were along WI TN Deterrent audiences Ana teen Ana to take different methods to appeal to the people. Mr.. Henry, who had an educated and decision making audience, used analytic logic to convince his listeners. He asks his audience, fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and (Henry 204). Henry uses logic again, when he accurately describes the frustration of the people. He acknowledges all of the peaceful efforts to gain some consideration in British Parliament or at least have fair reattempt. We try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years?C,-1?0 (Henry 204). With the use of his reason and some tactical wording Henry persuades the people that it is now time to take aggressive action against the suppressing mother country. Is no longer any room for hope. ? which we have pledged ourselves over never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained-we must (Henry 205). Jonathan Edwards who had a different audience took a much unique approach. He used fear to hammer his message into the mind of his listeners. To create his mood Edwards seed nefarious (unit 3) words and phrases, like pit of glowing as lead, and to tend downwards with great weigh t and pressure towards your destruction would come like a being made drunk with your ? are crying in extreme misery and perfect ? wrath and infinite and finally, have reason to wonder that you are not already in hell. ? (Edwards 102-06). Also Edwards tries very vigorously in trying to paint a vivid picture of Hell and wrath. Is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold of them and swallow them (Edwards 102). Jonathan wants to harness the emotions. He wants them to sit straight on the bench; he wants all eyes and ears on him. Edwards wants the people to walk out of service that day while reconsidering their sinful deeds. Both men wanted a change. One was unhappy with the government system, and the other disliked the religious genuineness. If one wants a change then they want to fix the mistakes or the errors of that system. Patrick Henry pointed out faults in government system, rather than pointing out the faults of the people in the government. We shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called back to win our Henry 204). Jonathan Edwards mercilessly dove into the core of the problem. He openly decried (unit 3) lives. Mr.. Edwards was not afraid to rip someone apart. Re ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most venomous serpent in ours?C,-1?: . ?C,-1?0 (Edwards 104) These two extraordinary men were able to annex their audience. On of their techniques was the usage of literary elements. Patrick Henry used the rhetorical question. He wanted his listeners to think while he spoke. This the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for (Henry 204). This kept his listener s interested. Jonathan Edwards keeps his audience with the use of metaphor. This way, his listeners were able to relate to something they knew and put it in equation. Is of purer eyes than to bear to have you In Nils slang; you are ten ottomans tales more damnable In Nils eyes, tan ten most hateful venomous serpent is in . ?C,-1?0 (Edwards 104). In conclusion, Patrick Henry and Jonathan Edwards used a variety of different techniques to convey their message. They were working with different people but each man personalized his sermon in a unique way to fit with the audience.

Hiral Patel Essays (235 words) - Money, Banking, Economy, Lock Box

Hiral Patel Essays (235 words) - Money, Banking, Economy, Lock Box Hiral Patel Key Value Paragraph My name is Hiral Patel and I am a Finance student at Fox School of Management graduating in 2018. As a lockbox specialist at MetaSource, I demonstrate my multitasking ability by managing and completing various tasks on a daily basis. For example, I receive, sort, prepare, and process remittances and checks to deposit in clients' bank accounts. I have to successfully deposit remittances and checks by the designated deadline so I manage my time wisely. As soon as I receive checks in the morning, I begin to sort and prepare them. I then look up account numbers and process checks in the proper bank accounts. I also enter pertinent data from checks such as customer names, addresses, deposit amounts, and account numbers into an automated lockbox system. I follow established corporate and department policies and procedures to avoid errors and customer dissatisfaction. Once I complete those set of tasks, I move on to different projects apart from lockbox to better obtain knowledge and exp erience. Due to my ability to multitask, I am able to successfully deposit checks and remittances in clients' bank accounts. Not only do I have the ability to multitask, but I also have the ability to try a project out of my comfort zone. I can use my experience to handle multiple tasks and initiatives with precision and accuracy to successfully operate in a high-pressure environment.

The Gaia Hypothesis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Gaia Hypothesis - Essay Example Founded and formulated in the 1960s by Dr James Lovelock while on a NASA project to detect any sign of life on the planet Mars, the Gaia hypothesis has created strong pro and anti lobbies. The pro-gaian discipline is euphoric in the belief that 'optimising gaian' principles could lead to 'enhancing environmental conditions to such an extent that they are optimal for life.' [Alex Kleidon, p3]. The anti-gaian detractors, on the other hand, are dismissive on the premise that the whole hypothesis is at best, an entertaining story. Their argument is weakened due to their inability or unwillingness to prove their point through research. In his treatise, 'The Gaia Hypothesis: Fact, Theory and Wishful Thinking,' James W Kirchner states, 'Biologically mediated feedbacks are not intrinsically homeostatic. Many of the biological mechanisms that affect global climate are destabilizing, and it is likely that the net effect of biological feedbacks will be to amplify, not dampen, global warming.' [Kirchner J W, p1] The natural tendency of the micro and macro organisms to manage any threat to the homogeneity of a region in relation to its environment is limited to its ability to survive and adept to its surrounding. Could it be of improvement or transformation as well Seen logically, it is not possible to conclusively determine the capability of the biota to rise to the occasion of performing an enhanced role of preparing to interact with a greater force when required to do so in a hostile environment. Within a limited time span, in a changing environ, is it possible for teleological mechanisms hidden somewhere in nature to perform an offensive, defensive, or catalytic role on behalf of the biota Discoveries in microbiology, bio-ecology, and biota inspire awe and reverence. But these are not sufficient to draw conclusions on theories that require scientific testing and approvals. Perhaps the logic lies in the argument that 'it is one thing to say that we benefit from the environmental services that our ecosystem provides, and entirely another to say that our environment is in any sense tailored to our needs.' [Kirchen J W, p8] Other variables The forms of life in a given environment is best suited to recycle its own form due to several other factors, viz. climatic conditions peculiar to the region, its actions and reactions to the vagaries of nature, and taken to extremes, it does appear capable to rebound with much greater vigour. However, it is inconceivable by any stretch of imagination, that the biota and its environment hold secret codes to ensure a perennial survival or a revolutionary transformation mutually beneficial to each other in the face of annihilating circumstances. There isn't any evidence to show that organisms have the inherent capability to alter the environment for their own benefit. Can organisms alter the environment The temptation to draw such a conclusion is inevitable given the fact that the Gaia hypothesis has used terminologies

Comparing two business plans Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Comparing two business plans - Lab Report Example It also reflects the key elements considered by both the businesses for achieving competitive advantage in the market. The study concludes with an insight into the recommendations provided to both the businesses for overcoming the weaknesses and challenges and maintaining their position in the market. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Analysis 4 Findings 7 Conclusion and Recommendations 9 References 10 Introduction The project deals with the comparison of two business plans. This would help in analysing of their strategic short term and long term strategies followed by their financial accounting control methods. This would further help in finding out the strengths and weaknesses related to the strategic business plans of the two chosen companies and providing suggestions based on the findings. The two businesses that have been chosen for comparing their business plans are Daily perc cafe and Watertower Cafe. Daily Perc Cafe is a beverage retailer. It is a breakfast and lunch cafe providing outdoor concept to the customers for relaxing and having fun (Rope-een, 2011). It implements the system which is very new to the beverage as well as food service industry for providing cold and hot beverages in a time efficient and convenient manner. The setting of this cafe has upscale scenery along with calm soothing tone for offering comfort (Foursquare, 2013a). The cafe provides the customers with a touch of home. The Daily Perc provides its customers with fine cold and hot beverages specially blended teas, coffees and various other custom drinks. The Watertower Cafe is full service cafe/restaurant situated in Sweet Auburn District in Atlanta (Foursquare, 2013b). The restaurant mainly provides moderately priced food which is highly influenced by the French and African traditions. The restaurant specially features a coffee house having desert bars, areas for live performances, magazines etc (Yelp, 2013). Analysis Strategic planning helps in achievement o f competitive advantage in the business operations by the management of all the operational, financial and marketing activities (May, 2010; Lientz, 2010; Hall, 2004). Through this planning process it becomes easier to overcome the challenges and achieve success in the market (Cassidy, 2005). The Daily Perc The Daily Perc mainly focuses on two market segments: a) the daily commuter and b) the captive consumer. The daily commuters are those who are travelling from/to work, out for shopping or drive, offering products and services etc. The captive consumers are those who remain in restricted environment which does not allow favourable departure or return when searching for refreshment because the refreshment is considered an integral element of the environment (Palo Alto Software, 2012). The cafe penetrates in both these consumer segments by means of deployment of the ‘drive thru facilities’ or ‘mobile cafes’ in most accessible locations. The cafe provides pre mium coffees in very little time than needed in order to satisfy its customers. The cafe considers four main points as the drivers which would help in the achievement of success. They are The best locations to attract the customers. Quality products comprising of fresh coffee beans, premium serving containers, clean equipments, consistent flavour etc. Friendly servers Finest Reputation created by means of word-of-mouth advertisements, various public relation and other

Why is ethically correct to criticize competitors through comparative Essay

Why is ethically correct to criticize competitors through comparative advertisement - Essay Example Ever since its approval, comparative advertisements has been compared to a double edged sword in which it promotes one product whereas demotes the other. An ideal comparative advertisement provides the customers with honest and sincere information in order to compete with a product so that the consumers can make a better choice while purchasing the commodity. Various researches proved that comparative advertisements help to create awareness among consumers, hence, the less popular brands become popular and the market for the popular brands tend to decrease. Comparative advertisement is considered unethical when the comparison provides the consumer with fake information and misleads the customer on purpose. Hence unethical comparative advertisements may also result in lawful proceedings. In accordance with one court any oblique remark, any indirect proclamation or any suggestions that may mean more than one thing are considered unethical. It is also considered wrong if an advertisemen t flatters their product in comparison to other. Furthermore, any sort of name calling, insulting and finger pointing are considered wrong and should be avoided at all possible costs when indulging in comparative advertisements. To keep a check and balance on comparative advertisements and to keep it within limits various organizations in the United States such as American Association of Advertising Agencies, the National Association of Broadcasters and the FTC have issued do’s and don’ts of comparative advertisements. One such example is of NBC, which says that the companies should not discredit, disparage or attack the competitors, products or industries in an unfair way (BoveÃŒ e & Arens, 1982). A list of guidelines by The American Association of Advertising Agencies is made up of ten points which ensures that a comparative advertisement remains within the ethical boundaries. The first point

Marketing similation report (pirateeye marketing plan) Term Paper

Marketing similation report (pirateeye marketing plan) - Term Paper Example The target is however with the smaller boat owners, who form close to 35% of the entire market strength. A consumer behavior analysis undertaken shows that the consumer base are in high demand for high quality technology based system that can actually track pirates even before they get on board boats. This sets the basis for the marketing mix, whereby high quality products that are not too expensive are supposed to be produced for the market. The introduction of PirateEye to small boats would also serve as a very fertile breeding ground for owners of marine transport to test and comprehend the quality and value of the system. With this opportunity, it would be easier to switch to competitive marketing for larger boats and ships in the medium to long term basis. Still on the application of the STP, it will be emphasized that the business to business segmentation criteria, commonly referred to as B2B shall be used. This is because this segmentation criterion gives the marketer the oppo rtunity to assessing most aspects and areas of market including demographics, psychographic, behavioral, and environmental. This means that the B2B is a multi-dimensional approach that would help in meeting all the marketing goals set out by the company. Introduction Market penetration in the marine transport industry has never been an easy venture for new competitors. This is because of the existing competitors have already established solid brand equity and are thus very found with the consumer base. Commonly these competitors engage in the trade of boat and ship accessories, which generally helps in making the activities of boat owners easier. Not much attention has however gone to the area of transport security in terms of the activities of pirates. It is not surprising therefore that there is currently only one key competitor in the manufacture and installation of surveillance security systems for boat owners (Knill, and Tosun, 2008). This brief background gives credence to why the aim of introducing PirateEye as a market security product option for boat owners is a viable venture. The present report looks at why and how attention was given to the smaller boat market as against other segments of the market. One interesting dynamic of the target market is that there is enough research that suggests that frontrunners in the theatre industry, which form the majority of the target market, have an urgent quest and need for an immediate and coordinated technology that will address the problem of piracy in their industry. In other words, there is a ready market (Katel, 2011). Evaluation of the Targeted Market Ideally, the targeted market for the PirateEye product is the many industry players in the marine transport business. This is made up of all stakeholders who are concerned in one way or the other with the transportation of people and raw material from one place to the other. Most ideally however, owners of smaller boats shall form the core customer base of the product. A brief demographic analysis on these groups of persons suggests a very interesting trend that favors the fortunes of the company in a great deal. For example it is on record that there are over 140,000 commercial boat owners all across the globe (Billitteri, 2007). These are collectively used by more than 10,000,000 travelers on an annual basis. Reports of incidence of piracy among the general number of trips made by

None Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 21

None - Essay Example This is mainly achieved by conducting an intensive market research in order to establish the latest trends and what their customers prefer mostly. Secondly, the company aims at inspiring moments of optimism. This is achieved through their different brands and course of actions in the global market. With actions here we mean the corporate social responsibility. A company is supposed to give back to the community in various ways. It may include employing the locals in the areas where it is an operation and by engaging in various community projects in order to help the needy and the less fortunate. Further, the company also aims at creating a difference and value in areas where it operates in the global market. In my opinion, I think the mission of the company satisfies the qualities of a good mission statement. This is because it clearly stipulates the scope of its activities, its main role and the marketing situation or strategy. Svendsen, Sara. â€Å"Refresh. Create. Inspire. The Mission, Vision and Values Behind the Coca-Cola Company and the Digital Marketing Strategies of the "open Happiness" Campaign.† Liberty.edu. Web. 01 February

Aspects of contract and Negligence Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Aspects of contract and Negligence - Assignment Example On the other hand, acceptance generally takes place at the time when a party agrees to the offer made by a party in the form of an Act or a statement. The other element of a legal contract, i.e. consideration, denotes the promise made by the offeror to pay a price in compensation to the promises made by the other party (i.e. the offeree) to supplying products or services or any other benefit to the offeror (Macmillan & Stone, 2012; Jenkins, 2011). In this particular scenario, it can be apparently observed that â€Å"Techno Products†, which act as the specialist in selling computers, especially at discount prices, conducted advertising campaign in a newspaper advertisement, which stated that â€Å"The first ten customers to enter our shop on the 12 September 2013 will be eligible to purchase one of our highest specification computers, which normally retail at ?3000.00, for ?1.00†. In response, Peter reads the advertisement and visited â€Å"Techno Products† to ava il the aforesaid offer. However, when Peter told the sales assistant of â€Å"Techno Products† that he desires to purchase it’s one of the highest specification computers for ?1.00, the sales assistant replied that the advertisement was not meant for seriously arguing that nobody of â€Å"sound mind† would imagine that they could buy a computer for ?1.00. Moreover, he was informed that if he wishes to buy the computer, he had to pay the market price i.e. ?3000.00. Based on the above situation, it can be advised to Peter that he cannot force â€Å"Techno Products† to sell him the computer for ?1.00.

Marketing similation report (pirateeye marketing plan) Term Paper

Marketing similation report (pirateeye marketing plan) - Term Paper Example The target is however with the smaller boat owners, who form close to 35% of the entire market strength. A consumer behavior analysis undertaken shows that the consumer base are in high demand for high quality technology based system that can actually track pirates even before they get on board boats. This sets the basis for the marketing mix, whereby high quality products that are not too expensive are supposed to be produced for the market. The introduction of PirateEye to small boats would also serve as a very fertile breeding ground for owners of marine transport to test and comprehend the quality and value of the system. With this opportunity, it would be easier to switch to competitive marketing for larger boats and ships in the medium to long term basis. Still on the application of the STP, it will be emphasized that the business to business segmentation criteria, commonly referred to as B2B shall be used. This is because this segmentation criterion gives the marketer the oppo rtunity to assessing most aspects and areas of market including demographics, psychographic, behavioral, and environmental. This means that the B2B is a multi-dimensional approach that would help in meeting all the marketing goals set out by the company. Introduction Market penetration in the marine transport industry has never been an easy venture for new competitors. This is because of the existing competitors have already established solid brand equity and are thus very found with the consumer base. Commonly these competitors engage in the trade of boat and ship accessories, which generally helps in making the activities of boat owners easier. Not much attention has however gone to the area of transport security in terms of the activities of pirates. It is not surprising therefore that there is currently only one key competitor in the manufacture and installation of surveillance security systems for boat owners (Knill, and Tosun, 2008). This brief background gives credence to why the aim of introducing PirateEye as a market security product option for boat owners is a viable venture. The present report looks at why and how attention was given to the smaller boat market as against other segments of the market. One interesting dynamic of the target market is that there is enough research that suggests that frontrunners in the theatre industry, which form the majority of the target market, have an urgent quest and need for an immediate and coordinated technology that will address the problem of piracy in their industry. In other words, there is a ready market (Katel, 2011). Evaluation of the Targeted Market Ideally, the targeted market for the PirateEye product is the many industry players in the marine transport business. This is made up of all stakeholders who are concerned in one way or the other with the transportation of people and raw material from one place to the other. Most ideally however, owners of smaller boats shall form the core customer base of the product. A brief demographic analysis on these groups of persons suggests a very interesting trend that favors the fortunes of the company in a great deal. For example it is on record that there are over 140,000 commercial boat owners all across the globe (Billitteri, 2007). These are collectively used by more than 10,000,000 travelers on an annual basis. Reports of incidence of piracy among the general number of trips made by

Aspects of contract and Negligence Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Aspects of contract and Negligence - Assignment Example On the other hand, acceptance generally takes place at the time when a party agrees to the offer made by a party in the form of an Act or a statement. The other element of a legal contract, i.e. consideration, denotes the promise made by the offeror to pay a price in compensation to the promises made by the other party (i.e. the offeree) to supplying products or services or any other benefit to the offeror (Macmillan & Stone, 2012; Jenkins, 2011). In this particular scenario, it can be apparently observed that â€Å"Techno Products†, which act as the specialist in selling computers, especially at discount prices, conducted advertising campaign in a newspaper advertisement, which stated that â€Å"The first ten customers to enter our shop on the 12 September 2013 will be eligible to purchase one of our highest specification computers, which normally retail at ?3000.00, for ?1.00†. In response, Peter reads the advertisement and visited â€Å"Techno Products† to ava il the aforesaid offer. However, when Peter told the sales assistant of â€Å"Techno Products† that he desires to purchase it’s one of the highest specification computers for ?1.00, the sales assistant replied that the advertisement was not meant for seriously arguing that nobody of â€Å"sound mind† would imagine that they could buy a computer for ?1.00. Moreover, he was informed that if he wishes to buy the computer, he had to pay the market price i.e. ?3000.00. Based on the above situation, it can be advised to Peter that he cannot force â€Å"Techno Products† to sell him the computer for ?1.00.

The Danger of a Single Story According to Adichie Essay Example for Free

The Danger of a Single Story According to Adichie Essay 1. According to Adichie, how is Africa often described? According to her, Africa is often described as a place of beautiful landscapes and animals with incomprehensible people fighting senseless wars, dying of poverty and aids. It is a continent of catastrophes where people are pitiful illiterate aborigines who have no possibility of being human equals. They are unable to speak for themselves and are waiting for foreigners to save them. All in all, Africa is a lowly continent with nothing more but scenic places with starving people. 2. Did it affect Africa? How? Yes, it affected Africa so much because it only showed all the negative sides of Africa and did not illustrate the beauty of the continent. It shows that Africa is a poor continent with even poorer people who does nothing to improve their lives. It does not indicate all the magnificence of the continent and the attributes of the people in it. Africa is degraded because of these inadequate and unfitting descriptions. 3. What is a single story? What is the power of single story? A single story is a view of something, somewhere or of someone that only shows one side of the coin. It is incomplete. It may have different versions but they all have the same view. For example, what if I tell you that Boracay is a dirty place where people have no regard for nature? The beach is filled with moss and there are plastics everywhere? What if all the things you have heard about Boracay is something like this? It doesn’t sound inviting, does it? But what if I tell you that those who disregard nature are punished and that they clean up all the rubbish they find. That Boracay is a paradise? Now that is a pleasing sight isn’t it? That is an example of what a single story is. It shows only one point of view. And from that point of view builds another story and so on that will not convey the whole truth about the topic. A single story can be very powerful indeed because it blinds people from a great deal of things. It shows things, places or people as one thing only and emphasizes on the differences and not the similarities. It can not only make a story but it can also make it the only story of that particular topic.

HP Introduction

HP Introduction Hewlett Packard popularly called HP is a company that provides technology solutions to consumers, businesses and all forms of institutions worldwide. The company later expands its operations to IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing services. The company is known throughout the world by operating in more than 170 countries around the world. The mission of the company is to facilitate how technology and services can assist individuals and institutions in addressing their problems and challenges so as to realize their dreams. The company applies new thinking and ideas come out with basic and valuable experiences with the technology with her IT corporation headquarter in Palo, Alto, California, USA. The company has been maintaining a lead among her contemporaries due to the effective strategic planning of the company and this has been jealously guided by the company in virtually all her businesses. Background of HP Company The initiators of HP Company are Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard who were classmates at Stanford Universities. They established the company in 1993, seventeen years ago. The first product of the company is called audio oscillators, an electronic testing instrument used by sound engineers. The product is developed in Palo Alto garage. Walt Disney studios were the first HP customers that bought a number of the audio oscillators for testing a new sound system. The company has gained enough popularity in so many countries of the world to have become the No 1 infrastructure support services revenue in 2003 among many world top support services providers. HP as a company always rise to challenges when it comes to IT-related issues, this is manifested in so many ways, the company offers one of the tech worlds most comprehensive portfolios of hardware, software, and services. The products range from personal computers, servers, and sophisticated storage devices, variety of printers and series of networking equipments. Asides this, the service unit of HP still offers series of IT and business outsourcing, software application development, IT consulting, and other IT-related services. The company has produces series of software such as carrier-grade communications applications, information management business intelligence and enterprise IT management among others. The coverage of her business are covered in consumers, business, government agencies and educational organization and such has been spread to more than 170 countries of the world. HP as a company believes so much in working towards achieving her set objectives and that has been the corporate values shared by all the employee within the organization. This is confirmed by the quotation of Dave Packard, co-founder of HP as follow: It is necessary that people work together in unison toward common objectives and avoid working at cross purposes at all levels if the ultimate in efficiency and achievement is to be obtained. Dave Packard The company has always been careful in following the pathways to achieving its set objectives based on the organizational values.Table 1 below summarizes the HPs corporate shared values and corporate objectives. Table 1: HPs Corporate values and objectives HPs Corporate Shared Values HPs Corporate Objectives Passion for customers Customer loyality Trust and respect for individuals Profit Achievement and contribution Growth Results through teamwork Market leadership Speed and agility Commitment to employees Meaningful innovation Leadership capability Uncompromising integrity Global citizenship Information Technology in HP HP company has been maintaining a lead in Information Technology (IT) which is evidenced as contained in the following discussions. To start with, it is revealed from the analyst firms report that HP recorded a tremendous increase in the infrastructure support services revenue from $7.889 billion to $8.028 billion between 2002 and 2003. This accounts for over 6% of the world infrastructure support service market. This marks the second year of the company (HP) leading the IT industry in support service revenue. Among the identified 450 IT service providers which is finally categorized in to the following four categories: Major service (Hardware maintenance and support, software support) Platform (Computing and connectivity) Industry Major geographical region and country HP maintains the lead in all the categories. HP is identified as one of the largest IT companies that operate in nearly every country. HP specializes in developing and manufacturing computing, data storage, networking and its hardware infrastructure, software design and rendering support services. The impact of Information Technology (IT) on the achievement of HP is not limited to the technological aspects but also the soft skills and expertise which are unique to HP software crew. Malan, Coleman Letsinger (1995) in their study conducted to explore the current state of object-oriented practice. The findings of the study revealed that the best practice is derived from lesson learnt from HP. This means that HP is maintaining a lead in this regard. Object oriented programming approach is the most competing approach and any organization with required expertise in this area will make its ways in the competitive environment. This part of what strengthens the IT proficiency of HP company . Therefore, the success of HP cannot be a surprise since IT is now considered as the hub of every business. HP as an IT-based company has always been ready to assist serious-minded organizations in solving their IT-relate problems and such has been a plus to the company. A good scenario in this regard is how HP came to the aid of St. Peters Anglican Primary School with 560 students in both the K-6 and pre-kindergarten classes. The leadership of the school so much believe that the creating a computer-assisted learning environment for the children will serve as a good motivation for them to learn, in their quest to achieve this, the school can only afford desktop PCs due to budget constraints. The desktop PCs were found to be very slow in network operation and some were even too old to work which affects the realization of the schools goals. An introduction to HPs channel partner Somerville, and HPs Consolidated Client Infrastructure (CCI), made St Peters to begin a complete overhaul of its IT infrastructure that would bring a new flexibility and efficiency to its entire computing platform. In doing this, HP plays a significant role in addressing this problem. HP implemented a Consolidated Client Infrastructure based on a series of blade PCs for St Peters. This system meant that when a blade PC went down, another would pick up the active session, immediately minimizing disruptions to users. In a Consolidated Client Infrastructure, desktop PCs are replaced by thin client terminals, which are then virtually connected to HP blade PCs stored on a blade rack enclosure in a remote and centralised location. Each blade PC has its own CPU, RAM and hard disk. A HP blade enclosure can contain up to 20 blade PCs in a 3U rack enclosure, allowing up to 280 blade PCs per 42U rack. Blade PCs are then accessed via the Microsoft RDP, Citrix ICA or HP RGS protocols and displayed on thin client devices. Only screen updates, keyboard strokes, mouse actions, audio and peripheral data travel over the network, all the processing happens on the blade PCs. Users are connected to blade PCs either statically or through a broker such as HPs Session Allocation Manager, thus allowing the creation of a concurrent pool of resources and lowering the amount of IT administration required. This among others repositioned HP within organizations in terms of IT support. Information System in HP The company does not limit herself to only the IT aspects but also doing well in information system. A good testimony to this is the HP being announced as the as the support company for the Defense Information System Agency (DISA) with the company tapping from the HPs software for optimizing the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) to deliver a reliable kind of interoperability capable of servicing all US defense departments. SOA is a technique of delivering IT services in a secured and manageable manner by using flexible, reusable and standard technology that can easily be adjusted to take care of any unplanned changes that occur in the business plan. The HP systinet SOA (HP business technology) is very good in this regard as it assist business organization in building a kind of information system (record) to manage the services rendered throughout the cycle of that service. This is to explain how far HP as a company has gone in terms of information systems to have provided DISA which is solely used for planning, engineering, acquiring, fielding and supporting IT solutions capable of serving the U.S president, Vice President, Secretary of Defense and all departments of US defense. This has earn HP series of awards from 2005 to date. HP offers SOA services to help customers at any point along the SOA lifecycle, including the design, build, integration, management and evolution of their SOA environment. HP Services also collaborates with technology partners such as BEA Systems, JBoss, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP to offer customers choice and flexibility. Competitive Advantage Introduction about Competitive Advantage First of all, it is important to briefly define what is competitive advantage? Competitive advantage is a feature exhibited at the expense of the firms rivals or competitors. It is a state where a firm sustains profits that is more than the industrial set average profit. Primarily, it is the dream of every business organization to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. According to Michael Porter, cost advantage and differentiation advantage are identified as the two basic types of competitive advantage. Cost competitive advantage A business firm/organization is considered to achieve cost competitive advantage if she is able to offer a better service or products to customers at a relatively reduced cost compared to her competitors. For example, HP has achieved sustainable cost competitive advantage over all her competitors by being able to produce highly quality laptops at a cheaper rate. Differentiation competitive advantage Differentiation competitive advantage is gained or achieved by a firm or an organization if she is able to deliver services or products of better values compared to those offered by her rivals or competitors. With the explanation of the two types of competitive advantage, it can be described as a way of getting more values for the customers and getting more profits for the company. Figure 1 below describes a competitive advantage model. As can be seen from the model combination of the organizational resources (human and material) and capabilities forms the distinctive competencies that makes the organization to be able to make a difference with respect to either cost advantage of differentiation advantage which eventually creates values for both the organization and the customers. This is in line with the resource-based theory that for a firm to attain a sustainable competitive advantage, such a firm must have superior resources and capabilities compared to her competitors. How Competitive Advantage helps HP Company HP Company being one of the world largest IT companies with a quarterly revenue of approximately $97.1 billion is able to maintain such a wonderful record through the sustainable competitive advantage over the competitors. The sustainable competitive advantage has benefited the company in so many ways that she has no other choice other than sustaining such record. The gained competitive advantage has increased the companys revenue tremendously. In year 2006, HP recorded a much better revenue of $91.7 billion against the rival, IBM with $91.4 billion. In year 2007, the annual revenue of the company was jacked up to $104 billion to become the first IT company reported to have a revenue of more than $ 100 billion, it doesnt stop there, acquisition of the EDS in 2008, also jacked up the revenue to $118.4 billion. All these achievements in terms of boosting in the revenue are products of the gained competitive advantage. The competitive advantage gained and sustained ever since by HP can be also attributed to her leadership position in the world technology with groups strategically assigned to drive industry leadership in main technology areas. The Personal Systems group are responsible for the lead in the business and consumer PCs, mobile computing equipments and work station. In the same manner, the imaging and printing group is responsible for the successes recorded in all forms of printing devices (personal and commercial printing), printing supplies and the enterprise business group is in charge of all business products. The performance of each of these groups among others is what makes HP what it is today among her equal. In addition HP became the largest world seller of personal computers as a result of her competitive advantage. In January 2010 a report from Gartner and IDC (Market Research Firms) shows that there is a wide gap between HP and Dell with HP taking 8.3% market share lead at the end of 2009. It was equally reported that HP is the 6th largest world software company. HP Company is equally reported in year 2008, to have retained the global leadership position in Jacket, laser, large format and multifunction printers market and at the same time the second IT service provider throughout the world. All these benefits/achievements do not come by chance it is as a result of being able to maintain some degree of superiority over the competitors. This results in to competitive advantage and the benefits being discusses the created values based on the competitive advantage. Analysis of Competitive Advantage in HP Company HP is able to achieve and sustain competitive advantage with her distinctive competencies. First of all, the company is committed to simplifying technology experiences for all its customers. This is applicable to all the services rendered ranging from printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure. This is very important since it assists in making virtually all the HP products usable by the intended users by putting the customers first. There is no way one can analyze HP competitive advantage without discussing the HP values; HP values is associated with the complete adherence to the ways or paths set out by the founding HP leaders. These unique ways account for the decision-making and the firms advancement since it is just like a roadmap. Also, HP pioneers based the corporate culture on the integration and reinforcement of critical opposites. This is achieved by simultaneously creating an environment that both celebrates individualism and at the same time supports the team work. The beauty of it is that such a practice will allow the company to tap from the benefits of both approaches as the case may be and also to neutralize their associated risks. Another way by which the competitive advantage of HP Company is sought is through her concept of developing cross functional individuals. Unlike other companies that just hire staffs and train them for a specific job requirement to be assigned to such staffs throughout their stay in the organization, HP makes sure that all her employees move more than 4 to six functional areas within the company to allow them to work in more than one departments of the company and thereby effectively managing the organizational knowledge through effective sharing among her staffs. It has been widely agreed that in this knowledge era, effective knowledge management will surely lead to achievement of competitive advantage. The quest for developing employee has always been the strength of HP company in attaining competitive advantage since this makes the company to achieve effective organizational change considering the rampant changes in the business organizations. Miller (2004) revealed that since 1980, HP has been engaged in extensive employee retraining program called Software Job Skills (SJS). Personnel who might ordinarily be laid-off underwent serious retraining the complex set of required skills and techniques. This makes the company to be able to sustain her competitive advantage since the employees always continue to be relevant and compliant with the new trend organizational need and employee are considered important in the performance of every organization. Organizational competitiveness is derived by the implementation of knowledge management and its associated benefits. Knowledge management helps in reducing the production cost as a result of the possibility of reusability. This allows the organization to be able to offer services of the same quality or even better than that of its competitive at a relatively low cost. This is an important way of gaining competitive advantage. In addition, the implementation of knowledge management brought about enhanced employee productivity and coordination which has a resulting positive effect on organizational performance. Another important factor is early delivery or ubiquitous service deliver powered by the real time communication facility. It is a wise saying of HP as quoted as follow If only HP know what HP knows! It means that the required knowledge and skills for solving your problem resides somewhere within the company. This means that the company has achieved a lot through effective communication. All these account for achieving sustainable competitive advantage. There have been series of academic evidences responsible for the early delivery experienced in the company due to regular improvement and enhancement of the supply chain. According to Lava, Feyhl and Kakourus (2005),full optimization of the business supply chain cannot be achieved using only the Operation Research (OR) approach in this demanding fast-paced ubiquitous business environment of the globalized era. Using OR alone will require a lot of time which might result in to delay in the service delivery and thereby negatively affect customer satisfaction. HP strategic planning and modeling (SPaM) came out with a more efficient approach which combines the optimization ability of OR and scenario analysis of the expert knowledge to arrive at an effective supply chain approach capable of solving complex supply chain decision problem for HPs imaging and printing group of company. the earlier the customers can get the required service the more satisfied they are, the efficient supply chain of HP has been of the secretes of the companys sustainable competitive advantage. It ha equally been argued that the risk associated with supply chain are related to product demand, component cost and availability uncertainties and they all affect the companys revenues and profits. According to Ngali, Hwang, Sanghera, Gaskins, Pridgan, Thuvston, Mackenvoth, Branvold, Scholler and Shoemaker (2008), procurement management group is formed in HP and they developed and implemented a mathematical model, business process and software to estimate and manage risks associated with supply chain. This has brought a lot of benefits to the company. To the extent that in year 2006, HP was able to manage $7 billion of her spending by saving only material cost of not less than $128 million. This really maximizes the companys profits and contributes to the sustainable competitive advantage of the company. The products of HP are always better than that of her competitors and such are refined and rebranded from time to time to meet the changing technological needs of the customers. Just in November 2009, HP StorageWorks X9000 was introduced as the new network storage system which is primarily designed to meet the emerging trend of the explosive data growth and to enhance the performance of the file-based applications using scale-out network storage that has the ability to manage information efficiently using a single namespace. This has fetched the company more popularity in the networking society since such an innovation is needed in virtually all organizations that deal with large data. The StorageWorks is very efficient in storing data and it is known for relatively low down time. Conclusion From the discussion so far, it can be seen that organizational success cannot be easily achieved without adequately set certain outstanding objectives with pathways to achieve those objectives. From all the sources it can be deduced that the leading position maintained by HP company can be largely attributed to the aggressive ways of achieving the organizational objectives and that is only possible because of the shared corporate values among all members of the organization. No doubt such shared corporate values will make all members of the organization to have almost equal motivation to contribute to the overall organizational performance. Also, one value must always be guided to avoid being eroded and same holds for organizations. It will be difficult for any organization to beat the HP record as long as the corporate value is maintained.

Of Mice and Men, 3 Characters with Loneliness :: essays research papers

Loneliness is the sadness resulting from being forsaken or abandoned. John Steinbeck brought up the theme of loneliness in many characters in Of Mice and Men. Crooks, Curley?s wife, and Candy expressed the theme of loneliness in many different forms throughout the story. Early in the novella George said, life working as ranch hands is on the loneliness lives to live, for these people finding friendship seems to be impossible. Crooks expressed feelings of loneliness through out Of Mice and Men. Crooks? loneliness is caused because he is black, at the time the story took place there was racism. Since Crooks is black he wasn?t able to socialize with the white men. When Steinbeck describes all of Crooks? possessions, it shows that Crooks has been at the ranch a long time and that his possessions are all the he cares about. In Crooks? room, Lennie comes to talk to him. Crooks is cautious at first, this was from the years of racism that Crooks endured, he learned not to associate with white folk. Steinbeck expresses the theme of loneliness in the character of Candy. Candy is lonely because his is missing half an arm. Candy?s disability separates him from society, an example of Curley being set aside is when everybody else goes to town he is left in the barn with Crooks, Lennie, and Curley?s wife. Candy?s only friendship was with his old, smelly dog. Candy?s dog was a symbol of himself (old, and useless). When Carlson kills Candy?s dog he kills Candy on the inside as well. Curley?s wife had the most pathetic and depressing life. Curley?s Wife spent her whole life trying to grab attention. She was always labeled and ignored by everyone on the ranch, an example of this is when George tells Lennie that she was trouble and to stay away from her. Curley?s wife was ignored and used from early on, when she was given false intentions on being a movie star. Of Mice and Men, 3 Characters with Loneliness :: essays research papers Loneliness is the sadness resulting from being forsaken or abandoned. John Steinbeck brought up the theme of loneliness in many characters in Of Mice and Men. Crooks, Curley?s wife, and Candy expressed the theme of loneliness in many different forms throughout the story. Early in the novella George said, life working as ranch hands is on the loneliness lives to live, for these people finding friendship seems to be impossible. Crooks expressed feelings of loneliness through out Of Mice and Men. Crooks? loneliness is caused because he is black, at the time the story took place there was racism. Since Crooks is black he wasn?t able to socialize with the white men. When Steinbeck describes all of Crooks? possessions, it shows that Crooks has been at the ranch a long time and that his possessions are all the he cares about. In Crooks? room, Lennie comes to talk to him. Crooks is cautious at first, this was from the years of racism that Crooks endured, he learned not to associate with white folk. Steinbeck expresses the theme of loneliness in the character of Candy. Candy is lonely because his is missing half an arm. Candy?s disability separates him from society, an example of Curley being set aside is when everybody else goes to town he is left in the barn with Crooks, Lennie, and Curley?s wife. Candy?s only friendship was with his old, smelly dog. Candy?s dog was a symbol of himself (old, and useless). When Carlson kills Candy?s dog he kills Candy on the inside as well. Curley?s wife had the most pathetic and depressing life. Curley?s Wife spent her whole life trying to grab attention. She was always labeled and ignored by everyone on the ranch, an example of this is when George tells Lennie that she was trouble and to stay away from her. Curley?s wife was ignored and used from early on, when she was given false intentions on being a movie star.

World View and Citizenship Essay -- Citizenship

The Preamble to the United States Constitution states: â€Å"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America† (U.S. Const. pmbl.). While the United States Constitution was created in order to form a more perfect union, it is up to us, as citizens of the United States, to uphold all that has been established within this union. In order to do that, we all must fulfill our responsibilities as citizens. For me, citizenship is an entitlement that everyone is obliged to uphold; therefore, I try to follow through on my responsibilities as a citizen of my community, country, and world. Being a citizen of the United States has many responsibilities, and it is my duty to follow through with these responsibilities. In order to do this, I must employ my rights and act dutifully. To fulfill my responsibilities as a citizen, there are many things that I do. First, I exercise my right to vote. This right to vote is one that requires me to pay attention to my government, for a citizen’s time and attention to the government is necessary in order for a democracy to function properly. Furthermore, I make sure to obey the laws that the government has created. These laws play an important role in upholding the ideals that were stated in the Preamble of the United States Constitution. Finally, another important responsibility that I oblige to as a United States citizen is paying my taxes. Taxes allow this country to function successfully; therefore, it is important for me to fulf... ... a good citizen, to do more than your share under it is noble† (â€Å"Betterworld.net†). In order for me to enjoy the privileges that I have been given through citizenship, I must honor my contract with society by putting citizenship first. If I continue to take part in community service and to treat others in the same manner that I desire to be treated, I can continue to honor my contract with society while remaining a good citizen of my community, country, and world. Works Cited "Better World Quotes - Citizenship." BetterWorld.net - The BetterWorld Factory. Web. 17 Jan. 2011. . Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. New York: Dover Publications, 1996. Print. Palmer, Parker J. Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000. Print.

Political Parties of 1800s Essay

The Democratic and Republican Parties can trace their roots back to the 1800s, but some of the most interesting stories in American political history spring from parties which enjoyed flashes of glory before fading away for good. The extinct political parties of the 1800s include organizations which were successful enough to put candidates in the White House. And there were also others that were just doomed to inevitable obscurity. Here is a listing of some significant political parties who are no longer with us, in roughly chronological order: Federalist Party The Federalist Party is considered the first American political party. It advocated a strong national government, and prominent Federalists included John Adams and Alexander Hamilton. The Federalists did not build a sustaining party apparatus, and the party’s defeat in the election of 1800 led to its decline. It essentially ceased to be a national party after 1816. (Jeffersonian) Republican Party The Jeffersonian Republican Party, which, of course, supported Thomas Jefferson in the election of 1800, was formed in opposition to the Federalists. The Jeffersonians tended to be more egalitarian than the Federalists. Following Jefferson’s two terms in office, James Madison won the presidency on the Republican ticket in 1808 and 1812, followed by James Monroe in 1816 and 1820. The Jeffersonian Republican Party then faded away. The party was not a forerunner of the present day Republican Party. At times it was even called a name which seems contradictory today, the Democratic-Republican Party. National Republican Party The National Republican Party supported John Quincy Adams in his unsuccessful bid for reelection in 1828 (there had been no party designations in the election of 1824). The party also supported Henry Clay in 1832. The general theme of the National Republican Party was opposition to Andrew Jackson and his policies. The National Republicans generally joined the Whig Party in 1834. The National Republican Party was not a forerunner of the Republican Party, which formed in the mid-1850s. Anti-Masonic Party The Anti-Masonic Party formed in upstate New York in the late 1820s, following the mysterious death of a member of the masonic order, William Morgan. It was believed that Morgan was killed before he could reveal secrets about the masons and their suspected influence in American politics. The party, while seemingly based on conspiracy theory, gained adherents. And the Anti-Masonic Party actually held the first national political convention in America. Its convention in 1831 nominated William Wirt as its presidential candidate in 1832. Wirt was an odd choice, having once been a mason. And while his candidacy was not successful, he did carry one state, Vermont, in the electoral college. Part of the appeal of the Anti-Masonic Party was its fiery opposition to Andrew Jackson, who happened to be a mason. The Anti-Masonic Party faded into obscurity by 1836 and its members drifted into the Whig Party, which also opposed the policies of Andrew Jackson. Whig Party The Whig Party was formed to oppose Andrew Jackson’s policies and came together in 1834. The party took its name from a British political party which had opposed the King, as the American Whigs said they were opposing  Ã¢â‚¬Å"King Andrew.† The Whigs candidate in 1836, William Henry Harrison, lost to the Democrat Martin Van Buren. But Harrison, with his log cabin and hard cider campaign of 1840, won the presidency (though he would only serve for a month). The Whigs remained a major party throughout the 1840s, winning the White House again with Zachary Taylor in 1848. But the party splintered, mainly over the issue of slavery. Some Whigs joined the Know-Nothing Party, and others, most notably Abraham Lincoln, joined the new Republican party in the 1850s. Liberty Party The Liberty Party was organized in 1839 by anti-slavery activists who wanted to take the abolitionist movement and make it a political movement. As most leading abolitionists were adamant about being outside politics, this was a novel concept. The party ran a presidential ticket in 1840 and 1844, with James G. Birney, a former slaveholder from Kentucky as their candidate. The Liberty Party drew meager numbers, garnering only two percent of the popular vote in 1844. It has been speculated that the Liberty Party was responsible for splitting the anti-slavery vote in New York state in 1844, thereby denying the state’s electoral vote to Henry Clay, the Whig candidate and assuring the election of the slave-owning James Knox Polk. But that assumes Clay would have drawn all the votes cast for the Liberty Party. Free-Soil Party The Free-Soil Party came into being in 1848, and was organized to oppose the spread of slavery. The party’s candidate for president in 1848 was former president Martin Van Buren. Zachary Taylor of the Whig Party won the 1848 presidential election, but the Free-Soil Party did elect two senators and 14 members of the House of  Representatives. The motto of the Free-Soil Party was â€Å"Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor and Free Men.† After Van Buren’s defeat in 1848 the party faded and members were eventually absorbed into the Republican Party when it formed in the 1850s. The Know-Nothing Party The Know-Nothing Party emerged in the late 1840s as a reaction to immigration to America. After some success in local elections with campaigns rife with bigotry, former president Millard Fillmore ran as the Know-Nothing candidate for president in 1856. Fillmore’s campaign was a disaster and the party soon dissolved. Greenback Party The Greenback Party was organized at a national convention held in Cleveland, Ohio in 1875. The formation of the party was prompted by difficult economic decisions, and the party advocated the issuing of paper money not backed by gold. Farmers and workers were the party’s natural constituency. The Greenbacks ran presidential candidates in 1876, 1880, and 1884, all of whom were unsuccessful. When economic conditions improved, the Greenback Party faded into history.

Evaluate and Use Information and Communications Technology Essay

The purpose of this essay is to research a technological toy, I focused on Bee Bots, which I use in my setting, evaluate and critically analyse the effectiveness of that toy in promoting children’s learning. Later I will demonstrate my personal use of ICT and a record of use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) over a period of one month as a professional role in promoting children’s development in my setting. Finally, I will reflect on my tracking sheet and identify the opportunity to develop ICT in communication with parents. According to Siraj-Blatchford, Whitebread (2003) in supporting children in their development of an early understanding of ICT we are concerned to support them in learning about a wide range of products that are used to manipulate, store, retrieve, transmit or receive information not only computers. Most of the ICT applications that we are familiar with today are put to use in electronic products such as telephones, audio and video, CD player, recorders, computers, television. I am going to focus on a programmable toy – Bee Bot. I chose that particular piece of ICT toy as we use it quite often in our setting. Bee Bot is a bright and a colourful and multi-sensory programmable floor robot, suitable for use in Early Years. According to Morgan, Siraj-Blatchford (2009) the use of programmable toys in early years educational settings is based upon the constructionist teaching approach, which is underpinned by the idea that learning can happen most effectively when people are actively engaged with doing and making things in the real world and was first developed by Papert, in 1993. Bee Bot â€Å"enable young children to learn through play about control and directional language and provides a perfect ‘hands on’ introduction to robotics† (Sprainger, 2007). Sturdy construction and colourful, easy-to-operate design is a perfect tool for teaching alphabet, number recognition, fine motor skills by using the directional buttons, and social skills such as turn taking. Direction keys are used to enter up to forty commands which send Bee Bot forward, back, left and right. Pressing the green ‘Go’ button starts the toy on its way. â€Å" Bee Bot blinks and beeps at the conclusion of each command to allow children to follow Bee Bot through the program they have entered and then confirms its competition with lights and sound† (Terapine Software, no date). It works on rough or smooth surfaces and is small enough to be used on a table (Inclusive Technology, no date). Bee Bot moves in 6†steps and 90 degree turns and compact size as well as durable material make Bee Bot child and classroom friendly. Bee Bot is equally adaptable to home and school environment, it can be use both indoor and outdoor and operates on three AA batteries (Interactive Learning in the Early Phase, No date). In 2005, Bee Bot was awarded a Gold Award at the Practical Pre-School Award in London and in 2006 Bee Bot was a winner of an Education Resources Award in the Primary ICT category awarded by The British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), (TTS: Educational Supplies for Schools, Nurseries & Childminders , No date). After an initial introduction to the toy Bee Bot help children to engage in playful exploratory activity which allows for numerous opportunities such as self-initiated activity, which provide opportunities for quality adult-child and child-child interactions (Siraj-Blatchford, Whitebread, 2003). According to Light and Butterworth, activities requiring ‘joint attention’ and which involve ‘children learning to share’ provide a better cognitive challenge for young children than activities were they work alone† (Developmentally Appropriate Technology in Early Childhood, No date). Learning with the Bee Bot is a highly social experience and support communication and social skill development, children learn about negotiating, taking turns, sharing and peer work. The Bee Bot has the capacity to support children to develop a broad range of essential skills across curriculum and the only limit is the practitioner and children imagination. It is available with across curriculum mats to enhance children learning in all area of their development, therefore in my work place we adapt the mats that we already have in our setting and I still feel that we did not use its full potential. So far we used Bee Bot with Alphabet mat, and alphabet flash cards to extend children letter sound recognition and oral language development for children with English as an Additional Language (EAL) to support their listening and recalling skills. Number and shape mat is used to expand children mathematical skills such as counting, number recognition, positional language, shape recognition. Road mat is used to develop children orientation as they need to manipulate, orientate, track and rotate the Bee Bot as well as road safety skills. Using a Bee Bot also introduce the children to a range of science skills as they interpret design challenges, generate possible solutions, make plans, test and evaluate and modifying the program were necessary (Sprainger, 2007). I founded as well as a number of eachers around the world (see teachers reviews in Appendix C) that Bee Bot are good value for money (manufacture instruction enclose in Appendix B) and the only disadvantage I can find is that after each activity program needs to be cleared in order to reprogrammed again. Although, it is clear that ICT should be used ‘to develop skills across all six areas of learning’ it is the ‘Knowledge and Understanding of the World ’ strand alone in the guidance that makes direct reference to ICT usage. â€Å"It is clear that young children are computer†¦ literate at an early age† (Keating, 2007, pg. 126). According to DATEC (No date) any application introduced to children in order to develop understanding and experience of ICT should not just be enjoyable, although this is important but more importantly should be educationally effective. Children need a variety of applications which encourage a range of development, including creativity, self-expression and language. From analysing my tracking sheet which recorded the use of ICT in my setting (details in Appendix A) I must admit that I was quite impressed with the amount of ICT equipment we use with children each day without even realising. From the tracking sheet I understood how important modelling and collaborative play is in Early Years. Programmable toys and many screen based applications offer the possibility of collaboration but adult intervention is frequently needed to gain the most from the ICT ‘equipment’. According to the UK Effective Provision of Preschool Education (EPPE) (Sylva et al, 2004), and Researching Effective Pedagogy in Early Childhood (REPEY) (Siraj-Blatchford et al, 2002) studies have found that the most effective foundation stage settings combined the provision of free play opportunities with more focused group work involving adult instruction. This approach appears to be most desirable model to promote ICT and I must proudly admitted that we are focusing on small group activities to meet all children’s needs, especially with EAL children. The relationship between cognitive strategies and language development is currently regarded as central to understanding children’s difficulties developing language as a first or additional language. Skinner emphasizes the roles of imitation, repetition, reward and reinforcement in formal language teaching situation (Lewis, Norwich, 2005). Adult-child interactions that involved some elements of ‘sustained shared thinking’ were especially valuable in terms of children’s early learning† (Siraj-Blatchford, and Siraj-Blatchford, No date). Activities I have provided for the children in my setting are differentiated according to their interest, age and learning style and were â€Å"targeted at learner’s educational needs and stage of understanding† (Hurst, 1997, pg. 82), as according to Miller, Devereoux (2004, pg155) â€Å"children need to be able to experiment, repeat activities in variety of ways and have some control over a pace of what they are doing†¦ ollaborate with adult and each other and share their discoveries and triumphs†. Furthermore, the work of Bruner and Vygotsky suggests that â€Å"we actually come to understand what it is we think through talk† (Moyles, 1995). â€Å"Bruner showed that children need to be reminded of previous experience†¦ by pictures, books†¦ he called this ‘iconic thinking’, he also felt that role of adult was important†¦ as†¦ adult provides support as children develop their competence and confidence† (Tassoni, H uccker, 2005, pg. 31). I believe that according to North, McKeown, (2005, pg. 72) â€Å"ICT meets all learners styles as it â€Å"lets pupils learn by looking, listening and doing†. â€Å"Although the evidence on gender differences in attitudes towards computer-related activities, levels of participation with computers,†¦ it appears that girls perform just as well as boys when they engage with computer-based learning† ( Bancroft, Carr, 1998, pg. 104) and it has been proved in my setting that girls get involved as equally often and well in ICT related equipment as boys. From my tracking I also realised that we are meeting entire requirement as Every Child Matter (2008) suggested relating to observation, assessment, planning, key person by using ICT equipments such as cameras, video recorder, Interactive White Board (IWB) and Fronter – School Blackboard (explained deeply in Appendix D), which is available through London Managed Learning Environment (MLE) (Ealing Grid for Learning, No date) and all the staff have been given training on it. Children from key stage one and two are able to access Fronter from home and share their school life with their parents. In the sector I work in – Early Years Foundation Stage parents are given individual logins and passwords to be able to track what is happening in our nursery each term, check any events that are taking place in school but in my opinion working with parents in relation of ICT is an area that needs improving. I discovered three main issues that must be improved in my opinion to develop a better communication and build better relationship with our parents. First of all, I must mention that even though as a school staff we have opportunities for professional development and ICT â€Å"supporting learning† (Teaching and Learning, No date). Training are usually organised by our school ICT co-ordinator. Insets quite frequently and I recognise myself as being a computer literate person thus we must consider that not all of our parents â€Å"can present barrier† (Plowman, Stephen, 2003, pg. 160) and perhaps school could extend ‘children Fronter club’ for ‘parents Fronter club’ to help parents overcome that barrier as â€Å"home school link and parents involvement is therefore a component of effective school† (Curriculum Guidance, 2001). Secondly, the language barrier could be one of the reasons why parents are not so keen on using our School Blackboard. To overcome this barrier after having an Inset with my manager we decided that the school news letter both in electronic form and hard copy could be translated in the most common spoken languages in our school, such as Tamil, Somali, Arabic and Farsi. As a Foundation Stage Practitioners we all agree that when â€Å"parents, teachers and children collaborate towards the same goals it leads to the improved academic performance of children† (Curriculum Guidance, 2001). Lastly, in my opinion the main issue could be, as the school is situated in low-income industrial area, that not all household might have an access to the computer. According to Morgan, Siraj-Blatchford (2009) research evidence has shown that the efforts of parents and preschools can make a considerable difference to children’s future educational achievements regardless of their socio-economic background and current national policy initiatives aim is to close the gap in educational achievement for children from disadvantaged background. â€Å"One of the ways in which this commitment has manifested itself has been in the Government’s three hundred million pounds Home Access project which provides computers and internet access to families to enhance learning at home† (Morgan, Siraj-Blatchford , 2009, pg. 13). Our school received the funding three years ago and designed the ‘parent computer room’ which was very popular at the begging but now seems to be forgotten. I think it is a good time to bring up that issue during the Inset to make use of that room again. When talking about ICT I must mention about a â€Å"number of queries and concerns regarding health and safety issues and other risks, which may be associated with technology routinely used by young children (Morgan, Siraj-Blatchford, 2009, pg. 39) , such as using electricity . Our children are thought not to â€Å"investigate or play with any equipment that uses mains electricity† (Creary, 2002, pg. 4) and all sockets are protected with socket protector to eliminate any hazards. According to Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) Portable Appliance Testing (PAT Testing and Portable Appliance, No date) is required once a year and our school has passed one two weeks ago. It is important that while children learn about ICT they also learn how to manage their own space and select the right tools when sitting at the computer. According to Morgan, Siraj-Blatchford (2009) it is therefore advisable that the regular use of any computer application by three years old child should not be longer than ten to twenty minutes. Young children, parents and practitioners are using ICT in novel and creative ways† (Morgan, Siraj-Blatchford, 2009, pg. 40) and it is important to use all available ICT equipment safely. Our school leaders with ICT co-ordinator â€Å"consider the issue of e-safety† (E-safety, No date) and drew Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) (See Appendix E). According to Every Child Matter (2008), suitable premises, environment and equipment our outdoor and indoor spaces, furniture, equipment and toys are safe as they are checked on regular basis and school is monitored by CCTV camera and locked.