Annoted Bibliography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Annoted Bibliography - Essay Example Napoleon asserts his leadership after the animals capture the farm from its former cruel owner, Mr. Jones. However, the satire of this novel is centered upon the pigs’ tyranny over the other animals. The novel is the basis of the famous idiom â€Å"all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others†. The novel was inspired by George’s experiences of communist behavior in Russia during the Spanish Civil War; it is a tale of the communist revolution in Russia. The novel addresses not only the corruption in leadership, but also the ignorance of the people; it exemplifies corruption and wickedness as the vice in rebellion, and not the actual deed of rebellion. This novel is dubbed the best analogy of political satire in the mid twentieth century as it exemplifies the gullibility of subjects and the dictatorship of leaders in contrast to the ideal society where all people are equal. Steadman, R. (1996) George Orwell: Animal Farm (50th Anniversary edition). USA : Signet Classics This variation of the original Animal Farm was done by Ralph Steadman to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the literary work. In the rendition, Steadman introduces some of Orwell’s proposed inclusion in the novel. ... Steadman exemplifies Orwell’s satirical outlook on the rebellion in animal farm which is a symbol of the rebellion against corruption and tyranny all around the world. This edition includes Orwell’s additions during a press interview, which were ignored in the previous edition. Moreover, Steadman analyses Orwell’s explicit fable of a browbeaten and overworked society and their pursuance of justice and equality. The author shows that such a paradise is feasible in the mind, but actual fulfillment is deterred by greed and corruption. The text illustrates the rise and gory fall of revolutionary animals and appreciates the abolitionism in most, if not all, societies by poking fun at the leaders and oppressors while at the same time drawing attention to the idealism they create but do not endorse. Secondary Sources Lake, P. (2010). The  Animal Farm  of the 21st Century. Arkansas: Arkansas Tech University. In March 2010, Paul Lake gave a lecture on George Orwellâ⠂¬â„¢s novels at the Arkansas Tech University and cited Animal Farm as Orwell’s book as the greatest allegory of the society. Lake associated the novel to the modern society as tyranny and corruption are witnessed on a daily basis. Lake, who is the author of Cry Wolf, drew attention to Orwell’s depiction of the down trodden members of society whose desire for a better future is unwavering. Lake exemplifies the twenty first century society as a modern animal farm where although the down trodden continue to suffer and be overworked for the benefit of a few; they still consider the leadership as upright and effective. He spoke of the ideal twenty first society as one which upholds all individual’s rights to expression and freedom from oppressive or slave driven rule. His talk seeks to educate on

College vs. High School Essay Example for Free

College vs. High School Essay There is so much freedom and you must use your time wisely in order to succeed. When you get to the university you will find you meet all sorts of people from all over the place with so many different cultural backgrounds and religions and beliefs and opinions. You get exposed to new ideas and new experiences. The classes are very different too. If you live on campus, it will likely be your first time living away from home, which is a huge experience. And once you find your major, you will find your people. You will actually be going to school with people who want to be there. As opposed to high school where students have to be there and many can careless about the subjects. College is a completely new experience with many unique aspects that can change and help define ones life. Many people love college, and find it to be a new beginning. It is a new opportunity to define yourself as an individual. You can establish a new image, because everyone is looking to do the exact same thing. In college, its time to strap down and get to work. Theres really no room for error. Classes are spread out throughout the week, and you often have much down time. There is a lot of work and it is crammed into a short period. It is up to you to know when to eat lunch, and it is up to you when to study. It is also your decision to fill that time where you are not studying or doing work with productive things. High school is a period in which many new things happen. You now find yourself in a world full of raging hormones, honors classes, and new found freedoms. High school is routine in a way. You have your eight or so classes year round, and you know when you will be eating lunch. The same kids you went to elementary and middle school with probably are the same kids you went to high school with. Basically, high school is much regimented, and many people find themselves having the same friends for many years. Because of this, in turn once a reputation or image was established for you in high school, most likely that was going to stick with you for the rest of your time left. The work in high school is a piece of cake. Unless you are taking honors or AP courses, there is really no reason why someones GPA should drop below 2. 5. Classes in high school are small in size, usually between twenty and thirty students, and there is a one on one feeling with the teacher. It is a laid back atmosphere because everyone knows each other. Also in high school, many students find a way around the school part. Countless students slack off and dont apply themselves to their work or studies. Because of this, many students find themselves doing new extracurricular activities, and I think we all know what is meant by that. It is very easy in high school to fall into bad habits. High School is a perfect opportunity to go down the wrong path and find yourself in bad situations. In conclusion, even though high school is an important step in life, college is an even bigger step. They are similar in some ways but in others they are the same. High school prepares you for college. It is a time full of new experiences and lessons. College is a new chapter in life and you can basically start over. In a way, college is a mature version of high school. High school and college are what you make of it. To find the true similarities and differences, one must experience both for themselves.

Appropriateness Of Ones Behaviour Psychology Essay

Appropriateness Of Ones Behaviour Psychology Essay In this chapter the research methodology used in the study is described. The location/ geographical area where the study was conducted, the study design and the population and sample are described. The instruments used to collect the data, including methods implemented to maintain validity and reliability of the instrument are described. RESEARCH DESIGN AND APPROACH Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were adopted. According to Burns and Grove (1993), quantitative research is asystematic, formal, and objective process used to test and describe relationships. Quantitative approach is used to determineeffect and cause interactions among different variables. Qualitative research design on the other hand is a subjective and systematic approach useful in describing life experiences and giving them meaning. Qualitative approach is vital in in-depth exploration that helps to gain insight, complexity and richness in the inherent phenomenon. Due to the positivist nature of the research, this study adopted a deductive approach (Saunders et al, 2007). This approach represents the most common view of the relationship between theory and research, and results gotten from this approach are developed through logical reasoning (Bryman and Bell, 2007). The data findings were compared against existing literature to ascertain if they concur with what has already been published in the field of online recruitment. Surveys were also used for exploratory,descriptive and explanatory research.A descriptive survey design was used. According to Mouton (1996), a survey is used to collect original data for describing a populationthat is too large to observe directly. A survey helps to obtain information from a population sample bymeans of self-report. Survey design allows the respondents and the sample population to respond to a series of structured and well-designed questions posed by the researcher (PolitHungler 1993). In this study the information was collected through interviews, and structured questionnairesadministered to the subjects by the researcher. A descriptive survey was selected because it provides an accurate representation or explanation of the various elements and characteristics;these would include such examples asbehaviour, abilities,opinions,knowledge, and beliefs of a particular situation,individual,or group. This design was chosen to meet the objectives of the study. ACCESS AND RESEARCH SETTING The ability to gather primary data during this study was dependent on gaining access to an appropriate source within the organization. The level to which this source is appropriate relies on the research question, related objectives and research designs (Saunders et al, 2007). Therefore, the researcher, as a friend of an employee within the organization, was in a favourable position to get access within the organization. The researcher contacted his friend who as per the research duration was working within graduate recruitment at Lloyds TSB. The researcher together with the friend discussed the prospects of the dissertation. The friend spoke to several of her colleagues on behalf of the researcher and they consented and allowed the researcher to conduct telephone interviews with four (4) members of the graduate recruitment team, some of which had been there for an average of 5 10 years (reasons expatiated further in this chapter). Due to the non-intrusive nature of the research, there were no objections or limitations raised by the participants with regards to the questions asked or the purpose of the study. DATA COLLECTION Sampling Method Based on the research objectives and the issues to be investigated, it would have been most appropriate if all recruitment staffs within the organization were interviewed. However, due to the time constraints and resource limitations inherent in this study, a non-probability sample of the population was selected. Saunders et al (2007) asserts that a non-probability sample is most often used when adopting a case study strategy. According to Oppenheim(2000), a non-probability sample refers to a sample in which the probability of each case being selected from the total population is not known. The samples of graduates that were chosen to partake in the quantitative study are too small to constitute a probability sample of graduates within London or United Kingdom (UK). Also, the number of employees within Lloyds who took part in the qualitative study was not high enough to constitute a significant portion of the recruitment department within Lloyds TSB. Therefore the study focused more on the quantitative facts of the perception of recruitment within the organization, as opposed to theories expressed in the literature review, and what graduates on the outside thought of online recruitment. Primary Data Collection In collecting data that could be analysed using quantitative means, Easterby-Smith et al (2008) claims that researchers could collect either primary or secondary data. He further claims that though each of these means have their merits and demerits, the collection of ones own data gives control over the structure of the sample and the data obtained from each respondent. It also gives greater confidence that the data collected would match the research objectives. The researcher therefore chose to collect primary data from 20 graduates using questionnaires distributed-in-person to each respondent. This was done amongst friends and colleagues within the university who have utilized online recruitment systems. Data from the semi-structured interviews were collected using a tape recorder, and the conversations with all four employees would be transcribed word for word, and expression for expression. The advantages inherent in this approach is that it allows the researcher to document and see patterns in words and emotions that would not be available if other forms of interviews were conducted. Data Collection Instrument Questionnaires and Interviews were chosen as data collection instruments. A questionnaire is a printed self-report form designed to elicit information that can be obtained through the written responses of the subjects. Theinformation obtained through a questionnaire is similar to that obtained by an interview, but the questionstend to have less depth (Burns Grove, 1993). Data would be collected with the aid of questionnaires to evaluate the sample populations knowledgeand views on research objectives. Questionnaires were decided upon because of the following: They ensured a high response rate as the questionnaires were distributed to respondents to completeand were collected personally by the researcher. They required less time and energy to administer. They offered the possibility of anonymity because subjects names were not be required on the completedquestionnaires There was less opportunity for bias as they were presented in a consistent manner. Most of the items in the questionnaires were closed, which made it easier to compare the responses toeach item Apart from the advantages that have been listed above, questionnaires have their weaknesses; forexample, there is the question of validity and accuracy (Burns Grove, 1993). The subjects might notreflect their true opinions but might answer what they think will please the researcher, and valuableinformation may be lost as answers are usually brief. To counter the weaknesses of the questionnaires in data collection, interviews were used to enhance validity and accuracy. The researcher interviewed the selected staff based on the duties and responsibilities of the staff in the organization. The questionnaires consisted mostly of closed-ended questionsand a few open-ended questions, as these provide more diverse detail. In the open-ended questions, thesubjects were required to respond in writing, whereas closed-ended questions had options which weredetermined by the researcher (Burns Grove, 1993). Open-ended questions were included becausethey allow subjects to respond to questions in their own words and provide more detail. Closed-endedquestions were included because they are easier to administer and to analyze. They are also more efficientin the sense that a respondent is able to complete more closed-ended items than open-ended items in agiven period of time (PolitHungler, 1993). The respondentswere given the assurance that the answers would never be able to link theirresponses to them at the stage of data analysis, therefore ensuring anonymity. RESEARCH STRATEGY This study adopted a case study strategy in answering the research question. Robson (2002) asserts that the case study strategy would be useful if the aim of the study is to gain a rich understanding of the research perspective and the process being endorsed. Therefore as this study aims to understand the recruitment process within Lloyds TSB and also any benefits associated with online recruitment, a case study would be most effective. Two separate yet parallel approaches were utilized in this study, and are outlined in the table 1 below. Table 1: Research Strategy STRATEGY AIM SAMPLE TYPE OF QUESTIONS METHOD OF ANALYSIS Quantitative questionnaire Quantify graduates perception of what constitutes an effective recruitment platform 10 graduates who have applied to one or more organizations through their online system. Closed rating scale questions, and nominal data. Descriptive analysis (bar chart, pie chart and line charts). Qualitative semi-structured interviews This was done in order to ascertain the benefits associated with online recruitment. 4 members of the recruitment staff within Lloyds TSB, who have been in the organization for more than 5 years Structured questionnaires. Open questions Content analysis Quantitative Questionnaire Quantitative methods are mainly used in the data collection process of research. It involves data that is either in the form of, or expressed as numbers (Easterby-Smith et al, 2008). The quantitative questionnaires were handed out to 10 graduates and undergraduates. The questionnaire was mainly designed with rating scale questions, where respondents were asked to state their opinion or preference for a particular question on a scale of 1 5. Secondary nominal data was also included in order to ascertain the respondents status, application activity and preference. The quantitative questionnaire distributed to respondents is outlined in appendix. Quantitative questionnaires are useful as the results derived are quantifiable and measurable against other variables in an objective manner (Saunders et al, 2007). Qualitative Semi Structured Interviews Following the access grant to four members of the recruitment team within the organization, 15 20 minute qualitative telephone interviews were carried out. A semi-structured interview is a qualitative interview that is defined by a pre-set question guide. It aims to provide in-depth findings through informal discussions with participants (Collis and Hussey, 2003). This interview method was chosen over unstructured or structured interviews, because this study intends to answer the research questions by asking specific questions, but not so much (unstructured) that it generates useless data, and not so less (structured) so as not to miss out on any unanticipated information. The interview questions in the semi-structured interview are in appendix. The themes utilized in this study were derived mainly from the literature review and were crucial in developing the questions that were raised during the study. The semi-structured approach also provided the researcher with the ability to probe answers. Answer probing was particularly useful in responses whereby more explanation was needed in order to fully understand the answers. Due to the recent adaptation of online recruitment, the semi structured interviews was targeted at members of the team who had witnessed or orchestrated the shift towards online recruitment, that way these respondents would be better able to answer questions that relate to the comparison of both methods. Also, members of the online recruitment team being interviewed had different positions within recruitment and handled separate tasks. The questionnaires were given to them beforehand, when the approval was first sought, and each respondent chose the questions that they were more qualified to respond to. Therefore the research was such that all respondents answered some questions, while some others were answered by a particular individual because of their knowledge of that process. Table 2 outlines the respondent details and their interview theme. Table 2: Interview Respondents and Questions asked Respondent Fictional Name Role Years in Lloyds Subjects Covered R1 Alice Graduate Events Manager 2 Effectiveness, Disadvantages R2 Martha Application Review 7 Background, Adoption, Effectiveness, Disadvantages R3 Nick Finance and Budgeting 9 Adoption, Effectiveness, Efficiency R4 Chloe Media Advertisement 3 Effectiveness, Advertisement Each respondent were asked for their consent to interview, prior to the interview sessions, and also requested not to have their names mentioned so as to prevent any form of organizational backlash if the contents of the study were interpreted in any other non-academic form, and distributed. They have therefore been given fictional names, so as to make the research more readable. RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY Reliability Polit and Hungler (1993) refer to reliability as the degree of consistency with which an instrument measures the attribute it is designed to measure. The data collection techniques administered to the sample population was used to revealconsistency in responses. Reliability was ensured by minimizing sources of measurement error like data collector bias. Data collector bias was minimized by the researchers being the only one who administered the data collection techniques, and standardizing conditions such as exhibiting similar personal attributes to all respondents, for example friendliness and support.The physical and psychological environment where data was collected was made comfortable by ensuringprivacy, confidentiality and general physical comfort.The subjects wereat their convenient and comfortable venues including free and fresh air circulations. Theresearcher remained in the neighbourhood with the subjects. Conditions were considered tomaintain privacy and prevent interrupti ons. Subjects were requested not to write their names on the data collection instruments to ensure confidentiality. Validity The validity of an instrument is the degree to which an instrument measures what it is intended to measure(PolitHungler, 1993). Content validity refers to the extent to which an instrument represents thefactors under study. To achieve content validity, the instruments used included a variety of questions on theknowledge of correspondents about the research topic, objectives and questions. Questions were based on the information gathered during the literature review to ensure that they wererepresentative of what correspondentscould know about the research topic. Content validity was further ensured by consistency in administering the instruments of data collection. All instruments were administered to the subjects by the researcher personally. The questions were formulated in simple language for clarity andease of understanding. Clear instructions were given to the subjects and the researcher was readily available to answer questions raised by the correspondents in the course of responding to the research questions. The subjects were requested to complete the questionnaires and respond to the questions in the presence of the researcher. This was done to preventsubjects from giving questionnaires to other people to complete on their behalf. For validation, thequestionnaires were submitted to the research supervisor for review. As a result questions were refined to ensure higher representativeness. Rephrasing of some questions were done to clarify thequestions and more appropriate alternative response choices were added to the closed-ended questions toprovide for meaningful data analysis (Burns Grove, 1993). External validity was ensured. Burns and Grove (1993) refer to external validity as the extent to whichstudy findings can be generalized beyond the sample used. All the persons approached to participate in thestudycompleted the questionnaires. No single person who was approached refused to participate.Generalizing the findings to all members of the population was thereforejustified.Seeking subjects who are willing to participate in a study can be difficult, particularly if the study requiresextensive amounts of time or other types of investment by subjects. If the number of the personsapproached to participate in a study declines, generalising the findings to all members of a population is not easy to justify. The study was well planned to limit the investment demands on subjects in order toincrease participation.As the percentage of those who decline to take part in the study increases, external validity decreases (Burns Grove 1993:270). PRE-TESTING THE QUESTIONNAIRE A pre-test refers to a trial administration of an instrument to identify flaws. When a questionnaire or an interview schedule is used asa data gathering instrument, it is necessary to determine whether the questions and directions are clear tosubjects and whether they understand what is required from them. This is referred to as the pretesting of aquestionnaire (PolitHungler 1995:38, 711).The researcher was able to pre-test the questionnaires and the interview schedules to ensure that the instruments meet the set criteria.All of the samples approached to pre-test the instruments were asked to answer the questions and necessary changes made based on the findings of the pre-test. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS Blumberg, et al (2005) describes ethics as referring to the appropriateness of ones behaviour in relation to the rights of those who become the subject of a research project. A number of ethical issues have been identified and raised with respect to this study. The issues and steps taken to alleviate such issues are discussed below: The company may be secretive about some aspects of its online recruitment, such as the quantity of graduates and marketing techniques to attract graduates, which it may not like its competitors to know about. Employees responding to semi structured interviews may not be so willing to discuss their personal opinion of the banks recruitment system, or the quality of graduates received through their channels, in case their response does not really conform to the brand and reputation that the organization is trying to build (for instance, the bank may pose as an equal opportunity organization that employs from diverse backgrounds, whereas they mostly only recruit students from top Oxbridge universities with a certain background). Information such as this could pose difficulties if the bank eventually decides to broaden its pool of candidates and employ people from varying backgrounds. Apart from these ethical considerations, no other ethical dilemmas have been found with relation to this research. Therefore, in order to alleviate these issues, the questionnaire and interviews were designed in such a way that it does not offend, harm, provoke or stress any of the participants in any way. Questions asked would be non-intrusive as no personal information about names; age or post would be requested. Information about specific applicant quality and demographics of applicants recruitment would not be sought.Also, in terms of graduate questionnaires that have been distributed, some candidates may think that answering these questions and including personal details may impede or even benefit them when applying to said organizations. Therefore the questionnaires would fully state that it is an academic research and in no way constitutes a study conducted by the organization. Integrity, honesty, expertise and diligence are key ingredients in conducting of research. This isuseful to protect and recognise the ethics and human rights of the respondents. The key ethical consideration observed in this study included anonymity, informed consent, confidentiality and rights to self-determination. Written permission and respondents consent were obtained prior before the respondents responded to the research instruments. Burns and Grove (1993)define informed consent as the prospective respondents agreement to participate voluntarily in a study, whichis reached after assimilation of essential information about the study. The subjects were informed of theirrights to voluntarily consent or decline to participate, and to withdraw participation at any time withoutpenalty.Subjects were informed about the purpose of the study; the procedures used to collect thedata, and assured that there were no potential risks or costs involved. Anonymity and confidentiality were observed and maintained throughout the study. Burns and Grove (1993) defineanonymity as when subjects cannot be linked, even by the researcher, with his or her individual responses. In this study anonymity was ensured by not disclosing the respondents name on the data collection instruments, research reports and detaching the written consent from the questionnaire.In this study, confidentiality was maintained by keeping the collected data confidential and not revealing the subjects identities whenreporting the study (Burns Grove 1993). No identifying information was entered onto the data collection instruments, and the instrumentswere only numbered after data had been collected (PolitHungler1995:139). The ethical principle of self-determination was also maintained. Subjects were treated as autonomousagents by informing them about the study and allowing them to voluntarily choose to participate or not.Lastly, information was provided about the researcher in the event of further questions or complaints.Scientific honesty is regarded as a very important ethical responsibility when conducting research.Dishonest conduct includes manipulation of design and methods, and retention or manipulation of data(Brink 1996). The researcher tried to avoid any form of dishonesty by recording truthfully the answers given during interviews. The researcher was with integrity of heart and sincerity produced the results with the necessary supervision to avoid subjective collaboration. Theopen-ended questions which were beanalysed by the researcher were also checked by the supervisor forconfirmation of credibility. ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH FINDINGS Quantitative Data The quantitative data collected during the course of this study, whilst still in its raw form, is described by Saunders et al (2007) as being useless and conveying little information to most people. Universites, which are total sample distributions of one variable at a time (Oppenheim, 2005) was utilised in analysing the frequency and percentage occurrence of each variable; including both ordinal and nominal, category and rating scale questions. However, an in-depth correlation or bivariate analysis was not conducted due to the low number of graduate respondents, and also due to the fact that the study was mainly concerned with the viewpoint of the organization, and not necessarily that of the graduates. Results would be analysed using Excel and graphs would be drawn out to analyse all data with the aim of comparing them to the qualitative study. Qualitative Data Yin (2002) suggests that in studies whereby the research question has been formulated based on the literature review; these theories that have been used in the postulation of the research question could also be used in analysing the findings. Thereby, suggesting that a deductive approach to data analysis would be essential for theoretical driven studies. Based on these arguments, this study analysed the qualitative findings using deductive methods. The findings from each respondent and questionnaire theme were analysed according to the literature review topics discussed. In the instance whereby different respondents had something to say about a particular issue, all their opinions were recorded and taking into consideration in the analysis of findings. A fact sheet of all findings according to the theory is illustrated in chapter 4. Full transcripts of the interview are in the appendix. The pattern matching procedure, as postulated by Saunders et al, (2007)were utilized in this deductive analysis. It involves predicting a pattern of outcomes based on theoretical propositions. These propositions are thereby analysed in the data analysis process. This procedure involves the development of an analytical framework, utilizing existing theory, and then testing the adequacies of the framework as a means of explaining the findings (Saunders et al, 2007). In the instance where a pattern is found as initially predicted, it would be evidence that suggests that there is indeed an explanation for findings.

Innovation :: essays research papers

ABSTRACT Innovation is not always successful everywhere unless it meets the requirements of the objectives of learning and teaching at a particular place. Each environment is different from the other. It is not always successful to apply a good innovation from one place to another. In the requirements of all kinds of tests in Viet Nam nowadays which are so much focused on grammar, the needs and interests of learners in learning grammar are very high. Also, there are so many different kinds of learners coming to language centers in Viet Nam to study English for their own purposes. Many of them could take their time to study English intensively while many others take it extensively. They only come to the English classes two or three evenings a week. However, their needs of learning grammar to pass the tests of National Certificates are great. Also, most of learners from high school and secondary schools need grammar background to do well their schoolwork. Therefore, the researcher would like to make an innovation of Grammar Textbooks to meet the requirements of learners’ needs and interests at the 4th Division of Nong Lam University – Center for Foreign Studies in Bien Hoa city. The researcher applied the problem-solving model to do this action rese arch. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this study was to see if the grammar innovation worked well with students at Nong Lam University – Center for Foreign Studies, at the division 4, at Bien Hoa city, and to see if the traditional methods in teaching grammar were still effective in such a place with particular students in this area in Viet Nam. All the grammar courses were designed for the intensive students at Nong Lam University – Center for Foreign Studies. Most students here are university students. They study English for their graduation and for their job interviews. These students take 20 periods each week for their English studies. They spend 12 weeks each course with 240 periods on learning intensive English. Most of the materials are designed for communicative approach. These students have to take 2 courses in order to complete their elementary level of English in order to have enough background to learn TOEFL. During each course, they have 36 periods to work with grammar. In other words, they have totally 72 periods to finish their Basic English Grammar (two courses). The Center has been using the grammar book â€Å"Fundamentals of English Grammar† of Betty Schrampfer Azar.

Thesis: Writing and Question

For me writing a thesis statement was one of the hardest parts of the writing process. I was unsure of how to come up with the idea for a thesis statement, much less how to create it or where it should be included in the essay. By following this guide for writing a Thesis Statement, my writing experiences have become more rewarding. First, the thesis statement is the main topic or idea of the essay. It should directly answer the question the writer asks himself or herself, and is a roadmap for the essay. The thesis statement provides the reader with a specific guide to the writer’s argument. A strong thesis statement should show conclusions about the topic, indicate a point about the discussion, help the reader to see the main point of the topic, and is specific to show exactly what the essay is about. Second, to gain the idea for what the thesis should say if a topic for the assignment is given, change the topic of the essay into a question. Then answer the question with one or two sentences. The answer to the question will be the thesis statement. If no topic is given for the essay, or if the information for the essay does not ask a specific question, then a question must be generated, based on the information given for the assignment and the issue chosen form the assignment information to be explored. One way to accomplish this, the writer must brainstorm the topic. Then narrow or revise the topic down to take a position about the topic by deciding what you really want to say. Review this statement and ask a question about the statement. Another way is to collect and organize evidence and look for possible relationships, similarities, or contrasts to come up with a specific word by clarifying relationships of the topic. Explain what is meant about the topic, and then revise this information to make an assertation. Next look at the statement and ask yourself a question about the statement. The answer to the question in either example will be the thesis statement for the essay. The writer should ask themselves the following; Does the thesis statement answer a question? Would the reader want to challenge or oppose the thesis statement? In addition, Does the essay support the thesis? The thesis statement should be placed as the last sentence in the introduction paragraph of the essay, the last sentence conclusion paragraph, and the last sentence of the abstract in APA style format. In conclusion, once I implemented this guide into my writing process, I found writing a thesis statement to be much easier. It seemed to become a guide for the body of the essay. By following the guide to Writing a Thesis Statement, my writing experiences have become more rewarding.

Justice and Legality in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure Essay

In this brief paper, legality will be taken to mean as â€Å"doing what the written laws or accepted customs require. On the other hand, justice refers to â€Å"doing for any person what is fitting and proper for that person. † Often dubbed as a â€Å"dark† comedy, Measure for Measure is comprised of characters that are confronted with moral dilemmas. The characters that will be analyzed based on the legality and justness of their actions are the Duke, Angelo, and Isabella. These three characters are interrelated in the sense that their actions affect the other characters in the play. This makes the plot complex just like in most plays of Shakespeare. Also, not only does Measure for Measure abound with intrigue and revelation but also with pertinent questions on freedom, sexuality, morality, and the Law. Hence, a reading of the characters necessitates an understanding of the questions the play raises. After analyzing the characters’ actions, the concluding part will look into the link between legality and justice. As I will argue, legality and justice are not one and the same. Rather, they are relational instances that are apparent in the actions of the characters. The play opens with the Duke assigning his role as leader of Vienna to Angelo. Angelo tried to decline at first yet the Duke was firm in his order. At the offset, one may immediately judge whether the act of the Duke and Angelo is just and/or legal. As the formal ruler of Vienna, the Duke gives up temporarily his mandate to Angelo. One may wonder what could be more important and urgent for the Duke than rule the whole of Vienna. By leaving his job as ruler, it may appear that the Duke’s act is illegal. However, if we understand the Duke’s action in the context of monarchy, what he did was not illegal for the precise reason that he embodies the law itself. Whatever the Duke says or wishes to do is considered the Law. On the part of Angelo, his obedience to the Duke’s order is lawful as it is his role to follow whatever the latter asks him to do. We then learn that with his new position as Duke, Angelo implements strictly the already existing law against fornication. We can confer from the beginning part of the play that Angelo complies fondly with the moral law. This caused Claudio to be imprisoned for impregnating Juliet, his lover, even though the sexual intercourse was consensual. In the following scene, the character of Isabella appears. As a morally uptight person and a loving sister of Claudio, Isabella begged Angelo to release his brother from prison. Angelo promised to show mercy only if Isabella sleeps with him. Shocked and disgusted, Isabella refused. In this scene, we come to know the hypocrisy of Angelo with regard to the moral law he imposes to the people. He bans illicit sexual activities yet he himself asks Isabella to sleep with him. Angelo’s actions are therefore illegal. In relation to Isabella, Angelo is being unjust since what he is asking of Isabella is not fitting for someone who is just about to enter the nunnery and serve God. The dilemma faced by Isabella – whether or not sleep with Angelo so as to save Claudio – is intriguing for it involves two virtues that must be upheld by a religious woman as herself. One virtue is chastity, of not giving up to the sexual condition of Angelo. On the other hand, she is also required to fight for the release of his innocent brother who was unfairly imprisoned. In the end, Isabella chose chastity over Claudio. By declining the sexual condition of Angelo, Isabella is being legal in the context of the moral law. Her choice not to sleep with Angelo attests to her determination to remain a virgin for God. However, the other side of the coin consists of her unjust act to leave his brother in prison. When the Duke, as a friar, intervenes to help Isabella, his plan was to trap Angelo so his only choice would be to release Claudio. In the Duke’s plan, Isabella will seduce Angelo to sleep with her. The moment Angelo takes the bait, Isabella would give up her place to Mariana who is Angelo’s former lover. By unwittingly sleeping with Mariana, Angelo would thus prove guilty of sexual immorality and would later on be forced to release Claudio. The plan, however, did not entirely succeed because after sleeping with Mariana, Angelo did not order the release of Claudio. By helping Isabella, the Duke who is pretending as a friar, was in fact being just in a sense that he is trying to help in the release of Claudio. Meanwhile, Angelo resolute stand not to release Claudio is illegal since he is in fact the one who truly committed a prohibited sexual act. If he is really staunch in disciplining the people then Angelo must put his own self in jail. The end part of the play consists of the Duke’s return as the ruler of Vienna. With his power over the people, the Duke was able to make everyone confess their wrongdoings. Angelo eventually admitted his misdeeds and Claudio was released from prison. The Duke then asks Isabella to marry him. The final scene exhibited the just and legal act of the Duke to release the innocent and correct the wrong. Angelo’s confession can be seen as just since he is committing what is proper to a person like himself. It can also be read as legal since his confession complies with the order of the Duke. Isabella, on the other hand, was just in the sense that she still pursued the issue of his brother’s release. Her choice to marry the Duke, if ever she does, will be legal as it is form of obedience to their ruler. Based from the characters’ actions, we may say that legality and justice are two different instances. The reason for being such is the fact that they are grounded on two different frameworks. Legality is based on the written law that is invoked in order to judge a particular action of a character. On the other hand, justice is based on the personal opinion of the characters that is used for the evaluation of certain actions. However, after probing into the actions of the characters, we see that their personal opinions are in fact strongly influenced by the established moral law. For instance, Isabella’s choice not to sleep with Angelo, although personal, is rooted in the moral law that dictates to have illicit sex is sinful. Along the same vein, Angelo’s seeming personal choice to confess depends heavily on the order imposed by the Duke. The boundary therefore between the personal and the outside basis for judgment is diluted. Thus, in the context of Measure for Measure, justice is subsumed into the realm of legality without necessarily being reduced to it.

The 3 Best Sites to Learn a New Word Every Day

The 3 Best Sites to Learn a New Word Every Day In terms of vocabulary development, we were all little geniuses in childhood, learning hundreds of new words every year. By the time we entered first grade, most of us had active vocabularies of several thousand words. Unfortunately, we werent geniuses for very long. By age 11 or 12, equipped with a sizable survival vocabulary, most of us lost some of our early enthusiasm for language, and the rate at which we picked up new words began to decline significantly. As adults, if we dont make deliberate efforts to increase our vocabularies, were lucky to pick up even 50 or 60 new words a year. The English language has so much to offer (at least half a million words by most reckonings) that it would be a shame to let our vocabulary-building talents go to waste. So heres one way that we can regain some of our youthful brilliance: learn a new word each day. Whether youre a student preparing for the SAT, ACT, or GRE, or simply an unabashed logophile (or lover of words), starting each day with a fresh word can be intellectually nourishing- and more enjoyable than a bowl of All-Bran. Here are three of our favorite daily word sites: all are free and available through e-mail subscriptions. A.Word.A.Day (AWAD) Founded in 1994, A.Word.A.Day at Wordsmith.org is the creation of Anu Garg, an India-born computer engineer who clearly enjoys sharing his pleasure in words. Simply designed, this popular site (over a million subscribers from more than 170 countries) offers concise definitions and examples of words that relate to a different theme every week. The New York Times has called this the most welcomed, most enduring piece of daily mass e-mail in cyberspace. Recommended for all word lovers. Oxford English Dictionary Word of the Day For many of us, the Oxford English Dictionary is the ultimate reference work, and the OED Word of the Day provides a complete entry (including a wealth of illustrative sentences) from the 20-volume dictionary. You can sign up to have the OEDs Word of the Day delivered by e-mail or RSS web feed. Recommended for scholars, English majors, and logophiles. Merriam-Websters Word of the Day Less expansive than the OED site, the daily word page hosted by this U.S. dictionary-maker offers an audio pronunciation guide along with basic definitions and etymologies. The Merriam-Webster Word of the Day is also available as a podcast, which you can listen to on your computer or MP3 player. Recommended for high school and college students as well as advanced ESL students. Other Daily Word Sites These sites should also be useful to high school and college students. Dictionary.com Word of the DayThe Learning Network (The New York Times)The Quotations Page Word of the Day Of course, you dont have to go online to learn new words. You can simply begin making a list of new words that you encounter in your reading and conversations. Then look up each word in a dictionary and write down the definition along with a sentence that illustrates how the word is used. But if you need a little encouragement to work on building your vocabulary every day, sign up for one of our favorite word-a-day sites.

Union Bank of California essay

Union Bank of California essay Union Bank of California essay Union Bank of California essayDear Mrs. Clemmons,The Union Bank of California has been in business for years and has a mandate to ensure customer satisfaction. This is through the enactment of different departments that cater for the dissimilar needs of clients. The bank is aware that honest mistakes are sometimes inevitable while making debits. Machines and merchants are sometimes exposed to errors due to system irregularities. Therefore company remains open-minded and ready to correct such situations. It has a fool proof system in charge of rectifying such issues.   The company’s ATM Error Resolution Department sorts out any problems that occur while using credit cards. This is in line with its duty to ensure that customers are not short-changed or overcharged while buying goods. The department banks on giving the customers up-to-speed solutions when errors occur.It is greatly relished that you have always chosen to do your shopping using our service. The business apprecia tes your loyalty and consistency in providing trade for our company. The company also acknowledges that the machines are sometimes susceptible to errors. There are candid slip-ups that happen when a merchant runs a customer’s check debit card two or three times through the credit card machine. In such situations the appliance has already made the transaction while the merchant remains oblivious. It results to several charges on the same goods hence great loses for the consumer. Sadly, the consumers are uninformed that they made numerous purchases. They only realize it when they get their bank statements and get frustrated. However, the management expresses that it is unable to accept your application due to the fact that the transactions reference numbers are valid.The report depicts that there were several purchases made from different stores the same day.   In such a case the transaction number does not change within a twenty four hour period.   Thus, the suspicions tha t the transaction might have been replicated erroneously. Additionally, the three dealings statement point out that debits had different amounts: $23.02, $120.10, and $43.19. This circumstance does not refer to a multiple-card-swipe error. Finally, the claims did not have attached receipts that are necessary for follow up.   Receipts are viewed as important pieces of evidence that provide easier referencing.The Union Bank of California is committed to ensuring that our customers get the best experience at all times. As a result it has a valuable recovery system that checks and corrects the transaction mistakes.   The bank’s tele-service department records the clients’ complaints and issues claim numbers. Moreover, it informs the consumers that they must send the department a signed and dated claim letter. The notification should portray the situation and enclose copies of receipts. The section notifies the client of the decision in a period of ten to twenty busines s days. There is a corrective measure that credits the accounts respectively. It ensures that the clients receive the full amounts that were billed erroneously.The business really values your concern and appreciates your prudence in reporting the suspected mishap. It believes that you will eventually concur with the report issued. Consequently, it will be eagerly waiting to hear from you Mrs. Clemmons. This is because at the Union bank of California the customer views always matter.Thank you for your time and patience.Sincerely, Operations Manager,Union bank of California

Billy Elliot Movie Review Film Studies Essay

Billy Elliot Movie Review Film Studies Essay Billy Elliot was on set during the UK miners strike in 1984- 1985. At that point of time, most families like Billy s believed that guys who danced are gays and that dancing are only meant for girls. However, guys made a history on stage instead of women. There is a stereotype view whereby a male dancer is gay, but in the movie, the character that plays the gay role, is not a dancer and that the one who is not gay became a dancer. This relates to the history of dance where male dancers were the ones who ruled the stage before the female dancers and that they were not gay where as those who were gay were not dancers. In the movie, Billy s friend Michael Caffery was the gay as he slowly developed feelings for Billy. However, Michael is not a dancer and dance was not an interest for him. He only supported Billy and encouraged Billy to pursue his dreams. Despite having men who danced in history, many later believed that guys are gays if they danced as ladies changed history when they dom inated the stage later on. In the movie, it was on set during the UK miners strike, this was a time when the peasants weren t doing very well financially. this could be seen in the village where the people lived. Billy s family lived in a house where there isn t room of every single person in the house, like Billy had to share a room with his brother Tony. This could be compared to the more well to do families in the different part of the village at Stepharina Chan 2 that time, was Billy s ballet teacher Georgia Wilkinson who lived in a pleasant looking house and drove a car. Billy s ballet teacher, Georgia belief in Billy gave Billy the chance to train for an audition for the royal academy of dance. As compared to Billy, he wanted to join the academy and audition for it, however, money was a big issue to him and also the fact that Billy s father, Jamie Elliot and Billy s brother, Tony Elliot were miners who went on strike and only gave Billy money for boxing lessons, they did not e xpect Billy to start dancing. As the both men were always not home, Billy had to take care of his grandmother, Billy has a responsibility to consider, Despite Georgia s interest in having to support Billy for the ballet school. At that period of time, people did not support the arts but as time passes and things change, arts developed and now, more people even come governments supported the arts industry. It became easier for anyone to join the arts with a passion and interest of their own and not according to what makes their families happy. In the beginning of the show, Jamie Elliot was quite puzzled as to why Billy liked to dance where the dance classes only had girls and that the other boys were happy going for boxing classes. As men started the history of dancing, yet at this period of time, men dancing became an issue and a problem. As dance hit the romantic era, ladies dominated the stage and men were just like status on stage as their only purpose was to lift the ladies in p artner work. As time slowly passes and men were rarely seen on stage, people tend to forget the past and believe to what was seen right then and now. The image of men being a dancer on stage was a joke at that period of time when Billy wanted to

Microsoft Word Funtionality Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Microsoft Word Funtionality - Research Paper Example Any student or large business employee or owner can benefit from the simplicity of Microsoft Word, as well as the hundreds of options that it comes with to create the perfect report or project. As Microsoft Word is often used to prepare reports for both schools and businesses, one of the most beneficial functions is the ability to make an outline of the required assignment. With the bullets and numbering functions, including special features to do a tiered outline, detailed outlines can be created to prepare the writer and give them the confidence they need to complete their research paper while staying on track. The outline can also help to maintain the notes that the researcher may obtain during their research. Furthermore, through the use of Microsoft PowerPoint paired with Microsoft Word, the outline can be converted into a PowerPoint slide (Ion, 2009), which can be used to present the initial idea of the report to anyone who may ask for it, as well as further help organize the writer. Students especially find constant need to have a computer equipped with Microsoft Word while they sit in on their classes, using the simple features of Word to take notes and organize th eir ideas on the class. Microsoft Word is the most useful program when it comes to writing the actual report. Depending on which update of the software that a student or business person has, they can display their outline to the side of their paper, giving them the opportunity to follow their outline as they write their report. Microsoft Word comes complete with easy to use and easy to access tools that help to make the report unique and appealing to the reader. Changing the font, inserting images, graphs, and diagrams, and creating tables helps to organize the information in the report (The Garlic Press, 2000). These functions are often sought out for businesses and college students as they begin their dissertations and theses. One

Contract of Service or Contract of Employment Research Paper

Contract of Service or Contract of Employment - Research Paper Example In another recent case namely Express and Echo Publications Ltd v. Tanton (1999), the Court of Appeal held that if a person is not required to work personally, he was not an employee. In yet another case of 2001, MacFarlane v Glasgow City Council (2001), the Employment Appeals Tribunal distinguished the above Tanton case. The Glasgow City Council had engaged gymnast trainers at the various centres of the council. If a trainer was unable to take a class, she could substitute herself by another gymnast who was on the approved list of coaches maintained by the council. The substitutes were paid by the council and not the gymnast trainer. In Tanton case, the substitute could be from outside and he was paid by the individual and not the employer. Thus he was not expected to turn up for work and could send a substitute for a lesser price and make a profit out of it. He himself became the master. In an earlier case of O’Kelly v Trusthouse Forte Plc (1983), regular casuals were held t o be not employees since there was no mutuality of obligation and they were only kept as standby. Although the court of Appeal tried to give a finding that they were employees, since they had no business of their own, that the employer had effective control over the casual workers, that there were discipline and grievance procedures, that they should take permission to take off from rostered duties, the fact that they were self-employed, revealed that there was no mutuality of obligation i.e the workers did not have the right to claim work if not offered nor they were under obligation to accept work if offered with work.

Learning Experience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Learning Experience - Essay Example What is amazing is that the learnings from different courses seem to complement each other and I get to organize them into an integrated whole. This gives me much fulfillment. Of course, not everything was rosy. I have had my share of bumps and falls, but these failures were instrumental in helping me rise again and become more determined to get things right. Apart from my own personal goals, I am encouraged by my co-learners who share the same challenges and successes with me. In collaborating with them on some projects, social learning takes place and I get a peek at how their minds work and I harvest some ideas to enrich my thinking. I believe I likewise get to contribute my ideas and they benefit from them too. Together we learn problem-solving skills and patch up each other’s inabilities. It is no surprise that friendships were formed and solidified because of collaborative learning activities. Like in most University programs, communication skills are essential. Both my verbal and written communication skills were honed because of the requirements of the courses. I had to express myself clearly and fluently so I would be understood and to prove my skills to my mentors. My generation is fortunate enough to be in the age of technological advances. Research is much easier with the internet and online libraries. Information is readily available in one click of a key if one only knows where to retrieve it. Libraries are still great sources of helpful materials. The feel of books in my hands as I turn the pages makes me feel closer to the originator of the ideas, the author. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I could grow so much from an online program. Sitting in front of a computer with people of different time zones that come together for common study was unheard of, especially in my parents’ time. Nowadays, due to the

Weeding Out Corporate Psychopaths Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Weeding Out Corporate Psychopaths - Essay Example Most of the companies face high employees’ turnover since the employees are victimised by the psychopaths. The psychopaths tend to target his or her immediate superior as one of the strategies to transfer accuse for any wrongdoing (Boddy, n.d.). The main objective of this study is to examine what a corporate psychopath represents and the dangers that they pose to the workplace. This report will also try to evaluate if the case study has been capable of providing convincing account of comprehending corporate psychopaths. The study will attempt to make use of numerous research articles related to corporate psychopaths so that it can offer a clear understanding on the work behaviour of this category of people. Concepts Related To Corporate Psychopaths Organisational psychopaths are referred to those people who subsist at an occurrence of about one percent of the common populace and who work in an organisation. It is a well known fact that the organisational psychopaths are capabl e of demonstrating themselves as pleasing employees and have the capability to gain position in the organisation easily. These people do not have any conscience and are capable to cruelly charm, lie, coax and hence manipulate their way up in an organisational hierarchy in chase of their key aims and power, possessions as well as position at the expense of anyone who comes on their way (Boddy, 2006). The concept related to corporate psychopaths gets hitched with the term ‘psychopaths’ which has been derived from the dimension of psychological literatures and the term ‘corporate’ has been derived from the area of business in order to symbolize a psychopath’s working and operating in the organisational context. It has been observed that the corporate psychopaths tend to manipulate others without any principles, for the purpose of furthering their own objectives. It is worthy of mentioning the fact that the corporate psychopaths have been capable of ente ring into the modern organisations as well as other organisations because of the charming personality that they possess (Babiak & et. al., 2010). They can rise immediately and remain comparatively unobserved within the members of the organisation due to disordered nature of the modern organisation. Such corporate nature is featured by quick alterations, steady renewal and a quick turnover of the talented personnel. It is these changes in the culture of the organisation that makes it harder for the organisation to identify the corporate psychopaths because steady movements tend to make their attitude and behavior imperceptible and combined along with their extroverted personal charisma and appeal, making them to appear as normal and as ideal leaders (Boddy, 2011). One of the well recognised facts is that employees tend to lose their jobs and at times even their livelihood when the organisations tend to be destroyed due to the actions of their senior directors. The shareholders as wel l as the society as a whole tend to be affected because of the negative deeds of the senior directors. Private enterprises also lose their integrity. Such corporate collapses have been apparent in the recent years and have been found to be mushrooming in the western countries. It has further played a crucial role in global financial crisis (Boddy, 2010). Most of the people demonstrate various characteristics of psychopaths; however a few of them tend to be true psychopaths. They tend to be

ELD Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

ELD Project - Assignment Example Creating the work breakdown structure (WBS) is necessary not only in project planning but also when managing the project costs and scheduling (Schwalbe 198). Basically, the main purpose of WBS is to enable the project manager to group the work deliverables as identified in the project scope. In relation to the ELD project, the following is the work breakdown structure: Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) is basically a type of network-based scheduling technique whereby each task is being represented by either nodes or boxes; and that each of the identified tasks is being linked by the precedence relationship (Bullen, LeFave and Selig 317). Doing so enables the project manager to effectively present the sequence in each task that needs to be performed. Applicable to the ELD project, the following is the PDM: When it comes to pre-determining the required time to complete the ELD project, the process of conducting the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) analysis is necessary because it adopts the use of a three-point estimates. Other than trying to depict the presence of interrelated tasks, the PERT diagram can also be used when tracking the pre-identified tasks (DuBrin 203). Gannt charts are useful when it comes to the tracking the schedule or progress of the actual project (Gido and Clements 121). Based on the PERT diagram presented on page 5, the following is the schedule of the ELD project: The estimate activity resource was purposely conducted to determine the rough estimate of available resources and time required to complete certain tasks within the project schedule (Heldman and Mangano 88). Basically, this section aims to determine both human and non-human resources and quantities needed when scheduling the required work activities. As such, the following is the estimate activity resources of the ELD project: Cost management requires the process of controlling the project costs through budgeting. As such, it is

Learning Experience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Learning Experience - Essay Example What is amazing is that the learnings from different courses seem to complement each other and I get to organize them into an integrated whole. This gives me much fulfillment. Of course, not everything was rosy. I have had my share of bumps and falls, but these failures were instrumental in helping me rise again and become more determined to get things right. Apart from my own personal goals, I am encouraged by my co-learners who share the same challenges and successes with me. In collaborating with them on some projects, social learning takes place and I get a peek at how their minds work and I harvest some ideas to enrich my thinking. I believe I likewise get to contribute my ideas and they benefit from them too. Together we learn problem-solving skills and patch up each other’s inabilities. It is no surprise that friendships were formed and solidified because of collaborative learning activities. Like in most University programs, communication skills are essential. Both my verbal and written communication skills were honed because of the requirements of the courses. I had to express myself clearly and fluently so I would be understood and to prove my skills to my mentors. My generation is fortunate enough to be in the age of technological advances. Research is much easier with the internet and online libraries. Information is readily available in one click of a key if one only knows where to retrieve it. Libraries are still great sources of helpful materials. The feel of books in my hands as I turn the pages makes me feel closer to the originator of the ideas, the author. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I could grow so much from an online program. Sitting in front of a computer with people of different time zones that come together for common study was unheard of, especially in my parents’ time. Nowadays, due to the

ELD Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

ELD Project - Assignment Example Creating the work breakdown structure (WBS) is necessary not only in project planning but also when managing the project costs and scheduling (Schwalbe 198). Basically, the main purpose of WBS is to enable the project manager to group the work deliverables as identified in the project scope. In relation to the ELD project, the following is the work breakdown structure: Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM) is basically a type of network-based scheduling technique whereby each task is being represented by either nodes or boxes; and that each of the identified tasks is being linked by the precedence relationship (Bullen, LeFave and Selig 317). Doing so enables the project manager to effectively present the sequence in each task that needs to be performed. Applicable to the ELD project, the following is the PDM: When it comes to pre-determining the required time to complete the ELD project, the process of conducting the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) analysis is necessary because it adopts the use of a three-point estimates. Other than trying to depict the presence of interrelated tasks, the PERT diagram can also be used when tracking the pre-identified tasks (DuBrin 203). Gannt charts are useful when it comes to the tracking the schedule or progress of the actual project (Gido and Clements 121). Based on the PERT diagram presented on page 5, the following is the schedule of the ELD project: The estimate activity resource was purposely conducted to determine the rough estimate of available resources and time required to complete certain tasks within the project schedule (Heldman and Mangano 88). Basically, this section aims to determine both human and non-human resources and quantities needed when scheduling the required work activities. As such, the following is the estimate activity resources of the ELD project: Cost management requires the process of controlling the project costs through budgeting. As such, it is

Urban Planning Essay Example for Free

Urban Planning Essay In his book Urban Geography, Michael Pacione, discusses the â€Å"Future City-Cities of the Future†. In his analysis there are several principles that must be included in the future city in order for it to strive and be successful, â€Å"by 2025 65 percent of the world’s population will be in urban areas† (Pacione 2005) The need for the city of the next 100 years to be sustainable in all aspects is paramount for its success and its citizens to live in peace and harmony. The factors that will play a large part in deciding the fate of our future cities are addressing population growth, the economics of cities, or making cities economically competitive, the effective managing and creation of various modes of transportation and mobility and managing the largest pollutant most inefficient parts of of our cities: buildings. All while maintaining high ecological and environmental standards including proper reduction and disposal of waste . The city of the next 100 years must be successful in managing the impacts of all of these stated areas. I will highlight current cities that are struggling with some of these areas and what must be done for the future to prepare for the next century. I. Population There is wave of urban migration and population explosion particularly in 3rd-world nations. The projection of future growth in Lagos, Nigeria from the current city to the future city is projected to put Lagos as the 3rd largest city in 2015 behind Tokyo and Bombay. (Lagos State Government 2011) To stem and manage such growth city planners and local authorities must be diligent. Below is a picture of the daily traffic in the main city center, this is an example of the current situation when unfettered growth and poor or lack of planning are present. While this may be an extreme example two of the projected largest cities by 2015 are both located in developing nations-Lagos being one of them and Bombay in India the other. The basic needs of the population must be met for these cities to become prosperous for its own success and for its inhabitants. With such large masses of population of people located in nations that currently have challenges handling the basic needs of its people the challenge will be to grow while still addressing these concerns. The solution to this problem of massive population growth and how to sustainability-as a city develop and grow can be found from William Rees from the University of British Columbia. He and his team have developed an ecological footprint analysis which can be used to gauge and measure whether the current natural environment can sustain the growing population. In short, breaking down the consumption of what people use into five categories: food, housing, transportation, consumer goods and services. In addition, there are also land-use categories: fossil energy land, consumed land, food land and forest land. While I will not recite the entire analysis, what is important that can be extracted from this is the characteristics of sustainable future cities, as it relates to population growth. Preserving natural capital, minimizing the ecological footprint (this can include mixed-use development, 3-4 story apartment buildings along commercial streets). (Walker, Lyle and Rees, William 1997) II. Buildings Building and how we are currently operating them in the United States alone account for 40 percent of all energy consumption. The city of New York alone emits more greenhouse- gases, more automobile exhaust and more trash per square foot, than any other U.S. city. (Fettig 2006) In the future city of the next 100 years energy consumption of buildings must drastically be reduced. While there are some new groundbreaking solutions such as The United States Green Building Council that have developed a system of measuring energy consumption of building and providing a rating as to the effectiveness and usefulness of its energy consumption and sustainability. While this may be a great start and possibly a platform or model for future development it is simply not enough. The high cost for seeking the highest standard for Existing Buildings –Platinum has pushed many building owners away from this concept. The sustainability of buildings is not only defined as installing solar panels on the roof or collecting rain water it must start with the design of our work places and homes. It’s changing how we live, how we work, architects must have knowledge not only of the aesthetic but knowledge and understanding of maintaining a high level of efficiency and sustainability. The buildings of the city can and must be an ecological master of sustainability. How we construct our buildings currently are: â€Å"the best possible product at the cheapest possible cost.† (Fettig 2006) An example of this is the construction of federal buildings across the U.S.- most of our federal buildings are large blocks of concrete with little or no efficiency or aesthetic value. The General Services Administration is the branch of government which is responsible for the construction, development and managing all federal buildings. They are the largest developer and manager of commercial space in the US. (Fettig 2006) Recently, efforts led by architect Thom Mane of Los Angeles, he was tasked with developing the San Francisco federal building located at 7th Street and Mission Ave. The building is constructed with no central air conditioning, the building is naturally ventilated. The elevators strop on every 3rd floor with stairs for use between floors. There are no corner offices/edge offices. In addition, there is mostly all natural light only. Below is rendering of the building. While the building may not be the standard from a perspective of beauty or function it mixes both the architectural form and user function and efficiency that his necessary for buildings for the future city of the next 100 years. III. Economic Competitiveness of the City. â€Å"Environmental quality is often cited as a goal that stands in opposition to economic activity. (Skinner 1997) The thinking that sustainability and environmental awareness stifles economic growth is a great myth in this county. The two can go hand in hand, and must do so for cities to grow its local businesses, create jobs for its residents, while also maintaining a high quality of life for the residents of the city. The Porter Model highlights four areas that a businesses must maintain in a city for it to gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. Having a strategic location, local market demand, and integration with regional clusters and utilizing human resources. (Porter 1990) For the next-century city the local businesses must play an important factor in creating jobs within the inner city that will attract residents and help create a better quality of life. Skinner maintains that â€Å"local governments have large-broad powers to regulate businesses and they various types that are allowed to operate, therefore allowing more sustainable and environmentally-friendly industries into the city.† Various particular local examples of this in the region of S. Florida is in the city of Boca Raton. The city has created a local city organized group called Boca Raton Green Partners. The makeup of the group that meets monthly are local businesses committed to sustainable practices and reviews methods that city can take and policies they can recommend to foster a practice of sustainability for the residents and businesses. The state of Florida also has a rebate program for residents to install solar panels on their homes and businesses. Residents can be reimbursed up to 20, 000 for homes and up to 100, 000 for businesses against the cost of installation. This in effect also created hundreds of local jobs for contractors and businesses this may be somewhat viewed as a public/private partnership. Environmental quality and economic vitality can be viewed as a singular entity that can fully support each other for the city to usher into the next 100 years and truly be a future city. IV. Transportation The above picture speaks volumes about the traffic problems most current cities face everyday. Smog, congestion, traffic noise, are just a few of the health consequences of our reliance of cars and the use of fossil fuels. When looking at transportation and the city it is not a one size fits all solution. There must be many options for residents and creating â€Å"accessibility rather than mobility.† (Fettig 2006) Some of the problems current cities face is large investments in highways and roads. For many years local and regional official’s solution for solving the traffic problem was building more roads. Within the city the use the public transportation is the most effective and environmentally-conscious way of mobility. While this is nothing new to many readers what may surprise is that in some cities like Paris, France the local government is taking an active role in reducing the number of cars on roads. There has been a push for residents to use more public bikes, roads have been removed and trains or trams created in their places. These simple steps have allowed public transportation to move 3-4 more times the people on the same road previously used by cars. (Fettig 2006) The goal of the city is to reduce pollutants by 40 percent by the year 2020. By building a city non-reliant on the car for mobility not only will you generate less pollutants in the atmosphere but also a higher quality of life for residents. In conclusion, the future city of the next 100 years has many challenges it faces. But these challenges can also be viewed as opportunities for innovation and change that can bring forth lasting economic and environmental benefits. By addressing these four main points: population growth, building efficiency, economic competitiveness of cities and transportation and mobility the city can be primed for the next 100 years. Works Cited E2. Directed by Tad Fettig. Produced by Elizabeth Westrate. 2006. Lagos State Government. November 30, 2011. http://www.lagosstate.gov.ng/index.php?page=subpagespid=12mnu=null (accessed November 2011). Pacione, Michael. Urban Geography, Ch. 30 The Future of the City-Cities of the Future. Routledge, 2005. Porter, Michael. The Competitive Advantage of Nations. Chap. 3, 69-130. McMillian, 1990. Skinner, Nancy. Economic Development as a Path to Sustainability. In Eco City Dimensions, 66-79. New Society Publishers, 1997. Walker, Lyle and Rees, William. Urban Density and Ecological Footprints. In Eco City Dimensions, 96-112. New Society Publishers, 1997.

Techniques for Understanding Human Walking Motion

Techniques for Understanding Human Walking Motion Introduction Multimedia is a term that collectively describes a variety of media content available in various forms of text, speech, audio, still images, video, animation, graphics, 3D models and combinations of them used to capture real time moments. Over the recent years the technological advances have enabled wide availability and easy access of multimedia content and much research was dedicated to perform automated computational tasks for a wide spectrum of applications such as surveillance, crime investigation, fashion and designing, traditional aerospace, publishing and advertising, medical applications, virtual reality applications to name a few. The volume of multimedia information is so huge now that the improvement in various tasks of representation, analyzing, searching and retrieving process has become the need of the hour. Among all the available types of media, video is one of the prominent forms, widely used for analyzing multimedia content. Several types of videos can be captured by various recording devices but then even the most suitable types of devices used for acquiring videos have to deal with two important problems- sensory gap and semantic gap. The sensory gap being- the difference between the real world and its representation. â€Å"The sensory gap is the gap between the object in the world and the information in a (computational) description derived from a recording of that scene† [Smeulders, A. W. M., Worring, M., Santini, S., Gupta, A., and Jain, R. (2000). Content-based image retrieval at the end of the early years. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 22(12):1349–1380.]. The semantic gap being- the difference between the behavior description by human vision and the computational model used by the human activity/behavior analysis systems. â€Å"The semantic gap is the lack of coincidence between the information that one can extract from the visual data and the inter pretation that the same data have for a user in a given situation† [Smeulders, A. W. M., Worring, M., Santini, S., Gupta, A., and Jain, R. (2000). Content-based image retrieval at the end of the early years. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 22(12):1349–1380.]. Many researchers have proposed to build computational models of the human visual system to represent as close as possible to the reality. A major development was the framework proposed by David Marr at MIT, who used a bottom-up approach to represent scene understanding [D. Marr,† Vision: A Computational Investigation into the Human Representation and Processing of Visual Information†, Freeman, san Francisco (1982)]. Later, various state-of the-art methods evolved but, the technology that helps people to integrate the content of multimedia, for meaningful expression is still lagging behind. Within the realm of multimedia content analysis, computer vision methods and algorithms have been used as foundation and the coupled relation between multimedia analysis and computer vision is a well-known challenge. Currently, the most popular research performed by various researchers is the human movement analysis. Several types of activities that are performed by humans can be captured by various recording devices and the human motion analysis systems were built with respect to context of applications. The aim of human movement analysis systems is to automatically analyze and transform the input video sequences into semantic interpretation of them. The recognition of human activities has been studied by computer vision for quite some time but is far behind the capabilities of human vision. In human visual system- when a person moving is observed, human’s brain recognizes that person’s action by analyzing the transition of postures adopted or interprets behavior by tr acking the person’s transition of postures and noting the intent of action. This analysis is complex for computer vision systems. Since the human body is non-rigid, deformable, articulated, a person can have a variety of postures over time. The works on human activity analysis have not provided satisfactory results yet. To solve problems relating human movement analysis using videos, the paradigm of data fusion is recommended. Multimedia data fusion is a way to integrate multiple media, their associated features or integrate intermediate decisions to perform an analysis task. According to B.V Dasarathy, â€Å"Combining Multimedia data fusion is a formal framework in which are expressed means and tools for alliance of data originating from different sources for the exploitation of their synergy in order to obtain information whose quality cannot be achieved otherwise.† [Dasarathy, B.V. (2001) information fusion- what, where, why, when, and how? Information fusion, 2, 75-76]. In the existing literature several contributions are made to research on data fusion techniques used in multisensory environments and multimodal fusion with the aim of fusing and aggregating data obtained from multiple sources. Video data has a significant characteristic of multimodal content. Combining the information gat hered from multiple modalities is valid approach to increase accuracy. [ P.K Atrey, M. a Hossain, A.E Saddik and M.S Kankahalli. â€Å"Multimodal fusion for multimedia analysis: A Survey. Multimedia systems 16(6): 345-379, 2010] Multimedia fusion is useful for several tasks such as detection, recognition, identification, tracking and a wide range of applications. This research work presents multimedia analysis in combination with computer vision and data fusion perspectives to understand human walking motion in video sequences. This kind of research is challenging. Motivation From the view point of data fusion this research work is motivated by the observation that all living organisms have the capability to use multiple senses to learn about the environment and then the brain fuses all the information to perform a decision task. Human observer can easily and instantly recognize action. But, the main limitations with the visual sensory of humans are, limited range of visual perception, limitations and compromises of human brain. Whereas, automatic systems can work 24 hours a day and 7 days a week allowing accurate event detection and their cost is lower to maintain. On the other hand, from the view point of computer vision, algorithms and techniques are yet to improve performance for analyzing humans walking found in videos. Computer vision systems are far behind the capabilities of human vision and have to deal with two important problems- sensory gap and semantic gap. The sensory gap being- the difference between the real world and its representation and the semantic gap being- the difference between the behavior description by human vision and the computational model used by the human activity/behavior analysis systems. A promising strategy consists in integrating different techniques of data fusion and computer vision in a unified framework to enhance the performance of the tasks associated with analyzing human walking motion and overcoming the drawbacks. 1.3 The Goal The aim of this research work is to conduct a detailed investigation of currently available tools and techniques for understanding human walking motion and develop a generic framework where data fusion and computer vision perspectives are used to analyze human walking actions in context to real life applications. During the process of fusing, correlation of activities and patterns of activities can be detected to predict intent. Finally, performance will be evaluated for true positives, false positives and misclassifications. Summary of contributions Our work in the thesis is focused on the following significant contributions: Design of a unified framework, for combining data fusion and computer vision methodology to improve the performance of automatic analysis of human movements in videos. Tasks of detecting moving humans and related sub-problems in video frames using unsupervised techniques. Efficient technique to handle occlusion in the task of tracking walking humans. New strategy for accomplishing the task of correlation and predictions during detection and tracking of humans. Noticing and Interpreting stances change in walking movements. 1.5 Outline The thesis is organized as follows Chapter 2 –presents background and related literature review on various existing strategies and approaches of data fusion and computer vision while providing motivation for the proposed approaches used for the work in this thesis. Chapter 3 Provides detailed explanation on the unified framework. Show how the frame work helps in accomplishing the tasks of analysis in multimedia content for correlation and prediction along with a comparison of proposed frame work to JDL, Dasarthy data fusion model. Chapter 4 Presents an overview of state-of-the art methods for detection of humans in videos, the proposed novel work, experiments and the evaluations. Chapter 5 Presents an overview of state-of-the art methods for tracking of humans in videos, the proposed novel work, experiments and the evaluations. Chapter 6 Automatic interpretation of changes in stance changes in human walking. Chapter 7 Conclusions, future directions and related open issues are discussed. References: Smeulders, A. W. M., Worring, M., Santini, S., Gupta, A., and Jain, R. (2000).Content-based image retrieval at the end of the early years. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 22(12):1349–1380 D. Marr,† Vision: A Computational Investigation into the Human Representation and Processing of Visual Information†, Freeman, san Francisco (1982) Dasarathy, B.V. (2001) information fusion- what, where, why, when, and how? Information fusion, 2, 75-76 P.K Atrey, M. a Hossain, A.E Saddik and M.S Kankahalli. â€Å"Multimodal fusion for multimedia analysis: A Survey. Multimedia systems 16(6): 345-379, 2010

Flannery OConnor Essay -- essays papers

Flannery O'Connor Flannery O’Connor and the Relationship Between Two of Her Stories Flannery O’Connor was born Mary Flannery O’Connor on March 25, 1925 in Savannah, Georgia, as the only child to Edward F. O’Connor, Jr., and Regina (Cline) O’Connor. Later in 1941, Flannery O’Connor’s father dies of lupus while O’Connor is in Milledgeville, Ga. After her father’s death, O’Connor rarely speaks of him and continues to be active in school projects such as drawing, reading, writing, and playing instraments. Further, in the summer of 1942, O’Connor graduates and enters Georgia State College for Women as a sociology and English major. Moreover, O’Connor took on the name Flannery O’Connor, dropping Mary from her signature. When O’Connor graduates from college, she leaves for Iowa City and applies for several college teaching positions while attending the University of Iowa. Thus, she receives her Masters of Fine Arts in 1947. Although her first story, â€Å"The Geranium † was publised in Accent, during the summer of 1946, it was only the beginning of many of her works to be published. Like her father, O’Connor was living with lupus and her first major attack came in December, 1950. However, O’Connor did not allow the disease to keep her from writing and getting her works published. In fact, she got her nineth story , â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find† published. Also, O’Connor has won many prizes and awards with her writings over the years. For instance, she was named the Honorary Doctor of Letters by institutions, was the first prize of the O. Henry award in 1957 and 1963 and had previously won second in 1954 and 1955. Moreover, O’Connor died on August 3, 1964 I a Milledgeville hospital. Nevertheless, her stories cont... ...g from these two stories, she uses the same style in the majority of her works. More specifically, O’Connor uses a lot of foreshadowing and irony, leading up to the catastrophe. Also, her subject matter is somewhat controversial since the settings of the two stories are in the South, she uses southern dialect and religion, and most of all, they have the strangest endings. Perhaps the greatest story she has to tell is not her forte, the short story, at all but maybe it’s her own story. Bibliography: Works Cited O’Connor, Flannery. â€Å"A Good Man Is Hard to Find.† Flannery O’Connor: Collected Works. New York, NY: The Library of America, 1988. 137-153. â€Å"Good Country People.† Flannery O’Connor: Collected Works. New York, NY: The Library of America, 198. 263-284. Walters, Dorthy. Flannery O’Connor. Boston: Twayne Publishers, Inc. 1973.

The Argument for Celibacy Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Argument E

The Argument for Celibacy    How could someone explain America’s loosening view of sexual intercourse over recent decades? Have our moral standards changed so much that they now accept or even encourage frequent sex? Is it just a method of rebellion as people attempt to fight conservative societal views? Perhaps we just wish to fight those who instill inhibitive ideas on us, and our forms of freedom – in this case, that of our bodies. Has American media’s desire for revenue and profit caused an increased sway towards what was previously deemed inappropriate? Thomas Jefferson even once said that â€Å"man is an imitative animal†. Is America just experiencing a spontaneous hormone rush? Is it possible for a society to experience its own version of puberty? Or has America just always been horny and never shown it? After all, the 70-year-old chick from The Wedding Singer screwed the modern equivalent of 200 men before she got married, didn’t she? One can speculate on these ideas, probably others as well, and not really get anywhere. They’ve all contributed to modern attitudes towards sex. But beneath all the sexual innuendos of American entertainment, the social standards of acceptance based on sexual practices, and all of the Saturday night hoopla over who’s going to get laid first and how many beers it will take, there is a subtle current of those who look in the other direction. Imagine this – some people are actually happy without getting any. You can reread that last sentence if you have to. That’s why it’s there. Not all people consider it a priority to do push-ups the hard way every weekend. In fact, some consider it a priority not to. These people are celibates, and they’re not ashamed to admit it. They’re proud... ...any man-made laws, there is a strong value in preserving one’s virginity until marriage. But again, in our country, adhering to these principles is a matter of choice. Most choose not to, and find many forms of sex to be part of our culture, and completely acceptable to engage in. Some do not view it as such. While the celibate may not make his virginal state well-known, the values that influence its holding remain true and steadfast in his life, regardless of cultural and social change. Celibates are often ridiculed for not following societal views or conforming to popular culture. Anyone can argue as to whether or not these aspects of life are acceptable, but next time you think of a celibate in a ridiculing manner, ask yourself if you would have the courage and the integrity of one. Then try ridiculing. It could prove much harder than getting someone in the sack.

Early childhood education Essay

Describe potential negative effects of this curriculum and how it is developmentally inappropriate to literacy development. Sixty semester hours (or 90 quarter hours) of credits from an accredited college or university with six semester or nine quarter hours in courses related directly to child care and/or child development, from birth to age six; or One year (1560 clock hours) of child development experience in a nursery school, kindergarten, or licensed day care center and 30 semester hours (or 45 quarter hours) of credits from an accredited college or university with six semester or nine quarter hours in courses related directly to child care and/or child development, from birth to age six; orI will provide for you a comprehensive description of an individual who is trustworthy, ambitious and complease discuss specific values and beliefs of the teaching philosophy/http://www. scholastic. com/teachers/teaching-ideas/sharon-taylorI will provide for you a comprehensive description of an Eat in kitchen, plenty of closet space. Laundry in the building. Good schools in the area. Shopping nearby. Available now. Please call 847-991-5625 to schedule a showing. $800/month. One month security deposit required. This is a spacious, clean, and newly painted with new carpet apartment. This apartment has two bedrooms, 1 bath, separate dining room and balcony. The rent is $800 and laundry is also within the building. Please call (847)884-0544 for more information. This apartment is available as of right now. This is a spacious, clean, and newly painted with new carpet apartment. This apartment has two bedrooms, 1 bath, separate dining room and balcony. The rent is $800 and laundry is also within the building. Please call (847)884-0544 for more information. This apartment is available as of right now. This is a spacious, clean, and newly painted with new carpet apartment. This apartment has two bedrooms, 1 bath, separate dining room and balcony. The rent is $800 and laundry is also within the building. Please call (847)884-0544 for more information. This apartment is available as of right now. This is a spacious, clean, and newly painted with new carpet apartment. This apartment has two bedrooms, 1 bath, separate dining room and balcony. The rent is $800 and laundry is also within the building. Please call (847)884-0544 for more information. This apartment is available as of right now. This is a spacious, clean, and newly painted with new carpet apartment. This apartment has two bedrooms, 1 bath, separate dining room and balcony. The rent is $800 and laundry is also within the building. Please call (847)884-0544 for more information. This apartment is available as of right now. Large 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment near Lake Cook Road and 53 expressway. Eat in kitchen, plenty of closet space. Laundry in the building. Good schools in the area. Shopping nearby. Available now. Please call 847-991-5625 to schedule a showing. $800/month. One month security deposit required. Large 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment near Lake Cook Road and 53 expressway. Eat in kitchen, plenty of closet space. Laundry in the building. Good schools in the area. Shopping nearby. Available now. Please call 847-991-5625 to schedule a showing. $800/month. One month security deposit required. Large 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment near Lake Cook Road and 53 expressway. Eat in kitchen, plenty of closet space. Laundry in the building. Good schools in the area. Shopping nearby. Available now. Please call 847-991-5625 to schedule a showing. $800/month. One month security deposit required. Describe potential negative effects of this curriculum and how it is developmentally inappropriate to literacy development. Sixty semester hours (or 90 quarter hours) of credits from an accredited college or university with six semester or nine quarter hours in courses related directly to child care and/or child development, from birth to age six; or One year (1560 clock hours) of child development experience in a nursery school, kindergarten, or licensed day care center and 30 semester hours (or 45 quarter hours). Of credits from an accredited college or university with six semester or nine quarter hours in courses related directly to child care and/or child development, from birth to age six; orSixty semester hours (or 90 quarter hours) of credits from an accredited college or university with six semester or nine quarter hours in courses related directly to child care and/or child development, from birth to age six;