Causes of Structural Failure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Causes of Structural Failure - Essay Example FitzSimons names "four horsemen of engineering apocalypse" or the factors which causes structural failures: ignorance, incompetence, negligence, and avarice (Carper 10). It should be noted that almost all the aforementioned factors solely attribute failures to engineers. In this regard, it is extremely important to clarify that human errors strongly contribute to the possibility and occurrence of structural failures. Oftentimes engineers make choices which can bring harm and inefficiency in the long run. 3. Design errors involve discrepancy in "concept, lack of redundancy, failure to consider a load or combination of loads, connection details, calculation errors, misuse of computer software, detailing problems including selection of incompatible materials or assemblies which are not constructable, and failure to consider maintenance requirements and durability, and inadequate or inconsistent specification or quality of work;" Any or combination of the aforementioned factors always leads to structural failures. Take, for instance, the failure of hydroelectric project. Investigation may often conclude that this problem arise because of different factors. The failure might involve mechanical and electrical problems, couple with operational errors, design concept deficiencies, and structural errors.

Personal Ethics Statement Essay Example for Free

Personal Ethics Statement Essay My personal ethics statement includes my values and ideals important to me as an academic and in everyday life. My ethics are personal beliefs and morals that reflect and define the person I am. The decisions and choices I make every day should be consistent with integrity and respect toward others. These ethics will ensure my happiness and peace if I keep and hold these values. I believe the value of equality for people regardless of race, religion, and handicaps ensure that all people can be treated fairly. Treating people with respect and dignity while holding myself accountable to these principles will ensure that I treat others as I want to be treated. My preferred ethical lens is the reputation lens. I listen to my intuition and determine what character traits and virtues will best serve the community. The equality of a community is important to ensure a fair and balanced society for all. All people should contribute and develop a voice in a community by actively participating and finding common ground thru diversity. I believe in examining each situation in its own context rather than applying same solutions for the whole community. My blind spot possessing unrealistic role expectations either on myself or others means that I need to pay close attention to my expectations of other individuals. My expectations may not be the same as others, so not forgetting the people make mistakes same as me. Keeping in mind that I am not in control of every situation and that other people are capable of resolving problems or events that I may believe are only accomplishable by me. Trusting other people’s choices and decisions will help in overcoming this blind spot. My strengths include courage and steadiness in the face of obstacles. I avoid rash decisions and at the same time have courage to face unknown or untested waters. I value friendship and keep close connections with people I trust and value. I appreciate those who work alongside and help to encourage me. I value equality and demonstrate compassion for others in need. My weakness include; entitlement, hardness of heart, and confusion. Believing that I am entitled to special privileges and persuade others that my role gives me pecial rights are inconsistent with good character traits. Hardness of heart comes from experiences of people that did not live up to my expectations. I must develop and practice mindfulness not to be confused on the role that I am identified. Identifying my weakness is important, it allows for self-reflection and improvement. The values I hold, and the resultant behavior allows me to listen to my intuition and determine what traits and virtues will serve the community. My values define me and my behaviors are a reflection of whom I am. My behaviors also affect others in relationships either casual or professional. The choices I make are behaviors and reflect me. My personal ethics determine my course of action allowing me to see more clearly and finding balance in my life. Exploring and digging deep into my own emotions will allow me to discern decisions I make. Keeping an open and honest heart in all situations and reexamining my ethics will allow for improvement and correction. I believe that all these things will help keep me focused and grounded to help with better decision making and improve my quality of life.

The United States Interaction with the International Court of Justice O

The United States Interaction with the International Court of Justice Over Consular Rights: How Our Refusal to Obey Is Impacting Foreign Nationals and American Citizens On January 9, 2003, Mexico initiated proceedings before the International Court of Justice against the United States of America concerning the alleged violations of Articles 5 and 36 of the Vienna Convention; basically, claiming that the United States is not honoring the consular rights of foreign nationals within the United States . While the proceedings of this case continue on, as they will into 2004, it is engaging and instructive to look at the realities of consular notification in the United States. I have chosen to focus on Mexican and American interactions not just because they are the two countries involved in the case before ICJ, but because the countries are so close, and because the issue arises so frequently. According to Mark Warren, director of Human Rights Research, an Ottawa, Canada-based company that monitors international developments regarding the death penalty, â€Å"there are more then 50 Mexican citizens under sentence of death in the US, many of whose cases, in fact, Mexico would argue all of them, involve violations of international law† (personal interview, 10/6/03). Through an examination of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR), American interpretation of this treaty, the role of Mexican consulates in America, and the worldwide repercussions of American actions, I hope to broadly discuss this topic and possible solutions. It is further instructive to investigate the United States interactions with the World Court in previous cases, and possible implications of sub-par consular notification with respect to the current, post-9... ...Grand Case (Germany vs. the United States). Press release June 27, 2001: The Hague International Court of Justice. Mexico brings a case against the United States of America and requests the indication of provisional measures. Press release January 10, 2003: The Hague. James, Anne, and Mark Warren. Equal Protection: Consular Assistance and Criminal JusticeProcedures in the USA. Woodbridge: The International Justice Project, 2002. Rubin, James P. United States Department of State Press Statement. 4 November 1998. Warren, Mark. â€Å"Article 36 Update: Consular Rights in America: Issue 21.† Email to Tambi Cork. 6 May 2003. Warren, Mark. Personal Interview. 6 October 2003. World View Commentary. Ed. Doug Cassel. 8 July 2003. Northwestern University School of Law. 10 November 2003

The Soul :: essays research papers

The Soul Open Letter of Apology:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I have come to the conclusion that we are all responsible for the destruction of the human mind. We are all at fault for breeding hate, ignorance, and worst of all any known and/or association to an --ism. Should we all band as one and focus on a better future or let the mind fester in its own propaganda filled atmosphere? Are we really to blame, for not being able to see what truly is rising in today's society?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The acceptance of brainwashing of America's youth should not go unspoken. They stand on the corner of every block wishing they were someone else; and due to this they form their own falsified family of â€Å"friends†; to which they all drink, smoke and/or do other mind altering drugs in which they choose to escape reality or just plain â€Å"relax†. This should not be going on; not now, not tomorrow, not ever.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hostility grows from within to which an entity of peace can force upon such utopia, with just that; force. It shouldn't be sugar coated, but just bluntly said; as with a philosophy or certain thought pattern. The weak will not grasp onto an idea, but learn slowly as the strong teach them and lead them by their hands to acceptance within themselves.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hard times have approached, I know this; but to embrace a crutch that serves as an excuse should not be tolerated. A crutch such as no respect for other's bodies or your own to which you engage in promiscuous sex is deemed as ignorant; plain and simple. Unfortunately if such actions were to partake and an unwanted pregnancy was to occur â€Å"In cases of incest or rape, obviously the mother should not have to expose herself to further emotional trauma of carrying the child full term. However, we feel the view and use of abortion as a means of birth control is wrong†-Earth Crisis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I stand up for what I believe in, try to do my best and stick to my own corner. I am not a vegan, but I do have respect for every living organism: animal or plant, and I try to educate as many people as can on many topics as possible. The underlined theme should only be, do what you feel is fit, and accomplish what you can, push yourself to what you think your potential is. Just because you're not a certain categorization doesn't mean that you shouldn't educate. II. Statement of The Soul:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I've spoken many times before, but it seems that people are refusing to listen. The message is clear, yet utterly spoken.

Create a raffle ticket corresponding to the numbers

There several ways of being fair in the distribution of raises (or bonuses). It should be specific first that the 25,000 raise is a one time disbursement and not a continuing one.A fair distribution for raises can mean dividing the money equally among all those who would be receiving the raise, but this is not the common practice. One way to compute the distribution of the raises in compensation should consider the tenure of the services rendered.A fair distribution can mean that the longer the length of service rendered should have a larger share of the US$ 25,000.00. It can be done by summing up all the years of service of each employee then getting the percentage of years of service rendered. This is done by dividing the number of years rendered by one, by the total number of years everybody has rendered, multiply by 100, thereby deriving the percentage. This percentage is multiplied by 25,000 and the corresponding product should be the amount the individual will receive.Another w ay of having a fair distribution is divide the lump sum of 25,000 into unequal amounts, some higher, some lower and some average. Put the divided amounts in envelopes and number the envelopes outside. Make sure that the number of envelopes is equal to the number of employees. Create a raffle ticket corresponding to the numbers of envelops and make everybody draw a number.If the 25,000 will not be distributed, what can be done is to create a savings and loan association. From this association, the employees can borrow money for providential purposes and repay through salary deduction with interest earnings. At the end of a fiscal year, the earning from the savings association can be distributed equally among everybody. Â  

Definition What Is Community Service

Definition What Is Community Service SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you looking for ways to help others?Are you interested in community service and want to learn more about it? Read this guide to learn what community service is, examples of community service, and how you can find service projects that interest you. What Is Community Service? Community service is work done by a person or group of people that benefits others. It is often done near the area where you live, so your own community reaps the benefits of your work.You do not get paid to perform community service, though sometimes food and small gifts, like a t-shirt, are given to volunteers. Community service can help any group of people in need: children, senior citizens, people with disabilities, English language learners, and more. Itcan also help animals, such as those at a shelter, and it can be used to improve places, such as a local park, historic building, or scenic area as well.Community service is often organized through a local group, such as a place of worship, school, or non-profit organization. You canalso start your own community service projects. Some students are required to complete community service as part of a class requirement in order to graduate high school or become a member of certain organizations, such as the National Honor Society. Adults can also participate in community service as a way to help others or if they are ordered to do so by a judge. What Are Examples of Community Service? There are hundreds of ways to participate in community service, depending on your skills and interests.Some common community service examples include: Working with schoolchildren:Tutoring children after school, collecting school supplies to donate, planting a school garden. Working with senior citizens:Visiting residents of a retirement center, delivering meals to senior citizens, driving them to appointments. Improving the environment:Holding a recycling contest, planting trees, creating a new trail at a nature center. Helping low-income people:Passing out food at a soup kitchen, collecting used clothes to be donated, making first aid kits for homeless shelters. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. What Are the Benefits of Community Service? There are many benefits of participating in community service, and some of the most important ones are listed below. Have the opportunity to help others:This is often the most important benefit of community service. Participating in it gives you the opportunity to know that you are improving someone's life and making your community better, and you get to see the direct impact of your work. Gain hands-on experience:You can learn a lot of skills while performing community service such as construction, painting, customer service, and medical skills. You can alsoinclude your community service work on your resume. Learn about different careers:Sometimes you can focus your community service in a field you may want to work in down the road. Some examples of this includevolunteering at an animal shelter if you are thinking about becoming a veterinarian, working at a hospital if you want to be a doctor, or volunteering in a museum if you like history.The experience gained from community service can help you get an internship or job in the future, and it also gives you the opportunityto see how much you would really enjoy a particular career. Personal growth:Doing community service has personal benefits as well.It often makes participants more organized, responsible, and compassionate, which are all good qualities to have, as well as qualities that both colleges and employers like to see in applicants. Gain new friends:A final benefit is that youcan meet a lot of great people while doing community service.Community service is often done in groups, so it’s easy to make friends with the people you are working with.You may also become friends with the people you are helping, especially if you volunteer at the same place regularly. Where Can You Find Community Service Projects? Your school or groups you belongto:This caninclude clubs, places of worship, community centers or any other organizations you are a member of. To find community service opportunities, check their website, bulletin board, or newsletter.If you are a student, your school may also have a community service club that makes it easier to get involved. Places where you'd like to volunteer:If you have a specific place where you’d like to perform community service, like a hospital or animal shelter, contact them and ask if they take volunteers. Your community itself:You can also look for opportunities at your town hall, or similar building. Also, check your town’s website or newsletter. Many include a section that lists current volunteer opportunities. What's Next? Did you know that your volunteer work can earn you money for college? It can! Check out the complete list of community service scholarships. Considering doing community service in a foreign country? Check out our guide to see whether you should participate in a volunteer abroad program. Do you want more examples of community service? We have a list of 129 great volunteer ideas! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

The Truman Show Essay Example

The Truman Show Essay Example The Truman Show Essay The Truman Show Essay Whether it was intentional can be debated, but the makers of the movie â€Å"The Truman Show† made an effective argument against structural-functionalism as a theory of social development. On the show within a movie, Truman was the lead character in a television show that revolved around his life. He was placed into the show and the surrounding stage/town at birth, and all the decision regarding other actors’ reactions to him were scripted based on his actions. Truman, of course, believed that this was real life. In the movie, product placement within the town was based on the shows advertisers and every need that Truman had was met in some way by the show’s producers. The problems that are the core plot of the movie develop when it becomes clear that the need the producers cannot meet is his need for self and for happiness. This shows us the core failings of the structural-functionalism theory of social development. In the structural-functionalism theory of social development, a person’s physical and social development are reliant on the social institutions in their lives. The theory asserts that society meets the biological and social needs of the individual through institution. Thus, Truman’s need for warmth, love, and protection could be met through his family. His need for faith and a spirit of community could be met through his church and even his need for self-fulfillment could be met through his work. The major failing of the theory is that it does not address the needs of the spirit or the soul or possibly the intellect. Each of these hard to define portions of what makes a human being a person and vice versa were ignored in â€Å"The Truman Show†. Though Truman occasionally had conflicts when warranted by the ratings war, he never was forced to resolve conflicts in a manner that leads to personal development. The solution was either given to him or taken out of his hands, leading to a deep-seated unhappiness that Truman can neither explain nor define. Truman has been taught that his life is meant to be ordinary, that he is successful, in a fashion, as an insurance clerk and married to a beautiful woman. He has had the best friend since he was seven years old. It appears that producers have met all of Truman’s needs. But much like the theory of structural-functionalism does not take into account personal desires, Truman’s world begins to crumble and he begins to suspect something is up when he meets Lauren on the street and falls in love with her. The character Lauren is quickly written out when her family moved to Fiji and Truman develops a desire to go to Fiji to find her. The show and the theory met his needs for companionship and for a sexual relationship with his â€Å"wife† Meryl, but never accounted for the something else that is the spark of love. The theory in essence dismisses human emotion as an impact on social development and relies on the most physical state of social needs, not the emotion that accompanies them. The â€Å"producer† of the television show within the movie did the same thing. He made certain that Truman’s physical needs were met, but never considered the need for other forms of stimuli. Another prime example of this is the manner in which they deter Truman’s efforts to explore. Though it seems like a basic human need to understand and possibly control their environment, the producers induced such fear in Truman that he could not even explore the island that was his set. When he attempted to do so, producers used a viscious dog to scare him back into the controlled environment. They also had his â€Å"father† drowned in an early season to ensure that Truman would develop an unreasonable fear of water and thus be confined to the imaginary â€Å"Seahaven†. In fact, producers were so interested in controlling Truman’s environment that they had an environmentally controlled dome, regulating temperatures and the weather. In his mythical home of â€Å"Seahaven†, Truman never had to worry about anything, even the weather. This utter lack of conflict in his life lead to a very status quo existence, another of the key criticisms of structural-functionalism. The person is never challenged, never able to or even desiring to, improve themselves or their situation. Perhaps the most telling failure of the Truman television show and of structural functionalism is the failure to understand the desires of the heart. Truman wants to explore his world and eventually, even fear cannot hold him back any longer. In addition, after meeting Lauren, his desire to see her again upsets his world view and helps him to overcome his fears. Ultimately, the structural-functionalism employed by the show failed to me his transcendent needs. If we were discussing Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we would be talking about the need for self-fulfillment. Up until that state, it is beleiveable that the world around us could provide for our basic needs and development. However, ultimately that need for self-fulfillment is internal and cannot be controlled or aided by outside forces. By meeting all of Truman’s basic needs, food, shelter, sex, etc. they allowed him to develop to the point where he could consider self-fulfillment and nothing in structural-functionalism or in the Truman show allowed for that. In essence, the lack of conflict in his early life, which was dominated by structural-functionalism lead to the need for conflict; the need to be challenged, to compete and to win and to fail. In the end, â€Å"The Truman show† demonstrates very vividly that a single sociological theory cannot be used to describe a development process completely, but may be used to explain some stages of that development.

8 Signs Someone Is Lying To You

8 Signs Someone Is Lying To You It is possible to tell when someone is lying to you. Though, hopefully, it could just be nervousness, there are a few red flags that you could keep an eye out for. Any significant combination of the  following tells just might show you the truth about the person in front of you. 1. Voice ChangeIf their voice or general demeanor changes dramatically, this is definitely a sign of discomfort- and quite possibly a lie.2. Psychological DistanceAre they going out of their way to avoid saying â€Å"I† or â€Å"me†? It could be that, consciously or not, they’re trying to put distance between themselves and the lie they’re telling.3. Too Many Right AnswersThis may sound counterintuitive, but if someone has an answer for absolutely everything, you might be a bit suspicious. Most people need to pause to think about their answer to unexpected questions- at least every once in a while. If someone is parroting answers that seem rehearsed and polished and super quick o ff the cuff? That could be an indication of a lie.4. â€Å"I Swear†If the person is proclaiming his or her honestly continuously (â€Å"to tell the truth†¦,† â€Å"to be perfectly honest†¦,† etc.) then they doth protest too much. Actually honest people simply tell the truth without having to broadcast that they’re doing so.5. Fidgeting/FussingIf the person changes their head position rapidly, or can’t stay still, or starts breathing differently, these are all great physical tells that you might be getting fibbed at- especially if they cover their mouth or shuffle their feet or instinctively cover sensitive body parts. Watch the body language for all these clues.6. Difficulty SpeakingIf you watch police confession videos, it sometimes seems like the perp has a hard time getting his or her words out. This is due to an autonomic nervous system reaction that dries the mouth in times of stress. Lip biting and lip pursing aren’t good sig ns either.7. No BlinkingNormal people blink every few seconds. People who are lying might be going overboard to prove they’re maintaining solid eye contact with you by staring a little too strong or too much.8. PerspirationLiterally, you are making this person sweat. If they’re stewing this badly, then chances are they aren’t telling you the truth.

Role of Motivation in Second Language Acquisition Research Paper

Role of Motivation in Second Language Acquisition - Research Paper Example Through a questionnaire that sought to ascertain the level of their motivation and anxiety towards English acquisition as a second language, I was able to set up the base for a formal research to examine the level of motivational and anxiety patterns as a result, of second language learning. More significantly, the subjects of the research were Saudi student who was studying English for their general academic purposes and latter use in their careers expressed dissatisfaction in their early education. More so, the students indicated that both social and psychological problems caused them difficulty when studying English as a second language in their earlier education at primary, intermediate and secondary schools for a period of seven years. Literature Review In most cases, motivation as a way of enhancing second language learning is important for an individual to acquire successfully language competence. Therefore, this section of the research gives an overview of literature that is considered relevant in establishing my research objectives. More than often, it is hard to describe the motivation because of it complex phenomenon in different facets of life. Shuib & Al-Tamimi (2009) put more emphasis on the fact that, proper motivation remains relevant among learners of a second language as a way of enhancing their language competence. More significantly, both the social and individual decisions in the degree of effort and emphasis people make, as they set their goals in second language depends on the source of motivation.... More than often, it is hard to describe the motivation because of it complex phenomenon in different facets of life. Shuib & Al-Tamimi (2009) put more emphasis on the fact that, proper motivation remains relevant among learners of a second language as a way of enhancing their language competence. More significantly, both the social and individual decisions in the degree of effort and emphasis people make, as they set their goals in second language depends on the source of motivation. On the other hand, Ghazi et al. (2010) described the motivation as the voluntary forces that give an individual the will to develop direction, arousal, and persistence of goal-directed towards achievement of success in second language acquisition. In addition, they believe that motivation acts as a driving force that compels, energizes and prompts an individual to develop interest in a second language learning within a particular time in which focus is set on attaining a specified goal. Rubenfeld et al. (2007) describe the motivation as self-determination, which drives an individual’s motives towards their goal pursuits as inspired by either intrinsic or extrinsic aspirations. More so, the goals that drive an individual’s motive is aimed at attaining both the basic and psychological needs that later on leads to external approval and rewards (Dekker & Fischer, 2008). As a result, students undertaking English learning, as their second language in their studies derive their motivation from extrinsic goals. Even so, learners of second language could be driven by intrinsic goals as they intend to enhance their sense of belonging within the community that uses a second

Cash and Working Capital Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Cash and Working Capital - Essay Example These four phases consist of the following management requirements; cash management which is identifying the cash balance available to run the day to day expenses of the business or firm so as to reduce the cash holding costs (Padachi, 2012). Inventory management is identifying the inventory levels that will enable the business to run smoothly without investment in raw materials. This requires the lead times being lowered to reduce Work in Process (WIP) and the finished goods should also be kept as low as possible. This will lead to the reduction of the reordering costs and hence increase cash flow. Debtor’s management this requires identifying the best credit mechanism for the business or the firm. The credit mechanism chosen should be able to attract customers to the firm and also make sure the firm is getting the payments on time from the credit customers. This will be optimized by increasing the revenue thus increasing the Return on Capital. Another aspect of working capit al management is the Short term financing, it is achieved by identifying the most appropriate source of short term funds to run the business this can be achieved through credit granted by the supplier. It may also be necessary to use a bank loan or an overdraft (Banos-Caballera, 2010). The working capital cycle phases require short-term decisions. ... This normally refers to the time which the firm’s money is tied up in operations and therefore working capital phase normally aims at making sure the time is as short as possible (Block-Hirt, 2008). The primary sources of short term funds Short term funds refer to money needed to run the company in a period of less than a year. They are normally used for the day to day running of the business or firm. There are a number of short term funds available to a company which require different levels of interest rate expenses, collateral and personal guarantees. This is required to provide working capital. The short term funds are used for purchasing of raw materials or finished inventories, payment of wages, salaries and other short term expenses (Brealey, 2002). The three primary sources of short term finance include trade credit, which is normally gotten from the suppliers. It is a loan in the form of goods and inventory. The credit time period is normally 15 days to 3 months and t his is normally granted on the basis of good will of the purchaser. This credit facility is given buy a supplier to the buyer of goods and by a whole seller to a retailer. When the time limit is reached the credit should be paid lack of payment can lead to seizing of the goods in the inventory (Block-Hirt, 2008). Another major source of short term loans and advances is from the commercial banks. This are mainly in the form of bank overdraft from the bank which the business has an account in. the overdraft allows the business to withdraw from its current account exceeding the available cash balance. The business is charged an interest rate that is based on the amount overdrawn and the length of time overdrawn (Cleverley, 2011). The advantage of

Refilction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Refilction - Essay Example Integrity – Integrity means being above reproach in matters pertaining to leadership. In matters pertaining to ethical leadership, integrity forms an important pillar on which other attributes rest upon. It is impossible to practice ethical leadership when one’s integrity is questionable. Knowledge – This refers to understanding that is accrued with time from either studying or experience. In ethical leadership, knowledge is very important because knowledge is power and therefore only those leaders that have knowledge are able to wield power and lead others properly. Cooperation – This means closely working together with other people in order to accomplish tasks. It follows then that the success of ethical leadership is largely dependent on close working of leaders with the people that they lead. Integration of these Values into Leadership Style Integration of these values into ethical leadership is not an easy task that can be undertaken overnight but it is a process. In this process, the first thing is be aware of these values and then embody them within ourselves. Embodying these values simply means living them and letting them become part of our daily lives. In this regards, it becomes easy to lead a lifestyle that is emanating from what we believe in. After embracing these values as our inner core values, the next step is developing visions that are important avenues of expressing the core values within us. It then becomes very easy to integrate these values into ethical leadership via the values that we have developed. Supporting Core Values in Ethical Decision Making Supporting of core values in professional life especially in times when we have to make ethical decisions is very challenging. The first thing is to stand firm with our decisions and not allow us to reverse them. This is important because when we allow to be moved from the decisions that we make, it shows that we are not sure of ourselves and therefore we cannot b e trusted with challenges of leadership. In addition, it is not good to allow personal emotions to interfere with our decision making processes. This is because emotions usually temper with our ability to think clearly and objectively. When emotions are involved in our decision making, it is more likely that the wrong decisions will be made. My Five Greatest Strengths One of my greatest strengths is mental strength. Mental strength is the ability to clearly think through issues and make the correct choices. I came to learn about this strength sometimes back when I was chosen to head a task force in my work place. This task force was supposed to come up with recommendations on how to recruit new staff. Another strength that I have is multitasking whereby I can undertake different tasks at the same time. This strength is not very easy to master and I came to discover it during the time when I was heading that task force. At that time, I was supposed to handle different issues and matt ers besides delivering on my job. A third strength that I know I have is good interaction with other people around me. I have known of this strength since I was a small child when growing with my siblings. Even after I joined elementary school and my later school life, I was never without friends and people have always considered me a very social and likable person. The fourth strength that I h

Blood Vessel Constitutive Models Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

Blood Vessel Constitutive Models - Essay Example In fact, there are many parameters that need to be examined in order to formulate a valid assumption regarding the role of ‘mechanical function’ of blood vessel especially in the response of patients to specific treatment. Because of this fact, it is necessary that several models are developed which are going to be evaluated as of their applicability by the medical practitioner involved in each particular case. Current study examines especially the structure and the effectiveness of a series of blood vessel constitutive models as they have been included in the paper of Vito and Dixon published in the Annual Review of Biomedical and Engineering (2003). The specific study presents the most significant models that have been designed in order to represent the mechanical properties of blood vessel in terms that these properties – if known to the practitioners – are going to be useful towards the design and the implementation of the appropriate treatment in patie nts that suffer from health problems caused by the ‘dysfunction’ of veins and arteries. The particular topic has been chosen because of its significance for the design of the appropriate treatment plans in cases of health problems caused because of a ‘dysfunction’ of arteries and veins. On the other hand, there are a few models that have been designed and tested in relation with the mechanical properties of blood vessel. These models however need to be critically analyzed in order to be evaluated whether the above models can be used by medical practitioners on a daily basis in terms that a situation (health problem) needs an emergent arrangement. In other words, can the models presented in the paper of Vito and Dixon (2003) be applied in all cases of health problems or they have to be alternated in order to meet the requirements of each particular situation? Moreover, are these models applicable in practice or they are just

Report of Construction Project Network Diagram Essay

Report of Construction Project Network Diagram - Essay Example In the context of this report, the project manager of Company A had initiated with his team the use of network diagram in order to acquire an accurate calculation of the whole duration of the project. Each individual activity to be undertaken was given a specified time of completion before starting the next activity. In the analysis done using the said instrument, there are two factors to consider in determining and calculating the whole duration of an activity. These are the forward pass – the early or late start and backward pass – the early of late finish. The critical path was chosen from the longest duration taken after calculating the earliest and latest event times in order to allow adjustment which activity needs speed up. Float was also calculated using the network diagram in order to determine the duration of activity delay that the project can permit before the project becomes late. A Gantt chart will provide a clear view of the critical path in the project. ... ws the sequence of the activities or tasks to be carried out, the amount of time needed to complete the activity as well as the whole project, the dependencies of activities and which activities need more attention. It is widely used by many project managers because it helps them to identify the most efficient sequence of events within the required time for the completion of any project. Example of network diagram can be shown in the succeeding part of this report. 3.0 Network diagram analysis Analysis of the network diagram is very necessary to evaluate the sequence of the activities and to construct a network with a timeline for the project. In order to carry out the analysis successfully, the project manager should consider the following fundamental steps: 1. Draw the calculations of the earliest and latest event times. 2. Draw an activity analysis table showing the results found which include the activities, duration, and earliest and latest event times. 3. Calculate the float, f ree total and independent float of each activity. 4. Produce a Gantt chart showing the timeline of the project’s activities. 5. Produce a histogram of all activities resource requirements. As noted by the project manager each activity needs at least one work crew. 6. Carry a resource leveling exercise to produce a smooth resource histogram. –Within the constraints of the critical path duration found- 3.1 Redrawing the diagram The figure 1(network diagram) below shows a simple example of network diagram and the calculation of time duration of the project using the forward pass and backward pass method of time management. It also exhibits the dependency of each task to be undertaken for the accomplishment of the project. Base on logical explanation, the predecessor task/activity should be

Blood Vessel Constitutive Models Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

Blood Vessel Constitutive Models - Essay Example In fact, there are many parameters that need to be examined in order to formulate a valid assumption regarding the role of ‘mechanical function’ of blood vessel especially in the response of patients to specific treatment. Because of this fact, it is necessary that several models are developed which are going to be evaluated as of their applicability by the medical practitioner involved in each particular case. Current study examines especially the structure and the effectiveness of a series of blood vessel constitutive models as they have been included in the paper of Vito and Dixon published in the Annual Review of Biomedical and Engineering (2003). The specific study presents the most significant models that have been designed in order to represent the mechanical properties of blood vessel in terms that these properties – if known to the practitioners – are going to be useful towards the design and the implementation of the appropriate treatment in patie nts that suffer from health problems caused by the ‘dysfunction’ of veins and arteries. The particular topic has been chosen because of its significance for the design of the appropriate treatment plans in cases of health problems caused because of a ‘dysfunction’ of arteries and veins. On the other hand, there are a few models that have been designed and tested in relation with the mechanical properties of blood vessel. These models however need to be critically analyzed in order to be evaluated whether the above models can be used by medical practitioners on a daily basis in terms that a situation (health problem) needs an emergent arrangement. In other words, can the models presented in the paper of Vito and Dixon (2003) be applied in all cases of health problems or they have to be alternated in order to meet the requirements of each particular situation? Moreover, are these models applicable in practice or they are just

Bandura's theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Bandura's theory - Essay Example In fact, several studies have shown a high correlation between mastery of these behaviours and high achievement in school. Observation has been demonstrated as having a significant impact on learning in several areas of psychology (Bandura, 1986; Rosenthal & Zimmerman, 1978). These researchers have documented evidence that shows children responding to behaviours observed in adults. The children then learn and subsequently emulate the behaviours. Specifically within the education context, this theory has been found to have merit in that students who observe a model (parent or teacher) depicting positive study attitudes and habits and then emulate that model generally demonstrate a higher level of academic success than those who do not engage in observational learning (Bird et al., 2005; Martinez-Pons, 2002). One of the problems with observation in the educational context is that physical processes are much easier to observe than mental processes. The child who learns how to assemble a toy by watching an adult or older sibling is at an advantage compared to the student who must acquire skills for studying. A model's retreat to a quiet area is visible enough, but self monitoring and regulatory skills generally take place within the mind of the studier and can often only be passed on to an observer through conscious effort on the part of the modeller to get the idea across. Studies have shown that behaviours of students to whom the meta-cognitive strategies have been purposively modelled have demonstrated high levels of achievement than those who are generally left on their own to figure it out (Martinez-Pons, 2002). In a study done by Zimmerman and Kitsantas (1999) students given a writing task were separated into groups in which the necessary strategies for successfully completing the task were either modelled for emulation, verbally described, or directly practised (as distinct from modelling in which mental as well as physical processes are exposed). The result of the experiment was that students who received support in the form of adult modelling of the behaviours necessary for success were better able to independently display skills that led to success in the academic task (Martinez-Pons, 2002). The observation of parents in situations that can be related to learning has also been seen to have an effect on students' ability to perform academically. It is often the case that students who grow up in an environment that encourages learning do better academically than those who have not that privilege. This phenomenon has been described by Martinez-Pons (2002) as a "hidden curriculum." The students exposed to such a curriculum are often able to watch parents in behaviours that are self-regulatory and that lead to learning. A study carried out by Martinez-Pons demonstrated that "parental modeling and support for self-regulatory processes precede students' development of these skills" which lead to positive and high levels of academic achievement. Self Efficacy Self efficacy has been defined as a person's perception of his or her ability to perform a given task. It is distinct from self esteem and self concept in that it is closely tied to a given context, so that a person's self efficacy might vary with different

Comparing the Young and the Old Essay Example for Free

Comparing the Young and the Old Essay We live longer and experience more in life we would become wise to the ways of the world. The funny thing is, this does not always happen. If you listen to the elderly many do become wise but many others seem to get stuck in their past, but yet they think they are wise. They can not seem to see the world changing around them. A firsthand example of this for me is my Grandparents. When we talk about money, specifically the cost of buying a new car they cannot fathom the cost of buying a new car. I remind them of all the safety features that cars now have but they still resist he idea of replacing their 1985 Buick because of the cost associated with a newer and safer car. On the other hand young adults readily accept changes in their world. Now that we are living in the Information Age an enormous amount of information is readily available at our fingertips. Todays younger generation knows quite bit more than their grandparents knew at the same age because of this. The problem is that too many of us will allow ourselves to get stuck in our youth as well. The extreme of a so-called typical young adult would be one who at 18 thinks they already know verything they need to in life. No one, especially an older person can tell them anything about life Another evident contrast between the elderly and the young is their outlook on life. Young adults are more optimistic about the future, whereas their counterparts are more pessimistic. An example might be that you will hear from the majority of young adults, l want to make a lot of money and retire early, but an older adult might say, Money is not everything; as long as you stay healthy you will be happy. Another phrase that I hear quite a bit is to enjoy my youth and to see the world efore I get old. My Grandmother still tells me that to this day. Her belief is that once you reach a certain age when the aches and pains of aging begin you will lose your desire to be more active. Older people seem to get set in their ways and typically resist change. They get comfortable with a certain patter n in their lives and do not like this pattern disturbed. They have no tolerance for anything new. My Grandparents are a good example of how change is very difficult. They have lived in their neighborhood for over forty years and its is not safe any more. They refuse to even think about moving to a retirement community. When I ask either of my Grandparents why they wont move they blame each other for not wanting to move. Young adults on the other hand are much more adaptable to change. Most enjoy spontaneity and look forward to new experiences. What it all comes down to is time, experience and most of all the willingness of old and young alike to learn and share with each other. I know I can learn much from my elders, I hope they see that they can learn much from me.

Web Usage Mining for Web Page Recommendation

Web Usage Mining for Web Page Recommendation A Survey On Web Usage Mining For Web Page Recommendation Using Biclustering ABSTRACT The World Wide Web contains an increasing amount of websites which in turn contains increasing number of web pages. When any user visits a new website they have to go through large number of web pages to meet their requirements. Web usage mining is the process of extracting useful knowledge from the server logs. This useful knowledge can be applied to target marketing and in the design of web portals. A Recommender system is one of the best web usage mining Application which reduces the difficulties faced by the users to meet their requirements .It recommends the pages of interest to the user. This report includes the survey of different clustering and biclustering techniques. Also we will discuss the biclustering approach which has some advantages over the traditional clustering approach. Keywords : Web usage mining, Recommender system, biclustering I. INTRODUCTION The World Wide Web store, share, and distribute information in the large scale. There is large number of internet users on the web. They are facing many problems like information overload due to the significant and rapid growth in the amount of information and the number of users. As a result, how to provide web users with more exactly needed information is becoming a critical issue in web applications. Web mining extracts interesting pattern or knowledge from web data. It is classified into three types as web content mining, web structure, and web usage mining. Web usage mining is the most important area of web mining which deals with the extraction of useful knowledge from the web usage data. There are different kinds of datasets on which web usage mining can be performed. They are in the form of log files. These log files can be stored at server side, proxy side and client side. Mostly the server side log files are used for web usage mining. Before the mining process various pre-p rocessing techniques can be applied to the log files, for example, pre-processing, pattern discovery, pattern analysis. The data mining techniques like Association rule mining, Sequential pattern analysis; Classification and Clustering are used to mine the web usage data. The mined knowledge can be helpful in different web applications like personalization of web Content, support for the design, E-commerce, and many other web applications. In this paper we discuss clustering technique of data mining for web usage data. Clustering is one of the important data mining technique to discover usage pattern from the web usage data. The users with the same browsing pattern are clustered in the same group and the others are clustered in different groups. In this survey we consider biclustering algorithm based on genetic algorithms (GAs) for effective clustering. In general, a genetic algorithm (GA) is a search heuristic that mimics the process of natural selection. This heuristic (also sometimes called a metaheuristic) is routinely used to generate useful solutions to optimization and search problems [10]. So, we believe that a clustering technique with Genetic algorithm can provide relevant clusters more effectively. A traditional clustering method clusters users according to their similarity of browsing behaviour under all pages. However, it is often the case that some users have similar behaviour only on a subset of pages. For example consider below example user page matrix. [2] TABLE-1 : USER PAGE MATRIX When all pages are considered users 1, 2, and 4 do not show similar behaviour since their hit count values are uncorrelated under page 2 ,while users 1 and 2 have an increased hit count value from page 1 to page 2, the hits of user 4 drops from page 1 to page 2. However, these users behave similarly under pages 1, 3, and 4 since all their hit count values increase from page 1 to page 3 and increase again for page 4. A traditional clustering method will fail to recognize such a cluster since the method requires the three users to behave similarly under all pages which are not the case [2]. To overcome this problem Biclustering or Two- way clustering was introduced. Biclustering was first introduced by Hartigan and called it direct clustering [1]. Following section describes some of the clustering and biclustering methods together with Genetic algorithm available in the literature. II. LITERATURE SURVEY 2.1 WEB MINING Web mining is categorized into three areas which are Web usage mining, Web content mining, and Web structure mining [6]. Web usage mining makes use of logs that are generated by the Web server to make sense of the user’s behaviour on the Web. The logs captured by web servers are the primary source of data in web usage mining, and it is important as it explicitly records the browsing behaviour of site visitors. The greatest advantage of the web server logs is that they are records of what people have actually done, and not what they might do or thought they did [4]. Web personalization based on Web usage mining involves three phases; data preparation and transformation, pattern discovery, and recommendation. In the first stage, the web server logs will undergo intensive pre-processing stage that will remove all irrelevant information and prepare the logs for pattern discovery to derive the user profile. A previous study used frequency and duration as indicators to represent the interest degree of a Web page to a user in the session. Another separate study indicates that contiguous sequential patterns found in frequent navigational paths are more suitable for predictive tasks, such as predicting which item the user will access next during his navigation. Recent studies on sequential patterns in web log data show that ordered sequence of events can discover web users’ navigational patterns [4]. Web content mining is the process of extracting knowledge from the content of Web documents [6]. One of the challenges in Web content is to extract useful information from the pages. This stage is known as Web content cleaning. A Web page typically contains a mixture of many kinds of information, such as the main content, advertisements, navigation panels, and copyright notices [5]. Web content mining techniques alone is unable to handle dynamic content changes in news sites. On the other hand, personalization based on web usage by itself is not able to reflect the changes in site content, because these changes are not included in the Web logs. As Web usage and Web content have limitations, combining these two areas will harness both of their use for personalization [4]. 2.2 WEB LOG A Web log is a file to which the Web server writes information each time a user requests a resource from that particular site. All users’ web access activities of a website are recorded by the WWW server of the website and stored into the Web Server Logs. Each user access record contains the client IP address, request time, requested URL, user ID, HTTP status code, etc. Web log consist of attributes with the data values in the form of records. The information contained in web logs has been used in many different ways. In various studies, researchers and search engine administrators have used information from web logs to learn about the search process and to improve search engines. Besides learning about search engines or their users, query web logs are also being used to infer semantic concepts or relations [3]. 2.3 DATA COLLECTION There are three main sources to get the row log data, which are namely 1) Client Log File 2) Proxy Log File 3) Web Server Log File Web Server Log File: The most significant and frequently used source for web usage mining is web server log data. This web log data is generated automatically by web server when it services user request, which contains all information about visitor’s activity. The common server log file types are access log, agent log, error log and referrer log [7] Table-1 summarizes each. TABLE-2: WEB SERVER LOG FILE TYPES AND CONTENT[7] Depending on web server, web log file data varies on number, type of attributes, and format of log file. W3C maintains standard log file format however custom log file format can be configured. Many varied format are available like 1.Common log format, 2.Extended common log format, 3. Centralized log format, 4.NCSA common log format, 5.ODBC logging, 6.Centralized binary logging. among all common or extended file format are mainly implemented by web server. [7] Common Log Format (CLF) may contain following fields [host/IP rfcname logname [DD/MMM/YYYY: HH:MM:SS-0000] â€Å"METHOD/PATH HTTP/ 1.0† bytes] [7] 2.4 RECOMMENDATION SYSTEM Recommender systemsorrecommendation systems are a subclass ofinformation filtering systemthat seek to predict the rating or preference that user would give to an item.The most popular ones are probably movies, music, news, books, research articles, search queries, social tags, and products in general. However, there are also recommender systems for experts, jokes, restaurants, financial services,life insurance, persons (online dating), and Twitter followers.[9] Various data mining techniques applied on web recommendation system for the data Pre-processing of web server log data. III. METHODS AND MATERIALS 3.1 BICLUSTER Bicluster Types [8] Different biclustering algorithms have different definitions of bicluster. 1) Bicluster with constant values (a), 2) Bicluster with constant values on rows (b) or columns (c), 3) Bicluster with coherent values (d). (a) (b) (c) (d) 3.2 CLICKSTREAM DATA PATTERN Clickstream data is a sequence of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) browsed by the user within a particular period of time. By analyzing these data we can discover web users having similar browsing pattern. It requires some preprocessing before it is taken for analyse[1]. 3.3 INITIAL BICLUSTERS[1] K-Means clustering method is applied on the web user access matrix A(U, P) along both dimensions separately to generate ku user clusters and kp page clusters .And then combine the results to obtain small co-regulated sub matrices (ku Ãâ€" kp) called biclusters. These correlated biclusters are also called seeds. 3.4 COHERENT BICLUSTERING FRAMEWORK USING GENETIC ALGORITHM (GA) [1] Usually, GA is initialized with the population of random solutions. In our case, after the greedy local search procedure the optimization technique genetic algorithm is applied on biclusters to get the optimum bicluster. This will result in faster convergence compared to random initialization. Algorithm: Evolutionary Biclustering Algorithm [1] Input: Set enlarged and refined seed Output: Optimal Bicluster Step 1. Initialize the population. Step 2. Evaluate the fitness of individuals Step 3. For i =1 to max_iteration Selection() Crossover() Mutation() Evaluate the fitness End(For) Step 4. Return the optimal bicluster Using the above algorithm we can generate optimum biclusters from web usage data which exhibits high coherence between the web user and the pages visited by them. Analyzing these overlapping coherent biclusters could be very beneficial for direct marketing, target marketing and also useful for recommending system, web personalization systems, web usage categorization and user profiling. The interpretation of biclustering results is also used by the company for focalized marketing campaigns to improve their performance of the business [1]. IV. CONCLUSION The Biclustering approach overcomes the problem associated with traditional clustering methods by showing the higher coherence between the web user and the subset of pages visited by them. The result of Biclustering can be used in the focalized marketing strategy like direct marketing and target marketing. The recommendation system will give the website its most visited pages by its all user. It also gives information of the user having same behaviour on subset of pages. So it target on improving the website’s design, information availability and quality of services. Future work aims at extending this framework by using it as a pre-processing tool for the web page recommendation system. REFERENCES

Essay About Family: Waiting for Papaw :: Personal Narrative Family Grandfathers Essays

Waiting for Papaw I am under the belief that the concept of time as we know it, does not exist in hospitals. Upon entering, one loses all sense of what time it is, what day of the week it is, and how long they’ve been there. Hospitals are places of healing, of caring, of great medical advancements and live saving procedures. They are a place of second chances, of last chances, and sometimes very little chance at all. They are also a place for dying. I learned all of this and then some during the eighteen days in December that I spent at my grandfather’s bedside in Holy Spirit Hospital. My grandfather went into the hospital with the symptoms of a stroke on Saturday, December 13, 2003. He spent the first 4 days of his stay in a coma, induced by the doctors’ misdiagnosis of his condition. My grandfather had not had a stroke, in fact he had a condition in which his liver was overloaded with toxins and was shutting down. It was a problem he’d been suffering from for quite some time; however, none of his doctors had diagnosed his symptoms correctly. The sedative they gave him upon arrival in the emergency room only worsened his condition. Upon waking up, he had to be restrained to prevent him from removing his IVs and attempting to get out of bed. He improved steadily over the next few days, and we were expecting to have him home soon. Unfortunately, he was left unrestrained one evening and was able to remove his IV, catheter, and then climb out of bed. The nurses found him on the floor of his bathroom. How long he was there, we’ll never know, becaus e the time the nurses told us he was found, we know is not correct. He was given another dose of a sedative which caused him to be extremely disoriented the following morning, yet his old self was still shining through. â€Å"Papaw,† I asked upon arriving in his room that morning, â€Å"Why are you so tired today?† â€Å"Because I made 300 faustnauhts last night.† He replied without hesitation. Now, I can imagine that anyone would be tired from that, but where my grandfather came up with the word â€Å"faustnauht† instead of â€Å"donut†, I’ll never know. On Christmas Eve, after spending eleven days in the same hospital bed, he lost circulation in his left leg and had to undergo surgery.

Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Essay

The topic that I have conducted research on involves underage alcohol consumption and various levels of academic achievement. More specifically, my goal is to conceptualize the increasing amounts of underage alcohol abuse by observing the affects effects that it has on individual’s GPA. Data obtained from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism suggests that four out of five college students consume alcohol. Of the students that consume alcohol, approximately fifty percent engage in binge drinking (NIAAA 2012). In consideration of the location where the study was conducted (University of New Hampshire), it seemed appropriate to pursue a topic that would potentially correlate with alcohol consumption. Past studies have attempted to address the issue of alcohol consumption and it’s affects effects on academic achievement, yet none have constricted the independent variable to a specific age rage. Returning back to data gathered from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, information was derived that suggested about seventy percent of minors have had at least one alcoholic beverage by the age of eighteen. In accordance with this finding, it was also recorded that although minors drink less often than adults, they do however tend to binge drink more often during an average drinking episode (NIAAA 2012). The objective of the present study is to better grasp an understanding of underage alcohol consumption and academic achievement. With the focus of the age group being confined to individuals less than twenty one years of age, new findings will be generated. The reduction of underage alcohol consumption is an extremely prevalent topic that many policy implementers and law enforcement agencies are faced with. Hopefully results from this study can establish a causal relationship that will aid professionals in dealing with this dilemma not only at the University of New Hampshire, but at universities across the nation. A plethora of studies have been conducted to observe the many negative effects that come from alcohol consumption. For those that are unaware, alcohol is a powerful depressant that ultimately slows down your thinking and time of reaction (CTC 2013). Also, alcohol consumption can act as a precursor to things such as brain damage, heart disease, liver damage, ulcers and various types of cancer (CTC 2013). Many individuals have been presented with similar facts, but they continue to drink alcohol. At the college level, many of the individuals that are consuming alcohol are under the legal age. Policy makers and law enforcement have been faced with this dilemma for an ongoing period of time. In attempts to control for alcohol consumption, many studies have been conducted to pinpoint the main causes. In a study conducted by Labrie et al. (2010), family history of alcohol abuse and its effects on college student’s alcohol abuse were researched. Findings suggest that family history has a correlation with college student’s personal use making them more prone to abuse (mostly males) (Labrie et al. 2010). With this finding however, minimal policy implications are suggested except for parental monitoring of socialization. In a study conducted by Rasul et al. (2011), the current drinking age is tested. Researchers were curious if a deduction in the current drinking age would have a successful attempt in diminishing heavy episodic drinking periods amongst college students. Findings imply that only in the rare case of high alcohol availability, and low levels of law enforcement, would the reduction of the drinking age have a small positive effect. With the full understanding of the prevalence of alcohol consumption in college in general, the question is posed of the effect that it has on academic performance. There is a brief existence of literature that focuses directly on this topic. In a study conducted by Singleton (2007), he examines the relationship between alcohol consumption and academic performance while controlling for key background factors. When SAT scores and class ranks were controlled, a significant relationship for alcohol consumption and academic performance was observed (Singleton 2007). In a similar study conducted by Singleton and Wolfson (2009), they attempted to observe relationships between alcohol intake, sleep and academic performance. Main findings suggest that the most significant predictor of academic performance was sleep schedule. However, the association that high alcohol intake would result in poor sleep schedule ultimately effecting your academic achievement was established (Singleton and Wolfs on 2009). Although past studies have observed alcohol consumption and its effects on academic achievement, none of them control for age. In the present study, the collegiate population that illegally consumes alcohol is examined. Findings will hopefully suggest that illegal alcohol consumption has a negative effect on academic achievement. If so, I will provide some policy implications that will help address and potentially minimize underage alcohol consumption. * Null Hypothesis: underage alcohol consumption has no affect effect on individual academic achievement. * Alternative Hypothesis: underage alcohol consumption will have a negative effect on academic achievement. To gather the data necessary to study alcohol consumption and its effects on academic achievement, two survey questions were contributed to a general survey composed by the spring 2013 methods of social research class at the University of New Hampshire. Our study was conducted in various classrooms at the University of New Hampshire using the method of convenience sampling. This non-probability sampling method will produce un-representative results. However, considering our limits of time and money, this sampling procedure was deemed the most rational. Professor Rebecca Glauber contacted five sociology professors teaching large discovery courses during the spring semester. These teachers agreed to let students in the methods of social research course field a survey to their students. No compensation was received by the participants. In the middle of April, three to four students in the methods of social research course attended the classes of these professors. During that time, the students stood in front of the class room and read a verbal recruitment statement. Upon completion of the statement, students handed out the surveys to all participants in the classroom. If the students agree to participate, they will anonymously fill out the survey. If at any time an individual felt uncomfortable and wished to remove their consent, that survey was destroyed. After completion, students placed their surveys in a box at the front of the room. Minimal risk is present in our study. On the survey, questions involving illegal substance use were present. This could potentially be considered a criminal liability, but since the survey was completed anonymously that factor is ruled out and the participants were protected. Also, questions involving states of mental health were present which could potentially have negative psychological effects on participants. There is no direct benefit to the participants of the study. However, results of this survey helped individuals in the methods of social research class obtain useful information that helped them draw conclusions that otherwise would not have been possible. In this particular study, no physical harm, and minimal psychological harm to the participants was present. In addition, the assurance of anonymity will help establish the goal of the benefits outweighing the risks. The variables used for this particular study were alcohol consumption and academic achievement. The independent variable, alcohol consumption, was (conceptually) theoretically defined by measuring the amount of alcoholic beverages that are consumed in an average drinking episode. The question used to address this variable was, â€Å"During an average drinking episode, about how many alcoholic drinks do you consume?† There were five mutually exclusive and exhaustive answers for participants to select from. (this sounds like it could be plagiarism so maybe change that sentence.) The dependent variable, academic achievement, was conceptually defined by measuring students GPA’s. The question used to address this variable was, â€Å"What is your overall grade point average (GPA)?† Once again, there were five mutually exclusive and exhaustive answers for participants to select from.

Equality and Diversity Pttls

and Discuss issues of equality and diversity and ways to promote inclusion with your learners. Review other points of referral available to meet the potential needs of learners. To fully understand the above we really need to understand the terms. Equality means to be equal before law and without any discrimination. This is particularly important to minorities and to the poor. Through equality every one has the right to fair choices. Diversity is used to describe political entities who have identifiable differences in their background and lifestyles including ethnic minorities. Inclusion means to meet your learners needs, which some may have more than others. These needs should be appropriately met to enable full participation in the classroom. The main issue related to equality and diversity would be exclusion. If the tutor does not meet the needs for those with a different background then it can often end with the student feeling not only left out but to feel neglected and can lead to missed lessons and also feeling that they don’t belong their. The tutor should be committed to providing equal opportunities for each of his/her students. You should demonstrate your commitment to equal opportunities through everything you say and do in your work with adult students. †Ã‚   (1993:13). Promotion of equality within the classroom is not only an expectation but a requirement by law. ‘All students must feel that they are positively and equally valued and accepted, and that their efforts to learn are recognised, and judged without bias. It is not enough that they are tolerated. They must feel that they, and the groups to which they belong (e. g. ender, social-class or attainment groups) are fully and equally accepted and valued by you, and the establishment in which you work’. Petty (1998:69) To promote inclusion within your classroom you will need to respond positively to the diverse needs of your learners. How you communicate with your learners is essential ensuring learners can understand what you are saying. Ensuring body language and comments are appropriate and are no offensive. Teaching methods are also important and you will need to make sure that your methods are varied and support all learning styles. Ensuring your learners can all participate is also important, therefore not excluding any of them. Allowing your learners to establish working relationships effectively, ensuring everyone is included and that the room is accessible and safe for people with sensory disabilities or lack of mobility. Additional support may be required to enable you to support equality and diversity this could be in the form of a learning support assistant, adapted resources, peer support, varied presentation. Although inclusion is about supporting your learners needs, it may not always be possible to do this without support for yourself. You should be aware of your limits of responsibility and know when and where to access support for both you and your learners. If you have a line manager then they should be your first point of contact. Your colleagues may be another point as they may have experienced something similar. It is your responsibility to find out what support is available for you. Supporting Equality and Diversity is extremely important and is also a legal requirement. When planning your lessons you should be taking this into account and structuring your lessons appropriately. If you are unsure you should be aware of your limits and seek advice from your line manager. If you don’t have a line manager you will need to get advice on who you should be asking for help and support. Petty G (1998), Teaching Today, United Kingdom: Nelson Thornes. Daines, Daines and Graham (1993) Adult learning, adult teaching United Kingdom:Dept. of Adult Education, University of Nottingham

London Jets

Questions for the London Jets Case Download the file LondonJets. xls, available on the course website. I. Perform RFM Analysis: (recency, frequency, monetary (total sales) analysis) as indicated on page 3 of the case; steps for RFM are given on page 8 of the case (I have provided one approach on page 3 of this document). Use pivot table with Frequency and Monetary value for rows and Recency for column. Data field should be Count of CustID. Important Note — The format for this table is shown on the next page; use this format for your RFM table. Please provide a brief interpretation for the RFM analysis – assume you are the consultant to London Jets; how would you explain what the numbers in the pivot table mean (keep the discussion brief; each and every entry need not be explained). II. Additional Analysis: Do two additional sets of analysis beyond RFM. As an example, you may want to analyze attendance patterns for Fan Club Members versus non-members to see if there is any merit in increasing the size of this club (this would count as one analysis). There are several different variables in the database, and as such there are lots of ways in which the data can be analyzed. Think about the issue London Jets is facing – how to increase attendance – and let this objective drive your analysis. For each additional analysis undertaken by your team, provide a rationale as to why should London Jets consider the customer segment you are analyzing. Please also be sure to briefly explain the outcome of your analysis (what did you learn for your analysis, and how London Jets can benefit from this analysis). What to submit? Please submit one hard copy of the report per team. List the last names of team members on the cover page in alphabetical order. Prepare your report in power point such that it could be presented to London Jets’ management (although your team will not be asked to present the report). Your report should end with a Conclusions page where you draw conclusions from all the analyses you have done, and recommended actions London Jets can take to increase attendance to its games based on your work. Please make sure that the report is contained within a maximum of 12 pages (slides) including the title and conclusions pages. Team work models I have seen two models of team work. The first and more commonly used model is where the team divides the workload and each member is responsible for completing their share of work. These disparate pieces are put together as a report. The obvious advantage of this approach is that the work is divided evenly among members. The drawback of this approach is that sloppy work by one or more team members adversely impacts the score of those who put in good work. Additionally, if someone in the team does not take the trouble to integrate the disparate pieces, the end result can be a report that appears disjoint (i. . made up of pieces that do not flow well together). The second, less common approach is where each member provides input on every aspect (question) of the case. Compared to the approach described above, the second approach certainly requires more time from each member. The advantage however is that often the best ideas (i. e. responses to case questions) make it into the report, resulting in a higher quality of sub mitted work. Important Note — This note applies for all cases done in this class. I cannot entertain questions such as â€Å"Professor, please take a look at what we have so far and let us know if we are on the right track†. Teams are expected to work on each case independently. Taking necessary decisions in situations where there is no clear consensus is a part of team learning process. [pic] Learn more about RFM here: http://searchcrm. techtarget. com/sDefinition/0,,sid11_gci751219,00. html Steps for creating RFM table for London Jets Step 0 — Start by creating a column with 3000 entries such that the first 600 entries are 5s, followed by 600 4s, 600 3s, 600 2s and 600 1s. With copy and paste, this takes  less than  2 minutes and I can gladly show you how. Here are the remaining steps for assigning RFM codes to the London Jets. Step 1 — Sort the entire data on recency of attendance so that customers that attended the games most recently will be on the top of the list. Add a new column to the data labeled R, where you copy and paste the column created in step 0. Step 2 — Sort the entire data, including recency codes assigned in step 1, on the basis of frequency of attendance such that customers with the highest frequency of attendance are at the top of the list. Add a new column to the data labeled F, where you copy and paste the column created in step 0. Step 3 — Sort the entire data, including recency codes assigned in step 1 and frequency codes assigned in step 2, on the basis of  monetary spending such that customers spending the most are at the top of the list. Add a new column to the data labeled M, where you assign first 1000 hundred customers a  M code of 5, the next 1000 a code of 4, and the last 1000 a code of 3. You are done assigning codes at the end of step 3, and are ready to create the RFM table.

The Death of Ivan IIych Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Death of Ivan IIych - Essay Example Ivan Ilych's life has been simple, because he lacks spiritual growth and lives like a philistine, and ordinary, because he experienced no suffering until his sickness and he relies on sycophantic decorum to fill his life; and the outcome of simplicity and ordinariness is a terrible life, because he learns that he has not fully lived intrinsically at all. Ivan Illych's life has been simple, because he lacks spiritual growth. Ilych measures the quality of his whole life through his material possessions and social status. He overly concerns himself with his belongings, because he desires to be perceived as a wealthy man: â€Å"†¦with his new and fashionable portmanteau, linen, clothes, shaving and other toilet appliances, and a travelling rug, all purchased at the best shops† (Tolstoy Ch.2). He believes that a wealthy man is more powerful and loved. Furthermore, his social relations are valuable to him, as they â€Å"†¦[inspire] general respect† (Tolstoy Ch.2). T his is similar to how I used to be concerned of the latest gadgets. I felt accepted when I had the most up-to-date technologies. I also have a friend, who is consumed with the desire of having social connections for the purpose of showing off. These are trite reasons for choosing how people should live. The absence of spiritual goals is all the more present in Ivan’s life. He lives for the pursuit of influence and wealth and he ultimately neglects the importance of developing his â€Å"inner hold† (Frankl 77). Furthermore, Ivan’s life is horribly simple, because he is a philistine. As a philistine, he has â€Å"no interest in culture, the arts, or fashion except as a show to others, but without authentic passion he can only define himself by the things he buys for himself† (Breakthrough Writing Lesson #2). He is materialistic and provides only the material needs for his family and himself. Frankl notes the facileness of such simple, material pleasures. He recounts the story of a woman, who discovered her â€Å"inner self† as she converses with a tree (75). She confesses to be a spoiled woman, but she changes completely when she realizes the importance of more complicated and deeper matters- the nourishment of her soul. As Frankl focuses on the significance of a spiritual life, which makes living more meaningful and complex, Ivan lives in the far opposite side of living, one that is simple to the point of being subhuman, because of the attendance to pure physical needs. Frankl understands the primitive nature of human existence: â€Å"It can be readily understood that such as state of strain, coupled with the constant necessity of concentrated on the task of staying alive, forced the prisoner’s inner life to a primitive level† (Frankl 36-38). Ivan is a prisoner of materiality, while the Holocaust victims were prisoners of human racism and xenophobia. Ivan Ilych's life has been ordinary too, because he experienced no suffering until his sickness, and he relies on sycophantic decorum to fill his life. He lives a comfortable life, up until his sickness. He focuses on material wealth and its accumulation. When he learns of dying, he abhors

Parliamentary Vs. Presidential Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Parliamentary Vs. Presidential - Essay Example The government can be dissolved at will by the parliament by means of a no confidence vote or the leader of the cabinet may dissolve the parliament if it is not able to function anymore. On the contrary, a presidential government is one in which the executive branch is not accountable to the legislative branch. Both branches can check the actions of the other branch. The President and the members of Congress are elected in separate elections. The President holds office for a fixed term and his authority is not subject to direct control of the legislature. However, the President cannot dissolve government and order a new election. Clearly, there is a difference in the voting system between a parliamentary government and a presidential government. The indefinite terms of office in a parliamentary system allows a party to hold office and thus are permanent in order to provide some stability to the system. However, it may be argued that this may lead to unfavorable type of ruling for a country. This is because the possibility of the head of government holding office for life contributes towards the making of an autocrat. Especially in nations with weak democratic traditions and with executive powers concentrated in the hands of the party in power, this type of system signals dictatorship. It also does not welcome new ideas or changes that could benefit the economy of a country in the long term. For instance, the former Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, from 1959 to 1990 recently commented the decision by the current Prime Minister to open a casino in Singapore would never happen under his control. However, he welcomed the changes as fresh and different. A divided executive is one in which the relative powers vary between a Prime Minister and a President, representing two different parties and ideologies. This is important in a system where there are no dual lines of authority. A divided executive results in varied institutional forms to allow