Using technology in classrooms

Introduction Numerous schools across the country are investing massive sums of money in technology in order to improve learning. While a few institutions have benefited from these programs, research shows that several have not. Technology use in classes also impedes other programs and reduces learning outcomes.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Using technology in classrooms specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The evidence In certain scenarios, technology use in the classroom is counterproductive. The National Assessment of Educational Progress found that students who spent too much of their time on technological tools, such as computers, performed worse than those who did not. Although school administrators mean well by introducing technologies in their institutions, these tools can cause adverse distractions in the student body. In fact, such distractions should provide enough evidence for school administrators to r emove them from their institution. When computers are present in a classroom, it causes teachers to compete with them. Unlike other learning tools (textbooks, whiteboards etc) that are exclusively used for learning purposes, computers have so many non-academic uses. Children are bound to abuse these advantages and thus perform poorly. Some schools provide their students with computer games, tutorials and simulations in order to boost their writing skills. Kulik (34) found that their writing skills got worse after participating in computer enrichment program; their performance decreased by -0.14. Richtel (A1) explains that technology can be detrimental to student’s learning owing to its effect on the financial costs of a school. He explains that many schools are blindly investing in technology without asking for proof that it works. Since technology requires a lot of revenues, these schools have had to cut back on their expenditures in other traditional classes such as physica l education, music or art. As much as technological skills are important in children’s adult lives, their need to develop skills in physical education or art is just as important too. It is especially relevant to those children with talents in such areas. Technology use in classrooms is placing unnecessary financial pressure on schools with smaller budgets thus eating up on other vital knowledge areas. Sometimes technology use in classrooms does not affect children’s performance either negatively or positively. One should note that neutral effects on learning are just as bad as negative effects because schools are not realizing their returns on investment. It is pointless to spend massive amounts of revenue on a tool that causes no improvement.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Kulik (13) investigated the effect on instructional technology in secondary and elementary schoo ls and found no significant changes. His analysis was based on secondary literature from over 15 national studies. The author found that reading scores among children who received their instructions through technology improved by very small quantities. Furthermore, because the results were divergent among various researches, then it is not possible to make a firm conclusion on the subject. The results of technology enhanced learning among special groups are not that promising, as well. Muir Herzig (120) did a study of the effect of technology on children who are at risk. She defined at-risk children as those whose education might be endangered owing to their health, social, family or economic environments. Usually, such children will report high rates of absenteeism and low grades. Some schools with high proportions of at-risk students have introduced technology as a method of coping with these challenges, but have found minimal results. The researcher cited teacher-related deficien cies and administrational inadequacies as some of the reasons behind the poor results. All these findings indicate that no conclusive proof exists to support the use of technology. The earliest proponents of technology use in the classroom came from the Clinton administration in 1995. They believed that technology would increase the US’s competiveness in the global arena. However, the group stressed that massive adoption should only commence when the education system has tangible proof that the technologies work. This proof should come from nation-wide trials that have lasted for years on end. However, because technology applications are so different and they keep changing rapidly, then it is difficult to carry out such a trial. In essence, users of technology may have to embrace the technology without certainty about the potential effects (Richtel A1). It is simply pointless to make such a large investment without having sufficient evidence that the approach works.Advertisin g We will write a custom essay sample on Using technology in classrooms specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The inherent nature of technology has a large role to play in determining these negative outcomes. Technologies keep changing so quickly; therefore, training programs must become a routine activity in the school environment, yet this is not always tenable. Furthermore, these changes in technology also correspond to changes in the students’ learning styles. Teachers must merge these new learning styles to their teaching approach, yet that is not always possible. Technology use requires coordinators that can facilitate these transitions and teachers who are willing to make changes constantly; this may be a difficult ask for most instructors. Additionally, the costs of changing these pieces of technology may also impede some schools. It is always necessary to upgrade hardware and software in the school environment (Muir He rzig 122). However, funding issues may minimize these upgrades thus making it difficult for teachers to merge new software with the old computers that they have. Counterevidence A number of proponents believe that schools should give technology a second thought because it prepares students for the outside world. They claim that it teaches them the necessary skills to compete in the corporate arena. However, these proponents are assuming that the goal of technology is only long term. If a teacher’s goal is to improve performance today, then he or she would not gain from the use of technology. Furthermore, when teachers do not give students short term goals to aspire to, then their performance starts to dwindle. It is quite difficult to erasure higher order thinking or problem solving skills without the use of tests, yet this is what proponents of technology use are advocating for in their institutions. Even if one assumes that technology leads to development of certain learnin g skills, one must realize that it also destroys others. Language skills and interpersonal skills are just as important as problem-solving skills, especially among young children. However, the introduction of technology in classes reduces the amount of time that students have to interact with one another and thus develop the necessary team-working or language skills needed to survive in the workplace too.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Some proponents argue that research has shown some positive improvements; even though these findings are small, they still represent a positive correlation. However, analysts have realized that sometimes the positive results may come from external factors such as parental involvement. When schools decide to incorporate some of these technologies in teaching, they often expect parents to make contributions to the purchases. As a result, most parents will become keen on their children’s performance, which will make their results improve. Additionally, one will find that schools with high levels of investment in technology often train their teachers very frequently. Increases in test scores may actually be brought on by the improved teaching training rather than the technologies. Baylor and Ritchie (12) found that for technology to work well in the classroom, it must be complemented by a series of other activities. Teachers need to have a plan for the technology, which must cons ist of the vision and philosophy that will determine the use of that technology. One must also name all the stakeholders involved as well as the configuration, time plan and funding components of the technology. Furthermore, teachers require technology role models from their administrations, such as school principles, in order to provide leadership. Curriculum alignment is also another vital contributor to the success of technology. Teachers need to be exposed to the technology for a long period of time before they can claim to have mastered it. Educators also need to make decisions on how best to use the technologies once they have been introduced to that setting (Evans-Andris 27). All these prerequisites may present serious problems in realization of tangible results. First, educators may find it difficult to estimate aspects of the technology plan such as funding or configuration. It is difficult to find technology models in schools, and curriculum alignment is always problematic ; many teachers cannot maintain the same pace as the changes in technology. Lastly, differentials exist on the best way to utilize technology. Conclusion Research on the effect of technology in classrooms is inconclusive as some studies show only slight improvements while most reveal no change or reduced performance. It would not make sense to invest in a program that has not been validated. Furthermore, most positive results emanate from teacher training and parental support rather than the actual technological tool. Works Cited Baylor, Amy Donn Ritchie. â€Å"What factors facilitate teacher skill, teacher morale, and perceived student leanring technology-using classrooms?† Computers and Education. 4(2002): 1-20. Web. Evans-Andris, Micheal. â€Å"An examination of computing styles among teachers in elementary schools.† Educational Technology Research and Development, 4.2(1995): 15-30. Print. Kulik, James. Effects of using instructional technology in elementary and se condary schools: What controlled evaluation studies say. SRI International no. P10446. Arlington, VA, 2003 Muir-Herzig, Rozalind. â€Å"Technology and its impact in the classroom.† Computers and Education 42(2004): 111-131. Web. Richtel, Matt.†In classroom of future, stagnant scores.† New York Times, 4 September 2011: A1. Print. This essay on Using technology in classrooms was written and submitted by user Kamden Sullivan to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Employee Performance in Management

Employee Performance in Management Introduction The management of employee or the human resource is very instrument towards success in terms of performance. Proper management makes the employees be motivated and feel that they are working in a friendly environment.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Employee Performance in Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The performance management is affected by different factors that surround the employee. These range from social, economical and even work related reasons. The organization is supposed to reduce to the least attainable levels the factors that may affect an employee in order to realize the full potential of the same. A clichà © goes â€Å"a happy employee makes a happy boss†. The concept of performance management seeks to improve the general efficacy and the efficiency of human resource. An efficient and proper system of performance management can be used for several purposes. These inc lude communication of the organization goals, gauging the performance of the organization as well as giving feedback as to how to improve the current existing performance. Performance management is defined as: â€Å"a process used for establishing a shared understanding of what is to be achieved, and the approach to managing and also developing people in such a manner which increases the probability that it shall be achieved in the desired short and long term† (Armstrong Baron 19). From the definition, it is self evident that performance management is a key process in any organization. It plays an important in determining how fast an organization will grow. It is also important to the employee as it makes him be aware of his strengths and development during his career.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It is not a single process. Neither is it a technique. It s a comprehensive set of process combined with philosophies that seek to determine the factors that can improve the performance of an employee and the way which these will be employed (Aslam 3). This means that performance management involves a deeper understanding of the employee and the factors surrounding his ability to perform a certain duty as well as coming up with a solution to remove these hindrances and develop an efficient employee. In order to ensure that the full potential of employee is achieved, step must be taken to ensure that performance is attained. The steps begin before the work is actually carried out and it continues even after the completion of the work. In pre planning, there are role setting and objective determination while in post work there is the employee appraisal (feedback) and the overall review of the employee performance. The steps involved generally include role definition, performance benchmarking, performance development and performance review. R ole definition and Profiling The first step in performance management is understanding the role and niche that the organization seeks to fill. In understanding this, the company then goes ahead and profiles. Here the managers sit and define the purpose of the organization as well as the priority of each. It is also during this step that the managers shall set the objectives of the organization and the purposes that the same shall seek to fulfil. The managers also clearly define the roles of the organization in accordance with the core values of the organization. The role is normally on tandem with what the objectives of the organization are.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Employee Performance in Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is comprehensive enough to include the mission and vision of the group. These are important as they set an overview of how an employee shall be expected to carry out his duties during the tenure of his employment. They also provide a general idea of how an employee shall conduct himself during the performance. Setting the Performance benchmarks In setting the performance benchmarks, there is need to understand the objectives and the goals that the organization seeks to achieve. In this stage the managers shall sit down and define the organizational objectives as well as how these objectives shall be achieved. In order to measure performance, there should be benchmarks against which the performance shall be measured against. The managers shall also determine the suitable management model that shall be applicable to the organization. There are different forms of management. It is therefore upon the managers to carefully interrogate these models and come up with one that fits the nature of performance that is desired by the organization. Steps involved in performance management The first important step that the line managers take is to have a meeting and set the objectives as well as the strategies. Performance management shall be aimed at attaining a certain objective. The sales manager shall have the objective of ensuring that the sales in a particular business increase by at least twenty percent. The strategic planning manager shall give his target objective and the strategy to ensure that that particular objective is attained.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In setting the objectives, the managers are required to be realistic. The managers are supposed to take a REAL (Realistic, Efficient, Acceptable and Long lasting) approach. An unrealistic plan or objective is likely to stress the employees and consequently reduce the input of the same. Furthermore, having unrealistic goals can end up demoralizing the management as failure is likely to occur. The objectives themselves are supposed to be SMART (Aslam 6). SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time framed. These are the core considerations that an organization shall bear in mind when deciding on the objectives. The second step involves brainstorming and coming up with how to achieve the objectives set in step one. In this step, the managers have to consider the different roles each department plays and employ relevant and corresponding tactics that will work out. One of the methods that shall be employed is the use of self managed teams. The rationale be hind this is that the employees in such a group have a sense of independence and also have team work bonding. The self managed groups, unlike the directed groups, are normally innovative, take initiative and own the organization goals (Elmuti 235). The third step involves competence assessment. Here the managers shall be involved in matching the employees to the duties that correspond with their skills. Competency also means assessing whether the organization’s human resource has the required know-how people to carry out the means set in step to achieve the objectives set in the first step. Competence assessment shall ensure that no employee is given a duty which beyond his capability. Assigning an employee a duty that is beyond his capability imposes stress and pressure and consequently reduces the performance. After the competence assessment is complete then the managers can now embark on duty allocation. Incompetence assessment the manager should look at the holistic stren gths and weaknesses of an employee. They should also consider factors such as experience and leadership skill of the same. Any mistake made in the allocation of the duties to the employees shall extend and contribute towards the performance of such an employee. Proper allocation of duties is likely to deliver better performance. Also worthy of note is that poor allocation of duties leads to waste of talent on the part of the employee and poor delivery to the organization. Staffing is therefore very important in increasing employee performance. Execution is the next step. During execution of a plan, there is need for constant monitoring and evaluation of how the employees are fairing. This is important in order to make sure that any mistakes are immediately corrected before they go deep into affecting the whole plan. The monitoring should take place at all levels and should be both horizontal as well as vertical. There should be a proper communication channel during the execution. Th e channel should be both upwards and downwards. The upward communication channel allows the employees to communicate the challenges they are facing. It is axiomatic that these challenges have an impact on their final performance. Downward communication is important to let the employees know whether they are performing a good job or not. Communication has a bearing on the performance of an employee and it is also a great instrument for passing the goals and targets of the organization. Lastly there is the process of performance evaluation. It is during this process that performance rating and grading. While rating and grading performance it is important to bear in mind the benchmarks, objectives as well as the goals that the organization sought to achieve in the first place. Performance evaluation and rating is the basis for performance review. In order to do a proper review, you need to compare your current grading to your former grading. It is also during the performance review tha t an organization can trace and find out where or what influenced poor performance in a certain organization department. From here, the managers shall then communicate the feedback and performance appraisal to the employees. Feedback to the employees is good for two main purposes. Worthy of note is that in an organization there are three levels of goals. There are the employee’s individual goals, the team or group goals and finally the overall organization goals. Good management need to delve into what the employees’ individual goals are. In order to motivate the employees in achieving the target company goals there is a need to synchronize employee goals with the overall goals. Sometimes within a team, ones individual performance appraisal can have the impact of interfering with the intended group goals and targets. This is mainly through emphasizing the individual (Wiese Buckley 234). Dealing with underperformance It is axiomatic that individual performance differs from one employee to another. What is important is that all the employees give their best and at least manage to attain the minimum target. In order to motivate the underperforming employees the company shall offer rewards and promotions to the performing employees. This will serve as an enticing gesture towards working hard. It will also motivate the workers. There is a connection between performance at work and the social life of an employee. The organization shall allow the employees to have a social welfare group. This shall be in charge of advocating and promoting the social welfare of the employees. An employee who is socially relaxed performs better than one who is disturbed. Another way of dealing with underperforming employees is to try and develop them in terms of expertise and technical ability. This can be done through sponsoring them to formal education. This can be done through sending them to seminars or even providing them with loans (at a lower interest rate) to fur ther their education. Setting semi-autonomous work groups are also helpful in terms of improving employee’s capability. When in teams it is easier for an underperforming employee to learn from others. However, important to note is that this shall depend on the level of bonding between the members. It is thus important for an organization to ensure that there is enough bonding sessions so that the employees can acquaint themselves to each other. Also during boning session, an employee who is seen as underperforming can have the chance to showcase his strengths. These strengths can be useful in other departments. As a result his underperformance in one department shall lead to his transfer to a department in which he has strengths and thereby improving his performance. Employee development It is important that an employee develops and not just stagnate in terms of his expertise. Development is important as the employee increases his know-how in both technical and managerial abi lities. Development can be done through training in seminars, workshops as well as through experience gained in the work. The best way to encourage employee development is to offer rewards through promotion. Another means of employee development is rotational responsibility. In this scenario, the leadership position in a group does not permanently rest on one employee but rather revolves around after a certain period of time. Through this, all the employees will develop in terms leadership as well as technical skills. Apart from that they will also appreciate the challenges being faced by the leaders and therefore respond more supportively whenever a challenging situation emerge. Having an ongoing dialogue platform is also a very important means to ensure the development of an employee. It is through constant dialogue that the management can find out means and ways to increase the efficiency of an employee. Dialogue also facilitates a route to feed back to the employee on his perfor mance. With that communication, motivation is built and the employee’s overall performance is increased. Involvement of employees in Strategic planning Strategic planning is important in the development of an organization. Involvement of the employees encourages direct contribution towards the plan. The employees feel involved and end owning the plan and not feel as if the plan has been imposed on them. Involvement can be done at different levels. For instance, a department manager may have a strategic plan meeting with the employees working under him. He gets the views from these employees on how to improve the plan. The employees feel that they are involved and end up giving their best in order to achieve the goals set in the strategic plan. The achievement of a goal is easy when the goals are set by the employee themselves than when the goals have been imposed on them. It is suggested that by allowing the employees to chip in when setting the goals they also get the opport unity to raise the potential challenges that might affect what they are to do in order to achieve these goals. This makes the manager as well as the employees have ample time to deal with matters which would otherwise affect the performance of an employee. Recommendations The creation of independent groups in the organization is recommended as it allows the members to increase their contribution and innovation. This is contrary to the traditional directed groups where innovation was limited and the members just waited to act upon directives given from managers. Direct groups are those traditional teams that work only upon the directive of their seniors. Here there is inhibition of innovation which is not good for the organization. Their contribution is limited and the motivation is also lacking compared to the self directing groups. A self directing group is independent and self starting. It therefore makes the performance of employees increase due to the presence of innovation. Ano ther recommendation is encouraging the employees to have a working social welfare within them. The welfare should be autonomous. Those shall form an avenue for social interaction and bonding. Bonding and social interaction form the main ingredients of successful teamwork. Giving bonus and other remuneration based benefits to recognize good performance is also a means by which an organization may use to motivate the performance of its employees. Encouraging team and communication is also recommended in improving the performance of the employee. Through communication the organization goals reach the employees and through the same the employees are able to communicate the problems that might affect their performance. Dialogue between the managers and the employees is the best way to clear all the hindrances that affect employee performance. Armstrong, Michael Baron, Angela. Performance Management: The New Realities, London: CIPD, 1998. Print Aslam, Hassan. â€Å"Improving Performanc e Management Practices in IT Firms of Pakistan.† Journal of Management Research 2.2 (2010): 3-6. Print Elmuti, Dean. â€Å"Self managed work teams approach: creative management tool or a fad?† Management Decisions 35.3 (1997): 233-239. Print Wiese, Danielle Buckley, Ronald. â€Å"The Evolution of The Performance Appraisal Process.† Journal of Management History 4.3 (1998): 233-249. Print

The Use of Alcohol Rub in Preventing Infection Essay

The Use of Alcohol Rub in Preventing Infection - Essay Example According to Bloom, Fischer & Orme(2009) the ideology is derived from the ethical principle that is required by the clients for the most effective and possible interventions. For evidence based practice, typically, they use reviews of research on intervention effectiveness and then critically assess the reviews on the bases of validity and utility of practice. According to Children’s Workforce Development Council (2011), evidence based practice is a combination of the best external research and practitioner expertise and evaluation that is based on the evidence. I have found that evidence based practice is a way to update knowledge; essentially it can be used in different scenarios. As pointed out by McEwen and Wills (2002), evidence based nursing will fill the gap of research, theory and practice. According to him, it de-emphasizes isolated, rituals and unsystematic clinical experiences and traditions as the basis of practice. Therefore, once a nurse starts opting for evidenc e based practice, they come to know different ways through which they can use the experience of other practitioners (Cluett 2006). This is one of the basic reasons why, as an adult nurse, I prefer evidence based practice. Evidence Based Practice in Nursing: Evidence based practice, help the nurses tend to stay updated on the new discoveries (Beyea & Slattery, 2006).In my experience, I have noticed that as the nurses are sure that their decisions are based on valid information, the confidence in their practice increases, and their decisions power is increased. As cited in Barker J (2010), Pearson et al. (2008) identifies that a nurse is expected to understand the quality of evidence that is... The essay discusses three types of evidences: Systematic review is different from traditional literature review. Systematic review is a way to collect the evidence. In this method, the findings of all methodologically sound studies are summarized. The process reviews can help the practitioners to keep abreast of the medical literature. It involves the application of scientific strategies. In the nutshell, Cochrane Collaboration summaries that a systematic review is a high level overview of primary research on a particular research question that tries to identify, select, synthesize and appraise all high quality research evidence relevant to that question in order to answer it. I believe, when such a form of research is used in nursing, the decision making regarding health and the ratio to get benefits increases. In order to find that alcohol rub helps in preventing the spread of infection, different studies in this area can be reviewed. Through this, particular circumstances can be k nown in which alcoholic hand rubs must be used, and instances where it must not be made use of. Randomised controlled trails help to determine whether a cause-effect relationship exists between treatment and outcome, and to assess the cost effectiveness of a treatment. It is used to examine the effect of interventions on particular outcomes such as death or the recurrence of disease. Some consider randomizing controlled trials as the best research design. Therefore it is considered to be the most powerful type of experimental research.

Workshop report 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Workshop report 3 - Essay Example ining information from the collected is the science and art of statistics, empirical research is statistical reasoning, for this reasons, researchers from different fields are trained in for the application, confidence intervals, significance probabilities, hypothesis tests, or posterior probability distributions. Some ethical considerations were also discussed while conducting surveys. Solution to the problem is of statistical methods in research. The present study is based on the scientific survey of sampling method and the sampling type is random sampling widely used for population sampling studies (2,8). In the present study methodology that was adopted for the experiment and the ethical considerations for surveying were discussed. The methodology comprises collecting the data, analysing the data, and obtaining results and conclusions from the data. In the surveys where random sampling method is adopted, a particular criteria is adopted for selection, under this criteria different groups are selected for the same parameter, and by lottery procedure, a member is selected from each group for testing. This is the probability sampling method where the controversy on the selection procedure is less, the balance between the sampling frame and the population will be good by this procedure (3), (4). (5) A good designed experiment gives an idea of how, one variable responds to the changes in other variable in the controlled conditions of the experiment. While investigating the possibility of cause and effect relationship, the variable that is responsible for the effect is termed as ‘Dependant variable’ because this variable depends upon the causes, variables that represent causes are ‘Independent variables’. Confounding variable is a variable that correlates with the independent and dependent variable, thus it is not possible to determine whether the changes in the independent variable causes changes in the dependent variable or confounding variable, if the

Classification and division Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Classification and division - Essay Example Thus schools are classified mainly into three broad categories; Elementary school, middle school and high school, for educating the children of different ages in a proper manner. Elementary schools are institutions in which children get their initial education. It is also referred as primary schools in some parts of the world. Elementary education includes kindergarten education or pre-primary education and primary education. Children within the age group of 3-11 are usually admitted in the elementary schools. Story telling methods are usually adopted in elementary teaching because of the interests of elementary school children in hearing stories. Problem solving or analytical methods cannot be applied in elementary school stages because of the difficulty of small aged children in grasping topics through such methods. Elementary education usually ends in the fifth standard. At the end of elementary education, middle school education starts. Middle schools are institutions in which th e children of 11 to 14 years old undergo the learning process. Usually, education from grade sixth to eighth is included in middle schools. â€Å"Young people undergo more rapid and profound personal changes between the ages 10 and 15 than at any other time in their lives.

Coca Cola Company: Market Value and Sustainability

Coca Cola Company: Market Value and Sustainability Introduction In this project I will do a detail study of Coca Cola Company, I will study about the market value of Coca Cola and how sustainable the Coca Cola Company is for the people. I will highlight the issues which are faced by Coca Cola and describe the business cycle of the company. I will mention all the strength and capabilities of Coca Cola in coming years. Brief history of the Coca Cola Company May 8th 1886 Coca Cola was created by John S. and served at Jacobs Pharmacy. At start the company had a rough start and it was named Coca Cola by companys accountant Frank. In 1887 the promotion method was coupons, and John S. registered Coca Cola Syrup and Extract to US patent office. In 1915 the Coca Cola Company design a bottle by Alexander Samuelson which became standard bottle for Coca Cola. In 2008 Coca Cola sponsored the big games and Coca Cola facebook page which is made by two fans has over twenty two million fans worldwide. In 2009 Coca Cola became a billion dollar brand, and in 2010 Coca Cola Company obtain the whole North American bottling business. By 2011 Coca Cola Company celebrates its 125 years. Reference coca cola website Coca Cola is largest company in the world which sells beverages. Coca Cola has large product brands which are more than five hundred. Its products include popular names such as Coca Cola Classic, Fanta, Sprite, and Minute Maid. Coca Cola besides being number one company is the most valued company in the world. Coca Cola has a long history of being sustainable company in profit and also for protecting communities and their environment (The Coca-Cola Company, 2010). Vision, mission, and objectives of Coca Cola Mission of Coca Cola In the mission statement of Coca Cola its purpose as a company is to serve in standard terms. It also takes good account about each and every action and decision made by Coca Cola. The aim of mission is to make the world refresh, inspire people, bring happiness, and to make difference by value of its products. Vision of Coca Cola Coca Cola vision is the framework roadmap for every aspect of Coca Colas business. Coca Colas vision is to achieve sustainable growth by applying the principle described below: People: Bring inspiration into peoples life while working in Coca Cola. Partners: Creating a winning network of suppliers and customers. Portfolio: Bring portfolio of quality into the world. Productivity: Making Coca Cola effective company. Profit: Make profit while heedful of responsibilities. Planet: Becoming responsible citizen and supporting sustainable communities. Objective of Coca Cola Objectives are drive from vision and mission of the company and it serve as action of Coca Cola how to behave in the world. Headship: Having courage for better future. Group effort: Believe in collative genius. Integrity: Be genuine. Passion: Having hard time mind committed. Accountability: To be accountable to the people. Diversity: Broad as Coca Colas brand. Quality: Produce best products. SWOT Coca Cola Coca Colas strengths Coca Cola is widely known to the world, and its popularity is its strength. Coca Cola is known to people by its colour, logos, and marketing. Coca Cola has status in beverage industry which is not challenged by any other company. People who drink Coca Cola are loyal to Coca Cola for example 80% of revenue of Coca Cola come from its 20% loyal consumers. Coca Cola has ability to sell and make products around the world which is unique to Coca Cola. Coca Colas weakness Coca Cola Company has few weaknesses. There is no effect from Coca Cola to answer the question people pose about harms of Coca Colas drinks. People think that Coca Colas products are not good for health. Coca Colas opportunities Coca Cola has many opportunities which it can take advantage of for its success. Coca Cola can actively market its products which are less popular. Coca Cola is know to 90% population of the world and it can bring this to 100%. Coca Cola can increase the gap between itself and its competitors. Coca Colas external Threats Coca Cola has been very successful company but yet to deal with some threats. Coca Cola need to settle its lawsuits. It also needs to change peoples negative view about Coca Cola Company. Strengths Recognized Reputation A lot of funding Loyal consumers Trade globally Weaknesses Issues Health Unpopularity of some of the brands of Coca Cola Whistle blowing Imaginary advertising Opportunities Pursuing successful brand Marketing less popular product Takeover competition Recognition of more brand Threats Lawful issues Pepsi main competitor Health authority Shifting health consciousness thoughts Challenges faced by Coca Cola Coca Cola worldwide market shares in flavored carbonated and soft drinks are forty seven percent. In USA Coca Cola has this share to forty two percent and globally fifty percent. Coca Cola is world largest manufactures, distributer and marketer of beverage industry which brings many challenges for Coca Cola. Canning and bottling is done in many countries, in 1995 change in organization of Coca Cola lead to five regional group headed by group president and it also resulted in spinning of canning and bottling operations into independent companies. The other challenges are faced by coca cola are related to different things. There is frequent change of Chief Executive Officer and there was also financial crisis in Russia which hit Coca Cola. Coca Cola is also facing the problem of weak global economy. Coca Cola has to deal with price due to local competitions, and there is also problem of foreign exchange which leads to low profit due to fragile currency. There was also challenge for expanding Coca Cola which resulted failure of purchase of Cadbury. Coca Cola also has challenge of being poor quality. Challenges which are ahead of Coca Cola are related to many spectrums. Coca Cola lacks creativity in marketing and advertising. It has poor relationship with some bottlers. There are some issues related to management of Coca Cola by over controlling board of directors. There is unwillingness in Coca Cola to change according to industry demands. Pepsi diversification into snacks and non beverage industry is challenge for Coca Cola. Opportunities in given challenges for Coca Cola Brand recognition is very important factor affecting Coca Colas competitive position. Coca Colas brand name is known to ninety percent of the world. The primary cause over the past few years is to get this brand name to even better known. Packaging changes affect Coca Colas sales and industry position but in general the people are tending not to be effective by new product. Coca Cola bottling system allow it to take advantage of never-ending growth opportunities around the world. This strategy of Coca Cola gives opportunity to serve in large and different geographic areas. Levels of strategies of Coca Cola Step 7: What strategies are adopted in the company over the years. Distinctly discuss separately all the levels of strategies. And identify the DOMINANT strategy. Building Competitive Advantage Though Business-Level Strategy In a business model which is successful we need to have business level strategy which give a company competitive advantage over its rivals. They must decide 1) customer needs and how they are satisfied 2) customer groups and how they need to be satisfied 3) distinctive competencies of how customers needs to be satisfied. Business-Level Strategy and the Industry Environment In bitty industries composed of large number of small and medium size companies in the principle form of competitive strategy are chaining, horizontal merger, franchising, and using internet. In growth industries the strategies is determined by market demand. Companies need to identify from growth to maturity by choosing investment strategy that helps or supports there business model. There are four main strategies which a company can have if the demand is falling: Leadership Niche Harvest Divestment Strategy in High-Technology Industries Technical values are very important in many high tech industries, and they guarantee compatibility, reduce confusion in consumers, allow mass production by lower past and reduce risk with supply complementary products. A technological model shift occur when new technology come and revolutionize the structure of industry, dramatically change nature of competition, and require for the company to adapt to new strategies for surviving. Strategy in the Global Environment For some companies international expansions means a way to earn greater returns by transferring skills and products offering derived from their distinctive competencies to market where indigenous competitor lacks these skills. Companies also purse localization strategy customaries their product offering, business strategy to country condition and marketing strategy. The most attractive foreign tend to be found in politically stable and develop countries. There are five ways to enter into foreign market: Exporting Licensing Joint venture Franchising Wholly owned subsidiary Pg 284 ch 8 Corporate-Level Strategy: horizontal Integration, Vertical Integration, and Strategic Outsourcing Corporate strategy should enable a company or its unit to perform in one or more value creation function at lower cost in a way which allows for differentiation or premium price. Horizontal Integration can be understood as a way of increasing the profitability of the company by: Reduce cost Differentiation Replication of business model Managing the rivalry within the industry Increase bargaining over buyer and supplier Horizontal integration has two drawbacks 1) numerous pitfalls related to merger and acquisition 2) and the fact that the strategy can bring company in conflict with antitrust authorities. Vertical Integration can enable a company to accomplish competitive advantage by building barrier to entry, facilitating investment, product quality protection, and helping improve schedule between adjacent stage in value chain. The drawback is bureaucratic cost for the company and lack of flexibility when the technology is changing fast. Strategic Outsourcing of noncore value creation activities may allow a company to lower its cost, differentiate its product, respond to rapid changing of market condition and to make better views of scarce resources. Corporate-Level Strategy: Formulating and Implementing Related and Unrelated Diversification Diversification is considered by managers when a company is generating free cash flows which are financial resources in excess to need for maintaining competitive advantage in companys original business. Diversify company can create value by: Transferring competencies within businesses Leveraging competencies for new businesses Sharing resource for economic scope Product bundling Using diversification to manage rivalry Exploit organizational competencies to increase performance Related diversification is strategy of establishing a business unit into new industry related to companys existing business unit by some form of linkage or commonality between one or more compound of each business unit value chain. Unrelated diversifications aim is to enhance profit by embedment general organization competencies in new business units and perhaps to capture benefit of multipoint competition. The Coca Cola strategy is to make Coca Cola more than a soft drink. It position itself to contribute to make life better, fun times, little lighter and more enjoyable. The corporate strategy of Coca Cola is based upon opportunities. Coca Cola knows that they are in beverage industry and they sell one billion cokes a day and they know that people drink forty eight billion serving of beverages each day around the globe. So in term of global opportunity Coca Cola has to have only two share of beverage industry so they need to design business system or strategy to take advantage of this opportunity. Coca Cola is at keystone of its strategy because it is instance recognized and allows Coca Cola to build critical mass by day one. Coca Cola should capitalize on its brand as the brand make certain promises, such as promise quality, promise value, promise propriety, promise jobs, promise retail margin, promise make living by selling Coca Cola. Procter Gamble is a very triumphant company but nobody knows what Gamble Procter is but in case of Coca Cola we know instantly. Coca Cola use Corporate-Level Strategy in its business model to be very successful. Changes in global environment Strategic decision of the company which is operating in global marketing place is becoming increasingly complex. In such company manager cant know global operations as set of independent decisions. Hence they are faced by trade off decision in which different products, environments, resource sourcing, and strategic options must be considered. In such companies two important things also play important role one is stockholder activism which is demand place on global company by the stock holders in the environments in which it operates. Second thing is multi-domestic industry which is an industry in which competition is segmented from country to country. A global environment brings many challenges for the companies which are mention below: It increase global management task It increase globalization of the company Information outburst Increase in global competition Speedy development of technology Strategic management planning raise managerial confidence Page 137 Book Competitive strategy In my opinion there are many things which a company can do to survive in challenging environment of global environment. A company should be having a strategic planning for each and every company for develop very successfully. A company should adapt to changes which occur in global environment. A company like Coca Cola works in country to country basis because of its bottling department which operates in many countries hence giving Coca Cola a advantage in global environment. Recommend new strategy Coca Colas strategy should be aggressive in term of marketing and advertisement. Coca Cola should also improve the relationship between Coca Cola and bottle manufactures. Coca Cola needs to change itself according to beverage industry demand worldwide. The Coca Cola should conduct socially interactions. Conclusion In conclusion Coca Cola should implement work place safety, inclusive workplace, replenishing of water and reforestation. Coca Cola should collaborate with bottling companies partners to be safer for working environment prevent injuries or illness and to have safe behavior. Coca Cola should also careful use water because it is used by Coca Cola in many drinks and scarce of water can be a big problem in future.

Future of English

Future of English as a global language â€Å"A language achieves a genuinely global status when it develops a special role that is recognized in every country† (Crystal 1997). In the 21st century, English is increasingly becoming the dominant language in global communication. However, the question of where the future of English lies remains unclear. Will English in the future increase in popularity or should we adopt a better alternative? English is undoubtedly one of the most influential languages in the world as more and more people use English as their official or second language. It has been given a variety of labels to represent its popularity. However, social inequalities and injustices have also emerged in the same process, revealing the controversial role English has had internationally. In order to critically examine the future of English as a global language this essay will discuss the following topics in this literature review. 1. Rise of English World-wide 2. English as the language of Science and Technology 3. English language teaching world-wide The number of English speakers in the world has increased at an astonishing rate throughout the last few centuries. According to Crystal he states that by 1983, the number of people speaking English as an official language was over 1,400 million world wide. Moreover in India and its subcontinent, the English language has an official standing. In the late 1990’s the number of English speaking citizens in China was approximately 220 million. The Olympics provided the motivation for an increase to double these numbers. English has brought benefits, social inequalities and injustices. It remains questionable as to whether or not English would remain a global standard language. Tsuda discuss how the political and cultural neutrality of the common language used internationally is extremely important and is required within the English language. By incorporating English into any society, countries are able to have some share of the globalization benefits but this necessitates the force of implementing English. If this way is adopted, the independence and uniqueness of other cultures will diminish because of one language dominating other ways worldwide and homogenize them into a Western and more particularly an American way of life. Esperanto has been suggested by Tsuda is a language that could be used for the purpose of an equal communication. The Esperanto movement has its philosophy as peace. The author questions whether English has a similar philosophy. THE RISE OF ENGLISH WORLD ·WIDE English has undoubtedly dominated other languages in the past 20 years. How it came to be so is another story altogether, although some stress it on historical or political spurs while others believe that modern-day socio-economic and scientific motivations led to its popularity. However in my opinion and with some research it is believed that the popularity of English began by the end of World War II. The only major industrialized country unaffected by war was the United States. The United States rapidly began working on scientific discoveries, such as the computer, this led to an increase in exchange of information globally, by design English became the source language for storage of information and its retrieval. The United States spent 40 years, after the war, working on setting up research universities, research and development departments, economic stability and computer networking. Hence becoming the supreme user of information technology as well as its biggest contributor. When you contribute towards something you eventually become its manager, similarly the United States began managing information such as its categorization, storage as well as operating languages and computer system designs. And the only medium it knew best to manage was in the programmer’s natural language i. e. English. So now English not only became the global language of Science but also ecame the global language of Information Technology. The position of English as a dominant language in areas of science and Technology is now quiet secure since most of the modern-day information assemblage are English based. English as the language of Science and Technology: Over the last 20 years, the spread of English has been enormous. Developing Countries desires for economic development, their need for information access and transfer of technology have been the key catalyst behind this domina nce. Although some might see this dominance as a negative impact that will not last for long, in Baileys 1983 article he states: â€Å"People bent on imposing their ways on others have no difficulty in contriving arguments to justify their doing so. The historical and present-day spread of English is no exception to that principle. Also â€Å"The hegemony of English that has steadily grown with the increase in global communication is now beginning to diminish and will shrink further in the immediate future† Although such a notion puts forward that English does represent part hegemony, it is the sort of hegemony that will not fade away or diminish in the near future due to some revolution but if it does it will not be as most have expect. However if evidence to date is considered, English is far from being diminished, it is now more than ever still expanding and continuing to secure its role as a global language hence further emphasizing the importance of English in our modern day lives. It should be made clear that any country that wishes to modernize itself and grow in the areas of science and technology and eventually com pete in global markets cannot show a resistance towards English. It is imperative for any country wishing to make its place in the world for any form of trade to communicate in English. Such will be the case until a time comes in the future when other languages are able to provide access to larger information and better technological development, or until a computer’s ability is developed to such an extent that it becomes independent of any specific natural language. Many have termed this statement as an argument for English for Science and Technology (EST) instruction. Of late Garfield (1987) pointed out that 88% of articles present in the Science Citation Index were in English, and from 1978 till 1982 data indicates that this development has been quiet consistent. He further adds that if citation data is to be considered then the dominance of English is seen at large. Around 96% of all citations, from 1978 to 1982, present in the index journal are written in English. Garfield also surveyed that most countries that had an option to publish in their language or a foreign language often chose to publish in English as frequently as in their own language. For example according to Garfield’s research, from 1978 to 1982, the Japanese Scientists cited their own publications 3 times as much as their Japanese publications. While according to Swinburne (1983) the French scientists cited their publications in English four times as much as their French publications. In the same way the Russian Scientists cited their publications quiet often in English as well. All this suggests that even those countries that value their natural language more are now giving a lot of importance to the use of English as a global language as well as a medium for scientific progression. The major reason behind this acceptance of English is due to the fact that 80 to 85% of all information stored in a computerized data bases around the world are written in either English or in some way abstracted in English. (Kaplan 1980-1982) and (McCrum et al 1986) English is not only the language for Technology but now is widely being used in Medical publications, in a study by Maher(1986) it is pointed out that from 1966 to 1980 a 19% increase in use of English in medical publications can been seen, from 53% to 72% respectively. In more recent research Maher shows that, with Japan being an exception, there is an incline towards the trend in general rather than a decline. English is undoubtedly the prevailing and widely used language of Science and Technology. Therefore it must be understood that for any country to ecome modernize and industrialize and technologically competitive, it is imperative that they access or use information that has been written in English. In the past 20 years the exponential growth in publications, the need for even faster retrieval and access of information and the stark demands generated by private multinational corporations and government industries have created a competition amongst countries to an extent that t he only access to information they have, technological or otherwise is basically in English. So any public or private modern day business or industries wanting to compete in the global markets and magnify their production need to have access to some form of information, latest researches and technological applications. And in order to utilize the research, applications or information the managers or administrators must be able to use English because English will be the language used to acquire information out of a system. This competition and the need for latest information make the position of English as a global language unwavering and steadfast for years to come. According to Forey & Nunan â€Å"Hong Kong is a major international trading, business, banking, and communications center, and English is seen as a key to maintaining its position in these areas. †(Forey & Nunan, 2002) ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING WORLD ·WIDE In extension to the above rationale that English is the language of Science, it won’t be wrong to say that wherever a need exists English is to be taught. Over the past 20 years this awareness has grown world-wide and more and more countries are giving English a great deal of importance in their school curriculum. Although the level of English being taught and the measures to be taken for its proper learning is a different issue altogether. Asian countries like China, Honk Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Philippines and Malaysia have added English language in their school curriculum at an early age, with teaching time ranging from minimum 4 hours a week to maximum 50 hours a week. Also a shift in the age at which English is taught is seen, from secondary classes to primary classes. It should be made clear that not all citizens of a country need to understand English, although in doing so they are denying themselves the access to the enormous information available world-wide. Even a country like Japan that holds a strong resistance towards English has introduced the language at high school level. English in China is in some way considered or has become the language for the elite; those who are unable to learn proper English in schools and have a sound family background begin taking private tuitions in order to learn English. This introduction of English in schools at such primary level, as well as the steps various governments have taken to ensure its proper learning of the language simply shows the dominance and importance of English world-wide. CONCLUSION To draw a conclusion that English is indeed a global language and will likely remain one in the near future seems reasonable. English plays a vital role is areas of information retrieval and its access, as well as in Science and Technology. Any country wishing to explore or expand in these areas will need to understand English. Although coming to such a conclusion is not as simple as it may seem, there are many complex issues at stake here but nevertheless, in light of the evidence provided in this paper it will not be wrong to say that English has clearly achieved world dominance and will continue to maintain its position not only as the language for Science and technology but also as world language in general. As Kaplan (1983b) has noted in an editorial in Science: â€Å"It seems reasonable to assert, however difficult it may be to accept, that knowledge of a world language, especially English, is essential to the welfare of the new nations . . New nations must find a balance between the cultivation of indigenous culture-rich language and the need for a world language . . . Any other course is tantamount to restricting their capability for modernization. † Reference List ? Bailey, R. W. (1983) Literacy in English: an international perspective. In Literacy for Life. Edited by R. W. Bailey and R. Fos heim. New York: MLA. pp. 30-44. ? Crystal, D. (1997). English as a global language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ? Crystal, D. (2000). Language death. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Curriculum Development Council. (1999). Syllabuses for secondary schools Englishlanguage (Secondary 1–5). Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region, China: Hong Kong Education Department. ? Education Commission. (1990). Education commission report number 4. Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region, China: Hong Kong Education Department. ? Forey, G. , & Nunan, D. (2002). The role of language and culture within the accountancy workforce. In C. Barron, N. Bruce, & D. Nunan (Eds. ), Knowledge and discourse: Towards an ecology of language. London: Longman/Pearson. ? Garfield, E. (1987) English spoken here. The Scientist, 1, 9 (7 September). ? Graddol, D. (1997). The future of English. London: British Council. ? Kaplan, R. B. (1980) A language-planning rationale for English for special purposes. In Language Policy and Language Teaching: Essays in Honor of Clifford H. Prator. Edited by J. Povey. Culver City, CA: ELS. pp. 53-64. ? Kaplan, R. B. (1982) Information science and ESP. Paper presented at the 16th Annual TESOL Convention, Honolulu, HI, May 1982. Kaplan, R. B. (1983b) Language and science policies of new nations. (Editorial) Science, 221,4614 (2 September). ? McCrum, R. , Cran, W. and MacNeil. R. (1986) The Story of English. New York: Viking. ? Maher, J. (1986) The development of English as an international langiage of m&ine. Applied Linguistics, 7, 206-218. ? Swinburne, J. (1983) Information use and transfer by British and French scientists: a study of two groups. Journal of information science 6, 75-80 — ——————– 2010

Fukushima Earthquake And Tsunami 2011 Essay

In March 2011, Japan was struck by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and a following tsunami. Authorities concluded that the earthquake was the cause of the Pacific plate releasing the friction built up after years converged under the North American plate (as shown in figure 3) along the fault line that lies kilometres away from Japan’s coastline. (Urbano, 2011)This caused the friction to spread through the ground-and what was originally said to be a magnitude 6.6 earthquake through the evaluation of incomprehensive readings from seismometers- shook Japan for over five minutes. The resulting tsunami was triggered by the explosive energy released by the earthquake. However, its damage was minimized by 10m high sea walls and the modeling of buildings along the coast, which had applied various scientific techniques to reduce impact from waves on actual buildings. Macintosh HD:Users:160161:Desktop:Unknown-1.jpeg Earthquakes are a very significant problem around the globe and can cause havoc through towns. The Japan earthquake and following tsunami resulted in 20000 deaths and caused the destruction of entire towns and many coastal areas of the country- the most notably being the TÅhoku region in Honshu. (Pletcher, 2013) A large percentage of the damage and lives lost could have been avoided if sciences techniques in detecting earthquakes- such as seismometers- would have alerted authorities in advance rather than minutes before the earthquake struck, as well as conveyed more accurate readings. Around the globe scientists and organisations have attempted to develop method of detecting earthquakes so that maximum damage can be prevented. Currently, around the globe seismometers, sea walls and building modeling are used to detect earthquakes through the readings of seismic waves. This scientific solution has potential to minimise damage from earthquakes and tsunamis around the globe if implemented correctly and its negatives minimized. The Application of Science To Detect Earthquakes and Consequently Prevent Damage-Seismometers Earthquakes can be detected by measuring the frequency of the seismic waves in a particular area using a scientific device such as a seismometer. Seismic waves are circular waves (see figure 4) created by the back and forth movement that occurs when an earthquake shakes the ground, thus releasing waves. A magnitude 8 or 9 earthquake- like the one in Japan 2011, are caused due to the faster and rapider movement of the ground. This releases a higher frequency of seismic waves that can be detected by scientific instruments like a seismometer-just as they were during the Fukushima earthquake. The science behind the implementation of seismometers in earthquake prone areas such as Japan is that they use the basic principal of inertia to detect seismic waves in the earth’s surface. They consist of a ground motion detection sensor and a recording system. In a simple seismometer’s detection system, a weight and a spring are suspended from a frame that moves along with the earth’s surface. As the earth moves, the relative motion between the weight and the earth, which is caused by seismic waves is measured by the recording system which consists of a rotating drum attached to the frame, (as shown in diagram 1) and a pen attached to the mass. This pencil moves along with the weight and the spring, leaving lines along the drum, which can be interpreted into determining the frequency of seismic waves and the magnitude of the coming earthquake by authorities.(Braile, 2000)Modern seismometers are electronic, and instead of using a pen and drum, the seismic activity generates an electrical voltage that is recorded by a computer. The reason why Japanese authorities and other nations around the world choose this science to help detect earthquakes is because it allows them to determine before hand when an earthquake is going to happen. Seismographs gather information over a long period of time and the patterns in the seismic wave frequency are easily analyzable. Seismometers were implemented in Japan’s coastline by local authorities with readings going to computers where the data from seismic waves was analyzed. This brought to the early conclusions that the earthquake was a magnitude 6.6 and later upgraded to 9.0 from further readings showing an increase in movement within the ground. Seismometers also bring a change in scientific research about certain regions and their risk to earthquakes, as it allows for research to be collected at various points before, during and after an earthquake, so that warnings can be sent out in advance next time or before an aftershock. (Dea, 2003) The Effectiveness of Detection/Damage Prevention Techniques Used In Japan Seismometers- Science’s solution to the problem-can be used to detect earthquakes and their location so that maximum damage can be prevented. In theory, scientists in Japan should have been able to pick up the earthquakes where about, magnitude and timing from the seismic activity under the earth’s surface that should have been detected by numerous seismometers located on the Pacific Ocean’s seabed. Scientists can use the readings gathered- based on the frequency of the waves-to calculate the magnitude of the earthquake before it reaches by working out the difference in arrival between two waves from tree different seismometers. (BBC, 2013) If the gap between the two arrivals is shorter, then the magnitude of the earthquake is also higher. Fukushima scientists also used this method to determine the exact location of the earthquakes epicentre through the process of triangulation in which they determine the distance travelled by waves at each of the three seismomet ers and pinpoint the centre (as shown in diagram 2). Seismometers certainly helped to detect the Fukushima earthquake. Evidence shows that almost a thousand lives were saved due to seismometers monitoring the Pacific seabed. They proved effective in saving lives because they were able to pick up the sudden seismic activity in the ground. The detection allowed scientists back in Japan to sound an alarm minutes before the earthquake arrived in Japan. However, the initial alarm was quite inaccurate, as it was originally sounded for a 6.6 magnitude earthquake. Over the last century around the world, scientists concluded that 9/10 times seismometers were initially incorrect in detecting the magnitude of the numerous earthquakes (Strevens, 2011). Seismometers also have many more limitations, which cause for the technology to be deemed ineffective at times and can be used to partially explain some of the issues that occurred in Japan- issues that could have been avoided. Unlike NASA’s InSAR satellite technology that can detect earthquakes day before they occur (due to its ability to detect even 1cm of movement within the earth) (NASA, 2011), seismometers are only able to detect earthquakes minutes before they happen and the only way scientists can actually issue a warning in advance is if they look closely at the patterns in previous earthquakes or try and interpret seismic readings days before and see if there are any abnormalities. The limitations of possible inaccuracy with data and late warnings made the use of the seismometers quite ineffective during the earthquake. Although seismometers are able to pinpoint the exact location of the epicentre so that aftershocks can be predicted and are able to give a few minutes of warning about the magnitude, it is a scientific device that’s success can easily be affected by influence human error plays in analyzing its data on computers. Sea walls were implemented in Japan to protect its coastal cities from tsunamis. The science behind them is that its strong concrete material, from which it is made of, should be able to block the force of a tsunami. Their height- 10 metres above sea level- were supposed to be sufficient to stop most tsunamis as evidence shows that it is very rare in any part of the world for a tsunami over 10m to a region that is not directly over the fault line. However, if a tsunami were to reach such heights, the sea walls success would be limited greatly. A positive of their use though, is that their success is largely predictable as they do not require any electronic systems to function and nor do they have any human influence. Macintosh HD:Users:160161:Desktop:Screen Shot 2013-10-27 at 6.40.21 PM.png Sea walls proved ineffective in Japan as the tsunami proved to also be 10 metres tall due to the water being very deep in the region. This allowed the tsunami to build up its waves and when the tsunami’s biggest waves arrived at the coast of Japan, they were 1m taller than the walls event though they were still only 10m tall. (Tran, 2013) This was due to the fact that the coastline had dropped by a metre and also moved three metres out to sea. (As shown in figure 5) This outside influence limited the success of the walls greatly and although- in many other tsunamis sea wall have effectively haltered tsunamis due to their concrete strength and height- the tsunami of 2011 flooded into Japan killing thousands that could not escape in the few moments of warning. Sciences Interaction With The Environment The environment has minimal impact on the application and effectiveness of seismometers and sea walls. As seismometers are not affected by an areas air pollution, vegetation or climate, the environment does not play a significant role in positively or negatively affecting the detection ability of seismometers. However there are still a few minor factors- particularly in Japan- that can somewhat prevent an earthquake from being detected accurately. Due to Japans vulnerable earthquake-prone region being located along the Pacific Ocean’s coastline, many low intensity stress waves created by natural noises and ocean waves have the ability to be detected by seismometers. This is because seismometers can detect and measure motions with frequencies from 500 Hz to 0.00118 Hz- a large enough range to detect ocean waves- particularly in the Pacific Ocean. This could have a negative effect on the effectiveness of science’s solution. Negatively, seismometers could be alerting Japan ese authorities every time tidal waves and ocean currents strengthen, thus triggering alarm bells constantly. A positive effect that the Japanese environment has on damage preventing solutions such as sea walls is that the Japanese coastline has numerous mountain and hill landforms. The many hills and low mountains located in Japans coastal region (sea figure 6)-especially where the Fukushima earthquake struck-help to prevent damage due to there significant height above sea levels. This environmental benefit was evident during the 2011 earthquake as authorities guided civilians to high ground so that when the tsunami arrived and the sea walls failed, the landforms saved a few hundred lives. (ONISHI, 2011)This was because the 10m height of the tsunami eventually deteriorated by the time it reached the landforms, thus preventing further damage from occurring. As mentioned above, the environment has minimal influence on the application and effectiveness of seismometers and sea walls, although sea walls do have an effect on the environment. To construct and implement sea walls, natural, agricultural and grassland is destroyed to make way for them. Sea walls require a large amount of space (width and length) if they are to be firm, sturdy and cover a large proportion of the coastline. They also negatively impact the climatic environment as their height to some extent interrupts the sea breeze that Japan receives from the ocean. This means that locations near the walls will be drier in the already tropical climate and environment. Once again these negative effects on Japan’s environment are not significant factors although if these scientific damage prevention measures were not present in Japan 2011, the environment would have been damaged greatly like it was in some towns that were destroyed completely. Economic Interaction Sciences detection and damage prevention solutions have a profound effect on the economy of Japan. The Japanese government invests billions (USD) in coastal defenses such as sea walls and warning systems every year. These expensive devices further cost governments around the world millions whenever a warning and consequent evacuation occurs. For example, since Hawaii’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center was established in 1948, about 75 percent of warnings that resulted in costly evacuations turned out to be false alarms (Pendick, 2012). A positive effect that Japan’s economy has on seismometers and warning systems is that it can afford to research deep into ways on improving the technology, as well as, fund the expensive costs involved with implementing and running them. There is very little limitations that Japan’s economy poses to seismometers as the economy is very stable and has been for the last decade without fluctuating too much (see graph 1), thus allowing for billions to be invested. This allows the government to invest in earthquake damage prevention devices so that when an earthquake strikes, damage costs can be kept to a minimum. Seismometers and damage prevention devices have a major influence on the economy. When the earthquake of 2011 struck and damage was high- especially from the burst reactor in the Fukushima Nuclear Plant- Japan’s tourism industry suffered greatly. This had a chain reaction on the economy with a major dip in Japan’s GDP (as shown in graph 1) during the period. Conclusion For many years now, scientists have attempted to come up with ways to detect and consequently, prevent earthquakes with measured success- especially in the Fukushima earthquake of 2011. Although the application of science through the use of seismometers potentially saved thousands of lives in the few minutes of warning, it’s accuracy and timing was not enough to stop a nuclear disaster. The 10m sea walls that were located around Japans shoreline also proved ineffective as the tsunami soared over them, leaving all types of buildings to be struck down by the shear force of the waves. However, scientists continue to apply their knowledge of earthquakes, tectonic movement and seismic waves so that they can enhance this solution for future earthquakes around the globe. Seismometers and sea walls fit into the world environment nicely as they do not affect it, but rather help to prevent damage occurring to it, whilst the modeling of buildings simply has the same impact as normal buildings do. Economic wise though, billions of dollars are put into the science and evidence shown from Japan might suggest, too much money for fairly inconclusive success. There are some variables in science that we can’t control, but what can be controlled is minimizing their damage to civilization through the processes of detecting and preventing damage. Bibliography BBC. (2013). Seismic waves. Retrieved October 28, 2013, from BBC Bitesize: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/waves_earth/seismicwavesrev2.shtml Braile, L. (2000, November). SEISMOMETER. Retrieved October 28, 2013, from Explorations In Earth Science: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~braile/edumod/handseis/handseis.htm Dea, J. (2003, August 11). Anticipating Earthquakes. Retrieved October 27, 2013, from NASA Science: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2003/11aug_earthquakes/ Densmore, A. (2011, March 14). Sendai earthquake and tsunami disaster . Retrieved October 29, 2013, from Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience: http://ihrrblog.org/2011/03/14/sendai-earthquake-and-tsunami-disaster/ Doedens, P. (2013, September 20). MAGNITUDE-5.3 QUAKE HITS FUKUSHIMA. Retrieved October 25, 2013, from Fukushima Update: http://fukushimaupdate.com/magnitude-5-9-quake-hits-fukushima/ Kong, S. C. (2013, March 20). Japan’s Economy. Retrieved November 2, 2013, from The Market Oracle: http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article39557.html Kordian. (2012, May 8). Natural Disaster . Retrieved November 1, 2013, from Oxonian Globalist: http://toglobalist.org/2012/05/risky-business-uncovering-catastrophic-insurance-risks-in-2012/ NASA. (2011). Anticipating Earthquakes-InSAR Satellites . Retrieved October 28, 2013, from NASA Science: http://www.google.com.au/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=why+did+seismometers+pick+the+japan+earthquake+as+magnetide+6.6&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=jMhwUtjfJcW_kQXUiYCQBQ#q=why+did+seismometers+pick+the+japan+earthquake+as+magnitude+6.6&rls=en ONISHI, N. (2011, March 13). Seawalls Offered Little Protection Against Tsunami’s Crushing Waves. Retrieved October 27, 2013, from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/world/asia/14seawalls.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Pendick, D. (2012). Catching a Tsunami in the Act. Retrieved November 2, 2013, from Savage Earth: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/tsunami/html/sidebar1.html Macintosh HD:Users:160161:Desktop:Screen Shot 2013-11-04 at 11.43.28 AM.png

Community of Practice

Community of Practice Introduction Man is a social being thriving from human interaction. Human beings come together for the purpose of achieving common goals and practices. These common interests may include passion, experience, dreams and desires. A group of singers and instrumentalists come together because of their interest to form a band. Business persons may come together to form a cooperative society or a company.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Community of Practice specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Wenger, (2006) describes Community of practice as a group of people who constantly interact while sharing passion for what they do. These people share concern for what they are interested in and always find ways of doing it better as they move on. It should however be noted that the description of community of practice does not apply to a group of people who are together because of circumstances. People working in the same company or office and people living together in an estate are referred to as a community, but not community of practice. An organization is structured and managed to achieve a collective purpose. The relationship between activities in the organization depends on the management structure. Characteristics of Community practice The description above presents three characteristics of the community of practice: Domain: Example of workmates clearly indicates that community of practice is not a club or a network of people coming together or grouped together. Community practice is characterized by a domain of interest that binds members of that community together on the basis of specific competences that identify them. However, domain should not be confused with expertise. A clear example is a football coach who is part of a team but does not play for the team, or a band manager who manages and identifies himself with a band but does not play in it. Community of practice members enjoy values and le arn from each other. The general public sees them as professionals and enjoys their expertise.Advertising Looking for assessment on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Communal being: As members of community of practice engage in their domain, they live as brothers and sisters. They engage in different activities, help each other and always lead discussions. Constant communication is paramount to their existence. This communication is a key factor in holding meetings. Community of practice members relate cordially to each other and always have the opportunity to learn from other members of the community. Practice: The members of community of practice have a lot to share. They share resources, tools and recurring problems. They always come up with new ideas. These new ideas require shared resources. The community put resources together in form of tools, money experience and knowledge. They practice using these resources to achieve their goals. This practice is usually self conscious. Nature of Community Practice Problem Solving: This nature enables the group to work together by brainstorming ideas. Effective communication plays a great role in ensuring that challenges are well managed. Members consult one another in the areas of difficulty. Experience: Members of community of practice find out whether one has experience in handling a situation or a challenge. For example, if business members have a cooperative society and would like to market it, a member with experience in marketing will be appointed to the position. A member with public relation skills is likely to be appointed as the public relation officer. Asset reusing: Members of a community group will cut down on the expenses by modifying ways of handling the situation. The best way to handle this is to put the resources of all members together. The assets could be in form of human resources that include people they once ser ved. Material asset consists of what members posses such as computers, property and vehicles. A member can give space in one of his buildings to be an office of the community. Another one can offer his car to assist in logistics. The sense of belonging is a driving factor to this kind of arrangement and participation.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Community of Practice specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Coordination: Community of practice capitalizes on combined efforts to achieve more at a minimal cost. They have a well coordinated network which helps in achieving its goals. Coordination helps the community of practice members get discounts, for instance, school teachers can come together to solicit for funds to buy a large territory of land to establish their own school. Buying a large track of land in bulk is cheaper because it is bought at a discounted rate. Development oriented: Community practice members are always engaged in discussions to look into ways which can help them make progress in their endeavors. New ideas are always brought on the table for discussions for members to brainstorm. All strategies are put down for analysis to evaluate whether the risks involved are worth taking for the benefit of the community. Visitation: Community of practice is characterized by visitation. Members visit each other on a regular basis to consult, get some encouragement, or brainstorm about some issue and get an advice. The visitation can be planned or unplanned. Members always check with their diaries to find appropriate time for meetings. Networking: Members of community of practice know the strength of each individual member. This strength is emphasized on to fill the missing gaps. Members network with other communities sharing the same ideologies and spirit. How community of practice develop Cambridge, Kaplan and Silter, 2005, stated that that community of practice has a life cycle. The y emerge, grow and develop into a whole community. Initially, community of practice exists as only ideas in peoples minds. These ideas are in form of wishes, dreams, desires and goals. The desires and goals prompt people to share; through this sharing, the ideas are put into practice and a group is born to implement them. The development of community practice occurs in phases. Each design has a facilitation and strategy which enable it to move to the next level. The life cycle of a community practice is described below:Advertising Looking for assessment on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Inquiries: The initial phase of community strategy is inquiries. People have ideas, dreams and constantly inquire about discussions, surveys, interviews and assessments to identify who belongs to the community. The inquiries reveal who the sponsors and stakeholders of the community are. This phase is important because it identifies the goals and the outcome of the group. Mission and vision statements are designed at this stage. Estimates of cost are created. Recruitment is also done at this stage. Design: This is the phase that defines activities and all the enabling mechanisms that can make a community of practice move forward. It involves creating activities that will generate energy for the group. The phase is important as it defines and identifies the tasks that a community of practice will carry out. Active communication, interaction, learning and collaboration are well defined at this stage. Face to face meetings are common and deadlines are always set to ensure that the goals are well achieved. Pilot phase. Having identified the ways and modes of achieving the stated goals, community of practice will carry out a pilot programme. This is done by staging short term goals that help the community to orient itself. At this stage, the community members sort out brand image, domain and mode of operation. The goals are meant to test the viability of the community. Examples include a newly formed band staging, free concerts at schools, churches and local community, or a football team holding friendly matches with already established teams. Launch: Once the prototype phase is completed, the group gains wide coverage and confidence to reach a wider community. The stage is characterized by the maturity and experience of members handling issues of the community. Experience gained at the pilot phase is actively used to improve the areas of weakness. Charters are developed at this stage and all members are actively involved. Missions, objectives and agreements are cle arly stated as communication and marketing plans are well designed. New members are brought on board and Calendar of events is published at this stage. Growth: At this stage, the community of practice is fully developed. This is a period that involves active participation of members to ensure that the group reaches its maximum stage. Continuous communication still exists. Members are assigned to other sub groups to support the upcoming activities. Opportunities and sponsorship are well defined. Members are rewarded for their contributions. Sustain: It is the highest level in the life span of the community of practice. It is a stage which involves the developing processes and policies for reaping the fruits of the community of practice. Members identify opportunities for gaining new skills and ideas which can bring new life in a community. The group comes up with new ways of ensuring that the community of practice is still relevant. New products, skills and learning processes are cre ated to form new strategies for the community. This stage is usually characterized by rebranding. Change of names is done at this stage for the community to remain relevant.

Using the French Expression Bien Sûr

Using the French Expression Bien Sà »r Bien sà »r,  pronounced  byeh(n) soor, is an adverb that means literally very sure, but in everyday use, this French phrase  has come to mean of course and certainly. It is one of the most common idiomatic expressions in the French language, and other European speakers have informally adopted it as well. There are also more colloquial translations of  bien sà »r  that reveal its  versatility. These include: Oh yes  Sure I will  Of course, we do  Sure  Sure thing  By all meansYes indeed  I sure will Bien Sà »r as a Response The French expression bien sà »r  is most often used as a stand-alone response to a question or statement: Est-ce que tu viens la fà ªte ?   Are you coming to the party?Bien sà »r !   Of course! Un moment, sil vous plaà ®t.   Just a moment, please.Bien sà »r.   Of course. Tu me donnes mon stylo ?   Can you give me my pen?Bien  sà »r, voici.   Sure, here it is. Bien Sà »r as a Link ​Bien sà »r can link clauses and ideas: Jai besoin de ton assistance, et bien sà »r je te payerai.   I need your help, and of course Ill pay you. Nous allons visiter le monument franà §ais le plus cà ©là ¨bre, je parle bien sà »r de la tour Eiffel.   Were going to visit the most famous French monument; Im speaking of course about the Eiffel Tower. The Ironic Bien Sà »r The phrase can also be used ironically: Je meurs de faim, et bien sà »r jai oublià © mon portefeuille.   Im starving  and of course I forgot my wallet. Nous sommes pressà ©s, et Lise est en retard, bien sà »r.   We in a hurry, and Lise, of course, is running late. Bien Sà »r Que Oui / Bien Sà »r Que Non Bien sà »r can be followed by que oui to be even more emphatic (of course yes)  or que non  (of course not): Tu le veux ?   Do you want it?Bien sà »r que oui.   I certainly do. / Of course I do. Ne vas-tu pas y aller ? Arent you going to go?Bien sà »r que non.   Of course not. The Conjunctive  Bien Sà »r Que Bien sà »r can also be followed by que plus a subordinate clause.  Bien  sà »r  que  functions as a conjunction: Bien sà »r quil va luniversità ©.   Of course hes going to college. Bien sà »r que nous mangerons ensemble.   Of course well eat together. Bien sà »r quelle navait rien compris  !   Of course, she hadnt understood a thing! Synonyms of Bien Sà »r bien entendu  Ã‚  of course, certainlymais oui, bien sà »r   yes, of coursecertainement  Ã‚  certainlycertes  Ã‚  certainly, admittedly, of courseà ©videmment  Ã‚  obviouslyforcà ©ment  Ã‚  necessarily, inevitablynaturellement  Ã‚  naturally, of course

Discussion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 9

Discussion - Assignment Example The transformational leadership brings into notice the salient features of the leader where he is able to find out which sportsperson requires what and what can be done to give him the best even in the most trying of circumstances. It is important to know that sports management is one field where transformational leadership can come into full action and manifest its own basis without much difficulty (Ozaralli, 2003). An example of this transformational leadership is in the form of managing players like Christiano Ronaldo, Messi and other footballers who are at the top of the world due to their soccer prowess. They are being managed properly by sports management firms which have understood the premise of transformational leadership which has brought success to all and sundry (Hautala, 2006). Hence a good enough understanding of transformational leadership is the way to go about solving issues within the sports management domains and it will comprise of the positive aspects as well as the negatives which may arise from time to time in this

The Disease of Alcoholism Speech or Presentation

The Disease of Alcoholism - Speech or Presentation Example The present paper has identified that alcohol is a poison which can damage the body. Either as a con ­ sequence of its direct toxic effects or because of the dietary and vitamin  deficiencies which often  accompany heavy drinking, alcohol can harm the body. It can damage the brain with, at worst, dementia the result. The nerve supply to the limbs can be impaired with numbing and pain (peripheral neuritis). The liver can be the prime site of alcohol poisoning, with cirrhosis the outcome. The pancreas can become inflamed, with painful and potentially lethal consequences. The limb muscles can be weakened (Goodlett et al 1999). Only imagine that about 200,000 deaths each year are directly related to alcohol abuse (Death Statistics 2007). The major adverse effects associated with alcohol abuse are related to liver damage because of the accumulation fats and protein in the liver. Long-term heavy drinking is associated with the development of esophagitis, gastritis, achlorhydria and g astric ulcers. Heavy alcohol intake may interfere in the normal process of food digestion and absorption (Goodlett et al 1999). It also inhibits the capacity of the intestines to absorb various nutrients including vitamins and amino acids. This can result to vitamin deficiencies. Alcohol has been shown to affect the heart by increasing the resting cardiac output, heart rate and myocardial oxygen consumption. A person with alcohol intoxication may also be predisposed to infections secondary to the suppression of the immune system. Alcoholism ruins personality and males a person dependant on alcohol. â€Å"Rich or poor, tall or short, fat or thin, male or female, all fall into the alcoholic spectrum in an orderly and predictable pattern--each being equal to the other†. Form the chemical and biological point of view alcohol has potent effects on areas of the brainstem called the locus coeruleus and the raphe nuclei (Goodlett et al 1999). These play an important role in both moto r coordination and alertness, which unsurprisingly are two of the functions most impaired by having a drink or three. Alcohol abuse is so dangerous because it negatively inferences the mental and psychological development of a person. Alcoholism has the potential to disrupt every brain function. The well-known fact is that alcohol may appear to be a stimulant, but it is mostly a central nervous system depressant. Although initially there may be a feeling of happiness and well-being, alcohol produces loss of emotional control, violent behavior, inability to coordinate movement, nausea, confusion, and coma. Less known facts are that alcoholic coma is not a minor problem - it results in death in about 1 in 20 cases. Once people who use alcohol heavily are habituated to this drug after five or so years; they will experience blackouts, nightmares, and hallucinations. It is a known fact that citizens can drink alcohol life long in moderate quantities without significant risk to health or social well-being. Unfortunately, too many people who take alcohol regularly are unable to resist the temptation and increase the quantity of alcohol that leads to alcoholism. It is important to remember that withdrawal also produces uncontrolled trembling of the limbs, delirium and epileptic attacks that do not always respond to anti-epileptic drugs (Goodlett et al 1999).