Saturday, August 31, 2019

Roles of First Ladies

Roles of the First Lady Kenya Stanford Ashford University HIS 204 American History Since 1865 Instructor: Tara Ross November 15, 2010 Abstract The roles of the First Lady can vary. Several of the authors describes that some of the First Lady’s roles can be from writing invitations , creating an policy, sharing ideas about political rights, to coming up with health care reform. This essay contains some of the old traditional roles that the First Lady was required to do in the 18th century and how it changes over time. Also, it explains how each century First Lady goes about performing her duties.Roles of the First Lady The roles of the First Lady are really undetermined because it changes due to their interest and the timeframe that they were in. Traditional roles of the First lady The duties of the First Lady vary from time to time. During the 18th century, the traditional roles of the First Lady were being a hostess for our country. White House. Gov states, â€Å"The Preside nt and the First Lady’s job responsibilities are to entertain both national and international guest that were arriving and staying at the White House (White House. gov). It also goes on stating that the reason for hosting the event was to strengthen any existing ties, to stage for new relationships, to establish new partnerships, or just to extend the hospitality of the White House as the â€Å" home â€Å" of our nation leader and every First lady were responsible for writing every single invitation by hand (FirstLady. org). 18th Century First Ladies: Martha Washington and Abigail Adams Martha Washington was a well-respected and very kind-hearted to all that knew her. However, Martha did not enjoy her roles as being the First Lady.According to the article, she statedâ€Å" I think I am more like a state prisoner than anything else, there is certain bounds set for me which I must not depart from any many younger and gayer women would be extremely pleased in her place; she would be much rather be at home (White House. Gov). † Just by reading the article on her, it gives me the idea that she was very private about her life with outsiders and she always held her head up. During her time she was called â€Å"Lady Washington. † She had gotten that name during the Revolutionary War era (America. ov). During the war era, Martha Washington was placed into a winter encampment that was the most comfortable to live in (Berkin, Carol). During the war, she and the other general wives served as hostess. The purpose was to lift everyone spirits and giving every solider a reason on what they were fighting for (Berkin, Carol. ) After Martha had moved to the White House, she found out that she was also responsible for managing the presidential household and supervising the domestic affairs at Mount Vernon from a distance (MarthaWashington. us).However, her successor Abigail Adams was a very interesting woman of her time. People viewed her as a very patrio t woman. Abigail’s letter talked about current politics and how she expressed her opinions. During the time of when the famous â€Å"shots heard around the world† started, Abigail was writing John letters to express her concern and her longing to be with him. According to Carol Berkin, ‘Soon I will be in continual arms. Rumors have spread that the British has spread. We know not what a day will bring forth, nor what distress one hour may throw us into (Berkin, Carol). During her husband’s presidential, she would write letters that was expressing her ideas about women’s right. For example, one of her famous letters was when she wrote John telling him to remember the ladies when it came down to the new law (New World Encyclopedia). Basically, she was trying to gives the women more rights that they were entitled to but during the American Revolution that was proving to be was very impossible task. According to New World Encyclopedia, â€Å"Highly cons cious of her role as the president's wife, Abigail Adams saw her role largely as a hostess for the public and partisan symbol of the Federalist Party.Her entertainments were confined to a relatively small home in Philadelphia, turned into a hotel after the capital was moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D. C. (New World Encyclopedia). †. She also attempted to influence fashion, believing that the more revealing Napoleonic-style clothing then popular were too indecorous. Since presidential families were responsible for covering the costs of their entertainments and the Adamses were enduring financial difficulties at the time of his presidency, Abigail Adams's receptions were somewhat Spartan (New World Encyclopedia). 19th Century: Mary Lincoln and Ida McKinley Mary Lincoln was a woman who wanted the public to like her. She was getting to point where she was tired of the public talking about her fashion so she decides to do a makeover for herself and for the White House.At th e beginning through the end of the article, the author discusses how Mary Lincoln was very careless with money and how she would act out if she didn’t get her way (Lincoln White House. org). The Lincoln Institute only notes that Mrs. Mary Lincoln visited the wounded from the Civil War and remodeled the White House (Lincoln White House. rg). Ida McKinley was a very ill person who suffered from being epilepsy. Her conditions were affecting her and her husband job performance. According to Miller Center Public Affairs, â€Å"Although she occasionally appeared at state dinners and in receiving lines, her attendance at these functions was sporadic due to the unpredictability of her seizures (Miller Center, 2010). † It also goes on stating that the president had to ask the vice president’s wife to help her with her duties due to her being sick.Even though she was very sick, she manages to crochet bedroom room slippers for fundraisers and charities. After reading the a rticle, she proves that she was able to show her husband that she cared about how he felt about politics and that she would dedicate herself to it through the end. She was the first to have her spouse to reschedule everything around her instead of the President reschedule everything around him. 20th Century: Edith Roosevelt and Jacqueline Kennedy Following President McKinley’s assassination came about very sudden to Edith.So Edith had to fill in that position as First Lady. Not being a stranger to Washington and to the public, Edith was able to perform her job really well. Edith was very good at managing books and being able to keep up the home. But just like Martha Washington, she kept her life private from everybody including T. R’s extended family. According to the Theodore Roosevelt Association, â€Å"Under Edith's careful eye the White House collection of china and the portraits of First Ladies were begun.The task of restoring the house to its classic and simple federal style, inside and out, while accommodating a large family and executive branch of government for a growing nation came to the Roosevelt’s. First Lady Edith Roosevelt played the major role in overseeing the largest renovation of the White House into the stately and practical government center it is today (theodoreroosevelt. org). † Just like Martha Washington, Mary Lincoln, Edith Roosevelt, and Abigail Adams, the next First Lady named Jacqueline Kennedy tends to follow in some of their steps.Her first big role as First Lady was the historical restoration of the White House (JFK Presidential Library and Museum. ). The article stated that she created a White House Guide and authenticates the artwork. She also created the White House Historical society; posts White House curator, oversaw to creating a publication of a guidebook for the visitors, and finally established the White House Library and the Rose Garden (JFK Presidential Library and Museum. ).Later on, Jacq ueline Kennedy becomes a host for the television tour by CBS in 1962 (JFK Presidential Library and Museum. ). 21st Century: Laura Bush and Michelle Obama Unlike the other former First Lady, Laura Bush manages to go to the extremes with her duties as First Lady. According to National First Ladies Library, â€Å"Education has been the primary focus of Laura Bush's tenure as First Lady and the issue that has bound all the various efforts she has spearheaded.When she eventually was able to deliver testimony before the Senate Education Committee on January 23, 2002, Laura Bush called for higher teacher salaries and better training for Head Start and day care workers. In the nine month of her tenure introduced a National Book Festival in Washington, D. C. based on the model of the one she had created in Texas. Within two years, this festival had inspired the Russian First Lady Ludmilla Putin to host an October 1, 2003 book festival in her nation that Laura Bush attended in Moscow, along with several American authors (National First Ladies Library, 2010).She also went to Afghani to met the women and to hear how miserable their lives have been since the war, and she created a public-forum to help with the techniques to comfort children that were traumatized during and after 9/11(National First Ladies Library, 2010). Again, every First Lady’s ideas about how to perform her job is different just as Michelle Obama have stated. Michelle states that â€Å"This new administration doesn’t view service as separate from our national priorities, or in addition to our national priorities.We see it as the key to achieving our national priorities,† she continued. â€Å"We believe that the only way to build that new foundation for our economy is to establish a new role for service in this country (America. Gov). † The article continues to talks about how Michelle talks about how you can volunteer to make differences. Michelle’s second role as Fir st Lady was to reconstruct a playground and packed over 15,000 backpacks for the children of America’s service members to take with them to summer camp (America. Gov).White House. Gov states that as First Lady, Mrs. Obama looks forward to continuing her work on the issues close to her heart — supporting military families, helping working women balance career and family,   encouraging national service, promoting the arts and arts education, and fostering healthy eating and healthy living for children and families across the country (America. Gov) As I stated earlier, every First Lady’s role is undetermined because it changes due to their interest and the timeframe that they were in.Every First Lady has their ways on how they would like to do things. Some of them may not have a lot of experiences when it comes to politics and some may. Whether it is making sockets or reconstructing a playground, these women are using their talents in helping others. Like Michell e stated, â€Å"â€Å"There’s a feeling that you get when you help someone achieve their goals: the fulfillment of putting your faith into action and feeling that you’re a part of something that’s bigger than yourself and doing your part for the greater good.Bibliography America. Gov. (2009, June 29). Retrieved from America. Gov-Engaging the world: michelle Obama defines own Rosle as First Lady: http://www. america. gov/st/usg-english/2009/June/20090629092010degrebsginek0. 475445. html Berkin, C. (2005, February 01). Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for Americans' Independence. United States, United States: Alfred A. Knopf Incorporated. Institute, T. L. (2010). Mr. Linclon's White

Sociocultural Influences on a Person’s Attitude Towards Physical Exercise and Heath

Sociocultural Influence’s on a person’s attitude towards Physical Exercise and Health. Humans are by nature social beings. In trying to determine what makes us feel fulfilled, psychologists have found that a feeling of social connection or relatedness is near the top of the list of what we need to experience. We appear to be happiest when we successfully connect with others. Much of what we say and do is motivated by a desire to appear likeable, to gain social approval, to solidify group membership, to manage self-image, or to gain social support.Sociocultural factors that influence a person’s attitude towards Health and Physical exercise can be classified into three groups. They are * Self-presentation * Social Influence (social norms and persuasion) * Social support Self-presentation The number one most influential factor on how sociocultural influences do have on one’s attitude towards health and physical exercise. Self-presentation is where a person tr ies to influence others on the perception of their own image.People make many different attempts to manage how others’ view them because other people control many of the things we want to obtain, such as friendship, financial resources, or career advancement, we strive to gain others’ approval or avoid rejection. In exercise and physical activity settings, these attempts to present ourselves favourably may have either positive or negative effects on our strivings to be physically active. For example, Tim is slightly overweight and has dietary habits that aren’t exactly the best and decide to join a gym.Tim doesn’t want to go and run on the treadmill next to a super fit world class athlete because his figure and athletic ability are notably different and he doesn’t wish to embarrass himself. We see in this example that Tim has this idea that because he isn’t the same as the super fit world class athlete that he isn’t healthy and theref ore he is reluctant to exercise because he’s afraid of embarrassing himself. It’s people like Tim that are changing who they are and what they are trying to achieve because of either the public opinion or their friends opinion.Self-presentation is a major factor in influencing a person’s attitude towards health and physical exercise and the way they general perceive themselves in amongst the group or the community. Social Influence Following in contributing factors that influence a person’s attitude towards health and physical exercise is Social Influence. Social influence is when an individual's thoughts, feelings or actions are affected by other people’s opinions. If you have ever been in an audience at a large musical or theatrical performance, you may have noticed that the audience tends to clap in unison and stop clapping at the same time.You may have even started to clap when no one else did only to feel foolish and quickly stop clapping. Wha t you are experiencing in these situations is the power of social influence – specifically, social norms and conformity. Social influence can be defined as a real or imaginary pressure exerted by others that shapes our behaviour. While self-presentation describes our actions or attempts to project a positive image to others, social influence describes the pressure exerted by others to influence our action.In exercise and physical activity settings, there are numerous examples of the power of social influence. Joining a fitness club because other friends pressure you join, or your teenager’s desire to buy the latest pair of basketball shoes because Michael Jordan wears them and touts them on commercial television are both examples of the power of social influence. Social Support Finally, the last group called Social Support. Social Support provides reassurance and/or assistance, information or feedback through contact with other individuals or groups.People do not exerc ise merely to look good in other’s eyes or because we have been persuaded by others to do so. Sometimes people exercise because they obtain social benefits from physical activity participation. An example would be Fiona is out running on her own and feels vulnerable and exposed and feels like everyone else watching is laughing at her. She joins a gym group that runs regularly and finds comfort in the fact that she isn’t the only person who may be struggling. The frequency or type of social contacts may have a strong influence on the general well-being of the person as we see in the example.As a whole, physical activity participation appears to be nurtured when there is a socially supportive atmosphere or when participants perceive social support when striving for their exercise goals. Plus having feedback from others that boosts their self-esteem helps and allows them to have the opportunity to find a group in which they feel comfortable and are supported emotionally a nd tangibly and are able to obtain useful guidance or advice from other exercisers, friends, family, or exercise leaders.In conclusion, the contributing factors mentioned above have a significant impact on the entire health spectrum. Emotional, Physical, Mental, Spiritual and Social aspects are all affected in how sociocultural factors influence a person’s ability towards a healthy lifestyle and staying physically active. Bibliography: Title Pgs 1, 2,3,4,5 Sydney Distance Education High School, PD/H/PE 2013 PD/H/PE Second Edition Textbook, 2009 by Oxford University Press (copyright)

Friday, August 30, 2019

Is Macbeth a true tragic hero? Essay

Amongst all of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Macbeth is the most inconsistent and fragmented. Like the mental state of the protagonist, the tragic structure of the play is in disarray from the very onset. According to Aristotle, all tragedies must follow a certain set of characteristics, and the most important of these is the presence of a tragic hero. This tragic hero must possess a tragic flaw, or hamartia, which is a good quality taken to such an extreme that it now exhibits immoral behaviour from the hero. He must also draw sympathy of his plight from the audience. Macbeth, although the protagonist, is not a tragic hero because he does not possess this hamartia. This significant absence of a flaw leads to his actions being without justification, drawing no sympathy from the audience. Because Lady Macbeth’s love for Macbeth acts as a tragic flaw by ultimately bringing about her downfall and extracting a great amount of sympathy from the audience, she exhibits attributes m ore tragically heroic than Macbeth. Macbeth is the protagonist of Macbeth because the play is inexorably tied to his actions. A protagonist is defined as â€Å"the leading character of a literary work†. In Shakespearean tragedies, the protagonist must also be from the nobility and possess exceptional character and vitality. One need not look farther than the title to determine Macbeth’s importance in the play. While the title does not necessarily provide fair judgement of content, Shakespeare has an uncanny habit of titling his tragedies with the name of the protagonist: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Julius Caesar and Othello are examples. As the play commences, farther evidence of Macbeth’s importance is apparent through the witches’ subject in the very first scene: â€Å"There to meet with Macbeth† (I.i.7). It is for Macbeth that they will gather upon the heath, and he upon whom their efforts will be focused. In the next scene, Macbeth’s nobility is confirmed through Duncan’s heartfelt â€Å"O valiant cousin, worthy gentleman!† (I.ii.24). The exclamatory nature of this sentence testifies Duncan’s affiliation with, and high regard for, Macbeth. After the victorious battle, Ross describes Macbeth as â€Å"Bellona’s bridegroom† (I.ii.54), an allusion meaning the husband of the Goddess of War, thus establishing him to be of exceptional character and vitality. Macbeth’s role as the protagonist is therefore legitimized through other’s perception of him and his own noble character. While Macbeth is the protagonist and therefore meant to be the tragic hero, the glaring absence of a tragic flaw in his character prevents his recognition as thus. A tragic flaw must be a good quality taken to such an extreme that it now exhibits immoral behaviour. Macbeth has many flaws, a hunger for power and a belief of superiority among them, yet none of these are tragic flaws because they do not have the ability to be virtuous qualities. This leaves ambition and imagination as the main competitors. Ambition cannot be Macbeth’s tragic flaw because he recognizes it in his confusion soliloquy even before he kills Duncan:I have no spurTo prick the sides of my intent, but onlyVaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself,And falls on the other. (I.vii.25-28)When Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s intentions right after the deliverance of this soliloquy, the recognition of his ambition leads him to a decisive â€Å"We will proceed no further in this business† (I. vii.31). The reason he later kills Duncan is because Lady Macbeth appeals not to his ambitious nature, but to his pride. She accuses him of being â€Å"a coward in [his] own esteem† (I.vii.43) and weak in manliness: â€Å"†¦you would/Be so much more the man† (I.vii.50-51). It is not ambition, but a wounded pride and an inbred impulse to unquestioningly follow his wife that leads Macbeth to finally commit the deed that ultimately brings about his downfall. Yet pride is also not his tragic flaw because it does not spur any of his other great crimes. While pride triggers, but is not the cause of, Macbeth’s downfall, an active imagination is not the tragic flaw because it merely serves as an instrument to illustrate that a character is in a confused state of mind. Macbeth is self-doubting all through the first three acts of the play; in his lines following the witches’ initial prophecies, he states â€Å"Come what come may† (I.iii.146), portraying his lack of wilful decisiveness. Yet after the witches’ second set of prophecies, he takes decisive measures to â€Å"crown [his] thoughts with acts† (IV.i.149), and his imagination vanishes. Similarly, Lady Macbeth’s first statement of â€Å"Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be/What thou art promis’d† (I.v.15-16) establishes her steely resolve. She is practical and untroubled by any visions. When she realizes the extent of the damage she has caused, however, her imagination takes full reign. In the sleepwalking scene, she is depicted as a broken figure,  tormented by imaginative hallucinations. In both cases, imagination comes along when the character is in a disorderly state of mind; therefore, imagination, like ambition, is not Macbeth’s tragic flaw, testifying that Macbeth does not possess one and therefore is unrecognizable as a tragic hero. Macbeth’s lack of such a flaw deems all his heinous actions without justification, and as a result, draws no sympathy from the audience. The blame for his lapse in character can be placed upon nothing but his own non-tragic flaws. He is depicted as a cowardly man: he kills Duncan because of his inability to make decisions for himself; Banquo out of paranoia: â€Å"our fears in Banquo/stick deep† (III.i.49-50) he says, before ordering the murderers to kill his former friend; and Lady Macduff and her son out of spite: his true quarrel is with Macduff, however as he realizes that the nobleman has escaped his clutches, he proceeds to â€Å"give to the edge o’ the sword/[Macduff’s] wife [and] his babes† (IV.i.151-152). Macbeth’s central desire, the want to safely be king, is born of nothing more than despicable cowardice. The audience gets a sense of this despicability in Macbeth’s character firstly through the witches’ mention of hi m: â€Å"There to meet with Macbeth† (I.i.7). By associating him with the witches so early, Shakespeare foreshadows Macbeth’s later affiliation with them. Lady Macbeth recognizes cowardice and ineptitude in Macbeth: she calls him â€Å"Infirm of purpose!† when he is unable to carry out the plan of killing Duncan to her perfection. It seems that Shakespeare attempts a sympathy-inducing endeavour through Macbeth’s â€Å"Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/Clean from my hand?† (II.ii.60-61). This attempt backfires however, because instead of showing Macbeth in a remorseful light, the irrepressible imagery of blood only serves to farther exemplify the wrongs he has wrought and how disastrous they are to his moral being. As the plot furthers, Macbeth’s crimes pile up, from belittlement, to hypocrisy, to bare-faced lying, and finally to treacherous murders. Even in catharsis he is despicable; his first words upon realizing the truth about the witches are â€Å"Accursed be that tongue that tells me so† (V.viii.17), cursing others instead of himself for the dreadful deeds he has committed. This is not pitiful, but repulsive. These crimes all sprout from the regicide at the beginning, and since this  first terrible crime lacked purpose, the others do so too. From the very onset, Lady Macbeth is sharply contrasted with Macbeth because she possesses this purpose, driven forward by her love for Macbeth. This love is her tragic flaw because it leads to her ultimate downfall. She does not want Macbeth to be king because of some ulterior motive; she wants it for his benefit. Nowhere in her first soliloquy, in which she speaks to herself and need not hide her true thoughts, does she mention the want of greatness for herself; instead, she refers to Macbeth and says, â€Å"Thou wouldst be great† (I.v.18) and â€Å"Thou ‘ldst have [the crown]† (I.v.22), proving her loyalty to Macbeth’s cause for his sake. She proceeds then to call upon â€Å"spirits/That tend on mortal thoughts† (I.v.40-41) to rid her of all kindness, gentleness, sensitivity, sweetness, and pity that accompanies her womanly nature, all the better to kill Duncan. This is not a small sacrifice on her part, as seen later through the repercussions it has on her conscience. After Macbeth becomes king and begins isolating Lady Macbeth, the once resolute woman is portrayed as a powerless being, unable to survive without the husband that once loved but now alienates her: â€Å"why do you keep alone?† (III.ii.8) she asks him after having to request a meeting to speak with him. During the banquet, she is seen to jeopardize her reputation as a graceful hostess to protect Macbeth: â€Å"Stand not upon the order of your going,/But go at once† (III.iv.85), she says to the noblemen. It is Lady Macbeth’s tragedy that she sacrifices so much for the love of a husband that will not confide in her anymore, and this love is much more sorrowful than the alleged tragedy of Macbeth, which is born from his cowardice. Because her tragic flaw is something pure and good, her demise is so heartbreaking, so utterly tragic, that it draws an unequalled amount of audience sympathy. The infamous Sleepwalking Scene, the last presence of Lady Macbeth in the play, shows that she has reached the very bottom of the pit of tragic downfall that she started falling down at the beginning of Act III. It is a reflection of her mental and emotional state that she speaks in prose instead of iambic pentameter in this entire scene. While Macbeth, previously occupied by horrible hallucinations, has now dulled his ability for feeling horror, Lady Macbeth has done the opposite. This role-reversal  leaves her in a state of severe trauma, exposing her inner thoughts and feelings. The gentlewoman’s words of â€Å"This is [Lady Macbeth’s] very guise, and, upon my life, fast asleep† (V.i.20-21) depict Lady Macbeth’s trauma as being so great that she cannot escape it even in sleep. This is decidedly more sympathy-inducing than Macbeth, who, the last we saw of him, had ordered the brutal murders of an innocent lady and her unguarded son (IV.i.150-154). While Macbeth seems intent upon bloodying his hands remorselessly at every opportunity, it is ironic that Lady Macbeth vigorously rubs her hand to get them rid of Duncan’s blood: â€Å"It is an accustomed action with [Lady Macbeth], to be seen thus washing her hands† (V.i.29-30). This irony excites audience pity for Lady Macbeth as she is clearly disillusioned and has reached her tragic recognition much earlier and more genuinely than Macbeth does. The imagery of blood that is present throughout the play now reaches a climax as well: Lady Macbeth’s obsession with her figuratively blood-stained hand is revealed through her anguished cry of â€Å"Out damned spot!† (V.i.35); she rhetorically asks, â€Å"Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?† (V.i.39-40), then notes that â€Å"the smell of the blood† (V.i.50) is still rampant. This blood symbolizes the guilt that she is burdened with, even years after the murder she helped orchestrate, contrasted with the remorselessness of Macbeth. The gentlewoman, innocent of the crime her lady has committed, still says, â€Å"I would not have such a heart in my bosom for the dignity of the whole body† (V.i.54-55). It can be deduced that the status-deprived gentlewoman does not wish to have the status of a queen if it means feeling the sorrow of Lady Macbeth. This clearly illustrates that our heroine, the true tragic character of the play, is very broken, only because of the great love she has for her husband. Love is not a crime, and this makes her predicament all the more sympathetic. Macbeth is clearly a tragedy, yet it is tragic more because of the role of Lady Macbeth than that of Macbeth himself. The love that propels her change from a strong, sensible character to one overwrought with guilt is much more tragic than Macbeth’s character change, propagated by his cowardice and incompetence. In a play about disorder and ambiguity, where â€Å"fair is foul and foul is fair† (I.i.11), it is only fitting that the role of the tragic  hero is also clearly ambiguous. It seems that Shakespeare involved himself so much in creating perfect ambiguity that he let the tragic structure of the play become quite ambiguous as well. Bibliography Agnes, Michael, ed. Webster’s New World College Dictionary. 4th ed. Foster City: IDG Books Worldwide, Inc., 2001. Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Mississauga: Canadian School Book Exchange, 1996.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Micro Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Micro Economics - Essay Example ducts as good ones, buyers would take the quality to be uncertain and accordingly base their decisions on the average quality of the products leading to a decline on the average willingness to pay. As a result the products which were actually of good quality would not receive their deserved prices and would thus be driven out of the market and the market would be filled up with the worse quality products or â€Å"lemons†. Akerlof demonstrated his point by using the example of the market of used cars. Suppose there are both good quality used cars as well as bad or defective ones, i.e, the lemons, on offer in the market and the consumer is not able to infer before hand which type is being offered to him by any particular seller. He therefore assumes it to be of average quality and is prepared to pay equal to the price of the average quality used cars. The owner of a good quality car therefore will not get the deserved high price for it as the customer has no way of knowing that it is in quality higher than the average. Therefore this good quality car shall be withdrawn from the market and so will be all other good quality cars, leading to a fall in the average quality of cars in the market. As a result of this downward revision of average quality, moderately good cars shall also fail to earn sufficiently high prices and will thus be withdrawn. Recurrence of this mechanism finally leads to a situation w here only lemons are on offer in the market. To assess the validity of this proposition Bond (1982) attempted to empirically test it. In particular, the paper attempted to test the proposition that good products are driven out by bad products in the market for used pickup trucks. The amount of maintenance required on a particular truck was taken to be the measure of quality with the â€Å"lemons† being identified as used trucks that require significantly greater maintenance compared to the average. If the Akerlof argument is valid, then in this set up the result should

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Washington as a general Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Washington as a general - Term Paper Example Washington was born on February 22, 1732. From an early age, Washington had shown characteristics of being strong, brave, leadership and eagerness for battle, all of which would help him later in his life in his service in the military. His military service spanned more than forty years. Although he is best remembered as a general for the role he played in the American Revolutionary War, his military career had started many years before during the Seven Years War in which he served as a major. His clear sense of duty as a soldier and his foresightedness during this war campaign earned him considerable respect and it was his performance during this war that earned him the position of an Army commander during the Revolutionary War2. John Adams had to this to say about Washington and his military prowess â€Å"I had no hesitation to declare that I had but one gentleman in my mind for that command and it was a gentleman from Virginia, who was among us and very well known to all of us; a gentleman, whose skill and experience as an officer, whose independent fortune, great talents and excellent universal character would command the approbation of all America, and unite the cordial exertions of all the colonies better than any other person in the Union†3. Washington’s Military Strengths 1. ... Since there was no escape route, Washington was forced to surrender. After that episode, he never again went to war and allowed his men to be entrapped in a position that was hard to escape from4. Washington was not only ready to learn from his own mistakes, he also gathered a lot of information from the mistakes of the attacking side. For instance, his side’s victory at Bunker Hill was made possible because Washington was able to tell the strategy that the British wanted to use. This happened because the British were not careful enough and were too arrogant to think that it would be impossible to loose to the Continental Army. It was one mistake that they were to pay dearly, by loosing the war and the colony5. 2. He was a Courageous and Daring Leader Washington was never afraid to face the opposing army no matter the situation. His use of the element of surprise gave the Continental Army several victories. For instance, in 1776, he attacked and completely overwhelmed an unsus pecting Hessian army at Trenton across the Delaware River. This was after the British had sworn to engage the American army in one big war that they had much confidence of winning. This surprise element caught the British completely by surprise and they were forced to retreat and spend the winter in far away New York. On the other hand, the Americans were able to take control of both Princeton and Trenton in New Jersey6. 3. He Chose Wisely Washington made sure that the people he surrounded himself with were of a character as good as his. Most of his chosen leaders in the army were men who were strong emotionally and physically. He chose only those men who were patriotic and not out in search of

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Budgeting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Budgeting - Essay Example The intention of this study is a budget as a financial plan expressed in terms of money that helps budget holders achieve organizational goals and objectives in an appropriate manner. In construction industry, budget helps companies in the process of financial analysis. Through budgeting, management of the organizations can know the financial position of the organization. They can know what is actually going on in terms of capital use for business activities. Budgeting helps in providing the management with the information regarding available capital, current financial position, and future expenditures of the ongoing business activities. Through efficient budgeting, the organizations can save money and related expenditures regarding various business activities. Budgets help in cutting off the extra costs and make money available for use in other financial activities.Proper planning plays an important role in the success of a construction company. Budgeting plays a very important role in this regard. Planning is the second function of budgeting. After forecasting the financial position, a company decides its future activities, such as, investment decisions, loan decisions, and buying or selling decisions. Communication is another major function of budgeting. If an organization makes some sort of financial deal with another organization, budgeting is that technique which can resolve the issue related to use of capital between the two parties. Priorities can be set between the two organizations regarding the financial issues. An effective budget would help the organizations in communicating with each other for the purpose of discussing where the money should be spent and how much money should be spent. 2.4 Motivation Budgeting plays an important role in motivating staff of the company. After analyzing the financial position of the company, managers can develop such plans for the employees that are able to improve their efficiency and motivation. For example, if a company develops effective compensation plans, it can result in favor of the company because employees like to work for a company which values their performances and provides them with the compensation and rewards that they deserve. However, development of compensation plans is directly related on the available budget of a company. If a company will have enough budgets for developing and implementing such plans, only then compensation plans can be developed which will ultimately result in motivating employees and improving their individual and group performances. 2.5 Evaluation In construction industry, evaluation of financial and other business processes plays a very important role. Budget represents the target performance which managers measure with the actual

Monday, August 26, 2019

Good Communications in architectural practice and management Essay

Good Communications in architectural practice and management - Essay Example So what is an architect Dispensing with the usual academic recourse to etymology, an architect is simply "someone qualified to design buildings and supervise their construction." (Collins, 1991). Adding dryness and formality to this raw definition, we can further say that: "An architect produces detailed workings and drawings so that buildings are designed effectively, manages the building project according to tight specifications, negotiates and coordinates with other professionals involved in the project, prepares planning applications, ensures that damages to the landscape and environment are limited, and appraises and consents listed buildings and conservation areas according to the needs of the client" (Hobsons, 2006). To put it simply, an architect is a planner, draughtsman, technical designer, a building supervisor, contracts negotiator, bureaucrat, manager, environmentalist, and conservationist all in one. But even then, considering the number of roles that an architect needs to fulfil to high standards, there is one trait that runs through all these and that determines whether the architect will forever be dabbling in mediocrity and penury or living decently and in comfort whilst being good, or be a successful virtuoso with pen, manual or digital, designing buildings at the cutting edge of genius. That singular trait is the ability to communicate. Yes, a good to great architect must be a good communicator, for the simple reason that architecture is a form of communication, and how the architect handles this important component of the job determines to a large extent how successful the practice would be. Why do we say that architecture is communication And what do we communicate Our answers to these questions lead us to the creative answers to our first two questions. What is Communication Architecture as Communication Communication is the process of transmitting information from an individual or group to another (McCloskey, 1993). Ants do it; even the birds and the bees do it. Any creature with information finds the need to communicate it to another, and this is how things get moving in our world. The whole animal kingdom (let's not go into genetics, please) depends on communication for their existence, growth, and survival; great civilizations have come and gone because of it. So important is communications to life that a successful architectural career depends on it. The architectural profession lives and thrives on communication, because architecture in itself is an expression of ideas, a manner of transmitting information, using a combination of technical and artistic languages, a mode where the message and the medium blend into one material structure that often lives long after clients, architects, and builders have gone. An architect is not merely a designer of buildings but an interpreter of dreams, a professional artist who in a design captures visions both simple and complex. Architects are masters of technology, and by their work they transform our imaginations, making them visible for the whole world to see, admire, live in, and use. Like messages trapped in the mind that goad listeners to action, architecture traps minds and allow

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Environmental Scan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Environmental Scan - Research Paper Example The changes in economic cycles affect the sales of the two firms in the beverage and snacks industry e.g. fluctuating interest rates, exchange rates fluctuations and income levels (PepsiCo, 2010). Reduction in the income level will reduce the two company’s level of sales. The social factor like the cultural beliefs and practices determines the level of sales in the global arena. There are some regions across the globe where the consumption of snacks are discouraged hence reduce sales level. Demographic factors like youth population, family sizes further influence sales. Since the two firms operate globally, the political changes that determine the legislations, taxation and regulations affect the firms equally. The adoption of enhanced technology that reduces operational costs and efficiency will make the external environment (Coca-Cola, n.d). The internal environment that includes financial strengths, employee enthusiasms, organization culture, and innovation remain core to t he businesses. PepsiCo core competitive advantage is the diversified portfolio of products and brands, high innovation and differentiation of products and ability to enter into new markets successfully. The healthier food makes customers purchase their goods. The company strategy is to rethink and implement new efficient ways of production and best practices that would enhance customer satisfaction (PepsiCo, 2010). On the other hand coke competitive advantage include market leadership, business partnerships, multi-segmentation, strong brand portfolio, collaborative customer relationships, sustainable development and managerial expertise among others. These make core a leader in the snack industry. Coke strategy is the maximizing growth and profitability to create shareholders value through transforming commercial models, multi-segmentation, product innovation, and expansion

Saturday, August 24, 2019

HR manager of a large cinema chain based in London Coursework

HR manager of a large cinema chain based in London - Coursework Example The recruitment manager requires few qualities in order to select the right person at the ‘right place and time’. There are several policies for the process of recruitment. In accordance with the provided scenario stetting, the HR manager desires to recruit a cinema manager for a large cinema chain business in London so that the individual can perform according to the policies and principles of the business. The recruitment along with the selection process forms a part of the HR strategy. The main objective of the HR manager for the purpose of recruitment is to employ an individual who can work hard to achieve the desired goals of the business. The analysis of the skills required, judging the ability of the individual along with making an evolution of the performance capability of the individual are the key determinants for the HR manager (Sims, 2005). The process of recruitment is one of the critical tasks of the HR manger as it is the method of attracting new individua ls in the organisation to achieve its set out goals. HR planning (HRP) is important for an organisation to achieve its strategic goals. HR planning is done with the concept that people are amid the most important resources for any organisation. They are the core component of the business as they work in accordance with the requirement of the business development. It is the decision making procedure which helps in identifying the right person for the job. Motivating the employed person facilitates to attain greater performance and create a bridge between the management along with the people planning activities. HRP is of two forms i.e. the â€Å"Hard† and â€Å"Soft† HRP. Hard HRP focuses on the allocation of the right person with the quality needed for the business to flourish. On the other hand, soft HRP endeavours to build the culture of the organisation by achieving the

Friday, August 23, 2019

Design and Technology Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Design and Technology - Lab Report Example Lastly, DFA index is very critical assembly efficiency indicator of the component design.This value is directly proportional to the design efficiency. Pneumatic piston design improvement is shown in figure 3 where assembly efficiency was used.Figure 1 above shows the pneumatic piston original design.Furthermore, the attached worksheet corresponds to the subassembly and it is observed that the design efficiency is 29 percent( figure 2). The applied DFA method might be extended to a high-speed robot and automatic assembly. It has been found to be very critical majorly in situation redesigning whereby the operational time's detailed knowledge is well known or it could be calculated for the given product(Pugh 1991).In addition to this DFA technique explored in detail, other techniques of assembly evaluation do exist and include Lucas and AEM DFA methods. Summary In summary, assembly efficiency is considered to be a very critical measure or index in the DFA technique. It can be employed in the evaluation of product assembly and it determines whether the design can facilitate the assembly of the product with the aim of providing a foundation for the effective improvement of the design Figure 2 show s the redesigned pneumatic piston and it is with the worksheet that corresponds to the subassembly. When the worksheet of the original design and new design are compared, it is evident that in the new design, the assembly efficiency increased by 90 percent where the original design had 27 percent, assembly efficiency.

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Biochemistry Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Biochemistry - Lab Report Example The gels were visualized by coomassie staining. The restriction digestion of recombinant DNA yielded the predicted band sizes upon electrophoresis, confirming the presence of the pGLO plasmid in the transformants. The presence of a single neat band at the expected size range upon immunoblotting indicates the successful isolation of the purified GFP protein. Initially obtained from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria/Aequorea aequorea/Aequorea forskalea, the Green fluorescent protein (GFP) is composed of 238 amino acids with a molar mass of 26.9 kDa. Its typical three dimensional structure facilitates a specific set of cyclization reactions inside the protein giving rise to the tripeptide Ser65-Tyr66-Gly67 which forms the fluorophore, the fluorescent component of the protein, present on the alpha helix. This helix is actively shielded from the surrounding environment by the beta sheets, hence contributing to the use of the GFP gene as a reporter of gene expression or cellular protein localization. In the present experiment, the GFP gene has been used to understand the mechanism of molecular cloning and subsequent protein purification procedures. The molecular cloning was carried out by transforming the pGLO plasmid vector with the GFP gene insert into the bacterial host E.coli strain HB101. ... After appropriate incubation, the colonies were observed under normal light, followed by U.V light. Under normal light all the plates except plate with LB+Amp had growth Lack of plasmid DNA on Plate with LB+Amp-pGLO might have rendered the colonies susceptible to the antibiotic ampicillin, due to absence of genes required to deactivate ampicillin. Flourescence was observed in plates 3 and 4 under U.V light indicating the transformation of the plasmid DNA into the E.coli host. Plate 3, inspite of having ampicillin showed growth due to the presence of B-lactamase gene which can inactivate ampicillin. Plate 4 had the maximum number of colonies compared to the other plates. This could be attributed to the addition of arabinose into the medium which selectively enhances the activity of the arabinose operon in which the GFP gene has been inserted, thus increasing the GFP protein which has the unique quality of fluorescence. To confirm the insertion of the pGLO plasmid into the colonies on plates 3 and 4, the DNA from these colonies was purified using QAI kit method and subjected to restriction digestion using EcoRV and Hind III followed by electrophoresis, wherein an electric field was applied to the gel matrix. DNA molecules move towards the anode due to negativity of the charged phosphates along its backbone. The rate of migration of a particular DNA fragment is inversely proportional to its molecular weight; hence the fragments with the highest weight have the least mobility. Post electrophoresis, the ethidium bromide stained gel was visualized under UV light (Figure 1). A single restriction site specific to EcoRV is present on

Cognitive- behavioural approaches to counselling Essay Example for Free

Cognitive- behavioural approaches to counselling Essay This essay is written to compare the counselling relationship in person-centred and cognitive-behavioural counselling by outlining both the theory and practice of the counselling relationship. This will be done by outlining the theory of the counselling relationships and the theory in practice. Both person-centred and cognitive-behavioural counselling are widely recognised, successful treatments. There are however many significant differences between the two. Cognitive-behavioural therapy is based on scientific study taking two therapies, cognitive therapy and behavioural therapy, and combining the two. Behavioural therapy is based on the fact that people can learn behaviours through classical conditioning, which was first recorded by Ivan Pavlov at the end of the nineteenth century, and operant conditioning (Skinner, 1953. ) Therapists believed what the behavioural therapists were helping their clients to do, such as encouraging self- assertion and self-understanding to help develop new approaches to dealing with life, incorporate a wide range of cognitive processes including decision-making and problem-solving. Beck (1976) founded cognitive-behavioural therapy after becoming disillusioned by psychoanalytic methods. (McLeod J. 008) Person-centred counselling is a non-scientific therapy developed by Carl Rogers in the 1940s and 1950s. It is a humanistic approach where it is believed that the client needs to feel valued and understood for them to be able to develop a self-awareness so they are able to deal with any difficult situation they feel they are in, giving them the power to change their own lives. Person-centred therapy is non-direct approach where the therapist and client develop an equal friendship to develop trust between the two, creating a safe therapeutic environment which enables the client to figure out what makes them the way they are. When the client begins to trust their feelings and become emotionally confident they can begin to find the answers to their own problems within themselves. For this to happen a core conditions model is in place. Without these conditions this type of therapy would not be effective (Rogers, C. 1957. ) Therapist-Client Psychological Contact- A relationship which two people have impact on each other and the therapist needs to be engaged by the client. Client incongruence, or Vulnerability- The client needs to be in a state of incongruence, feel that their real self is not how they would ideally like be. The client is also vulnerable to anxiousness which means they will be motivated stay in the relationship. (McLeod, J. 2008) Therapist Congruence or Genuineness- The therapist needs to be congruent within the therapeutic relationship- needs to be genuine in dealing with the client and use their own experience to enable the relationship. Unconditional Positive Regard- The therapist needs to have unconditional positive regard for the client. Acceptance, empathy and genuineness without judgement, is needed for the client to feel a higher sense of self-regard so they can realise that their self-worth was distorted by others. The therapist needs to accept the client for who they are now, not what they could become. Empathetic understanding- accurate empathy on behalf of the therapist can help the client believe that the therapist has unconditional love for them. Client Perception- If the therapist communicates to the client their unconditional regard and empathetic understanding to at least a minimal degree this is effective. In contrast cognitive-behavioural therapy is a direct approach where clients are taught how to think and behave in ways in which enables them to obtain their goals. They are not told what it is they want, but instead how to achieve the goals they may have this develops a student (client) and teacher (therapist) relationship. In order for this to be successful, intervention techniques are used to ensure that the goals agreed with the client is met. (Haaga and Davison1986, Meichenbaum 1986) These include; Systematic desensitization- a relaxation technique is taught to help the client to overcome anxiety to enable them to extinguish their phobias. Once this has been learnt the client must use this to enable them to overcome these by using a fear hierarchy. Homework assignments- practicing techniques learnt in therapy between sessions. Experimenting with different self- statements in everyday situations. Thought stopping- instead of letting anxious thought take over the client learns to use something to interrupt these thoughts such as flicking a rubber band on their wrist. Challenging irrational beliefs- the therapist tries to identify the clients’ irrational beliefs that are causing issues in their life and challenges it so that the client develops a less extreme way they view the problem. Reframing the issues getting the client to perceive a certain emotion as something different. An example of this is perceiving fear as excitement. In vivo exposure- going into highly fearful situations with the therapist whilst they are talking through cognitive-behavioural techniques to help you deal with the situation. Scaling feelings- placing present feeling of anxiety and rating them on a scale off 0-100 is an example of this. Rehearsing different self-statements in role-play in therapy sessions. Assertiveness or social skills training. Although a therapeutic relationship is important in both practices, cognitive -behavioural therapists believe this is not sufficient enough alone to help clients work through their problems, and while many therapists have different styles the main cognitive behavioural therapy programme have an outlined structure in place. (Kuehnel and Liberman 1986; Freeman and Simon 1989,) which is the main focus. Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy is more client action orientated to produce a change in the way they think which then will lead to a change in the way the client will behave. However in Person-centred therapy a therapeutic process is put in place as a series of stages. These stages help promote a therapeutic change in the client or a â€Å"process of greater openness to experience† (McLeod, J. 2008. ) (Rogers, C. 1951) considered the management of therapeutic growth as including the awareness of the clients of any experiences they have been denied. They stop seeing the world in a generalised view and begin to see it differently. This enables them to rely on their personal experience to create their own set of values. These personal developments lead to a â€Å"reorganization of self† (Rogers, C. 1951) and is vital to develop new behaviours. In conclusion although both approaches to counselling realise that a counselling relationship is important, person-centred therapists believe that the counselling experience and effectiveness of the therapy is determined solely on that of the relationship. Cognitive-behavioural therapists find, through past experiments other techniques, such as systematic desensitization and behavioural self-control, are equally important to the success of the therapy.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Conceptual Framework And Why Is It Needed Accounting Essay

Conceptual Framework And Why Is It Needed Accounting Essay According to FASB, the conceptual framework is a coherent system of interrelated objectives and fundamental concepts that prescribes the nature, function, and limits of financial accounting and reporting and that is expected to lead to consistent guidance. It is intended to serve the public interest by providing structure and direction to financial accounting and reporting to facilitate the provision of unbiased financial and related information. In short, conceptual framework establishes the concepts that underlie financial reporting and it serves as a guidance to flow consistently from an objective by showing a set of theory of accounting with concepts which are prepared by a standard-setting board. Elliott Elliott, 2009 stated that it also determines bounds for judgement in preparing financial statements as it increases financial statement users understanding of, and confidence in, financial statements and enhances comparability. Standard settings are based on individual or personal concept. However, with the presence of conceptual framework, more useful and more consistence pronouncements will be issued over time and thus, a coherent system will be developed. Another need of conceptual framework is that, profession users should be able to more quickly solve new and emerging practical problems by referring to an existing framework of basic theory. All regulatory bodies have been flayed because they have used piecemeal approaches, solving one accounting issue at a time. Observers have alleged that not enough tidy rationality has been used in the process of accounting policymaking. Again and again, critics have cited a need for a conceptual framework. (Horngren 1981, p.94) Body the argument Hines (1989, p.89) argues that conceptual frameworks are a strategic manoeuvre for providing legitimacy to standard-setting boards during periods of competition or threatened government intervention. The basis of Hines argument is that standard-setting boards they established concepts such as objectivity, reliability or neutrality to act as a platform to legitimate its profession. As one of the main obstacles against which accountants have continually had to struggle in their professionalization quest, has been the threat of an apparent absence of a formal body of accounting knowledge, and that creating the perception of possessing such knowledge has been an important part of creating and reproducing their social identity as a profession. This could thus lead to the intervention of the outsiders such as the government, due to its instability. However, the concepts or known as conceptual framework projects are created to sustain the perception that financial accounting professions has been, or at the very least, is capable of having a formal knowledge base from which practices and standards derive. This could be why some researchers believe that conceptual framework could play another more political role, in reducing the threat of government intervention. It is said to be a strategic manoeuvre for providing legitimacy to standard setting boards because it assist in socially constructing the appearance of a coherent differentiated knowledge base for accounting standards. These projects however still remained to exist and are continually undertaken by professionals even if they have generally failed to accomplish their stated functional purposes. This could explain why a conceptual framework does not exist in countries where governmental agency is in charge of standard setting. Countries such as the United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada and Australia were some of the countries which first developed the national accounting conceptual framework and these are the countries where standard setting has pretty much been delegated to the accounting profession. These professional accountants have succeeded to a substantial degree in their professionalization project where they are largely self-regulated. On the other hand, conceptual framework projects have not been undertaken in France, Germany or Japan where accounting rules is largely determined by government legislation. Stated by Hines, government legislation of accounting procedures does not r equire the authority and legitimacy of an image of a coherent theoretical foundation. (Hines, 1989:86) The history of conceptual frameworks does appear to provide some support for Hines perspective. Peasnell (1982) have discussed five conceptual framework projects which are undertaken in the United Kingdom, United States of America and Canada; which each circumstance suggests that they were strategic responses undertaken by accounting bodies at times of threat to their legitimacy or during periods of competition or threatened government intervention. First of the five projects was the formation of the Accounting Principles Board (APB) by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in the 1959 which resulted mounting professional and legal criticisms on both the quality of corporate reporting practices and the early attempts of the AICPA to remedy matters. (Peasnell, 1982, p.244) APB was criticised by government and also being rejected by the industry. However, the criticisms were then suppressed about five years later after the approval of APB Statement No.4 (APBS4) which states Basic Concepts and Accounting Principles Underlying Financial Statements of Business enterprises. (Peasnell, 1982, p.245) However, the failed results from the first project had doubled. The second project was the FASB which was established as recommended by the Wheat Report (AICPA, 1972) and also the publication of Trueblood Report (AICPA, 1973). The latter in effect, handed over to the newly established FASB, was also criticised and opposed by the industry and was not acted upon by the FASB. According to Peasnell (1982), the third conceptual framework project was bespoke in the United Kingdom by the Accounting Standards Steering Committee as The Corporate Report (ASC, 1975). As discussed by Hopwood (1988), this report is an attempt to outline some of the possible implications for corporate reporting of a change in the social and political environment. However, there are no significant challenge to its legitimacy and thus, this report was treated with indifference. The forth conceptual framework attempt discussed is the conceptual framework established by the Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB). It is established in response to the criticisms of the professions standard setting and was subject to the onus of demonstrating its authority and legitimacy to set standards. It has becoming apparent that the accounting standards being set could lead to significant economic consequences, both to business and even nationally. The final conceptual framework projects discussed by Peasnell (1982) is bespoke on behalf of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA, 1980) and the work was commenced at the time when the body was under threat for reform and criticisms of accounting standards setting in Canada. The circumstances to counter these issues are that they are used as a strategic resource in competition with other groups which are pursuing professionalization and threatening the autonomy and monopoly of entrenched organisations. Conclusion The conceptual framework first started off by emerging in the accounting area as a solution to the inconsistencies of standards which had led to a low legitimacy of standard setting bodies. It had eventually becoming a useful tool for account preparers when preparing reports. However, as defended by Hines and some other authors such as Peasnell, 1982, its main function could be a political one. It has been argued and criticised continuously that conceptual frameworks are a strategic manoeuvre for providing legitimacy to standard-setting boards during periods of competition or threatened government intervention and the history of the development of conceptual frameworks which supports Hines position has proved so. Moreover, according to Peasnell (1982), the only way to prove that standards are developing in a fair, logical and highly professional manner is by having both responsibility and power of developing standards delegated to the same body, like the IASB. Establishing consistent principles will constitute guidance for the production of standards. It is not only a technical tool for the standard setter but also a way of preserving its independence. Lastly, with consistent principles, the standard setter is supposed to be better armed to promote its standards and to avoid lobbying pressure.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Biotechnology Biology Essay

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Biotechnology Biology Essay The objective purpose of this assignment is the, familiarization of the connection between the biotechnology and agriculture; bringing on the contribution of the biotechnology science to agriculture. On the way to assess the specific contribution, citations of positives and negative effects are allocated as well as thoughts and worriers regarding the future of the association between biotechnology and agriculture. Ever since agriculture was developed, before 10 000 years (Sample et al .,2007), humans were attempting to invent new crops as well as and new techniques in order to make the production much more easy. Over the effort of the humanity to produce the best quality products as possible and in more quantities, new technologies and techniques were introduced allowing agriculture for further development. Standing on this piece of evidence it is a fact that most of the technological innovations where integrated to the agricultural science over the last 200 years.(Krimsky et al.,1996). On this improvements of the agricultural science it is appropriate to include the fertilizers, the plant breeding , the mechanization of the procedure as well as the management of the plant enemies using plant protection products (e.g herbicides, pesticides, fungicides).(Krimsky et al., 1996) However the discovery of recombinant DNA back in the early seventies opened a new era in modern agriculture introducing biotechnology into the field ,allowing the scientists to develop novel ideas of innovations in food production.(). As biotechnology is defined according to  the Convention on Biological Diversity, any technological application  uses biological systems, living organisms or their derivatives  create or modify products for specific use  »(Convention on  Biological Diversity, 1992).  This definition includes medical and industrial  applications and tools and techniques used in  agriculture and food production (FAO, 2004).  Among the best known  applications, is the creation of genetically modified foods, cloning  the sheep Dolly, the complete sequencing of the human genome and the  developments in stem cell research.  Like all technologies, so the  Biotechnology is associated with known and unknown risks and threats.  That in itself is a fo od source for the media to  the production of stories that attract readers (Gaskell et al., 2003). Benefits that may occur with the usage of genetic modified organisms had to do with several values that the humanity has set as priority objectives. Moreover the supporters of the agriculture biotechnology state that with the usage of GMOs the role of the sustainable environment is bounded; due to the fact that the main target is the reducing of the usage of pollutants such as pesticides and herbicides. An extra fact that is settled is that the population of the earth is about 6 billion; and with the possibility that there is a continuous trend for further increase.  Indicative, it is expected that over the next 50 years the worlds population will be doubled. With this fact, it is remarkable to declare that the humanity has to ensure that the quantities of food that will be produced ought to be adequate in order to feed the entire population of the earth. Perhaps this will be a huge challenge, whereas the agricultural sciences have the great responsibility. Standing on these factors; the supporters of genetically modified products, have highlighted a numeral benefits that may humanity obtain from their use. The Genetically Modified Organisms, in view of the fact that they have been introduced a gene from another organism, they are able to acquire properties compared with the natural plants as they have the ability to confer resistance to various biotic and abiotic factors such as resistance to various plant protection products from herbicide and pesticide as well as  salinity drought conditions. With the most usual method in conventional agriculture to protect the crops from pest insects to be spraying the plants with different chemical insecticides; have a lot of bad consequences. Even if the use of chemical insecticides is prudential spray or forced; the usual results of the non-rational usage of the chemical pesticides by farmers, lead to the fait accompli, which usual have to do with the huge ecological consequences. This method comprises negative effects on the environment and to the ecological balance.  Apart from the harmful insects to crops, the chemical pesticides may destroy many other species of insects which they might be consider as beneficial as well as natural enemies to the pests. The consequences result in a genuine ecological disruption. Furthermore, the excessive use of insecticides may create resistance of the insects so that to meet those needs is even what harmful. Additionally most chemical insecticides have toxic effects even for humans, with residu es of pesticides that may possibly end up through food chains. On this aspect, biotechnology has given a very good solution; deriving plants which have the power to react autonomously as bio insecticides. For this purpose, was isolated a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis which can encode a protein with a natural insecticide action.(Pentheroudakis).  This protein is a ÃŽÂ ´-endotoxin and has toxic effects in an environment with pH 7,5 to 8,which can be observed in insects and not in the stomach of man.  The certain bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis is used as a biological insecticide for many years, and is grown in bioreactors and then can be sprayed on crops in order the plants to have the appropriate protection from the pests.  This solution is considered environmentally friendly since it excludes the use of hazardous chemicals and pesticides and does not lead to adverse health and environmental (standards 1999, deMaagd 1999). But also apart from its fucti on as a solution , it is also considered as non an economic solution since of the fact that Bacillus thuringiensis has a limit time of life and thats why it has have repeated sprays.(Penteroudakis) .Gene technology made possible the transformation of the particular gene which can produce the ÃŽÂ ´-endotoxin in plants; enabling plants to be protected from the destructive action of certain insects such as Lepidoptera.  There are several strains of Bacillus thuringiensis and each strain produces a different toxin, which acts in a particular species of insects (Estruch et al, 1996).  This ensures the plants resistance to certain insect species by introducing a particular gene (the genes are called genes Bt). One of the applications of Bt producing plants is to resist the European corn borer, which is the main enemy pest of the U.S. corn crop and also responsible for damages cost $1 billion annually (Huang et al, 1999).   According to the company Monsanto, the production of tran sgenic Bt crops reduce the use of chemical pesticides by 1 million litters per year. The nematode worms, as soil organisms can cause serious damages to the crops. Parasitic nematodes can create serious trouble at a wide variety of plants and are responsible for significant crop losses.  Also the eggs survive in the soil under adverse conditions for many years.  Another thing that has to be concern is that it is extremely difficult to militate with parasitic nematodes particularly after the withdrawal of methyl bromide. With the contribution of biotechnology scientists found that various plants are resistant to nematode worms.  For the resistance of certain genes are responsible which have been isolated.  An example is the gene Gro1 potato, which confers resistance to Globodera rostochiensis.  This has opened the way for the possible introduction of these genes into crops to address the challenge of the filamentary.(Jung et al,1998) Crop plants genetically modified to withstand very  powerful and widely used herbicides, can help  to reduce environmental impact of the widespread use   herbicides.  One example is the creation of GM soya from the company Monsanto, which is not affected by the herbicide Roundup  ®,   product of the same company   (http://www.monsanto.com/monsanto/ag_products/input_traits/products/round   up_ready_soybeans.asp).   The resistance of plants against viral diseases,  fungi and bacteria will improve the performance of the fields.   The company Monsanto released on the market in 1996, the genetically modified soybean, which is resistant to the widely used herbicide Roundup.  The genetically modified soybean was introduced the bacterial gene CP4-EPSPS that produces an enzyme resistant to the action of the herbicide.  The Roundup suppresses the activity of natural plant EPSPS enzyme and destroy the plants.  Genetically modified plants, however, producing a resistant enzyme is not affected by the action of Roundup.   The genetically modified soya has caused a storm of reactions in Europe.  Soybeans are particularly important because its derivatives are used in many processed foods such as soya lecithin used in the production of chocolates and baking.  In 1998 one third of total U.S. soybean crop was genetically modified, while in 1999 more than half [Mitten et al, 1999].   Another possible benefit of the usage of biotechnology in agriculture, is the possible creation in the future of seeds resistant to cold (the  introduction of the gene of antifreeze protein from fish  Antarctica), in salinity or drought, which will allow   crop plants in soils inhospitable to date indicative (Zhang and  Blumwald, 2001).   And the contribution of biotechnology does not stop here .It is possible the creation in the future, seeds and crops with high  nutritional value (Ye et al., 2000) which will allow for better nutrition  children in the Third World.One good paradigm to support this   Almost half the worlds population eats rice (Oryza sativa L.), at least once a day (IRRI undated). Rice is the staple food among the worlds poor, especially in Asia and partsof Africa and South America. It is the primary source of energy and nutrition for millions.Thus, improving the nutritional quality of rice could potentially improve the nutritionalstatus of nearly half the worlds population, particularly its children. Commodity ricecontains about 7% protein, but some varieties, notably black rice, contain as much as 8.5%(Food and Agriculture Organization 2004). The most limiting amino acid in rice is lysine.Efforts to increase the nutritional value of rice target protein content and quality along with key nutrients often deficient in rice-eating populations, such as vitamin A and iron.The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines, is a primary center for riceresearch and development of improved varieties. In 1999, Dr. Momma and colleagues at Kyoto University, Japan, reported a geneticallyengineered rice having about 20% greater protein content compared with control rice (Momma et al. 1999). Transgenic plants containing a soybean gene for the protein glycinin contained 8.0% protein and an improved essential amino acid profile compared with 6.5%protein in the control rice. Also the production potential in the future of edible vaccines and drugs   in potatoes and tomatoes (Daniell et al., 2001).  Plants such as poplar, can the genetic modification to  used for phytoremediation contaminated by heavy metals in soils (Rugh, 2004). Apart from the advantages that biotechnology can donate to the agriculture sciences; there are and a lot of factors that as scientists and as consumers we have to be aware. There are ethical factors and other parameters that have to mostly with the environmental subjects that have to be in mind. Nearly all have expressed their concern about GM food and   the possible effects on health and safety of humans in   environment, economic situation of farmers and the poor of the world  making agriculture one of the few, powerful companies: environmental  activist organizations (such as Greenpeace, the Network against GMOs,  the GMWatch), religious organizations, citizens groups sensitized  (such as the Organic Consumer Association), researchers and scientists (such as  ETCgroup, the Institute of Science in Society, by The American Society of  Environmental Medicine, the Union of Concerned Scientists).   Experiments and studies  have identified a number of risks associated with the use of GM foods. Environmental hazards  that they might derived is firstly the challenge of unintended harm to other species. As an example of this;  laboratory studies have   shown that pollen from B.t.  GM corn caused high rates  of mortality in the larvae of the Monarch butterfly. (Losey etal., 1999)   The possible reduction of biodiversity, is another threat of the GM crops against the environment.  The widespread use of GM crops may  lead to reduced biodiversity in neighboring crops  GM ecosystem.  Because GM products are likely to have   competitive advantage over its natural wild varieties of plants,  the latter may not be able to survive with its attendant  reduction or extinction of wild varieties (Conner et al., 2003, Vacher et  al., 2004).  The GM crops can be fatal for others   organizations that share the ecosystem, as species of birds  (Watkinson et al., 2000).   The Horizontal gene transfer is another thing that worries the scientific world regarding the usage of GMOs. The introduction of exotic species into new   environments can cause extensive and irreversible  destruction through the horizontal transfer of genes, transport  ie genes among related organisms, and microbes in or   mammalian cells (unlike the vertical transmission is the transfer  genes from one generation to the next).  The transfer and integration  these genes would result in genetic modification  agencies beyond the estimates of researchers.  Such transfers   can lead eg  to create super weeds (literature  Review Ho and Cummnis, 2008).   General health problems in animals is another think that we have to be aware. A variety of studies in animals suggest that  consumption of GM foods can cause serious health problems  such as infertility, hormonal dysfunction, accelerated aging,   dysfunction of genes associated with cholesterol synthesis,  problems in the regulation of insulin, cell labeling and  protein synthesis and changes in the structure of the liver, kidney, spleen  and gastrointestinal (Ewen and Pustzai, 1999, Finamore et al.,   2008, Malatesta et al., 2008, Kilik and Akay, 2008, Kroghsbo et al., 2008).   Another object that we have to have in mind is allergies, which is the biggest, so far, side effects of GM foods   and is likely to increase the incidence of dangerous  allergies.  Many people and especially children are allergic to edible  plants such as peanuts, an allergy which can lead  death because of some proteins produced by them.  Projects  to increase the nutritional value of soybeans in the introduction to  genome of a gene from the Brazilian peanut abandoned  when research showed that the transgenic soy can promote allergic  reactions to people predisposed (Nordlee et al., 1996).  There  evidence that the genetically modified plant products are  even higher allergenic potential than conventional plants.   Several studies have been reported in the literature, suggesting that  the process of genetic modification may increase the allergen  potential of plants.  For example, levels of inhibitor  trypsin-allergenic agent of soybean are 27% higher  in GM soy.  Also, the Bt toxin in GM corn may  trigger allergic immune response since it contains   sequences that match EN identified allergens  (literature review Smith, 2007).  Scandal had caused  case of Bt corn Starlink à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ of Aventis, which  grown in the U.S. from 1998 to feed and industrial  purposes and not for human consumption because of concerns of  scientific staff of the U.S. Environmental  Protection that can cause allergic reactions.  In 2000,  modified corn Starlink à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ s put into tacos and  another 300 food products containing corn in various parts of  world, making visible the gaps that existed in the management of possible  risks from the use of GM (Bucchini and Goldman, 2002). Finally   A key argument of the proponents of GM crops, large  production and distribution companies modified seeds and lion  scientists, is the largest agricultural performance of biotechnology  crops, an argument which appears to be rebutted by the recent.  Research the Union of Concerned Scientists in which genetically   modified crops ultimately enhance the appearance of resistant  herbicides weeds thus reducing the production and leading to smaller  crops (Gurian-Sherman, 2009).  In addition, as mentioned previously, the GM seed  moving is patented and in future will also be sterilized  causing billions of poor farmers to buy expensive seeds each   time with disastrous results (Whitman, 2000). The application of genetic engineering resulted in the creation of genetically modified organisms resistant pathogens.  This became possible to transfer resistance genes, especially with the help of Ti plasmid of Agrobacterium tumefasiens, in crop plants of great economic importance, such as corn, soybeans, cotton, tobacco, oilseed k.al.  The most commonly used gene is the Bt gene coding for the production of a toxin able to counteract the harmful insects on crops.  The isolation of the gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis and the introduction of a plant species resulted in the creation of a broad class of transgenic plants resistant to attacks of insects, Bt plants.  The cultivation of Bt plants have the advantage of avoiding the use of chemical pesticides, which contain toxic and hazardous substances.  It is also important to create GM plants resistant to nematodes and herbicides, particularly in widely-used herbicide Roundup.   The cultivation of transgenic plants but can cause various environmental problems.  This is the transfer of genes to plants or weeds through pollen and thus creating heat-parasites, prevalence through natural selection of resistant strains of insects to the toxin Bt, the unexpected effect of Bt insect toxin safe for agriculture and the possible abuse  the creation of herbicide-resistant plants on them.   There is no doubt that the establishment and cultivation of genetically modified plants will not only continue but probably will in future become the dominant form of farming.  The attitude of scientists, especially those related to environmental protection, towards GMOs should be responsible and critical.  The new research data, the largest observation time, economics and the comparison of the potential risks with the multiple benefits will help shape a scientifically informed view on the impact of GMOs into the environment.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Pure Horror in Heart of Darkness :: Heart Darkness essays

Pure Horror in Heart of Darkness      Ã‚  Ã‚   In Heart of Darkness it is the white invaders for instance, who are,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   almost without exception, embodiments of blindness, selfishness, and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   cruelty; and even in the cognitive domain, where such positive   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   phrases as "to enlighten," for instance, are conventionally opposed   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   to negative ones such as "to be in the dark," the traditional   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   expectations are reversed.   In Kurtz's painting, as we have seen,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   "the effect of the torch light on the face was sinister" (Watt 332).      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ian Watt, author of "Impressionism and Symbolism in Heart of Darkness," discusses about the destruction set upon the Congo by Europeans.   The destruction set upon the Congo by Europeans led to the cry of Kurtz's last words, "The horror! The horror!"   The horror in Heart of Darkness has been critiqued to represent different aspects of situations in the book.   However, Kurtz's last words "The horror! The horror!" refer, to me, to magnify only three major aspects.   The horror magnifies Kurtz not being able to restrain himself, the colonizers' greed, and Europe's darkness.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kurtz comes to the Congo with noble intentions.   He thought that each ivory station should stand like a beacon light, offering a better way of life to the natives.   He was considered to be a "universal genius": he was an orator, writer, poet, musician, artist, politician, ivory producer, and chief agent of the ivory company's Inner Station.   yet, he was also a "hollow man," a man without basic integrity or any sense of social responsibility.   "Kurtz issues the feeble cry, 'The horror! The horror!' and the man of vision, of poetry, the 'emissary of pity, and science, and progress' is gone.   The jungle closes' round" (Labrasca 290).   Kurtz being cut off from civilization reveals his dark side. Once he entered within his "heart of darkness" he was shielded from the light.   Kurtz turned into a thief, murderer, raider, persecutor, and to climax all of his other shady practices, he allows himself to be worshipped as a god. E. N. Dorall, author of "Conrad and Coppola: Different Centres of Darkness," explains Kurtz's loss of his identity.         Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Daring to face the consequences of his nature, he loses his identity;

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Rosa Parks :: essays research papers

Rosa Parks Rosa parks was born on February 4,1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama. She was a civil rights leader. She attended Alabama State College, worked as a seamstress and as a housekeeper. Her father, James McCauley, was a carpenter, and her mother, Leona (Edward's) McCauley was a teacher. Rosa P. had one younger brother named, Sylvester. Her family lived in Tuskegee. When Rosa was two years-old her parents split up and she, her mother, and her brother moved to her grandparents farm in Nearby Pine Level, Alabama. Her grandparents were one of the few black families who owned their own land, rather than work for someone else. Although they were poor, they were able to raise enough food for all. During the first half of this century for all blacks living in America skin color affected every part of their lives. The South in particular was very racist. Slavery had been abolished only by some fifty years earlier, and blacks were still hated and were feared by whites because of skin color. Jim Crow had a law "separate but equal." The Supreme Court ruled in 1896, that equal protection could not mean separate but equal facilities. Blacks were made to feel inferior to whites in every way. They were restricted in their choices of housing and jobs, were forced to attend segregated schools, and were prohibited from using many restaurants, movie theaters. Rosa Parks said, years later, "Whites would accuse you of causing trouble when all of you were doing was acting like a normal human being, instead of crining. You didn't have to wait for a lynching. You died each time you found yourself face to face with this kind of discrimination." Rosa Parks didn't like attending a poor, one-room school, with few books or supplies, not being able to stop on her way home from school to get a soda or a candybar. She hated how they were parts for blacks like restaurants, trains, and bus and even being forced to give up her seat for a white person. Rosa's mother, Leona McCau ley, worked as a teacher, and the whole family knew the value of education. Rosa attended the local black elementary school, where her mother was the only teacher. When she graduated, the family worked hard to save enough money to send her to a private school for black girls. At the age of 11 she began to attend Montgomery Industrial School for Girls.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Critique of a Toy Essay

The toy I have chosen is the LEGO 750 BRICKS BOX TOY This toy is good for children of ages 2 to 6 years, it allows for free play and helps children to be creative, it helps develop their learning skills and is good for their hand to eye co-ordination which also which also increase their physical and intellectual development ( Ellis flood 2010 Child Development for students in Ireland Dublin Gill & Macmillan ) Margaret Macmillan approach to the curriculum was designed around toy which develops a child’s fine and gross motor skills and manual dexterity and she regarded free play as an important aspect of a child’s development (Josephine Donohue & Frances Gaynor 2011 Education & Care in the Early Years 4th edition Dublin Gill & Macmillan). Its also a learning toy that teaches the children numbers by counting the bricks and creates the things they see around them, they come in different sizes, shapes and colours which gets the children thinking on what to build with it, which could be a house, car, farms etc. COST AVAILABILTY They are available in the following stores and cost: Argos â‚ ¬19.99 Smiths â‚ ¬32.99 Toy master â‚ ¬39.99 Tesco â‚ ¬39.99 Toy city â‚ ¬24.99 Supersavers â‚ ¬29.99 SAFETY OF TOY The toy is safe for the children as there are no small parts that can be swallowed or put in the nose or ears as they are block sizes which are relatively handy. They can be washed in soapy water since they are plastics and can also be sanitised with disinfectant. PLAY VALUE OF TOY My Lego Bricks allows the children to explore the environment by constructing their own house, cars, farms, trucks etc. My Lego bricks helps develop  language skills through verbal communication with the Lego man by pretends play, talking to their toys or moving them from one house to another. My Lego bricks help the children to build and extend their knowledge, understanding and skills in a way that makes sense to them My Lego bricks allow the children to develop their own ideas in the construction world. My Lego bricks foster the development of their social skills by interacting with one another as they build their houses or cars. It also helps the children’s physical development as they put so many hours into the play. DURABILITY OF TOY: The Lego bricks is durable because its made out of plastic rubbers. The plastics are very strong so they can withstand a lot of impact, rough handling, throwing, kicking and still not break. The Lego bricks are very durable as its thick coating of plastic rubbers makes it strong and its washable which is important for hygiene reason especially in a pre school where we have lots of children from different homes. STORAGE OF TOY: The Lego bricks comes in a box, which makes it easy for storage which can be placed on the shelve or under the table or bed. VALUE OF TOY IN RELATION TO THE CHILD’S OVERALL DEVELOPMENT: PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT: The physical development of the children’s is enhanced as their gross motor skills and fine motor skills improves. It also helps their eye to hand co-ordination as they require a higher concentration level in the construction or bringing of their imagination to life of what they see themselves creating. INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT: Playing with the Lego bricks, a child can be introduced to maths through abacus numbers, letters on blocks/bricks also height, weight, matching, sorting and their vocabulary skills can be developed. Creativity play can also be developed as Lego bricks allow a child to be imaginative with their  various construction and pretend play too can be played with the animals and Lego man. Their problem solving skills is developed too as they would want to make sure the outcome of their constructed blocks is perfect and their concentration skills is improved because they are engrossed by their play as they put in a lot of hours to achieve their goals. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: This is a form of communication which is either written, spoken, signed language or body language. The child is able to communicate with an adult or to pretend play with the Lego man, as the adult talks to the children in a group playing with the Lego helps improve their understanding of languages. Playing with the Lego bricks help the child develop their language skills by naming the structured he/she have constructed and interaction between the children is encouraged as they were able to share with one another and communicate as they build their house, car, living rooms, kitchens, farms, gardens, place, letters, animals will teach children vocabulary and help them make a constructive sentences. They help the child count numbers, letters and the images on the Lego is clearly stated for the child to pronounced with the help of an adult if he/she needs it. EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Playing with the Lego bricks help the children develop their emotional development as the children will be anxious to build their house, car, trucks, farms and also help the child’s growth, ability to feel and express an increasing range of emotions. Play with the Lego bricks can be rewarding and promote a sense of achievement for the child as the out come of what they have built will boost their ego and self esteem and can also help to release aggression as all their energy is put into it. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: Social development can be defined as the ability to interact effectively with others or developing a sense of right or wrong (their morals development) â€Å"Ellis Flood 2010 Child Development Gill Macmillan† A group of children can play with lego bricks which helps them interact with one another and the children also get to interact with an adult which will help their social development. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CHANGES/IMPROVEMENT TO THE ITEMS: I would recommend that the cost be reduced and quality improved so as to make it affordable and more durable by getting the value for your money. I would also recommend that the bricks/blocks be moulded in numbers/alphabets and the colours more brighter.

Total Quality Management in Higher Education

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION Ranjana, Lecturer Doaba College of Education ABSTRACT In this world of ever-growing competition, rapid changes of technology, privatization and internalization in education have led to the use of the concept of TQM in higher education. Student is nowadays considered as a customer and the system of education needs to be according to the needs of the customer (Student). In India, inspite of a large number of Universities, deemed universities, medical, engineering, arts and science colleges the quality of higher education leaves much to be desired. Therein lays the need of applying TQM in higher education. The paper answers to the question as how to apply TQM in higher education. PAPER Excellence-Whether in a National Endeavour, a Company, an Athletic competition or a Personal Goal-Comes from the Never Ending Pursuit of Improvement. Introduction In this world of ever increasing competition, rapid changes of technology, declining quality, changing demographics, privatization and internalization in education have led to the use of the concept of TQM in education. The student nowadays is considered as customer and the system of education needs to be according to the requirement of the customer (student). India has 350- plus Universities and deemed universities and over 14,000 medical, engineering and arts and science colleges. Despite this the quality of higher education in India has left much to be desired. All this highlights the need for TQM in higher education. In this paper I intend to throw light on the application of TQM in higher education, simultaneously highlighting the benefits of applying TQM and the Accreditation agencies in India. For this, I surveyed the relevant literature on the topic. Conceptual background of TQM The three major figures in the TQM movement are: W. Edwards Deming, originator of fourteen points of TQM, Dr. J. M. Juran, author of the Juran Trilogy and Philip B. Cresby, who outlined the four Absolutes of Quality Management. Dr. W. Edwards Deming, an American by origin is known as the â€Å"Father of the concept of TQM†. He framed the concept of TQM in 1946 after World War II for production of goods and services in consumer sector. It was intended to satisfy the quest by customers for quality in products The Americans didn’t realize its importance but the Japanese embraced the concept. As a result, Japanese secondary markets were rebuilded and its Tertiary economy also nurtured. This led the American Industrialists in 1980’s to adopt TQM as a vital component in their operations. TQM: Meaning Total Quality Management or TQM is a management strategy aimed at embedding awareness of quality in all organizational processes. Everyone in organization strives and creates customer satisfaction continually at lower real costs. Quality assurance through statistical methods is a key component. TQM aims to do things right the first time, rather than need to fix problems after they emerge. Higher education: Meaning Higher education is the education beyond secondary school level. It includes the colleges and the Universities. TQM in Higher Education TQM has been recently introduced and experimented in higher education. Many Universities and Colleges enhance the quality of higher education by applying Total Quality Management as a tool. We can understand the meaning of TQM in higher education in light of a definition given by Tulsi (2001) TQM in higher education means improving the quality of courses, input, instructional process, resource management processes and structure as well as student support service output and linkages with world of work and other organizations. † As the definition embraces a vast area of educational activity, therefore the support and cooperation of Faculty and Staff members are needed for quality improvement. Participatory team work of all occupies a critical place in the practice of TQM. TQM is total in 3 senses:- 1) Customer focus 2) Involvement of staff members ) Continuous Quality Improvement( CQI) The student is the customer, who buys the study course, thus he has a right to get the relevant course material, fairness, congenial learning environment, access and expertise of the teacher and also access to course material (Sytsma, 1996). It involves the combined and continuous efforts of all those involved with system of education, directly or indirectly: may they be the College Board, superintendent, principal, students, faculty, administrative staff, Universities and Accrediting agencies in India. In India we have Accrediting Agencies like NAAC and ISO (The International Organization for Standardization Accreditation) which are enforcing standards of TQM in higher Education institutions. Benefits of Applying TQM Application of TQM in Higher education Institutions ensures improved communications, increased involvement, improved quality and efficiency in a general context, and increased potential for productivity. How to Apply TQM in Higher Education The essential elements of TQM in higher education may be summed up as:- †¢ Awareness and commitment for everyone To promote an al-round development of the student in terms of his linguistic, kinesthetic, visual and mathematical talents every participant in the teaching-learning process needs to put his/her best efforts to promote the highest possible quality at each step of the developmental process. For this everyone should be made aware of TQM. For this a staff meeting between the staff parents and college management should be held where the overview of TQM elements should be given and a clear commitment from the College Board, principal should be made for applying TQM in their system of education. A clear mission There should be a clear customer-focussed mission statement accompanied by necessary programmes to achieve it. The programmes should be set according to local, state and employer needs. In other words they should enable the students to face the problems of real life rather than mere memorization of subject matter. †¢ A Systems Planning Approach Instead of compartmentalizing kno wledge into separate subjects, it should be provided as an integrated whole so that a student can use his scientific or mathematical knowledge effectively by combining it with the communication skills of English. For this, there should be an Inter-department planning. †¢ Teaming Replacing Hierarchy The administrators, supervisors and department chairpersons should extend full support towards the Task improvement teams so as to make TQM a success. They should insist on clear missions and should coordinate between the task improvement teams †¢ Enablement and empowerment replacing fear Instead of generating fear among the members of improvement teams, they should be given opportunities to become experts by giving them authority to take informed decisions. This will eventually motivate them to work with dedication. Focus on Mastery-Learning In traditional classrooms, teachers often follow the sequence:- As a result many students fail to learn up to the highest possible level. The TQM alternative is In â€Å"Check† step, formative (Not-for-grade) testing is used to determine which learning some students missed. Then that portion is taught to students in some other styles. The chec king and revised teaching can be repeated if it is needed. The students who have mastered the material either move to enrichment learning or assist other students with their instructions. This ensures complete mastery over learning material for most of the students. Management by measurement The teacher should measure the data in Steps#3 and Step#4 to study the relationship of the remedial program and final learning result. This recorded data results in improved learning and cost effectiveness. †¢ Development of student TQM Skills The college staff should integrate TQM in the learning courses of students or provide it as a separate course. †¢ A Humanistic Focus on learning environment William Glasser has given some conditions for quality work based upon his translation of TQM principles as:- o Give a warm, supportive environment. Ask students to do useful, best possible work and to evaluate their own work. o Quality work should feel good and should be constructive. Conclus ion In the end we can say that Total quality Management in Higher education is the need of the hour. It would motivate teachers to contribute to educational standards and development of academic culture. It would inculcate a team spirit among teachers and administrators to promote harmonious development of students, so as to make them befitting citizens of tomorrow. REFERENCES Herzler, Elizabeth, TQM in Higher Education: What does the Literature say? , www. google. com P. S. Mohan Kumar, Total Quality Management in Higher Education and Relevance of Accreditation, www. google. com Hardik Vachhrajani, TQM in Education: Renewing the Research Agenda, University News P. K. Tulsi (2001), Total Quality in Higher Education, Reforms and Innovations in Higher Education, AIU, New Delhi. Deming’s Rules, Higher Education in India . ———————– PLAN TEACH TEST PLAN TEACH (Do) CHECK REVISED TEACHING (ACT) TEST