Saturday, November 30, 2019

STA2014 Statistics - OL1SUT15 Essays - Blood Pressure, Hypertension

STA2014: Statistics - OL1SUT15 City College Assignment Week 1 1 Jaime Mesia STA2014: Statistics - OL1SUT15 City College Assignment Week 1 1 Jaime Mesia Part 1: Write an introductory paragraph introducing the reader to the statistical study you conducted this term. Part 2: Write a summary of what statistics you calculated for the independent variable (exercise) and the dependent variable (systolic blood pressure) and a summary of your findings for Week 4. Part 3: Write a summary of what statistics you calculated for the independent variable (exercise) and the dependent variable (systolic blood pressure) and a summary of your findings for Week 8. Part 4: Write a summary of what statistics you calculated for the independent variable (educational level) and the dependent variable (smoking status) as well as the independent variable (educational level) and the dependent variable (exercise) and a summary of your findings for Week 10. Statistical procedures can be divided into two major categories: descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Before discussing the differences between descriptive and inferential statistics, we must first be familiar with two important concepts in social science statistics: population and sample. A population is the total set of individuals, groups, objects, or events that the researcher is studying. For example, if we were studying employment patterns of recent U.S. college graduates, our population would likely be defined as every college student who graduated within the past one year from any college across the United States. A sample is a relatively small subset of people, objects, groups, or events, which is selected from the population. Instead of surveying every recent college graduate in the United States, which would cost a great deal of time and money, we could instead select a sample of recent graduates, which would then be used to generalize the findings to the larger population. Descriptive Statistics Descriptive statistics includes statistical procedures that we use to describe the population we are studying. The data could be collected from either a sample or a population, but the results help us organize and describe data. Descriptive statistics can only be used to describe the group that is being studying. That is, the results cannot be generalized to any larger group. Descriptive statistics are useful and serviceable if you do not need to extend your results to any larger group. However, much of social sciences tend to include studies that give us "universal" truths about segments of the population, such as all parents, all women, all victims, etc. Frequency distributions, measures of central tendency (mean, median, and mode), and graphs like pie charts and bar charts that describe the data are all examples of descriptive statistics. Inferential Statistics .- Inferential statistics is concerned with making predictions or inferences about a population from observations and analyses of a sample. That is, we can take the results of an analysis using a sample and can generalize it to the larger population that the sample represents. In order to do this, however, it is imperative that the sample is representative of the group to which it is being generalized. To address this issue of generalization, we have tests of significance. A Chi-square or T-test, for example, can tell us the probability that the results of our analysis on the sample are representative of the population that the sample represents. In other words, these tests of significance tell us the probability that the results of the analysis could have occurred by chance when there is no relationship at all between the variables we studied in the population we studied. High blood pressure, or hypertension is a major health problem affecting 43 million Americans, which is approximately 24% of the national population (Kelley Kelly, 2000). It is defined as resting systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure greater than 140/90 mmHg. There are two million new cases of hypertension each year, and it is estimated that two-thirds of American will have high blood pressure some time in old age (Neiman 1998). This article will examine the impact of aerobic exercise and hypertension and review recent research on the effect of progressive resistance exercise on resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure in adults. In the above example of data on age and systolic blood

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Genealogy and Jewish Last Name Origins

Genealogy and Jewish Last Name Origins Many of the names that people think sound Jewish are, in fact, simple German, Russian, or Polish surnames. You generally cant identify Jewish ancestry by a surname alone. Actually, there are really only three surnames (and their variations) that are generally specifically Jewish: Cohen, Levy, and Israel. Yet, even variations of these common Jewish-specific surnames may not be Jewish in origin. The surnames Cohan and even Cohen, for example, could instead be an Irish surname, derived from OCadham (descendant of Cadhan). Clues to Surnames That May Be Jewish While few names are specifically Jewish, there are certain surnames that are more commonly found among Jews: Names ending in -berg (Weinberg, Goldberg)Names ending in -stein (Einstein, Hofstein)Names ending in -witz (Rabinowitz, Horowitz)Names ending in -baum (Metzenbaum, Himmelbaum)Names ending in -thal (Blumenthal, Eichenthal)Names ending in -ler (Adler, Winkler)Names ending in -feld (Seinfeld, Berkenfeld)Names ending in -blum (Weissblum, Rosenblum)Names  having to do with  wealth (Goldberg, Silverstein)Names derived from Hebrew words (Mizrachi, from mizrakhi, meaning eastern, or easterner) Some Jewish surnames may originate from professions that are exclusive to Jews. The surname Shamash, and its variations such as Klausner, Templer, and Shuldiner, means shamash, a synagogue sexton. Chazanian, Chazanski, and Chasanov all derive from chazan, a cantor. Another common origin for  Jewish surnames are house names, referring to a distinctive sign attached to a house in the days before street numbers and addresses (a practice primarily in Germany, by both Gentiles and Jews). The most famous of these Jewish house names is Rothschild,  or red shield, for a house distinguished by a red sign. Many Common Jewish Last Names Sound German Many Jewish-sounding surnames are actually German in origin. This may be due to a  1787 Austro-Hungarian law  that required Jews to register a permanent family surname, a name they also required to be German. The decree also required that all surnames that had previously been used in Jewish families, such as those originating from a place where the family lived, should be totally abandoned.  The chosen names were subject to the approval of Austrian officials, and if a name was not chosen, one was assigned.   In 1808, Napoleon issued a similar decree that compelled Jews outside of Germany and Prussia to adopt a surname within three months of the decree, or within three months of moving into the French Empire. Similar laws requiring Jewish people to adopt permanent surnames were passed at various times by different countries, some well into the latter half of the 19th century. A Surname Alone Cant Identify Jewish Ancestry While many of the above surnames have a greater likelihood of belonging to a Jewish family, you cant assume that any of the last names are actually Jewish, no matter how Jewish they may sound to you, or how many Jewish families you know with that name. The third most common Jewish surname in America (after Cohen and Levy) is Miller, which is also obviously a very common surname for Gentiles as well. Resources and Further Reading Rieder, Estee. â€Å"Whats in a Name?† Mishpacha Magazine, Jewish World Review, 2007.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Definition of the Term LD50

Definition of the Term LD50 Definition: The median lethal dose of a substance, or the amount required to kill 50% of a given test population. LD50 is a measurement used in toxicology studies to determine the potential impact of toxic substances on different types of organisms. It provides an objective measure to compare and rank the toxicity of substances. The LD50 measurement is usually expressed as the amount of toxin per kilogram or pound of body weight. When comparing LD50 values, a lower value is regarded as more toxic, as it means a smaller amount of the toxin is required to cause death. The LD50 test involves exposing a population of test animals, typically mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, or even larger animals such as dogs, to the toxin in question. The toxins might be introduced orally, through injection, or inhaled. Because this testing kills a large sample of the animals, it is now being phased out in the United States and some other countries in favor of newer, less lethal methods. Pesticide studies involve LD50 testing, usually on rats or mice and on dogs. Insect and spider venoms can also be compared using LD50 measurements, to determine which venoms are the most deadly to a given population of organisms. Â   Examples: LD50 values of insect venom for mice: Honey bee, Apis mellifera - LD50 2.8 mg per kg of body weightYellowjacket, Vespula squamosa - LD50 3.5 mg per kg of body weight Reference: W.L. Meyer. 1996. Most Toxic Insect Venom. Chapter 23 in University of Florida Book of Insect Records, 2001. http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/walker/ufbir/.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

To what extent can and should the regulatory purpose underlying a Essay

To what extent can and should the regulatory purpose underlying a challenged national measure be considered when analysing whether GATT Article III has been bre - Essay Example The most recent, the Uruguay Round, addressed issues such as tariffs, services, and the trade related aspects of intellectual property and investment measures. The Final Act Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations was signed in April 1994. The Uruguay Round agreement was approved and implemented by the U.S. Congress in December 1994, and went into effect on January 1, 1995. The implementing legislation, known as the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, was passed in December, 1994. In any federal regime dedicated to maintaining open markets - whether it is the GATT/WTO regime to liberalize trade between WTO member states, or the European Community (EC) regime to create free trade between EC member states, or the United States regime to maintain an open market among its fifty U.S. states - experience teaches that domestic regulations enacted by member states sometimes have a negative impact on trade. In some cases the negative trade effects are unintended, but on other occasions it has been clear that member states are using domestic regulations to give local producers a competitive advantage. The WTO inherited a basic structure of policing rules from the 1947 GATT agreement. The core GATT provisions for this purpose are the two-step set of rules in Articles III and XX. Article III governs "internal" taxes and regulations - those taxes and regulations that apply to imports after the imports have cleared customs and entered domestic commerce. The general rule of Article III is that internal taxes and regulations must treat imports no less favourably than like domestic products - an anti-discrimination rule known in GATT parlance as the "national treatment" principle. If a domestic regulatory measure is found to discriminate against imports in violation of Article III, the regulating government can seek to justify that discrimination by proving that it is necessary to the achievement of some legitimate regulatory purpose. GATT Article III - National Treatment on Internal Taxation and Regulation Article III of the GATT is about the National Treatment on Internal Taxation and Regulation. The detailed description about the Article III is as follows: 1. The contracting parties recognize that internal taxes and other internal charges, and laws, regulations and requirements affecting the internal sale, offering for sale, purchase, transportation, distribution or use of products, and internal quantitative regulations requiring the mixture, processing or use of products in specified amounts or proportions, should not be applied to imported or domestic products so as to afford protection to domestic production2. 2. The products of the territory of any contracting party imported into the territory of any other contracting party shall not be subject, directly or indirectly, to internal taxes or other internal charges of any kind in excess of those applied, directly or indirectly, to like domestic products. Moreover, no contracting party shall otherwise apply internal taxes or other internal charges to imported or domestic products in a manner contrary to the principles set forth in paragraph 1.* 3. With respect to any existing internal tax which is inconsistent with the provisions of paragraph 2, but which is specifically authorized under

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Literature Review Parent's Impact on Children's Physical Activity Essay

Literature Review Parent's Impact on Children's Physical Activity Levels - Essay Example But these studies have been anything but simple. The evolution of man when studied on children is an uphill task to say the least. There are many complex phenomena that are involved in it, and one should be conscious while making the same assumptions for adults that one makes for children. There were a huge number of interesting findings that lead to learn more about the way children behave in general, especially in the realm of physically activity. One would like to assume, that since there are obvious differences between children, this it would be fair to assume that they are different on some form of physical attribute as well. Eccles et al (1997) concludes that, children have more competence beliefs for physical values in so far as learning from the parents is concerned. This variation is not only of academic value, but would also end up determine possible patterns of behavior, which would in turn establish both individual as well as social behavior, that can have economic as well as political implications. Therefore, in order to form a conclusion about the ability of children to read and the differences therein, it is important to consider the biological and psychological basis of the same. In a recent study, children's development was shown to be affected by the content of the activities (Oakhill and Petrides, 2007). Therefore, an act that actually triggers their fancy, and would be of some value to their interests is likely to have them engrossed in the activity for a greater amount of time. The way children start physical development, and the differences therein are crucial to understand before an impression about their future development can be formulated. It is the difference in choice of toy that they start showing initially, from which the first signs of gender identity appear to develop. Parents' role in encouragement and support It has now been established that children from a very young age start to develop affiliation and understanding of the parents. Even when a child is of a few months, he/she starts to show sense of attachment as Piaget has been able to conclude through his work. From about 9 months onwards, children start to get appreciation of familiar figures, and their absence as potent matters of existence. This then transforms into attachment in due course, which transcends into role identification. Stewart, et al, (2003) elucidates that "physical activity interventions targeted at children should include and evaluate the efficacy of individual-level and community-level strategies to increase parents' capacity to provide instrumental and motivational support for their children's physical activity." This further is also supported by Cleland, et al, (2005) wherein it is established that parental exercise influences their children's participation in extracurricular sports. The behaviorist theory entails that a person learns every thing from its environment, and that a person is more likely to produce an act, which he has seen before. It can also be understood in the context of imitating or modeling, whereby similar acts are repeated. "Environmental influences such as parental approval and social custom shape us into wanting certain things and not wanting others" (Rathus, p. 399, 2002). In the same light, Garrett, et al (1999) purport that it is worth considering that children are nor necessarily a unanimous group; they

Saturday, November 16, 2019

The success of Aldi Essay Example for Free

The success of Aldi Essay Executive summary This report presents the current situation of UK supermarket especially Aldi by the PESTLE analysis, and the economic, social and technological are the main factors affecting the performance of supermarkets nowadays. For instance the unemployment rate, technology used and current trend. There is also a case study on Aldi, explaining the strategies used by Aldi, reducing cost to achieve its goal of providing both value and quality to the customers. Lastly, the report also distinguish that Aldi is applying the rational goal model, as Aldi has a clear goal and emphasis on the efficiency, and how the systematic working method of Aldi helps itself to reach the success. 1.0 Introduction In recent years, the whole UK grocery market are stretching continuously, about 4% bigger than a years ago(Supermarkets in the UK: Market Research, 2013). Aldi is one of the British ‘big four’ supermarkets in UK. It was started in 1913 as a family grocery business in Essen. In 1946, brothers Karl Albrecht and Theo Albrecht took over the business from their mother. Aldi is a supermarket flaunts low prices as its name Albrecht-Discount, and the mission statement of Aldi is†Incredible value everyday†. There are 512 stores in the UK, and over 7,600 worldwide. Aldi has increased its sales 32.7% year for the 12 weeks before September 15th (The Grocer, 24th September 2013). In this report, we’re going to use the PESTLE analysis to study the factors affecting the UK supermarket industry and especially Aldi, the approaches used by Aldi to gain the competitive advantage and the model of management of Aldi’s approach and discuss how the culture supports its strategies and lead to the success. 2.0 PESTLE Analysis PESTLE Analysis is a tool for people to understand the industry situation,  PESTLE stands for â€Å"Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal and Environmental† factors. In the following, we will focus on the economic, social and technological factors( Boddy, D. and Paton, S.,2002). 2.1 Economic factors In 2013, UK is on the path of recovery. It is expected in the second half of 2014, the economy of UK will exceed the peak in 2008. It also says that the UKs GDP is now set to grow by 2.7% in 2014, an upgrade from a previous prediction of 2.2% as per data by BBC (British Chambers of Commerce) (Kern, 2013). Also, The European Central Bank has cut its inflation forecast for 2014, from 1.3 per cent to 1.1per cent (Yaker, 2013). For the unemployment rate, it stands at 7.4% down 0.3% on the quarter and 0.5% down over the year. The number of people employed was 250,000 higher this quarter and 485,000 higher than last year (HRM Guide, 2013). All the above changes and prediction of the economy are the considerations of Aldi, as they will affect the prices, demand, supply and finally the profit of supermarkets. Especially the unemployment rate, as people will have less disposable income when they have no jobs, they would then lower the demand on some leisure goods, for instance the snacks. In case of Aldi, as Aldi is aim at providing a cheaper price compare with its competitors, therefore the sale of Aldi will rise on the country as the unemployed will consider more on the price when they are in limited budget. 2.2 Social factors The British are more concern about healthy in recent years, there are concerns on organic food. People may rather consume an organic product with a higher price than an artificial stuff with lower price. And Aldi did catch on this trend and establish a product line called â€Å"Fit and Active† and organic toddler products to meet the recent needs of customers. There is also demographic problem of aging population in UK, leading to a paucity of labour in the supermarket as most low level work in supermarket require physical power and the elderly are not suitable for these. Aldi also focus on corporate social responsibility, they cooperate with many charities, for example, in 2011 Barnardo’s was Aldi’s charity of the year (The Times 100, 2013). 2.3 Technological factors Technology used by supermarkets will highly influence the efficiency of a supermarket. Most of the work in the supermarket are more or less the same and process daily, for example transportation of goods, storage, distribution system, packaging, etc. Much time can be saved if technology are developed for this simple but repeating tasks. For Aldi, their stores use the technologies like, intelligent scale, Wireless devices, Electronic shelf labeling, Radio Frequency Identification(RFID), and self-check-out machine (Gill, 2013). RFID technology is used to protect the warehouses, through the system, only people with the RFID tag will be allowed to go into the warehouses. 3.0 Strategies of Aldi All the customers want a product in the lowest price whilst possessing the highest quality. Aldi understand what customers need and offer them quality products at competitive prices. In some cases Aldi’s product are 30% cheaper than those offered by its competitors (The Time 100, 2013). According to the article(Competitive advantage through efficiency), The Time 100, the strategy used by Aldi is cost leadership strategy. This is an approach that the business eager to provide the lowest price among the market and this is achieved by cutting the cost without affecting the quality of goods which means it antagonizes with the competitors by price. Aldi is mainly based on the lean thinking principle to operate the business. The rule of lean production is getting more from less. In other words, using least resources to provide the largest amount of goods and services. Firstly, the time based management of Aldi. This is an approach aim at minimize the time the used in managing the business. In the supply chain,  Aldi will minimize the cost and time of delivery by getting most of the resources(fruit and vegetables) locally. Also, the approach is also implicated to the staffs of Aldi. The staffs of Aldi are trained to do variety of works, the multi-skilled staffs are able to lower the cost on employment of Aldi as they are able to perform different tasks. Different from the competitors, the opening hour of Aldi is regularly 8am to 8pm from Monday to Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday, but not open for 24hours. This action is able to cut the cost of Aldi, as expenditure on light, wages, etc also need to be spend during the wee hours and the sale on those hours must be less than the day time. Secondly, the just-in-time approach applies on stock storage mentioned in the article. Aldi only holds the stock that it needs. As the expenditure of warehouses is high and therefore the cost on renting a warehouse and staffs on managing of the warehouse can be saved. In addition, Aldi’s products are delivered in display ready cases. Cost on managing the products can also be reduced. Aldi pays much effort on reducing costs and eliminating waste, applies the principle of lean thinking in every minutiae. Aldi is fully achieved its core purpose â€Å"Provide value and quality to our customers by being fair and efficient in all we do†. All Aldi have done is able to reduce the cost and turn out offering a lower price than its competitors, gain the reputation from customers. 4.0 Model of management of Aldi The rational goal model is the best model of management to represent Aldi’s management approach. This is an approach about an organization maximize its own capability to reach the goal. There is a clear direction of operating Aldi, offering the â€Å"happy price† to the customers. And Aldi has carry out a lot of practices in order to minimize the cost on operating the supermarket. There are different approaches throughout the whole process, from supply, delivery, grounding to packing. Every staff of Aldi is employed carefully, they should have enough capability to handle any task and duties of the day, they are trained to follow defined procedures. They are a group of flexible workforce to Aldi. The staffs of Aldi also receive a relatively high salary compare with other supermarkets and variety type of jobs enable employees to have high incentive to work. Apart from the skilled staffs, the measures of Aldi also bring itself to an upper level. These factors make Aldi processes in a high level of efficiency and productivity. The culture of Aldi is carrying out the scientific management. There are systematic working methods throughout every process as discussed above. Also, the business decisions are all made by the managers of Aldi, the employees only need to follow the defined procedures. There are a clear hierarchy among the employees. The employees have low-involvement employment relationship. This culture of Aldi can shorten the time of decision making as the decisions are only made by managers. In addition, there will lead to a quick reaction to the society changes for example the organic products cooperate to the health trend nowadays. 5.0 Conclusion In conclusion, the performance of a supermarket can be influenced by many factors, and most of the factors cannot be anticipated especially the economic factors, for instance the unemployment rate and inflation rate. For the social factors, the recent trend will affect the products sold by supermarket, for example the organic line of Aldi. And the technological factors, technology is able to improve the efficiency of the supermarket as most of the tasks in a supermarket are simple and repeating. The strategies used by Aldi are eliminating waste to reduce the cost of production in order to offer the lowest price to the customers. For example the approaches used in the supply chain, staffs and the opening hours. All of these help Aldi to achieve its goal. Next, Aldi is operating in rational goal model as Aldi has a clear goal, emphasis on the productivity and efficiency. In addition, the culture of Aldi, systematic working methods is helping Aldi to further achieve its strategies. Reference list 1. Boddy, D. and Paton, S.(2002) Management an Introduction. 5th edn. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited 2002, 2011 2. Barnat, R. (no date) Strategic Management: Formulation and Implementation Available at: http://www.strategic-control.24xls.com/en125 (Accessed: 16 January 2014) 3. Cost Leadership Strategy (no date) Available at: http://www.ecofine.com/strategy/cost%20leadership.htm (Accessed: 16 Jaunary 2014) 4. UK Unemployment (no date) Available at: http://www.hrmguide.co.uk/jobmarket/unemployment.htm (Accessed: 15 January 2014) 5. Competitive advantage through efficiency (2013) Available at: www.thetimes100.co.uk (Accessed: 8 Jaunary 2014) 6. Prescott, R. (2013) The top 9 UK supermarkets in 2013 Available at: http://www.foodbev.com/news/the-top-9-uk-supermarkets#.UuBk9XmJMUt (Accessed: 12 January 2014) 7. Supermarkets in the UK: Market Research (2013) Available at: http://www.ibisworld.co.uk/market-research/supermarkets.html (Accessed: 12 January 2014) 8. Vizard, S. (2014) ‘Sainsbury’s Christmas marketing buzz fails to translate into sales’ Available at: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk (Accessed: 11 January 2014) 9. Gough, R. (2013) INTO UEA Diploma Business Lecture Notes, Autumn 2013 10. Aldi Homepage (no date) Available at: https://www.aldi.co.uk (Accessed: 3 January 2014)

Thursday, November 14, 2019

The Realm of Sisterhood in Mary Leapor’s Poetry Essay -- Biography Bio

The Realm of Sisterhood in Mary Leapor’s Poetry For a woman writer to be read by her peers in eighteenth century England was somewhat unusual. For this woman to procure some kind of living from her writing was even more remarkable. But for such a woman to claim both these accomplishments, with writings attacking the very state of women no less, was extraordinary. Yet Mary Leapor was this woman. Not only did she herself defy society in remaining unmarried for the whole of her short life, but she also took up the call to fight for women everywhere. Her answer to the oppression of society was to find solace in the bonds of sisterhood. The radicalism of Leapor’s encouragement has long been a source of discrepancy for her critics, and there exists a wide array of interpretations. The question lies within the definition of the female relationships she so wholeheartedly promotes. The varying interpretations include everything ranging from Leapor as promoting lesbianism, to simply promoting good female friendships. Adrienne Rich termed this range of womanly bonds the â€Å"lesbian continuum,† and explains it as the inclusive realm between â€Å"consciously desired genital sexual experience with another woman,† and â€Å"the sharing of a rich inner life, the bonding against male tyranny, the giving and receiving of practical and political support† (51). The question remains: where does Leapor belong on this continuum? Critic Donna Landry places Leapor in the realm of replacing heterosexual union with something closer to homosexual tendencies, while Richard Greene offers a far more platonic view of things. In applying Rich’s tenets of a range, it is possible to read Leapor as somewhere between Landry and Green, and as enco... ...ress, 1995. Greene, Robert. Mary Leapor: A Study in Eighteenth-Century Women’s Poetry. New York: Oxford University Press Inc., 1993. Harris, Jocelyn. â€Å"Sappho, Souls, and the Salic Law of Wit.† Anticipations of the Enlightenment in England, France, and Germany. Ed by Alan Charles Kors and Paul J. Korshin. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987. Landry, Donna. â€Å"Mary leapor Laughs at the Fathers.† The Muses of Resistance: Laboring Class Women’s Poetry in Britain, 1739-1796. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. 78-119. Rich, Adrienne. â€Å"Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.† Blood, Bread, and Poetry: Selected Prose 1979-1985.† New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1986. Wahl, Elizabeth Susan. Invisible relations: Representations of Female Intimacy in the Age of Englightenment. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Why Go to College

Why did you choose to come to college? Education is the most important part of one’s life. Not everyone goes to college right after high school. College is not intended for everyone. For example, some people decide to work right after high school. College is expensive and some may even say it is hard. However, college is not a bad thing it has some good qualities. For instance, it can be a time where students can venture out and meet new people. Like others, I, too have some reason why I choose to go to college. Such as, to better myself, higher paying jobs and get away from home. First, after high school may people do not consider going to college for whatever reasons one might have. Not going to college was not an option for me. However, my parents never went to college, and watching my mom struggle to make ends meet I just knew that I did not want that to be me. Therefore, I do not want to live my life, paycheck to paycheck, and worrying about weather or not I am going to have enough money to pay to keep a roof over my head. The reason for going to college is that I wanted to have a better life. Not everyone can go to college to better themselves, but I am lucky, and truly blessed that I am getting a opportunity to better myself. In fact, college is extremely important to me. I am the first one in my immediate family to go to college so it is a big deal to everyone that I not just go but to also graduate. Next, going to college not only helps me better my life but gives me more job opportunity. More and more jobs require more than a high school education. A person with a bachelor’s degree will earn, on average, almost twice as much as workers with a high school diploma. Master’s degree earn $31,900 more per year than a high school graduate. Furthermore, people who go to a two year college earns $250,000 more than someone who does not. More importantly, a college education can help you discover new areas of knowledge, consider life long goals and make wiser decisions. Getting a college education is an investment that is going to be with me for life.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Computerized Payroll System Essay

INTRODUCTION Technological advances in the past few decades have greatly increased the competitive nature of the economic business world. Companies have used software, computers and the Internet to transform their businesses from local places of business to national and global market competitors. Many companies have responded to these changes by automating their business processes and capturing industry-related information and using it to their advantage. Technology has also forced businesses to remain flexible, adapting their operations to newer and better technological advances. Payroll system is the sum of all financial records of salaries for an employee, wages, bonuses and deductions. In accounting, payroll refers to the amount paid to employees for services they provided during a certain period of time. Because money was involved company convert their payroll into a computerized to provide accurate result and to finish the work in no time. The manager is not aware of the time of admission o f the employee because of this, the manager can’t compute accurately of what time the employee enter. Therefore it is necessary to have an automated timekeeping system. Today’s automated timekeeping technology is a powerful resource for businesses, both large and small. It is designed to offer exceptional convenience, and to substantially improve profit margins by reducing the cost of labour. Many companies that are considering an automated timekeeping system are motivated primarily by the convenience it provides. However, what is often overlooked is exactly how much companies save by tracking their employees with an automated solution. An integrated and automated timekeeping approach will not only pay for itself year-after-year, but will also return immense savings. It is therefore a great advantage if the proposed computerized payroll system with automated timekeeping is applied. It would greatly help the manager to monitor his employee if there are always late and it easily to compute for the salary of each employee. Applying the computerized payroll system will give much m ore accurate computation of the salary. 1.1Statement of the problem General Problem How to develop a Computerized Payroll System and Timekeeping Monitoring with Fingerprint Technology for the Municipality of Kawit? Specific Problems †¢How to develop a module that will compute the employee’s salary? The Human Resource Management Officer 4 will compute the salary based on the timekeeping of the employee. They use MS Excel in computing the salary, even though they use MS Excel they need to input all the necessary information needed for the computation. It is prone to typographical errors and can be easily manipulated. †¢How to develop a module that will generate essential reports? Preparation of reports such as payslip, payroll summary and government reports they use MS Word and MS Excel. It is a very tedious process in the part of the accounting personnel and again prone to typographical errors and miscalculations. †¢How to provide a module that will be able to monitor the time –in /out of the employee? The organization is currently using Bundy Clock to monitor the attendance of employees. But it didn’t literally track the attendance because it easy for the employee to fake the records. 1.2 Overview of the Current State of the Technology Presently, all employee start at 8:00 AM and ends at 5:00 PM. The company uses Bundy clock in logging in and out of their employees. From Monday to Friday, at 8:00 am, the HR collects the time card to ascertain the present headcount of the company. The purpose of checking is for verification of the employee’s attendance. The employee should inform the company before 7am in filing absence. The employee must report to his respective supervisor if he is late for information thus it will be deducted to his salary. If the employee forgot to log-in then the HR will decide what to do to that employee. The HR or Human Resource Management is the one who prepares the salary of the employees. HR also collects the time card from the storage and also checks if the employee time in and time out, afterwards the HR will give the time card to the accountant. The Accountant will compute the salary and deductions then the accountant will give it to the treasurer to prepare the vouchers for each employee and prepares the budget for the salary, and then the treasurer will give it to the Municipal Mayor, the one who will approve the budget releasing; afterwards the HR will ensure the cheque for the withdrawal of the budget. Their cut-off is every 10th and 25th of the  month. After the cut-off period the attendance of the employee resumes, if there will be absences and late for the permanent worker it will be deducted in the vacation leave while the casual worker if there are absences and late it will be deducted to their salary. If they didn’t log-out for a day, it will be considered as under time. For permanent employee it will be deducted to their vacation leave. For every employee they have 15 vacation and sick leave. In applying vacation leave the employee must file the request 10 days before the leave. In applying sick leave the employee must provide a medical certificate if he is absent for more than three days while if he is absent for 1 to 3 days he can go back to work without providing a medical certificate. 2.1Proposed Research Project 2.1.1General Objectives To provide and develop a Computerized Payroll System and Time Keeping with Fingerprint technology that will improve the current Payroll System and Time Keeping of Municipality of Kawit. 2.1.2Specific Objectives †¢To develop a module that will compute the employee’s salary. The proponents will develop a module that will compute the salary of every employee accurately based on the integrated timekeeping of the employee. †¢To develop a module that is able to generate essential reports. The proponents will develop a module that will be able to generate reports such as daily time Reports (serves as replacement to the time card), contribution reports based on the record of the employee †¢To provide a module that will be able to monitoring time –in /out of the employee. The system will automatically monitor and record the attendance of the employee by fingerprint technology so that the employee must time –in/out by themselves unlike previously it can fake the records. 2.2.3 Scope and Limitations 2.2.3.1 Scope This study is about the coverage of the proposed payroll system and timekeeping. It covers the following qualification. File maintenance Module Employee file module – includes all information about the employee such as fingerprint of the employee, work schedule, position, department, and basic  information. Includes adding, updating and archiving employee records Department file module – includes the organization department and department code Transactions Salary Computation – The system will compute salary base on employee’s attendance and contribution. 13th Month Pay – A module for employee’s that are acceptable for 13th month pay. All employees that will work until the end of the year will receive the 13th month pay. Agency contribution – includes the deducted fee for the government agency such as GSIS, PAG-IBIG, Philhealth and withholding tax. Employee leave – includes the employee’s leave such as vacation leave, sick leave Employee Loan- includes all employee’s information such as load type, loan amount etc Other Deductions and Earnings – a module that includes other deduction and earning such as bonuses or other incentives. Reports Payslip – contain all information about the employee’s salary and deduction. GSIS Contribution Reports – Reports that contains employee’s total contribution per month for GSIS. PhilHealth Contribution Reports – Reports that contains employee’s total contribution per month for PhilHealth. Pag-big Contribution Reports – reports that contains employee’s total contribution per month for Pag – Ibig BIR/Withholding Tax Report – reports that contains employee’s total tax for a month. Payroll Summary Report – -reports that contains information about employee’s payroll. Daily Time Reports – reports that contain the attendance of the employee’s. Serve as an alternative to the time card of the Bundy Clock Leave form – a blank leave form for leave request. System Security Password- for security purposes that only the administrator and the HR knows the password. Administrator Level – have the full access on the system.  HRMO Level – can only access the attendance and monitor the leaves and absence of the employee. Accountant Level – can only access the transaction and the computation of the employee’s salary and the one that sets the computation in the option. Audit trail- serves as additional security that  measure all the login activities using the system, it will logged into the table including the username, time, date, and the task done. Timekeeping Fingerprint Technology – module that uses fingerprint technology for timekeeping Numeric Keypad Module – Module that uses numeric keypad technology that serves as an alternative if the fingerprint technology having technical problems. Timekeeping Entry– module that manually input the employee’s attendance, it serves as a back-up for the system. Back-up and Recovery The system has backup capabilities allowing the user to create a backup of the database which will be stored on secondary storage devices. It will also automatically back-up every cut off. If the program file of the payroll system are damage or corrupted there will be a duplicate copy either on the CD or secondary hard disk. Limitation The study is limited and focused only in the payroll system and the timekeeping monitoring of the organization however its capability is limited and cannot do the following task: †¢Employees are subjected to have only 2 accounts in regards to timekeeping (time-in and time-out). †¢Only employees that work in the municipality building are included in the proposed payroll system. An employee working outside the municipality is not required to time in and time out in the municipality. †¢In case of power failure, the attendance of the employee will record temporarily on a log book until the power come back. The data gathered on the log book will be transferred to the computerized system. Chapter 2 Theoretical Framework 2.1 Introduction Information System (IS) implemented within an organization for the purpose of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of that organization. Capabilities of the information system and characteristics of the organization, its work systems, its people, and its development and  implementation methodologies together determine the extent to which that purpose is achieved. Transaction Processing System (TPS) is a type of information system. Transaction Processing System collects, store, retrieve and modifies data that stored in an information system of an organization. Transaction processing system guarantees immediate action to negotiations made by persons and companies involved. It ensures a smooth flow of transaction, isolating particular transactions that have no credible assurance of the collected data’s authenticity A theoretical framework is a collection of interrelated concepts and provides definitions of relationships between all the variables. Theoretical framework helps researchers to determine problem areas, research questions that need to be addressed and the methodology in which helps to find an answer to the research questions. 2.2 Time Keeping Timekeeping is the monitoring of attendance of employee in time! A timekeeper is an instrument or person that measures the passage of time; in the case of the latter, often with the assistance of a clock or stopwatch. In addition, the timekeeper records time, time taken, or time remaining during events such as sports matches. They can then make operational decisions to increase productivity and reduce labor costs. 2.3 Fingerprint Technology Fingerprint technology refers to the automated method of verifying a match between two human fingerprints. Fingerprints are one of many forms of biometrics used to identify individuals and verify their identity. 2.4 Payroll System A computerized payroll calculates and tracks employee salaries, wages, bonuses, tax withholdings, and deductions. It prints employee pay checks, provides reports to better manage employee pay records, and generates complete weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual payroll tax-related forms and reports. It is also used in automating and providing timely and accurate payroll processing for all types of employees. The computerized payroll is designed to process all types of payroll transactions for the purpose of computing and paying employees hence, computerization makes generating  payroll a much simpler and quicker process than if trying to perform these duties manually.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Creative and innovative management in General Electric cooperation The WritePass Journal

Creative and innovative management in General Electric cooperation Introduction Creative and innovative management in General Electric cooperation Introduction â€Å"Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things† (Pascale, 1990)Types of Leadership StyleAutocratic:Democratic3. PaternalisticCase studyThe innovation management processConclusionRecommendationRelated Introduction â€Å"Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things† (Pascale, 1990) John Kotter (1996) defined management as number of procedures which can keep the complex interaction between individuals and technology moving efficiently. He identified several phases of this complex interaction, but the most important pieces are considered to be the â€Å"planning, budgeting, organising, staffing, controlling, and problem solving†. Similarly, leadership has been defined as â€Å"a set of processes that creates organisations in the first place or adapts them to significantly changing circumstances†. Good leadership can help draw a picture for the future, support people with that vision, and motivate them to pass all the obstacles to achieve the targets. Basically, effective management and leadership can lead an organisation to successfully achieve its targets. Leaders are people ‘who inspire with clear vision of how things can be done better’ (Slater, 2001). As personality traits, leadership and management possess many similarities. Both need a certain level of influence, the ability to work as a team with a variety of people, as well as the skill to set goals and manage them realistically. Nevertheless, these two traits might be considered very different in when looking at different fields of expertise. Though leadership and management have been around for centuries, the actual classification and concept of both leadership and management have only been developed in the last 100 years. The key functions of managers have been classified by the theorist Henri Fayol (1949) as: â€Å"Planning, organising, commanding, coordinating and controlling†. Good leadership motivates individuals to perform allocated chores willingly, competently and successfully. Leadership can improve people’s performance at work, thus encouraging them to work harder and achieve high quality results. This increases not only job gratification at personal level, but also productivity at company level. Managers can create a positive and encouraging work atmosphere by making the employees understand their responsibility for the work, as well as their role in planning and control. As such, managers can create a positive outlook in their teams. This sense of responsibility at employee level is required to develop and grow a business. â€Å"Leadership is management job† Deming (1997). To be a successful manager, one should take into account six important points concerning quality and competence. These include leadership skills as well as management skills, and they are the foundation for each managerial position. The following list contains additional skills which make a good manager: Building a trusting working environment; Promoting a creative atmosphere without fear of change; Ensuring the highest quality results are achieved in order to meet the needs of clients; Ensuring up to date information is available and making certain clear communication channels are active to support informed decisions; Ensuring all results and activities are completed within planned financial and time limits, whilst guaranteeing quality; Utilising the position of influence to persuade and motivate, as well as achieving personal goals. This aspect of self-management is important as a manager is often seen as a ‘role model’. Types of Leadership Style Leadership style can be described as: Autocratic: Autocratic leaders often have the following characteristics: Leader makes decisions without reference or consultation with others Leader wants to have the final say and considers himself the most important person in any consultation Due to the limited consultation, the leader might reduce morale and friendliness among other members of the team This type of leadership may be effectives in cases where a quick and bold decision is required. Democratic Democratic leaders often have the following characteristics: Leader believes in their team and they stimulate others to engage in the decision-making process; Leader believes that all employees are responsible for the success of the work, and thus ownership of the work may be emphasised throughout the organisation; Leader takes the view of others into account and all relevant parties are consulted before final decision are made Leader will try to convince or persuade others of his thoughts when a decision has to be made; Leader may help the motivation and general morale in the work place through active involvement of employees; -Through the leaders’ efforts, the employees have a sense of belonging to the companys ideas and ambitions; Leader helps develop innovative ideas and development within the business. 3. Paternalistic A paternalistic leader often has the following characteristics: The leader considers himself a ‘father figure’ and acts in this manner; Leader does not always involve other people in decision-making; The leader considers it important to guide and support the staff; Case study In this case study we will look Jack Welch, a well-known and influential business leader of the 20th century. Mr Welsh was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of General Electric Co. (GE) and he is considered a very good example of a born leader. During the 41 years he spent working with GE, he helped transform the company into a very successful, productive and thus valuable business. As a CEO, he is renowned for his creative and innovative leadership style. Jack Welsh commenced his career at GE as a Junior Engineer in 1960, just after receiving a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois. Not long after starting work at GE, Mr Welch accepted a different offer from International Minerals and Chemicals, as he was not satisfied with the bureaucracy at GE. However, this plan never materialised as Reuben Geutoff, an executive at GE at the time, convinced him to stay and helped reduce the bureaucracy. As such, Jack Welch remained with GE, and gradually progressed through the company, from head of the plastics division in 1968, to group executive in 1973. Only twenty years after starting at the company, Mr Welch became the youngest CEO at GE to date. During this time working in this post, the company grew from a relatively small manufacturer of light bulbs and simple electrical appliances, to a multi-billion industrial conglomerate by the turn of the century. Over 900 acquisitions, worth several billion dollars were under his supervision, and made the company several more billion dollars through the sale of part of businesses. The innovation management process One of Mr Welch’s most important skills was the fact that he was an intuitive strategist. Intuitive leadership sensitively opens opportunities for personal expansion among high value executives, enabling them to connect with and discover the hidden distinctions of transformational change that exist within themselves. For example: Implementation – the turning of prospective ideas into a new product or service, or resulting in a change in a process. Acquiring – the combination of existing as well as new knowledge and insight, both from the organisation itself as from external sources, to find an answer to the problem. Executing – turning information into a product, which can then be marketed and launched. Launching – Show the product to the market and ensure acceptance or adoption Sustaining – Ensuring the use of the project in the longer term Learning – Using the project cycle to develop, improve and change the manner in which the project is managed The streategy used by Mr Welch provides an opportunity to reduce unnecessary rules and continually question the development of different rules, as well as implement a new structure or alter the way in which the organisation operates. Such changes may be necessary because the organisation’s circumstances have changed or it is taking on new activities. Mr Welch was known as a great communicator, skilled at building trust between staff throughout the organisation. At the same time, he was highly competitive. He believed that management should make sure that new ideas are encouraged and that obstackles be removed from product advancement. Companies should create a setting where staff-led initiatives are promoted, and where training and innovation was available to all that worked there. As a result of his competitive edge, Mr Welch believed such innovative projects should be carefully controlled and managed within the company. Innovative ideas can originate from anywhere in an organisational structure, but it is recognised that developing the â€Å"raw idea† to an â€Å"implemented idea† needs careful support. Managers should be provided the opportunity to be creative and try out new ideas and concepts (within pre-considered risks). Of course the manager should remain accountable and as such the project should be implemented with consideration for timing and budgets. Companies should ensure they have the capacity to accurately envisage potential risks and opportunities, and have the ability to act on any necessary changes. As such, they should ensure that their administrative rules provide support to the innovations in the workplace, instead of providing red-tape which may hold back ideas. It is important for leaders to have vision, authority, but it is more important for them to reach out to individuals all along the chain of command to make sure that everyone feels involved in the process of change. Leaders who don’t do this, and attempt to impose their vision from the top-down instead, might manage to achieve something that looks like their vision, but which is essentially empty. To persuade stakeholders of the benefits of a creative and innovative idea, one must adopt a variety of approaches to make the ideas appear powerful and compelling. If the ideas you are promoting are congruent with your core beliefs and values, it will be easier to promote them with true passion. Hence, it is important to first consider as to why a particular change or improvement needs to happen, and also how you see this happening. The change will only happen if you truly believe in the results. The following notes can be used for guidance: 1. Get all the facts behind your idea 2. Link humen emotions to the facts supporting your idea 3. Describe your idea and support it by example 4. Create a clear implementation roadmap 7. Be ready for any questions Conclusion Mr Welch had a democratic style leadership- he was greater communicator and he shared information with his colleagues and employers. It is considered very important to include the employer in sharing information, as it if often the higher level managers who interact on a face to face level with the customers, and thus they need to have access to all necessary facts. Mr Welch had the ability to make decisions and change the rules and he possessed the has the spirit of competition. This competitive edge helped push the business towards success and his intuitive strategies helped lead the company accomplish a wide set of goals and targets. As a business leader, Jack Welch was able to work in harmony with the larger business entity and his specific business characteristics made him a successful business leader Recommendation I recommend that those who want to become great leaders like Jack Welch, build on their charisma. Every leader wants to be an excellent one, and follow in the footsteps of a good example, I believe Jack is very good example to follow.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Are students have changed Essay Example for Free

Are students have changed Essay Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach. (Prensky,2001). Prensky further stated that children in the 21st century are classified as Net-gen, and digital-gen but the most useful description Prensky found for these children is Digital Natives. This is evident because in the 21st century children as young as three years are mastering the uses of computers, videogames, internets, tablets, mobile phones and other technological devices. According to Janssen (n. d) digital native is an individual who was born after the widespread adoption of digital technology. Technology is so advance and useful to students it seems like they get so addicted to it and felt like they can’t do without it and the other hand it helps students to improve in learning. Three changes that are seen with the first century learner regards to technology, they are more dependent on technology, misuse of information and unlimited thinking skills. Firstly, the internet is known as one of the greatest invention of modern age; a gateway that is magical to resources, information and communication unlike anything we previous dreamed of. It is claimed by many that it is the greatest single technological advance for education, as it opens opportunities for studying, learning and discovering. But as time goes by and the first generation of students grows up with modern internet technology from birth to teenage years, questions have been asking are children being dependent on technology. The internet provides students with  enormous advantage of a world of information at their finger tip. A single tap of the finger on the keyboard can deliver a hundred of articles under a second; far hours from when students would spend time spinning through library books and journals in days passed by. With the ease of access, the internet comes with disadvantages such as false and incorrect information that is easily distributed and can be difficult to trace sources and support the information. On, on the other side the volume of research materials online can make students to find information they need too easy, allowing them to compile these information by copying and pasting without understanding and analysing the information they are sifting through at all. While students from twent y years and beyond would have to read and absorb a huge amount of information such as putting together a report on tree frogs. These students have to use different sources for each part of the project; while on the other hand digital natives would discover everything needed to know by the internet site, picking up a little knowledge in the process. According to Jannsen (n.d) people believes that children who are digital natives think differently due to their early exposure to technology and have become accustom to using technology to solve the repetitive tasks that form the basis of traditional learning With the rise of different technology, and the fantastic way that produce communication from mobile phones to iPods to Skype and face book, modern students have become available to a wealth of education opportunities. Pupils from Jamaica can now hold an online debate with a class of their contemporaries in United States and others, interactive group webpage, class blogs, and programs that design interactive online animations which allowed educational communication to form. The reliance on the mobile phones and the laptops is taking toll on areas in education such as literacy and writing skills. This is said to be suffering as children write less and more text message expression take preference over their grammar. Also the suffering of simple communication skills and understanding of personal interaction as young people spend more time online communicating using their keyboards rather face to face contact. The reliance of such method for communication can cause students to form unhealthy relationships with others, concerned about critics that was said, and open up possibilities of cyber-bullying that is very dangerous and persecution of people online. Secondly, the expansion of the use and easy  availability of technology makes it easy for society to do negative activities that often violates the law. The main problems are the misuse of copyright, distribution of forbidden materials, violation of privacy or personal data and other serious activities. This activity can be seen in education field where the increase of plagiarism among students. Students can find information on the internet free and plagiarize other’s work whether if it is intentionally or without realising it. According to Lindemann C(2013) among students in grades 7-12, 21% have turned in a paper downloaded from the Internet. More than a third (38%) copied text from a website. The more students rely on the internet such as Google and Wikipedia answers to answer their home work questions, they are required to use less of their minds to come up with independent thoughts and opinions. Instead they simple click, copy and paste. Plagiarism is not the only way of cheating. The internet is not the only way; students can used other technology such as mp3 players, mobile phones, calculators and other technologies. In gaining information using phones this can be done by emails, texts, Bluetooth, as well as phone calls. According to Takahashi (2011) many educators perceive them a slacking more formal ICT skills. The availability and ease of use of technology makes cheating possible. The environment opens possibilities for academic dishonesty which can be difficult to discover. Students find simple and fast way to get through their studies, such way is to share materials, results, papers, information about exams. A majority of website offers a variety of finished work materials for essays, seminar papers, reports, and even degree works, answers to test for final exams in bachelor or master courses. These website are made for students to upload their work voluntary and the provider usually do not get benefit from the sites; while some sites will offer small benefit for uploading the work. Downloading the work can also be free without registration, if not unless the provider creates a user account or a fee. The reason why students plagiarize is the overload of information. The more information you have leads to the first step towards good school paper. Technology is used by teachers and professionals to increase the quality of leaning. The growth and progress in ICT changes education compare to decades ago and introduce methods that increase in students learning. From this students need to learn how to deal with information for assignments,  work tasks, research tasks and other information problems. Thirdly, technology affects students thinking skill. According to Wolpert S (2009) as technology has played a bigger role in our lives, our skills in critical thinking and analysis have declines, while our visual have improved. Thinking is the ability to reflect, draw on conclusions, knowledge, reason and insight. It is what makes students communicate, build, create and become civilized. Thinking is based from learning, observing, remembering, questioning, arguing, judging and others. The exposure of technology as changes learners. Because of students’ brain still developing and malleable, the exposure of technology causes digital natives brain to be wire in ways different from previous generation. Reading encouraged the brain to be focused and imaginative; but pleasure for reading has decline in young people which enhances thinking and creates imagination that visual media such as video games, television cannot. The using of visual media will allow students to process information better but most don’t allow students to get the time to reflect, analyze or imagine. Reading develops reflection, imagination, critical thinking as well as the development of vocabulary. Through reading, these skills are developed. Students today are more visual literacy and are less print literacy thus many students are not being seen reading often and reading for pleasure. Technology strengthens student’s ability to scan information quickly and efficiently. An impl ication for teaching and learning is that workshops or seminars should be implemented for teachers so that they receive training to know how to integrate the different types of technology into their lessons and make learning more engaging for students. As we know that student gravitates to technology and we are living in 21st century. Attending these workshops teachers are able to know more about each technology such as the usage, programs and others. They are able to monitor the technology by themselves and by doing so they are able to carry out the lesson effectively and stimulate children learning. One implication for policy makers is that in order for the teachers to integrate the technology in the classroom to meet the need of his students, firstly you should provide or equipped the schools with the necessary technology. Without these, teachers will unable to do so, which he or she wants to; so that her students can grasp the concepts well. For the school to be equipped policy makers should also develop an infrastructure to  place the technologies. Provide the necessary security and to eliminate outdated hardware and software and replace them with up to date as the years are passing by. â€Å"When technology integration in the classroom is seamless and thoughtful, students not only become more engaged, the y begin to take more control over their own learning†. (Hertz 2014). Technology integration is the use of technology in the classroom that helps to carry out learning concepts and to manage the class, such technology are computers, overhead projectors, digital cameras, internet, tape recorders, and CD-ROMs. Digital camera is a great application in the classroom as it allows collecting and documenting exciting events in the environment. Integrating digital camera properly can help to link lessons to student’s lives. For example class letter, development of stories and community based research. Cameras can be share between classes and capture images quickly and easily, in which pictures provide important context for children learning experience. Images that are culturally relevant can be a very powerful strategy for students to learn about their community. For example teaching about vocabulary, teachers can send students outdoor with the digital camera to take pictures of events, objects or actions that represent the vocabulary that was discussed . Students can be asked to write sentences or paragraph highlighting new vocabulary. Which is a very excited way for students to increase their vocabulary and become better readers; and teachers could give students the opportunity to take pictures of events or actions that reflect in a story that was read to them, downloading pictures from the computer then allowed children to write a sentence or paragraph about each picture. Having students to take pictures of the story event or action will help them to relate what they reading to their own lives in their community. Digital camera can be used to do storytelling which produces narrated short films using music, photos and voices. The grade 3 lesson â€Å"who are the people in my community†, students and teachers can take a walk within the community with the camera and take pictures of community helpers and write sentences about each role within the community. The teacher and students can produce their story by downloading the pictures on the computer using programs such as Photo-Story, Windows Movie Maker, Powe rPoint, that include narration for each. The tape recorder and boom box can be used to engage student and help save time. One activity for the whole class is teachers can use a student to  become the classroom DJ. Using a microphone, the student announces the topic of the day’s lesson. With a book in hand students can read along with their teacher during reading time. Students can even listen to a recording of their teacher who record the book tape before. The boom box can be used to create electronic portfolio that showcase student’s best work and the learning progress during a time period. By doing this teachers can record the students reading or thinking process when solving a problem, a video clip of his or her oral presentation and a CD with the child digital story. The tape recorder can be used to record student’s reading of a text at regular intervals which is assessed at each interval and strategies plan to improve the reading fluency. The overhead projector is a display system that is used to present images, videos, texts to students. It helps to carry out concepts and for students to grasp concepts by which it stimulates learning by watching videos, interactive games and retrieving texts which aid in the development of different learning styles such as audio and visual learners. The teacher faces the students while the notes that are prepared previously revealed. The lesson becomes engaging and students are attentive or focus and not only that but the teacher becomes more efficient by sharing and creating reusable work. . An example of how teachers can make the projector a part of her lesson is if a teacher is trying to bring across the lesson of the topic family to a grade two class, students will watch a video of the family then have a discussion with the teacher, from the video students will define the term family in their own words. Students will use family related terms seen in the video to write at least five sentences. The family related terms are like: grandmother, brother and sister. References Prensky M (2001) Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Retrieved February 19, 2014 from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prens†¦igrants%2520-%2520Part1.pd Hertz MB (n.d) How to Integrate Technology Retrieved February 21, 2014 from http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-guide-implementation Wolpert S (2006) Is technology producing a decline in critical †¦ – UCLA Newsroom Retrieved February 21, 2014 from http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/is-†¦ducing-a-decline-79127.asp Lindemann C (2013) How to Stop the Plagiarism Plague | Education.com Retrieved February 21, 2014 from http://www.education.com/magazine/articl†¦cle/stop-plagiarism-plague Janssen C (n.d) What is a Digital Native? – Definition from Techopedia Retrieved February 21, 2014 from www.techopedia.com/definition/28094/digital-native Takahashi (2011) Academia.edu | Documents in Digitalian – Academia.edu Retrieved February 23, 2014 from www.academia.edu/Documents/in/Digitalian Are students have changed. (2016, Mar 21).

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Nursing Knowledge Resources and Nursing Theory Essay

Nursing Knowledge Resources and Nursing Theory - Essay Example This makes them to collaborate with others and the conversations will be scientific when they work with the physicians. Generally it was observed that physicians are giving increased autonomy for the nurses, who follow evidence based practice. This results in willingness in increasing the accountability and professionalism. The research is capable of validating the care they provide when they use evidence based practice. The research on nurses has shown that they lack skills regarding the appraise of research literature. As a result they are not able to use the research findings. The concept of evidence based practice increased the nurses' professional skills. The aim of the research should be the awareness of the nurses about the EBN reports. If they are not, the system or organization should make them aware of them. The concept of evidence based nursing found to be more important among the nurses. Though this is the case a research by Christel Bahtsevani of Malmo University revealed that there are many nurses who do not have access to the literature regarding the access to the evidence based nursing practices.( Christel Bahtsevani RN, Azzam Khalaf MSc, Ania Willman RN, PhD 2005) The importance and benefit of the evidence based practice is that it answers the clinical questions due to the evidence it gathers. The skills of clinicians regarding the research can be developed, and this can give efficient access to the evidences. This results due to the collaboration with colleagues who can assist in getting to the evidence. Melnyk etal in 2004 and Pravikoff et al. in 2005 stated that the educators when consider the lack of searching skills in nurses, they have to adopt evidence based practice. (Sally Bennett, John W. Bennett, 2000) They need to collaborate with librarians, database creators, indexers and others to develop the basic skills needed in EBP. This results in fostering the need to find the mother lode of evidence to answers the clinical questions. This results in finding the best team, best equipment and the best techniques to get the results quickly. They can anticipate and embrace the challenges inherent in practice. (Ellen Fineout-Overholt RN, PhD, Sheila Hofstetter MLS, AHIP, Leslee Shell MLS, Linda Johnston RN, PhD 2005) 3. Nursing theories 3.1 Websites on Nursing: The http://www.fhs.mcmaster.ca/ceb/acts/ebcp.htm describes the evidence based nursing practice in the practical sense. It stress on the use of scientific literature to use evidence based nursing practice. It defines the clinical questions in a way the answers extraction will become easy. This enables the search for best information that enhances the evidence based practices in nursing. The clinical message should be extracted by the physician from the information. 3.1.1 In http://www.herts.ac.uk/lis/subjects/health/ebm.htm the definitions, references and conferences are available. The methodological filters and evidence based health web sources are there to explain the care of public health with health technology assessment. In this site the evidence based medicine health care is looked upon a new paradigm that is capable of replacing the traditional medicine practices. They are based on authority and EBM is based on scientific information. 3.1.2 In