My Philosophy of Education Essay - 789 Words

Philosophy of Education The first and most important reason that I want to become an educator is because of my love for children. I cherish the thought of being involved in a childs learning process. I think that my classroom will have a mixture of the philosophy of idealism and pragmatism. I want to be very knowledgeable in my area of teaching and I love the idea of teaching what I know to my students. My students are going to challenge themselves as learners. Any problems that arise in my classroom will be handled by me the student in an appropriate manner. I also want to engage learning by using first-hand activities. Reading, writing, and arithmetic will be emphasized greatly in my classroom. I want the class†¦show more content†¦Supplemental supplies are important to a classroom because they allow me to touch all of the senses of the students. They will be very available for me as the educator and also for my students. Projects will be important in my classroom because they will allo w the students to express themselves. These projects are important to give my students a well-rounded education. I want to have control of my classroom from Day 1. Respect must be established between the teacher and the student at the beginning for a classroom to function properly. Respect is a very healthy feeling to own and receive. Consistency in classroom organization by keeping a timely schedule is important for productive learning time for students. Valuable learning time is to be treasured. By planning ahead and being prepared, organization will be performed in a timely manner. This will increase engagement time, actual time students are engaged in learning. Rewards are very important to students because is shows them that they did a fantastic job. These rewards may be as minimal as a sticker on a good paper, but the child loves the recognition. Students will also be motivated if they are involved in the learning process. Distractions and discipline problems will reduce if the students areShow MoreRelatedMy Philosophy On The Philosophy Of Education844 Words   |  4 PagesIn mathematics, as in life, everything must be brought to the simplest of terms. I base my teaching philosophy on the foundation that every student is capable of learning mathematics. I will strive, as a teacher, to ensure that my students are able to have a strong foundation of mathematical skills when they leave my classroom. Some students believe that they are not mathematically gifted; therefore, incapable of learning mathematics. I believe to the contrary, all students with motivation, sustainedRead MoreMy Philosophy On Philosophy Of Education852 Wo rds   |  4 PagesMy Philosophy of Education My philosophy of education is founded on a belief that all students have a desire to learn and to feel accepted. Learning takes place when students are able to have their specific needs meet inside the classroom, to feel accepted in the environment, and find the learning to be meaningful. I believe that before learning can take place a proper educational environment must be present inside the classroom. In order to make any classroom work I believe you need meet three criteriaRead MoreMy Philosophy Of Education As A Education864 Words   |  4 Pagesdifferent philosophy of education, and what purpose education serves in a child’s life. The five philosophies of education that we recognize are: Essentialism, Perennialism, Progressivism, Social Reconstructionism, and Existentialism. I would most recognize my philosophy of education as Essentialism. Essentialism has been a dominant influence in American education since World War II. It focuses on core curriculum of traditional academic topics. I believe that the purpose of education is teachingRead MoreMy Philosophy of Education824 Words   |  4 Pages13 February 2011 My Philosophy of Education I believe that progressivism educational philosophy most closely matches my educational ideals. In my opinion based on the progressivism educational philosophy, the purpose of education is to enable students to learn useful knowledge that has meaning to them in the future. Thus, the most useful education for students is the skill of â€Å"learning how to learn†. When students understand the methodsRead MoreMy Philosophy Of Education And Education1038 Words   |  5 PagesMy Philosophy of Education When trying coming up with a personal philosophy of education, I had to ask myself what the purpose of education is. To me, the purpose of education is to teach students knowledge that is needed to make it through school and to succeed in the world after graduation. Anyone can go into teaching, but not every teacher can teach. Teachers go above and beyond to introduce methods, philosophies, and strategies to help their students learn, as well as, retain the informationRead MoreMy Education Philosophy 1511 Words   |  6 PagesPersonal Mission Statement Education is the imparting and acquiring of knowledge and skills through teaching and learning. As an educator, my personal mission statement is to master my subject area in order to serve as a role model for my students thereby producing students who thoroughly understand the subject matter, and who develop holistically. In order to achieve this goal I must have a set education philosophy with a strong Christian worldview. I must also have a general understanding of theRead MoreMy Philosophy Of Education1056 Words   |  5 PagesPhilosophy of Student Engagement My philosophy of education is that every child should receive high quality education that is inclusive, relevant and meaningful to their life. I am a firm believer of making pedagogy relatable to my students. My vision is driven by my personal experiences with the American school system. I was what is thought of as â€Å"A child at risk†. I am an immigrant, black, Muslim student. My life is transactional as I am a part of multiple marginalized groups. Most of my teachersRead MoreMy Philosophy Of Education And Education864 Words   |  4 PagesPhilosophy of Education Children are the future and their education is the key to our society’s success. When considering this, I realize I have an immense responsibility as an educator. The main focuses of my teaching are active learning, building character within students, and providing meaningful curriculum. I want to create a comfortable setting where every student feels safe to learn. In many ways, my philosophy agrees with the holistic approach to education. I feel this challenges the studentRead MoreMy Philosophy on Education814 Words   |  3 PagesMy Philosophy of Education I think when I made the decision to become a teacher I was not thinking the seriousness of this decision. When we become teachers we also become the molder that will shape our student to be successful in life. But when you decide to become a teacher in a Christian school you are not only shaping this student to be successful in life but we are also shaping their Christian mind to do things with a feeling knowing that they are shape and where made by the image of GodRead MoreMy Philosophy Of Education1015 Words   |  5 Pagesimmediately sparked my interest in becoming an educator and share my personal beliefs on the important aspects of education. In addition to this, I will present various traits I believe are essential and critical for teachers to successfully fulfill their role as an educator. During my elementary years, I developed an urge to frequently ask many questions during the school day. Being able to question anything was astonishing to me. This was because my parents were unable to answer my questions and help

Essay Plan. Essay Topic Beethoven’S Symphony No.6 Is A

Essay plan Essay topic: Beethoven’s Symphony No.6 is a turning point in music history Introduction: - What is turning point in music history? Turning point is defined as â€Å"a point at which a notable or decisive change takes place; critical point;† , and it â€Å"represents a lasting shift in the zeitgeist or ‘spirit of the age.’† As an important part of Art, music has a crucial role on representing the human spirit of the age. When a turning point in music history occurs, it implies a change in human spirit of the age. - Symphony No.6 and the characteristic approach which extended the 18th century instrumental music. Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No.6 was composed from 1802 to 1808, which was a time between the Classical Era and†¦show more content†¦- Third paragraph: what was the music and spirit like straight after Beethoven? Nevertheless, what comes after the Classical Era is named the Romantic Era, and the spirit is called Romanticism, by which represents â€Å"the end of the relationship between a subject and an object. Feelings search the subject’s quality in nature, and integrates together.† It emphasizes on man as the subject and has a strong focus on emotions, rather than the God or authorities, which leads to an â€Å"attempt to transcend the sphere of cognition, to experience higher, more spiritual things, and to sense the presence of the ineffable† in Romantic Era music. The raise of program music allows the composers to explore a deeper spiritual work, as it is defined by â€Å"a preface added to a piece of instrumental music, by means of which the composer intends to guard the listener against a wrong poetical interpretation, and to direct his attention to the poetical idea of the whole or to a particular part of it.† With the development in humanism and the broa der spiritual exploration, the major characteristic of Romantic Era music could be

Integration of E Commerce and ERP Systems wth Other ICT-Sample

Question: Indicate a company from any industry that has implemented and integrated E-commerce or ERP Systems ( choose any ) with other ICT (information and communication technologies- data mining, business intelligences, data ware house, databases, RFID, EDI) that escalate efficiencies and competitive advantages in their operations and strategies . Answer: Burberry Group plc Burberry Group plc is a British luxury clothing manufacturer. The organization was established in 1856 by the Thomas Burberry. The foundation was created in 2008 with the motto for the young people to involve their dreams with the power of the creativity within them (Fashion, B. 2015). Operations Burberry basically available under three brands, they are: Burberry Prorsum- This section includes the most upgraded fashion collection involved in fashion runway show which provides the inspiration for the brand. Burberry London- This is the tailor maid collection involves the customers wearing on the the weekdays at the work (Anderson.ucla.edu, 2015). Burberry Brit- This section involves the casual collection for the customers for the weekends. Products Burberry manufactures in both the sections of men and women wearing as well as includes the kids garments section as well. The organization was commissioned to make the officers coat to suit for the war officers and presented trench coat to the customers. The organization also specialized in garments for aviations (Fashion, B. 2015). The checks are the specialities for the Burberry whereas the organization is famous in manufacturing the sport ware as well. Market The market of Burberry is expanded among the whole world as the organization covers more than 50 countries whit more than 500 stores of the brand providing the designer as well as the casual wears for the customers. Competitors The Burberry has many competitors in the market. Some of them are Rubicon Retail; Adams Children ware; Green woods; Rupert and Buckley etc. E-commerce or ERP implementation integrated with related ICT ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) ICT or Information and Communication Technologies is the term that involves the communication devices includes television; radio; computer networking of hardware and software; cell phone; satellite system etc. The ICT is generally uses for the distance learning or video conferencing (Asiedu, 2012). The technologies are basically uses for the health care industries; education industries; customer servicing industries etc. Data Mining Data mining is the process that includes the canalization of data from different aspect and evaluates the information from them. Data mining software enables of analyzing the data which allows the user to correlate the data collected from different fields and helps in summering them in different angles (Anderson.ucla.edu, 2015). For the customer servicing the data mining is necessary to analyze the information regarding the customers. Business intelligences According to the Buchen (2006), Business intelligence is the system of data analysis work for the boosting the performance of the organization through helping the executives or the users to take the important decisions for the organization. This includes the improvising the decision making, implementing new regulations, gaining knowledge etc. for the customer servicing. Data warehouse Data warehouse is basically the rental database uses for transaction of the information of the users (Griesemer, 2009). Data warehouse secure the important data of the organization and enable the user to access the data from the source for analyzing in different way. Figure 1: Data Warehouse (Source: Griesemer, 2009, pp-52) Databases Database is the collection of the organized information or data for the purpose of accessing, updating and managing the data in future. The database can be classified in too many types; those are bibliographic; numeric; full-text and images (Chakrabarti, 2012). According to the organizational specification the databases are organized and it is helpful or the industries like client servicing, marketing etc. Internet The internet is the network spread throughout the globe and connecting the millions of computers for linking and connecting and sharing the information among them. Figure 2: Internet (Source: Hudson-Smith, 2009, pp-85) RFID RFID is the Radio-frequency Identification. The device carries the information in the form of radio frequency is in small in size and hols an antenna with the capacity of around 2000 bytes of data. The organizations use this device for the purpose of reading the bar code on the strip of the purchasing card of the customers. VAN VAN is the Value Added Network enables and offer the sharing the important information between the partners of the organization in the process of business (Khendek and Zheng, 2008). In general the the VAN is called as the Value Added networking Service in the industry. EDI EDI stands for the Electronic Data Exchange. This implies the computer to computer data exchange in the organization for supporting the process of the business. Figure 3: EDI (Source: Ross, 2007, pp-73) EDI is the more suitable medium of exchanging information as the sender can send the information directly to the receivers computer. The issues faced by the organization during e-commerce or ERP implementation The organization faced several issues at the time of implementing the e-commerce and the ERP implementation (Asiedu, 2012). They are: Space problem: One of the main problems in the implementation of the e-commerce and ERP is the internet is running out of space. So, the allocation of the limited space can cause a barrier for the organization that unable to publish sufficient information to customers. The limited space also crate problem for the customers who are seeking more information regarding the product or services of the organization. Security and privacy: Internet is no longer the secure place for the information to publish. The information can be miss-used for the criminal activities in any case. There is another problem attached in that is the information is provided in the public domain so, the information can be copy by another user at any point of time. Transaction problem: As per the opinion of Johansson (2012), many of the times the transactions fails as thousands of transactions are taking place per minute and the entire process of transaction includes many steps in the process from the customer through the dealers through the money transfer organization through bank to the sellers. So, the channel is long and failure in transaction is a general problem faced by the sellers. Advantages of the implementation and integration There are several advantages lies with the E-commerce, those are: No standing in the queues: The customer can shop hassles free through the process and does not need to be waited in the line. This is especially beneficial for the old age customers for whom standing in queue is way much painful and problematic (Mayere, 2010). Access to remotely locate store: Advantages for the customers who are unwilling to travail far for shopping, they can access the product at their door step. The process even allows purchasing the product form the shop located on the other end of the country or sometimes the customer is even enabling to purchase the product from other countries as well. No need of physical presence: The customer does not need to be present at the store to purchase the product and he does not need to circulate the entire store to get his favourite product. In this way the customer is able to save money, time, fuel and energy as well (Tregeagle, 2010). Discount coupons: Many of the time the sellers only offer some coupons for the online purchasing only which can only be accessed through the purchase by accessing the websites of the sellers. Sometimes there are cash back or extra discount offers on purchasing on the Credit card or David card on the online purchase only (Asiedu, 2012). Reference List Books: Buchen, I. (2006).Futures thinking, learning, and leading. Lanham, Md.: Rowman Littlefield Education. Griesemer, B., Kadaru, A. and Venkatesan, Y. (2009).Oracle Warehouse Builder 11g. Birmingham, UK: Packt Pub. Ross, T. (2007).XML, managing data exchange. Delhi: Global Media. Journals: Asiedu, C. (2012). Information communication technologies for gender and development.Information, Communication Society, 15(8), pp.1186-1216. Chakrabarti, K. (2012). Guest Editors editorial: ranking in databases.Distributed and Parallel Databases, 30(3-4), pp.177-178. Hudson-Smith, A. (2009). The Future Internet.Future Internet, 1(1), pp.1-2. Khendek, F. and Zheng, T. (2008). Modeling and analysis of value added services using message sequence charts.Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 31(3), pp.338-356. Asiedu, C. (2012). Information communication technologies for gender and development.Information, Communication Society, 15(8), pp.1186-1216. Johansson, B. (2012). Exploring how open source ERP systems development impact ERP systems diffusion.IJBSR, 6(4), p.361. Mayere, A. (2010). Organizational Communication and the Renewed Issue in Information and Communication Technologies.Management Communication Quarterly, 24(4), pp.612-619. Tregeagle, S. (2010). Participation in Child Welfare Services Through Information and Communication Technologies.International Journal of Information Communication Technologies and Human Development, 2(2), pp.17-33.

An Inspector Calls Coursework Essay Example

An Inspector Calls Coursework Paper A play typical of this time period. Written in 1946 after the Second World War. Named â€Å"An Inspector Calls† and set just before the First World War in 1912. An Inspector calls is a play where drama and tension help create an atmosphere of suspense. Priestly wanted to convey that people’s actions can affect other people’s lives. The author was influenced by his involvement in the First World War and his experiences of living through the Second World War. Also he being a victim of gas attacks and narrowly avoiding death influenced his writing of the play. It is a play about the idea of consequences and how the rich have no consequences as we see when their actions force a woman to a horrific death. Priestly creates a relaxed atmosphere at the start of act one. He does this by introducing a dinner party to celebrate the engagement of Sheila to Eric. The stage directions on page one ‘A decanter of port, cigar box and cigarettes,’ this creates a sense of relaxation because when people are unwinding from the end of a celebration. Another stage direction ‘the lighting should be pink and intimate until the inspector arrives, and it should be brighter and harder. We will write a custom essay sample on An Inspector Calls Coursework specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on An Inspector Calls Coursework specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on An Inspector Calls Coursework specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer This stage direction creates a relaxed atmosphere because pink is a soft and calm colour. Combined with happy celebrations of the family it creates a soothing atmosphere. The stage direction ‘Edna goes out, they now all have all glasses filled. Birling beams at them and clearly relaxes,’ this shows that the whole family is ready for a toast towards the engagement of Eric and Sheila, they are happy and relaxed. Birling, as the head of the household, is chilled out and calm. An Inspector Calls Coursework Essay Sample An Inspector Calls Essay An Inspector Calls Essay An Inspector Calls Essay The quotation on page eight where Gerald says ‘You seem to be a nice well-behaved family,’ shows that he is delighted to be engaged with Sheila and he has no worries about any dislikes that the rest of the family may have of him. This adds to the relaxed atmosphere that the author is trying to create. Also it creates the ides that they are civilised people and have a good reputation is also developed. The stage direction on page one that describes the Birling household is ‘The general effect is substantial and heavily comfortable, but not cosy and homelike. This stage direction gives the impression that the Birling house isn’t peaceful as it can be and there is an underlying atmosphere of fear and regret. Eric says ‘I don’t know really-suddenly I felt that I had to laugh,’ this shows that Eric has a fearing conscious and is forced to go along with the families actions. The idea that he has a fearing conscious, shows that he is afraid of upsetting the family through his actions. He doesn’t want to ruin his relationship with Sheila and her family. Mr Birling shows that he doesn’t know about situations of conflict and tension when he says ‘You’ll hear some people say that war’s inevitable. And to that I say – Fiddlesticks! The Germans don’t want war. ’ We as a modern audience know that in 1914 the outbreak of war takes place. This quotation shows that Mr Birling doesn’t know about global tension and leads to the ides that he doesn’t know about tension within his family. Another quotation on page 10 shows that Mr Birling is selfish and doesn’t believe in socialists. Where everybody should look after themselves and others. Mr Birling shows this when he says ‘By the way some of these cranks talk and write now, you’d think everybody has to look after everybody else, as if we were all mixed up together like bees in a hive-community and all that nonsense. ’ It creates tension because he doesn’t believe in socialism so he only knows or cares about himself and his own family. This kind of attitude seems dated and traditional, it can be linked to Margaret Thatcher said in 1987. She said â€Å"There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. † This saying means that everyone should look after themselves and there is no society. During Act One there is an event that disturbs the relaxed atmosphere. This takes place when an inspector arrives at the Birling house. The entrance of the inspector is shown to the audience by a doorbell. ‘We hear a sharp ring of a front doorbell,’ this doorbell interrupts the relaxing atmosphere because it’s sharp and when people hear it, it interrupts their actions. To create tension a new character is expected to be introduced. It links to Inspector Goole’s approach and attitude because it intrudes on the family, as does the inspector style of questioning. Mr Birling is very surprised by an inspector arriving at the door when he says ‘An inspector? What kind of inspector? ’ This shows that Mr Birling is frightened to see that someone is looking for him in the middle of a joyful event. This disturbs the relaxed atmosphere because everyone in the family is forced to change from being relaxed to curious. This also adds tension because all the characters are curious to see who it is, this takes place when the bell rings and Edna comes in. When Mr Birling seems surprised it shows that he is worried about something, and makes him look suspicious towards the audience. The stage direction that is used to describe the inspector’s entrance is ‘The inspector need not be a big man, but he creates at once an impression of massiveness and purposefulness’ and ‘He speaks carefully, weightily and has a disconcerting habit of looking hard at the person he addresses before actually speaking. ’ These stage direction’s interrupt the relaxed atmosphere because they make the inspector seem like a threatening and influential figure that brings fear to the family. It also brings tension because as soon as the bell rings, just before the family are very curious to see who it is. When they find out it’s the inspector, they become more frightened and tension is built. Inspector Goole contributes to the tense atmosphere throughout the play. In the beginning of the play he says ‘Two hours ago a young woman died in the infirmary. She’d been taken here this afternoon because she’s swallowed a lot of strong disinfectant, Burnt her inside out, of course’ when he is talking about Eva’s death. This describes the death as a slow and painful death, also he is very graphic on the description. Also it tells us the reason why the inspector calls at the Birling house. When the inspector conducts his enquiry, he is determined to speak to each person separately in an organised and fair way. An example of this is when he says ‘It’s the way I like to work. One person and one line of enquiry at a time. Otherwise there’s a muddle. ’ When the inspector shows the photograph to each person separately, this builds tension because the person may feel guilty and no-one to relate to discuss their feelings. The stage direction expresses this ‘Inspector takes a photograph, about photograph size, out of his pocket and goes to Birling. Both Gerald and Eric rise to have a look at the photograph, but the inspector interposes himself between them and the photograph. ’ Another way in which the inspector adds to tense atmosphere is by his name. The name Goole reminds of the mysterious word ‘ghoul’. This word conveys sinister and mysterious spirit associated with death, This is related to his purpose in the play which is to do an investigation about a girl’s death. And by the end of the play the characters are confused to whether he was a man or a ghost, who act as a conscience for the characters. This also adds to the writer’s aims which were to get the idea that people should care about others in society. The inspector could symbolise the guilt which haunts people when they know they are in the wrong. There are many examples in the play that show different reactions to the Inspector. Mr Birling says ‘We were having a nice little family celebration tonight. And a nasty mess you’ve made of it now, haven’t you? ’ This shows that Birling is not at all happy that the inspector has come to his house. He shows anger and distress through this speech. Another speech by Birling ‘Look here Inspector, I consider this uncalled for an officious. I’ve half a mind to report you. ’ This shows a lot of anger within Mr Birling it seems like it is building up and he is starting to hate the inspector. It shows the discomfort of Mr Birling in the presence of the inspector. He seems to be hiding something and may be worried that inspector might get out of him. When Sheila says ‘Well, Gerald? ’ she is trying to point the inspector attention towards Gerald. This shows that she might be hiding something too. She is also showing fear of the inspector as well as Mr Birling. Another view of Sheila would be that she seems to be sympathetic towards Eva smith’s death when she says ‘Oh-how horrible. Was it an accident? ’ This also is shows that she starts to care, and she also then starts asking more questions to know more about the girl. This is a contrast to the quotation mentioned above. In one of Birling long speeches, He says that the titanic is unsinkable and the Germans didn’t want war. Both of these theories are wrong because the titanic sank in 1912 and World War One started in 1914 (two years later). The play was written both World Wars were over. This gives the reader dramatic irony. The lack of understanding of worldly affairs shows that Mr Birling lacks knowledge and understanding about his family too. This can also lead to the surprise reactions of Eva smith’s death. The irony would have been effective because the audience knew that the future and what actually happened. When Mr Birling says ‘Still, I can’t accept any responsibility,’ it shows that he is dismissing any accusations against him and doesn’t accept being responsible. He later feels that he also had a part to play in the death of Eva smith. Priestly integrated social and moral messages into the play. Priestly himself was from a working class background and wanted to convey the idea that working people like Eva Smith in the play were being exploited by people like Mr Birling. He had the idea that employers shouldn’t treat their workers harshly. When Mr Birling says ‘A man has to make his own way-has to look after himself-and his family too,’ this shows that Mr Birling is self minded and Priestly is showing through this character that people should not only look after them but to look after all other people around them. A contrasting quotation would be ‘But these girls aren’t cheap labour-they’re people. ’ This is said by Sheila on page 19, it shows that everyone has their own rights and should be treated no different from others. This also is stated through the Inspector when he says ‘I’ve often thought that it would do us all a bit of good if sometimes we tried to put ourselves in the place of these young women. ’ This play has some good ideas behind it that I quite liked. The idea that all people should be equal was one of the main ones brought through the main plot of the play. I think that the Inspector in a way represents justice or truth in the play. Priestly does create tense moments in the play and this would be done to make the plot more interesting and to keep the audience alert. I would say the most effective moment of tension is where the Inspector rings the door and comes into the play. This is because no-one is expecting this and it builds a lot tension.

Hazing Research Paper Example

Hazing Research Paper Example Hazing Paper Hazing Paper The Right Form of Brotherhood? Brotherhood, according to Merriam Webster dictionary, Is the condition or quality of being brothers. It Is an association of men, a fraternity or union, united for common purposes. But this brotherhood has its conditions. Members have to go through hazing which serves as a ritual which involves humiliating, abusing, and harassing as a way of initiating a person into the group. If brotherhood is what these groups are for, then why do hazing exist? Last July 2014, Guilt Servants, an 18-year old Bindle sophomore died from hazing, ND hazing has once again showed its ugly side and will continue to ravage lives if this ritual wont stop. In year sass, there were more than 10 victims of hazing who died, and Its such a devastating occurrence, because a good futures waiting for these students, and until now, some of the other victims cases remain unsolved. They say that fraternity Is for brotherhood. They become a family and brothers. How does hazing contribute to brotherhood? By owing your life to It? Isnt the whole Idea of hazing stupid and messed up? Actually, brothers should care for each other. They would provide each others needs without expecting anything in return. If this is the case, then it is not brotherhood. This is what you call taking for granted. Leaders of these unions take weaknesses of initiated members for granted in order to Join the formation which is cruel and unjust. If your intention is pure and clean, hazing is obviously unnecessary. : The harm and danger of Joining fraternities/sororities Is very evident nowadays, and It Is very alarming that there are students who died from It. A quote says that None of you believes until what he wishes for his brother what he wishes for myself. If brotherhood Is what these unions promote, then these people are doing It wrong. They are just brothers and families, because they are a part of the same union but not because by heart. Whats the point of joining a brotherhood formation if it proves no real value? A brother wants himself to be a better man, and wishes the same for his brother. There is an Anti-Hazing Law but it seems that it is not properly implemented in all universities because of its continuous occurrence every year. Also, cases of these victims remain unsolved and they might end up not having the Justice hat they deserve. We should all refrain from these formations, because true brotherhood (and also sisterhood) comes from the heart and not because you are In the same Initiation. A lot of chances and a lot of opportunities are walling for us In the future, and we dont have to risk our lives and let those chances and opportunities be wasted for nothing. By these things happening and the unfair judgments given to the victims and help you find Jobs, lend you money, and introduce you to high-profiled people, but its not brotherhood. You dont have to do such a cruel thing Just because these people ill be getting benefits from you. Brothers are not brothers because they need something from each other. Brothers are brothers because they wanted the same thing for the both of them. And that is to be successful and be a good citizen of the country. Let us not promote the type of brotherhood they are trying to promote. Let us restore the humanity we once had. Let us save lives and promote the type of brotherhood that we all know is right. Lets not Join these formations as something good awaits ahead of us. Joining these formations would leave us nowhere. Let us respect the law. Let us appreciate our lives.

Free sample - Dreaming. translation missing

Dreaming. DreamingIn Kelly Bulkley’s mystical dreaming, analysis on the patterns in form, content and meaning has been carried out based on a non-experimental research study based on religion. Interviews were carried on 100 Americans whereby four major hypothesis were put forward on: mystical experiences are derived from abnormal and pathological brain functioning; they are characterized by the Jamesian marks ineffability, anoetic or knowledge-gaining, quality, transience, and passivity; mystical experiences are cultural constructions enhanced by an individual’s history, religion, language and the social environment one is exposed to; and leading towards consciousness or absolute unitary being. This presents a basis for contrasting on the appropriate level of analysis of mystism be it physical or phenomenological and whether mystical dreams are real or apparent presenting an argument on pluralism versus universalism. This, unlike previous studies, has been based on findings of dr eam research. Findings provide further support for these hypotheses and also show that mystical dreams are more prevalent in women in comparison to men.   The study was carried out through personal interviews on family life, political afflictions and religious convictions.   The variables investigated were the respondent’ details, settings, color and emotions experienced in the dream. 65 women and 35 men ranging from 19-86, with an average age of 46, were interviewed for one to five hours. There were however several limitations on scope, the age range, religious composition, breadth of an individual’s experience and occupational diversity. Findings tabulated showed that 94% of the participants were able to describe their most memorable dream. At least 89% experienced sexually arousing dreams which were positive and enjoyable with the number of women being slightly higher at 91% in comparison to 87% in men. Dreams on visitation were quite prevalent at 69% with women experiencing 50% in contrast to the men’s high of 79%. Dreams on self-awareness and lucidity were more prevalent in men.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Dreams on evil presence were evenly common at 53%. However, mystical dreams were considerably more experienced by women rather than men who had the lowest frequency at 40% in comparison to any other type of dream experienced. Mystical dreams experienced involved unusual and non-human characters, friendly interactions, positive emotions, and good fortunes. This is in contrast to non-religious dreams which involve negative content and emotions coupled with aggressive social interactions and misfortunes. The individual’s interpretation and understanding as to the motif of the dream have been observed in the study of 42 core dreams which have been either on single or multiple occurrences. These motifs were death, Christianity, light, precognition, reassurance, nightmare, epistemological uncertainty, and impact–no memory. Psychologists view dreams to be filled with strange, bizarre and supernatural phenomena. However, they are neither disjointed, nor fragmented and vague but are coherent, vivid and consistent with real-life emotional, social and religious experiences. These further serves to illustrate that dreams are not random and irrelevant but are an expression of human experiences through imagination. The abnormal/pathological brain function theory was supported by three people who experienced their dreams when ill. However, most of the people sampled were perfectly healthy at the time the survey was conducted hence the dreams could not have been caused by brain defe cts. A Jamesian mark on ineffability is contravened by the fact that most people can precisely describe the details of their dreams. Most of the dreams were found to be coherent, memorable and enduring. However, the dreams were anoetic since the persons regularly described them as sources of true insight and knowledge. Therefore, James’ claim as a whole is contravened. The culturalist approach is widely supported by the study. Christian motifs serve a basis for religion whereby they represent a symbolic world. The dreams were strongly felt although they were spiritually mystical. It seems that most dreams are influenced by multiple factors of culture, religion, history, and language.   The â€Å"pure consciousness† view by which mystical experiences are regarded as varying approximations of a unitary mode of being have not been widely supported in the light motif.   (Bulkeley) In an experimental procedure provided by Brigitte Holzinger, Stephen Laberge and Lynne Levitan on the Psychophysiological Correlates of Lucid Dreaming, the study sought to electrophysiological differences between lucid and non-lucid dreams in REM sleep have been explored. This has been classified as an experimental study since the causal effect of REM periods has been investigated against theta power, alpha power, beta-1 power, beta-2 power, total power, heart rate, eye movements and muscular activity. Lucid dreaming was found to be vital in therapeutic settings such as solving recurrent nightmares. The hypothesis is that lucid dreams are associated with higher frequencies in the EEG spectrum. This study involved a sample of seven men and four women experienced lucid dreamer volunteers ranging from 21 to 37 years who underwent polysomnographic recordings for two consecutive nights in a sleep laboratory. The subjects were full aware of the dream state, the possibility of making free decisions under clear consciousness, perception by all senses, full memory of waking life, full memory of all lucid dream experiences in the waking state and in the lucid dream state and awareness of the meaning of symbols. Eye movements, heart rate, blood pressure, and skin potential in lucid and non-lucid dreams were compared. There were a number of physiological variables such as lucid REM periods recorded through EEG data onto an Ampex analog tape recorder while others on polygraph paper.   Later, the EEG data were digitized, using a BECKMAN polygraph and a CODAS computer interface, with a sampling rate of either 100 or 125 points per second. A computer program read in the digitized EEG da ta as well as the averaged calibration, applying FFT. The program then summed the spectral analyses into the appropriate frequency bands such as DELTA, THETA, ALPHA, BETA-1 and BETA-2. In this study methodology, light stimuli were used for lucid dream induction whereby a sleep mask was equipped with two extra-bright red light-emitting diodes. The stimulus was triggered through pressing a button 7 minutes after each REM onset of eight flashes in 2 seconds (4 Hz) determined by polysomnography. Response was initiated through eye movements such as LR2 ( left-right left-right) in order to indicate lucidity and LR4 (left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right) to indicate a waking state. The subjects were all aware as to what constituted a lucid dream and its volitional control. This was further enhanced by eye signals initiated once a dream state was achieved.   If a response was not initiated, the light stimulus was then re-triggered after each REM onset. If there still was no response, the subjects were then awakened after 30 seconds and asked to record their experience and rate the dream either as lucid or non-lucid. Else, if a subject signaled, the light st imulus was not re-triggered. A false awakening was detected when an LR4 signal was made when the subject was still asleep.  Ã‚   Lucid dreams were hence identified by an LR2 signal visible in polysomnography and an actual account reported by the subject.   Differences between lucid and non-lucid epochs consisting of 7.5-second time units, a discriminant function analysis and MANOVA were carried out. The ANOVA approach was then used to contrast between the onset of lucidity and the non-lucid state.   Findings showed that lucid dreams occurred during periods of increased physiological activation. The essence of the experimental study was to find out on the existence of psychological differences between lucid and non-lucid REM epochs which consisted of various variables: theta power, alpha power, beta-1 power, beta-2 power, total power, heart rate, eye movements and muscular activity (EMG).A discriminant function analysis yielded six variables, splitting the data set with a Canonical Correlation of 0.494 and Chisquare of 10.419. Criteria of non-lucid epochs were the means of the eye movements, total power of the right parietal hemisphere and beta-1 of the right frontal lobe, whereas criteria of lucid epochs were beta-2 and beta-1 of the right parietal lobe and beta-1 of the left frontal lobe. Discriminant function analysis produced a predicted group membership of 69% for non-lucid epochs and 77.8% for lucid ones. (Levitan et al) References Levitan, B. H. Psychophysiological Correlates of Lucid Dreaming. Psychology of Dreams. (2009, October 4). Retrieved November 9, 2010, from Buzzle.com

The Passion of the Christ Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Passion of the Christ - Essay Example His sufferings then start from henceforth with the soldier spitting on him and physically hitting him, his disciples abandoned him with Peter, who swore beforehand never to leave Jesus, denying him three times as Jesus has prophesied. In the chaos that was happening, Judas hung himself after attempting to return the thirty pieces of silver the Sanhedrin gave him in exchange to betraying his master, which was not accepted. When Jesus was brought to Pontius Pilate, the crowd cried for him to be crucified and Pilate was left to no choice but to wash his hands and give Jesus to the hands of his accusers. The drama of Jesus’ flogging, with all the sweat and blood mixing as he parades with his cross to the mountain of Golgotha along with the soldiers and other prisoners were witnessed not only by the common people but by his disciples as well and Jesus’ family particularly his mother, Mary. During his crucifixion, the soldiers witnessed the miracle that happened as the earth quaked and the release of both water and blood as one soldier struck Jesus’ side to make sure he was already dead. In the temple, the priests felt the quake as well and witnessed the destruction of the curtain separating the holy place from the most holy place. The story ends with the resurrection of Jesus, with the hole on his hand proving his identity. The movie pictures Jesus who is similar to any other man who was able to feel pain, vulnerable to the harsh realities of this world like betrayal, outrage and temptations. When he was praying in the garden, Satan was depicted as a man in a black hood with a pet snake who has been torturing Jesus by questioning his ability to save the world and like anyone else, Jesus had the tendency to yield to temptation as it was presented when he said, â€Å"If it is possible, let this Chalice pass from me.† This shows to the modern man that as Jesus was able to avoid sinning by giving in to temptation, the same is true with anyone . An individual may always choose to avoid sinning by being strong when being tempted or be weak enough and succumb to temptation. However, Jesus also with his words showed that man can avoid succumbing to temptation if he yields to the will of God as he said â€Å"Let you will be done.† Jesus is also portrayed as a meek lamb brought to the slaughter as the Bible says, having no objections to the soldiers or high priest about what he is being accused of. Jesus could have had always been able to defend himself, with Pontius Pilate able to see and understand that his accusers brought Jesus to his presence because of jealousy, it would have been easy for Jesus to justify himself. Still, he did not fight back instead, he let the high priest succeed in his desire of getting Jesus hung on the cross, treated like an evil criminal, flogged and spat on yet without retaliation. The Jesus story portrayed in the film is a very moving story which is directed not only to those who believe in Jesus but also to those who do not believe because of ignorance. At some angle, the movie acts as an educational means to proclaim the reality behind the passion of Jesus, why he came to die and what sort of manner he died. This has been a great contribution to understanding and imagining the hardships Jesus had gone through only to save humanity from their sins. I believe seeing the movie which has courageously shown the brutality of the

Energy efficiency in Saudi Arabia Research Paper

Energy efficiency in Saudi Arabia - Research Paper Example The paper tells that Saudi Arabian government has become adequately aware about the need to depend more on renewable forms of energy instead of fossil fuel. Though the nation is abundant in oil that ensures cheap availability of energy; the economic, environmental, and social consequences of a total reliance on fossil fuel have become obvious through various studies. Also, the Saudi Arabian terrain proved itself rich in renewable sources like solar and wind energy. The harnessing of such alternative sources poses various challenges because of their higher cost of production and fluctuating nature. Because of their fluctuating nature, it has become necessary to store them for future use. Thus, the article by Rahman et al looks into the present day energy sector in Saudi Arabia and the geographical and environmental conditions of Saudi Arabia to introduce various storage systems that are currently available. Rahman et al write the article with a complete understanding of the energy sec tor of Saudi Arabia. The article acknowledges the shortcomings of the present day energy storage systems and the need to store renewable energy in Saudi Arabia. Though there are certain advancements in the storage of energy, the growth has not been sufficient to meet the demands. Quoting Lee and Gushee, the scholars point out that if renewable energy has to become an important part of base load dispatchable power; and, it should develop the capacity for massive electricity storage. In order to assess the usability and challenges of using various storage systems in Saudi Arabia, the first factor taken into consideration is the climatic condition. It is pointed out by the scholars that batteries are highly sensitive to weather conditions such as ‘temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure and wind speed’ (ibid). Saudi Arabia possesses a desert climate with extreme heat during the day and cold at night. Inconsistent rainfall and significant variation in temperatur e and humidity also makes the climate of the region unique. Thereafter, the scholars look into the energy supply and demand in Saudi Arabia. It is found that while Central Operating Area (COA) is considered, the maximum load during the day is 9725MW and the minimum load is 7290MW (Rahman, et al, 2012). Similarly, peak load occurs in the month of July and minimum load occurs in the month of January; and they are 9725MW and 2133MW respectively (ibid). Thus, Rahman, et al (2012) find that the average load remains below 8500MW for 16 hours in a day. So, the suggestion is that if EESS system can supply the load during peak hours, it can be charged during the off-peak hours. After acknowledging the fact that energy storage system in Saudi Arabia needs to meet all these requirements, the work looks into the major energy storage systems that seem useful in Saudi Arabia. The systems are divided into three categories based on their nature: mechanical systems, electrical systems, and chemical systems (Rahman, et al, 2012). The first mechanical system examined by the scholars is pumped hydroelectric energy storage. In this system water is pumped and stored at higher elevations. When required, this water is released onto a turbine to generate electricity. The second mechanical system is the flywheel that can generate uninterrupted DC power supply when coupled with innovative components. The third system is the compressed air energy system in which air is compressed and stored in a vessel during off-peak hours and then

White-tailed deer Essay Example for Free

White-tailed deer Essay Hunting, one of the oldest activities known to man, is being debated by two extremely strong-willed sides. The subject of deer hunting is one topic on which many people have strong emotional opinions either for or against. Some redneck people feel that â€Å"my pa hunted and taught me that if I can kill it, I can eat it†. While the tree huggers feel that â€Å"it is awful because you’re killing Bambi†. Although both are entitled to their own opinion, neither of these reasons comes across as noteworthy enough for a solid case. Do not get me wrong, I am very passionate about the thrills of hunting and will get to that later, but the examples that are most significant to look over are the facts of deer hunting. These imperative facts include the basic ecological population biology and the economic revenues of deer hunting. With all emotional views aside for now, try to look at deer hunting for what it is. It is just a way of leveling out the deer population in place of natural predators. Wolves and mountain lions, the only two true natural predators of adult deer, were basically eradicated from the South-East United States as soon as man settled. This being the case, the only wild animals that pose any sort of threat to deer are coyotes and bobcats, and they are only threatening for a 3-4 month period in young fawns lives. That leaves it up to the humans to keep the populations in balance. If humans did not balance out the deer population, it would be absolutely devastating to the group as a whole. Each ecosystem has a limit to how many organisms of a specific species it can hold. This maximum amount is called the carrying capacity. If the carrying capacity of an ecosystem is surpassed, it is utterly detrimental to the population. This is called overpopulation. Usually, though, the prey species has a predator species to keep the amount in check. This means that the quantity of organisms increases very rapidly until reaching the carrying capacity, and then it levels out. On the other hand, if there are no predators for a species, there is nothing to stop exponential growth. It will soon skyrocket above the carrying capacity thus leading to an inevitable collapse. When a population goes over its carrying capacity, horrifying things happen to the population such as disease and starvation. I personally would rather not be walking in the woods and come across multiple, disease-stricken, hairless deer carcasses that had suffered for months before dying a slow and immensely excruciating death because of its lack of predators. The first time anyone really experimented with deer populations without predators was when Theodore Roosevelt created the Grand Canyon National Game Preserve on the Kaibab Plateau. Here, he ordered all predators of deer to be killed and then banned hunting in the area. He had 4,000 deer placed here and then permitted them to live without restraint while some scientists supervised this process. The total population sprung up to 100,000 and from then on, almost all of them deceased from overpopulation. This is where scientists first began to comprehend the dangers of a lack of predators. One of the main scientists in charge of these observations said, â€Å"The removal of the deers natural predators, which had been done in the interest of preserving the deer population, had allowed the deer to over reproduce, and quickly overwhelm the plateaus resources. †(Kaibab). After learning this, I believe the question that the people who are mad about â€Å"killing Bambi† need to pose to themselves is, â€Å"Would I rather have a small amount of deer killed by people and still get to appreciate the deer that I do see, or would I rather have all the deer killed by disease and there be no more deer around for my children or grandchildren to see? †. As well as hunting being a biological necessity for the deer, it is also a tremendously hefty source for economic revenue. In 2006, the state of Georgia said that it made 1. 8 billion dollars from deer hunting while supplying people with around 15,000 jobs. A typical hunting rifle is around $500. 00 with the scope being an extra $200. 00. That doesn’t even include the ammo people will have to purchase in order to shoot. Deer lockers are also a huge profit in Georgia, as are the appropriate hunting clothes. Also, an average deer processer probably processes around 10,000 deer at $65 per deer. One of the two main profits from hunting, though, is the mandatory hunting licenses. Although they are only $9. 00 for a Georgia in-state resident, they are $135. 00 for out of state people. With the number of travelers who come to Georgia every year for hunting season, these numbers truly add up fast. Because there is so much money made from hunting, it is able to finance a lot of other programs of the Department of Wildlife Resources. A good comparison would be how college football makes so much economic revenue that it pays for most of the other college sports. The other massive economic stimulation as a result of deer hunting are land leases. When farmers are incapable of growing crops anymore for any reason, like old age or droughts, many farmers end up making deals with hunters so they can hunt on the farmer’s unusable soil. This way, the farmers, who would otherwise have land just sitting there with no source of income, would make a much needed profit. If not, the kind, old farmer that always dreamt of letting his kids inherit the plot of land that he spent his whole life on, instead would be forced to sell this stunning terrain to a greedy cooperation and watch them erect a brand new Wal-Mart or Kroger on the land he spent countless hours tending. I’m not sure about you, but I think that I would rather want to allow people to pay the needy farmer to hunt on the land, rather than to watch him reluctantly sell it. Although facts for deer hunting are inevitable, some people still have doubts that deer hunting is good. Some say that it is a very hazardous activity. If that was true, why do you need to pass a rigorous hunting safety course to even obtain your hunting licenses? This was one of many things designed so people could hunt safely, not to even mention the laws they have passed for hunting safety. Some of these laws require you to wear a vibrant orange vest at all times and also deem it highly illegal to have any alcohol in your body while operating weaponry. Also, others may brainlessly argue that people might kill too many deer if hunting is allowed, even though the hunting season is only roughly 80 days out of 365. That’s around twenty-two percent of the days of the whole year. During those eighty days, people are only legally allowed to kill twelve deer total. To the opposing side, this may seem like a colossal amount. In reality though, it is not much at all when you contrast this total to the million-plus deer in this state alone. Also, people might assume that if people don’t hunt them, deer will have happy, fruitful lives in the wild. Unfortunately, if they have no natural predators, it will end badly for them. If people do not hunt deer, they will overpopulate and die. It is just the way biology works. Besides, there is nothing more tranquil then to just take the weight off your feet in the deer stand and to be absorbed by the gripping splendor of nature, all in the flawlessly cool breeze of the early morning. Then when you see the deer approach, you pull the trigger, sending earsplitting sound waves of satisfaction into the silence of the woods, and then beam with the knowledge that, by terminating this one deer, you helped all the other deer in the area live a longer and healthier life. You also know that by killing this animal, you not only saved others from gruesome deaths, but also know that by bringing it home for eating purposes, you are continuing one of the world’s longest lasting human activities.

Organic Anion Transporters Essay -- Biology

The main location of the protein organic anion transporter 3 is in the kidney and the function of the kidney is to get toxins, usually in the form of organic anions, or even medications out of the body. In order to separate and transport these toxins through the blood to the kidney, specific proteins called organic anion transporters (OAT) exist. The sole function of these proteins is to bind to these molecules and take them to the kidney where they can be separated from the blood and excreted. The way these proteins work is that they have a highly specific active site (or binding site) which has unique properties that make it prone to attaching to various organic anions. To better understand the role of OAT 3, a specific OAT protein which is present in the choroid plexus (spinal fluid) and the kidney, an experiment was conducted in which this protein was removed from rats by replacing the DNA code for OAT 3 with a similar, but not functional code. These OAT 3 knockout rats showed an inability to transport certain organic anions including toxins, hormones, and drugs. Methods Procedures: 1. Isolation of the OAT3 Gene 2. Analysis of changes in tissues of the wild type and OAT3 type 3. Northern Analysis 4. RT-PCR 5. Methods of Measuring Transport 6. Confocal Fluorescence Microscopy 1. Isolation of OAT3 gene: The strategy used here was a deletion of exon 3. An exon is a portion of a DNA molecule that codes for part of a polypeptide, which gets expressed. So the deletion of this particular exon caused a frame-shift mutation and a premature stop codon to be brought in. This just means that the messenger RNA (mRNA) that is transcribed from the gene gets translated normally until the ribosome co... ...family will allow humans to further expand the effectiveness of drug treatment. First, if the organic anion transport system could be blocked, certain medicines then would stay in the system longer that would otherwise have been excreted. This would allow for more effective and shorter treatment. Second, not everyone has the same amount of organic anion transporters in their system, thus by genotyping a patient and discovering the amount of the transporters present in the individual, a personalized drug regiment could be devised , making it more effective for the individual. Third, by identifying the anion transported by each OAT (OAT 1-4), certain toxins could be transported out of the system much faster and prevent less damage of certain toxins to the system. By altering the amounts of the OAT family present doctors could speed up the recovery process.

Collaboration and Innovation at Procter & Gamble Case Study

Collaboration and Innovation at Procter & Gamble CASE STUDY 1. What is Procter & Gamble’s business strategy? What is the relationship of collaboration and innovation to that business strategy? i. Proctor and Gamble’s business strategy focuses on three main areas. This is to maintain the popular the popularity of its existing brands through advertising and marketing; the extension of its brand to related products by developing new products and the creation of new brands from scratch.To achieve these, the company aims to facilitate collaboration between researchers, marketers and managers. ii. By fostering interaction among employees P&G fosters informed decision making and the sharing of ideas and information which ultimately leads the company to produce quality products. 2. How is P&G using collaboration systems to execute its business model and business strategy? List and describe the collaboration systems and technologies it is using and the benefits of each i.P&G res earchers use collaborative tools to share data on various brands they have collected which allows marketers to access this data to create better targeted ad campaigns and likewise managers access data shared t be able to make informed decisions. ii. – P&G use a suite of Microsoft products such as MS Outlook, MS SharePoint and others that have unified communication and integrate services through voice and data transmissions and allow for instant messaging, email and electronic conferences, web conferencing with live meeting, and content management. P&G use social networking innovations -P&G uses blogs instead of emails that are open to anyone interested in their content and attract comments from others. – The company uses Connect beam which is a search tool that allows employees to share bookmarks and tag content with descriptive words that appear in future searches, and facilitates social networks of coworkers to help them find and share information more effectively â €“ It also uses InnovationNet which contains over 5 million research-related documents in digital format accessible through a browser-based portal. P&G have also adopted Cisco Telepresence conference rooms across the globe that allows researchers to communicate and share data. Some benefits of the Cisco Telepresence include the reduction of travel cost, efficient flow of ideas and quick decision making. 3. Why were some collaborative technologies slow to catch on at P&G? Some collaborative tools were slow for P&G because employees resisted to the collaborative tool because in their opinion that would create more work and delays.Employees were more accustomed to emails 4. Compare P&G’s old and new processes for writing up and distributing the results of a research experiment. Researchers under the old process wrote up their experiments using MS Office tools then print them out and glue the papers page by page into notebooks or they would simply paste results of experiments into word documents and pass them out. Also data and speech recordings are entered into MS PowerPoint and emailed to employees.In the new method however, employees use a collaborative tool such as InnovationNet which contains over 5 million research- related documents in digital format accessible to employees via a browser-based portal. Also P&G uses a Microsoft SharePoint page where all presentations are posted. These presentations are stored in a single location and accessible to employees and colleagues in other parts of the company. 5. Why is telepresence such a useful collaborative tool for a company like P&G?Telepresence is a useful collaborative tool for P&G because it helps to foster collaboration between employees across continents and leads to reduction in travel cost, efficient flow of ideas and quick decision making. 6. Can you think of other ways P&G could use collaboration to foster innovation? Proctor and Gamble could use virtual world technology which creates online 3-D environments populated by employees who have in-built graphical representations of themselves known as avatars.P&G can use this virtual world to house online meetings, training sessions, and â€Å"lounges. † Real-world people represented by avatars meet, interact, and exchange ideas at these virtual locations. Communication takes place in the form of text messages similar to instant messages. P&G could also use Google Apps or Google Sites which is a collaborative that allows users to quickly create online, group-editable web sites in minutes and post a variety of files including calendars, text, spreadsheets, and videos for private, group, or public viewing and editing.Also Google a software such as called Google Wave which is part conversation and part document can be used as a collaborative tool. Researchers or any participant of a wave can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content, and add or remove participants at any point in the process. Users are able to see responses from other participants on their â€Å"wave† while typing occur, accelerating the pace of discussion.

Providing Courses Fit for the New Professions amidst the Recession

Colleges and other educational institutions assume a very vital role in the modeling and homing of future professionals. They affect not only the decisions of its students in terms of the students’ profession preference; they also affect the future job options of the students. ABC Institution as one of the education pillars of this country in the aspect of being a leading career college conducts activities and launches curriculum fully guided by the mission that the institution set out to achieve in its years of existence.The mission being â€Å"ABC institution welcomes students of diverse interests, cultures, and abilities and prepares them for careers in thriving fields that are in demand. The core values include providing high quality curriculum, caring and supportive environment, and mentoring students to succeed†.This mission as of the presentation of this paper is now geared towards the creation of a new curriculum under the ABC Institution’s College of Man agement and Administration that will equip its students with up to date education that will give them an edge in landing professions that proved to be in-demand amidst the economic and financial trials of this period marked by the recent global recession. To better understand the technicalities intrinsic to the formulation of a curriculum, defining the common keywords in the issue at hand proves to be vital.In this proposal the word curriculum is defined as the collection of programs of study or major courses to be offered by ABC Institution (The Free Dictionary (Collins English Dictionary), 2009, p. n. pag. ). Program study or major in this proposal is defined as the set of classes or subjects needed to be taken by the students included in the new curriculum of ABC Institution (The Free Dictionary (Collins English Dictionary), 2009, p. n. pag. ).Lastly, classes or courses are the educational groupings of students that would tackle a focal subject related to the new curriculum intro duced by ABC Institution (The Free Dictionary(American Heritage Dictionary), 2009, p. n. pag. ). These definitions will be used throughout this proposal. This proposal is written to distinctively inculcate the values intrinsic to the mission of ABC institution and to the new needs that it will set to fulfill in the next years of its existence.This proposal would compromise between the tenets of ABC Institution’s mission and the specifications of the new programs of study under the new curriculum of management and administration. Compromising between these two factors present in ABC Institution is a must simply because the curriculum should always coincide with the mission of the institution that offers it. Taking ABC Institution for example, the curriculum of management and administration will be designed base on the mission of ABC Institution. This new curriculum will equally welcome students of welcomes students of diverse interests, cultures, and abilities.This new curricu lum will prepare them for careers in thriving fields that are in demand. The core values of ABC Institution which include high quality curriculum, caring and supportive environment, and mentoring students to succeed will be used in full swing upon the launch of its new curriculum on management and administration. Approving the launch of these new course offerings of ABC Institution will not only improve the reputation of the institution as a career college; it will also reshape the modes by which this institution provides quality education to its students (Wijesinghe, 2000, p.1). The creation of new curriculum is one of the most recognized benchmarks of the effectiveness of any institution in terms of being dynamic set in the background that the real world apart from the institution is also very dynamic. Unfortunately, the creation of a new curriculum is not solely dependent on the needs that the curriculum is set to satisfy, resources and other forms of support should be all equall y addressed before introducing a new curriculum (Wijesinghe, 2000, pp. 2-3).As said earlier, this proposal pushes forth the offering of the curriculum focused on management and administration in ABC Institution. The reason behind the vigor put on in this paper to prove that doing so is a must only lies on two basic concepts- students will gain an education edge applicable in many fields and professions related to this course are now demanded worldwide. The theoretical and practical education that students will receive from the different programs of study included in this new curriculum will make them a highly viable labor resource in the near future.The units to be included in this program study may differ from the unit requirements of the other programs of study to be included in the new curriculum. Amidst the allowance provided that may cause differences among programs of study, core subjects should be universal in the whole curriculum to insure that the curriculum has a sense of wholeness. Programs of study to be included in the curriculum are still open to changes; however in this paper core programs are encouraged to be introduced alongside with the launch of the new curriculum.Core programs such as Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration, Bachelor of Arts in Corporate Management and Bachelor of Arts in Financial Management and Administration are pushed forth by this paper with the same weight that it proposes the introduction of the new curriculum. These core programs are deemed to be the programs that will provide the competency needed by the future professionals or students as they take on a very new profession landscape upon their graduation.This proposal is not written on mere impulsive instincts and far flung idealism; this proposal is written through the guidance provided by the mission of ABC Institution. This proposal even in its early stages of formulation considers head on the factors that may affect the introduction of its proposed curriculu m. Given the ample time of research that was given to formulate the proposal, there are three main factors identified to be internal to ABC Institution- integrity, resource preparedness and foundational education.ABC Institution is laden with the burden that it needs to establish its integrity among its students, targeted hiring field and even among its stakeholders (Gardiner, 2010, p. n. pag. ). These different groups should be satisfied with the overall manner by which ABC Institution provides the programs of study under its newly introduced curriculum. Resource preparedness is also vital to the success of the introduction of the new curriculum because the preparations put on by ABC Institution will insure that the curriculum will not be down played in terms of its manpower and educating credibility (Gardiner, 2010, p.n. pag. ). Faculty members and other staffs of ABC should be prepared in all aspects, particularly in terms of being knowledgeable of the programs to be included in the curriculum, furthermore to the curriculum itself. Departmental turf should also be taken into consideration since the curriculum of management and administration is multidisciplinary in nature (Gardiner, 2010, p. n. pag. ). Faculty members should also be allowed to freely express their insights and criticisms on the newly introduced curriculum.The faculty members are those who would have firsthand interaction with the curriculum and its students; this made them credible sources of new ways of further improving the curriculum upon its introduction. Ultimately, the faculty members should be constantly reminded to handle the programs of study included in the curriculum with the consciousness that the lessons and activities should coincide with the mission of ABC Institution and with the goals of introducing the curriculum (Gardiner, 2010, p. n. pag. ).Finally, the foundations of educating its students under the new curriculum should be constantly assessed and evaluated to insure th at educational drifts are being avoided by providing constantly improving modes of education. The foundations that the curriculum will be able to establish in its early years will determine its future as a part of ABC Institution and establishing a good one should be prioritized (Gardiner, 2010, p. n. pag. ). In this proposal there is only one discerned external factor- the in demand labor market.No matter how fluent this proposal maybe in justifying that the establishment of a new curriculum on management and administration is viable will be put to trash unless it will have an established target in the labor demand market. As a hint in the earlier parts, the new curriculum on management and administration is proposed to be introduced to educate and train students to be professionals viable to fill one of the most in demand professions- government managers (Kadlec, 2009, p. 11). This is a labor market that is deemed to be in constant hiring for the next three decades.This demand is neither artificial nor temporary; it is a demand made by one of the most financially influencing event of all times- the global recession. The global recession has increased the demand for government managers because it forced many companies to sought help and assistance from the governments all around the world (Kadlec, 2009, p. n. pag. ). New professions are being created everyday just to manage corporate bail outs and turnovers facilitated by governments; in this aspect alone thousands of available jobs are being created.Aside from this aspect of the global recession; professions on human resources and public affairs are almost equally opening up due to the sudden involvement of many governments with the corporate affairs. This is the major labor market that the curriculum if management and administration seeks to fill in by creating the fittest professionals for the job through the programs of study that ABC Institution offers. The high demand to fill in the slots of government managers is only one of the target industries of this new curriculum.The ongoing demand for financial analysts and market experts are also some of the in demand jobs that this curriculum seeks to fill in (Kadlec, 2009, p. n. pag. ). After presenting every detail of this proposal for the ABC Institution, the one that proposed it realized one thing; there is a huge and almost untapped market of labor demands that ABC Institution can pioneer on†¦so why hesitate? Bibliography Gaff, J. G. , & Ratcliff, J. L. (1997). Handbook of the Undergraduate Curriculum: a comprehensive guide to purposes, structures, practices and change.Jossey Bass. Gardiner, L. F. (2010). Designing a College Curriculum. Retrieved July 8, 2010, from www. thenationalacademy. org: http://www. thenationalacademy. org/readings/designing. html Kadlec, D. (2009, June 2). Government Manager: Top Ten Jobs for the Recession. Retrieved July 8, 2010, from www. times. com: http://205. 188. 238. 109/time/specials/packages/ar ticle/0,28804,1901876_1901874_1901854,00. html The Free Dictionary (Collins English Dictionary). (2009). Curriculum. Retrieved July 8, 2010, from www. freedictionary.com: http://www. thefreedictionary. com/curriculum The Free Dictionary (Collins English Dictionary). (2009). Program of Study. Retrieved July 10, 2010, from www. freedictionary. com: http://www. thefreedictionary. com/programme+of+study The Free Dictionary(American Heritage Dictionary). (2009). Class. Retrieved July 8, 2010, from www. freedictionary. com: http://www. thefreedictionary. com/classs Wijesinghe, G. (2000). New Offerings for a New Era: Evaluating the Viability of New Degree Programs . Florida: State University System of Florida.

Alligator Facts (A. mississippiensis and A. sinensis)

Alligator Facts (A. mississippiensis and A. sinensis) The alligator is a freshwater crocodilian belonging to the genus Alligator. It is a large reptile with a fearsome set of teeth. In fact, the teeth are one way to tell an alligator from a crocodile. An alligators teeth are hidden when its mouth is closed, while a crocodile still has a toothy grin. The name alligator comes from the Spanish el lagarto, which means the lizard. Alligators are sometimes called living fossils because they have been around about 37 million years, first appearing in the fossil record in the Oligocene epoch. Fast Facts: Alligator Scientific Name: Alligator mississippiensis (American alligator); Alligator sinensis (Chinese alligator)Common Name: Alligator, gatorBasic Animal Group: ReptileSize: 13 feet (American); 7 feet (Chinese)Weight: 790 pounds (American); 100 pounds (Chinese)Lifespan: 35 to 50 yearsDiet: CarnivoreHabitat: Freshwater marshes and grasslandsPopulation: 5 million (American); 68 to 86 (Chinese)Conservation Status: Least Concern (American); Critically Endangered (Chinese) Species There are two alligator species. The American alligator is Alligator mississippiensis, while the Chinese alligator is Alligator sinensis. Several extinct species are found in the fossil record. The Chinese alligator is critically endangered in the wild. reptiles4all, Getty Images Description Alligators range in color from brown to olive green to black with white bellies. Juvenile alligators have orange, yellow, or white marks that fade as they reach maturity. American alligators are much larger than Chinese alligators. The average American alligator is 13 feet long and weighs 790 pounds, but large specimens over 14 feet long and 990 pounds occur. Chinese alligators average 7 feet long and 100 pounds. In both species, males tend to be larger than females. An alligators strong tail makes up over half its length. Habitat and Distribution The American alligator lives in the southeastern United States. It occurs in freshwater and brackish wetlands in Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, East Texas, and southern Arkansas and Oklahoma. The Chinese alligator is found in a short section of the Yangtze River valley. Diet Alligators are carnivores, although they sometimes supplement their diet with fruit. The type of prey depends on the size of the alligator. They are ambush predators that prefer to eat prey that may be consumed in one bite, such as fish, turtles, mollusks, small mammals, and other reptiles (including smaller alligators). However, they can take much larger prey. Larger prey are grabbed and spun around in the water in what is called a death roll. During a death roll, the gator bites off chunks until the target is subdued. Alligators may store prey under the water until it decomposes enough to be eaten. Like other cold-blooded animals, alligators cannot digest prey when temperatures drop too low. Behavior Alligators are excellent swimmers, plus they use three modes of locomotion on land. The sprawl is a walk using four legs with the belly touching the ground. The high walk is on four limbs with the belly above the ground. Alligators can walk on their two legs, but only for short distances. While large males and females tend to be solitary within a territory, smaller alligators form highly social groups. Alligators readily tolerate other individuals of comparable size. Gators are extremely intelligent. They have been known to use tools and find their way home from a distance of 30 miles. Reproduction and Offspring Alligators mature when they reach a length of around 6 feet. In the spring, male alligators bellow, emit blasts of infrasound, and head-slap water to attract mates. Both sexes gather in groups for courtship in what is called an alligator dance. Males mate multiple females, but a female has one mate per season. In the summer, a female builds a nest of vegetation and lays between 10 and 15 hard-shelled eggs. Decomposition supplies the heat needed to incubate the eggs. The temperature of the nest determines offspring sex. Temperature of 86  Ã‚ °F or lower produce females, while temperature above 93  Ã‚ °F produce males. Between 86  Ã‚ °F and 93  Ã‚ °F, a clutch contains both males and females. The young hatch in September using an egg tooth and assistance from their mother. Female hatchlings weigh more than male hatchlings. The female defends the nest and helps the hatchlings reach water. She continues to guard her offspring for a year or two, but will mate each year once she reaches maturity. It is unknown exactly how long alligators live in the wild. Estimates place average lifespan between 35 and 50 years. Alligators in captivity can live long lives. One captive specimen is at least 80 years old. Alligator hatchlings have white or yellow marks. DeSid, Getty Images Conservation Status The IUCN classifies the conservation status of the American alligator as least concern. Approximately 5 million American alligators live in the wild. On the other hand, the status of the Chinese alligator is critically endangered. As of 2018, between 68 and 86 mature individuals lived in the wild, with a stable population trend. At present, more Chinese alligators live in zoos than in the wild. Chinese alligators are protected, plus captive individuals may be successfully reintroduced into the wild. Alligators and Humans Alligators typically do not perceive humans as prey. While attacks sometimes occur, they tend to be provoked when a person encroaches on an alligators territory, in self-defense, or where humans feed alligators and the reptiles have lost their natural shyness. Alligators are hunted and raised commercially for skin and meat. Wild alligators are a popular sight for ecotourists. Alligators offer an economic benefit to humans by controlling muskrat, copypu (nutria), and other pest animal populations. Alligators can be trained, but they do not make good pets because they grow very quickly, escape enclosures, and can be unpredictably aggressive. Fun fact: While an alligator closes its mouth with force, its jaws are too weak to open when the mouth is held closed. Zen Rial, Getty Images Sources Brochu, C.A. (1999). Phylogenetics, taxonomy, and historical biogeography of Alligatoroidea. Memoir (Society of Vertebrate Paleontology). 6: 9–100. doi:10.2307/3889340Craighead, F. C., Sr. (1968). The role of the alligator in shaping plant communities and maintaining wildlife in the southern Everglades. The Florida Naturalist, 41, 2–7, 69–74.Crocodile Specialist Group (1996). Alligator mississippiensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 1996: e.T46583A11061981. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.1996.RLTS.T46583A11061981.enFish, Frank E.; Bostic, Sandra A.; Nicastro, Anthony J.; Beneski, John T. (2007). Death roll of the alligator: mechanics of twist feeding in water. The Journal of Experimental Biology. 210 (16): 2811–2818. doi:10.1242/jeb.004267Jiang, H. Wu, X. (2018). Alligator sinensis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T867A3146005. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T867A3146005.en

Deinotherium - Facts and Figures

Deinotherium - Facts and Figures Name: Deinotherium (Greek for terrible mammal); pronounced DIE-no-THEE-ree-um Habitat: Woodlands of Africa and Eurasia Historical Epoch: Middle Miocene-Modern (10 million to 10,000 years ago) Size and Weight: About 16 feet long and 4-5 tons Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Large size; downward-curving tusks on lower jaw    About Deinotherium The deino in Deinotherium derives from the same Greek root as the dino in dinosaurthis terrible mammal (actually a genus of prehistoric elephant) was one of the largest non-dinosaur animals ever to roam the earth, rivaled only by contemporary thunder beasts like Brontotherium and Chalicotherium. Apart from its sizable (four to five ton) weight, the most notable feature of Deinotherium was its short, downward-curving tusks, so different from the usual elephant appendages that puzzled 19th-century paleontologists managed to reassemble them upside down.   Deinotherium wasnt directly ancestral to modern-day elephants, instead inhabiting an evolutionary side branch along with close relatives like Amebeledon and Anancus. The type species of this megafauna mammal, D. giganteum, was discovered in Europe in the early 19th century, but subsequent excavations show the course of its peregrinations over the next few million years: from its home base in Europe, Deinotherium radiated eastward, into Asia, but by the start of the Pleistocene epoch it was restricted to Africa. (The other two generally accepted species of Deinotherium are D. indicum, named in 1845, and D. bozasi, named in 1934.) Amazingly, isolated populations of Deinotherium persisted into historical times, until they either succumbed to changing climatic conditions (shortly after the end of the last Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago) or were hunted to extinction by early Homo sapiens. Some scholars speculate that these giant beasts inspired ancient tales of, well, giants, which would make Deinotherium yet another plus-sized megafauna mammal to have fired the imaginations of our distant ancestors (for example, the single-horned Elasmotherium may well have inspired the legend of the unicorn).

Al Ain Distribution Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Al Ain Distribution Company - Essay Example This is under the Law 2 of 1998 on 1 January 1999 with its Head Office at Al Ain. This company is a completely owned subordinate of Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority with a fully paid investment of AED Billion 1,530,000,000 (Al-Ain Distribution Company, 2012). It is the sole distributor of Water and electricity in the Eastern Area of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (Al Ain City and adjacent countryside areas). This includes the ownership, maintenance, and operation of the electricity and water  distribution, network properties, meter reading, and facilities for the supply of water and electricity. The number AADC employees at the end of 2008 financial year were around more than 1900. The Company provides services the population in the East Region of Abu Dhabi (Al Ain Region), which is currently approaching half a million people. The company has established a documented Integrated Management System, which includes an IMS Policy statement, IMS procedures, IMS Management Manual, IMS Objectives, Operating Procedures, Flow Charts, Process Maps, and IMS Records. ADDC operates in the Eastern Region only, whereas Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Company (ADWEC) provide water and power distribution services in Abu Dhabi and its suburbs to approximately 216,000 customers (Abu Dhabi Water and Distribution Company, 2012). ... The company’s responsibility is to consistent, steady, and safely distribute water, electricity from Transco’s termination points to residential, commercial, agricultural, and government consumers in the Al Ain Region. The company executes the following to meet their responsibilities: Maintenance and distribution of the network of distribution assets. Secondly, the company carries out testing of water quality through its laboratory services. Lastly, the customer interfaces including billing, call center operation and revenue collection. The company uses a low cost strategy. The reason being it provides social very important social needs and, therefore all people in the region should be able to access their services. The evidence of their low cost strategy is through the low cost payments that the inhabitants make of only AED 50 (Dirham) for meter checkup fees (Abu Dhabi Water and Distribution Company, 2012). There are no addition fees the required to be paid. There are no clear employee productivity and measurement mechanisms in this company apart from the career development program. This program is offered to fresh graduates for training so that they can work in that company. Employee productivity is a very crucial aspect in terms of the achievement of company goals and objectives. One of the ways of employee productivity measurement is through the establishment of a baseline. A baseline is a standard used for measuring performance of an entity according to set goals and objectives (PM Hut, 2008). 3. FORECASTING According to the Al Ain Distribution Company, the procedures are outlined as follows. The Users connected to the Water Distribution System

Experts Connection Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Experts Connection - Research Paper Example Administrators of special education programs need to be aware of the issues in special education so as to deal with them effectively. Special education programs are designed to cater for the needs of students with sensory or physical disabilities, emotional difficulties, behavioral difficulties, communication problems, medical/health conditions and learning difficulties (Simpson & Sonja, 2009). There are many issues in special education programs. They include legal issues, funding issues and personnel issues among others (Pardini, 2002). It is important for administrators of special education programs to comprehend these issues so as to effectively manage the programs and deal with problems that may arise. These administrators of special education programs that serve students who receive special education services should be aware of all the potential issues that may face the programs. Administrators of special education programs are faced with numerous legal issues. There are laws that are designed to protect the rights of learners with disabilities. These legislations should be clear to the administrators of special education programs so that they can be able to comply with the law when managing special education programs and serving the educational needs of students with special needs. An example of such legislation is the Individuals with Disabilities Education (IDEA) Act which is meant to ensure education for children with disabilities in public schools in the most conducive environment (Cortiella, 2009). The law stipulates that special designed instructions and services should be provided to all students with special needs and disabilities. Another example is the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, under which all educational programs in the US are governed. The laws governing special education do so at both state and federal

U.S. TRADES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

U.S. TRADES - Essay Example The major export categories were Machinery, Mineral Fuel and Oil, Vehicles, and Plastic. NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) has promoted this link by including wide-ranged, market-opening regulations in the agreement. It is also developed a more impartial set of trade policies so the trade barriers can be decreased and removed in Mexico (BesedeÃ… ¡, 2013). Since this agreement was signed, the trade has increased sharply among the nations who are parties to it; however, this increase of trade activity has caused increasing trade deficits for the US with both Canada as well as Mexico. Japan is the third largest partner of the US with around 300 billion USD in goods and private services trading during the year 2013. In 2010, the Economic Harmonization Initiative was launched between US and Japan to boost the economic growth of both countries by promoting collaboration to harmonize policies that facilitate trade. With the four percent (around 3.00 billion USD) drop as compared to 2012, the US goods trade deficit with Japan was 73 billion USD during 2013, and accounted for 11 percent of the entire US goods trade deficit. The Asia-Pacific region is of vital significance for the US as it is the rapidly developing region as well as a key driver of international economic development. In fact, the region already formed more or less 60 percent of international gross domestic product and around 50 percent of global trade, and is likely to grow by nine percent in 2014. During 2011, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) nations had the entire GDP of 18 trillion USD, of which more or less â€Å"85 percent comprised the US economy† (Williams, 2013, p. 98). United States exports to existing TPP affiliates were around 110 billion USD during 2011 and imports were 95 billion USD, indicating that the US had a trade surplus with existing TPP economies of approximately 14 billion USD. Benefits to the US from the trade

Shipping companies listed on New Yorks Stock Exchange

Shipping companies listed on New Yorks Stock Exchange This study was based on 21 shipping companies listed in New York Stock Exchange, over the period of 2005 to 2009. On the table below the selected shipping companies are shown. Shipping Companies listed in the New York Stock Exchange DIANA SHIPPING INC NAVIOS MARITIME HOLDINGS INC 3 SAFE BULKERS INC 4 GENCO SHIPPING TRADING LIMITED 5 TEEKAY CORPORATION 6 TSAKOS ENERGY NAVIGATION LIMITED 7 EXCEL MARITIME CARRIERS LTD 8 DANAOS CORPORATION 9 AEGEAN MARINE PETROLEUM NETWORK INCORPORATION 10 FRONTLINE LIMITED 11 SEACOR HOLDINGS INCORPORATED 12 NORDIC TANKERS 13 GLOBAL SHIP LEASE INCORPORATION 14 GENERAL MARITIME CORPORATION 15 SEASPAN CORPORATION 16 SHIP FINANCE INTERNATIONAL LIMITED 17 KIRBY CORPORATION 18 OVERSEAS SHIPHOLDING GROUP, INC 19 DHT MARITIME INCORPORATION 20 INTERNATIONAL SHIPHOLDING CORPORATION 21 TIDEWATER INC This paper seeks to examine the relationship among three corporate governance mechanisms (board composition, chief executive status and audit committee) and some firm performance measures (return on investment capital, return on equity, Return on Assets and Current Ratio). Also, the essay examines the relationship among these three corporate governance mechanisms and the operating performance (Net Sales to Operating Cost) of the corporations. Part 1 Corporate Governance Corporate governance is the set of processes, customs, policies, laws, and institutions affecting the way a corporation (or company) is directed, administered or controlled with the objective to enhance shareholders wealth. Corporate governance also includes the relationships among the stakeholders involved and the goals by which the corporation is governed. It is supposed that better corporate governance leads to better corporate performance by preventing the expropriation of controlling shareholders and ensuring better decision-making. Corporate governance is a priority along with financial indicators when evaluating investment decisions according to investors. The majority of them are prepared to pay a premium for companies having high governance standards. On the opposite, there are also bad forms of corporate governance that lead corporations to problems. Good corporate governance is considered to be a fundamental necessity to run a firm successfully. Moreover corporate governance is a process which can ensure growth for a firm and the economy in general. Most of the selected shipping companies are foreign private issuers established in Marshal or Bermuda islands. The minority of the selected companies are U.S corporations. Consequently most of them are not required to comply with the corporate governance practices followed by U.S. companies following the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) listing standards. However, they are required to state any significant differences between their corporate governance practices and the practices required by the NYSE according to Section 303.A.11 of the NYSE Listed Company Manual.  Furthermore almost every chosen shipping company adopts NYSE required practices, such as having a majority of independent directors, establishing audit and compensation and nominating committees as well as adopting a Code of Ethics.   NYSE requires companies to adopt and disclose corporate governance guidelines.   The guidelines should address to the director qualification standards, the director responsibilities, the director access to management and independent advisers, the director compensation, the director orientation and continuing education, management succession as well as an annual performance evaluation. However,   most of the shipping companies trade in NYSE are not obliged to comply with these rules due to that they are foreign private issuers as well as most of them are offshore. For these companies there is no obligation of complying with any corporate governance guidelines or code of ethics. Shareholders can be informed via the annual reports and Code of Ethics, both of which have been publicly filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission available on the companies web-sites. Corporate governance guidelines and shipping companies intend to publish an overview of the Companys gu iding principles which focuses on social issues. This Code cannot cover every applicable law or provide answers to all questions that may arise but it can set out general principles about an organization belief on matters such as mission, quality, conflicts of interest, internal reporting, privacy or the environment. Furthermore, it may define proper procedures to determine whether a violation of the code of ethics has occurred. Code of ethics and corporate social responsibility is a neglected issue in the shipping industry. Traditionally there is no reason for the shipping companies to invest in advertising or in any other activity that could improve their image. Consequently the main goal of the management of a shipping company is to attract as many as possible new clients. Any characteristic that can improve the reputation of the company is not a priority for the managers of a shipping company. Many years have passed and shipping companies were not obliged to follow some rules of social responsibilities. Fortunately, the last decade various regulations have been imposed to the operation of a shipping company, although the control mechanisms were not always efficient. Board of Directors An important aspect that influences the corporate governance is the board of directors. The board of directors plays an important role to the company operation. It oversees top management and is entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring and supervising the company resources and operation. Moreover, it undertakes the obligation of appointing a qualified person as the Chief Executive Officer and other management staff. Therefore, the board is seen as a team of individuals with fiduciary responsibilities of leading and directing a firm, with the primary objective of protecting the shareholders interests with high sense of integrity and commitment to the firm. The role of the Board is significant in designing efficient corporate monitoring and ratification mechanisms. With respect to reducing agency costs at the Board level, Boards of directors have three key decision rights: (1) Monitoring (2) Ratification (3) Reward and punishment rights. They may even remove top managers from their positions and sanction them for their decisions. NYSE rules require the size of the board of directors not to be smaller than three members. As it can be observed by the survey the size of the board of directors of the sample is between five and seven members. Although there are some shipping companies that have more than seven members in the board and some others that have less than five members. It can be concluded that the majority of the board members in the board of directors are outside directors (member of a company board of directors who is not an employee or stakeholder in the company). The role of independent directors on the board of directors is to effectively monitor and control firm activities in reducing opportunistic managerial behaviors and expropriation of firm resources. The majority of the board members are outsiders for most of the companies; some of them use relatives as well as acquaintances as board members. This indicates a tendency for the shipping companies to be governed by a closed team of people. In accordance to NYSE rules the board should have audit, compensation, and nominating committees made up entirely by outside directors. Almost all of them are consisted by the three obligatory committees opposed to the majority of the selected shipping companies that do not have the obligation to comply with the NYSE rules. The role of these committees is significant; they are assigned to evaluate the board The role of the Audit Committee The purpose of the Audit Committee is to: Monitor the integrity of the firm financial statements. Monitor the qualifications, independence and performance of the company independent auditors. Monitor the performance of the company internal audit function. The audit committee ensures that the books of the company are not fake and that shareholders are properly informed of the financial status of the firm. In this essay it is made an effort to examine the importance of the audit committee in shipping companies listed in the New York Stock Exchange. NYSE requires from a listed U.S. company to have an audit committee with a minimum of three members. But it is permitted by Rule 10A-3 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that audit committees of foreign companies can have less than three independent members in the audit committee. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Status The Chief Executive Officer position and the whole management team is an important position to hold in a corporation. They are responsible for Operating the firm in an effective way. Preparing the annual operating plans and budgets. Establishing an effective system of internal control. In this essay it is examined the role of the Chief executive officer (CEO) in the shipping companies. There are two types of leadership structure i.e. combined leadership structure and separated structure. Combined leadership structure happens when the CEO is also the chairman of the board. On the other hand separated leadership structure takes place when the Chairman of the board is a different person from the CEO. Many studies identifying the implications of CEO duality exist. It is thought that the operating performance may be improved as a result of less debate among the CEO and chairman and/or other directors. From the sample of the shipping companies that it was taken a significant tendency cannot be provided. In some of the shipping companies the CEO is also the chairman of the board while in others is not. Part 2 Methodology The aim of this research is to figure out if the corporate governance mechanisms have an effect on firm performance. Therefore, the measurement of firm performance is primarily comprised of two factors: operating and financial performance. The data used for this research were extracted from the audited financial statements of 21 shipping companies listed in the New York Stock Exchange. The survey covers the time period through 2005 2009. The sample consists of the annual observations for the board size of every company, for the CEO status and for the size of the audit committee of every shipping company. The aim of the research is to find if these corporate governance mechanisms influence the operating and financial performance ratios. Consequently regression models have been constructed in order to prove the association between the corporation governance in operating and financial performance. Microsoft Excel and the statistical package Eviews were used so as to collect the data run the appropriate regressions and identify the results. Moreover except from the companies annual reports a lot of information was extracted through the Thomson Database. In the end panel data methodology was adopted because it combined time series and cross sectional data. The method of analysis is that of multiple regressions and the method of estimation is Ordinary Least Squares (OLS). By running the appropriate regressions via Eviews and by using Return on equity and the profit margin as the dependent variables, the results were considered inadequate. Consequently it was considered integral to proceed to further research. That is why the below financial ratios were used as dependent variables. For the financial performance: Return on equity ratio: Profitability ratio, it can indicate the management effectiveness Return on assets ratio: Profitability ratio, it can also indicate the management effectiveness Return on investment capital ratio: Profitability ratio, it can also indicate the management effectiveness Current ratio: liquidity  ratio Finally in order to measure the operating performance: The above formulas contributed on calculating the ratios of the shipping companies for the time period of 2005 2009. Moreover, many independent variables were used to define the most accurate and specifically those that would give some results. Consequently as independent variables are defined the above: Out_Board = the proportion of the independent directors over the total directors. CEO = if the same person occupies the post of the chairman of the board and the Chief executive is defined by valuing with zero, otherwise value with one. Audcom1 = the proportion of the audit committee. In the end in order to run the regression, the economic models should be defined. For the return on equity: For the return on assets For the return on investment capital For the current ratio So as to measure the operating performance of the shipping companies the above economic model was used. Furthermore the above parameters should be defined. ÃŽÂ ²o:Constant term ÃŽÂ ²1:Coefficient of the regression ÃŽÂ ²2: Coefficient of the regression ÃŽÂ ²3: Coefficient of the regression eit: Disturbance term Empirical Results and Discussion It is important to mention some important data before continuing to comment on the outputs of the regression. First of all the regression outputs will be tested for all the three confidence intervals 90%,95% and 99%. In order to have a statistical significant output the t statistic has to be greater than 1.64, 1.96 and 2.576 respectively. Moreover so as to have a statistically significant variable the p value has to be less than 0,1 , 0.05 and 0.01 respectively. As it can be observed from the table below, the three independent variables are statistically insignificant because the t statistics are lower than the critical values. Moreover it can be confirmed because all the p values are greater than the level of significance. Dependent Variable: ROE Method: Panel Least Squares Total panel (unbalanced) observations: 99 Variable Coefficient Std. Error t-Statistic Prob. OUT_BOARD -0.00683 0.552604 -0.01236 0.9902 CEO 0.017437 0.17098 0.101982 0.919 AUDCOM1 -0.002796 0.101423 -0.027571 0.9781 C 0.18661 0.529641 0.352334 0.7254 R-squared 0.000114 Adjusted R-squared -0.031461 F-statistic 0.003613 Prob(F-statistic) 0.999698 S.E. of regression 0.791347 Dependent Variable: ROA Method: Panel Least Squares Total panel (unbalanced) observations: 99 Variable Coefficient Std. Error t-Statistic Prob. OUT_BOARD -0.095721 0.061678 -1.551956 0.124 CEO -0.032232 0.019084 -1.688972 0.0945 AUDCOM1 0.009389 0.01132 0.829387 0.409 C 0.140099 0.059115 2.369954 0.0198 R-squared 0.078318 Adjusted R-squared 0.049212 F-statistic 2.690791 Prob(F-statistic) 0.050602 S.E. of regression 0.088325 Dependent Variable: ROA Method: Panel Least Squares Total panel (unbalanced) observations: 99 Variable Coefficient Std. Error t-Statistic Prob. OUT_BOARD -0.104552 0.060653 -1.723773 0.088 CEO -0.028425 0.018493 -1.537033 0.1276 C 0.171387 0.045439 3.771807 0.0003 R-squared 0.071644 Adjusted R-squared 0.052303 F-statistic 3.704289 Prob(F-statistic) 0.028204 S.E. of regression 0.088181 It is evident from the tables above that there is a correlation between return on assets and the independent variables. On the first table it can be observed that the CEO independent variable is statistically significant on 10% confidence interval. Also R- Squared is 7.16% of the variability of the return on assets and is explained by the regression. On the second table one independent variable is excluded from the regression in order to prove that the proportion of the outside directors over the total number of the board is also statistically significant at the 90% confidence interval. It is evident that these two variables influence the financial performance of the shipping companies that are selected in the sample. On the table below it is shown the regression output between the return on investment capital and the independent variables. It can be observed that the proportion of the outside directors and the CEO are statistically significant on the 90% confidence interval. It implies that the majority of the sampled firms, in the period under study, have separate persons occupying the posts of chief executive and the board chair. Dependent Variable: ROIC Total panel (unbalanced) observations: 97 Method: Panel Least Squares Variable Coefficient Std. Error t-Statistic Prob. OUT_BOARD -0.108758 0.062348 -1.744367 0.0844 CEO -0.031869 0.019189 -1.660741 0.1001 AUDCOM1 0.00542 0.011377 0.476405 0.6349 C 0.199476 0.059341 3.361532 0.0011 R-squared 0.081182 Adjusted R-squared 0.051542 F-statistic 2.738981 Prob(F-statistic) 0.047783 S.E. of regression 0.088251 Dependent Variable: CURRENT_RATIO Method: Panel Least Squares Total panel (unbalanced) observations: 99 Variable Coefficient Std. Error t-Statistic OUT_BOARD 0.554821 1.498786 0.37018 CEO -0.636588 0.463736 -1.372737 AUDCOM1 0.538569 0.275082 1.95785 C 0.954122 1.436504 0.664197 R-squared 0.047648 Adjusted R-squared 0.017574 F-statistic 1.584356 Prob(F-statistic) 0.198271 S.E. of regression 2.146311 Another ratio so as to observe the financial performance of a company is the current ratio. By running a regression it can be concluded that the audit committee size is statistically significant at a 90% and 95% confidence interval. Because of the different financial performance ratio it can be observed a different correlation between the dependent and the independent variable. On the particular output the positive relationship between the liquidity ratio and the audit committee seems to be a very reasonable result. Shipping companies follow the corporate governance guidelines which are given by the NYSE for the audit committees. In the end a regression was run for the operating performance of the shipping companies. On the table below it is shown that the proportion of the outside directors is statistically significant at 90% confidence interval with t statistic greater than the critical values. Also it is shown that the audit committee variable is also statistically significant for all the confidence intervals. But the R squared of the output is very low which means that only the 8.76% of the variability of the dependent variable is explained. Dependent Variable: OPER_PERF Method: Panel Least Squares Total panel (unbalanced) observations: 99 Variable Coefficient Std. Error t-Statistic Prob. OUT_BOARD -0.951585 0.50254 -1.893552 0.0613 CEO 0.083654 0.15549 0.538005 0.5918 AUDCOM1 -0.23875 0.092234 -2.588514 0.0112 C 3.109729 0.481657 6.456321 0 R-squared 0.087671 Adjusted R-squared 0.05886 F-statistic 3.043024 Prob(F-statistic) 0.032629 S.E. of regression 0.719653 Descriptive statistics The table below presents the result of the descriptive statistics analysis between the dependent variables and the independent variables by measuring the mean, the standard deviation and the percentage of distribution range of the pooled years of the sample under study. Descriptive Statistics Oper_Perf Roa Roe Roic Cur_ratio Out_Board CEO AUDCOM1 Mean 1.741854 0.078202 0.18183 0.11603 3.243112 0.762211 0.474747 2.808081 Median 1.527139 0.072055 0.156449 0.110134 1.86132 0.777778 0 3 Maximum 5.409894 0.513177 3.84573 0.368966 70.57955 1 1 5 Minimum 0.889839 -0.42841 -4.60062 -0.41285 0.1406 0.428571 0 1 Std. Dev. 0.737746 0.090581 0.779185 0.09045 7.100746 0.153031 0.501903 0.816623 Skewness 1.867152 -0.45139 -1.94635 -1.54254 8.614659 -0.20659 0.101139 0.250996 Kurtosis 8.233289 16.32647 24.76835 14.17857 81.7566 2.085215 1.010229 3.44567 Jarque-Bera 177.3846 735.9403 2017.183 549.1192 27351.86 4.156112 16.50043 1.858795 Probabil. 0 0 0 0 0 0.125173 0.000261 0.394791 Sum 179.411 7.741993 18.00119 11.3709 327.5543 75.45889 47 278 Sum Sq. D. 55.51539 0.804091 59.49867 0.793579 5042.06 2.295021 24.68687 65.35354 Observ. 103 99 99 98 101 99 99 99 As it can be referred from the table above the number of the observations is all close to the hundred. This is because some of the data were not available and could not be extracted from the financial reports. Moreover another reason of the lack of some data is that some of the shipping companies were listed in the New York Stock Exchange after 2005. Conclusion The aim of this essay was to prove that there is a relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and firm performance using a sample of 21 shipping companies which are listed in the New York Stock Exchange from 2005 until 2009. The study used firm performance ratios and three mechanisms to prove the above relationship. Panel data methodology is employed; the method of analysis is multiple regressions and the method of estimation is Ordinary Least Squares. The study concludes to the followings: There is no significant relationship between ROE and none of the independent variables. There is a significant relationship among ROA and CEO status and the proportion of the outside directors. There is significant relationship among ROIC, board composition and CEO status. There is a significant relationship between Current ratio and audit committee. And there is a significant relationship among operating performance, board composition and audit committee. Concerning future research, efforts should be made to increase the sample size and the corporate governance variables to achieve a clearer view about the affection of the corporate governance mechanisms on the shipping companies. It can be said that shipping industry has been expanded all over the world from family to family. It is a closed industry which excludes many people. Consequently the nature of the industry makes it very difficult to perform an in depth research and establish an outcome. References Web Sites http://www.investopedia.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org http://www.dianashippinginc.com Home page