Wednesday, August 26, 2020

American Government Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

American Government - Personal Statement Example In the United States, as per PLU (n.d.), President Bush has been a backer of genius re-appropriating approaches and supporter of facilitated commerce. The President accepts that the nation profits by re-appropriating over the long haul despite the fact that there are short-run inconveniences in the framework. Bush’s organization calls the framework as another method of doing universal business. Emergency made by re-appropriating. The Heffner’s (2010) study said that over the previous years, 3.7 million assembling work in the U.S. have been lost on the grounds that the laborers can't contend with the pace of third world’s compensation. For instance, he refered to the pay of a designer in US is $100,000, while this sum is as of now likeness 3 architects in the third world. Hemphil (n.d.) determined its expense and media transmission work in US as $100 every hour while same work should be possible in India or China at $20 every hour. Rees, 2004, a creator of work st rategies, said that the impact of redistributing was felt by representatives who lost their positions, and to other people who had to acknowledge low paying occupations as a result of changes. There are likewise social expenses and inconveniences brought about by excruciating disengagements and partition of families. On the administration side, the administration will in general lose personal expenses for positions re-appropriated in different nations in addition to the speculation and capital moved somewhere else.

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Negative Comments for Nursing

Questions: 1.What do you think this assessment depends on? 2.Discuss how this situation could influence the patient ? 3. What are the repercussions of a senior medical attendant communicating this conclusion? 4. How might you react to this announcement? Answers: 1. As I would see it, I hold the view that this conclusion depends on generalization and proof. He chose to make such articulations due to the antagonistic demeanor he has towards the elderly individuals and old patients specifically. His generalization has made him to see the old as individuals who ought not be given equivalent treatment like the more youthful ages since they don't merit that (Braithwaite Schrodt, 2014). Then again, the Senior Nurse is an accomplished proficient who has been in the administration for an exceptionally prolonged stretch of time. He more likely than not offered that expression since he has encountered the equivalent or depended on logical research. There is sufficient research that has been done to demonstrate that careful tasks performed on the old is dangerous on account of the perioperative and postoperative entanglements, for example, falls, wooziness, respiratory disappointment, congestive cardiovascular breakdown, utilitarian decrease, contamination, regurgitating, queasiness, heart complexities, and mortality (DiCenso; Cullum Ciliska, 2011). This is the reason the Senior Nurse doesn't care for the old people to be exposed to enormous tasks. It may open them to such entanglements. 2. The negative remarks given by the Senior Nurse were unseemly in light of the fact that they would contrarily affect on the patient and understudy. Above all else, the remark will meddle with the success of the understudy or youthful medical caretaker. It will cause him to lose trust in the office and older consideration. Simultaneously, it may impact him to build up a comparable recognition and begin treating the older patients with bias. The Senior Nurse is very persuasive and viewed by the more youthful medical caretakers as tutors (Fairman, Rowe, Hassmiller Shalala, 2011). Since what they do is copied by the more youthful ones, clearly the understudy may wind up creating poor relational correspondence relations with a specific area of the patients. Plus, it shows that the Senior Nurse is discriminative and has built up a generalization towards the old patients. The remarks would make the patient to lose trust in the administrations gave by the office. The way that one of the workers isn't content with the administrations gave implies that they are not up to the normal norm. Accordingly, the patient will change his conviction and begin building up a negative demeanor towards the office, its workers and the administrations gave to the customers (Bylund, Peterson Cameron, 2012). A negative recognition will end meddling with the recuperation procedure of the patient. It may result into passionate and mental pain that may wind up influencing the patient considerably after release. 3. The negative remarks given by the Senior Nurse were bad since they would have a ton of impacts on the clinic. The remarks would contrarily influence the notoriety of the association. It would make the patient to accept that the emergency clinic isn't worried about the life of the patients. The announcement may be deciphered to imply that the specialists demand working the older for bringing in cash, however not to improve their wellbeing (Fairman, Rowe, Hassmiller Shalala, 2011). When the customers lose confidence in the office, they will stop utilizing its administrations. This is grievous that may wind up prompting the loss of patients, salary, and productivity. 4. On the off chance that I were available when the announcement was made, I would give a valiant effort to rescue the notoriety of the medical clinic. To start with, I would utilize my influence abilities to tell the senior medical caretaker and the patient that it is fundamental for the older people to experience enormous careful activities since it is essential for sparing their basic lives. Also, I would engage the Senior Nurse to forgo such articulations since they can hurt the association (Braithwaite Schrodt, 2014). On the off chance that the Senior Nurse wishes to offer such expressions, I would speak to him to do as such without the patients. References Braithwaite, D.O. Schrodt, P. eds., 2014. Connecting with speculations in relational correspondence: Numerous points of view. New York: Sage Publications. Bylund, C.L., Peterson, E.B. Cameron, K.A., 2012. A professional's manual for relational correspondence hypothesis: A review and investigation of chose speculations. Quiet instruction and guiding, 87(3), pp.261-267. DiCenso, A.; Cullum, N. Ciliska, D. (2011). Actualizing proof based nursing: a few misguided judgments. Proof Based Nursing 1 (2): 3840. doi:10.1136/ebn.1.2.38.

Friday, August 21, 2020

What is Company-Owned Life Insurance - COLI

What is Company-Owned Life Insurance - COLI Corporate owned life insurance which is also known as “dead peasant insurance” is the life insurance that is purchased by a business on the life of an employee.The employee is the subject of insurance (insured) while the business or employer is the beneficiary.If the employee that is insured dies, his employer will receive the death benefits from the insurer.Even when the employee leaves the company, that particular company will still remain the beneficiary. Company-owned life insurance can be written for a group of workers or one worker as the case may be.This is no surprise as stats reveal a rise in unexpected employee deaths. Hence, firms seek to protect their business due to the effects of losing important staffs. Source: YouExecThe Corporate-owned life insurance was formed to protect the business from the effects that the deaths of executives and employees who are vital to the operation of the company.When employees who play vital roles in a business dies, the business may face a lot of challenges and it will take a while for the business to adjust to the absence of this valuable employee, this insurance enables the company to weather the storm and get back on their feet.Companies believe that the more important a person is and the role he plays in the organization, the more difficult it will be to replace the person when he dies.The insurance policy will enable the company to foot the bill of finding a replacement for the deceased staff.This is the major reason why Company-owned life insurance is commonly used for the top executives of a firm. These executives are harder to replace than other regular employees.Certain people think that it is inappropriate for a business to cash in or benefit from the death of an employee especially when some employers take advantage of this to exploit tax loopholes.But companies believe that it is just seeing that the demise of a top employee or executive can put the company in a tight spot.The companies dont consider this to be taking undue advantage of the death of the employees, it is however considered to be a way of ensuring that the finances and smooth running of the company are not affected by the death of an employee.If the companies have to bear the cost of replacing dead employees from the pocket of the company, it may affect the finances of the company either immediately or in the long run especially when the loss of more than one top executive is experienced within a short time frame.PURPOSE OF COLIThe original aim of the adoption of the Company-Owned Life Insurance was to hedge against the financial costs that came about as a result of the loss of life of key employees and the risk of recruiting and training the replacemen ts for the deceased key employees.COLI can be utilized to generate income for organizations which is then used to offset the benefits costs that spill over to the income statement. These death proceeds, which are gotten tax-free, can be used to recover expenses related to offering benefits. Source: Fulcrum PartnersIt was also aimed at finding corporate obligations to redeem stock when the owner of a business dies.When employees are being hired a part of the requirements for the firms that adopt COLI is that the employee has to write a written consent to the insurance policy.Presently, the benefits from COLI can be paid to the family of the employees directly, but the company paying the premiums has the right to legally deduct from the earnings and the corporate profits.Most people think that company-owned life insurance is the same as additional insurance coverage of companies which is geared at protecting the employees and their families.Under the insurance coverage of companies, the family of the insured staff is the beneficiary of the benefits of the insurance but with the corporate-owned life insurance, the business are the beneficiaries of the insurance benefits.As stated earlier, the company owned life insurance is required to enable the organization to pay for th e cost of finding a replacement for a valuable employee who dies.Most often this replacement process can be expensive and the insurance benefits will enable them to pay for the cost incurred without taking from the companys account.Another reason is that the benefits from the insurance will provide a way for the company to earn additional income which usually exceeds what the company pays in premiums.HOW DOES COLI WORK? To further understand what COLI entails; it is important to know how it works.Company-Owned Life Insurance consists of two major parts namely: the cost of insurance and the cash value.The cash value is the savings element (i.e. funds invested in assets such as stocks and bonds) of the policy while the cost of insurance consists of the amount that will be paid for the death benefit and the administrative expense.The savings element of the cash value can be held in a general account or a separate account. When it is in a separate account, the policy holders control the assets and can decide on how to allocate the funds.When the value of the underlying assets changes; the value of the savings portion also fluctuates.On the other hand, when the company-owned life insurance is set up with a general account, the control of the assets is in the hands of the insurer, it is the insurer that will decide on how to allocate money among the assets held, he also is responsible for the declaration of the yearly application rate of return.TYPES OF COLIThere are two types of Corporate-Owned Life Insurance.The two types have varying modes of operation and they also have different advantages and disadvantages.1. Superheated AccountThe first type is the superheated account where professional brokers invest the cash value; the account holder is responsible for the risks of the investment.2. The General AccountThe second type is the general accounts where the insurance company in a general portfolio is responsible for investing the cash values of the policies.The in surance company is responsible for the risks of the investment.Before choosing which type to implement, the firm will examine the pros and cons of the two types and they will choose the one that serves the needs of the organization.FORMS OF COLIThere are also two forms that the company-owned life insurance takes.The first is key person insurance while the second is split-dollar life insurance.1. The Key Person InsuranceUnder the key person insurance, the company is compensated for the loss of a key person such as the president or a partner. Life or disability benefits are also provided under key person insurance.2. The Split-dollar Life InsuranceThe split-dollar life insurance, however, involves the splitting or sharing of the premium, the cash value of benefits of the insurance between the employee and the company.There are various options available under the split-dollar life insurance, for example, all the death benefits of an employee can be paid to the beneficiaries of the empl oyee or the company can receive the cash value of the amount it paid in premiums.IMPORTANCE OF COMPANY OWNED LIFE INSURANCEBelow are the importance of Company Owned Life Insurance:1. It Gives the Company a Cash ReserveWhen a company purchases company-owned life insurance, it buys the traditional death benefit coverage amount while giving the company insurance coverage that can compensate the company for the loss of a valuable employee or executive.The cash value of the policy enables the company to have access to funds that it can use to expand the business. The cash value from the insurance can become a saving from the company which will be used to carry out other business operations.2. It Gives the Company Access to a Lower Premium Cost and Higher Cash ValueHaving COLI gives a company the advantage of having good pricing on premiums.If the company is buying cash policies it can be offered as special policies that are designed to generate cash value quickly and easier than other po licies.These policies are designed to show the cash value of the policy as an asset to the account books of the company especially in the early years of the policy.3. Companies can use it to Retain Employees Having a company-owned life insurance is often very enticing to employees especially since it gives them access to enjoying the benefits of group term coverage.If an employee is concerned about the commitment of his employer to provide benefits and compensation over his salary, he can be retained in the company when the employer offers him COLI this will boost confidence in the company.Some companies use this as a competitive advantage to keep the best employees in their company.4. Pre-tax Premium PaymentsCompanies can make pre-tax premium payments on behalf of the employees on a pre-tax basis.This gives the employees and the company the ability to buy more life insurance that they would legally buy if they were operating a private policy.Organizations make use of the Company-Ow ned Life Insurance to soften the blow that taxes place on the finances of the organization. They are used to offset the costs of the expensive benefit packages of employees.It is, however, important to note that the company-owned life insurance does not hinder or replace the personal insurance that the employees have.The company-owned Life Insurance benefits the company more than the employee; it doesnt really benefit the insured person or help his loved ones to pay the debts or final expenses he leaves behind so it is important that the employees have personal insurance which will be offered through the employer.BACKGROUND OF COLI As already seen COLI can be gotten on a group or individual basis, and the company generally becomes the owner, beneficiary, applicant and premium payer of the policy.This is because the organization pays the premiums by itself and acquires all the benefits.The individuals or the employees actually insured do not get any of the benefits. Hence, COLI isn†™t for employee benefit. It is usually mistaken for group life insurance which employers offer their employees.COLI take’s on numerous forms. Originally, narrow-based services termed key man insurance were utilized by organizations as a means to protect themselves against the effect of the death of important employees who are costly or especially difficult to replace.Whats more, it was also used for the insurance of the life of top-level executives.Other similar uses of narrow-based COLI services include the financing of deferred compensations for important employees or individual stock redemption agreements.Based on news reports, some organizations, have acquired broad-based COLI services that do not just cover important employees, but for most or all of their employees.This particular application of COLI principles was developed to create a funding source for various other purposes of an organization, such as supplemental pensions, broader employment related perks like retiree h ealth plans, and executive benefits.The use of company-owned life insurance to pay for retiree medical perks is largely linked to the promulgation of Financial Accounting Standards Boards  statement 106 ( FASB 106)Under this statement post-retirement benefits, such as the retiree medical benefits, must be recognized as a cost due to the fact that they are acquired over the employee’s entire working lifetime, rather than like a payment after retirement.If these benefits arent funded in some way, they develop into an expanding balance sheet liability.The Company-owned life insurance benefits accruing to an organization from the death payouts of workers and the tax-free buildup within the policies can be utilized to develop a balance sheet asset that the organization can use in order to offset liabilities and finance the retiree benefits cost.Individuals who support the use of COLI to pay for such retirement benefits costs, state that without the presence of such funding, a lot of c ompanys would have to discontinue that retirement medical benefits.CRITICISMS OF COLIHowever, critics are on the opposite side of the line, stating that the organizations should not make profits from the deaths of low ranking employees. These critics have termed COLI as dead peasant insurance or janitors insurance.Criticisms are also on the issue that although organizations claim to utilize COLI for the purpose of financing employee benefits, there are no regulations of how it is done, as there are for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act benefit plans (ERISA).Whats more, ERISA also makes provisions for tax-preferred investments for employee funding benefits.Even though company-owned life Insurance isnt well known, it has pulled the attention of both the print media and film. In the month of April 2002, a three-part series was initiated by the Wall Street Journal termed the Janitors Insurance- Profiting from Employees Deaths.The articles were extremely critical of COLI and c alled out numerous organizations that had allegedly put in billions of dollars into the company-owned life insurance policies insuring a large number of employees.After the Wall Street Journal articles, other major press co-operations, like the Washington Post, released articles which were critical of BOLI and COLI.  In May 2009 the Wall Street Journal again focused on COLI, reporting on bank filings which reported their utilization of COLI.Whats more, in 2008, banks reported COLI totaling up to $122.8 billion. Asides from this COLI pulled public attention due to how the heavy criticisms it received in Capitalism: A Love Story, a Michael Moore Movie.BANKS AND COLIWhen a bank purchases COLI policies, it is sometimes termed as bank-owned life insurance (BOLI). The Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), in 1996, outline general guidelines for banks in the United States to ascertain that BOLI purchases are consistent with safe banking practices.The OCC stated that buying BOLI is incidental to banking, therefore, making it legally acceptable, if it is useful or convenient in relation to the conduct of the banks business.The office of the Comptroller of the Currency guidelines particularly makes emphasis on the fact that national banks are allowed to use COLI as a cost recovery vehicle or as financing for post-retirement employee benefits.Also, that the COLI value is an organizational asset even after the severance of the employee and employer relationship.Furthermore, it states that employees do not have interest in COLI other than their claim that the organizations assets arise from the banks obligation to offer the stated benefits.LEGISLATIVE PROPOSALSThe Life Insurance Employee Notification Act (H.R.130) was introduced on January 5, 2011, by Representative Gene Green. The aim of this bill was to require that the employee is notified of COLI. This includes the beneficiary of the policy, the benefit amount and violating this would result in unfair trade practice.Thes e requirements were to be enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This legislative proposal is quite similar to the Pension Protection Act limitations of 2006.However, these requirements are to be enforced by the FTC and not the Internal Revenue Code as is the case of fur Pension Protection Act limitations.PREVIOUS LIMITATIONS ON COLI The 2006 Pension Protection Act was inclusive of additional tax-code requirements with the aim of ensuring the COLI policy enjoys the normal tax positives of life insurance.These specific requirements stated that these policies have to rest on highly compensated personalities or directors and that all insurance employees have to be notified and give written consent in the same period the life insurance is acquired.The phrase highly compensated employees are inclusive of any worker who gets payouts in the top 35% of the organization. Organizations were also demanded to file yearly returns with the Secretary of the Treasury with details of their utilization of the COLI policies.Keep in mind, however, that the information of these returns is just as confidential as any tax information. The recent interest in COLI is mainly due to the recent congressional focus on insurance.Since 1986, the tax benefits of company-owned life insurance in relation to on tax deductibility of COLI related to loan interest has been under limitations by legislation.In 1986, the Congress slated a deductible interest for all indebtedness which exceeded $50,000 for each singular contract.Only loan interests which were related to policies bought after the 20th of June 1986, were covered.It has been stated that the organizations reacted to this limitation by broadening their specification of life insurance benefits from the executives to regular employees.This, in turn, generated more COLI-related loans, however at the capped amount.Congress in 1996 passed legislation that totally eliminated (inclusive of a phase-out rule) all interest deduction for pol icy loans which cover officers or employees except for important personalities.Going even further, Congress capped the deductible interest rates on top executives and also the pre-1986 contracts which were hinged on the typical corporate bond rate.Certain business responded by proposing to broaden the coverage of life insurance contracts as well as related tax-advantaged loans in order to cover customers and mortgagors specifically.In 1997 Congress addressed this particular reaction by placing more limitations on interest expense deductions.The 1997 ruling required that all interest deductions be diminished via pro-rata calculations based on the cash value ratio of an organizations life insurance policy to the total assets of the corporation.Nevertheless, policies for directors, employees, owners, and officers were removed from this calculation, which suggested that the 1997 change was aimed at addressing particular policies, like those covering borrowers.This approach produced the effect of preventing the interest deduction for cases like lender policies which cover mortgagors.Adding to the increased limitations Congress forced on company-owned life insurance interest deduction, the IRS as well, successful embarked on several cases which were considered to be a play of the system.Furthermore, the Internal Revenue Service provided a settlement initiative with the aim of encouraging the disclosure of shady transactions as well as to cause payment of a part of the presumed tax liability.CONCLUSIONThe company-owned life insurance is utilized extensively by numerous organizations to aid them in achieving their financial goals.Based on various industry surveys, 75% of Fortune 1000 corporations have running COLI programs. Whats more, of the 50 leading banks and thrift institutions in America, 43 of them have gotten Life Insurance.A lot of organizations are currently purchasing Company-owned life insurance policies.Presently, major companies engaged in purchasing COL I include: Citi Baker, Bank of America, Win-Dixie, Walt Disney, American Electric Company, Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Procter and Gamble, Dow Chemical and numerous others.

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Metamorphosis And Zaabalawai - 1307 Words

The Metamorphosis and Zaabalawai: An Exploration into the Meaning of Life What is the meaning of life? Many philosophers and religions have attempted to answer the question of what, if anything, gives an individual a purpose. Nevertheless, contrasting metaphysical interpretations have created a perpetual discussion on the ontology of an individual. Consider western monotheistic ideology, existentialism and nihilism. Western monotheistic ideology outlines the purpose of existence as living to the standard of perfection defined by the religion’s god and exemplified by the religion’s messiah1. Contrarily, Existentialism is based on the proposition of existence coming before purpose: an individual will give himself purpose through his own†¦show more content†¦The investigation begins by introducing The Metamorphosis, a story that depicts Gregor Samsa’s absurd metamorphosis into an insect. Through an external force, Gregor is faced with a contradiction he cannot resolve and seizes to be understood by the world around him. However, through this isolated torment, the reader connects further with Gregor, as his only form of communication is through internal dialogue as the story progresses. Moreover, Gregor has no extraordinary qualities and is shown to be a selfless individual, as his anguish before becoming an insect was brought forth by a job he was only employed at because of his yearning to support his family (Kafka, 1205). As Gregor is such an average and self-sacrificing individual, the audience is forced to question the motive of the author. That is, why is Gregor Samsa the target of such an absurd punishment? And that is Kafka’s thesis in the story. Kafka is daring the audience to question his motives, forcing the audience to contemplate how such an average person can be chosen to undergo such cruelty. All individuals have an insect they can morph into and it is analogous to the absurdity of life. The conflict between an individual’s tendency to seek an inherent value in their existence a nd their inability to find one creates a fundamental dissonance, shown metaphorically as an insect.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The Fight Against Essay Writing Topics for University Students

The Fight Against Essay Writing Topics for University Students By itself, essay it's not hard, and together with lectures, laboratory work, and control merely a disaster. On our site you'll find far more useful special information that will certainly be helpful for junior and higher school kids from, like common home task essay about Hamlet, together with, for instance, application essays for college for future students. Our Custom essay writing service means your paper is going to be written from scratch by a specialist writer that specializes in that area. If you're looking for unique, reasonable and topnotch graduate essay writing assistance then you're in luck. Essay Writing Topics for University Students Books should not be banned. Students ought to be permitted to pray in school. School tests aren't powerful. Textbooks ought to be free. Curriculum proposal topics is a means to try. A lot of students put on a uniform. The Upside to Essay Writing Topics for University Students Once you receive an idea, the practice of writing will be much simpler. The ability to spell out something doesn't come easily for a whole lot of individuals. Such a part of work should have some emotional effect on your readers. A student might need a topic about something not far-fetched because the sensory details ought to be vividly portrayed. The reader ought to take the author's side by the close of the reading. With fantastic arguments, it is going to be simple to create your viewpoint. Very often it becomes tough to choose 1 topic either due to the many ideas in the student's head, or due to their complete absence. Characteristics of Essay Writing Topics for University Students Academic writing has ever played a big and central role for students all around the world. Colleges are more inclined to admit students who can articulate certain explanations for why the school is a great fit about them beyond its reputation or ranking on any list. The ways students ought to be taught about their well-being. Many students think that it is a waste of time. So you believe some type of English essay writing help might arrive in handy. Understanding how to compose a strong argumentative paper will help you advance your very own argumentative thinking. In choosing your topic, it's frequently a good concept to start with a subject which you already have some familiarity with. Another reason is to observe how well students argue on distinct views and demonstrate understanding of the studied subject. How people will act if there will not be any rules in any respect. Many brilliant individuals who achieved success in life proved actually academic drop-outs. Writing about nuclear weapons is always an excellent idea. The best strategies to accept the society and ensure it is accept you. What the In-Crowd Won't Tell You About Essay Writing Topics for University Students Recent argumentative essay topics that are related to society is going to do. Remember your essay is about solving problems, thus a solution ought to be a highlight of the essay. Thanks to the correct selection of presentation style and a thorough understanding of the goals you wish to attain in your essay, there are many categories essay themes may be broken into. Your principal essay question forms an essential part of the paper requirements. A proposal essay is quite straightforward to comprehend. An argumentative paper is part of the persuasion. You're able to define a notion in your short essay. The top rated argumentative essay ideas are broken up into various categories. Who Else Wants to Learn About Essay Writing Topics for University Students? There may be a total lot of people who need assistance with authorities essay writing. Before students select their topics, they ought to know about the essential length. A great case in point is cyber unlawful activity where individuals can commit unique felonies on the internet. It is cyber criminal activity where individuals can commit various felonies on the net. If you are searching for tips about how to compose a descriptive essay, you've come to the correct spot. Numerous on-line posts and videos can be utilized in work. Since you can see, several of the topics listed are new and handle the present issues happening in the World today. Superior news is that we've got a solution.

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Leadership and Business Management Communicating Stakeholders

Question: Describe about the Leadership and Business Management for Communicating Stakeholders. Answer: Describe how you maintained an open communication process between: Team: Describe what would you do with your team to make sure everyone is communicated to The most common and important elements for communicating stakeholders are determining the target audience. One should be deliberate and should identify known groups for determining unknown groups. It is going to be very tough for a company if they find that in a serious critical meeting, one of their main candidates was attending the meeting without any clue about the proceedings of the meeting, as he was not given any kind of information on that matter. Documents should be developed in a proper manner and stakeholders should be communicated in an effective manner about all this. Following the ways mentioned below, one can easily manage to keep the communication active and ongoing (USCG, 1998) Formal methods for Communication: Formal Meetings: Formal meetings are one of the old methods of communication. These meetings can have varied facets depending on organizational structure. It depends on a person to maximize every minute of their time spent for having an effective dialogue. It is one of the effective way of communication as it enhances credibility and avoids misinterpretation (USCG, 1998) Call on Conference: This mode of communication is becoming most common now days. This mode is beneficial as it saves time and expenses of travelling (USCG, 1998). Through conference call, one can talk anywhere, as one does not depend on voice intonation. Letters: Strategy of sharing newsletters is one-way communication and it is often utilized in the way of email utilization, brochures and newsletters. One major weakness is that messages are delivered and one seems to be unable to gauge them (USCG, 1998) Informal Methods Hallway communication: These are such kind of meetings which mainly involve one to one communication mode, but in the case, if an organization follows such communication mode then, it should be clear that they should not develop false expectation (USCG, 1998) Meetings during unofficial Time: Meetings can be arranged after working hours where staff members can interact informally with seniors during lunch or dinner. These causal environment helps in bonding and gaining feedback (USCG, 1998) Events of Sporting: Company can arrange for the badminton or golf games, where informally, staff members can interact with one another and can gain feedbacks (USCG, 1998) Mails on voice: Emails often hold superiorities in comparison to voice mails but still, people prefer listening rather than reading (USCG, 1998) Staff should be provided with the opportunity to discuss issues related to relationship with fellow colleagues. Talking about an issue through the channels above can help in diffusion of negative situation before it gets out of hand. So, one should devise strategies for encouraging open communication. There should be commitment from the senior level managers to encourage open communication and discussion. By showing that management is willing to listen and bring about the changes based on what staff has discussed, in that case the staff will become more open(USCG, 1998). Manager: How can you keep regular communication with your manger to make sure that they are informed of how your team is working? By establishing a good relationship with a manager, we can keep regular communication with him for achieving the desired goals and objectives. Business relationships are built upon openness, honesty, cooperativeness and productiveness(Regional Skills Training, 2010). One will find that a manager, with whom we have to establish relation with, is mainly aware of the tasks of team which a team has to perform. People are found having no ability to work in team, as they are found working with people who normally does not believe in choosing friends in many cases. By incorporating the below stated factors in communication, a team can effectively communicate its performance with a manager: Clear: Information will be read by a manager only when he will be able to understand it properly. If the team is writing about its performance and the same is not clear to the manager, the communication is useless. Clarity can come out by selecting easy understandable words, being concise and importantly, understanding that even though one may understand what the team has written, the other party may not be able to do so. Therefore, it is necessary to write in a proper manner to make the manager aware about the correct position and performance standard. Complete: Apart from being clear, information should be complete. One should be open and offer full information. One should not hold information or put any kind of opinions simply because the end user does not want to hear it. It is very essential that the information a team offers to a manager should be complete so that he/she does not take any kind of wrong decision. Taking into account the end user: While one can find that information that a team is offering is not really what the manager is looking for or wants to hear, it is important to ensure that one takes into account the way the end user will respond to the given information. If it is not good information, be sensitive and attempt to make the information or your opinion easier for them to read. Describe how you were able to initiate and maintain this communication process so that input from outside the team could contribute to team performance Who and how can you work with team/management/ customers to get ideas on communication and team performance The main elements of Project communication(University of Tennessee System, 2012) Communication with whom: It is very essential to understand that all stakeholders should be informed about a project and all the necessary detailing related with it for the proper execution of the project. However, this kind of approach would mainly guarantee the failure of a project as, every stakeholder carries his/her own view and, meeting everyones demand is going to be very difficult. Some important stakeholders that must be taken into account are been illustrated below: (University of Tennessee System, 2012). Sponsors of Project: These are the main customers of any project with whom the managers have to communicate and share the information on timely basis. It is to be ascertained that every stakeholder under this category is been communicated in the manner he/she likes to be done with. Members of the team: This is again one of the main popular groups of stakeholders. One might think of dividing the groups of teams in sub -groups on the basis of the role each of them possess. For instance, a manager can think of drafting separate communication mode for business analyst. Customers: These stakeholders can be internal or external. They are not bothered about project communication until and unless a product is been delivered to them. Partners in a company: These stakeholders are those people whose activity does affect the manner in which the project communication takes place. A partner may be someone who is working on a project or heading any team. What is to be communicated: What information is to be communicated to which stakeholder should be considered in a proper manner and should be communicated according to the prescribed modes. The choice of communication of information cannot be done without any tool of project for gathering information How to communicate: We can several different many mediums of commutation like face-to-face, intranet, internet or video conference. Ways to maintain communication process for contributing to team performance Clear Objectives: The overall objective needs to be determined which should assure that every member should understand the goal. A leader has an important role in communicating the clear picture of what organization expects from a team. Appropriate Leadership: Leadership is considered as a shared function, which is based on the need of a task instead of consideration of formal role based on power. Suitable Membership: For a team to work productively, members must display the skills and experience and the right mixture of these for the task being undertaken. Commitment towards team: Members of a team experiences real strength from membership and goal sharing. They will ready to invest energy in interest of the team Supportive team climate: The order of maintaining communication process is to build supportive climate. Members should be asked to contribute in a mature fashion Relationships with other teams: An effective team also invests its time and energy in developing ground rules for managing relationships with other team members in a positive and productive way. Describe how you evaluation of team performance and rationale behind corrective actions in order to provide evidence of you knowledge of Group behavior to build team cohesion How will you monitor and evaluate the team as a group is working well together and that your solutions are working? All of the assessment principle that applies to individual work applies to group work as well. Group of assessment has called for many challenges, however such objectives of assignment which assessor might wish to assess depends on team final design and report, their processes and both (Universit Nice Sophia Antipolis, 2012). Below are the ways for monitoring and evaluating whether group cohesion is working or not Assess individual and team: An individual can mainly feel de-motivated when they feel that their success is very much dependent on the success of the team members and team performance. One single way of interacting and counteracting the hazards of motivation of group activities is mainly to assess the learning and performance of an individual in response to the output of group. Team leaders can take test for testing the learning knowledge of the individuals. There is no such breakdown in assessment section but still grading should mainly reflect motives for learning and motivating the kind of work one want to see. Assessing process: In the case, when developing teamwork skills is one of the main objectives for the course, it is important for assessing students progress towards such goal. Processes can be accessed on the basis of number of dimensions like the ability of generating range of ideas, listening respectfully for disparate perspectives and communicating effectively(Niazi, 2011). Making criteria and scheme of grading: It is very essential to illustrate the criteria of performance so that one can easily make out the difference between the expectations and decisive expectations(Smith, 2000) How to support team members to achieve goals through coaching, mentoring and training What training/ mentoring or coaching can you do to help your team members reach their goals? Training programs should be strategy driven: Trainers should be made aware of the fact that all training programs are required to be in line with an organizations strategic goals(Harun Mahmood, 2012). Setting Criteria for defining success: Success of a training program should be measured against varied criterias(Vinesh, 2014). Training programs needs to support the key strategies: While designing a training program, trainers should be made aware about the fact that learning is very much aligned and is directly supported by the structures of an organization(Nischithaa Rao, 2014). Resolution techniques and Strategies What were the resolution strategies you put in place for your team Guideline establishment: Formal meetings were arranged in between the contracting parties for understanding the guidelines and defining the ways for meeting the same. Both the parties were asked to share their views calmly and unemotionally for effective outcomes(Rouge, 2014). Keeping Effective and open Communication: The main objective in resolution of conflict was to have open communication in between the members (Jung, 2003). Decisive Actions: After collecting the information, all parties should be involved in the decision making process (EDCC, 2011). References EDCC, 2011. ConflictResolution Skills. EDCC. Harun, M.Z.M.B. Mahmood, R.B., 2012. The Relationship between Group Cohesiveness and Performance: An Empirical Study of Cooperatives Movement in Malaysia. International Journal of Cooperative Studies, 1(1), pp.15-20. Jung, H., 2003. Conflict resolution strategies and no strategy and their Performance Models for Large Scale Multiagent Systems. University of Southern California. Niazi, A.S., 2011. Training and Development Strategy and Its Role in Organizational Performance. Journal of Public Administration and Governance, 1(2), pp.42-57. Nischithaa, P. Rao, M.V.A.L.N., 2014. The importance of staff training in the hotel industry. International Journal of Business and Administration Research Review, 1(5), pp.50-56. Regional Skills Training, 2010. Workplace Communication. Regional Skills Training. Rouge, B., 2014. Effective Conflict Resolution Strategies. Louisiana State University. Smith, J.L., 2000. Group Cohesion. AUBURN University. Universit Nice Sophia Antipolis, 2012. Team Building Team Cohesion. Universit Nice Sophia Antipolis. University of Tennessee System, 2012. Communcitaion Process. Knoxville, Tennessee: University of Tennessee System. USCG, 1998. Effective Communication. [Online] Available at: https://www.uscg.mil/auxiliary/training/tct/chap7.pdf. Vinesh, 2014. Role of Training Development in an Organizational Development. International Journal of Management and International Business Studies, 4(2), pp.213-20.

Thursday, April 2, 2020

National policy on education free essay sample

As a democratic society with a diverse population of different cultures, languages and religions we are duty bound to ensure that through our diversity we develop a unity of purpose and spirit that recognises and celebrates our diversity. This should be particularly evident in our public schools where no particular religious ethos should be dominant over and suppress others. Just as we must ensure and protect the equal rights of all students to be at school, we must also appreciate their right to have their religious views recognised and respected. We do not have a state religion. But our country is not a secular state where there is a very strict separation between religion and the state. The Policy recognises the rich and diverse religious heritage of our country and adopts a cooperative model that accepts our rich heritage and the possibility of creative inter-action between schools and faith whilst, protecting our young people from religious discrimination or coercion. We will write a custom essay sample on National policy on education or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page What we are doing through this Policy is to extend the concept of equity to  the relationship between religion and education, in a way that recognises the rich religious diversity of our land. In the Policy, we do not impose any narrow prescriptions or ideological views regarding the relationship between religion and education. Following the lead of the Constitution and the South African Schools Act, we provide a broad framework within which people of goodwill will work out their own approaches. The Policy is neither negative nor hostile towards any religion or faith and does not discriminate against anyone. Rather it displays a profound respect towards religious faith and affirms the importance of the study of religion and religious observances. Professor Kader Asmal Minister of Education STAATSKOERANT, 12 SEPTEMBER 2003 No. 25459 Introduction to the Policy on Religion and Education 1. In this document we set out the policy on the relationship between religion and education that we believe will best serve the interests of our democratic society. The objective is to influence and shape this relationship, in a manner that is in accordance with the values of our South African Constitution1. In recognising the particular value of the rich and diverse religious heritage of our country, we identify the distinctive contribution that religion can make to education, and that education can make to teaching and learning about religion, and we therefore promote the role of religion in education. In doing so we work from the premise that the public school has an educational responsibility for teaching and learning about religion and religions, and for promoting these, but that it should do so in ways that are different from the religious instruction and religiousnurture provided by the home, family, and religious community. 2. We do so also in the recognition that there have been instances in which public education institutions have discriminated on the grounds of religious belief, such that greater definition is required. In many cases pupils of one religion are subjected to religious observances in another, without any real choice in the matter. The policy is not prescriptive, but provides a framework for schools to determine policies, and for parents and communities to be better informed of their rights and responsibilities in regard to religion and education. The policy genuinely advances the interests of religion, by advocating a broad based range of religious activities in the school. 3. In clarifying the relationship between religion and education, we might consider four possible models for structuring the relationship between religion and the state: A theocratic model identifies the state with one particular religion or religious grouping. In some cases, this model has resulted in a situation in which the state and religion become indistinguishable. In a religiously diverse society such as South Africa, this model clearly would be inappropriate. At the other extreme, a repressionist model is based on the premise that the state should act to suppress religion. In such a model, the state would operate to 1 The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996) No. 25459 GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 12 SEPTEMBER 2003 marginalise or eliminate religion from public life. In a religiously active society such as South Africa, any constitutional model based on state hostility towards religion would be unthinkable. We reject both the theocratic model of the religious state, such as the Christian-National state in our own history that tried to impose religion in public institutions, as well as any repressionist model that would adopt a hostile stance towards religion. A modern secular state, which is neither religious nor anti -religious, in principle adopts a position of impartiality towards all religions and other woridviews. A separationist model for the secular state represents an attempt to completely divorce the religious and secular spheres of a society, such as in France or the United States. Drawing strict separation between religion and the secular state is extremely difficult to implement in practice, since there is considerable interchange between religion and public life. Furthermore, a strict separation between the two spheres of religion and state is not desirable, since without the commitment and engagement of religious bodies it is difficult to see us improving the quality of life of all our people. In a co-operative model, both the principle of legal separation and the possibility of creative interaction are affirmed. Separate spheres for religion and the state are established by the Constitution, but there is scope for interaction between the two. While ensuring the protection of citizens from religious discrimination or coercion, this model encourages an ongoing dialogue between religious groups and the state in areas of common interest and concern. Even in such exchanges, however, religious individuals and groups must be assured of their freedom from any state interference with regard to freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief, and opinion. In regard to the relationship between religion and public education, we propose that the cooperative model which combines constitutional separation and mutual recognition, provides a framework that is best for religion and best for education in a democratic South Africa. STAATSKOERANT 12 SEPTEMBER 2003 5. No. 25459 Under the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion, the state, neither advancing nor inhibiting religion, must assume a position of fairness, informed by a parity of esteem for all religions, and worldviews. This positive impartiality carries a profound appreciation of spirituality and religion in its many manifestations, as reflected by the deference to God in the preamble to our Constitution, but does not impose these. . Background to the policy on Religion and Education 6. This Policy for Religion and Education is the result of many years of research and consultation. This commenced with the National Education Policy Investigation of the early 1990s, was taken further in the National Education and Training Forum during the transitional period of 1993-1994, and in the extensive consultations around the South African Schools Act, prior to 1996. It was further developed by the Ministerial Committee on Religious Education in 1999, and the Standing Advisory Committee on Religion and Education, established for this purpose in 2002. Reviewing the progress made in all of this work, we see an emerging consensus about the relationship between religion and education. 7. This policy links religion and education with new initiatives in cultural rebirth (the African Renaissance), moral regeneration, and the promotion of values in our schools. Religion can play a significant role in preserving our heritage, respecting our diversity, and building a future based on progressive values. 8. To achieve these goals, the relationship between religion and education must be guided by the following principles: In all aspects of the relationship between religion and education, the practice must flow directly from the constitutional values of citizenship, human rights, equality, freedom from discrimination, and freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief, and opinion. Public institutions have a responsibility to teach about religion and religions in ways that reflect a profound appreciation of the spiritual, non -material aspects of life, but which are different from the religious education, religious instruction, or religious nurture provided by the home, family, and religious community. Religion Education should contribute to creating an integrated and informed No. 25459 GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 12 SEPTEMBER 2003 community that affirms unity in diversity. Teaching about religion, religions, and religious diversity needs to be facilitated by trained professionals, and programmes in Religion Educationmust be supported by appropriate and credible teaching and learning materials, and objective assessment criteria. The Context 9. South Africa is a multi-religious country. Over 60 per cent of our people claim allegiance to Christianity, but South Africa is home to a wide variety of religious traditions. With a deep and enduring indigenous religious heritag e, South Africa is a country that also embraces the major religions of the world. Each of these religions is itself a diverse category, encompassing many different understandings and practices. At the same time, many South Africans draw their understanding of the world, ethical principles, and human values from sources independent of religious institutions. In the most profound matters of life orientation, therefore, diversity is a fact of our national life. 10. Our diversity of language, culture and religion is a wonderful national asset. We therefore celebrate diversity as a unifying national resource, as captured in our Coat of Arms: ! Ke E:/Xarra //ke (Unity in Diversity). This policy for the role of religion in education is driven by the dual mandate of celebrating diversity and building national unity. Values 11. This policy for the role of religion in education flows directly from the Constitutional values of citizenship, human rights, equality, freedom from discrimination, and freedom for conscience, religion, thought, belief, and opinion. By enshrining these basic values, the Constitution provides the framework for determining the relationship between religion and education in a democratic society 12. Our Constitution has worked out a careful balance between freedom for religious belief and expression and freedom from religious coercion and discrimination. On the one hand, by ensuring that Everyone has the right to freedom of conscience, religion, STAATSKOERANT, 12 SEPTEMBER 2003 No. 25459 thought, belief, and opinion, the Constitution2 guarantees freedom of and for religion, and citizens are free to exercise their basic right to religious conviction, expression, and association. On the other hand, by ensuring equality in the enjoyment of all the rights, privileges, and benefits of citizenship, the Constitution explicitly prohibits unfair discrimination on grounds that include religion, belief, and conscience. Protected from any discriminatory practices based on religion, citizens are thereby also free from any religious coercion that might be implied by the state. The South African Schools Act (Act 94 of 1996) upholds the constitutional rights of all citizens to freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief and opinion, and freedom from unfair discrimination on any grounds whatsoever, including religion, in public education institutions. 14. Within this constitutional framework, public schools have a calling to promote the core values of a democratic society, through the curriculum, through extra -curricular activities, and in the way that they approach religious festivals, school uniforms and even diets. As identified in the report of the ministerial committee on values in education, these core values include equity, tolerance, multilingual ism, openness, accountability, and social honour. Our policy on religion in education must be consistent with these values, and the practices of schools may be tested against the following national priorities: Equity: The education process in general, and this policy, must aim at the development of a national democratic culture with respect for the value of all of our peoples diverse cultural, religious and linguistic traditions. Tolerance: Religion in education must contribute to the advancement of inter- religious toleration and interpersonal respect among adherents of different religious or secular worldviews in a shared civil society. Diversity: In the interest of advancing informed respect for diversity, educational institutions have a responsibility for promoting multi-religious knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of religions in South Africa and the world. Openness: Schools, together with the broader society, play a role in culturalformation and transmission, and educational institutions must promote a spirit of openness in which there shall be no overt or covert attempt to indoctrinate pupils 2 Sections 15(1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 11 No. 25469 GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 12 SEPTEMBER 2003 into any particular belief or religion. Accountability : As systems of human accountability, religions cultivate moral values and ethical commitments that can be recognised as res ources for learning and as vital contributions to nation building. Social Honour: While honouring the linguistic, cultural, religious or secular backgrounds of all pupils, educational institutions cannot allow the overt or covert denigration of any religion or secular world-view. THE POLICY Application 15. The policy covers the different aspects of Religion Education, Religious Instruction and Religious Observances, and is applicable in all public schools. The spirit of the policy, which is to embrace the religious diversity of South Africa, must also be applied at other levels of the education system, including District, Provincial and National level gatherings.

Sunday, March 8, 2020

Understanding Arrays in PHP

Understanding Arrays in PHP An array is a systemic arrangement of objects. Hum, what does this mean? Well in programming an array is a type of data structure. Each array can hold several pieces of information. It’s sort of like a variable in that it stores data, but not at all like a variable in that instead of storing one bit of information it can store many pieces of information. Let’s start with an example. Let’s say that you are storing information about people. You could have a variable that stored my name â€Å"Angela†. But in an array, you could store my name, my age, my height, my In this sample code, we will look at storing two bits of information at a time, the first being somebody’s name and the second being their favorite color. ?php $friend[0] Kevin; $friend[1] Bradley†; $friend[2] Alexa; $friend[3] Devin; $color[Kevin] â€Å"Teal†; $color[Bradley] â€Å"Red†; $color[Alexa] â€Å"Pink†; $color[Devin] â€Å"Red†; print My friends names are . $friend[0] . , . $friend[1] . , . $friend[2] . , and . $friend[3]; print p; print Alexa ‘s favorite color is . $color[Alexa] . .; ? In this example code, you can see that the friend array is sorted by number, and contains a list of friends. In the second array, color, instead of using numbers it uses strings to identify the different bits of information. The identifier used to retrieve data from the array is called it’s key. In our first example, the keys were integers 0, 1, 2, and 3. In our second example, the keys were strings. In both cases, we are able to access the data held in the array by using both the array’s name, and the key. Like variables, arrays always start with a dollar sign ($array) and they are case sensitive. They can not start with an underscore or a number, you must start them with a letter. So, to put it simply, an array is kind of like a variable with lots of little variables inside of it. But what exactly do you do with an array? And how is it useful to you as a PHP programmer? In practice, you will probably never create an array like the one in the example above. The most useful thing you can do with an array in PHP is to use it to hold information you get form somewhere else. Having your websites information stored in an MySQL database is not uncommon. When your website needs certain information it simply accesses your database, and wha-laa, on demand data. Let’s say you have a database of people who live in your city. You now want to search that database and print out records for anyone named â€Å"Tom†. How would you go about doing this? You would read through the database for people named Tom, and then pull their name and all the other information about them from the database, and place it in an array inside of your program. You are then able to cycle through this array, and print out the information or store it to use elsewhere in your program. On the surface, an array might not look that interesting to you, but when you do more programming and start storing more complex data structures you will find you are often writing them to arrays when they need to be used.

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Operations management unit 9 project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Operations management unit 9 project - Essay Example The companys employee base, including those that work for the companys franchises has reached 130,000 by 1998. In 1998, Radissons president Brian Stage, and executive vice president Maureen OHanion, has been contemplating major change in the companys operations in order to gain competitive edge. The two executives think of adopting a different brand strategy which promises higher quality of service across all Radisson hotels. Commitment to improving the service quality and achieving higher customer satisfaction is something that the two executives see that Radisson needs in order to secure its position in the industry. The companys service guarantee should be defined in the following manner: â€Å"let us know if there is a problem and well have it fixed; otherwise, your accommodation is free.† This shows the companys strong commitment to provide excellent service that if the customer is not satisfied, then the service becomes free. This guarantee does not serve to reward picky and troublesome customers, but to convince the customers about the message the company is trying to convey with regard to its commitment to improving service quality, similar to the following manner: â€Å"the company will try to do its best to please you, and if you are not pleased then well shoulder the fees, as part of the cost of your dissatisfaction.† In order to implement this, the company has to gain the support of the different stakeholders such as owners, managers and front-line employees. By knowing that a dissatisfied customer costs a lot to the company and may affect their interests being stakeholders of the company, commitment to customer satisfaction can be strengthened. Improving the companys service quality cannot be cost-effective without information technology. As stated in the case (Schroeder 458), the two information systems are key to

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

Physics in The Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Research Paper

Physics in The Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment - Research Paper Example This paper discusses the physics involved in the experiment and how it is used to understand the effect of changes in the atmospheric layers on the ozone layer over the Arctic pole. Various parameters like temperature, pressure, etc. have been measured by custom made apparatus like the interferometers, spectrometers, spectrophotometers, etc. Launch- ACE used two major instruments in the mission. While the first instrument was a Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS), the other instrument was a dual optical spectrometer (Bernath, na). It was launched by NASA on August 12, 2003 using a Pegasus XL rocket at 650km above the Earth. The satellite was launched at an angle of 740 and orbited the Earth to cover tropical, mid-latitude and the Polar regions. The satellite operated in the UV-Visible-NIR region of the spectrum with the ACE-FTS being used in the NIR region while the MAESTRO Spectrophotometer was being used over the UV-VIS-NIR region (ACE, 2009). FTS operated in the range of 2-13 microns with a high resolution of 0.02cm-1 and a vertical resolution of 4km to up to 150km. the MAESTRO spectrophotometer operated in the UV-VIS-NIR spectral region of 285-1030nm with a vertical resolution of 1-2 km. ... Apart from this information, the satellite was also used to provide vertical profile information for temperature, pressure and the various molecules and their mixing ratios present in the atmospheric layers (ACE, 2009). Constituents- The primary instruments in the satellite are the FTS and the MAESTRO. The ACE-FTS is a Michelson interferometer with two corner cubes for producing the path difference with an end mirror which increases the path difference. The interference fringes are produced with a diode laser operating at 1500nm which are further Fourier Transformed to give the spectra. It has two detectors operating below 100K. Two imagers, one a Visible imager and other a near-IR imager at 0.525 and 1.02 microns are used to study the atmospheric absorption of aerosols and the clouds in the region. These two wavelengths are used for study as they are free of any absorption by the molecules present in the two layers, particularly the stratosphere (Bernath, 2005, pp25-26). The altitude profile information is sun tracked by detectors with 256x256 pixel sensors and a field view of 30mrad and a signal-to-noise ratio of more than 1000. The MAESTRO uses two spectrographs in the two overlapping windows which are 280-550nm and 500-1030nm with a resolution of 2nm. It is noted that the use of two spectrographs enhances the stray-light performance and enables the simultaneous measurement of two spectral bands at a narrow resolution. It also consists of photodiode detectors and a concave grating with an entrance slit always held horizontal to the sunset and sunrise. It also has a vertical resolution of 1-2km and a signal-to-noise

Monday, January 27, 2020

I Love Lucy: The Popular TV Show

I Love Lucy: The Popular TV Show The baby blue, mascara spiked eyes widens, the head tilts, the electric orange curls bob, and the wide, lipsticked mouth takes another teaspoon full of Vitameatavegamin syrup. The ever popular TV show, I Love Lucy, is back on the air with a new season of drama packed episodes. Ready to record the commercial that will propel her into show business, Lucy Ricardo downs the nutritional syrup, unaware that the product contains twenty-four percent alcohol. As she advertises the virtues of the product, her awareness slowly drifts away, and her face slips into a stupefied straight stare. The innocent, child-like Lucy is thoroughly drunk and very funny. One of the most beloved housewives in media history manages to make a complete fool of herself once again and successfully enrages her husband. Lucille Ball was a comedienne, film, television, and radio actress, and the star of I Love Lucy. In 1951, the first episode of I Love Lucy, Lucy Thinks Ricky is Trying to Do Away with Her aired on public television; it became an instant favorite for viewers around the nation. What Lucille Ball achieved, however, had much more lasting impact. On top of being the first woman in television to be head of a production company, Lucille Ball became a pioneer that brought about the Golden Age of Television. Due to the success of I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball managed to establish television as a viable medium of entertainment in an era where media is dominated by filming industries; before I Love Lucy came about, television was mostly used as a means of keeping in touch. Not only did Ball change the face of television, she paved the path for future female actresses. Lucille Balls unique sense of humor, acquired through her own experiences, shaped the modern world of entertainment and left an irre placeable mark on society. Unlike her famous situation comedy alter ego Lucy Ricardo, Lucille Ball was not at all naive and clumsy. By the time I Love Lucy went on air in 1951, Ball was over forty and had been in show business, playing mostly glamour roles, for twenty years. Lucille Ball was born on August 6th, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She lost her father, who was a mining engineer, at the age of four. Her mother, who was a concert pianist, encouraged her into the field of entertainment. At the age of 15, Lucille Ball pursued her dreams of becoming a part of vaudeville in John Murray Anderson Dramatic School. But unfortunately for her, by the time she hit New York City the era of vaudeville was over or as Ball said it Vaudeville was dead, but I didnt know it! Forced to live on doughnuts and coffee, Ball managed to make ends meet as a model and showgirl. Unsatisfied with her current living style, Ball managed to pull some string with an old friend and hooked up with an agent looking for support actresses in comedy routines and plays. Over the course of the next few years, Ball worked on many productions such as Room Service with the Marx Brothers. She was willing to work all sorts of parts that other female actresses did not want to take. They knew Id run, Id scream, Id fall Id do what I was asked to do. () Because of her willingness to learn how to act, she landed parts in The Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, and most male comics. Some of the unconventional parts that Ball took caused her to have a much more unconventional sense of humor in her later works. This marked a period of tremendous growth in Balls comedic style and image. She was becoming someone recognizable and likeable a personality type. Lucille Balls first major recognized work came in 1947. She was chosen as the lead actress for a radio show called My Favorite Husband, which was sponsored by CBS. Her experiences on My Favorite Husband contributed greatly to Balls style of humor and I Love Lucy. Through the radio show, Ball learned the basic elements of timing her lines to laughs coming from a live audience. She also developed a combination of slapstick with both sexuality and domesticity. () This set Ball apart from most previous American women film comedians; it was common for women in slapstick to be a support prop, victims of male-initiated comedy, or star grotesques who had neither conventional sexual allure nor the prospect of social normalization through marriage. () Lucille Ball became one of the first female comedians to have connections with the domestic Ball gave off the similar feeling of being a part of the family. In 1940, Lucille Ball fell in love and eloped with touring Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz. They moved in together, married, and began a sequence of events that led to I Love Lucy. Because of the couples busy careers, they were frequently separated month at a time. Their marriage slowly fell apart. At that time Lucille Ball was offered by CBS to transfer her radio show My Favorite Husband to television. Ball, seeing this as an opportunity to patch up her marriage, brought her husband into the television show as the male lead. Thus I Love Lucy debuted on CBS in October 1951 and became an instant sensation. Eisenhowers presidential inauguration in January 1953 drew twenty-nine million viewers, but when Lucy gave birth to Little Ricky in an episode broadcast the next day forty-four million viewers (72% of all U.S. homes with TV) tuned in to I Love Lucy. I Love Lucy is arguably the TV show that had most influence on modern television media culture. Television in the 1950s was purely a domestic medium always showing images of marriage and family. The story of I Love Lucy reflected the couples own family life in the funhouse mirror of a sitcom premise. Lucy, played by Lucille Ball, is a frustrate housewife who longs to escape the confinement of her domestic role and participate in a larger public world, especially that of her husband Ricky, the leader of the Tropicana nightclub. Conflicts arise when Lucys desire to go beyond the roles of a housewife clash with Rickys equally passionate belief of a traditional housewife. This dynamic is established in the very first episode when Lucy disguises herself as a clown and sneaks into Rickys nightclub act. In all the consequent episodes following, Lucy rebels against the restrictions placed on the lives of domestic women, the boring routines of cooking and housework, taking care of the child ren, and the financial dependence upon the husband. Each episode centers upon Lucys acts of rebellion taking jobs, performing at clubs, making money-making schemes, or trying to fool Ricky are all in attempts to expose the absurd restrictions placed on women in a male-dominated society. Sadly, because of the era, her attempts are forever thwarted in every episode. By entering the public domain, Lucy inevitably makes a mess of things and is forced to retreat and return to the status quo of domestic life that is picked up in the next episode. However the message left by Lucy remains in the consciousness of viewers for the times to come. Balls style of comedy played a great role in conveying this message to the general audience. As a mere comedian from the perspective of an outsider such a message would probably not get much consideration. However, Balls type of domestic comedy allowed to her to much more than an outsider; in fact, the character Lucy is considered by many people as part of the family. Ball was able to get past the emotional barrier that many other comedians could not. Lucille Balls use of quick witted situational ironies combined with her position as an insider allows the much male-dominated audience to slowly accept the idea of women playing a more active role and having more power in society. On top of fighting for women rights, Lucille Balls I Love Lucy reached many milestones that became pivotal in shaping modern television. Programs before I Love Lucy were aired live from New York City studios to Eastern and Central time zone audiences. It was captured by kinescope for the viewers in the West Coast. Kinescope pictures quality was dramatically less than films. However, Ball and Arnaz took advantage of the movie industry filming techniques and captured their series on film. CBS allowed the couple to go through with their idea; in exchange for a cut in their salary, Ball and Arnaz gained one hundred percent ownership to the series. The idea of reruns had not been established or tested during her time, but Ball bet on the inevitable growth of television and ended up with huge returns an investment that quickly turned Ball and Arnaz into the first millionaire television stars. Lucille Ball has certainly left her mark on our society. Not only is she a pioneer in the struggle for equality amongst men and women, she shaped modern television into what we know today. Her title Queen of Comedy is well deemed. Along with her Living Legend Award and Legacy of Laughter Award, Lucille Ball paved the path for future female comedians to take stage. Anyone who has ever seen I Love Lucy will forever remember Balls signature laugh and her clumsiness which often times lead her into silly situations. Lucille Ball will forever be glorified in the hearts of Americans.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Essay on the Vengeful and the Virtuous in William Shakespeare :: Biography Biographies Essays

The Vengeful and the Virtuous in Shakespeare Whether you hate your King, your Christian rival or a neighboring foe, if you're in a Shakespeare play then you will be punished.   In the first act of each play Shakespeare shows a conflict between two groups of people, one is vengeful the other virtuous.   After the conflict is introduced, the malignant characters have important parts of their lives taken away and in the end the ultimate penalties of each are inflicted.   All of the antagonists are left desolate in the end of the plays by either lost fortunes or their lives.   Shakespeare takes good care to give the protagonists of the plays much reward for being on the right side of the spectrum.   As the characters hate increases throughout the play they begin to loose what is precious to them, first in small amounts, but in the end, they are stripped of all they love and value.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The basis for the hate is introduced to the audience very early on in all three plays.   The Capulets and the Montagues were neighboring feuding families.   Shakespeare never states the reason for the dispute between the two but he does clearly show the hatred from the beginning.   "Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean" (I i 1-4).   These first few lines of the play clearly describe the hatred between the two families and at the same time foreshadow an unpleasant end.   In "The Merchant of Venice", Shylock more boldly states, "I hate him for he is a Christian" (I iii 39).   This cry of hate is also early on in the play, which clearly helps show the reader that he is the antagonist of the play.   In "Henry IV" it is revealed in the first scene that a young Hotspur has kept prisoners of war away from th e King.   He calls the King Bolingbroke behind his back out of disrespect.   "All studies here I solemnly defy, save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke.   And that same sword and buckler Prince of Wales (I iii 227-229).   In Shakespearean plays, a character who hates or plots against the King is automatically the villain of the play.   The first act in all three plays revealed the characters for the audience to root against throughout the play.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Babel’s Internal Conflicts Essay

Babel’s collection of short stories Red Cavalry was one of the first books that exposed the Russian people to the harsh realities of the Polish-Soviet war. At first the stories seem to be historical fiction meant to entertain; however, upon closer reading these stories become pieces that convey strong moral, religious, political and emotional sentiment. Each short story represents a certain theme, but it is My First Goose that encompasses very well Babel’s feelings towards his own identity. The story illuminates the dynamic relationship between the insider and the outsider through careful use of imagery, tone, and imagery. More specifically, My First Goose addresses Babel’s conflicted sense of identity and self as a Jewish man. In My First Goose, as well as in many of Babel’s other works, the narrator is an ambiguous character that resembles the author (in what way? How do you we know this? ). Although very little information is given about the narrator, by the end of the story readers understand the narrator’s conflict with his identity (this sentence doesn’t really fit here; it is a bit off topic from the rest of the paragraph). The narrator is introduced as an outsider, one who is neither racially (is he a different race? ) nor physically equal to the men of the 6th Division. Savitsky, the first â€Å"insider† that is introduced (phrasing is stylistically awkward), is depicted as a extremely masculine figure whose â€Å"long legs looked like two girls were wedged to their shoulders in riding boots† and whose built body â€Å"split the hut like a banner splitting the sky†. The erotic (perhaps â€Å"erotically despicted/described/portrayed†) , masculine Cossack stands in stark contrast to the envious, feeble, timid, glasses wearing â€Å"powder puff†. Babel chooses to depict the ethnic other as virile and powerful while painting the narrator, a man whom he closely resembles, as a weak, almost effeminate, creature. The choice to do so indicates that the author cannot come to terms with his identity; rather he longs to be as strong and macho as the Cossacks. From the narrators exchange with Savitsky, â€Å"Ha, you lousy fellow, you! They send you to us, no one even asks us if we want you here! † it is suggested that the narrator is an outsider, an intellectual with traits associated with Jews. And even when verbally assaulted the narrator still â€Å"envied the flower and iron of Savitsky’s [that] youth†. Moreover, it is the portrayals of the obvious difference in strength, sexuality, and confidence between the narrator and Savitsky that suggests that Babel viewed his Jewishness as a source of shame. Instead of respecting the fact that the narrator can read and write, skills that were very rare, the Cossack leader mocks the narrator telling him that he would â€Å"get hacked to pieces just for wearing glasses†. And even when shown an obscene gesture by a young peasant the narrator still admires the face of the boy, futher emphasizing how unacceptable he is as a Jew. By accepting his inferiority the narrator further emphasizes his distain for identity. The obvious difference between the narrator and the commander that the author chooses to convey shows how the narrator, and to a certain extent the author, feels his â€Å"Jewishness† makes him inadequate compared to the Cossack soldiers. This paragraph seems a bit unfocused; see if you can pull out the two (? ) main threads and build separate paragraphs around each of them, with a clear, unifying topic sentence for each one) The narrator’s conflict with himself reaches a tipping point when he meets the old woman, and at this point he must make a choice to be an insider or outsider. This crucial decision characterized the reason for Babel’s short story, and he consciously choose to allow the narrator make the choice he did (sentence is awkwardly phrased). After settling down, the narrator begins to read, showing that he is still in touch with his intellectual and Jewish nature; however, he decides to stop reading when he encounters a old woman with glasses (this seems more summary than argument). The bespectacled old woman recognizes him as a Jewish â€Å"comrade† and seeks sympathy from her fellow Jew commenting that â€Å"this business makes me want to hang myself†. At this point the narrator and the author is (subject verb agreement; but also, is the author faced with a choice? faced with a choice: he could acknowledge the old woman as kin and defend his Jewish identity, or he could heed the advice of the quartermaster and â€Å"mess up a lady†. The narrator, and more importantly the author (why â€Å"more importantly the author†? ), decides to violate the only thing the old woman has left. This violation is symbolic: the narrator pushes the white neck of the goose into excrement and pierces the neck of the goose with the sword of another Cossack then forces the woman to cook the goose. With this act the narrator discards his Jewish identity, crushing it in dung, killing it with a borrowed sword. (Here, for example, is a possible place for a paragraph break; then start with a new topic sentence)And only after he has proven his masculinity is he accepted to eat with his new â€Å"brothers†. The narrators is offered a seat at the dinner table and given pork to eat, which he eats without question, with this communion his conversion by the â€Å"heathen priests† is complete. By having the narrator make this choice, Babel not only implies that he may have made the same decision, but also condones the idea of discarding the weakness and intellectualism associated with Jews in favor of violence and ignorance of the Cossacks (that’s a big claim to make—be careful about trying to read the author’s mind! ). At this point it seems that the narrator has completely discarded his Jewishness and embraces his new identity. After his communion with the Cossacks it seems (the repetition of â€Å"it seems† is wishy-washy and non-committal) that the narrator has completely left his identity behind, but it is soon evident that parts of him (wording) remain Jewish, remnants of his Jewishness that cannot be erased (awkward phrasing). Upon completing his violent and brutal killing, the narrator returns to his role as an intellectual and reads a speech given by Lenin to his new comrades. This shows that no matter how hard the narrator tries to escape his identity, he is still the feeble intellectual who has to borrow the sword of a Cossack to kill. The narrator is allowed to sleep with the Cossacks, (that citation doesn’t really add anything here) but even the warmth and camaraderie the narrator receives does not allow him to escape his actions. The last line reveals that a part of him will never be able to accept what he did to gain acceptance from the Cossacks. His heart â€Å"screeched and bled† from his denial of his Jewish identity. Killing the goose and eating pork directly violated his Jewish morals and although superficially he expressed no remorse, subconsciously he cannot accept the Cossack ways. This ambivalent attitude towards one’s identity characterizes Babel’s feelings towards his own attitude. In this story we see a narrator who struggles with the definition of self, and this struggle directly reflects Babel’s own struggles. (again, this paragraph seems to jump from point to point to much; make sure each paragraph is built around a unifying topic sentence; see if you can pull out two point from this one paragraph and bring them out more clearly by creating a separate paragraph for each one) In not only My First Goose, but in most of the short stories of Red Calvary the narrator struggles with his identity as a Jew. Although one cannot be sure what Babel attempts to convey in his pieces, it is clear that the narrators of Babel’s stories undergo the same mental turmoil Babel went through during his service in the Polish Soviet war (this last sentence doesn’t really work as a conclusion).

Friday, January 3, 2020

Lustreware - Medieval Islamic Pottery Technique

Lustreware (less commonly spelled lusterware) is a ceramic decorative technique invented by 9th century C.E. Abbasid potters of the Islamic Civilization, in what is today Iraq. The potters believed that making lustreware was true  alchemy  because the process involves using a lead-based glaze and silver and copper paint to create a golden shine on a pot that contains no gold. Chronology of Lustreware Abbasid 8th c -1000 Basra, IraqFatimid 1000-1170 Fustat, EgyptTell Minis 1170-1258 Raqqa, SyriaKashan 1170-present Kashan, IranSpanish (?)1170-present Malaga, SpainDamascus 1258-1401 Damascus, Syria Lustreware and the Tang Dynasty Lustreware grew out of an existing ceramic technology in Iraq, but its earliest form was clearly influenced by Tang dynasty potters from China, whose art was first seen by those of Islam through trade and diplomacy along the vast trade network called the Silk Road. As a result of ongoing battles for control of the Silk Road connecting China and the West, a group of Tang dynasty potters and other craftsmen were captured and held in Baghdad between 751 and 762 C.E. One of the captives was the Tang Dynasty Chinese craftsman Tou-Houan. Tou was among those artisans captured from their workshops near Samarkand by members of the Islamic Abbasid Dynasty after the Battle of Talas in 751 C.E. These men were brought to Baghdad where they stayed and worked for their Islamic captors for some years. When he returned to China, Tou wrote to the emperor that he and his colleagues taught the Abbasid craftsmen the important techniques of paper-making, textile manufacture, and gold-working. He didnt mention ceramics to the emperor, but scholars believe they also passed along how to make white glazes and the fine ceramic pottery called Samarra ware. They also likely passed along the secrets of silk-making, but thats another story entirely. What We Know of Lustreware The technique called lustreware developed over the centuries by a small group of potters who traveled within the Islamic state until the 12th century, when three separate groups began their own potteries. One member of the Abu Tahir family of potters was Abul Qasim bin Ali bin Muhammed bin Abu Tahir. In the 14th century, Abul Qasim was a court historian to the Mongol kings, where he wrote a number of treatises on various subjects. His best-known work is The Virtues of Jewels and the Delicacies of Perfume, which included a chapter on ceramics, and, most importantly, describes part of the recipe for lustreware. Abul Qasim wrote that the successful process involved painting copper and silver onto glazed vessels  and then refiring to produce the lustrous shine. The chemistry behind that alchemy was identified by a group of archaeologists and chemists, led by who reported Spains Universitat Polità ¨cnica de Catalunya researcher Trinitat Pradell, and discussed in detail in the Origins of Lustreware photo essay. The Science of Lusterware Alchemy Pradell and colleagues examined the chemical content of glazes and the resulting colored lusters of pots from the 9th through 12th centuries. Guiterrez et al. found that the golden metallic shine only occurs when there are dense nanoparticulated layers of glazes, several hundred nanometers thick, which enhance and broaden the reflectivity, shifting the color of the reflected light from blue to green-yellow (called a redshift). These shifts are only achieved with a high lead content, which potters deliberately increased over time from Abbasid (9th-10th centuries) to Fatimid (11th-12th centuries C.E.) luster productions. The addition of lead reduces the diffusivity of copper and silver in the glazes and helps the development of thinner luster layers with a high volume of nanoparticles. These studies show that although the Islamic potters may not have known about nanoparticles, they had tight control of their processes, refining their ancient alchemy by tweaking the recipe and production steps to achieve the best high reflecting golden shine. Sources Caiger-Smith A. 1985. Lustre Pottery: Technique, tradition, and innovation in Islam and the Western World. London: Faber and Faber. Caroscio M. 2010. Archaeological Data and Written Sources: Lustreware Production in Renaissance Italy, a Case Study. European Journal of Archaeology 13(2):217-244. Gutierrez PC, Pradell T, Molera J, Smith AD, Climent-Font A, and Tite MS. 2010. Color and Golden Shine of Silver Islamic Luster. Journal of the American Ceramic Society 93(8):2320-2328. Pradell, T. Temperature resolved reproduction of medieval luster. Applied Physics A, J. MoleraE. Pantos, et al., Volume 90, Issue 1, January 2008. Pradell T, Pavlov RS, Gutierrez PC, Climent-Font A, and Molera J. 2012. Composition, nanostructure, and optical properties of silver and silver-copper lusters. Journal of Applied Physics 112(5):054307-054310.