Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Archival Studies Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Archival Studies - Research Paper Example Organizations are at the verge of changing diverse activities to suit the most appropriate management procedures, it is therefore very appropriate to enhance an effective way of reviewing processing manuals. Update of processing manuals also offers the reader with the latest policies that exist in a particular organization. This reduces instances of confusion in an organization since each member has the same documentation of policies that he is supposed to abide by. Moreover, it keeps the employees at par in terms of objectives of a particular organization since they all have the latest information, which shows the latest targets of the organization. A poorly updated manual conversely leads to inconsistency therefore increasing the risk of violation of laws, regulations as well as other organizational standards. Even worse, it may result to a heightened risk of injury or harms of the employee and hence put the organization at the risk for lawsuits as well as other damages. Therefore, organizations should take time in maintaining as well as updating processing manuals in the most efficient way (American Psychological Association, 2004). From ancient times, record keeping has focused on utilization of paper documents as a way of keeping records. However, with the development of technology, documents are now stored using electronic gadgets. An electronic document is essentially a soft copy of a paper document while a paper document is a hardcopy of an electric document. There are dissimilarities between the varieties of data storage. To begin with, the scale of electronic information is much larger than the information on paper documents. Typically, the point is open since disks used to store the information at numerous gigabytes, and the size grows daily. One drive can contain a million or more documents, and a single company can hold backup files of up to five million records. Secondly, the efficiency of

Monday, October 28, 2019

Bill Gates had been friends since high school Essay Example for Free

Bill Gates had been friends since high school Essay Mike Basset and Bill Gates had been friends since high school. Theyd competed for 1st place all the time. Theyd spent hours together writing computer programs even before people heard in programming. They grew up together and even went to university and were joint top students. They both went in the programming business and soon each opened their own computer company Bill named his Microsoft and Mike called it Compufriek. Bill was very successful and was very famous his products all across the globe he was well know for Windows and Microsoft office. On the other hand Mike was very good but only known in the United States but still lacking behind Bill. They both got married and had children. Mikes wife Jenny was very jealous of Marry Mrs. Gates shoe always used to talk about how successful her husband is and the contacts he makes with Difrent Companys across the world. Mike is also fed up his only ambition from when he was a boy was to run the best computer company and here his best friend his standing in his way. One day Mr. Mrs. Gates invited the Bassets for a barbecue in their new mansion. It was exactly noon when the Bassets arrived at the Gates. Hello Mike said Bill, hows things going? he asked. Alright replied Mike. They sat down at a table, Bill has dismissed all the servants so they could spend some time together and do everything like the old days. I have just signed a deal with the Japanese, Worth a lot saying Bill as proud as it gets. Good I wish the best for you replied Mike but in a not meaning it sort of way. I am fed up of this hes always boasting about himself, oh I wish I was as rich and famous like Bill he was saying to himself. The day went on and they had dinner. The next day Mikes wife started to nag she kept saying how come youre not as rich as bill and youre better than him, he couldnt take it. That day he wanted to eat Chinese he went to his favorite Chinese restaurant Chin Dragon. They ate dinner and after a waitress came up to them, do you want to try our new fortune cookies some people have been very lucky and even there dreams came true she said. Well ok get us two, replied Mike Right away said the waitress. She went and came back after five minutes carrying a plate with 2 cookies. There you go, said the waitress Mike took his and snapped it in half and took the paper out. What does it say? Asked Mikes wife. Fame and fortune will come very soon, replied Mike. His wife then takes hers and snaps it in half and took her paper. Mines says your loved ones will be rich and famous! She told Mike. Can it be that my dream will finally come true? He said to himself. What does this mean? Asked Jenny. I dont know Mike replied. But lets go home Im tired and I need a rest he said. When they got home Mike couldnt stop thinking about the fortune cookies. He kept wondering was this just a coincidence that he got this in a fortune cookie, even Jenny his wife got the same thing. Can this be true can his life ambition come true? No he thought it has to be a coincidence. That night he couldnt sleep. He kept thinking if this was true what was going to bring him this fame and fortune? All hes working on at this moment is a simple hacking program for him self because of free time. His wife wakes up. She asks him why isnt he asleep. He tells her what hes thinking about and she says, I dont think your going to get fame and fortune just like thatÃ'Ž What do you mean? he replied Well, that hacking program youre working on for fun she says. Yes what about it? he replies anxiously. Is it power full? She asks. Yeah its pretty good he replies but doesnt have a clue whats all this got to do with his fortune. Why dont you access Bills files and find out what hes planning? she says quietly. You want me to betray my best friend. No forget about it he replied angrily and went to bed. The next day he gets up and goes on his computer to do a bit of work. He kept working on his hacking program until it was finished. Honey he called. Ive finished my program. Jenny walks in and congratulates him Well no you need to test it! she said. Test it? he replied. Who on? I cant try it on anyone its illegal Well test it on Bills I am sure he wont mind, you are his best friend she tells him Just see if it works properly and the switch it off Well ok he replies and starts to test it he started to input and few numbers and letters and the put search. Bills name came up on the screen. He accessed his computer. Look whats that? asked Jenny Oh it will be some of his files Ill close it now I know it works he saidÃ'Ž No Jenny said, just have a quick look, it wont hurt He sat there looking at Bill Gates files. His ambition took control of him. He spotted a file named big plan. He began looking through it. It was a massive program what was going to change the world. He froze. All his life he wanted fame and now he could get it but at his best friends cost. Jenny kept telling him to copy the file then alter it for him so he goes wrong. She called him a coward. He didnt know what to do. His wife kept nagging him. He finally surrendered to his ambition and downloaded the file to his computer and started to alter Bills file completely. Jenny kept saying how wonderful he was and encouraged him to carry on. He was finished. He worked day and night on this program until one day he had finished it. Bill rang him up that day and said that his whole life just went wrong. The program contract with the Japs he made has fallen because his program didnt work. Now he has to pay Billions of pounds in compensation and at the moment cant pay that amount so he had to sell half his company. At that moment guilt started to grow in Mikes heart. His best friends life has collapsed but his road is open. He felt very sorry for him and said he was busy. In the following week Mike made a contract with the British. He sold them Bills program for a 30 billion contract he got 50% of the shares. His name was known all across the globe and his program sold very fast. But now he was feeling very guilty hes now the famous rich and famous one while his friend was under debt. In those weeks Bill didnt even find out about Mike he was to busy sorting out his problem. He went and says the program a computer competition. He was absolutely stunned when it had looked just like the one he made. He gets a bit suspicious and goes to Mikes home straight away. When he got there he didnt even say hello to Mike the first thing he said was that program of yours when did you start making it? Mike hesitated a bit knowing Bills suspicion he replies oh Ive been on this special project for a long time, Its been a secret Bill talked to him about it and went back home. Mike was feeling awful he probably just lost his best friend. His guilt grew more and more over the days past. He didnt hear from Bill for a while now and was really scared. What he didnt know was at this time Bill was trying to see if anyone had hacked is computer. He knew that it couldnt be just anyone because his computer was protected with extra security. Bill spent hours trying to track down the thief. One day when Bill was on his computer he was going through a list of who opened the computer and when he say a weird number. He tried to find out what it meant but couldnt. Meanwhile Mike was not leading a happy life. He was rich and famous. Didnt even see his wife, she was always out and about. He couldnt go out and show his face to the public they would just give him credit for the new program and that would make things worse. One week later something very unexpected happened when Mike was at home. The F. B. I came knocking at his door. Can I help you? he asked Would you please come with us? they replied. What seems to be the matter? Mike asked knowing he was caught. You are under arrest for hacking into someones computer and steeling ideas and programs. They replied in a disappointed tone of voice. At that moment he knew his life was over his ambition just destroyed his life. He went quietly with them. As stepping out of their car and going towards the police station he says Bill. Im sorry, he said to him. From all the people I didnt want to think it was you he replied in a disappointed way. Mike walked off with the agents and into the station. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison. All of the money from the program went to Bill Gates and he got all the credit. He managed to by back all his company and start dominating the computer world once again. Mike was finished he would never write another computer program again. Bills life returned to normal except for one thing he had no best friend beside him.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

MADD: Mothers Against Drunk Driving Essay -- Expository Drinking Essay

MADD: Mothers Against Drunk Driving It is 2:20 in the morning when the phone rings. You are automatically startled and jump to pick it up after the second ring. That feeling in your stomach tells you that something is terribly wrong. It is the police on the other end of the line telling you that your daughter has been in a fatal accident. As the officer is talking, you seem to freeze and zone out. Your spouse is up now and takes the phone and talks to the officer to find out what is going on. You are in a state of shock as you both drive to the hospital so that you all can identify your daughter. When you become more coherent, you learn that a senseless fool who was drunk took your precious baby away from you. This is one phone call that parents all over America go to sleep praying every night that they will not get. It is horrifying to learn that your child has been in a car accident, but if the cause of the accident was a drunk driver then it is even worse. This is so because you know that it was someone’s cho ice to drink and drive and this led to the death of your child. Losing a child or a family member to drunk driving is hard fact to come to grips with. Losing someone you love is hard to deal with, yet when it is due to drunk driving it is hard for different reasons. There are support groups throughout the country that were created to aid people in dealing with the loss of some one that they loved. People who have to face these hardships need to know that there are others out there who want to help. Those suffering need to know ways in which they can support others in their same situation and ways in which they can help defeat the crime of drinking and driving. Probably the most famous group that helps people cope wi... ... audience and help get the message out that MADD wants to send. Mothers Against Drunk Driving is an organization that strives to stop drinking and driving, supports the victims of this crime and attempt to prevent underage drinking. This determined group of people is also known for the support that they give to the families of the victims. The websites of this organization are key in guiding those interested in helping or being helped. The websites are a great way to get involved in achieving their cause and learning more about MADD. Without the main website of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, some victims would go unsupported because of the lack of audiences. Works Cited MADD. 1 Oct. 2003. < http://www.madd.org/home/>. MADD Illinois. 2 Oct. 2003. (http://www.maddillinois.org/). MADD: Mothers Against Drunk Driving. 2 Oct. 2003. (http://www.madd.ca/).

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Financial Ratio Analysis: Pakistan State Oil Essay

In 2011, company is more liquid than other two years this is due to increase of Rs 983917 in current asset from 2010 to 2011. And in 2011 to 2012 there is decrease of Rs 227300 in current asset. Quick Ratio is high in 2012 because stock-in-trade i.e. inventory decreases by Rs. 6854599 in 2012. Fixed Asset turnover is higher it means company has utilized its fixed assets more efficiently as compare to other period. Debt ratio and debt to equity ratio indicate that Company is more leveraged in 2012 than other periods. This higher leverage in part explains Company’s poor financial performance of 2012 relative to 2011 because the leverage commits Company’s interest payments that must be paid regardless of economic and market conditions. The ratios indicate that Company’s has a higher cost of sales in 2012 than the 2011. In 2012 Company’s has a better liquidity position, with both the current ratio and the quick ratio being higher than other years. In 2012, total assets are higher than other two years and its fixed asset turnover is significantly higher than other year. Alternatively, the poor fixed asset turnover may indicate overcapacity caused by extremely poor forecasts of future sales. Or, the poor ratio may indicate a fundamental inability or inefficiency in using the deployed assets. Keep in mind, though, that the debt ratios used in the ratio analysis above used total liabilities as a measure of debt. In contrast, capital structure analysis focuses specifically on long-term debt in calculating leverage. DuPont System of Financial Analysis: The DuPont analysis is similar with analyzing ratios: Company has an advantage in its leverage ratio in 2012 (Assets to Equity 6.95 compared to 6.26 and 6.89) and in its use of assets in 2010 (Total Asset Turnover of 4.93 compared to 4.19 and 3.9), yet has a poorer return on equity due to its low net profit margin. While one would expect a somewhat lower net profit margin for a firm with a higher leverage ratio (the firm has to pay interest to service the debt that gives the higher leverage ratio). Reference: Â  PSO Annual Report 2012 and 2011

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Spinal Cord Lesion Problem Solving Health And Social Care Essay

Scenario: A complete transverse spinal cord hurt occurs at degree T11/T12 vertebrae. See the worst instance scenario of complete lesion to turn to the undermentioned issues. A ) Describe which sections of spinal cord will be affected T11/12 lesions ( besides called paraplegia ) cause damage or remotion of the connexion between the Lumbar part and the encephalon. The sections above T11 ( C1-T10 ) will still be able to work decently. The lumbar sections ( Below T12 ) of the spinal cord will non be able to direct sensory signals up towards the encephalon through the white affair in the spinal cord, ensuing in deficiency of sensitiveness in that part. Descending piece of lands are besides damaged ; this consequences in loss of musculus control in that part because the encephalon can non direct encephalon signals. # Then comparison and contrast at 1 twenty-four hours and at 100 yearss after the hurt the followers: B ) loss of sensitiveness After a twenty-four hours of the hurt the patient will non hold any centripetal abilities from the legs. This is because the go uping centripetal signals can non be sent towards the encephalon. After 100 there will be no alteration from twenty-four hours 1. C ) musculus map The harm caused by the lesion does non let the musculus to work decently. Day 1 the patient will non experience anything and his encephalon can non direct signals to the musculuss leting controlled motion of the legs. After Day 100 the patient s leg will hold a decreased musculus tone compared to Day 1. The patient may besides see uncontrolled spastic physiological reactions ( explained underneath ) . D ) leg physiological reactions After the lesion occurs on the spinal cord, the spinal cord goes into spinal daze, all of the leg musculuss innervated bu the lumbar part below T12 become flaccid. 100 yearss after the incident, the patient might get down to acquire spastic physiological reactions. Compared to twenty-four hours 1 the spinal daze disables the automatic discharge in the spinal cord but in twenty-four hours 100 the physiological reaction discharge activates. However because of the harm, the centripetal signals do non go to the encephalon to let voluntary control from the encephalon, the signals merely travel in the automatic Ark below the site of harm this causes the spastic physiological reactions. Tocopherol ) continency Smooth musculus map is besides affected. The control of the vesica and sphincters which allow micturition will be impaired. T12 flat lesions cause flaccid vesicas, this is when patient will non be able to state when the vesica is full and can take to pulling of the vesica. At twenty-four hours one the patient will non be able to experience when their vesica is full, they will necessitate aid from the physician who will besides prove them and take the patients through a bladder direction plan. After 100 yearss the patient will be used to cognizing the clip when they are required to empty their vesicas due to following the bladder direction plan. This essay counts towards the concluding twelvemonth test. A upper limit of 10 % is available from this study. Maximum reply length one A4 page. Pay attending that you understand what people in wheelchairs experience. Announced 11.2.2011 Deadline for entry: 4th March 2011. To be handed in to Teaching Office- Harborne BuildingSpinal Cord Lesion: Problem Solving AssignmentSpinal cord hurt is when the spinal cord is damaged to an extent that its communicating with the encephalon is either impaired or removed. The most common causes of spinal cord hurt is through injury ( falls, auto accidents etc ) or diseases such as infantile paralysis. Overtime gilal cicatrixs incorporating astrocytes and macrophages start to develop. Glial cicatrixs besides contain chondoitin sulfate proteoglycans which inhibits the regeneration of axons forestalling the aa‚ ¬E?rewiringaa‚ ¬a„? of the nervousnesss in the spinal cord ( Bradbury et al 2001 ) Patients enduring from complete cross spinal cord T11/12 lesions ( besides called paraplegia ) will lose their connexion between the Lumbar part of the spinal cord and the encephalon, nevertheless the sections above T11 ( C1-T10 ) will still be able to work decently. The deficiency of communicating will forestall the lumbar sections ( Below T12 ) from directing sensory signals up towards the encephalon through the white affair in the spinal cord, ensuing in deficiency of sensitiveness in that part. Descending piece of lands are besides damaged ; this consequences in loss of musculus control in that part because the encephalon can non direct signals to the motor neurones. After a twenty-four hours of the hurt the patient will non be able to direct go uping centripetal signals towards the encephalon, this means that they will non hold any centripetal abilities from the legs, the sense of hurting is included. Blood flow is besides affected, the sympathetic tracts of the fringe system will non be able to increase blood flow of the arterias in the legs, and this affects the overall blood force per unit area of the organic structure. At twenty-four hours one the patient may still be in spinal daze and his encephalon would n't be able to have and centripetal information from his legs, unluckily The harm caused by the lesion does non let the musculus to work decently. At Day 1 the patient will non be able to voluntarily travel the musculuss controlled by the lumbar part. This causes complications with blood flow because the musculuss in the leg can non impel the deoxygenated blood against the force of gravitation through the vena. This plus the deficiency of sympathetic stimulation may take to ischemia. After Day 100 the patient s leg will hold a decreased musculus tone compared to Day 1 due to miss of musculus motion. The patient nevertheless may still be able to walk utilizing abdominal musculuss to travel the legs and either braces or clasps for support. During spinal daze, all of the leg musculuss innervated below T12 become flaccid. During twenty-four hours 1 the spinal daze will disenable the automatic discharge in the spinal cord but during twenty-four hours 100 ( after the daze ends ) the automatic discharge activates and the patient might get down to acquire spastic physiological reactions. The spastic physiological reactions are caused because action potencies reflex discharges are activated Smooth musculus map is besides affected. The control of the vesica and sphincters which allow micturition will be impaired. T12 flat lesions cause flaccid vesicas, this is when patient will non be able to state when the vesica is full and can take to pulling of the vesica. At twenty-four hours one the patient will non be able to experience when their vesica is full, they will necessitate aid from the physician who will besides prove them and take the patients through a bladder direction plan. After 100 yearss the patient will be used to cognizing the clip when they are required to empty their vesicas due to following the bladder direction plan. There are still overall alterations that the patient will hold to travel through. There are medicines that are available to assist patients get by with their state of affairs such as Muscle relaxants ( baclofen, Flexeril, Valium Etc ) and Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to handle hurting. The patient will besides hold to set their life style because they will be utilizing a wheel chair Bradbury, E. J. , L. D. F. Moon, et Al. ( 2002 ) . â€Å" Chondroitinase ABC promotes functional recovery after spinal cord hurt. † Nature 416 ( 6881 ) : 636-640. McLachlan, E. M. and J. A. Brock ( 2006 ) . Adaptations of peripheral vasoconstrictive tracts after spinal cord hurt. Advancement in Brain Research. C. W. Lynne and P. Canio, Elsevier. Volume 152: 289-297. mimushasho4ever, Nacho ‘s accident T11-T12 Com, Jul 21, 2010, Online picture cartridge holder, Youtube, Accessed: 01 March 2010

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Development of Thetrical Text From Classical Period essays

Development of Thetrical Text From Classical Period essays Aristotle was the first person to describe theatre theory, he also was the first who social and spiritual interpretation of text. He first classified, described and moreover produced a clear idea which way theatre is structured. According to Aristotle text is representation. It is important to look at the perceived reality and study it particularly. Aristotle rejected Platos theory of forms and moved to the theory being. He did so by observing reality, analyzing it and finally classifying. For Aristotle poetry is an object of studying like any other phenomenon, it is a useful representation (involving intellectual process, process of identification) of reality, it arouses emotion and brings purification of reality. Poetry represents what people would say or would do, thus clarity of causes and effects. Tragedy, through pity and fear, accomplishes the catharsis of emotions. Tragic catharsis, however, cannot be reduced to the purgation of the emotions. As Aristotle put the catharsi s clause at the end of the definition of tragedy, catharsis must be the final cause of making tragedies and represent the proper effect of the tragedy. On the other hand, catharsis as purgation of emotion is an automatic process on the side of the audience after they feel pity and fear and is not characteristic of tragic performance. Aristotle argues that comedy imitates the action of men worse than ourselves. However, not every kind of fault but only the ridiculous, which is a species of the ugly should be imitated in comedy. This ridiculous is a kind of mistake which is not painful or destructive. Aristotle also argues that the pleasure derived from the double construction of plot (poetic justice) belongs rather to comedy than tragedy. Tragedy imitates the action of superior people is a generic specification concerning what tragedy imitates and not a requirement concerning what tragedy should imitate. Similarly, not only the ideal comedy, bu...

Monday, October 21, 2019

Media and Adverts Essays

Media and Adverts Essays Media and Adverts Essay Media and Adverts Essay The media uses adverts to make the general public aspire to something. Often adverts make you want something you never thought youd want. The advertisers technique is to make you remember their advert. The method they use is sometimes by creating a shocking advert or by using fantasy. Fantasy is a good way of making people who live reality want a different more exciting and unusual life. The advertisers job is to sell a product. If a person remembers their advert the advertiser has therefore done its job. Most people aspire to not just the product but also the setting the product is in.For example if the advertiser is selling a car and the owners of the car are a family that seem to have the sort of life that any ordinary family would aspire to. Maybe the mother is quite attractive not stunning but attractive which then should attract a middle-aged women with kids that wants to look like this stereotyped family. The public might think that this perfect family have this car and maybe if we have the same car we would be on the first step for being like them, this of course isnt true but the public can be easily tricked. Advertisers use this method very often and in one-way it is quite brain washing.There are two types of adverts, one that is read in a newspaper and one you see on television. They use very similar but also very different techniques. The Seductress is a written advert for a newspaper. It uses very persuasive language that diverts the attention from the practical details. It also features the women as sexual objects. Therefore it is aimed to men not women. When this advert was written it was mainly men that bought cars so advertisers smallest concern was if they offended women, if they increased their profits from the adverts they were satisfied.In the modern society now just as many women buy cars as men. In the television advert Peugeot 306 it is aimed at women just as much as men. Advertisers cant afford to feature women as sexual objects any longer because by offending women their profits will go down. Making an advert that both the male and female would aspire to is a challenging task. Most men like to see themselves as helpful and a good role models for the family. Most women want their husband as a good role model in many ways, even though most of the time this is rare.The Peugeot 306 fulfils the desire for both the male and female. The Peugeot 306 is hinted as a family car therefore the whole family need to be attracted to the car especially the mum and dad as they are buying it. In The Seductress, the car is central to the advert. Everything evolves around the car but in the Peugeot 306 advert the car is incidental meaning that even though the advertisers aim is to get the car acknowledged its clever to have the car as incidental because you only realise later in the advert what is being advertised.In The Seductress everything is about the car but that only becomes obvious as you keep reading. You can easily misunderstand the car as a woman. This advert is comparing the car to women. Women have intelligence, by comparing women to a car is seen as offensive. Its personal inclinations, which does offend women. No woman wants a car to be described as having human feelings, similar to theirs. In the car advert The Seductress there are two men yet the male in the car comments often suggesting that there is a women also, Off we went for a drive the three of us. There is no third person in the car.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

How to Improve Your Reading Speed

How to Improve Your Reading Speed Sometimes, it can be a pleasure to read slowly, taking the time to pause on an extraordinary sentence or revisiting a passage on a previous page. But this type of reading is a luxury. As we all know, we can often benefit from reading certain documents more quickly. An average reading speed can range from 200 to 350 words per minute, but that rate can vary depending on the material and your reading experience. Its also important to understand what you are reading- even when you improve your speed. Here are a few tips to help you improve your reading speed. Reading Speed Tips Preview the material youre going to read. Look at main headings, chapter divisions, and other relevant material to develop clues about the structure of the work.Adjust your reading speed as you read the material. Slow down when you need to be sure that you comprehend a section of material. Speed up if you are already familiar with (or dont need to know) other sections.Readers can dramatically improve their reading speeds by taking in several words in the line of text at one time (instead of sounding out each word or focusing on each letter of the word). Computer programs like Ace Reader or Rapid Reader  are designed to help readers improve reading speeds with flashing letters and words. You may also want to learn more about other techniques.Another way to improve your reading speed is to focus on the key words in the sentences. A significant amount of reading time is wasted on conjunctions, prepositions, or articles (i.e. a, an, the, but, and, or, nor, but, etc.).Use a pacer like a pen or your finger- as a focal point to draw your eye across the line or down the page. A pacer can help you increase your speed and reduce re-reading. A pacer can also help you to keep track of what you are reading. Talk about what youve read. Some readers find that by talking about their reading with friends or fellow students, they are able to effectively synthesize the material.Determine a reading schedule that works for you. You may find that you cant concentrate on the material for more than an hour (or a half hour). Also, select a time of the day when you are alert and ready to read.Find a reading spot where interruptions or distractions will not disturb your reading.Practice. Practice. Practice. The best way to improve your reading speed is to practice reading. Try out some of these techniques, and then perfect the strategies that work best for you. Other Things to Consider Get your eyes checked. Reading glasses may help.Read everything. Dont miss out on vital information in your pursuit of speed.Dont re-read right away; it will slow you down. If you absolutely dont understand part of the reading selection, go back and review the material later.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Conflicting Issues in Business Organizations Essay

Conflicting Issues in Business Organizations - Essay Example Making use of conflict as an agent of equalizing the differences, business organizations are sure to gain strength from the said idealism. As mentioned earlier, competition among organizational members is one particular form of conflict. However, instead of seeing it as a major source of conflict of differences in the organization, it could be used as the key matter that could motivate people in achieving higher than what the others is able to achieve. In this track, the conflict of competition is already viewed as something that is healthy for the organizations' sake. However, dealing with the situation usually involves more than just making amends between the two different ongoing opinions between two different individuals or groups at that, who are thriving within a certain single organization. The conflicts between people and how each undeniable misunderstanding occurs are based in a process of conversing, interpreting and wrong response. To understand further, here are some of the communication problems that occur which usually turns into different levels of relationship conflicts: This is the way by which a person intends to manipulate the thinking of the other person through questioning the attitudes of the other. Not only that, the situation usually aggravates the questioning of the attitude of the other towards the other person. Robert Bolton comments on the matter saying: "Many of us feel we need to be critical, or other people will never improve we make a negative evaluation of the other person, for his or her actions, or attitudes." (1999) The attitude of man to even aggravate the situation being faced by the other because of some emotional attachment to the issue makes this particular roadblock an effective way of stopping or heating up a particular conversation. Name-calling At some point, when people get pissed off because of a heated conversation, they tend to course the other or at times they name-call the others with insulting titles that makes it hard for the other party of communication to understand clearly what is happening. The result then leads to a more aggravated heated conversation. Bolton further adds, "Name calling and labeling usually have negative overtones to both the sender and receiver. Labeling prevents us from getting to know ourselves and other individuals." (1999) Diagnosing At some point, when people argue over something, they become too much sensitive with how the other reacts upon a certain situation or how a person intends to talk back to them. The sensitiveness results to diagnosis of the reaction of the other and the way of speech that he or she uses within the conversation. Instead of simply listening to what the person says, reading between the lines becomes another way of decoding the bodily message of the person who is speaking. Another comment from Bolton reads: "We analyze why a person is behaving as he or she is. Playing amateur psychiatrist. Diagnosing is a form of labeling. Instead of listening to the substance of what a person is saying, some people play emotional detective." Praising Evaluatively Praising others with the good things that they do is not wrong. However, praising

Friday, October 18, 2019

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Essay Example Natural inequality involves differences between one man's strength or intelligence and that of another - it is a product of nature. Rousseau is not concerned with this type of inequality and wishes to investigate moral inequality. He argues this inequality is endemic to a civil society and relates and causes differences in power and wealth. This type of inequality is established by convention. Rousseau appears to take a cynical view of civil society, and refers to times before the current state of civil society, when man was closer to his natural state, as happier times for man. To Rousseau, civil society is a trick perpetrated by the powerful on the weak in order to maintain their power or wealth. But this is Rousseau's end product. He begins his discussion with an analysis of a natural man who has not yet acquired language or abstract thought. Rousseau's natural man possesses a few qualities that allow him to distinguish himself from the animals over a long period of time. Of extreme importance is man's ability to choose, what Rousseau refers to as the "free-agency" that differentiates him from other animals. Man's ability to refuse instinct pushes him along the path out of his natural state. In addition, Rousseau argues that "another principle which has escaped Hobbes" is man's compassion. This quality of man also motivates him to interact. And finally, man possesses the quality of "perfectibility" which allows him to improve his surroundings. Man's contact with other men leads him to develop "amour propre" which is in a sense a "moral me" that creates concern for how others perceive him. Amour proper has four consequences: (1) competition, (2) self-comparison with others, (3) hatred, and (4) urge for power. These all lead to Rousseau's cynical civil society. But amour proper already suggests a significant step out of th e state of nature (http://www.radicalacademy.com). Perhaps Rousseau's most important work is The Social Contract, which outlines the basis for a legitimate political order. Published in 1762 it became one of the most influential works of abstract political thought in the Western tradition. Building on his earlier work, such as the Discourse on Inequality, Rousseau claimed that the state of nature eventually degenerates into a brutish condition without law or morality, at which point the human race must adopt institutions of law or perish. In the degenerate phase of the state of nature, man is prone to be in frequent competition with his fellow men while at the same time becoming increasingly dependent on them. This double pressure threatens both his survival and his freedom. According to Rousseau, by joining together through the social contract and abandoning their claims of natural right, individuals can both preserve themselves and remain free. This is because submission to the authority of the general will of the people as a whole guarantees individuals against being subordinated to the wills of others and also ensures that they obey themselves because they are, collectively, the authors of the law. In the words of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the general will is different from the will of all; the general will considered the common interest, while the will of all considered the private interest, a sum of

Information Technology in Various Countries Essay

Information Technology in Various Countries - Essay Example It has direct influence in the daily lives of the people. The collapse of the information technology will endanger the existence of the society. Implementation of technology has been in varied extent in different countries. The human development statistical table provides a whole view of the development made by the countries based on certain parameters. One such parameter involves the access to information system and communication technology. The parameter to information system comprises of certain element like number of mobile and fixed line telephone subscription, the total percentage of population covered by the mobile phone networks , the total percentage of the broadband subscriptions and the number of the users of the Internet (â€Å"Human development Statistical table, n. d). The statistical table of human development of the year 2010 reflects that countries ranked with higher human development index have a better percentage of the users of internet. Countries like Norway, Ne therlands and the United states which are ranked as 1, 7 and 4 respectively have higher number of users of the internet facility. Whereas the countries ranked lower according to the human development index signifies that their rate of computer usage is very low. In countries like Chile, Mexico and Romania this significant trend is noted. Among the three countries with low usage Mexico has only 22% of the users which is lowest among them. The total number of subscription in Mexico has been considerably very low with only 7 percent as accounted in the report. The overall standing of Chile, Mexico and Romania are 53, 64 and 50. (â€Å"Human development Statistical table, n. d) The above discussion shows that the adoption of technology has been a crucial indicator of the overall development of the society and it impacts significantly in the growth of the societies. Modern Technology polluting the world The use of gadgets has significantly increased over the last decade with the latest innovation in technology. Modern technology has gained colossal achievement and has become a part of the lifestyle of every people in the developed and the developing countries. The modern technology is been publicized and will continue to do so with aging of time. Apart from the positive benefits which technology has brought in this era it has also marked some negative impact on the societies. Advancement in technology has greatly affected some business industries severely and has even led to the shutting down of certain segments of the business. The overall advancement in technology has facilitated the communication system. Other than the conventional mobile phone, people have formed virtual groups and communities over the web space and interact with each other. This has seriously affected the communities which existed in real in different societies and has constantly threatened their existence. Modern technology has stopped the personal interaction between the people due to the o verall popularity of the social networking sites like facebook, twitter and orkut. Such modes have acted as a barrier to the age old traditional face to face communication. The overall impact of technology on the society has been alarming and has turned the people to be lazier and has desensitized the society. The lesser amount of personal interaction between the people has resulted in making them less affectionate towards the human society. The general interaction bet

Thursday, October 17, 2019

An economic analysis of hanger film movie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

An economic analysis of hanger film movie - Essay Example The movie that is of interest in this case is entitled Hunger Games. It is a movie produced by Gary Ross and was released in March 2012. With this particular movie in perspective the issues that are to be looked at revolve around the production budget, the expenses incurred thereafter, sat in marketing together with the revenue that is generated upon its release and thereafter. The estimated budget for the production of the movie was in the region of $78 million. Quite a large budget it was but the fact that the global reception of the movie was not a letdown is something worth writing home about. A movie is considered a success in economic terms if the revenue generated from its sales in cinemas and individuals surpasses the breakeven point to the extent that the revenue gotten from sales is able to cover all the expenses incurred in the development and at the same time generate a profit. The revenue that was generated from the movie puts the movie in the same league as some of the mentionable movies that have been produced over the years. Upon the first weekend after its release, the movie was able to rake in a total of $152.5 million dollars in the U.S. alone. This was just but the United States only. Further afield in a country like Denmark the movie was able to rake in close to $4.5 million. These figures are only in relation to the showing of the movie in theatres and does not necessarily reflect the actual amount that is to be realized after considering even the individual purchases. What this points out is that the reception of the movie on a global level was quite positive. So far in the U.S. alone the movie has had a gross domestic total of close to $340 million dollars. The financial statistics also speak a lot about the movie. The fact that it has been able to topple the list when put side by side with other big movies such as Titanic in 3-D is something quite commendable. In the weekend of 14th April 2012 the

Relection paper on case hospital strategy for survival Research

Relection on case hospital strategy for survival - Research Paper Example Public hospitals were faced with a serious shortage of funds to support their operations. Most of them ended up shutting down permanently, while other merged with various institutions in order to stay afloat (Scott 3). It is interesting to note that despite the fact that O’Brien was backed up by City officials, they still required him to prove the economic viability of the Cambridge Hospital. Being a director of a public health institution, the challenges were endless. Private hospitals were not making the situation easier as they sought to conquer the territories that were previously held by public hospitals (Scott 6). The journey of keeping the hospital afloat has been far from easy. The management has tried severally but the challenges have been persistent. Despite the financial challenges, the City Council of Cambridge has been seen to interfere with the smooth operations of the hospital. The scrutiny on the hospital’s budget by the city council was somewhat obsessive (Scott 15). It would have been easy for any CEO of a public hospital to give up and walk away when faced with such challenges such as lack of support from the city government and patients. The hospital should be lauded for its endless efforts such as strong campaigns to attract and retain customers. The innovative programs also contributed to the success of the hospital. Just as the CEO reflected, having observed the course of the hospital’s progress, there are many issues of optimism and concern (Scott 20). One such issue of concern is the nature of health care over the years and the relationship with the city council. This case should be an eye opener to all public institutions that are being faced with challenges of surviving. The only question I have is why there have to be so many challenges to the process of reviving a

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

An economic analysis of hanger film movie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

An economic analysis of hanger film movie - Essay Example The movie that is of interest in this case is entitled Hunger Games. It is a movie produced by Gary Ross and was released in March 2012. With this particular movie in perspective the issues that are to be looked at revolve around the production budget, the expenses incurred thereafter, sat in marketing together with the revenue that is generated upon its release and thereafter. The estimated budget for the production of the movie was in the region of $78 million. Quite a large budget it was but the fact that the global reception of the movie was not a letdown is something worth writing home about. A movie is considered a success in economic terms if the revenue generated from its sales in cinemas and individuals surpasses the breakeven point to the extent that the revenue gotten from sales is able to cover all the expenses incurred in the development and at the same time generate a profit. The revenue that was generated from the movie puts the movie in the same league as some of the mentionable movies that have been produced over the years. Upon the first weekend after its release, the movie was able to rake in a total of $152.5 million dollars in the U.S. alone. This was just but the United States only. Further afield in a country like Denmark the movie was able to rake in close to $4.5 million. These figures are only in relation to the showing of the movie in theatres and does not necessarily reflect the actual amount that is to be realized after considering even the individual purchases. What this points out is that the reception of the movie on a global level was quite positive. So far in the U.S. alone the movie has had a gross domestic total of close to $340 million dollars. The financial statistics also speak a lot about the movie. The fact that it has been able to topple the list when put side by side with other big movies such as Titanic in 3-D is something quite commendable. In the weekend of 14th April 2012 the

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Modern Warfare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Modern Warfare - Essay Example There does not seem to be the romanticized notion of patriotism so often heralded by authors within the working class. This is especially so with respect to the Vietnam war. In the draft during the Vietnam War, the middle class were almost protected. "Vietnam was more limited, and the military was determined to channel bourgeois and even middle-class youth away from combat" (Appy 1993). Indeed, it has traditionally been the working class that have been convinced that their servitude would benefit them when in fact the benefit fell to the higher classes. Promises such as forgiven student loans, GI Bills, medical insurance, a ten thousand dollar sign up bonus, promises of training that will lead to promising civilian careers and a multitude of other benefits seem like a miracle for a group of people who are not economically exposed to such seeming luxuries. Consistently, the working class, already a group accustomed to taking orders is taken advantage of. The Cold War saw miners in Canada loosing their jobs without any benefits. At first, miners were encouraged to retire with the introduction of benefit packages. However as time progressed, miners who were on the edge of retirement had to literally "hang on" in the hopes of receiving their full benefit package. Mines were operating at far less than a five day week. There was also a drop in the need of railway steam coal. World War I found the entry of women into the work force. While not at battle, women were in operation making clothes, sending supplies and still supporting their families. Thus economically speaking, the working class women were able to add to their economic circumstance. During the time between World War I and World War II, there was a loss of markets for what is considered to be staple industries. These industries included coal, iron, steel, ship making and textiles. This loss combined with technological advances which allowed for increases in production culminated in the loss of over a million jobs for the working class. The touted gains from these two wars did nothing to balm the suffering of the working class. In the Iraq war, which still looms, stop-loss (the practice of unilaterally extending a soilder's stay in his or her station) has been consistently upheld in the courts. Working class soldiers have seen that contracts are absolutely meaningless in their military and civilian world. Perhaps this is why there is not so much shock when a stop-loss tactic is pulled against them. After all, at home in civilian life, most working class employees must put in their mandatory overtime hours or they risk loosing their jobs. Fairness and promises are not concepts that the working class are accustomed to in either their military or civilian roles. Further, the working class members fail to see any of the benefits that they are promised. Veterans consistently see cutbacks in their benefits. Scandal after scandal results in exposing the utter lack of care or compassion that veterans receive. This is also so for unemployment in the working class. The New Deal Era brought many programs such as unem ployment. However, as the economy now stands, improperly

Monday, October 14, 2019

Energy drinks Essay Example for Free

Energy drinks Essay Since the mid-2000s, demands in the global beverage industry shift from carbonated soft drink to alternative beverages. Because of this market grows rapidly and gives high profit margins, it make changes in beverage manufacturing and encourage new entrant to focus solely on alternative beverages. Alternative beverages segment is comprised of energy drinks, sports drink, and flavored or enhanced water. Each segment has different consumer types and different distribution channel. In developed countries, such as USA, this carbonated soft drink market has reached a mature stage but energy drink and ready-to-drink tea is still inclined. However, beverage industry is steady growth in developing countries. Alternative beverages competed on the basis of differentiation from traditional drinks such as carbonated soft drinks or fruit juices. All energy drink brands attempted to develop brand loyalty based on taste, the energy-boosting properties of their ingredients, and image. The strongest competitive force is buyer because buyer costs to switch brands are low. Consumers will be more prices sensitive and will switch to other product or even other segment. The weakness competitive force is rivalry because of many sellers in this market and diversity in commodities. The high profit margins will make alternative beverage market attract entrants that are more new, also supported by rising demand for the alternative beverage. Energy drinks pricing is 400% higher than carbonated soft drinks. In addition, to create an alternative beverage business needs medium-high capital investment. The market of global beverage industry is projected to grow from $1. 58 trillion in 2009 and forecasted to grow to nearly $1. 78 trillion in 2014 as beverage producers entered new geographic markets, developed new types of beverages, and continued to create demand for popular drinks. It is expect to result from steady growth in the purchasing power of consumers in developing countries. In addition, alternative beverages tended to carry high price points, which made them attractive to both new entrants and established beverage companies. Sport drinks and vitamin-enhanced beverages tended to carry retail prices that were 50 to 75% higher than similar-size carbonated soft drinks and bottled water, while energy drink pricing by volume might be as much as 400% higher than carbonated soft drinks. While the alternative beverage segment of the industry offered opportunities for bottlers, the poor economy had decreased demand for higher-priced beverages, with sales of sports drinks declining by 12. 3%. The Alternative beverages consumer profile varied substantially across the three types of beverages. Then energy drink consumer was a teenage boy, sports drink consumer were purchased by those who engaged in sports, fitness or other strenuous activities. Vitamin-enhanced beverages could substitute for sports drinks but were frequently purchased by adult consumers in increasing their intakes of vitamins. The best position strategic group map is reasonable price and reasonable quality. The worst position is the low price and quality. Now people think about health more than in the past, and they still worry about economic crisis. The alternative beverage chose set strategic group map with answer key we are alternative. We found that key factors, which determine the success of alternative beverage producers,have many factors. First, is Productinnovation, Product Innovation can be done by customizing product ingredient, flavor, packaging, or the benefit that product offer to consumer. Second, Focus in one segment can be the best strategy like Red Bull. Their focus in energy drink segment make them became the market leader in energy drink. Third, there are many type of channel distributor, like supermarkets, natural foods store, wholesale clubs, convenience store, and restaurant. The company’schoose is depends on the company resource. Example PepsiCo and Coca Cola were dominating convenience store and special event channel. However, for company with limited resource use third parties channel distribution will has lowest cost in transportation and labor. Fourth, use the right supplier can reduce production cost. The last one is Brand image, the right promotions that really connect with the product image will make the brand and product can penetrate the market.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Architectural History of Blenheim Palace

Architectural History of Blenheim Palace INTRODUCTION Blenheim Palace is the one of the huge building in England and it was designed by playwright Sir John Vanbrugh, assistants  Nicholas Hawksmoor, and landscape architect Lancelot Brown (Capability Brown). An impressive example of 18th English baroque style. It was located at a town in southwestern New York, Oxfordshire,  England. Formerly it was called by â€Å"Woodstock Manor†, This building of the palace was originally intended to be a reward tothe first duke Marlborough, John Churchill. [1] It was built in 1705 when Queen Anne bestows to John Churchill, he was Winston Churchill forefather. This was to celebrate the victory over the French in the War of the Spanish Succession in 1704. By Blenheim Palace as the axis a huge palace building complex, it was the center of Woodstock. Beside this hidden a lot of precious oil painting and sculpture of magnificent palace, it also had a lake, pasture and a typical of English manor. Even though in later period had add in a lot of art ificial features, but it is still a faction elegant English-style afternoon tea. Blenheim palace is an immortal country house, one of the England’s largest country house. it is the only non-royal, non-episcopal in England to hold the title of palace. [2] This is a territory of the Oxfordshire quiet, green village. Futhermore, Winston Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace, the former Prime Minister of the England. In 1988, Blenheim Palace was list as cultural heritage of the world. In early the 20th, the 9th Duke of Marlborough, Charles Richard John Spencer-Churchill, was rebuilt the east and west sides in the shape neat gardens. This pattern of garden, had become a lawn. Regarding to the famous architect and sculptor, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the 9th Duke of Marlborough, he was praised to him. Figure 1: Front view of Blenheim Palace Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blenheim_Palace Source of Name The origin name of Blenheim Palace was come from a decisive war at the north shore of the Danube and it was happened in 13th August 1704. In a north shore of the Danube, nearby had a small village called Blenheim. It was built as a gift to the 1st Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill the military commander who led the Allied forces in the Battle of Blenheim on 13th August 1704. It was Marlborough who personally received the surrender from Marshall Tallard, leader of the French forces, following the battle.[3] Charity generous queen Anne giving the â€Å"Woodstock† royal honor and the construction of â€Å"Blenheim Palace† as a gift. The construction of this building start from 1705 to 1722 by Mr. Wenbuhler.The title of â€Å" Woodstock of the royal honor and building given by her majesty the queen Anne and confirmed by parliament.[4] In 1712, the construction of Blenheim Palace forced to stop all work. Since when Duke Marlborough continue across work for the queen, host ile forces are trying to think of ways to destroyed the queen for his love. Finally, the funds approval to build Blenheim Palace did not get, so that they owned the masonry, sculptor and other things include the architect. [1] [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blenheim_Palace [3] http://www.blenheimpalace.com/blenheimpalace/about-blenheim-palace/the-history-of-blenheim-palace/ [4] http://en.labtud.com/article-160217-1.html Architectural Style Interior Design Blenheim Palace, the main building consists of two wings on the main building and courtyards. The exterior mixed with Collins-style colonnades and tower with Baroque style. High uplift of the triangular wall, forming patchwork of facade line. Entering the hall, it is surrounded salon, reception room, library, living room, all surrounded by a small courtyard, connected by corridors and hall. Furnishings with families portrait paintings, tapestries and a variety of decorative ornaments, each one from the hands of masters. To mimic the natural landscape sculpture gardens seldom do the decoration, while Blenheim Palace is a French Baroque garden. Sculptures are visible everywhere. The Grand Bridge Blenheim palace is an English baroque architecture. In 1709, the manor was destructed by the Duchess of Marlboroughs command, the foundation of Vanbrughs Grand Bridge used a lot of rubber to fill up. When John Churchill and Vanbrugh walking though inquired into Woodstock Park, they saw a valley of marsh, this gave Sir Vangbrugh some inspiration, he created and designed the fitnest bridgein Europe. Since in 1711, Marburg was the Queen of favor and banished several years. Sarah Churchill, the first duchess, she finished the Blenheim with Vanbrugh by their own expense, even though they faced a lot of budjet problem and enter the prohibited place. Figure 2: The Grand Bridge of Blenheim Palace Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blenheim_Palace From the figure 2 above, can see the sea is surrounding the grand bridge. After the first duke died, his wife called in Colonel John Armstrong, he was a chief engineer, to re-designed the water-works in the park. The Great Hall The most amazing thing is the grand lobby, especially theGibbons hall. The hall is 67’ ft high, due to James Thornhill who is an english painter of historical subject, in 1716 he painted the ceilings of blenheim palace, according the order of war and to expand in blenheim palace, and to show the Madero victory. Futhermore, there had stone carving by Grinling Gibbons. However, the 9th Dukes bronze bust was made by Sir Jacob Epstein. Sarah Churchill was famous on bargain prices, she always argue with the workers that she hire. In a similar situation, she was argue with Grinling Gibbons, the master carver, he haven’t complete the work on house, but after that he never returned to complete and continue his work. Figure 3: Great Hall of Blenheim Palace Source:  http://www.discoverbritainmag.com/britain/blenheim_palace_steeped_in_history_1_3770278 The Saloon The Saloon, can only use once a year in Christmas dinner for the family of Duke Marlborough. In this elegant and classic room painted murals and paintings of French artist Louis Laguerre. Figure 4: Saloon ceiling of Blenheim Source:  http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_282079/Sir-James-Thornhill/Proposed-design-for-the-saloon-ceiling-at-Blenheim-Palace,-Oxfordshire-The-Apotheosis-of-Hercules Sarah Churchill were instructed to the first duke, John Churchill report the victory to Queen Anne. John Churchill used solid silver centerpiece writing the dispatch on horseback to his wife in this room. The centerpiece was made byGarrard, the Crown Jewellers. [5] The Green Writing Room In addition to Blenheim’s wall, there were thick tapestries made of expensive fabrics hang from the wall, describing the surrender from French on the battle been accepted by Marlborough in the green writing room. A carefully planned bureau in the room, the style of decorated was a modern inlay style, and this was made from the Queen’s nephew. The Long Library The long library, is one of the private house in Britain, the long library it was originally designed for the gallery, designed by Vanbrugh and Nicholes Hawksmoor. The library can contain around 10,000 books, the largely collection was from 9th Duke. Inside the wall, at the northern end, hang in a systemic statue of Queen Anne, King William III and the first duke, John Churchill. Maybe the most compelling place in the room is the magnificent Willis government agencies. In 1891, there was an organ belongs to Henry Willis and he designed it. This is the most ou tstanding room from Hawksmoor’s designed. The ordinary stucco ceilings designed, included two false domes, was completed in 1725. Figure 5: The Long Library Source: http://prato12.blog.sbc.edu/2011/08/11/blenheim-palace/ Due to the figure 3 above, there have a blank ceiling. At first, Sir James Thornhill was entrusted to filled up allegorical scenes. But it was too expensive, so they remained blank. The interesting things is, in 18th century, the blank and plane ceiling giving simple appearance to show atypical of the neoclassical or Georgian style of the Robert Adam. For many years, this long library had a number variety of uses. During World War I it was a hospital ward and during World War II it served as a dormitory for Malvern College boys. [6] [5] http://gouk.about.com/od/thingstodo/ig/Blenheim-in-Pictures/The-Saloon-at-Blenheim-Palace.htm#step-heading [6] http://gouk.about.com/od/thingstodo/ig/Blenheim-in-Pictures/The-Long-Library.htm 3.2 The Water Terraces Due to the water terraces of Blenheim palace, Winston Churchill was be responsible for the creation of a huge lake, the artificial fluctuations and a series of water cascades. He wrote that Blenheim’s unique attraction lie in its perfect adaptation of English parkland to an Italian palace. The â€Å"Italian palace† it seems to be part of the reference about the unique garden, the western water terraces, designed bythe French landscape architectAchille Duchà ªne. Figure 6: The upper water terrace in Blenheim Palace Source: During the 9th Duke of Marlborough, water terraces was built. It was built form 1925 to 1930, took around five years. The lower Water Terrace, separated from the upper Water Terrace by a wall of caryatids and tiered shells has been compared to the Parterre dEau at Versailles. Reportedly, the Water Terraces were inspired by the sculptor Bernini. The sphinx is one of pair with heads modeled on the features of the 9th Dukes second American wife Gladys Deacon. It was created by Ward Willis in 1930. Another piece of sculpture on the lower Water Terrace was modeled on local man and gardener by Bert Timms of Hanborough. Due to the story, he got inspired when walking through the garden and noticed who was carving Visseau at the time, As a result, he made the model of the head and torso of the leftmost caryatid on the wall that separates the two Water Terraces at Blenheim When walk in through, there had an archway describe about British lion forced down to a cockerel (the emblem of France). Altogether, on the exterior there were almost 15 references to mention British Victories against the French. 4.0 Architectural History In 13 August 1704, John Churchill achieved victory the Battle of Blenheim, who led the Allied forces. He was defeated in Bavaria with army of Louis XIV, in order to award his feats, he was awarded be the first Duke of Marlborough the king and giving him the construction of Blenheim as a gift. Blenheim Place is a masterpiece completed with a famous architect John Vanbrugh between 1705 until 1722. The building style of this was intended to reflect the establishment of the Duke of Marlboroughs outstanding contributions. The British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill was born at Blenheim, he is the eighth generation the first Duke of Marlborough’s grandson. He inherited on the fine tradition of the family, exert excellence military talent, go through brilliant political career. Winston Churchill wrote a biography about his family. Long ago, he was an officer, but later he served as British Prime Minister because of he successfully defended Britain in World War II. First, the first Duke took a fancy to a wide valley, later it formed to a piece of marsh. Sir John Vanbrugh design and build a grand large bridge. Bridge arches of main bridge total width 31 meters. It started the construction in 1708, but because of the cost was too high, and did not complete the constructed. Sarah Churchill, the first duchess, disagree to build an arched bridge under the valley. So, just built an ordinary bridge to connected between Blenheim and the ranch. In 1764, the family of duke the important task of construction to Blenheim Palace handed over to landscape architect, Capability Brown. He think that landscape design should blend with the natural landscape, not to leave traces of artificial modification. He repaired dams in the valley, form to a large territorial waters. Therefore, under the bridge become two edges of crooked lake. The first duke, John Churchill death on 1725, after the five years he death, the construction of Blenheim Palace just fully completed. The duke memo rial was a landmark to Blenheim Palace, under the memorial hall rooftop have a small tower and belfry. Supporting the Duke memorial hall there have 4 pillars, have the sing of Marlborough moral merit. The main part of this construction was using the columns to connect, and to replace the wall. Top of the memorial hall. There have a sculpture of British lion forced down to a cockerel, which means that the strength of victory. In early the 20th, the 9th Duke of Marlborough, Charles Richard John Spencer-Churchill, was rebuilt the east and west sides in the shape neat gardens. This pattern of garden, had become a lawn. The 9th duke of Marlborough hire the famous French landscape designer,  Achille Duchà ªne to create a water garden. Duke hopes to restore the original appearance of the lake, but he just here to build a strange pond. Regarding to the famous architect and sculptor, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the 9th Duke of Marlborough, he was praised to him. Bernini used the Roman of St. Pi erre Cathedral transformed into the famous Palazzo Barberini, it was very famous and well-known in Europe. At that time, they called it Bernini was a â€Å"Knight†, Louis XIV also asked him to remodelled the Louvre. In order to satisfy the wish of the Duke, Achille Duchà ªne have to follow according to Berninis approach to the design of Blenheim Palace Gardens. He imitated Bernini to build a new plaza, in this pond middle of Alpheus built a small fountain. In England, natural landscape gardens seldom to do the decoration, yet Blenheim Palace was a French Baroque garden, sculptor can easy to be seen at here. The layout of garden neat and orderly, wherein plants and ornaments panoramic view passage. Statue in every corner is a sign of military bravery and honor of military. Because this is to commemorated the residence of the British army and built it. Bibliography References The front view of Blenheim Palace, available on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blenheim_Palace, accessed on 29 April 2015, 8p.m The Grand Bridge of Blenheim Palace, available on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blenheim_Palace, accessed on 02 May 2015, 02:14am. The Great Hall of Blenheim Palace, available on http://www.discoverbritainmag.com/britain/blenheim_palace_steeped_in_history_1_3770278, accessed on 2 May 2015, 01:50 a.m. Saloon ceiling of Blenheim, available on http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_282079/Sir-James-Thornhill/Proposed-design-for-the-saloon-ceiling-at-Blenheim-Palace,-Oxfordshire-The-Apotheosis-of-Hercules, accesed on 1 May 2015 2:30pm. The Long Library available on, http://prato12.blog.sbc.edu/2011/08/11/blenheim-palace/, accessed on 1 May 2015, 4:00pm.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

king tutt :: essays research papers

Tutankamun’s Life Tutankhamun, or better known as King Tut, was a pharaoh who accomplished little in his life. He did not expand Egypt’s borders nor enjoy triumphant victories like the many pharaohs before him; however, he is the most recognized and probably the most famous pharaoh today. But why is he so famous? This answer can be attributed to the discovery of his tomb and his elaborate treasure. King Tut’s tomb was a major discovery of the 19th century. It was discovered November 4, 1922 in the Valley of the Kings by Howard Carter. It was a phenomenal discovery that made headlines across the world. Up until the discovery of King Tut’s tomb, it was believed that all royal tombs had been robbed and drained of their treasure. For the first time, a tomb, which was almost intact, had been discovered and remained hidden from robbers for thousands of years. The tomb revealed an elaborate lifestyle that many people could only dream about as well as providing clues and insight into King Tut’s life and how he lived. Even though little is known about Tutankhamen’s life, we do know that he was given the throne at a young age, which it has been estimated that he was about eight or nine years old when this happened. During the time that this occurred, Egypt was in turmoil due to his father’s religious movement. His father, which is believed to be Akhenaten, had changed the religious system and the old beliefs that had been practiced for hundreds of years before him. This religious change angered many angry citizens and priests. Tutankamen was left with an angry and chaotic Egypt to rule. The birth name of Tutankhamen was Tutankhaton, which meant â€Å"Living Image of the Aten.† His father, which remains a mystery, is believed to be Akhenaten, although some evidence points to Amenhotp III. His mother remains a mystery as well but she is believed to be Kiya. It is thought that Tutankhaton must have had a good childhood. He probably spent his younger years hunting, swimming, and studying. His tomb revealed he enjoyed board games. Like most children, he probably found politics unexciting and went about his environment enjoying leisurely activities. Because he was a child, he probably had an ignorant view about his father’s teachings and politics. He was also believed to be an ill child due to the many walking canes that were found inside his tomb.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Plagiarism in Higher Education Essay

Al Ain Women’s College, Higher Colleges of Technology, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the modern information society on attitudes and approaches to the prevention of plagiarism and to examine a less punitive, more educative model. Design/methodology/approach – The approach taken is a literature review of plagiarism in contemporary society followed by a case study of the education department of a tertiary-level college in the United Arab Emirates. Findings – The authors advocate a move towards a less punitive, more educative approach which takes into account all the relevant contextual factors. A call is made for a truly institutional response to a shared concern, with comprehensive and appropriate policies and guidelines which focus on prevention, the development of student skills, and the proactive involvement of all relevant stakeholders. Practical implications – This approach could inform the policies and practices of institutions who wish to systematically deal with plagiarism in other contemporary contexts. Originality/value – This paper could be of value to policy makers and administrators in tertiary institutions, particularly in English as a second language contexts, who recognise the limitations of traditional approaches to plagiarism and wish to establish more effective practices. Keywords Copyright law, Information society, Dishonesty, United Arab Emirates Paper type Literature review Plagiarism in political discourse Politicians, more than anyone else, need to portray an image of integrity, honesty, and independent thought. Their election, their livelihood, and the fate of their constituents would seem to depend on it. Yet politicians commonly use speechwriters who have the speci? c task of conveying their thoughts, personality, and personal sincerity (see for example, Philp, 2009). It may be argued that although politicians do not necessarily write the words themselves, they endorse the words they use. But what if the words themselves are not original? In one instance, the presidential candidate Barack Obama was confronted by the fact that some of his speeches had taken material from Deval Patrick, the Massachusetts Governor. Obama admitted he should have acknowledged his source: Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues Vol. 3 No. 3, 2010 pp. 166-177 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1753-7983 DOI 10. 1108/17537981011070082 I was on the stump. [Deval] had suggested that we use these lines and I thought they were good lines [. . . ] I’m sure I should have – didn’t this time [. . . ] I really don’t think this is too big of a deal (Obama cited in Whitesides, 2008). Published by kind permission of HCT Press. Plagiarism has been de? ned as â€Å"the unacknowledged use of someone else’s work [. . . ] and passing it off as if it were one’s own† (Park, 2004, p.292) and it is interesting to speculate whether such an excuse would be accepted from a student by an educational institution’s plagiarism committee. Accusations of plagiarism in politics have been made before, of course, though the outcomes were often different, suggesting that a shift may be taking place in attitudes towards plagiarism in politics. In 1987, another presidential hopeful was forced to abandon his ambitions for high of? ce largely because he had plagiarised a speech by the British politician Neil Kinnock and because of â€Å"a serious plagiarism incident† in his law school years (Sabato, 1998). Ironically, the candidate was none other than Joe Biden, the man chosen by Obama to be his Vice President. In politics today, it seems as though plagiarism no longer signals the end of a career. In contrast, students who are caught cheating or plagiarising can be subject to sanctions and consequences that are severely life impacting, which in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) can include permanent exclusion from all tertiary education (see for example, Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), 2008). One question of fundamental concern that we must ask ourselves as tertiary-level educators is why college students, who have much less at stake, considerably less experience and knowledge and who do not use English as their ? rst language, should be held to higher standards of responsibility in communication than those in the highest political of? ces? Yet, if we make allowances for students who are still learning to orientate themselves in academic discourse, what standards should be applied? Plagiarism in a complex information society The concept of plagiarism is a relatively new cultural phenomenon. Greek philosophers regularly appropriated material from earlier works without compunction, and originality was considered less important than imitating, often orally, the great works of their predecessors (Lackie and D’Angelo-Long, 2004, p. 37). All the way through the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the study of rhetoric rather than written language was often the norm, with students required to give public speeches to assembled faculty. Only the subsequent move towards written assignments brought with it new perceptions of student plagiarism (Simmons, 1999, p. 41). Around the same time, in the earlier part of the twentieth century, the formalization of citation styles from organizations such as the American Psychological Association marked a desire to standardise academic writing and provide a model for ethically quoting the work of others (Simmons, 1999, p. 42). With the rise of the information society and electronic media, another cultural shift seems to be underway. There have been recent suggestions that plagiarism is becoming more prevalent, and much of the blame has been placed on â€Å"nearly universal access to the Internet† (Scanlon and Neumann, 2002, p. 374). Park (2004, p. 293) refers to the ease of â€Å"copying [. . . ] in a digital world of computers, word processing, electronic sources and the Internet. † However, the explosion of electronic sources of information has not just made copying easier, it has also made it much more central to our students’ cultural and social experiences. Students going into tertiary education have grown up with the internet and are at home with downloading â€Å"free† ? lms, sharing music and modifying and emailing all kinds of material taken from the web. They have developed highly skilled ways of conducting non-academic research using  services such as search engines, social networking sites, podcasts, RSS feeds, discussion boards, etc. with Dealing with plagiarism 167 EBS 3,3 168 hyperlinks allowing them to jump from site to site as though the internet were a single-uni? ed source, and with copying and pasting a mainstay of interaction. They take it for granted that a pop star such as will. i. am can pick up and rework virtually the entire content of a political speech, and turn it into the award winning song and music video Yes we can, apparently without Obama’s knowledge or consent ((The) ABC News, 2008). They are not surprised when this video is then embedded in countless webpages, with the lyrics of the song posted on music sites without any attribution of the original source (see for example, LyricsReg, n. d). This intertextuality is a perfect example of the â€Å"postmodern, self-cannibalizing popular culture† (Bowman, 2004, p. 8) that our students now engage with on a daily basis. Students may well bring to the classroom very different ideas from their teachers about what constitutes fair use. Indeed, one study of 2,600 tertiary-level students in the UAE found that just over 40 percent considered cutting and pasting from the internet as either trivial cheating or not cheating at all. The attitudes of UAE students are similar to those of other students around the world (Croucher, 2009). Some theorists have gone a step further and argue that as the new media become more interactive and collaborative, it calls into question the whole idea of a â€Å"creative, original, individual who, as an autonomous scholar, presents his/her work to the public in his/her own name† (Scollon, 1995, p.1). The multiple contributors to Wikipedia pages is a clear example of how a collaborative process undermines our sense of authorship. In addition, the notion of what constitutes â€Å"fair use† is changing quickly. This is exempli? ed by the open source movement where material can be downloaded, modi? ed, and shared with minimal and strictly controlled author’s rights (See for example, Open Source Initiative, n. d). As Blum (2009) notes, the â€Å"rules about intellectual property are in ? ux. † Where does this leave educators? Has plagiarism become an irrelevant concept, too outdated in its de? nition to be of use in the production of educated professionals ready to take their place in our post-modern society? Do we have to accept Johnson’s (2007) argument that in the digital age, writing an original essay outside of class for assessment purposes is no longer viable in its current form because of the ease of copying from the internet? Do we have to agree with him when he says such tasks are no longer even relevant because they fail to re? ect the modern workplace? As Johnson argues: My transfer from education to the world of business has reminded me just how important it is to be able to synthesize content from multiple sources, put structure around it and edit it into a coherent, single-voiced whole. Students who are able to create convincing amalgamations have gained a valuable business skill. Unfortunately, most schools fail to recognize that any skills have been used at all, and an entire paper can be discarded because of a few lines repeated from another source without quotation marks. Plagiarism in education Plagiarism in education seems to operate under a very different set of rules from the pragmatic ? elds of politics or business and can create emotional responses that deploy highly charged metaphors such as The Plagiarism Plague (Bowman, 2004) or â€Å"Winning hearts and minds in war on plagiarism† (Jaschik, 2008). In education, plagiarism is â€Å"seen as a transgression against our common intellectual values, carrying justi? ably bad consequences for those guilty of the practice† (Isserman, 2003). Why is it generally accepted that politicians can use ghostwriters, but that students cannot, even if the stakes for the students are much lower? The critical issue for education is that plagiarism â€Å"circumvents the learning process† (Spencer, 2004, p. 16). The process of analysing and synthesizing ideas, and reformulating them in writing, is seen as central to learning. Only by ensuring that students struggle to assimilate material and develop their own voice do students go beyond surface information and develop higher order thinking skills. As Isserman (2003) notes: [.. . ] ownership over the words you use [. . . ] is really at the heart of the learning process. You can read a dozen books about the cold war, but if you can’t explain what you have learned to someone else in your own words, no real learning has taken place [. . . ] and you will have made no progress whatsoever toward realizing the central goal of a liberal-arts education: the ability to think for yourself. Dealing with plagiarism 169 This struggle for intellectual development is not easy, which is precisely the reason that makes plagiarism attractive for some students. In most cases teachers are not concerned about literary theft, but that their students are missing out on opportunities for learning because they are failing to engage with the material in a meaningful way. Plagiarism is therefore â€Å"denying them the opportunity to learn lessons, improve their study skills, and improve their knowledge and understanding† (Lancaster University, 2009, p. 3). If plagiarism is especially serious in education because it is an obstacle to learning, then we should deal with instances of plagiarism primarily from an educational perspective rather than the punitive one. Students need to learn the importance of academic integrity and understand that it is not just a hoop to be jumped through, but is integral to intellectual and personal growth. Clearly this learning process cannot be instantaneous, and allowances should be made as students develop. However, this does not mean that severe penalties should be removed from the process entirely as there will always be students who refuse or are unable to meet appropriate standards. Factors in? uencing the incidence of plagiarism Individual, pedagogical, and institutional factors can all in? uence the incidence of plagiarism. Students themselves can be impacted by a wide range of factors including their educational conditioning, cultural background, motivation, language skill, peer pressure, gender, issues with time management, ability, and even the subject being studied (Roig, 1997). If the tertiary experience is vastly different to students’ previous educational experience, the motivation for plagiarism again increases. In the UAE, it is likely, for example, that the students’ primary and secondary schooling was characterised by rote learning and the quest for a single correct answer, non-transparent and poorly conceived assessment practices, and vast social inequities within the student base, and between students and their often socially and economically disadvantaged teachers. Norms, expectations, and demands learned in this context can be dif? cult to dislodge in subsequent institutions which place a premium on the exploration of problems and solutions, independent and critical thinking skills, and academic integrity. If plagiarism is not de? ned or academic processes made explicit, then such students will ? nd it impossible to reach the standards that are suddenly and (to them) inexplicably imposed on them. Pedagogical approaches may also contribute to the prevalence of plagiarism. Current methodologies place much more emphasis on collaboration and group work, with a greater weight given to out-of-class projects and portfolios at the expense of formal exams. The result is that the line between collaboration and cheating during assessed tasks is blurred, and if this is not explicitly dealt with by assessors, it will inevitably EBS 3,3 170 result in misunderstandings as to what is acceptable. Also, students are more likely to justify cheating if the coursework or assignments they were given were too hard, poorly scaffolded, or based on unreasonable expectations of their abilities (Naidoo, 2008), and plagiarism will be made easier if the assignments are not constructed carefully so that stock answers cannot be copied from the internet (Wood, 2004). However, the institutional context plays perhaps the most critical role. For example, unclear and uncommunicated institutional policies with vague de?  nitions of plagiarism can affect the incidence of plagiarism, as can the application of those policies (McCabe et al. , 2002). Some aspects of an organization may unwittingly encourage plagiarism. For example, in contrast to schools, tertiary education institutions in the UAE do not typically award top grades to large numbers of students, and there is evidence to suggest that students justify using ghostwriters in such an environment because they believe they deserve better grades (Croucher, 2009). An often overlooked but crucial aspect of deterring and detecting plagiarism is the application of institutional policies by teachers. One survey of 800 American academics at 16 institutions found that 40 percent never reported incidents of plagiarism while a further 54 percent did so only seldomly, even though the evidence suggested they must have received plagiarised work (McCabe, 1993 cited in Schneider, 1999). There are many reasons why teachers may be reluctant to report plagiarism. Teachers may feel the potential penalties for students are too high (Auer and Krupar, 2001). They may also be wary of making false accusations which potentially undermine their own professional status. Some teachers object to taking on the role of detective or enforcer as it undermines the mentor-student relationship (Schneider, 1999; Park, 2004) while others may not have the time to make an extra effort to uncover plagiarism and follow it up (Park, 2004). It may also be that some teachers, especially teachers of content subjects where the focus is less on form and more on ideas, may not have suf? ciently developed skills to detect plagiarism. Hyland (2001) found that even teachers who detect plagiarism may use indirect feedback when dealing with plagiarism (for example, comments in the margins such as â€Å"Are these your own words?†) which can lead to miscommunication with the student about what is acceptable. With so many factors at play, the responsibilities of teachers must be clearly codi? ed if any institutional initiative is to have any success. Plagiarism and ESOL/EFL English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts may be more prone to infringements of academic integrity because students lack the English skills to understand the coursework and so may feel that plagiarism offers the only solution (Hyland, 2001; Liu, 2005). Moreover, the cultural conditioning of English as a second language (ESL) and EFL students has been cited as another contributing factor. Moder (1995 cited in Lackie and D’Angelo-Long, 2004, p. 38) suggests that some societies, including those in the Middle East, â€Å"value memorization and imitation as the mark of an educated person† which may mean that plagiarism is viewed as being less signi? cant. Liu (2005, p. 239) disagrees with the notion of cultural conditioning, however, claiming that â€Å"it is  based on incorrect information and is presented often via unwarranted jumps in reasoning and con? ation of separate issues. † More pertinently, perhaps, she goes on to argue that: [. . . ] even if we concede that such cultural conditioning indeed exists to some extent, we still cannot say for sure that it is the main reason that ESOL students plagiarize. There are many other factors that may motivate ESOL students from many L1 backgrounds to plagiarize, including a lack of adequate pro? ciency, lack of task speci?c writing skills, and of course, the urge to cheat (p. 239). Dealing with plagiarism ESOL students, then, whether or not cultural conditioning is accepted as an underlying factor in plagiarism, may still have greater motivation than their ? rst language counterparts to take and use the ideas and words of others in their own assignments. Ironically, plagiarism by ESOL students is also far more likely to be detected because of more prominent differences in language level and tone between copied and original work. Degrees of plagiarism Intuitively, plagiarism varies in its severity in a way that cheating (e. g. using crib sheets or having someone else take a test for you) does not. It can consist of minor lapses, for example, when original material is poorly paraphrased but the source is acknowledged, through deliberately copying parts of a text without citing the source, to submitting work from an online paper mill (Roig, 1997). Critical factors in determining the severity of the plagiarism include the intention behind the plagiarism (was it deliberate or accidental? ), the amount of material that has been plagiarised, the inclusion of the source in the list of references, the degree to which the plagiarised material differs from the source (an indication at an attempt to paraphrase), the time the student has spent in tertiary education, and whether it is the ? rst, second, or subsequent occurrence. Given the wide variation in the seriousness of plagiarism and the developmental process students must undergo to assimilate the norms of academic writing, it is clear that the appearance of plagiarised material is not always a deliberate attempt to cheat. For example, students are often poor at paraphrasing and may not be fully aware that this could be construed as plagiarism. Roig (1999) gave English-speaking undergraduate students a two-sentence paragraph to paraphrase and found that between 41 and 68 percent of the responses contained strings of at least ? ve words or more copied from the original. These results clearly back up the claim that plagiarism may indicate a de? cit in appropriate skills and not intentional academic dishonesty. Towards an institutional response to plagiarism In many educational institutions, plagiarism is seen largely as a teacher/student problem. If plagiarism is detected, then the teacher makes a decision as to whether to escalate the case for possible punitive action. The plagiarism is seen either as morally wrong or as a â€Å"crime† – the breaking of a rule that has inevitable consequences (Blum, 2009). Unfortunately, dealing with plagiarism in this way can result in decisions which are reactive, emotive, and which are made informally on an ad hoc basis, thus inviting inequity and inconsistency. When the focus is directed towards punishment, there may be little maturation in terms of academic integrity for the student concerned, or for those who watch their classmate’s fate from the sidelines. Academic endeavour must take place within an institutional culture that routinely recognises and reinforces the value of academic integrity so that all stakeholders are obliged to proactively follow and uphold best practice in order to reduce the impact of the contributing factors discussed above. This requires the establishment of an institutional response to plagiarism that is comprehensive, appropriate, fair, developmental, transparent, and educative. 171 EBS 3,3 Park (2004, p. 294) describes such an institutional framework for dealing with plagiarism that was developed by a working party at Lancaster University in consultation with staff and with reference to experience and the literature: The working party sought to move the plagiarism discourse beyond just detection and punishment and to situate and embed it in a cohesive framework that tackles the root causes as well as the symptoms of plagiarism as a family of behaviours. 172 The key elements underpinning this framework were consistency and transparency. These were ensured by the explicit codi? cation of stakeholder responsibilities, procedures, and penalties. In order for such a framework to be implemented effectively, Park (2004, p. 296) noted that â€Å"all stakeholders within the institution must understand and appreciate why the framework is necessary and how it protects their own interests. † A case study Park (2004, pp. 295-9) nominated a number of central pillars that lend validity and effectiveness to any such institutional framework. These included transparency, ownership by stakeholders, student engagement, academic integrity, framing the initiative to ensure compatibility with the culture of the institution, focus on prevention and deterrence, and the supportive and developmental nature of the framework. These pillars provide excellent reference points for the approach taken in one department in a college in the UAE and allow us to examine the viability and ef? cacy of such a framework for the local context. The Education Department at Abu Dhabi Women’s College (ADWC) has addressed its concerns with academic honesty in a concerted, collaborative, and multi-faceted fashion. As teacher educators, the faculty in this department are intent on producing future academics. Much like politicians, words, information, and the generation of ideas are the very foundation of our professional lives, so we regard it as essential that the â€Å"rules† of using these appropriately are disseminated, understood, and followed at all times by all of our students. To this end, we have established and adhere to a set of policies and practices at all levels that support and facilitate academic honesty. Institutional/departmental level The HCT, of which ADWC is only one of 16, institutionally mandates the prevention and sanctioning of plagiarism and related offences. Consequences of infringements of these rules are outlined in of?cial policies, Student Handbooks (see for example, HCT, 2008), contracts signed by students at the commencement of their studies, and reinforced by administrative staff and faculty at every student meeting and examination session held throughout the student’s academic career at HCT. From these guidelines, the Education Division throughout the colleges has documented standards and procedures that address academic honesty in its assessment handbooks – one that is distributed to all education students and the other, more comprehensive and speci?c, that is used by all education faculty. This shared written documentation enables best practice in assessment to be disseminated and followed, provides the underlying philosophy and approach for the division as a whole, and addresses academic honesty both directly and indirectly to better support student writing and make plagiarism a less viable or attractive option. The assessment handbooks re? ect the developmental curricular approach of the division as a whole, and so specify the type, nature, and expectations for assessments at each level to scaffold the students’ ability to produce increasingly sophisticated and original work. Ensuring that requirements are reasonable and documented minimises the students’ need to seek help through illegitimate means. These handbooks are the basis of communication within the ADWC Education Department on all matters regarding assessment and have served to ensure a common approach and understanding. Insights gained by instructors in their daily interactions with students and their submissions inevitably reveal general dif?culties facing students, which are then examined in regular formal and informal meetings to brainstorm and implement further strategies that may be useful. The ongoing concern at faculty level with issues of academic honesty is mirrored in the systematic recycling of warnings, information, and explicit instructions to students. As a department, the theft or misappropriation of ideas and words has been, and continues to be, addressed as professionally offensive and inappropriate. Initiatives suggested by Education Department faculty as well as colleagues in other departments and colleges are pursued vigorously. One recent example has been the provision of workshops by library staff on research skills and academic procedures. The plagiarism detection software, Turnitin, was originally adopted by the department as both a defence against plagiarism and a tool to help students protect themselves against accidental plagiarism. This proved to be very effective, but unfortunately access to this subsequently became unavailable. Now, suspicious text samples are input into search engines and all assignments are run through SafeAssign, a plagiarism checker in Blackboard (the online course management system). These have proved to be acceptable alternatives. As Braumoeller and Gaines (2001) found in their study, â€Å"the deterrent effects of actually checking for plagiarism are quite impressive (p. 836). † The departmental approach has included a series of mandatory workshops and masterclasses on academic writing and plagiarism for all students in slightly altered learning contexts designed to motivate, encourage participation, and focus attention. It should be noted that the relatively small size of the department (one chair, six faculty, and fewer than 80 students) makes shared understandings, uniform dissemination of information, and infraction detection much easier and more likely than in a bigger department where students are not familiar to every teacher. Course level Academic writing skills are an important component of all education courses. Referencing skills are taught explicitly in a speci? c course during the students’ ? rst semester, and then constantly reinforced and recycled throughout the programme. The education programmes at the HCT are based on re?  ective practice. This means that assignments are contextualised and require the application rather than the regurgitation of theory, so copying from previously submitted work or in any way buying or commissioning a paper cannot be so easily accomplished as theory has to ? t the student’s individual circumstances. In addition, the student’s right to submit and receive feedback on a ? rst draft of every paper (Assessment Handbook, 2009, p. 7) allows plagiarism, deliberate, or accidental; to be detected and remediated at an earlier stage before punishment becomes the only option. The feedback and scaffolding policy (pp.53-5), which outlines the form and scope of feedback to be given, draws instructor attention to both macro and micro features of the submission, so any attempt to use words or ideas from an external source should be revealed at least a week before ? nal submission. Dealing with plagiarism 173 EBS 3,3 All students submitting assignments in the Education Division are required to sign a declaration on their cover page that the work is entirely their own and all sources have been acknowledged (Assessment Handbook, 2009, p. 47). This provides a ? nal reminder that academic honesty is expected and will be monitored. Faculty responsibilities and input All faculty in the Education Department, regardless of their course allocation, consider themselves teachers of English. This is not only because we each have ESL teaching quali? cations and experience (obviously an advantage), but also because we recognise the importance of language as the vehicle for idea generation and transmission. Language is inseparable from the content area in which those ideas are conceived and manipulated. This can be a very different orientation to that of colleagues in other departments whose subject area specialisation takes precedence. Our more holistic approach means that we explicitly teach both content and the language elements with which to express that content to students who may be struggling with the unfamiliarity of both. It also means that we take our role as defenders of academic integrity very seriously and vigilantly monitor and check student output. As professional ESL teacher educators, we strive to be models of effective language use as well as successful proponents of academic scholarship, so ongoing instruction in both is a routine aspect of teaching and learning in the department. This increased student awareness of appropriate academic writing processes reduces their motivation to misappropriate text written by others. The cultural and social aspects of plagiarism are also given attention by faculty. In a society that places less value on individuality than it does on cooperation and social cohesion, it is important for students to understand that they have not only the right, but the responsibility, to turn down requests for assistance from peers. Faculty not only explain this, but also explain to students how to respond assertively with friends or relatives asking for inappropriate help. Without this, no amount of education or punishment can ever be successful. Student involvement Education students are required to be active participants in their own learning. Because all assessment processes are documented and transparent, they have the ability to question and ask for clari? cation on any aspect that they do not understand. All expectations or consequences are addressed in multiple ways, so ignorance is no defence for malpractice. Submissions of ? rst drafts are perhaps the most critical aspect for students. Although these are universally permitted and scheduled, they are never awarded a mark and are not always actually demanded, so it is up to the student to take advantage of their right to pre-submission feedback. An appropriate framework? The Education Department at ADWC values academic honesty very highly and has organized its procedures and practices accordingly. The very infrequent occurrence of plagiarism is testimony to the effectiveness of: . proactive strategizing; . clear documentation; . reasonable and appropriate expectations; 174 . . . . . awareness raising; sustained faculty vigilance and involvement; support for the development of student skills and cognitive growth; decreased student opportunity and motivation to cheat; and the pervasive sense of professional identity and responsibility that characterise departmental efforts on this issue at all levels. Dealing with plagiarism 175 The work done in this department is thus an arguably successful attempt to â€Å"devise a student plagiarism framework that best suits [our] own culture and circumstances†.