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Suicide in our communities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Self destruction in our networks - Essay Example It has been seen that the adolescent inside the United States is an immediate or circuit...

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Realist Realism In The Movie Grizzly Man - 1228 Words

The film Grizzly Man is documentary about a person named Timothy Treadwell. His admiration and love for the bears portrayed some of the wonderful characteristics about Timothy Treadwell. He was driven by his ambiguous thoughts and unfortunately lossed his life by doing so. By using the realist aesthetics of Grizzly Man, we can explore the meaning of this by showing different examples shown throughout the film. We can immediately acknowledge the fact that the film is non-fiction. As shown in the film, the mise-en-scene of the footage is entirely real. For example, we are shown with real life bears, grass, trees, and many other humans displayed in the film. The nature in the background is real allowing for it to relate to the audience.†¦show more content†¦The present footage used many interviews of the acquaintances and family of Timothy Treadwell. As the narrator spoke to the people in the film we are shown that the people in the filmed instantly responded to the narrator de picting that they were being interviewed by the narrator named Werner Herzog. This also adds how the people that were getting interviewed gave a direct message to the camera. This further more shows how the film utilizes direct address to the camera to describe the aesthetics of realism. The sound used in the film is comprised of a mixture of diegetic and nondiegetic music. The music was also composed entirely of instrumental sounds.The sound is dependent on the time of the footage of the film because it then defines what sound is diegetic or not. This allows for the tone of the film to be changed. The fluctuation of the tone of the sounds depicted somber sounds to show the realism of Timothy’s death, and joyful and uplifting sounds when at times when Timothy is alive and shown in the film. In turn, this changes the meaning of the film by influencing the audience to feel a certain type of way. By the use of a combination of the long take footage of shown in the film, and soun d, we can further see a change of the meaning of the film. For example, when Timothy was informing us on the bears, and all while taking a long shot of the film, we can seeShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Poem Build A Fire With The Film The Revenant 1558 Words   |  7 Pagesa Fire† with the film â€Å"The Revenant† The Battle of Nature versus Man Following the Romantic Period, a significant number of American writers for a better source of inspiration that has more to do with each day existence than the metaphorical or supernatural. The writers turned to research and the harsh realities of the universe and began a new period in American literature identified as the Naturalist and Realist era. Realism aroused in the 19th century as a reaction against Romanticism which

Monday, December 23, 2019

Social Media And Ritual Theory - 1997 Words

In terms of â€Å"Shared Mood†, the use of incense and music offers a sense of mystique. Moreover, the prayers allow the community to feel as if they are participating in an act of worship, not only with each other, but with all the Catholics in the world, including those who have died, along with all the angels in heaven. On the topic of social media and ritual theory, it is difficult to say how, maybe even if, the two are compatible with each other. One hypothesis is that perhaps the use of social media makes the Sacraments less salient. Indeed, Bodily Co-Presence is missing. This could be the reason why Catholics hold the position that the Sacrament of Confession cannot be given over Skype. This doctrine reflects the belief of St.†¦show more content†¦Led by four priests, the podcast discusses everything from pornography to the patriarchy. Other informative ways that the church tries to share its presence online is through reflections on the daily mass readings le d by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The fact the Pope Francis often â€Å"trends† on social media might be testament to how the church has begun to integrate this revolutionary application into its mission. Pope Francis often speaks the New York Times about issues that directly affect the modern age. The Times then shares this message with its followers via its social media sites where the words of Pope become accessible and available for all to hear. From immigration, to human ecology, to the role of women in the church, the Argentinian Pontiff is passionate and his message often resonates with the millennial generation . This could possibly be due to his continual virtual presence. This theory could lead insight into how, and if, social media presence is influencing the millennial generation’s concept of authority. Another source of tension between Social Media and the Catholic Church could be that media possess characteristics that are usually at tributed to God. Both parties can be seen as omnipresent and omnipotent. This close similarity to God could be why the Church may consider social mediaShow MoreRelatedAlfred Gell And The Art Nexus1442 Words   |  6 PagesAlfred Gell and the Art Nexus This relationship between creator and consumer, and how the consumer’s involvement is responsible for authenticating social identities is best understood in terms of what Alfred Gell calls the art nexus. In his book Art and Agency, Gell’s theory of the art nexus considers the living presence response where viewers, or recipients, react to works of art as if they are living beings or even persons, that in turn act back upon the viewer, entering into a personal relationshipRead MoreEmile Durkheim Theory Essay1332 Words   |  6 PagesEmile Durkheim is primarily known for his theories, the explanation of why certain things happens and so on. Durkheim is known for becoming the first sociologist. He was a student of compt, inheritor of the Enlightenment. What Durkheim wanted to do is sort out the issues of cohesion where society is flexible, why we arent at each others throat all the time. The reason is because it’s not in our best interest to do so. We do certain th ings so in return, we get what we are looking for. We go to collegeRead MoreReligion And Society : Forever And A Half Ago1680 Words   |  7 Pagesrise of Social media within the last 10 years has revolutionized the way people interact with another. By analyzing the boundaries and practices of the Catholicism, this paper explores the tension between the Church and Social Media The father of Sociology, Emile Durkheim, asserted in his book Suicide that the strength of a religion should be measured by â€Å"a certain amount of beliefs and practices common to all the faithful and obligatory†. Durkheim found that these obligatory rites and rituals increaseRead MoreThe Uses And Gratifications Theory Essay1656 Words   |  7 PagesThe uses and gratifications theory has been explored by many a scholar from as early as the 1940’s. While many audience theories focus around what effect media products have on audiences, Chandler (1994) states that instead the uses and gratifications theory focuses on what audiences do with media. Chandler continues that this audience model focuses around why and how people select and use media texts in order to fulfil particular social or psychological gratifications. This essay will explore findingsRead MoreSocial Networks Or Virtual Communities?1181 Words   |  5 PagesSocial Networks or Virtual Communities? Unlike film, social media is built on interaction. So, how can we describe the digital environment in relation to multiculturalism? When asked about virtual culture, Stephanie was unclear as to what it entailed (S. Jean, personal communication, April 5, 2017). Scholars suggest the digital sphere may create a â€Å"third culture,† incorporating traits of culturally diverse users (McEwan Sobrà ©-Denton, 2011, p. 253). This amalgamation reduces barriers to communicationRead MoreThe s Impact On Canadian Constructions Of Heritage And Islam1355 Words   |  6 Pagesvideos seek to defy Western European ideas about cultural heritage which are often cast as universal (Meskell 2002, 568) and engage a worldwide audience through carefully articulated performances. However, the many Canadian journalists using digital media to protest the destruction and reassert their own humanitarian, cosmopolitan, and civilized heritage values clearly mark the success of this strategy (Manley 2016). In fact, a trend emerged where popular news stories claim that ISIL is destroying theRead MoreApplying the Sociological Perspectives Essay693 Words   |  3 PagesApplying the Sociological Perspectives The issue I have chosen is the use of social networking websites and how the three sociological perspectives apply to them. The use of social networking website has become a social norm in the way our society communicates with each one another. I believe that there are benefits with using social networking websites in your private and public life. On the other hand, I do believe that with social networking websites, the boundary between our private and public lifeRead MoreSubculture And Its Impact On Society1426 Words   |  6 Pagesthe mass media had been painting about youth. This picture was of a homogeneous group in which class was not a factor and all youth adhered to one unified culture (Dvarionaite, 2015). Early American theorist of the Chicago school believed class was a leading factor as to why there was social disorganisation. Albert K. Cohen went on further to explain how class created divisions in society. Cohen described subcultures as emerging when, a number of acto rs with similar problems of social adjustmentRead MoreThe Presentation Of The Self By Irving Goffman1167 Words   |  5 Pagesand Interaction Rituals (1967), where the focus was on interaction and social scene rather than self-presentation and identity work. Dramaturgy uses the theatre as an extended metaphor to explain how people perform a variety of social roles, like actors in a play, and that society is made up of groups of players working together to up hold various social realities and functional institutions such as work, school, home, medical, legal or leisure. The two key components of this theory are ‘front andRead MoreThe Media Of Media And Communication Studies1363 Words   |  6 Pagesarea in media and communication studies. The reason why the question of audience remains at the center of media and communication research is not because it is an essential question of research, but because it is rather a theoretical problematic among scholars over time. For more than a century, among the media and communication researchers and academics the study of media audiences has been a primary concern and contested area at the same time. The scholars have analyzed and studied media audiences

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Prayer, Humility, and Fate Free Essays

Victoria Smith (H) English 3 Mrs. Parsons September 24, 2012 Prayer, Humility, and Fate In the story, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain is developed as a Christian hero through his reliance on prayer and his humility which illuminates the theme that God controls fate. Gawain is developed as a Christian knight through his reliance on prayer. We will write a custom essay sample on Prayer, Humility, and Fate or any similar topic only for you Order Now This trait is shown when Gawain is lost in a storm and does not know which way to turn. Gawain prays â€Å"Lord I beseech you†¦for some house where I may hear Mass devoutly† (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 157, 159). Gawain demonstrates his dependence on prayer through this quote because it shows him praying to God for shelter in the storm and continually saying â€Å"Cross of Christ, bless me! † (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 761). Gawain is established as a Christian hero through this quote because he relies on prayer in order to complete his task because he realizes that he cannot do it on his own. Immediately after Gawain prays, God reveals to him a castle just ahead. Gawain’s establishment as a Christian hero illuminates the theme that God controls fate because it shows God granting his request and granting him victory. This is essential to the development of the theme because it clearly shows God altering Gawain’s fate which sets the course for the rest of the story. Gawain’s humility throughout the story also establishes him as a Christian hero. In contrast to Beowulf, a pagan hero, who often bragged about his strength and superior ability; Gawain, a Christian hero, is humble, often to the point of putting himself down. After Bertilak’s wife finishes telling Gawain how great he is, Gawain responds â€Å"I am all unworthy†¦to presume to the honor you ascribe me† (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 1243, 1244). Gawain reveals his humility to Bertilak’s wife by not talking himself up, but humbling himself and claiming himself unworthy of such high praise. Another example of Gawain’s humility can be found when he speaks to Arthur following the Green Knight’s challenge saying â€Å"I am the weakest†¦ and the least wise† and in response to Gawain’s humility, King Arthur gives Gawain God’s blessing and allows him to take the challenge in his place (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 354). Gawain’s humility is essential in his development as a Christian hero because the Bible commands Christians to humble numerous times including the verse found in 1 Peter 5:6 which says, â€Å"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. † As Christians, it is believed that God will exalt those who are humble. This belief is clearly shown through Gawain’s humility and success as a hero further proving the theme that God controls fate. Because of Gawain’s humility, and his reliance on prayer, God grants him success in the end and Gawain is exalted. How to cite Prayer, Humility, and Fate, Papers

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Pragmatism, Analytic Philosophy free essay sample

Philosophical tradition that emphasizes the logical analysis of concepts and the study of the language in which they are expressed. It has been the dominant approach in philosophy in the English speaking world from the early 20th century. With respect to its problems, methods, and style, it is often contrasted with Continental philosophy, though the significance of the opposition has been widely challenged. Analytic philosophers have differed regarding the nature of so-called ordinary language and the methodological value Of appeals to ordinary usage in the logical analysis of concepts. Those known as formalists hold that, because ordinary language is potentially a source of conceptual confusion, philosophy and science should be conducted in a logically transparent formal language based on modern mathematical, or symbolic, logic. Those known as in formalists reject this view, arguing that attempts to improve ordinary language in this way inevitably oversimplify or falsify it, thereby creating conceptual confusion of just the sort that the formalists are concerned to avoid. We will write a custom essay sample on Pragmatism, Analytic Philosophy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Three figures conventionally recognized as founders of the tradition re Gotten Forge, G. E.Moore, and Bertrand Russell. Other major figures include Ludwig Wittgenstein, AS. Rarer, Rudolf Carnal, J. L. Austin, W. V. O. Equine, and David Lewis (1941 2001). ; Some of the most interesting: Descartes, Huskers, Heidegger, Wittgenstein, GEM Ensconce, Donald Davidson, Saul Grippe, Hillary Putnam, Daniel Detente. Principle Issues The pragmatist proceeds from the basic premise that the human capability of theorizing is integral to intelligent practice. Theory and practice are not separate spheres; rather, theories and distinctions are tools r maps for finding our way in the world.As John Dewey put it, there is no question of theory versus practice but rather of intelligent practice Versus uninformed, stupid practice and noted in a conversation with William Peppered Montague that [h]is effort had not been to practicality intelligence but to intellectualized practice. (Quoted in Eliding 1998, p. 5) Theory is an abstraction from direct experience and ultimately must return to inform experience in turn. Thus an organism navigating his or her environment is the grounds for pragmatist inquiry. Acceptance of ordinary language, (as distinct from the continental tradition, where philosophers develop their own technical vocabularies), defense of the common sense view of the world said to be implicit in ordinary language, and a preference for arguing over micro rather than macro issues.

Friday, November 29, 2019

Strategic Management in Dynamic Environments Essay Example

Strategic Management in Dynamic Environments Paper After some good discussions and ideas regarding the expansion plans of the furniture company, the realization comes about that the main factor to consider is the competition that will be encountered in the expansion country Of choice. As a result, there needs to be further research done regarding the top competition for the furniture company in China. After researching furniture companies in China, the two companies that have been chosen are KEA and Marko International Furniture Company. KEA is a company that started out small by a five year old boy with an entrepreneurial spirit selling pencils and match sticks to neighbors. Because of his drive and determination to help out his family, the KEA brand started in 1943 and is a global giant that has stores in forty-one countries, with twelve stores in various neighborhoods of China. The vision of KEA is to create a better daily life for the many, and their business plan is to offer a wide range of well designed, functional home furnishings at prices that are low enough so as many people as possible can afford their furniture (KEA, 2013). We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic Management in Dynamic Environments specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic Management in Dynamic Environments specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic Management in Dynamic Environments specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Marko International Furniture Company was founded in 1995 and has lumber resources that are imported, produces various styles of high-end furniture with different cultural elements, and exports to Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, the U. S, as well as other countries. Marko ranks as one of the top furniture stores in the industry and in the areas of equipment level, production scale, industrial and technical production, as well as marketing, product development, and management. In 2002, Marko created its own brand of furnishings; Marko Home Furnishings and began working with Ethan Allen, one of the largest furniture retailers in the LLC. S, and opened around thirty stores across China (Marko, 2013). As we look at KEA and Marko, it is evident that both these companies have strengths and weaknesses. Because of those strengths and weaknesses, it is important to do a SOOT analysis since it will not only analyze the strengths and weaknesses, but also the opportunities and threats. The strengths of KEA include brand recognition and image, internationally known, unique business model, and a long-term joint venture with their supplier, which equals quality rodents. The weaknesses are privately owned, a reliance on European markets, lower level of customer service, and real estate (large land masses). The opportunities are further international expansion, smaller store locations, moving towards being global and more high-end furniture. The threats are competitors (direct and indirect), shipping prices and rising commodity, copycat companies, and a threat to the performance of the company in specifically the American and UK markets. KEA is a direct competitor to us because of their established global presence and brand recognition, and urinate styles that look high-end, but are inexpensive. They also have several locations throughout China. In some ways KEA has an advantage over us because of their inexpensive products, but are of quality. However, our advantage over them is that our customer base wants furniture that is of quality and furniture that is already assembled (KEA, 2013). The strengths of Marko is their collaboration between Ethan Allen and their own brand Marko Home Furnishings and a strong operating performance, known internationally, free shipping, marketing strategy, and economies of scale. The weaknesses are an over dependence on domestic regions, high employee turnover, expensive products. The opportunities are recovering economy, strategic acquisitions, and additional global expansion. The threats are falling housing investments in the IS. S, labor and Wage issues in China, aging population on main shopper sector, and competition (direct and indirect). Marko is a direct competitor for us because they are a well established company in China with a working relationship with Ethan Allen and export to countries like Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan, and the U. S. They also have a did range of high-end furniture with influences from the countries they export to and a direct competition to our product line. The advantage they have over us is that they are an established company with various locations throughout China (Marko, 2013). When discussing a cooperative strategy with our competitors, this is something that is highly possible with Marko. Since this company has already established a working relationship with Ethan Allen, why not add more partnerships to the mix. This form of relationship will have benefits for involved by adding value to each company. As far as KEA not so sure that a cooperative strategy is possible, KEA is a company that has its own way of doing things and their own ideology. If it were possible, our company would have to do things Kikes way. Another strategy that the furniture company should perform is building a competitive market profile. This process helps companies to identify and communicate with the forecast that offers the best opportunity for success. This type of profile is a concise description of the type of prospects the company wants to sell to. In order to do this there are certain steps to follow: identify the target market or our products as accurately as achievable; profile business customers by a set of different attributes consisting of size, location, and industry, as well as decision makers; research the preferences and interest of that target market; build a profile that is more detailed of the target audience on our website regarding their specific requirements; identify the benefits of the products that represent the best value for our customers; and create a positioning statement that I distinct for each sector of customers.

Monday, November 25, 2019

The poem Half-past Two Essays

The poem Half-past Two Essays The poem Half-past Two Paper The poem Half-past Two Paper The poem Half-past Two is written from a childs point of view, and serves to identify the problems that could occur when a child is faced with an authoritative adult. The impact of the teachers behaviour on the child is frequently emphasized, either by the use of italics or capitals. In the second line of the first stanza, the capital letters in the phrase Very Wrong differentiate the teachers voice and the emphasis she bestows on these words, which effectively shows the solid impression the words had in the childs memory. This is further supported by the ironic remark by the child I forgot what it was, meaning that the teachers accusation left him a more distinct recollection and that his wrong deed was trivialised. Although the poem is conveyed in a lovely, fantasy way, the poet U. A. Fanthorpe criticized the dismissive teacher by portraying her in an unfavorable light. The teacher is never addressed directly rather than by She or Her. Further more, she is described like an animal when she scuttles into the classroom. From this, it could be seen that the poem Half-past Two does not directly state the specific childhood problem, but depicts the teacher in a negative way so that mild sympathy for the little child is provoked. By thinking in a different way, one could deduce that the child suffered from the neglect by his dismissive teacher, but the poem itself does not convey childhood problem in a very intelligible way. On the other hand In conclusion, the poem My Parents kept me away from Children who were Rough conveys childhood problems in a coherent manner, followed by the poem Half-past Two which attempts to communicate to the readers about childhood obstacles though in an indirect way, while the poem Piano conveys nothing about childhood problems. The three poems are well written in their own ways, but the magnitude of which they explore the theme childhood problems is quite different. This could be due to the differences in culture at the time when the poems were written. Piano was composed in 1918, when the world was dominated by men and little attention was paid to the benefits and rights of children. This perhaps explains why D. H. Lawrence focused more on the man and the problems he encountered while spent little time dwelling on childhood problems. The other two poems Half-past Two and My Parents kept me away from Children who were Rough are relatively modern, which endeavoured to pay tributes to children in a situation where they are getting more important.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Human Resources - Labor Laws and Unions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Human Resources - Labor Laws and Unions - Essay Example It is vital to note that the company has its operations in more than 150 countries with 30 of the same as production bases. GM Company produces such vehicles as Cadillac, Chevrolet, Vauxhall, Opel, Holden and GMC (Cooke, 2003). It is vital to note that GM Company benefitted from chapter 11 Reorganization of 2009. This was a response by shareholders, in Asia and Europe, since they could not access their assets. The reorganization was possible through IPO shares. The government reduced its stake to 26 percent of the same. GM Company falls under the UAW union. This is a union that possesses the mandate of protecting workers from Puerto Rico and the USA. These workers are occupied in notable industries such as automobiles, health and educational sectors. Protecting civil rights and anti-communist movements has a long history. There are notable legal issues that this company may face in different scenarios. In this case, the company might face problems during bankruptcy. This may concern a court action by retired employees to demand payments. The belief in progress of such companies places the same in vulnerable financial situation of not paying their retired employees. In close relation to the same, the company faces legal issues in the case of laying off employees. In such cases, employees might demand reinstatement or better package for retrenchment. It is vital to note that the GM Company faces the legal obligation of awarding a pension plan to each of its employees. This depends on profits as the company progresses. In addition, GM Company faces legal challenges of paying health care obligation to each worker per every vehicle it produces. This does not allow for expansion of profits since the pay rises with sales. In case of breach, this law would break the federal law of PPACA that requires health care obligation to each individual. Avoidance of litigation pertains to having a well

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Matthews College Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Matthews College - Case Study Example ley Allison bore the responsibility of devising a plan that will address the estimated budget deficit of $ 3 million for fiscal year 2004-05 and an estimated budget deficit of $ 4 million for fiscal year 2003-04. President Allison’s strategy for achieving a balanced budget depicted significant aspects that sought to arrest the situation. These aspects included restructuring the administration by designing and establishing a central planning unit and a practice of institution-wide discourse to focus the college on its position. This led to the establishment of a College Planning Council at the College consisting of five faculty, five administrators, and two students. The College Planning Council was to adopt a three-year period with clear and independent guidelines on the budget making process. The council was to analyze and organize the college accordingly. Moreover, the President mandated the Committee on the Budget and Financial Priorities to advise him on the annual budget to present to the Finance Committee of the Boards of Trustees, examine the priorities, and recommend a draft budget. The President had set the principles and commitments that guided the operations of the budget committee, which fostered a participative budget process with clear and detailed information. The President assembled a new senior staff that included the finance vice president who bore the mandate of implementing the President’s strategy. The finance vice president was to appoint an experienced director of budgets with financial systems experience. The President’s strategy also included expanding the scope of the dean of faculty to the dean of academic affairs with additional academic and curriculum budgeting responsibilities. Moreover, the President’s strategy entailed the recruitment of new and quality students to improve the College’s fiscal and academic quality. He also appointed three senior administrators from his senior staff to the budget committee to inform him

Monday, November 18, 2019

Parking Problems in the Florida National University Essay

Parking Problems in the Florida National University - Essay Example In the Florida National University, the issue of parking and campus traffic is increasingly crippling movement. This paper will show policies that can be adopted by the university to reduce parking problems. In many colleges, the problem is addressed by restricting students driving, or simply by allocating parking slots on a first-come-first-served basis (Shoup 21). While these approaches have produced varying levels of success, they have significantly reduced on-campus traffic. However, there are a few associated problems. For example, disabled students should be allowed to drive or be driven to school because o their conditions. In addition, lecturers and other important staff members serve the concern of a large number of people, implying they should not be required to compete with students for parking space in their places of work (Shoup 21). Therefore, despite the merits of the mentioned approaches, there is a need for more conclusive approaches. An economy-based approach has been proposed by Shoup. He proposes that in controlling the parking fees for students and other staff in campuses, it is possible to reduce traffic (Shoup 29). For example, parking lots close to lecture halls and offices are susceptible to traffic congestions. Raising the parking fee in these areas is likely to take them out of the reach of students and thus reduce traffic. Following the laws of economics, reducing the demand increases the supply. Therefore, increasing the prices of parking tickets in vital areas is bound to reduce the strain of parking problems on the campus. However, there is still a predicament with this approach because it requires all people to pay for parking. By extension, all members of staff and special needs groups with no alternative would fall victim to the plan. Therefore, despite the merits of this plan, it raises other problems (Kilbert and Tali 65).

Saturday, November 16, 2019

History of Cooperative Learning

History of Cooperative Learning 2.0 Introduction The review of the literature is organized in seven themes. The first theme aims to provide an overall overview on the history and previous studies made on Cooperative Learning. The second theme addresses the importance of Cooperative Learning. Then, the third and fourth themes focus on Group Work and its benefits. Followed by, are the fifth and sixth themes base on the positive perceptions and experiences from students using group work and use of Group work in accounting class. The seveseventh section which is the last one of the literature review enumerates some of the criticisms of using group work as a teaching and learning strategy. 2.1 History of Cooperative learning The origin of the Cooperative Learning dated back at least 100 years ago, and even thousands of years ago, but little research was made until the 1960s (Jacobs et al., 2002:2). Since then, it has awakened much attention and has constantly been a hot topic in education. From 1960s till today great importance has been attached to the term Cooperative Learning. For instance, in the mid 1960s Johnson and Johnson contributed much for cooperative learning in the training of teachers at the University of Minnesota. Then, it progressed till the early 1970s where researchers like David DeVries and Keith Edwards at Johns Hopkins University built up Teams-Games-Tournaments and other researchers like Sholmo and Yael Sharan in Israel developed the group investigation procedure for the Cooperative Learning groups. In the late 1970s Robert Slavin extended DeVries and Edwards work at Johns Hopkins into Student Teams-Achievement Divisions and modifying computer-assisted instruction into Team-assisted Instruction. At the same time, Spencer Kagan created the Co-op co-op procedure. Followed by, in the 1980s Donald Dansereau widened a number of cooperative scripts, and many other individuals worked out further cooperative procedures (Johnson, Johnson Smith, 1991).The Cooperative Learning has also been found as an effective epitome of communicative language teaching. As affirmed by Putnam (1995) that The Cooperative Learning is embraced within a communicative language teaching framework He also pointed out that the cooperative learning activities are often used in communicative language teaching Cooperative learning has become so common that it is no more considered as a new idea in education. This can be viewed in the mid of 20th century where applications of cooperative learning drew its development to sociology and social psychology specifically to Gordon Allports Social Contact Theory and Morton Deutschs studies of group dynamics. This continues on, as Cooperative Learning is believed to make educational magic in a uniquely 21st century way. 2.2 Definitions of Cooperative learning It is believed that the use of cooperative learning in the classroom as an instructional strategy had been a subject matter for many years. Jenkins and OConnor (1996) suggested that cooperative learning in the classroom is amongst the best strategies for teaching students with and without disabilities in the classroom. As a result, the success of teaching using cooperative learning was conclusive in almost all studies. To begin with, it can be noted that many scholars and researchers have attempted to investigate into the concept of Cooperative Learning. In view of that different definitions have been given to Cooperative learning. According to Slavin (1983) Cooperative learning has been defined as a teaching strategy that encourages students to work in small, heterogeneous learning groups in order to promote individual learning. The fact that learning groups should be mixed or diverse is significant to ensure that learners can learn from each other, and provide encouragement and support to each other in different aspects and at different levels of the curriculum. Likewise, cooperative learning has generally avowed to be the best option for all students since it emphasizes active interaction between students of diverse abilities and backgrounds (Nelson, Gallagher, Coleman, 1993; Tsai, 1998; Wei, 1997; Yu, 1995). The accepted idea proposed in these different definitions by different authors is that Cooperative learning should be taken as a learning approach in which student are grouped together in order to ensure that they help each other in learning an academic subject in the scope of a common goal and also where they are actively participating in the teaching-learning process 2.3 Importance of Cooperative Learning Today cooperative learning is a matter-of-fact in almost all school content areas and, progressively more, in college and university contexts all over the world (Johnson Johnson, 1989; Kessler, 1992). This could be found in the results of several studies of the cooperative learning literature where Springer, Stanne, and Donovan (1997) acknowledged that there is the need for a shift in importance from teaching to learning. At the very first glance, it might seem that cooperative learning is merely the splitting up of students with varying levels in small groups in order to attain common goals. Things; though, are not always what they appear to be. In reality, cooperative learning goes beyond organizing students. For example, as stated by Crandall (1999) Cooperative learning is more than just small group activity. In a well-structured cooperative task, there is a genuine information gap, requiring learners to both listen and contribute to the development of an oral, written or other product which represents the groups efforts, knowledge and perspectives. Many studies have been conducted vis-Ã  -vis the effectiveness of such cooperative learning approaches. Cooperative learning is group learning activity planned so that learning is reliant on the socially structured exchange of information between learners in groups and in which each learner is held accountable for his or her own learning and is motivated to increase the learning of others. (Olsen Kagan, 1992). In addition Barbara Leigh Smith and Jean T. MacGregor (1992) mentioned collaborative learning as an umbrella term for a variety of educational approaches involving joint intellectual effort by students, or students and teachers together. Drawing from this quotation, it can be said that to some extent together with cooperative learning, collaborative learning activities also cover a broad territory of approaches such as classroom discussions intersperse with short lectures, peer teaching, students put together around group work in the amount of in-class or out-of-class time and others. Nunan (1992), for instance, uses the terms cooperative learning and collaborative learning interchangeably and quotes the following definition: Collaborative learning entails students working together to achieve common learning goals.(Slavin, 1983; Sharan et al. 1984). But for this study our prime focus is on group work. 2.4 Definition of Group Work Toseland and Rivas (1984) described group work as a goal directed activity with small groups of people aimed at achieving socio-emotional needs and completing tasks. Normally, this activity is aimed at individual members of a group and to the group as a whole within a system of service delivery. The use of group work has been broadly accepted as an effective teaching and learning tool (Conway, Kember, Sivan, Wu, 1993; Freeman, 1995). More precisely, there is a substantial body of literature advocates that the use of group work as a cooperative learning approach has positively contributes to student learning (James, 2005; Mahenthiran Rouse, 2000; Roberts, 2004; Rossin Hyland, 2003). Furthermore, as stated by Lundgren (2008) cooperative learning was considered as a relationship in a group of students that requires positive interdependence, individual accountability, interpersonal skills, face-to-face positive interaction, and processing. Infrequently, random or special interest teams could be formed to maximize student talents or meet a specific student need (Kagan, 1994). 2.5 Benefits of Group work 2.5.1 Group Work enhance Learning To start with, it is recognized that engaging students in Cooperative learning make them learn best when they are actively involved in the process (Gross Davis, B 1993) and also Cooperative learning involves groups of students working to complete a common task together (Siegel, 2005). It has also been viewed by Vygotsky (1978) that students perform at higher levels when they work in diverse groups, as opposed to working individually. Furthermore, as asserted by Johnson and Johnson (1987) huge majority of the research comparing student-student interaction patterns indicated that students learn more effectively when they work cooperatively. Other investigators like Cotterill and Mills (1994), in Australia at Wollongong University, stated that all three benefits of group work in their assessment policy, Group work, under proper conditions, encourages peer learning and peer support and many studies validate the efficacy of peer learning. It is said that teachers also get satisfaction with the integration of cooperative learning groups (Linchevski Kutscher, 1998). It is so because the use of small groups requires fundamental changes not only in the organization of the classroom but also in ways of learning (Kramarski Mevarech, 2003). Likewise, cooperative learning facilitate individuals to develop their own understanding as cooperative learning approaches force learners to actively relate their own experiences and perceptions to those of others. Consequently, while interacting in cooperative learning activities individual understandings are verbalized and discussed and in the process of discussion new meanings are created as learners help each other to better understand the learning matter. (e.g. Akan, 2005; Anderson et al, 1996; Kalliath et al, 2006). It is at this point interesting to note that Anderson et al (1996) put forward that group learning has become more important, as institutions of higher learning consist of increasing numbers of mature learners who bring life and work experience into the classrooms. Therefore, these mature learners return to formal education because rapid social, economic and technological changes require them to be lifelong learners with transferable skills. 2.5.2 Group Work and its 21st Century Skills Using Group work as a teaching and learning strategy does not only promote cognitive development but also plays an important role in the development of personal and social skills which will help students in future. As per Bermejo (2005) Group work is becoming more and more imperative with the demand for higher order thinking skills in the 21st century job market. The field of collaborative learning broadens beyond the classroom walls and then cooperative learning may be observed as a component of collaborative learning. This has been clearly discussed by Wiersma (2002) who believed that collaborative learning has a wider application outside the classroom and is rather a philosophy of life that involves working together, building together, learning together, changing together, improving together. Its a philosophy that fits todays globalized world. Moreover, it has been seen that in a literature there is a strong support that a successful cooperative work environment will lead to greater effort to achieve, more positive interpersonal relationships, and greater psychological health when compared to a competitive work environment (Johnson Johnson, 1989). As argued by Gibbs (2001) the requirements for students to enter todays work force with the ability to identify and organize information and resources, communicate well with others, and understand social and organizational systems. Therefore, it will be true to say that Collaborative learning does enhance leadership skills by developing and strengthening team members abilities to reflect, respect, converse, and resolve conflict. 2.6 Positive perceptions and experiences from students using Group Work According to Walker (2001) little research has been published to date reporting on student perceptions of group work. Despite the fact that focus of her study is on student perceptions of group work associated to peer assessment, her findings suggest that students in general had a positive attitude towards group work. The facts that most students are usually positive about group work have been echoed by additional researchers. To start with, Chapman et al (2006) in a study found that the overall attitude generally positive [and] degree of conflict was moderate. As a result, it can be said that most group experiences can be categorized as a positive one. The question which needs to be answered is: What are these positive experiences? At first, it will be true to say that students appear to enjoy working cooperatively and are willing to cooperate with others in the group (Krol, Janssen, Veenman, van der Linden, 2004). The reason behind which is the fact that it encourages various styles in which learning takes place. Normally, learning in groups is experienced as fun and more active. This can be found in a study by Yazici (2004) entitled as Student Perceptions of Collaborative Learning in Operations Management Classes provided evidence that the students agreed that they had a better understanding of Operations Management in a collaborative instruction environment. As said by Colbeck et al (2000) students who experienced to group learning approaches in education learn to value the skills which they are acquired for their future careers, like for instance, the ability to listen to other perspectives with an open mind, to suspend judgments, and to search for solutions in a democratic and inclusive manner. Moreover, in a study made by De Vita (2001) students found group work to be demanding, but on the other hand they felt that they learned a lot about themselves and felt better prepared to work in diverse teams in the future. As a result, it can be said that group work has lead to positive impact on students. 2.7 Use of group work in Accounting Class Many studies have focused on cooperative learning as teaching strategy in accounting field. For instance, Norman, Rose Lehmann (2004) in their broad review of literature between 1990 and 2003 agreed on the terms collaboration and cooperative learning were used interchangeably in many international accounting journals and elsewhere. In a study by B.J Farrell and H.M Farrell (2009) called Student satisfaction with cooperative learning in an Accounting curriculum showed that team work has been as an instructional strategy. As a result, it can be viewed that the used of cooperative learning is common in tertiary sector. Thus, teachers in secondary schools must ensure that cooperative strategies are being used. In Mauritius, either it is in Primary or Secondary schools; more focus is paid on teacher-centered classroom rather than student-centered. Therefore, for accounting students who will opt for further studies in Universities or will join the world market, they should possess the knowledge, quality and skill to work in groups. It is because team work is required in almost every universities and work place. Hence, in every classroom, especially in accounting teachers must structure lessons so that students work co operatively in small groups, ensuring that all members master the assigned material. Restructuring the classroom using one of the many cooperative learning models represents a major departure from the traditional classroom setting. In Mauritius it can be clearly noted that there are a competitive situations in classroom. Students only aim is to compete with each other for grades, they work against each other to attain a goal that is getting the highest mark. Therefore this lead to a competitive or individualistic classroom environment, but studies have shown that working in groups lead to significant positive effects on the learning of the students ( Johnson Johnson, 1989; Johnson, Johnson and Smith, 1981, 1991; Johnson et. al. 1981; Qin, Johnson, Johnson, 1995). 2.8 Criticism of Group Work It is believed that to avoid drawbacks of this particular teaching strategy, it is of the essence to recognize what has been said against it. Many researchers have proved that cooperative elements alone do not ensure maximal productivity from a learning group; there has to be both cooperation and conflict (Iganaki Hatano, 1986, Tjosvold Johnson, 1978, Worchel McCormick, 1963). To be more precise, group work practices have been criticized as being ineffective (Alexander, Rose Woodhead, 1992). It is because many problems like conflicts of ideas, disagreements, misunderstanding and free riders can be found during the processes of the strategy. On the word of D.Johnson, R.Johnson and A.Smith (1990), it has been viewed that when students interact conflicts among their ideas, conclusions, theories, information, views, opinions and preferences are obvious. Furthermore, Cohen (1996) stressed upon the fact that, Disagreements about ideas is a healthy sign during group work as long as intellectual disagreement does not degenerate into sharp interpersonal conflict. As said by Ames (1984) when cooperative groups fail, there is the tendency to fix blame on others and the weaker group members become the scapegoat. Therefore, misunderstanding might rise up. There are still some cases where pupils, even in small groups, tend to be silent participants and depend on the thinking of other students. Previous studies by Galton et al. (1980) and Bennet (1987) have shown that, whilst children in classrooms may be seen sitting in groups; closer observation proves that their mode of working is rarely collaborative. Free-rider is a familiar problem in group work. In a study by Per Ola BÃ ¶rjesson et al. named Free-riding in Group Work Mechanisms and Countermeasures, free-riding in group work has been described when one or several members of a group contribute so little to a group project that if the same grade is given to all members of the group, the grade would be misleading and unfair. Hence, this is ascertained that such problem is inevitable. Although many studies have shown that both low and high ability students tend to benefit from cooperative learning, the question of whether the experience of working in group will be of value in terms of creating a pleasant environment which will lead students in achieving academically is remained to be answered. Occasionally, random or special interest teams could be formed to maximize student talents or meet a specific student need (Kagan, 1994). It was certainly understandable Jerome Bruner wrote The single most characteristic thing about human beings is that they learn (1967: 113). The review of the cooperative learning literature is structured around six themes. The first theme aims to provide a theoretical frame of learning underpinning the use of group work as learning and teaching strategy in education in general. The second theme focuses on the rationale for the use of group work in Accounting. Vital in a discussion about group work in accounting education are the group work experiences and views of learners and educators as discussed in studies about group work these make up the third and fourth theme respectively. The review then examines suggestions put forward in the literature regarding ways to overcome some of the challenges associated with group work. The last theme focuses on the influence of task design on group work and suggests that good design can contribute to addressing a number of group work challenges. Use of collaborative learning in general collaborative learning Use of group work in accounting Group work experiences and views of learners as discussed in previous studies Overcome some challenges Task to design group work There have also been criticisms of this pedagogic approach, Holt et al (1997) council against its indiscriminate use. They note the complex relationship between individual, competitive and collaborative behaviours. Holt also stresses that all costs and benefits, particularly to the students, must be weighed. Further noting that time, in particular, is a very scarce resource for students. Evaluation has been carried out on the effectiveness of group work in accounting education for meeting the desired learning outcomes (Caldwell et al 1996; Ravenscroft et al 1997, Berry, 1993). Berry expresses concerns similar to those above about theconflict between individual and collaborative behaviours in this context. The effect of cooperative learning has been measured using student examination performance Ciccotello et al (1997). observed that students exposed to cooperative learning outperformed students taught by individual problem solving sessions on a managerial accounting course. Several papers report on the implementation and operational issues arising from the use of group work in accounting (Cottell et al, 1992; Cottell et al 1993; Peek et al, 1995). Referring back to the Group work in accouting that cooperative learning as a student-focussed pedagogical approach provides educational satisfaction (Norman et al., 2004) in creating a positive learning engagement for most students studying International Accounting and in developing their interpersonal, professional and written communication skills. Norman, Rose Lehmann (2004) in their extensive review of literature between 1990 and 2003 found the terms collaboration and cooperative learning were used interchangeably in many international accounting journals and elsewhere.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Free Great Gatsby Essays: Criticism of American Society :: Great Gatsby Essays

The Great Gatsby as Criticism of American Society    In the novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald is criticizing American society of the 1920s. He uses the characters to demonstrate the power than men had over women during these times, as well as their mindless, self-indulgent actions, where consequence was only an afterthought. The attitude towards and the role of women is shown throughout the novel. Fitzgerald also shows how many people in America during this time were delusional and had meaningless existences.    Fitzgerald has used Tom in The Great Gatsby, to demonstrate the power that men had during the 1920s. In order to understand Tom's purpose in the book, it must be known that he has been purposely set up as a character the reader does not like. Fitzgerald has done this, as he does not like men whose lives mirror Tom's. Tom is a violent man, who is completely in control of the women in his life. He shows how disrespectful some men were to women. For example, he breaks his mistress Myrtle's nose.    Making a short, deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand    Another example showing the disrespect for women is the fact that Tom is cheating on Daisy quite openly. She knows that he is having an affair, but there is nothing that she can do about it. Fitzgerald comments on this power and disrespect that men had for women because he disagrees with it himself. He believes that men should not do these terrible things. Tom never once expresses his guilt for his actions, and never considers Daisy's feelings. His life is full of selfish actions which lead him nowhere.    Fitzgerald comments on the changing role and attitudes of women of the 1920s in America. He shows this through the characters Daisy and Jordan. Daisy and Jordan both drink, smoke and drive, and associate freely with men. Daisy's flirtatiousness is an example of this, along with her drunken state in the first chapter when she says 'I'm p-paralysed with happiness'. Daisy also shows the attitude Fitzgerald felt was common in this society, when talking about her daughter.    'I'm glad it's a girl. I hope she'll be a fool -that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.'    This demonstrates that during the 1920s, women were not regarded as equals, and had little chance of making something of their lives.

Monday, November 11, 2019

US Military Scandal

Weber Miscarried University In today's world a topic that is becoming more popular by numerous infamous scandals is that of business ethics. With companies and businesses alike now realizing that their consumers care about how the operations work in the company can affect their sales they are becoming more aware of how to run operations ethically.Although it is every groups goal to run plans ethically there are still many instances in which they fall short of this bar, whether it be because of greedy influences or being unaware of the laws it is a dilemma that must be approached wisely and handle with care. While most scandals involve a corporation or business while scanning the Internet I came across one that really caught my attention, a scandal within the US Military about cheating on tests, drug use, and the mishandling of missiles.First news broke about this scandal in early January when the Air Force reported its open investigation of unknown exam cheating and scandals involvi ng multiple officers in charge of our country nuclear forces. This recent scandal is one that was roughs to attention after the Air Force was investigating a non-related drug scandal at 6 other bases. This should come as a great concern to all people living in the US, for these are the generals and officers who are responsible for controlling the 450 nuclear missiles and fate of our country.When further looked into it was found that 34 officers, all high class lieutenants or captains, were somehow involved in this scandal, some who were either caught cheating on the monthly proficiency tests or those that were aware of what was going on and did not report the actions. Along tit these accusations it was made clear by Air Force officials that two of the suspected officers also had relations regarding illegal drug use with an officer from an air base in Wyoming.Being one of the most structured and toughest parts of the defense forces to get into the Air Force is not taking this situati on lightly as nuclear launch officers have no room for error handling such dangerous and destructive weapons. ‘The root of all this madness is still unknown but there has been one major discharge of a commander from the Base at Minot because it was seen that there as a â€Å"loss of confidence† in his leadership skills as well as the firing of a commander in charge of training missile crews after a large number of launch officers did poorly on tests.This is not the first scandal that the Air Force has faced after an incident in 2008 where the past secretary of defense Robert M. Gates fired a top general and civilian leader after a crew made a cross-country Journey unaware that 6 missiles on board were armed with nuclear warheads. The major dilemma in all this is these people are supposed to be the ones we as citizens look up to and protect our country et when we read news like this it really hinders our idea of what safety really is.With such difficult guidelines, laws, and requirements it is amazing that such a scandal would be present in an area as important as the protection and well being of the United States as a country, but also goes to show that scandals and dilemmas are present in every aspect of this world no matter what the subject at hand. US Defense Secretary Chuck Haggle has not taken lightly to this situation as he explained that he is â€Å"deeply troubled† by the slue of military scandals in recent months (Talisman, 2014).In January when becoming fully aware of all the problems inside the Air Force and military as a whole Haggle forced a review of operations which also included the Navy. In shear numbers 30 senior instructors have been accused of sharing answer sheets to nuclear qualification tests and 1,200 Navy soldiers, 200 of which were officers, took part in a long-term scheme involving fraudulent recruiting in order to collect roughly $100 million in promised recruiting payments (Talisman, 2014). Hazel's biggest worry is that none of this is by accident and is all a result of unethical behavior by people in uniform†.He along with many others believe that this is an issue that should be put on the top of the list and needs close attention and although it only involves a small number of those in service it is a matter of integrity that he wishes the forces can maintain regardless of those few who disobeyed the law. I felt that this issue was handled greatly and will continue to be throughout the rest of the investigation. Haggle understands the importance of the well being of the country and is not going to let this be something that could be the season for our downfall.Although investigations may take more than a year to complete I trust the decision of the Secretary of Defense as he made if the first problem to be addressed when regarding the military. If this were the situation for a company or business I think that they would have handled it the exact same way, firstly be removing those that were involved or believed to be involved in the problem. Second course of action would be getting down to the bottom of the problem and finding the source, which were ultimately the loosely supervised exams restored by senior leaders and lieutenants.After finding who was to blame for these faults it became evident that those people were to be interviewed immensely for why they took the course of actions they did. A document regarding this even went as far as saying that the â€Å"group testing† was viewed as â€Å"taking care of each other† and easing the pressure as the officers felt they needed a perfect score on the exams (Burns, 2014). So in the end I think this is being handled effectively and that it should have been done in no other manner.Although it is evident that this can instill a lot of fear in the eyes of those who live in this great country the military wanted to make it apparent that there was no evidence that the recent problems lead to mishandlin g of nuclear weapons or Jeopardized any citizens safety. Following this event it will be interesting to see how it progresses as the investigation continues with the interviewing of many officers and those involved in the scandal. Being that the scandal involves nuclear weapons I am curious to see if there will be any new laws or regulations that will be put in place during such vents such as exams and testing.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Effect of Coffee Essay

Abstract The present study was undertaken to evaluate the use of ground roasted coffee (Coffee Arabica; GRC) as a natural feed additive in practical fish diets and its impact on growth, feed utilization, biochemical variables, and body composition of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L. ). Ground roasted coffee was added to the ingredients of tested diets to represent 0. 0 (control), 0. 5, 1. 0, 2. 0, or 5. 0 g/kg diet. Fish (1. 9 Â ± 0. 03 g) were distributed to various treatments at a rate of 20 fish per 80-L aquarium and fed one of the experimental diets for 10 weeks. No growth-promoting influences of GRC were observed; however, the optimum fish growth and feed utilization were obtained at 0. 0 – 1. 0 g GRC/kg diet. The inclusion of GRC in fish diet over 1. 0 g/kg diet reduced fish growth, feed consumption, and the protein contents in fish body. The highest lipids and ash contents were obtained at 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet. Glucose, plasma protein, and plasma lipids decreased significantly, meanwhile aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and creatinine increased significantly in fish fed 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet. Fish survival (93. 3 – 97. 8%) was not affect by GRC inclusion in fish diets. These results indicate that GRC supplement is not a promising growth stimulant for Nile tilapia. Keywords: Nile tilapia, ground roasted coffee, Coffee Arabica, fish growth, feed utilization, body composition, biochemical variables, fish health. INTRODUCTION Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L. ) is one of the most popular species in Egypt and worldwide (El-Sayed, 2006). As the regular use of antibiotics and chemicals as preventative and curative measures for disease leads to drug-resistant bacteria and harmful effects on the environment (Teuber, 2001; Bachere, 2003; Hermann et al., 2003), alternatives to antibiotics and chemicals to improve the quality and sustainability of aquaculture production have been seen as desirable (Meunpol et al. , 2003; Vaseeharan and Ramasamy, 2003; Li et al. , 2006). Medicinal plants have been used as immune-stimulants for human in China and old civilization for thousands years (Tan and Vanitha, 2004). These plants contain many types of active components such as polysaccharides, alkaloids, or flavonoids that have immuno-stimulating activities in mice, chickens, or human cell lines (Cao and Lin, 2003; Lin and Zhang, 2004). The use of medicinal plants as immuno-stimulants in fish diets has been considered (Abdel-Tawwab et al. , 2010; Ahmad and Abdel-Tawwab 2011; Ahmad et al. ; in press). Many studies have been conducted on using coffee pulp in fish diets and they found adverse effects of coffee pulp on fish growth and feed utilization (Fagbenro and Arowosoge, 1991; Moreau et al. , 2003; Ulloa and Verreth, 2003; Chatzifotis et al. , 2008). Some other studies reported that coffee shows an antioxidant activity because it contains many substances like caffeine, cafestol, kahweol, and chlorogenic acids (Pellegrini et al., 2003; Vinson et al. , 2005). Due to the abundance of antioxidant compounds in coffee, these agents must be seriously considered when elucidating potential pharmacological effects of coffee intake. Therefore, the present research aims to evaluate the effect of ground roasted coffee (GRC) supplementation on growth, feed efficiency, feed consumption, biochemical variables, and proximate composition of Nile tilapia, O. niloticus. MATERIALS AND METHODS Fish culture and feeding regime – Ground roasted coffee (Coffee Arabica; GRC) was obtained from the local market. Five different diets containing 0. 0, 0. 5, 1. 0, 2. 0 and 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet were formulated. The dietary ingredients were thoroughly mixed and moistened by the addition of 100 ml warm water per kg diet and then made into pellets by a mincing machine. The pellets were cut into shape manually, dried in an oven at 55 oC till constant weight was obtained and stored in a freezer at -2 oC until use. Nile tilapia, O. niloticus were obtained from fish hatchery, Central Laboratory for Aquaculture Research, Abbassa, abo-Hammad, Sharqia, Egypt. Before starting the experiment, fish were acclimated and hand-fed to apparent satiation twice a day for 2 weeks. For the experiment, 15 80-L aquaria were used and oxygenated to saturation by air pumps. In each aquarium, 20 randomly distributed fish (1. 9 Â ± 0. 03 g) were stocked. The tested diets were administered to five fish groups with three replicates per each. Fish were hand-fed for satiation thrice daily 5 days a week for 10 weeks. Settled fish wastes along with three-quarter of aquarium’s water were siphoned daily. Siphoned water was replaced by clean and aerated water from a storage tank. Average weight per aquarium was assessed every 2 weeks by group-weighing all fish. Fish were starved for a day before weighing. Fish growth and feed utilization – At the end of the experiment, fish per each aquarium were harvested, counted, and weighed. Fish growth and feed utilization variables were calculated as follows: Weight gain (g) = final weight – initial weight; Specific growth rate (SGR; %/day) = 100 (Ln final weight – Ln initial weight) / days; Feed conversion ratio (FCR) = feed intake (g) / weight gain (g); Protein efficiency ratio (PER) = weight gain (g) / protein intake (g); Fat efficiency ratio (FER) = weight gain (g) / fat intake (g); Energy utilization (EU; %) = 100 x (energy gain / energy intake). Chemical analysis of diets and fish – The proximate chemical analyses of the tested diets and fish samples were done for moisture, crude protein, total lipids, and total ash according to the standard methods of AOAC (1990). Moisture content was estimated by drying the samples to constant weight at 95 oC in drying oven (GCA, model 18EM, Precision Scientific group, Chicago, Illinois, USA). Nitrogen content was measured using a microkjeldahl apparatus (Labconco, Labconco Corporation, Kansas, Missouri, USA) and crude protein was estimated by multiplying nitrogen content by 6. 25. Lipid content was determined by ether extraction in multi-unit extraction Soxhlet apparatus (Lab-Line Instruments, Inc. , Melrose Park, Illinois, USA) for 16 hours. Total ash was determined by combusting dry samples in a muffle furnace (Thermolyne Corporation, Dubuque, Iowa, USA) at 550 oC for 6 hours. Biochemical measurements – At the end of the 10-week feeding trial, feed was withhold 24 hour immediately prior to sampling and five fish per aquaria were randomly chosen and anesthetized with tricaine methanesulfate (20 mg/L). Blood samples were collected from the caudal vessel and the extracted blood was collected in Eppendorf tubes contained 500 U sodium heparinate/mL; used as an anticoagulant. The collected plasma was stored at –20 oC for further assays. Blood glucose, plasma total protein, plasma total lipids, and plasma creatinine were calorimetrically determined according to Trinder (1969), Henry (1964), Joseph et al. (1972), and Henry (1974), respectively. Activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) in plasma were determined colorimetrically according to Reitman and Frankel (1957). Statistical analysis – The obtained data were subjected to one-way ANOVA to evaluate the effect of GRC supplementation. Differences between means were tested at the 5% probability level using Duncan test. All the statistical analyses were done using SPSS program version 10 (SPSS, Richmond, VA, USA) as described by Dytham (1999). RESULTS In the present study, fish grow gradually by time in all treatments (Figure 1). Final fish weight, weight gain, and specific growth rate were not significantly (P < 0. 05) affected with the increase in GRC levels up to 1. 0 g/kg after which growth declined (Table 1). The lowest fish growth was obtained at 2. 0 – 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet. Moreover, fish fed on diets containing 2. 0 and 5. 0 g GRC/kg consumed less diet than the other treatments giving the highest FCR (1. 4 and 1. 5, respectively). Meanwhile, fish fed on 0. 0 – 1. 0 GRC/kg diet consumed approximately the same feed amount giving the same FCR (1. 3; Table 2). Table 1. Growth performance and survival of Nile tilapia fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. |GRC levels |Initial weight |Final weight |Weight gain |SGR |Fish survival | |(g/kg diet) |(g) |(g) |(g) |(%/day) |(%) | |0. 0 |1. 9Â ±0. 03 |14. 5Â ±0. 35 a |12. 6Â ±0. 38 a |2. 90Â ±0. 059 a |95. 6Â ±4. 43 | |0. 5 |1. 9Â ±0. 01 |14. 5Â ±0. 55 a |12. 6Â ±0. 55 a |2. 90Â ±0. 052 a |95. 5Â ±2. 23 | |1. 0 |1. 9Â ±0. 01 |14. 0Â ±0. 58 ab |12. 1Â ±0. 58 ab |2. 85Â ±0. 058 ab |97. 8Â ±2. 23 | |2. 0 |1. 9Â ±0. 03 |12. 5Â ±0. 55 bc |10. 6Â ±0. 52 bc |2. 69Â ±0. 043 bc |93. 3Â ±3. 84 | |5. 0 |1. 9Â ±0. 03 |11. 2Â ±0. 36 c |9. 3Â ±0. 38 c |2. 53Â ±0. 066 c |95. 6Â ±4. 43 | Means having the same letter in the same column are significantly differed at P < 0. 05. |Fish |[pic] | |growth (g)| | | |Weeks | Figure 1. The weight of Nile tilapia (g) fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. Furthermore, no significant differences were observed in fat efficiency ratio, protein efficiency ratio, and energy utilization at 0. 0 – 1. 0 GRC/kg diet levels and the lowest values of these parameters were obtained when fish fed 2. 0 – 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet (Table 2). On the other hand, fish survival range was 93. 3 – 97. 8% with no significant difference (P > 0. 05) among the different treatments. Table 2. Feed utilization by Nile tilapia fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. |GRC levels |Feed intake |FCR |Fat efficiency ratio |Protein efficiency |Energy utilization (%)| |(g/kg diet) |(g feed/fish) | | |ratio | | |0. 0 |16. 0Â ±0. 88 a |1. 3Â ±0. 033 b |10. 50Â ±0. 876 a |2. 86Â ±0. 238 a |32. 0Â ±1. 271 ab | |0. 5 |16. 0Â ±0. 44 a |1. 3Â ±0. 058 b |10. 08Â ±0. 123 a |2. 86Â ±0. 033 a |32. 8Â ±2. 119 a | |1. 0 |16. 1Â ±0. 44 a |1. 3Â ±0. 033 b |9. 45Â ±0. 568 ab |2. 74Â ±0. 154 ab |31. 4Â ±2. 227 ab | |2. 0 |14. 7Â ±0. 78 b |1. 4Â ±0. 033 ab |9. 22Â ±0. 108 b |2. 62Â ±0. 027 b |30. 1Â ±1. 266 bc | |5. 0 |14. 0Â ±0. 58 b |1. 5Â ±0. 058 a |8. 38Â ±0. 390 c |2. 39Â ±0. 106 c |28. 5Â ±0. 203 c |. Means having the same letter in the same column are significantly differed at P < 0. 05. The GRC supplementation in the present study significantly affected the whole-fish body constituents except moisture content, which did not vary significantly (P > 0. 05; Table 3). The protein content decreased significantly, meanwhile lipid and ash contents increased significantly by increasing GRC levels. The lowest protein (15. 1%), the highest lipids (9. 7%) and the highest ash (3. 8%) contents were obtained at 5. 0 GRC/kg diets. In addition, fish fed the control diet exhibited the highest protein (61.4%) and the lowest lipid (25. 5%) contents (Table 3). Table 3. Proximate composition of whole-body (%; on fresh weight basis) of Nile tilapia fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. | GRC levels |Moisture |Crude protein |Total lipid |Total ash | |(g/kg diet) | | | | | |0. 0 |72. 3Â ±0. 31 |17. 2Â ±0. 29 a |7. 1Â ±0. 03 c |3. 2Â ±0. 09 b | |0. 5 |71. 8Â ±0. 28 |16. 9Â ±0. 17 a |7. 7Â ±0. 19 bc |3. 2Â ±0. 07 b | |1. 0 |72. 0Â ±0. 27 |16. 4Â ±0. 18 a |8. 0Â ±0. 16 b |3. 3Â ±0. 13 b | |2. 0 |72. 1Â ±0. 87 |16. 5Â ±0. 53 a |8. 1Â ±0. 26 b |3. 2Â ±0. 17 b | |5. 0 |71. 7Â ±0. 41 |15. 1Â ±0. 30 b |9. 7Â ±0. 15 a |3. 8Â ±0. 21 a | Means having the same letter in the same column are significantly differed at P < 0. 05. The biochemical variables were significantly affected by GRC supplementation (P < 0. 05; Tables 4 and 5). The inclusion of 0. 5 – 5. 0 g/kg diet of dietary GRC resulted in significant decreases in glucose, plasma protein and plasma lipids, whereas the highest values of above parameters were obtained with fish fed the control diet (Table 4). Contrarily, AST, ALT, and creatinine values increased significantly with increasing GRC levels and the highest values of these parameters were obtained with fish fed 5. 0 g GRC/kg (Table 5). Fish fed on the control diets exhibited the lowest values. Table 4. Changes in glucose, plasma protein, and plasma lipids in Nile tilapia fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. |GRC levels |Glucose (mg/dL) |Protein (g/dL) |Lipids (g/dL) | |(g/kg diet) | | | | |0. 0 |67. 53Â ±1. 362 a |1. 77Â ±0. 057 a |2. 69Â ±0. 167 a | |0. 5 |55. 23Â ±1. 468 b |1. 63Â ±0. 064 b |1. 61Â ±0. 067 b | |1. 0 |55. 42Â ±2. 669 b |1. 60Â ±0. 061 b |1. 57Â ±0. 083 b | |2. 0 |52. 63Â ±4. 435 b |1. 51Â ±0. 021 b |1. 53Â ±0. 035 b | |5. 0 |50. 23Â ±1. 386 b |1. 37Â ±0. 056 c |1. 42Â ±0. 059 c |. Means having the same letter in the same column are significantly differed at P < 0. 05. Table 5. Changes in AST, ALT, and creatinine in plasma of Nile tilapia fed different levels of ground roasted coffee (GRC) for 10 weeks. |GRC levels |AST (mg/dL) |ALT (mg/dL) |Creatinine (mg/dL) | |(g/kg diet) | | | | |0. 0 |52. 57Â ±2. 919 d |22. 60Â ±2. 023 d |0. 252Â ±0. 0147 d | |0. 5 |63. 60Â ±2. 386 c |37. 23Â ±3. 187 c |0. 328Â ±0. 0117 c | |1. 0 |76. 90Â ±2. 312 b |45. 20Â ±4. 046 bc |0. 386Â ±0. 0684 b | |2. 0 |80. 13Â ±2. 440 b |48. 46Â ±5. 017 b |0. 393Â ±0. 0392 b | |5. 0 |97. 10Â ±5. 103 a |59. 30Â ±1. 350 a |0. 467Â ±0. 0304 a |. Means having the same letter in the same column are significantly differed at P < 0. 05. DISCUSSION The present study showed that GRC adversely affected Nile tilapia growth at a concentration higher than 1. 0 g/kg diet. These results are in concomitant with Fagbenro and Arowosoge (1991), Moreau et al. (2003), and Ulloa and Verreth (2003) who found adverse effects of coffee-containing diets on fish growth. Similarly, Chatzifotis et al. (2008) reported that sea bream, Sparus aurata did not accept the caffeine-containing diet at a 10 g/kg dose but at doses at or lower to 5 g/kg caffeine appeared not to have a deterrent effect. They also stated that the negative effect of caffeine on sea bream growth can be traced in its increased FCR. Throughout the feeding period the fish in all experimental groups were in good health and dose-related mortalities were not observed, indicating that Nile tilapia can tolerate GRC levels (up to 5 g/kg diet) albeit with reduced growth rate and increased feed conversion ratio. It is worth mentioning that 2 – 5 g GRC/kg diet caused a significant decrease in feed consumption and a significant increase in FCR. These results suggested that GRC did influence the diet palatability, implying that the growth retardation at 2 – 5 g GRC/kg diet may be due to the low diet utilization. It has been inferred that caffeine in GRC, together with polyphenols and tannins can deter feed consumption in fish (Ulloa and Verreth, 2003); possibly because of its bitter taste usually perceived by animals (Mazzafera, 2002; Frank et al. , 2004). Furthermore, Kasumyan and Doving (2003) reported that caffeine inhibited the feeding behavior of turbot, Psetta maxima. The proximate composition of whole-fish body was significantly affected by GRC inclusion (Table 3). However, protein content decreased, meanwhile lipids contents decreased by increasing GRC levels. These results disagree with Kobayashi-Hattori et al. (2005) who reported that caffeine induced lipolysis and thereby reduce the body fat mass and body fat percentage in Sprague–Dawley rats fed on a high fat diet. Chatzifotis et al. (2008) found that caffeine cannot reduce the lipid content of white muscle and liver in heterotherm sea bream when reared in low winter temperatures. These changes in protein and lipid contents in fish body herein could be linked with changes in their synthesis and/or deposition rate in fish body (Abdel-Tawwab et al. , 2006). Glucose, serum protein, and serum lipids decreased significantly, meanwhile AST, ALT, and creatinine increased significantly in fish fed 5. 0 g GRC/kg diet. In this regard, Gagne et al. (2006) stated that in rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, long-term exposure to caffeine could lead to lipid peroxidation. Furthermore, caffeine is an inhibitor of glycogen phosphorylase in the mantle tissue of mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis; Serrano et al., 1995) and of lactate dehydrogenase in the muscle of rabbit (Gardiner and Whiteley, 1985). The increase in AST and ALT activities is an indicative to liver dysfunction and the increase in creatinine is an indicative to kidney dysfunction. These results suggest that GRC may contain compounds that caused some kind of stress on fish affecting these biochemical variables. Corradetti et al. (1986) found a chronic-caffeine effect on rats. These results indicate that GRC supplement is not a promising growth stimulant for Nile tilapia and in some cases GRC should not exceed 1. 0%. Further work is needed to explore the role of GRC in enhancing antioxidant activity and/or the anti-toxicity effect against water pollutants Acknowledgment The author would like to thank Mohamed N. Monier and Nahla E. M. Ismael, Central Laboratory for Aquaculture Research (CLAR), Abbassa, Abo-Hammad, Sharqia, Egypt, for their assistance during the running of this study, and Sherien H. Shady, CLAR for doing the physiological assay. REFERENCES Abdel-Tawwab, M. , M. H. Ahmad, S. F. M. Sakr, and M. E. A. Seden. 2010. Use of green tea, Camellia sinensis L. in practical diet for growth and protection of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L.) against Aeromonas hydrophila infection. J. World Aquacult. Soc. , 41: 203-213. Abdel-Tawwab, M. , Y. A. E. Khattab, M. H. Ahmad, and A. M. E. Shalaby. 2006. Compensatory growth, feed utilization, whole body composition and hematological changes in starved juvenile Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L. ). J. Appl. Aquacult. , 18: 17-36. Ahmad, M. H. and M. Abdel-Tawwab. 2011. The use of caraway seeds as a natural feed additive in practical diet for Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L. ). Aquaculture 134: 110-114. Ahmad, M. H. , A. M. D. El-Mesallamy, F. Samir, and F. Zahran. Effect of different levels of cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) on growth performance, feed utilization, whole-body composition, and entropathogenic Aeromonas hydrophila – challenge of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus L. J. Appl. Aquacult (in press). AOAC (1990). Association of Official Analytical Chemists. The Official Methods of Analyses Association of Official Analytical Chemists International. 15th edition, Arlington, VA, 2220, USA. Bachere, E. 2003. Anti-infectious immune effectors in marine invertebrates: potential tools for disease control in larviculture. Aquaculture 227, 427–438. Cao, L. Z. and Z. B. Lin. 2003. Regulatory effect of Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides on cytotoxic T-lymphocytes induced by dendritic cells in vitro. Acta Pharmacologica Sinica, 24: 312–326. Chatzifotis, S. , F. Kokou, K. Ampatzis, I. E. Papadakis, P. Divanach, and C. R. Dermon. 2008. Effects of dietary caffeine on growth, body composition, somatic indexes, and cerebral distribution of acetyl-cholinesterase and nitric oxide synthase in gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata), reared in winter temperature. Aquacult. Nut. , 14: 405-415. Corradetti, R. , F. Pedata, G. Pepeu, and M. G. Vannucchi. 1986. Chronic caffeine treatment reduces caffeine but not adenosine effects on cortical acetylcholine release. Brazil. J. Pharmacol. , 88: 671–676. Dytham, C. 1999. Choosing and Using Statistics: A Biologist’s Guide. Blackwell Science Ltd. , London, UK. El-Sayed, A. -F. M. 2006. Tilapia Culture. CABI publishing, CABI International Willingford, Oxfordshire, UK. Fagbenro, O. A. and I. A. Arowosoge. 1991. Growth response and nutrient digestibility by Clarias isheriensis (Sydenham, 1980) fed varying levels of dietary coffee pulp as replacement for maize in low-cost diets. Bioresource Technology 37, 253–258. Frank, M.E. , Bouverat, B. P. , MacKinnon, B. I. , Hettinger, T. P. , 2004. The distinctiveness of ionic and nonionic bitter stimuli. Physiol. Behav. , 80: 421–431. Gagne, F. , C. Blaise, and C. Andre. 2006. Occurrence of pharmaceutical products in a municipal effluent and toxicity to rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) hepatocytes. Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf. , 64: 329–336. Gardiner, N. S. and C. G. Whiteley. 1985. The interaction and inhibition of muscle lactate dehydrogenase by the alkaloid caffeine. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Com. , 127: 1057–1065. Henry, R. J. 1964. Colorimetric determination of total protein. In: Clinical Chemistry. Harper and Row Publ. , New York, USA. Henry, R. J. 1974. Clinical Chemistry Principles and Techniques. 2nd ed. , Harper and Row Publ. , New York, USA. Hermann, J. R. , M. S. Honeyman, J. J. Zimmerman, B. J. Thacker, P. J. Holden, and C. C. Chang. 2003. Effect of dietary Echinacea purpurea on viremia and performance in porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus-infected nursery pigs. J. Anim. Sci. , 81: 2139–2144. Joseph, A. , M. Knight, S. Anderson, M. James, and H. Rawie. 1972. Chemical basis of the sulfophospho-vanillin reaction for estimating total serum lipid. Clin. Chem. 18: 198-201. Kasumyan, A. O. and K. B. Doving. 2003 Taste preferences in fishes. Fish Fish. , 4: 289–347. Kobayashi-Hattori, K. , A. Mogi, Y. Matsumoto, and T. Takita. 2005. Effect of caffeine on the body fat and lipid metabolism of rats fed on a high-fat diet. Biosci. , Biotech. Biochem. , 69: 2219–2223. Li, J. , B. Tan, K. Mai, Q. Ai, W. Zhang, W. Xu, Z. Liufu, and H. Ma. 2006. Comparative study between probiotic bacterium Arthrobacter XE-7 and chloramphenicol on protection of Penaeus chinensis post-larvae from pathogenic vibrios. Aquaculture 253: 140–147. Lin, Z. B. and H. N. Zhang. 2004. Anti-tumor and immunoregulatory activities of Ganoderma lucidum and its possible mechanisms. Acta Pharmacologica Sinica 25: 1387–1395. Mazzafera, P. 2002. Degratation of caffeine by microorganisms and potential use of decaffeinated coffee husk and pulp in animal feeding. Scientia Agricola 59, 815–821. Meunpol, O. , K. Lopinyosiri, and P. Menasveta. 2003. The effects of ozone and probiotics on the survival of black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon). Aquaculture 220: 437–448. Moreau, Y. , J. L. Arredondo, I. Perraud-Gaime, and S. Roussos. 2003. Dietary utilisation of protein and energy from fresh and ensiled coffee pulp by the Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus. Brazil. Arch. Biol. Tech. , 46: 223–231. Pellegrini, N. , M. Sera? ni, B. Colombi, D. Del Rio, S. Salvatore, M. 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Growth of Oreochromis aureus fed with diets containing graded levels of coffee pulp and reared in two culture systems. Aquaculture 217: 275–283. Vaseeharan, B. and P. Ramasamy. 2003. Control of pathogenic Vibrio spp. by Bacillus subtilis BT23, a possible probiotic treatment for black tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon. Let. Appl. Microbiol. , 36: 83–87. Vinson, J. A. , K. Patel, and G. Agbor. 2005. Polyphenols: total amounts in foods and beverages and US per capital consumption. In: ACS 230th National Meeting. Book of Abstracts (n. AGFD 10). American Chemical Society, Washington.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Margaret Sanger essays

Margaret Sanger essays As a writer for a radical, feminist newspaper, and leading birth control agitator of America, Margaret Sanger held the position as an influential international leader for fifty years. Margaret Sanger was born September 14, 1879 in Corning, New York. The sixth of eleven children, Sanger believed her mothers frequent pregnancies were the cause for her early death. While training as a nurse at the White Plains Hospital in New York, her work among the poor convinced her of the extensive need for information concerning contraception, and she abandoned nursing to dedicate herself to the promotion of her goal. Sanger became a feminist who believed in every woman's right to avoid unwanted pregnancies and she made people accept that women had the right to control their own destinies (Grossmann 23). She devoted herself to removing the barriers to publicizing the facts about contraception through issuing a newspaper called The Woman Rebel that later built the foundations to legally promote birt h control. The publication of The Woman Rebel laid the foundation for the future of the birth control movement and Margaret Sangers personal campaigning of contraceptives. The Woman Rebel was an eight page monthly newspaper that was designed and written from Sangers New York apartment. The Woman Rebel provided women with contraceptive information and aimed to challenge the laws that prevented contraceptive education and distribution of contraceptive devices. Margaret Sanger published The Woman Rebel to both defy the law and "raise ... birth control out of the gutter of obscenity and into the light of human understanding" (Grossmann 66). Birth control was a term first used in the pages of The Woman Rebel, a radical, feminist journal that served as start for future foundations. Throughout her career, Margaret Sanger had a drive to spread her knowledge and experience with the public. In 1915, while visiting a Dutch birth con...

Monday, November 4, 2019

Millennium Dome Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Millennium Dome - Essay Example resources. A project means to achieve an end in harmony with the development process of the sponsoring organization. It is also usually a means to develop assets, acceptable within quality specifications. It is a process whereby six types of resources are invested; such resources are better known as the 6 M’s. These are men, materials, machines, money and minutes. Out of the six M’s minutes and money are mostly independent of one another. But the other 4M’s could be procured in exchange for money, but they are difficult to evaluate in minutes and monetary terms. Therefore it must be ensured that organizations should exercise the utmost caution in selecting and execution a project keeping in mind that resources are scarce commodities. Also keeping the scarcity factor in mind organizations must ensure that the projects should be clearly defined from the point of view of implementation and control (Kothari, 2007, p. 201). During the course of a project an organizati on faces a number of projects that are needed to be overcome to ensure successful execution of the project. The study looks to analyze such problem keeping the case of Millennium Dom at the focal point of discussion. The study looks to provide clear and concise understandings of the overall project management process, initial phase of the millennium dome project planning, the actual execution of the project, evaluate the outcomes of the project ( both positive and negative); and finally based on the above analysis the study looks to provide recommendations (De, 2011, p.229). Project Management Process A project management can be defined as the application of various skills, knowledge, tools, and techniques in order to achieve the required project goal. According to the definition of project management defined by The Project Management Institute (PMI), it is the art of coordinating and directing both material, financial and human resources throughout life of a project by using advanc ed management techniques to successfully achieve predetermined goals. Formulation of the organization as system of problem This is done in such a way to capture and highlight the essential and systematic properties of the organization, not by listing independently formulated threats and opportunities; but by protecting the future that the system would have it, and its environment, were to continue unchanged. It is the future that a system currently is in. End Planning This involves selecting the ideals, objectives and goals to be pursued by preparing an idealized redesign of the system planned for a design which the relevant stake holders would replace the existing system today if they were free to do so. The difference between this most desired design and t description developed in the first phase define the gaps to be filled by the remainder of the planning process. Means Planning Here the ways of filling the gaps are selected. These are more likely to require invention than disco very. They can take the form of policies, programs, projects and procedures, practices or individual courses of action. Resource Planning A determination is made of how much of each type of resource –people, facilities, equipments, materials, energy, money, information, knowledge and understanding will be needed by the means elected, and when these requirements will arise. Then it is quite

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Management Styles within Large and Small Firms and How These Styles Essay

Management Styles within Large and Small Firms and How These Styles May Impact On the Employment Relationship - Essay Example This adoption of managerial styles has yielded long term workforce commitment and led to sustainable levels of overall organisational success (Turnbull and Blyton, 2004, p22). This statement clearly implies that management styles have a profound and measurable impact on the long run success of firms, although there have been claims that the managerial styles in large firms differ from those adopted in small firms (Longnecker et al., 2000, p75), due to a number of possible reasons. As a result, the employment relationship also differs within large and small firms operating within the same industry. According to the European Commission (2005, p14), a small enterprise is described as a business, which employs less than 50 individuals. The annual balance sheet or the annual turnover for this business does not go beyond the 10 million euro mark (European Commission 2005, p14). On the other hand, a large enterprise is a business, which has more than 250 employees, and has exceeded the limi ts of a medium-sized enterprise (QFinance 2012, p1). Therefore, this study is attempts to critically appraise the management styles within companies of various sizes, in order to ascertain and illustrate the impact that variations in management styles may have upon the employment relationship. Management styles can be defined as the characteristic ways in which decisions are made related to the subordinates. They are the efforts, direction, and strategies used by the manager to develop an efficient workplace, and accomplish organizational goals. There are five management styles and they include autocratic, consultative, persuasive, democratic, and laissez faire management styles (Chartered Technofunctional Institute 2012, p1). This study is informed by reference to relevant examples and case studies drawn from academic literature, seeking to ensure a balanced examination of the issues relating to managerial styles and their relationship to the employment relationship. In order to do so, this study provides a comparison of the managemen t styles within firms with reference to theoretical concepts in order to examine the difference, if any, present in the styles used by small and large companies. This essay also describes how the concepts of ‘Unitarism’ and ‘Pluralism’ influence employment relationships, and moves on to a discussion played by trade unions and whether their presence or absence might affect the way in which employers and employees deal with one another. These discussions will be used to inform an examination of the main area of inquiry, providing an informed appraisal of the way in which management styles might affect the employment relationship in firms of varying size. Management Concepts Underlying the Management Styles within Large and Small Firms An abundance of academic literature has been published in the field of management, with one of the earliest theories on management style being that of Frederick Taylor (Casell et al. 2002, p673). This management style (Taylorism ) advocates the standardization of strict standards for performance, and was therefore widely adopted by large industrialized firms (Marlow and Patton, 2002, p22). Taylorism was based on quantity and time as important standards for the measurement of output (division of labour), meaning that the adequacy of any worker was judged by the capability to meet a particular production quota (Berk and Berk 2000, p91). Casell (et al. 2002, p674) states that critics of this management style argue that it degrades the workforce, treating them as mere factors of production: the emphasis on judging people according to rate of output also meant that the quality of an item did not matter, only