Wednesday, October 30, 2019

The inpact of immigration on the construction industry Essay

The inpact of immigration on the construction industry - Essay Example Immigration will lead to increased population in a country and this leads to an increase in the demand for social amenities and this indirectly affects the construction industry. This paper discusses the effects of immigration workers in the UK who work with the construction industry, the construction industry in the United Kingdom has over 250 thousand firms and the industry employs over 2 million people, the paper analysis the effect of immigrant workers with reference to health, skills, communication and infrastructure. The construction industry in the UK is termed as the biggest industry because it employs over 2 million people, it is also termed as the most risky job because in the past 25 year over 2,500 people have died from accidents in construction work, further there has been reports of many illnesses and injuries caused in the work process. The construction industry has a large number of injuries and illnesses compared to other industries. This is because in the industry the workforce is exposed to more physical activities. The immigrant workers in the UK are mostly from Bulgaria and Romania, these immigrants work in the most dangerous tasks and for this reason they account for more injuries and deaths in the construction industry. The immigrants however have been considered to be beneficial to the economy in that they have reduced the tax burden of the natives. Immigrants have differing cultural and social background and this shapes their attitude and their expectations in the work place. The high levels of injuries and deaths of the immigrants in the workplace can be attributed to the following factors; The immigrants have little or no training regarding safety and health in the workplace, for this reason therefore there is an increased occurrence of injuries and deaths in the construction industry which employs most of these immigrants. The immigrant workers who work in the

Monday, October 28, 2019

Pedagogical Practices Essay Example for Free

Pedagogical Practices Essay Abstract This paper provides an insight on the effective pedagogical practices that can be used in the children learning. Some of these practices include the incorporation of ICT in early childhood education and some of effective direct instructional strategies that can have an impact in the learning process of children. Five common learning outcomes for children are identified. In addition, the paper outlines characteristics of effective teaching that contribute to effective teaching. Furthermore, the concept of culture in early childhood education is also discussed. Keywords: Effective teaching, Pedagogy Introduction Early childhood education in Australia falls under the responsibility of each state. The approach in each State towards early childhood education is different. The different States have different school starting ages, nomenclature, approaches in the testing and evaluation of the children, policies, support services and both public and private funded childhood education and care programmes. In Australia, children in preschool and childcare are usually placed under the funding and policy of the health sector, whereas those children aged between 5 and 8 years are placed under the school sector. Amendments by the government have resulted to the combination of the health sector provision and childcare policy to the education sector. Childcare in the States of Victoria has been moved to the Department of Human Services to the Department of Early Childhood Education (DEEW, 2009). In Australia, pedagogy and learning have been put within the context of a developmental paradigm that is widely influenced by developmental (Sumsion et al., 2009). In the past, the school segment has been involved in implementing a discipline-focused criterion together with the child-centred approach to learning and pedagogy. The childcare sector mostly concerns itself with the child, whereas the school sector mainly focuses on the implementation of the curriculum (Church, et al., 2010). Some of the efforts by the Australian government in promoting preschool education include the investing of a million dollars in to the research and development of innovative practices in childcare and preschools. In addition, additional funds have been directed towards the development and research of early childhood programmes. Furthermore, the Australian government is developing a nationwide curriculum for early childhood development that will be implemented nationwide (DEECD, 2009). Pedagogy refers to the correct use of teaching strategies. In addition, pedagogical practices are those set of principles that facilitate and support effective teaching. Use of pedagogy standards assists in the teachers and childhood professionals in achieving their goals (Fleet, Patterson Robertson, 2006). According to the Victorian Framework, five outcomes for children can be identified. These include identity, sense of community, communication, learning and well-being (VCAA, 2000). Effective Teaching Effective teaching is dependent on certain outcomes. These outcomes include the whether the students learn something as the result. Despite the introduction of teaching strategies that have been described as effective, use of these strategies will produce different outcomes in the different learning situations (City et al., 2009). In these scenarios, the teacher will be confronted with the idea of developing instructional strategies and behaviours, which are effective practices as well as combining these strategies at the appropriate time to the individual students. In addition, the teacher has to apply of these strategies depending on the different learning situations and what is the teacher’s goal for students learning outcome (City et al., 2009). Effective teaching’s primary purpose is the attainment of academic knowledge of the student. In addition, effective teaching, as a whole encompasses the attainment of skill or knowledge on a subject of interest by a student, students feeling good about themselves, students obeying the society laws and students liking the school (Alter Coggshall, 2009). Besides ensuring increased academic achievement, the use of instructional strategies should not produce affective loss. Moreover, the instructional strategy that produces positive affective results is the most effective teaching strategy. In order to achieve effective teaching fully, vital understanding of the effective teaching practices, the students, teaching contexts, coherent decision making and learning environments is significant (Dahlberg, Moss Pence, 1999). Characteristics of Effective Teaching Effective teaching involves effective communicating, planning, managing and evaluating the actual process of instructing. Reflective teaching plays a major role in making of informed decision relating to the effective teaching strategies (Mabrina, Church Tayler, 2010). Through reflective teaching, teachers can be able to do a critical analysis their actions and their decisions. Reflective teaching allows teachers to foresee the impact of the teaching methods and in the process may make relevant changes in improving their strategies. In addition, the teacher gains a deeper understanding by scrutinizing the goals of the teaching practice. According to the DEECD (2009), children’s learning becomes advanced when they experience interactions with highly effective childhood professionals. Application of reflective teaching allows the childhood teachers to promote practices are supported by evidence to be doing well in supporting and developing children learning (Osterman, 1990). Furthermore, reflective teaching will allow the childhood professionals ability to challenge and develop new practices that they discover to be effective. In the process of reflective teaching the childhood professionals, improve their knowledge and skills concerning early childhood education. Teachers have to have a comprehensive understanding of the learning values of development the children to cater for the variety of and diversity of children in a classroom setting (Ashmna and Elkins, 2009). This allows the teacher to select the best effective teaching strategies. Consequently, this will necessitate the need of the use of a various instructional resources and technology. To be effective teachers must have adequate knowledge on the subject, which they propose to teach. This includes professional knowledge about teaching in general, pedagogical knowledge about the concepts and theories of effective teaching and pedagogical content knowledge concerning the different teaching approa ches and methods. Another important t characteristic of effective teaching involves the use of a variety of teaching strategies. Use of a variety of teaching techniques stimulates the student s during lesson activities and may encourage students to participate actively in the lesson. This especially true when dealing with children who are normally intrigued by different things and hence in the process may enjoy the lessons. The advantage is that children have inquisitive minds and anything new to them encourage exploratory mind (Rinaldi, 2006). Furthermore, proper assigning of tasks taking into account the time factor will provide the children with adequate time for learning new ideas. Various ways can be used to increase children engagement in learning activities. The teacher can monitor the work of the children as the progress and make comments and appreciation of their efforts. In addition, preparation of a daily schedule that gives a description of the activities that the children will undertake will assist in reducing time wastage activities such as giving directions. Furthermore, individual assignments given to the child should be interesting and easy to them as well as different to what the other children are doing. This promotes their confidence in being able to carry out activities on their own. The children should not only be involved in just doing things in class as a way of ensuring children success rate. The activities should be meaningful and have a relation to what the teacher is planning on teaching. Planning of these activities should replicate the capability and interests of the children. If a child is successful in one day, chances are that the child will replicate the same success in the days to follow. Effective Pedagogical Practices Cognitive Construction Cognitive structures refer to the patterns of the mental or physical actions that bring about specific acts of acumen. These are conditioned by stages of development. An assumption using the Piaget theory is that children are natural and active developers of their own understanding. Growth in a child results to the integration of abstract structures in their understanding. Using Piaget theories on child development, the teacher can be able to facilitate developmental change in a child by assisting the child to find contradictions using hid or prior knowledge and understanding. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy The Victorian Framework for early childhood development t recognizes the fact that culture plays a significant t role in the shaping the learning and development outcomes of children. The childhood professional use of culture empowers the children both socially and emotionally. An example of how the Victorian Framework incorporates culture-based pedagogy is in the Aboriginal culture. Respecting and learning the value of this culture will assist in ensuring that the Victorian children have a sense of belonging in the community. Culture, in this case, is used as a vehicle for learning. Moreover, incorporating of children’s books that outlines the different cultures will assist the children in developing their own personal identities related to their different cultures. In addition, the children can be able to understand the relationships that exist between Australia and Asia and in the process grow up understanding the Asian culture. (ACARA, 2010) Creating Relationships Fostering relationships among the children will assist in building trust, understanding thereby creating a peaceful learning environment for the children. The children strengths’ can be increased by encouraging the children to talk about the family histories. Incorporation of this strategy will assist the children develop social and persona competence as they learn to mange and understand their relationships. This is a key aspect of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Authority (2010). Furthermore, the children will be able to start friendship relationship with one another, work effectively as a team, and be able to make responsible decisions (ACARA, 2010). Use of Technology In recent times, the use of computer games and simulations has a possibility of improving how children learn. Early childhood professionals can incorporate an assortment of strategies using technology. These include the use of a learner-centred approach, promoting cognitive activity, and focusing on learning outcomes. A learner-centred approach will help in assisting the natural process through which children learn. In addition, this approach will allow a better understanding of the children’s cognitive processing and, therefore, affect the learning outcomes of the child. In focusing on promoting the cognitive activity, video games cause the children to be more active. This allows teachers to recognize how the different aspects of the computer software affect the learning process of the child. Consequently, measuring the learning outcomes of the games can help in accessing the level of comprehension in a child. In addition, use of reading software can help determine what children learn from the use of the software. Use of ICT is a key component in the Australian curriculum (ACARA, 2010). Direct Instruction Hunt and Touzel (2009) suggest that the use of direct instruction strategies allows teachers to be able to organize and present material to the children. Direct instructional strategies are characterized by a certain level of predictability of the children responses. This allows teachers to be to respond with ease and in the process save time. The teacher best applies direct teaching for children in the learning of procedures and skills. Teachers use the direct instructional strategies to present information through which the children use their prior knowledge and give feedback to the teacher. Direct instruction strategies ensure the close monitoring of the children’s outcomes and ensure effective use of classroom organization and management methods. The direct instruction process consists of modelling, direct practice, guided practice and independent practice. In modelling, the skill to be imparted on children is performed by the teacher. This normally involves thinking aloud so that the children can grasp the concept. In direct practice, the teacher uses questions through a variety of steps that allow the children to understand the reason behind every step, whereas, in guide practice, the children generate questions working through various steps while the teacher observes, guides them, and provides a response to the questions. Lastly, in independent practice, the students have gained the ability to work on their own and can be able to do more questions without much assistance from the teacher. Examples of direct instructional strategies include explicit teaching, drill, demonstration, lecture presentation and teacher led guide discussion. However, lecture presentations are not effective in teaching children. In explicit teaching, the teacher first gain the attention of the children then provides information, which the children can use to provide feedback to the teacher. Use of demonstrations in teaching children is a more effective method the use of direct instruction. In demonstrations, the children can observe how the teacher carries out a certain task, which helps to increase the attention of the children. Furthermore, using demonstrations allow the children to look at the actual activity rather than hearing about something they cannot see. An example of a demonstration that is normally used in teaching children is the teacher showing them how to tie their laces. Most of these demonstrations are explanatory in nature (Moss et al., 2006). References ACARA (2010). The Shape of the Australian Curriculum. Sydney: Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority Australian Education Ministers. Retrieved from http://www.acara.edu.au/verve/_resources/Shape_of_the_Australian_Curriculum.pdf Alter, J Coggshall, J. G. (2009). Teaching as a Clinical Practice Profession: Implications for Teacher Preparation and State Policy. Retrieved from http://www.tqsource.org/publications/clinicalPractice.pdf Ashmna, A. Elkins, J. (2009). Education for Inclusion and Diversity. NSW: Pearson. Church, A., Deans, J., Raban, B. Margetts, K. (2010). The Early Years Learning Frameworks in Practice. Melbourne: Teaching Solutions. City, E. A., Elmore, R. F., Fiarman, S. E. and Teitel, L. (2009). Instructional Rounds in Education. A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning. Harvard University: Harvard Education Press. DEECD. (2009). Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework. Early Childhood Strategy Division: Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved from http://www.education.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/earlychildhood/learning/veyldframework.pdf Dahlberg, G., Moss, P., Pence, A. (1999). Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care. Philadelphia: Falmer Press. DEEW. (2009).Belonging, Being and Becoming. The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. Retrieved form http://apo.org.au/node/18428 Fleet, A., Patterson, C. Robertson, J. (2006). Insights: Behind early childhood Pedagogical Documentation. NSW: Pademelon Press. Mabrina, L. Church, A. Tayler, C. (2010). Evidence Paper, Practice Principle: Reflective Practice. Retrieved from http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/earlylearning/evi-refprac.pdf Moss, J. et al. (2006). Invitations Inspirations: Pathways to successful teaching. Victoria: Curriculum Corporation. Osterman, K, F. (1990). Reflective Practice: A New Agenda for Education. Education and Urban Society, 22 (2) 133 – 152. Sumsion, J., Barnes, S., Cheeseman, S., Harrison, L., Kennedy, A., Stonehouse, A. (2009). Insider perspectives on Developing Belonging, Being Becoming: The Early Years Frameworks for Australia. Australian Journal of Early Childhood. 24, (4), 4-13. Rinaldi, C. (2006). In Dialogue with Reggio Emilia. Oxon: Routledge. Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (2000). Victorian Essential Learning Standards, Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. Retrieved from http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/

Saturday, October 26, 2019

One Who Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest :: Ken Kesey

Chief is the narrator because if McMurphy were the narrator, he could not quite be telling the story as a fable. He would be empowered to control the path of the narrative--if he were still sane. But Chief, who has not been lobotomized but freed, recounts McMurphy's story and takes the lesson to the outside world. He becomes the messenger. Chief Bromden believes in the "fog" and the power of the "Combine." The fog is, on an individual level, a kind of mental dimness or confusion that also represents the thickness of delusion and suffering that prevents the inmates from seeing their true situation and their true selves. The Combine is, on a social level, a repressive institution and all the individual wheels and cogs in it that ensures that the inmates stay quiescent. When McMurphy supposedly oversleeps and is discovered, we must question the depth of his motivation to escape. McMurphy has found deep fulfillment in helping the men in the ward, especially Bromden, despite his increasing personal frustration. But he also has been letting his frustration distance himself somewhat from his initial efforts at leadership. McMurphy may well be the kind of person who is immoderate in his desires and who might end up oversleeping even while he might have preferred to escape. McMurphy has figuratively disrobed Nurse Ratched, disempowering her and because she has been exposed as human. Her power over the men is further broken, despite her clear victory over McMurphy as an individual. "Thoughts are free," but if part of one's brain has been removed, one does not even have much in the way of thoughts. Ratched has been stripped of much of her authority, her credibility in the overall institution has been further eroded, and Bromden finally gains the independence to escape. Nurse Ratched is nominally the villain, but she symbolizes a somewhat broken institutional system and the problems of a larger, repressive society that subjugates individualism to conformity. She is part of the Combine, and another upon her demise will likely take her place in the machine. Still, she is particularly cruel at a level beyond that of the other doctors and nurses. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey, each character is a representation of something else. Randle McMurphy represents an outside world/nature and Nurse Ratched represents the inside world and is a manipulator. However, Chief Bromden is different. He is depicted as an adherent, the balance between the outside and inside world, and a follower of McMurphy.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Batayang Konseptwal

Element Arrangement The elements show a periodic recurrence of chemical and physical properties when they are arranged in order of increasing atomic number. Elements in the same vertical column are known as groups and the horizontal rows of elements are called periods. All elements in a specific group have equivalent outermost, or valence electron, configurations which accounts for the similarity in the number and type of chemical bonds these elements form. In moving from element to element across a period or down a group, chemical and physical properties change gradually. Most of the elements are metals that chemically tend to lose electrons and form positive ions. The relatively few nonmetals appear in the upper right-hand section of the chart except for hydrogen. The nonmetals have a tendency to react chemically with metals and gain electrons to form negative ions. Nonmetals often bond to each other by forming covalent bonds. Alkali Metals: Highly reactive elements that combine with many nonmetals to form ionic solids (salts). They also form compounds with oxygen that dissolve in water to create solutions that are strongly basic (alkaline). Alkaline Earth Metals: Very reactive elements that form ionic compounds with nonmetals. Many of their oxygen compounds are found in deposits in the ground. Transition Metals: Generally less reactive than the alkali and alkaline earth metals, these elements vary in physical and chemical properties. Many form important alloys with one another and other metals. Several of the transition elements can form more than one positive ion. For example, iron can form more than one compound with a given nonmetal since it exists as two different ions, Fe 2+ and Fe 3+. Lanthanides: Series of transition elements between lanthanum (La) and hafnium (Hf). These elements are found together in nature and they are similar chemically. Actinides: Series of transition elements between actinium (Ac) and rutherfordium (Rf). Many can be prepared in minute quantities only. They tend to form insoluble compounds. Noble Gases: Elements exhibit limited chemical reactivity though the heavier noble gases show degrees of reactivity. These elements have generally complete electron shells. Halogens: Reactive elements that form compounds known as halides. Several halogens including chlorine, fluorine and iodine, have important applications in everyday life. Other Metals: Also referred to as post transition metals. Aluminum is the most abundant metal on earth. Lead, tin and mercury have industrial uses. Other Nonmetals: Includes chemically reactive elements important for life on the planet, such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and phosphorous. Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. [ The camera is the image-forming device, and photographic film or a silicon electronic image sensor is the sensing medium. The respective recording medium can be the film itself, or a digital electronic or magnetic memory. [4] Photographers control the camera and lens to â€Å"expose† the light recording material (such as film) to the required amount of light to form a â€Å"latent image† (on film) or â€Å"raw file† (in digital cameras) which, after appropriate processing, is converted to a usable image. Digital cameras use an electronic image sensor based on light-sensitive electronics such as charge-coupled device (CCD) or complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. The resulting digital image is stored electronically, but can be reproduced on paper or film.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Reaction Paper of World Economic Forum Essay

Child labor refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labor. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries. Child labor was employed to varying extents through most of history, but entered public dispute with the advent of universal schooling, with changes in working conditions during the industrial revolution, and with the emergence of the concepts of workers’ and children’s rights. This definition is from the Wikipedia. Why does this exist? To whom will be the blame be given? Is it the parents, who raised their children to work, or the children themselves who decided to work to overcome hunger and thirst for survival? Is it the government that has to be responsible to this or this is all because of the inevitable poverty we are now experiencing today? For me, I have to blame all because in each problem of the society we encounter, it is not always that it is only a problem of one but rather it is a problem of all. We tend to forget that the ones affected to this kind of problem are also of our kind, Filipinos. We should always remember this statement, â€Å"One for all, and all for one.† I have mentioned above that are the parents to blame for this kind of problem. I say yes, a big yes for me. Why? It is simply because the parents are the first people that the child may know and they are the one who nurtures the child. Moreover, the parents are the one responsible if ever their children have nothing to eat and wear for everyday living. The parents in the society are expected to provide all their children needs for the bore them not to be slaves in the family. The parents are expected to give the right to education for their children to earn knowledge and not send them to factories that would bring them sickness just to earn money. But now, all the expected things turned out wrong. Some parents even do not mind if their children are already at the streets asking alms, some are into drugs, and some engage to crimes such as robbery and prostitution. If I were the parent, I had rather just send them to DSWD and see them eating and playing than watching them earn a living at the young age. I do not say that putting the child to DSWD is another irresponsible act the parent had made but it will be the best alternative answer to the problem. Are the children also to blame? I can say that the children have also something to deal with this. Even if the child is only four years old and has no sense of maturity yet, the child has something to play with this. Sometimes, it is the children’s decision to work for their families. They are working not because they want to eat, but rather gave the money to their parents, hoping that this money results to something that is good for their stomachs. In some cases, the children also are the ones that decide to leave the family because they see that the family cannot give the happiness they are asking for. So, the children have no choice but to leave independently and find their own living. The worst is that the children may engage into crimes such as killing, stealing, and prostitution. This is really happening in the society today. I can share an experience of one of our maids of our family. I admit that we hired her at her minority age. She was only 15 when she entered our home. After months of working in our house, we had already given her our trust. One day, we invited her to come into our lola’s house for the fiesta. She agreed to come rather than staying at home alone, and we wanted her to come because maybe she will be stealing anything from the house without our knowledge. We cannot give all our trust to a certain person right? Anyways, we had the time to go to the beach. The tide was so low that the sea was very far from the shore. Our maid never knew that the water was shallow. The dived and end up with bleeding wounds in her face. We immediately went home to cure her wounds. When we went home to back in Tacloban, she was not feeling easy. I think that the scars in her face made her actions limited and a little bit more conservative. After 3 days after the said incident, she left our house without any permission. We immediately reported this to her parents. Time passed but still no news was heard. We have now a new maid but of legal age. Years passed, and suddenly our roads had crossed each other. I have seen her near the seawall in the city but the thing that stunned me most is that she was already carry with her a child. This story is just one example of what can happen to children in our society. Is the government part of the problem? I’ll answer this question with a yes again. The government is expected to implement laws for this and make sure that these laws are nationwide followed. The government should play as the provider of the needs that the households cannot provide. It is sometimes reasonable that the government cannot provide them all but at least they will show that they are concerned to this problem. I can see that some policemen maltreat these children. Better if we just leave them alone and just catch them if they are now doing beyond the limitations. I’m disappointed to those government officials who did not do an effective action to eradicate this problem in our society. I am not an anti-government individual but I guess this is reality. Man is a power-seeker according to Thomas Hobbes so man really has the tendency to retain his power when he is in power and the outcome is that the poor will always be poor. Lastly, the poverty we are facing is the best reason why the children are into this action. Poverty is the reason why the parents cannot send their children to school, where the children are expected to learn and to socialize with our children. Poverty is also the main reason why the parents cannot provide the quality of happiness each child is longing for. The conception of poverty because of overpopulation is quite wrong. It some points it is true that this overpopulation can affect the way of living in a family but what now for China that contribute a big fraction to the world’s population. China is a big country in both economy and population. If China can make a difference why cannot we? As a conclusion, I am really against to this kind of problem in the society and besides who are happy watching children working not for themselves but to others. I am really thankful to my parents that I was raised efficiently, providing me anything that could bring to a better outcome. Time will come that I will be a parent. I am hoping that somehow there will be changes in our society that is concerned to this problem. It is still not the end for this. The solution is just there. All are aiming that this can be totally eradicated in the future.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

The Dust Veil Environmental Disaster of AD 536

The Dust Veil Environmental Disaster of AD 536 According to written records and supported by dendrochronology (tree ring) and archaeological evidence, for 12-18 months in AD 536-537, a thick, persistent dust veil or dry fog darkened the skies between Europe and Asia Minor. The climatic interruption brought by the thick, bluish fog extended as far east as China, where summer frosts and snow are mentioned in historical records; tree ring data from Mongolia and Siberia to Argentina and Chile reflect decreased growing records from 536 and the subsequent decade. The climatic effects of the dust veil brought decreased temperatures, drought, and food shortages throughout the affected regions: in Europe, two years later came the Justinian plague. The combination killed perhaps as much as 1/3 of the population of Europe; in China, the famine killed perhaps 80% of people in some regions; and in Scandinavia, the losses may have been as much as 75-90% of the population, as evidenced by the numbers of deserted villages and cemeteries. Historical Documentation The rediscovery of the AD 536 event was made during the 1980s by American geoscientists Stothers and Rampino, who searched classical sources for evidence of volcanic eruptions. Among their other findings, they noted several references to environmental disasters around the world between AD 536-538. Contemporary reports identified by Stothers and Rampino included Michael the Syrian, who wrote: [T]he sun became dark and its darkness lasted for one and a half years [...] Each day it shone for about four hours and still this light was only a feeble shadow [...] the fruits did not ripen and the wine tasted like sour grapes. John of Ephesus related much the same events. Prokopios, who lived in both Africa and Italy at the time, said: For the sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon, during this whole year, and it seemed exceedingly like the sun in eclipse, for the beams it shed were not clear nor such as it is accustomed to shed. An anonymous Syrian chronicler wrote: [T]he sun began to be darkened by day and the moon by night, while the ocean was tumultuous with spray, from the 24th of March in this year till the 24th of June in the following year... The following winter in Mesopotamia was so bad that from the large and unwonted quantity of snow the birds perished. A Summer Without Heat Cassiodorus, praetorian prefect of Italy at the time, wrote: so we have had a winter without storms, spring without mildness, summer without heat. John Lydos, in On Portents, writing from Constantinople, said: If the sun becomes dim because the air is dense from rising moisture- as happened in [536/537] for nearly a whole year [...] so that produce was destroyed because of the bad time- it predicts heavy trouble in Europe. In China, reports indicate that the star of Canopus could not be seen in as usual in the spring and fall equinoxes of 536, and the years AD 536-538 were marked by summer snows and frosts, drought and severe famine. In some parts of China, the weather was so severe that 70-80% of the people starved to death. Physical Evidence Tree rings show that 536 and the following ten years was a period of slow growth for Scandinavian pines, European oaks and even several North American species including bristlecone pine and foxtail; similar patterns of ring size decrease are also seen in trees in Mongolia and northern Siberia. But there seems to be something of a regional variation in the worst of the effects. 536 was a bad growing season in many parts of the world, but more generally, it was a part of a decade-long downturn in climate for the northern hemisphere, separate from the worst seasons by 3-7 years. For most reports in Europe and Eurasia, there is a drop in 536, followed by a recovery in 537-539, followed by a more serious plunge lasting perhaps as late as 550. In most cases the worst year for tree ring growth is 540; in Siberia 543, southern Chile 540, Argentina 540-548. AD 536 and the Viking Diaspora Archaeological evidence described by Grslund and Price shows that Scandinavia might have experienced the worst troubles. Almost 75% of villages were abandoned in parts of Sweden, and areas of southern Norway show a decrease in formal burials- indicating that haste was required in interments- up to 90-95%. Scandinavian narratives recount possible events that might be referring to 536. Snorri Sturlusons Edda includes a reference to Fimbulwinter, the great or mighty winter that served as a forewarning of Ragnarà ¶k, the destruction of the world and all of its inhabitants. First of all that a winter will come called Fimbulwinter. Then snow will drift from all directions. There will then be great frosts and keen winds. The sun will do no good. There will be three of these winters together and no summer between. Grslund and Price speculate that the social unrest and sharp agrarian decline and demographic disaster in Scandinavia may have been a primary catalyst for the Viking diaspora- when in the 9th century AD, young men left Scandinavia in droves  and sought to conquer new worlds.   Possible Causes Scholars are divided concerning what caused the dust veil: a violent volcanic eruption- or several (see Churakova et al.), a cometary impact, even a near miss by a large comet could have created a dust cloud made up of dust particles, smoke from fires and (if a volcanic eruption) sulfuric acid droplets such as that described. Such a cloud would reflect and/or absorb light, increasing the earths albedo and measurably decreasing the temperature. Sources Arrhenius B. 2012. Helgà ¶ in the shadow of the dust veil 536-37. Journal of Archaeology and Ancient History 2013(5).Arjava A. 2005. The Mystery Cloud of 536 CE in the Mediterranean Sources. Dumbarton Oaks Papers 59:73-94.Baillie M. 2007. The case for significant numbers of extraterrestrial impacts through the late Holocene. Journal of Quaternary Science 22(2):101-109. doi: 10.1002/jqs.1099Baillie MGL, and McAneney J. 2015. Tree ring. Climate 11(1):105-114. effects and ice core acidities clarify the volcanic record of the first millennium of the PastChurakova OV, Bryukhanova MV, Saurer M, Boettger T, Naurzbaev MM, Myglan VS, Vaganov EA, Hughes MK, and Siegwolf RTW. 2014. A cluster of stratospheric volcanic eruptions in the AD 530s recorded in Siberian tree rings. Global and Planetary Change 122:140-150.Engvild KC. 2003. A review of the risks of sudden global cooling and its effects on agriculture. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 115(3–4):127-137. doi:10.1016/s0168-1923(02 )00253-8Grslund B, and Price N. 2012. Twilight of the gods? The ‘dust veil event’ of AD 536 in critical perspective. Antiquity 332:428-443. Larsen LB, Vinther BM, Briffa KR, Melvin TM, Clausen HB, Jones PD, Siggaard-Andersen M, Hammer CU, Eronen M, and Grudd H. 2008. New ice core evidence for a volcanic cause of the AD 536 dust veil. Geophysical Research Letters 35(4)Rigby E, Symonds M, and Ward-Thompson D. 2004. A comet impact in AD 536? Astronomy Geophysics 45(1):1.23-1.26

Monday, October 21, 2019

Please, Thank You, Youre Welcome

Please, Thank You, You're Welcome Please,  thank you, and  youre welcome  are perhaps the most common phrases  in English. Use  please  to politely ask for something,  thank you  or  thanks  when someone does something for you or gives you something. Finally,  use  youre welcome  as a polite response when something thanks you for something. Learn the rules and alternate forms of these three important phrases in English. Please for Requests Please is used in order to make requests more polite. It is added to the end of polite questions and is preceded by a comma. Polite Question , please ? Could you give me a hand, please?May I use your telephone, please?Can I join your table, please? Please  can also be placed before the verb when asking a polite question: Would you please help me with this?Could you please explain the grammar again? Please for Confirming Help Please is also used to confirm an offer of help using the phrase  yes, please. Would you like to come with us? - Yes, please.May I help you? - Yes, please. Id like to know more about this months sale. Giving Directions and Please Generally, please is not used when giving directions or instructions, especially if there are a number of instructions to follow.  For example, a teacher might give the following instructions to a class: Open your book to page 40.Read the introduction.Do the introductory exercises.Read the passage.Take the multiple choice follow-up quiz. Please can be used when giving instructions to make the order more polite. This is usually done when only one order (or instruction) is given and is used only in spoken English. Please sit down.Pay attention, please.Please fill in this form. Notice that please is placed at the beginning or end of the instruction. Thank You Thank you is used when a compliment is given: Youre a fantastic tennis player! - Thank you.I really enjoyed dinner. It was very tasty. - Thank you, Im glad you like it. Thank You to Accept and Refuse Offers Thank you is often used at the beginning of a reply to an offer. It can be used in both the positive and the negative form to either accept or refuse an offer. Would you like something to drink? - Thank you. Id like a cola, please.Do you want to join us at the concert tonight? - No thank you. I need to study! Thanks Thanks is also used in the same manner as thank you in informal situations. Youre Welcome The phrase youre welcome  is the most common response when someone thanks you for something.  Youre welcome  is a phrase that comes from the German word  willkommen.  However, as you can read below, the use is very different than in German. Other phrases for saying  youre welcome  include: Formal   Dont mention it.Not at all.My pleasure.Im glad to have been of help. Informal No problem.Sure.Certainly.   When to NOT use Please Please  is not used as a response to  thank you. WRONG Thank you. - Please. RIGHT Thank you. - Youre welcome.Thank you. - No problem.Thank you. - Not at all. The Use of Please and Thank You Compared to Other Languages The use of please and thank you in English is very important. Please and thank you have their equivalents in other languages, but the usage of please and thank you in English is not always the same. Lets take two examples one from German and one from Italian in which a translation of please is used in Italian or German, but not in English. Italian Please - Prego Posso sedermi? - Prego Literal English translation: Can I sit down me? - Please Proper English translation: Can I sit down? - Certainly German Please - Bitte Vielen Dank! - Bitte schoen! Literal English translation: Many thanks! - Please pretty! Common English translation: Many thanks! - Youre welcome! Please, Thank You, Youre Welcome Quiz Fill in the gap with  please,  thank you,  or  youre welcome  depending on the situation.   Could you _____ help me with my homework?Would you like to have dinner early today? Yes, _____.Thank you for your advice. - _____. Im glad you found it helpful.Would you like something to drink? _____. Im not thirsty.Another way to say  _____ is my pleasure._____ sit down and begin the lesson.Could I sit down next to you? Certainly. - _____.May I use your restroom, _____?_____ to use my study if you would like._____ for your help on the test. I got an A! Answers pleasepleaseYoure welcomeThank youyoure welcomePleaseThank youpleaseYoure welcomeThank you About English Functions The use of  please  and  thank you  are known as functions. Learning correct language functions will help you understand and use the correct phrases and grammar in specific situations.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Ways to improve your college paper writing

Ways to improve your college paper writing Improving Your College Paper Writing – 15 Tips Most college students will not choose writing as a career. In fact, most college students dislike writing paper and essay assignments. To them, it is a terrible activity, maybe even worse than getting a root canal. But write you must, and for most courses you take. So settle yourself in and accept the fact that writing will be a part of your life right now. Because it will also figure greatly into your course grades, and thus your GPA, here are some tips to improve that writing and get those â€Å"A’s† and â€Å"B’s.† Try to start on a major essay or research paper as early as possible. Yes, it may seem impossible at this moment, with all of your other course work, but if you are in a last minute rush to get a paper done, it will never be as good as it could have been. Every course has a syllabus, and every syllabus contains essay and paper assignments, along with due dates. You know the â€Å"drill.† Develop a calendar of all due dates and then go back three weeks and put in a notation to begin on that essay or paper. Will it be a perfect system and will you always abide by those dates? No, but at least you have a road map that you can try to follow. Study the details of every essay or paper assignment carefully. If there are prompts or questions from which you are to choose, select the one that interests you most. If it says evaluate, do not summarize; if it says analyze, do not summarize; if it says to demonstrate how an author developed a particular character, do not re-hash the plot. Do exactly what you are told, no more, no less. Nothing frustrates a professor more than having to read through a bunch of irrelevant content to get to the â€Å"meat† of what you were supposed to include. If you don’t fully understand a paper writing assignment, get in touch with your professor early on. S/he will be flattered that you sought guidance and it will look like you are planning well in advance – great PR! Have a thesis. What’s your point? If you don’t have one, then do the research first – it will help you to think about why the topic is important or what your viewpoint is. These are the things of which good thesis statements are made. Organize your research into clear sub-topics. This is hard to do, because you are trying to â€Å"mesh and meld† material from several sources. One way to determine sub-topics is during your research. If there is a piece you have read that has really divided the topic well, use that as a guide as you develop your outline. Each sub-topic becomes a section of your paper. Use headings to separate sections of a longer essay or a paper. It keeps the reader on track and makes him/her feel â€Å"comfortable.† Always write more than the minimum page assignment. If the range is 6-8 pages, try to get to 8. If a professor didn’t think students could write 8 pages on a topic, question, or prompt, then s/he wouldn’t have given that number. When you go toward the maximum, you impress them! â€Å"Sell† your topic and thesis with a stunning introduction. It is always good to have some shocking statistic or a relevant anecdote to grab reader attention from the very beginning. Use spell- and grammar-checkers. Hopefully, you are using a program like Word. It will catch most of your errors but do not rely on these apps completely, for they are sometimes wrong. For example, you may using the word â€Å"your† to show possession, which is correct. Word grammar checker may â€Å"flag† it and want you to use â€Å"you’re† instead. Don’t do it! And double-check any numerals you use – if they are wrong, they won’t be caught. Use vocabulary that is appropriate for you and your peers, not your professor. And be certain to explain terminology that is complex and/or unique. Better to over-explain than not at all. This lets your professor know that you really understand what you are writing about. Put a â€Å"quota on your quotes.† Your professor does not want to read what everyone else has said. S/he wants to know that you understand what everyone else has said and that you can discuss it. Use quotes to reinforce big points you are making or when an author has stated something so superbly, it should remain intact. Format is important. If it were not, you would not be required to use the one that is specified. You should have a style guide – if not go online and get one for the format style you must use. It makes no sense to lose points because citations and bibliographies are not done correctly. And remember, different styles have different title page formats, pagination, and margins – yes, the â€Å"devil is sometimes in the details.† Write a good conclusion. You have a point to make in writing a paper, so make sure that you refer back to that thesis in your conclusion, stating it in another way of course. Get a good style check tool. These are great, because they will â€Å"flag† awkward or verbose phrases and sentences. Many of them will also pick up agreement and verb tense issues. A good one on the market right now is â€Å"Style-check.rb,† but you can find many with a simple search. If all else fails – if you are out of time, if you have too many papers due at once, if you hate the topic and cannot get motivated – find a good custom paper writing service and let a pro get this one done for you! But make sure you choose a professional essay writing service and your paper will be performed on the highest level.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

How do employment relationships impact on the overall success of an Essay

How do employment relationships impact on the overall success of an organisation - Essay Example Although it might be argued that the employer is the source of all the funds which makes the firm operational, the firm is still, by and large, operated by the employee. The increase in international competition and the rapid technological advances are favoring organizations which are more efficient, innovative and productive. These external factors are forcing firms to alter their administrative and management structures. The intensified pressures have generated major challenges in managing employment relationship (Noer, 1993; Herriot, Manning and Kidd, 1997). The basic principle behind the concern for this field is the ‘friendlier’ and ‘more responsive’ the employee governance system is, the greater will be the probability of employees being actively engaged in their work. The idea stems from the notion that, as you build trust and friendship with and among the employees, the employee will reciprocate the effort thru his work. In this paper, we will be exploring whether there is truth in this claim. Employees joining an organization are usually characterized by enthusiasm, commitment and advocacy for their new employer partly because of the thought of receiving a salary and partly due to the pride of belonging to an organization and doing something productive. Suffice it to say, at the start of employment, they are highly engaged. When we say highly engaged, we mean that they are actively participating in the organization. 2. Not-engaged employees are those who have essentially become disinterested with their work. They spend time but not energy and passion into their work. They are not necessarily negative or positive about their company but they take a wait-and-see attitude toward their job, their employer, and their co-workers. The commitment is simply not there anymore. Many empirical studies have demonstrated a relationship between

Friday, October 18, 2019

COMPARATIVE BUSINESS ETHICS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Essay

COMPARATIVE BUSINESS ETHICS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY - Essay Example Many companies across the globe have attempted to adapt their social responsiveness and the way they relate to varied social responsibilities (Windsor, 2006, p. 95). Macdonald is one of the companies that have made significant efforts of adopting business ethics and corporate social responsibility in order to achieve competitive advantage in the global competitive business environment. Although MacDonald Inch have attempted to change their leadership and operational styles through employing effective organisational strategies, the corporate has faced numerous challenges including criticism from the public and also faced legal issues for manufacturing unhealthy foods; thus a failure to conduct business in ethically and socially responsible manner. Company Overview MacDonald Corporation has undergone varied leadership and operational changes since its inception, in 1937. The company has a long standing history and it has built customer loyalty because of its continued dedication to cus tomer services as being reflected in their customer focused approach. The business is among the leading and high competitive global food industries with more than 34, 000 restaurants serving over 70 million customers globally. The company employs unique business strategies of manufacturing what their customers wants; thus their marketing and operation strategies such as being committed in key success areas including cost efficiency, product promotion and product development have enabled the company to sustain their business in the competitive business world. Despite being able to obtain a position as the leader in the competitive food industries, the company has recently faced numerous issues due to managerial failure; thus posing the company into threats of sustaining a competitive advantage in the market. The company is faced with the issues of staying competitive in the fast food industry and the way it can take competitive advantage for varied opportunities available for them; t hus posing threats to effective business performance. Project Aims/ Objectives The aim of the research projects is to critically analyse the significant of comparative business ethics and social responsibility in the MacDonald Company. The objectives of the research include; The project attempts to analyse the significant of conducting business in a socially responsible and an ethical manner in MacDonald Company. To offer detailed analysis of the company in an attempt of employing comparative business ethics and social responsibility as way of achieving business advantage in a competitive business world. To examine or identify problems that has impacted MacDonald Company especially the failure to conduct their business in an ethical and socially responsible manner. To provide effective recommendations vital for enabling the company to continue sustaining their business in the competitive business world. Problem Identification The case for corporate scandals for dealing with manageri al failure has attracted public interest on social responsibility of the corporation towards society. MacDonald Inch is one of the companies that have attracted the government and public interest because of varied scandals especially the issue of manufacturing unhealthy

Linguistics and literature Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Linguistics and literature - Research Proposal Example 11 ]. Moreover, CALL has come to be an umbrella for research that covers both 'learning' and 'teaching' while at the outset the focus was more on the practical applications of learning. Now, CALL incorporates or envelopes a number of different platforms or mediums for delivery [Cole, 2000, 4]. In particular, expansion has been made particularly in the area of multi media [Bickerton, 1999] such as interactive whiteboards, multi-media podcasts, various social networking applications, wiki-group pages, In many regards, the wider range of tools used in CALL make the original definition of it difficult. The relative complexity of tools incorporated in contemporary terms, are far more expansive than what was utilized at the outset or back to the 1980's. For advanced language learning, CALL is but one component of a wider array or nexus of computer based applications which analyze discourse and compare and establish things like lexical indexes, and comparative analysis for terminology, and common patterns of language usage. Aside from the technologies themselves that are employed, CALL is an integration or a network that includes students, instructors and researchers. One cannot really separate or isolate the actual technologies from this dynamic or relationship. For present purposes of the proposal, the focus of the analysis will be on the research side CALL [Jager, et al, 1999, 34]. Research requires a â€Å"perspective on CALL which provides appropriate empirical research methods for investigating the critical questions about how CALL can be used to improve instructed Second Language Acquisition† [Chappelle, 1997, 21] and also, asks how â€Å"good is the language experience† [Chappelle, 1997, 22]. Research also involves a solid understanding of the teaching process involved with computer assisted learning. Thus, it is proposed that the analysis and research will focus on the applications that are used within CALL that can best serve as tools for evalu ating texts – and in turn, student interaction with texts [see: Warschauer and Kern, 1999, pp. 12ff]. This analysis will use two examples of post-modern fiction as a test-case for CALL. What will be examined in this study, is whether or not the notion of 'self attainment' from a post-modern perspective can be taught. To this end, the analysis will develop a theoretical perspective on two characters in separate works of fiction and in turn, a working definition of what post modern is, given that there is no single definition of it [Greer, 2003, 18] and what 'self attainment' means within this context. These individuals will be analyzed and presented such that a framework will be established for teaching this theory through some form of CALL. As this will involve the triad mentioned above regarding students, instructors and researchers, the study will focus on how each of these can contribute to the overall outcomes. Measured or evaluated in this regard, will be the learner out comes which will be examined from a number of different paradigms for language acquisition outcomes [Lynch, 1996, pp. 44-8; 61ff.]. Also, how this reflects the actual psychology of learning or how it is that we actually process language acquisition in cognitive terms [see: Driscoll, 2000, pp. 69-71]. In short, without some form of measure or comprehensive methodology of evaluation, this project would

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Implementation stage of the project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Implementation stage of the project - Assignment Example Is the resolution feasible for execution How did the team arrive to this implementation feasibility conclusion What should be done to ensure successful execution of the project To answer these questions, Nik and Alex's team must first determine the factors that would affect the implementation of their proposed solution. That would mean they would have to consider both internal and external factors. Internal factors would be everything that relates to the organization during the process of transitioning the project from decision-making to implementation. Factors like organizational structure, roles and responsibilities, physical systems, decision authority, empowerment, compensation and incentives must be considered (Broadfuehrer, 2000). This is to ensure that there is a strong foundation in place within the organization that will enable the smooth transitioning of the project to the implementation phase. Having an organizational structure would help identify the key persons that would take on the implementer roles and responsibilities. Physical systems and decision authority ensure that there are standards in place and resources available (e.g. people and budget) for the decision implementation. At the same time, empowerment, compensation and incentives drive commitment and responsiveness to the execution of the project. External factors, on the other hand, would be things relating and affecting Kava as a whole. In Kava's case these factors need to be considered: legality of the implementation, political acceptance - the government and Kava citizens, the local standards, resource availability, environmental issues and constraints. These factors have an effect on how the whole project would be perceived and accepted by the Kava society. Knowing these factors and working around them during implementation would definitely affect the success of the project as a whole. This is where the proposed solution technique ties in with implementation process. Since the Stepladder approach was used in the decision-making process, it is most likely that the implementers were also part of the decision-making processes. This means that these factors for implementation, at least part of it, have already been considered. Ensuring that these implementation factors are tied in with the decision-making process, guarantees the smooth, effective and efficient execution of the proposed solution. Resources and Actions Required for Decision Implementation Establishing a greater presence in Kava is definitely a long-term goal. Immediate recognition from Kava citizens won't happen over night. After selecting the solution and most feasible implementation process, Nik and Alex's team must now look into the actual availability of the resources and the necessary actions required to acquiring them. During the decision-making process, a team was assigned to do the task. This is the same during the implementation process. It could be the same team that handled the decision-making. However, key people should be brought in that have more expertise in the matter. One example would be sourcing. The decision-making team would have probably

Obama Housing Refinance Proposal and Program Essay

Obama Housing Refinance Proposal and Program - Essay Example According to the research findings it can therefore be said that President Obama announced a new plan to help struggling homeowners who are current on their mortgages, but underwater by refinancing. Mortgage rates are currently at historical lows and Obama would like to make refinancing into these historic rates available to more homeowners across the country. Obama anticipates providing relief to about 3.5 million people with underwater mortgages. Obama expect the average homeowner to save roughly $300-$500 a month by refinancing into these new low rates. He explained that refinancing would help free up additional money for consumers, therefore helping to stimulate the economy. Obama faces stiff opposition from Republicans in Congress on his refinancing plan, which must first pass congress. United States is known as the ‘land of opportunities’ and people from all over the world come to the country in hope of a better future. But this land of opportunities is facing some serious crisis lately. The financial crisis of 2008 has hit the country badly and has affected the majority of the population. Approximately 11 million people are suffering from serious financial watershed and they cannot even afford a proper shelter to live in. The reason for these problems in the United States and the attempts that American President Barack Obama made to ease the issues of the citizens will be discussed in this paper. The residents of the United States were mortgaged in large numbers and therefore the collapse of the housing market forced many people out on the streets. The homeowners were to pay off the amount of money that was worth more than their houses which was due to the decrease in property rates all over the country. This is where the decision maker Obama stepped in. He decided to revise the Housing Refinance Proposal that would bring out the homeowners from their misery. Previous Financing Policies The United States government is well known for their ex tra ordinary Housing Finance Policies. The housing policies of the country are considered as standards for the less developed countries. Let’s discuss briefly about the previous Financing Policies that were implemented by the United States government. The United States Housing Policy allowed residents to have tax deductable interest payments. This practice is unique because a certain amount of tax is always applied on the interest payments for loans in different parts of the world (Barth, et. al.178). The deduction of tax meant a great assistance for the house owners of the country. Furthermore, the United States government also set up an organization that would be responsible for providing securities to the loan borrowers. The organization was named as the Federal Housing Administration and the FHA was there to handle the security issues. Therefore no one was denied a loan because of absence of security or collateral. Unfortunately the policies that were devised by the US go vernment did not work even though they contained some points that were exemplary for the rest of the world. The Housing Policy of the US failed dramatically because every other person was given loans that they couldn’t afford. The assumption behind the policies was that property prices will continue to increase in future. The reason behind the failure was also the benefits provided to the borrowers. Giving loans without proper collaterals was a big mistake of US administration. Issues of the existing policies and poverty of people The policies that were set up by the US government were for the prosperity of the homeowners. US being a democratic nation, prevailing policies were not appreciated by all. Many banks austerely protested against the deduction of tax. According to their point of view, excluding the tax would not be fruitful for the banks in the long run. Also the numbers of the customers getting loans certainly increased as a result of these policies. This resulted i n more

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Implementation stage of the project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Implementation stage of the project - Assignment Example Is the resolution feasible for execution How did the team arrive to this implementation feasibility conclusion What should be done to ensure successful execution of the project To answer these questions, Nik and Alex's team must first determine the factors that would affect the implementation of their proposed solution. That would mean they would have to consider both internal and external factors. Internal factors would be everything that relates to the organization during the process of transitioning the project from decision-making to implementation. Factors like organizational structure, roles and responsibilities, physical systems, decision authority, empowerment, compensation and incentives must be considered (Broadfuehrer, 2000). This is to ensure that there is a strong foundation in place within the organization that will enable the smooth transitioning of the project to the implementation phase. Having an organizational structure would help identify the key persons that would take on the implementer roles and responsibilities. Physical systems and decision authority ensure that there are standards in place and resources available (e.g. people and budget) for the decision implementation. At the same time, empowerment, compensation and incentives drive commitment and responsiveness to the execution of the project. External factors, on the other hand, would be things relating and affecting Kava as a whole. In Kava's case these factors need to be considered: legality of the implementation, political acceptance - the government and Kava citizens, the local standards, resource availability, environmental issues and constraints. These factors have an effect on how the whole project would be perceived and accepted by the Kava society. Knowing these factors and working around them during implementation would definitely affect the success of the project as a whole. This is where the proposed solution technique ties in with implementation process. Since the Stepladder approach was used in the decision-making process, it is most likely that the implementers were also part of the decision-making processes. This means that these factors for implementation, at least part of it, have already been considered. Ensuring that these implementation factors are tied in with the decision-making process, guarantees the smooth, effective and efficient execution of the proposed solution. Resources and Actions Required for Decision Implementation Establishing a greater presence in Kava is definitely a long-term goal. Immediate recognition from Kava citizens won't happen over night. After selecting the solution and most feasible implementation process, Nik and Alex's team must now look into the actual availability of the resources and the necessary actions required to acquiring them. During the decision-making process, a team was assigned to do the task. This is the same during the implementation process. It could be the same team that handled the decision-making. However, key people should be brought in that have more expertise in the matter. One example would be sourcing. The decision-making team would have probably

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

HEALTHCARE ETHICS AND END OF LIFE DECISIONS Essay - 5

HEALTHCARE ETHICS AND END OF LIFE DECISIONS - Essay Example This causes an ethical challenge because decision is critical in the solving of the problem. In this regard, this essay will tear in to one ethical and moral dilemma case that will help in understanding this view. Further, the essay will focus on vital ethical principles related to the case and the process of making the ethical decision by medical administrators entangled in the case (Pozgar, 2012). In addition, the essay will provide an argument as to whether the handling of the case was appropriate then try to point out ways that would have the situation turn out differently. Therefore, the chosen case involved a sixteen-month-old baby boy whose father chose to end the life of his son at gunpoint. As per the case, hospital administrators refused to remove the boy from the respirator citing the right to life principle, as they did not agree to the father ending the life of the boy prematurely. In addition, the case presented the respect for autonomy to which the boy could not make the decision on whether to live or not because of the medical state and age of the boy (Zahedi, Larijani & Bazzaz, 2007). In this regard, the father decided to pull the plug after seeing that the boy was not getting any better hence going contrary to these two ethical principles. Ideally, siding with the request made by the parents of removing their son from the machine was not an option that the healthcare providers were willing to entertain. They stood their ground by maintaining that their hospital could not support their decision citing ethical reasons. Therefore, to them the decision was not a moral obligation rather an ethical move that they had sworn by before joining the practice. For one, every individual involved in the case acted out in a manner that they all saw fit hence justifying their deeds. Therefore, the handling of the matter was appropriate because there were injuries despite the presence of a riffle

Coping Tactics in Translation Essay Example for Free

Coping Tactics in Translation Essay One cannot deny the astounding success of the â€Å"Twilight† series of books and films. Seemingly overnight, almost everyone has been sideswept by the popularity of the four-book series namely, â€Å"Twilight†, â€Å"New Moon†, â€Å"Eclipse†, and â€Å"Breaking Dawn†, all by debuting author Stephenie Meyer. The book’s characters have also become household names, the most popular ones being Edward Cullen, Bella Swan, and Jacob Black. Not surprisingly, the actors who portrayed them in the films have also been catapulted to stardom: Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner, playing the mentioned characters respectively. Definitely amazing, considering the simplicity of the story, a love triangle involving three teenagers. What probably makes the difference is that two of them are not human. Twilight Mystique 4 Demystifying the â€Å"Twilight† Mystique Most of us dream of making it big. Maybe to discover or invent something that will change the world, or put together an award-winning record album that will go platinum, or possibly, write a book that will sell millions of copies worldwide. The Author Herself Stephenie Meyer had a dream, literally. â€Å"A vivid dream took her to a forest meadow where she saw an average-looking girl and a stunningly handsome vampire having an intense conversation†, it says in her website, stepheniemeyer. com (cited in Vaz, 2008). She then began to flesh out a story, and after three months, she finished the first book, â€Å"Twilight†. She submitted her manuscript to several literary agencies and eventually ended up in the hands of the publishing company, Little, Brown where the road to success got a jumpstart, to say the least (stepheniemeyer.com, 2010). The rest of the saga has then followed the path to fame and fortune. Crossing age barriers the world over, the â€Å"Twilight† series has proven that if you take seemingly ordinary characters in a seemingly ordinary setting and spice it all up with something extraordinary, create situations and experiences that are almost believable, then you have got a winning formula. The Twilight Series The back cover of the first book, â€Å"Twilight†, teases us with the words, â€Å"About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him – and I didn’t know how dominant that part might be – that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him† (Meyer, 2005, back cover). Twilight Mystique 5 Almost immediately, two things jump out at the reader, the fact that there is a vampire involved, and so is that crazy, adrenaline-pumping emotion called love. The lore and legend of vampires goes way back into the olden days, with practically every culture having its own imaginative version of the creatures, often tortured souls who drink the blood of their victims (Vaz, 2008, p. 13). In fact, â€Å"Twilight† director Catherine Hardwicke says, â€Å"One reason the Twilight series has such resonance may be that the vampire myth is deeply rooted in the human psyche† (Vaz, 2008, p. 15). Joel Schumacher, director of â€Å"The Lost Boys†, a film about vampires haunting a resort town on the California coast, remarked in his commentary on the said film’s DVD, â€Å"I think one of the reasons vampires have an enduring quality is they’re the only monsters that are really sexy† (cited in Vaz, 2008). True enough, vampires are often portrayed as very attractive human beings, the only obvious giveaway is when they bare their fangs, to satisfy their thirst for blood. The universal theme of love has been used countless times in books, movies, poetry, music, and all other possible vehicles of expression. Thus, the obvious love angle in the â€Å"Twilight† series may be nothing new, but it still definitely sells. As an article by S. A. Dalton declared, â€Å"Every girl dreams of falling in love one day. She dreams of that perfect soulmate who was put on this earth to love no one but her†¦It’s a love that voids all pain and validates the very reason that either of them were born†¦Because of this love, the Twilight series was a huge success! † (cited in helium. com, 2002-2010) The character of Bella herself, as the narrator, often articulates the extent of their feelings. In the second book, â€Å"New Moon†, she narrates, â€Å"My head was already spinning by the time he leaned closer and pressed his icy lips against mine†¦I forgot all about my worries, and concentrated on remembering how to inhale and exhale (Meyer, 2006, p. 16) Twilight Mystique 6 Hardwicke even accurately observed that â€Å"for all the inherent darkness that came with vampires, it was the love story that touched people† (Vaz, 2008, p.134). The reader can also easily identify with Bella’s character, for she was portrayed as an ordinary, not particularly popular, oftentimes clumsy teenage girl. In the third book, â€Å"Eclipse†, she said, â€Å"We were almost to the clearing when I fell. I could see the wide opening ahead, and that’s probably why I got too eager and forgot to watch my feet. I caught myself before my head bashed into the nearest tree, but a small branch snapped off under my left hand and gouged into my palm† (Meyer, 2007, p. 470). Incidentally, the movie version of this third installment, to be shown June 30, 2010, is being eagerly awaited by the fans, as attested to by the â€Å"official online destination for all Twilight fans,† thetwilightsaga. com (thetwilightsaga. com, 2010). Stephenie Meyer makes it all so believable. After all, Bella remains unchanged, as unassuming as ever, even for instance in the fourth book, â€Å"Breaking Dawn†, wherein she was driving a new Mercedes Guardian and two strangers asked to have their pictures taken beside it. â€Å"It took me a second to process that. ‘Really? You want to take a picture with the car? ’, says Bella. † And as the two guys proceed to take pictures by the hood and even the back end, Bella whimpers to herself, â€Å"I miss my truck† (Meyer, 2008, pp. 6-7). This fourth installment meanwhile, will be shown as two films, and back-to-back shooting is expected to begin in October 2010, as stated in an article by Erik Davis (cited in cinematical. com, 2003-2010). Twilight Mystique 7 Anyhow, as Peter Facinelli, the actor who portrays Edward Cullen’s dad, said in his interview with Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez, â€Å"Anything that gets kids to read is a fantastic thing too† (cited in cbsnews. com, 2008). And so the â€Å"Twilight† phenomenon goes on. It will forever inspire us to follow and live our dreams, be it literally or figuratively speaking. So when a sudden inspiration strikes, take it as a hint to possibly start something big. Twilight Mystique 8 References Cbsnews. com. (2008). Facinelli on â€Å"Twilight† Phenomenon. Retrieved May 15, 2010, from http://www. cbsnews. com/stories/2008/11/21/earlyshow/leisure/boxoffice/main 4625399. shtml. Dalton, S. A. (2002-2010). Why the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer became so successful. Retrieved May 15, 2010, from http://www. helium. com/items/1430290-stephenie- meyers-twilight-was-a-success. Davis, E. (2010). It’s Official: â€Å"Breaking Dawn† will be Two Movies. Retrieved May 15, 2010, from http://www. cinematical. com/2010/02/11/its-official-breaking-dawn- will-be-two-movies. Meyer, S. M. (2005). Twilight. New York: Little, Brown and Company. Meyer, S. M. (2006). New Moon. New York: Little, Brown and Company. Meyer, S. M. (2007). Eclipse. New York: Little, Brown and Company. Meyer, S. M. (2008). Breaking Dawn. New York: Little, Brown and Company. Stepheniemeyer. com. (2010). Bio. Retrieved May 15, 2010, from http://www. stepheniemeyer. com. Thetwilightsaga. com. (2010). Eclipse Movie Tie ¬-in Books. Retrieved May 15, 2010, from http://www. thetwilightsaga. com. Twilight Mystique 9 Vaz, M. C. (2008). The complete illustrated movie companion:twilight. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Cylinder Taper and Cylinder Out of Round

Cylinder Taper and Cylinder Out of Round Aditya Patel Equipment Utilized An assortment of hand tools, pullers and specialty measuring tools were used during this assignment Health and Safety Precautions Safety boots and glasses were mandatory in the shop Proper lifting techniques, and getting help lifting was very important Unit Identification GM 3100 Engine References GM 3100 service manual, and our classroom text book were used. Lab notes and internet were used for some of the notes. Method 1. List all the steps needed to measure cylinder taper and out of round. a bore gauge calibration unit was set up by using fixture and calibration unit the bore gauge was placed in this unit and calibrated using the micrometre scale on the unit. To calibrate for specific bore, use the standards. For example, for 4.406 bore, install 4.000+ standard and set the scale to 0.406. Bore gauge is calibrated until the dial shows 0 on it. Or more adjustment should be done. the bore gauge was then placed inside the cylinder at Top thrust surface and rock the bore gauge front and back until dial goes up and comes back. Note the highest reading, the dial reaches. Do same for bottom thrust surface. To measure the cylinder out of round, measure top thrust surface of the cylinder but perpendicular to the first measured. Now compare both reading for top thrust surfaces readings. If the difference between the measured reading is more than 0.0005 then the cylinder is out of round or else, it is good. To measure the taper, subtract the reading of bottom thrust surface from top thrust surface. If the reading is more than 0.0008 then cylinder is not good. Cylinder Taper is the difference of the diameter between top of the cylinder bore under the ridge and bottom of the cylinder Cylinder out of Round is the difference of diameter when measured parallel to crankshaft and then perpendicular to the same at top of the cylinder using bore gauge. Method Continued   Ã‚   2. Document 2 methods of measuring piston to cylinder bore clearance. Feeler Strip Method Remove all compression and oil control rings from pistons Invert the piston and place it back in the cylinder in upside down position with feeler strip. The feeler strip should not be on the piston pin hole. After piston is placed in the cylinder slowly take the filler gauge out. While taking the filler gauge out, if it feels too hard or loose the try different size of the gauge until you get the perfect size. The perfect size of filler gauge should not feel too tight or smooth while taking it out. (Measuring clearance using feeler strip) Calculated Method Measure the diameter of the piston across the skirt with well calibrated micrometre. Note the reading. Now using the bore gauge measure the cylinder diameter under the ridge. Record the reading. Now subtract the piston diameter from cylinder diameter. The measurement achieved is the piston to cylinder clearance. Note that before taking any reading the micrometre should be well calibrated and the surfaces should be cleaned. (Bore gauge measuring the cylinder diameter) (Measuring piston diameter using Micrometre) 3. Construct a chart listing cylinder, piston ring and crankshaft clearances. Located under observations heading 4. Record how to check ring clearances. (side and end) Side Clearance Remove all compression and oil control rings from pistons Clean the piston ring groove before measuring. For measuring the ring clearance, the ring doesnt need to be installed in the piston. Gently place the ring in the groove. After placing the ring measure the clearance with the help of feeler gauge between the ring and upper edge of the groove. Compare the measured ring clearance with the manufacturers specification. If the measured clearance is more then the manufacturers specification the change the ring. (Measuring Ring Clearance using Feeler Strip) End Gap Remove all compression and oil control rings from pistons Place the ring in the same cylinder from which piston come out. Using the piston slowly push the ring in the cylinder. Then measure the gap between the two ends of the rings with filler strip. The filler strip should not too hard or too smooth to pass between the two ends of the rings. Then do same for the second ring and note the measurement. Compare this measurement with the manufacturers specification. If the measured end gap is more then the actual specification the change the ring. (Measuring piston ring end gap using feeler strip) 5. Describe 2 methods of measuring crankshaft bearing clearance. Plastigauge Method remove the main bearing caps from the block and clean the surface of the crankshaft journals with a clean rag. Now place a piece of plastigauge according to the width of the journal. Install back main bearing caps on their same position as before. Check that the bearings are in the correct direction. Install the bolts and tighten them with torque wrench at the manufacturers specification. Now remove the main bearing caps and check the spread of plastigauge. Compare with the marking given on the cover of the plastigauge and note the reading. Now compare this reading with the actual specification. Before installing main bearings back, carefully wipe the plastigauge marks. (Measuring the Crankshaft bearing clearance using plasti gauge) Calculated Method Measure the crankshaft journal diameter using a well calibrated micrometre. Measure every journal two times both perpendicular at each other. Note every reading. Now put the bearing journals back on. Use torque wrench to tight the bearings with specified torque. Using inside micrometre or bore dial gauge measure the diameter of the bearing. Note the reading. To measure bearing clearance, subtract the crankshaft journal diameter measurement from bearing journal diameter. The allowable clearance for crankshaft is between 0.0008-0.0025. 6. Explain what causes cylinder taper and cylinder out of round Cylinder Taper is caused by wear caused by friction and combustion cause the bore to be cone shaped. Cylinder Out of Round is caused by pressure created by piston rings to the cylinder walls. Observations Cylinder Measurements Cyl #1 Cyl #2 Cyl #3 Cyl #4 Cyl #5 Cyl #6 (Thrust Surface Under Ridge) A 0.0016 0.0018 0.0018 0.0015 0.0015 0.0014 (Thrust Surface Bottom) B 0.0013 0.0014 0.0012 0.0014 0.0011 0.0013 (90  ° Under Ridge) C 0.0012 0.0015 0.0012 0.0013 0.001 0.0011 Taper (Subtract B from A) Measurements Cyl #1 Cyl #2 Cyl #3 Cyl #4 Cyl #5 Cyl #6 (Thrust Surface Under Ridge) A 0.0016 0.0018 0.0018 0.0015 0.0015 0.0014 (Thrust Surface Bottom) B 0.0013 0.0014 0.0012 0.0014 0.0011 0.0013 Taper 0.0003 0.0004 0.0006 0.0001 0.0004 0.0001 Specification 0.0008 Out of Round ( Subtract C from A ) Measurements Cyl #1 Cyl #2 Cyl #3 Cyl #4 Cyl #5 Cyl #6 ( Thrust Surface Under Ridge ) A 0.0016 0.0018 0.0018 0.0015 0.0015 0.0014 ( 90  ° Under Ridge ) C 0.0012 0.0015 0.0012 0.0013 0.0010 0.0011 Out of Round 0.0004 0.0003 0.0006 0.0002 0.0005 0.0003 Specification 0.0005 Observations Continued Piston Ring Clearance Measurements Specs #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 Ring End Gap: Top Ring 0.006-0.014 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.27 0.17 0.19 Second Ring 0.0197-0.0280 0.30 0.16 0.20 0.18 0.16 0.19 Ring Groove Clearance: Top Ring 0.002-0.0033 0.002 0.0025 0.002 0.002 0.002 0.002 Second Ring 0.002-0.0035 0.002 0.002 0.0025 0.002 0.002 0.002 Bearing Clearance Checks Specs #1 #2 #3 #4 Bearing Bore Dia. (A) 2.6472 2.6502 2.649 2.652 2.648 2.650 Journal Diameter (B) 2.6473 2.6483 2.647 2.646 2.647 2.645 Clearance (A B) 0.0008 0.0025 0.002 0.006 0.001 0.005 Plastigauge Clearance 0.0008-0.0025 0.0015 0.0020 0.0010 0.0020 Conclusions Upon completing the measurements and visual inspections, I would recommend that due to the excessive wear and out of round cylinder, the cylinder should be bored. While measuring the piston ring clearance we noticed that the piton rings were replaced and were both of same size on one piston.      

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Battle of Bull Run Essay -- essays research papers

In Virginia the first battle of the Civil War was fought, near Manassas, Virginia railroad junction, after which the battle is called (or First Bull Run, named after the flowing stream on the battlefield, if of the Union point of view). The armies in this first battle were not prodigious by later Civil War principles. The Federal services under Brigadier General Irvin McDowell were well thought-out into four divisions, of about 30,000 men. These divisions were commanded by Tyler, Hunter, Heintzelman, and Miles. The Confederate command structure was to some extent more unmanageable, including two "armies", with no division structure and thirteen independent brigades under Bonham, Ewell, Jones, Longstreet, Cocke, Early, Holmes, Kershaw, Evans, Jackson, Bartow, Bee, Smith, and a cavalry brigade under Stuart. The Confederate Army of the Potomac was under the command of Brigadier General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, and the Army of the Shenandoah was controlled by Brigadier General Joseph E. Johnston. These two forces would be equivalent to McDowell's strength. The first battle of Bull Run (or first battle of Manassas) was the first major engagement of the Civil War. Federal troops led by General McDowell advanced towards Manassas Junction, where Confederate troops were dug in, overcrowding the road to Richmond. Both Confederate and Union troops were not prepared for battle. Union troops advanced on Confederate troops, practically breaking through, but at the last split second, Confederate reinforcements arrived on the battlefield and carried the day. Union troops were routed. As Washington filled with Union soldiers, the anxiety grew to take action. Horace Greely, the mercurial editor of the New York Herald Tribune kept up a persistent stream of editorials echoed throughout the Union " Forward to Richmond- Forward to Richmond.? Army Chief of Staff Winfield Scott put forth a arrangement to beat the confederacy. He called for a inclusive barricade of South, followed by a forceful army to take hold of the Mississippi and New Orleans. Only after all this was accomplished he suggested launching a significant attack against the center of the Confederacy. He opposed any gradually actions. The demands for action however, could not be deprived of. General McDowell came up with a plan for a direct att... ... The line had to be held. A few moments later General Johnson gave the order for a counterattack. The Confederate attack quickly broke the Union lines. Before long the retreat of the union army turned into a complete rout. It was impossible to stop the retreating soldiers from heading all the way back to the Potomac River. In the midst of the flight were hundreds of sightseers from Washington, including six senators and ten Congressmen. As Congressman Riddle stated: "We called to them, tried to tell them there was no danger, called them to stop, implored them to stand. We called them cowards, denounced them in the most offensive term, put out our heavy revolvers, and threatened to shoot them, but all in vain; a cruel crazy, mad, hopeless panic possessed them, and communicated to everybody about in front and rear. The heat was awful, although now about six; the men were exhausted their mouths' gaped, their lips cracked and blackened with the powder of the cartridges they had bitten off in the battle, their eyes starting in frenzy; no mortal ever saw such a mass of ghastly wretches."

Friday, October 11, 2019

The SDLC

Several different projects may be required during the life of a system, first to develop the original system and then upgrade it later. The primary concern is with getting the system developed and deployed the very first time. One of the key, fundamental concepts in information system development is the Systems Development Life Cycle. The Systems Development Life Cycle is an entire process of building, deploying, using, and updating an information system Satzinger, J. W. , Jackson, R. B. , & Burd, S. D. (2009).Systems development includes four project managers, six system analysts, 10 programmer analysts, and a couple of clerical support employees. This paper has two objectives. The first is to explain the components of a formal SDLC process. The second is to identify types of employees involved in the SDLC process and their roles Although it is difficult to find a single, comprehensive classification system that encompasses all of the approaches, one useful technique is to categoriz e SDLC approaches according to whether they are more predictive or adaptive.In predictive the requirements are well understood and well defined. There is low technical risk. On the other hand in adaptive, the requirements and needs are uncertain. There is high technical risk. The SDLC consist of four groups of activities: planning, analysis, design, and implementation. These activities are sometimes referred to as phases, and they are the elements that provide the framework for managing the project. Throughout the SDLC, the analyst’s role as a project manager is being responsible for initiating, planning, executing, and closing down the systems development project Satzinger, J.  W. , Jackson, R. B. , & Burd, S. D. (2009).Project management is arguably the most important aspect of an information systems development project. Effective project management helps ensure that systems development projects meet customer expectations and are delivered within budget and time constrain ts. A project manager will periodically review the status of all ongoing project task activities to assess whether the activities will be completed early, on time, or late.Moreover, project scheduling and management require that time, costs, and resources be controlled. The roles and responsibilities of developers are large in number. The primary responsibilities are: to write code or documentation patches or contribute positively to the project in other ways. A developer’s contribution is always recognized. The software developer has to evaluate, assess and recommend software and hardware solutions. Develop software, architecture, specifications and technical interfaces.Design, initiate and handle technical designs and complex application features. Initiate and drive major changes in programs, procedures and methodology. And Coordinate with other developers and software professionals. Once system developers have accumulated the user requirements for the new system, analysts proceed to the system design stage. A system analyst researches problem, plans solutions, recommends software and systems, at least at the functional level, and coordinates development to meet business or other requirements Hughes, A.  (2013).A system analyst may identify, understand and plan for organizational and human impacts of planned systems, and ensure that new technical requirements are properly integrated with existing processes and skill sets. The analyst should also plan a system flow form the ground up, perform system testing, deploy the completed system, document requirements or contribute to user manuals, and help programmers during system development. Whenever programmers need help the system analyst provides use cases, flowcharts or even database design.The most difficult task in system analysis is to identify the specific requirements that the system must satisfy. System development projects are organized around the systems development life cycle (SDLC), and phase s the SDLC include activities that must be completed for any system development project. These phases are project planning, analysis, design, implementation, and support. Any organization can develop an information system in lots of ways. . System development includes four project managers, six system analysts, 10 programmer analysts, and a couple of clerical support employees.The role of a project manager is organizing and directing other people to achieve a planned result within a predetermined schedule and budget. The project manager can be defined as the processes used to plan the project and then monitor and control it. The other systems analysts assigned to the team are experienced developers with strong analytical skills, as well as experience in managing and controlling projects Hughes, A. (2013). Some developers think of a model as documentation produced after the analysis and design work is done.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Family Counsel Approach Essay

Within White’s therapy, the therapist adopts a position of consultant to those experiencing oppression at a personal level from their problems and at a political level from a mental-health discourse and set of practices which permeate western culture. Thus people with problems of living are viewed as requiring help in fighting back against these problems and practices which have invaded their lives. This positioning is described by White, drawing on ideas from the French philosopher Derrida (1981), as both deconstructionist and constitutionalist. A deconstructionist position entails empowering clients to subvert taken-for-granted mental-health definitions and practices. A constitutionalist position entails working from the premise that lives and identities are constituted and shaped by three sets of factors: †¢ The meaning people give to their experiences or the stories they tell themselves about themselves. †¢ The language practices that people are recruited into along with the type of words these use to story their lives. †¢ The situation people occupy in social structures in which they participate and the power relations entailed by these. The positioning of the clinician within narrative therapy involves addressing these three sets of factors by deconstructing the sense people make of their lives, the language practices they use, and the power relationships in which they find themselves. In deconstructing practices of power, White draws on the work of the French philosopher Foucault (1965, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1984). People are unconsciously recruited into the subjugation of their own lives by power practices that involve continual isolation, evaluation, and comparison. Eventually our clients internalize ludicrous societal standards, yet believe that in doing so they are justifiably aspiring to valued ideals of fulfillment and excellence. This leads, for example, to self starvation and anorexia, extreme self-criticism in depression, or a sense of powerlessness in the face of threat and anxiety. In turn, mental health professions have compounded this problem by developing global unitary accounts of these states that purport to be objective truths, such as the diagnostic categories contained in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) and the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Edition (World Health Organization, 1992). Furthermore, these professions support practices that prevent clients from questioning the socio-political contexts within which these so-called objective diagnostic truths emerged. The collaborative co-authoring position central to narrative practice is neither a one-up expert position nor a one-down strategic position. At a 1997 workshop White showed a clip of videotape in which he used turn taking at questioning to help a young girl with a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder to participate in an interview. Other professionals involved in the case had been unable to help the girl to do this and had labeled her as uncooperative. White made an agreement with her early in the meeting that for every question she answered, she could ask him a question. The girl stuck to this bargain because she was very curious about his perception of the world, since he told her at the outset of the meeting that he was color blind. This collaborative approach was highly effective in helping the girl tell her story about her difficulties in managing friendships and school work. Within White’s language in therapy there is an openness about the therapist’s working context, intentions, values, and biases. There is a privileging of the client’s language rather than the therapist’s language. There is a respect for working at the client’s pace that finds expression in regularly summarizing and checking that the client is comfortable with the pace. The therapist assumes that since social realities are constituted through language and organized through narratives, all therapeutic conversations aim to explore multiple constructions of reality rather than tracking down the facts which constitute a single truth. There is no room for questions like: †¢ From an objective viewpoint, what happened? All inquires are about individual viewpoints. †¢ How did you see the situation? †¢ How did your view differ from that of your mother/father/ brother/sister/etc? There is a constant vigilance for marginalized stories that might offer an opening for the person to engage in what White (1989, 1995) refers to as an â€Å"insurrection of subjugated knowledges.† That is, an opening that will allow the person to select to construct the story of their lives in terms other than those dictated by the dominant narrative which feeds their problem. This requires the therapist to privilege listening over questioning, and to question in a way that helps clients to see that the stories of their lives are actively constructed, rather than passively recounted and given. EXTERNALIZING THE PROBLEM Externalizing the problem is the central in counseling and supervision used by Michael White to help clients begin to define their problems as separate from their identities. A particular style of questioning is used to help clients begin to view their problems as separate from themselves. Central to this style of questioning is inquiring about how the problem has been affecting the person’s life and relationships. Of a young boy with persistent soiling problems Michael White asked the boy and his parents a series of questions about Mr. Mischief, an externalized personification of the soiling problem: †¢ Are you happy what Mr. Mischief is doing to your relationship? †¢ How is Mr. Mischief interfering with your friendships? Of a girl with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa he asked: †¢ How far has anorexia nervosa encroached on your life? †¢ How did anorexia nervosa come to oppress you in this way? With people diagnosed as psychotic and experiencing auditory hallucinations he asked: †¢ What are the voices trying to talk you into? †¢ How will their wishes affect your life? In a health education project which aimed to prevent the spread of aids, AIDS was personified and participants in the project were asked: Where will AIDS be found? †¢ How will AIDS be recognized? This procedure of asking questions in a way that assumes the problem and the person are quite separate helps clients to begin to externalize the problem and to internalize personal agency (Carr,1997). It may also interrupt the habitual enactment of the dominant problem-saturated story of the person’s identity. In relative influence questioning the client is invited to first map out the influence of the problem on their lives and relationships, and second to map out the influence that they exert on the problem. Relative influence questioning allows clients to think of themselves not as problem-people but as individuals who have a relationship with a problem. Here are some examples of relative influence questions: †¢ In that situation were you stronger than the problem or was the problem stronger than you? †¢ Who was in charge of your relationships then? Were you in charge or was the problem in charge? †¢ To what extent were you controlling your life at that point and to what extent was the problem controlling your life? This type of questioning also opens up the possibility that clients may report that on some occasions the problem influences them to the point of oppression, whereas on others, they can resist the problem. Thus relative influence questions allow clients to construct unique outcomes which are the seeds from which lives may be re-authored. When it is clear that in some situations problems have a greater influence than people, whereas in other instances people win out, questions may be asked about clients’ views of contextual influences on this. Here are some examples of such questions: †¢ What feeds the problem? †¢ What starves the problem? †¢ Who is for the problem? †¢ Who is against the problem?