Newspapers : A thing of the past

Good Morning, My name is Mohana Soman and I am going to talk about Newspapers. Initially, when we hear ‘Newspapers’, you envision stuffy politicians on the front page, juicy reports of the latest scandal or even a grisly murder case. That, is what the Newspaper has become. From being the one source of true information being passed around as common knowledge, it has become a kind of daily entertainment. Mum may read about some old actress, while Dad mutters about how the country is down in the dumps.I think that Newspapers are a thing of the past. They are because: We can simply get all the information and news we need faster and cheaper from the internet than waiting for the newspaper. Plus if we stop printing newspaper we will be able to save a lot more trees which will help us in the fight against global warming. Nowadays sitting and reading the whole newspaper consumes a lot of time which is a waste of precious time, it is better if we just sit on the internet and typ e what we want and have it in front of us.Therefore the internet is a better and more popular thing than newspapers. Obviously newspapers are not completely ‘a thing of the past' because they still provide news for the elderly and those traditionalists, yet it is inevitable that their death will occur due to the technological progression. Purely for convenience, an hourly publication is more accessible than a daily one. In this day and age, people enjoy ‘being in the know', and they are able to do this by checking for live updates rather than waiting for the newspaper the next day.

Thuy Linh

It was just a holiday, but it changed my life Holidays can be good for your health. You lie on a beach and relax, and tensions disappear. But sometimes a holiday can change your life completely, which is what happened 2 years ago to Victoria Smith and Sally Gook. Victoria Smith 6 years ago, was working as a manager at Next, a British chain store. Then she went on holiday to Bomeo.. † It was a working holiday†, said Victoria, â€Å"where you could study orang-utans in the wild- I have always been interested in apes, so I thought it would be fun†.The holiday was wonderful, and when Victoria came home she found it very difficult to return to her old life. â€Å"Suddenly the problems in the store just seemed so trivial. Although everybody told her she was mad. she decided to go back to university and study biology. 4 years later she became a chimpanzee keeper. for the last 2 years Victoria has been working at monkey world, a centre in south-west england which looks af ter apes which have been ill-treated. Many have been rescued from laboratories and circuses all over the world. She works long hours, and the pay isn't very good, but she loves it. Apes are like a big family, each with their own personality'. ‘I'm really happy now. Since I started working here I feel that I've been doing something important, not just wasting my life'. Sally Gook wakes up every morning to a deep blue sky and blazing sun. For the last 2 years she has been living on the tiny Greek island of Lipsi, which is only 16 square km in size and has a population of just 650. But until a few years ago she lived in Lonndon. ‘I was working for American Express and I had to get up very early every morning, often in horrible weather, and get a train and the tube to work.Then one day she and a friend decided they needed a relaxing holiday, and they came to Lipsi. ‘I loved it'- the people, the mountains, the sun, and the delicious food. Suddenly I knew there was a dif ferent which has organized her holiday. Since then she has been living on Lipsi and working as a tourist guide. Her boyfriend, who is Greek, is a farmer. Sally said, I've only been back to London once, and I can't imagine ever living there again'. Do ch? la m? t k? ngh? , nhung no da thay d? i cu? c s? ng c? a toi Ngay l? co th? du? c t? t cho s? c kh? e c? a b? n. Quy v? n? m tren m? t bai bi? va thu gian, va cang th? ng bi? n m? t. Nhung doi khi m? t k? ngh? co th? thay d? i hoan toan cu? c s? ng c? a b? n, do la nh? ng gi da x? y ra 2 nam tru? c Victoria Smith va Sally Gook. Victoria Smith 6 nam tru? c, da lam vi? c nhu m? t ngu? i qu? n ly t? i Ti? p theo, m? t chu? i c? a hang c? a Anh. Sau do, co da di ngh? ? Bomeo .. â€Å"Do la m? t ngay ngh? lam vi? c†, cho bi? t Victoria, â€Å"noi b? n co th? nghien c? u du? i uoi hoang da Toi da luon luon quan tam d? n loai kh? , vi v? y toi nghi r? ng no s? du? c vui v? â€Å". Cac k? ngh? tuy? t v? i, va khi Victoria tr? v? nh a, co th? y r? t kho d? quay tr? l? cu? c s? ng cu c? a minh. â€Å"D? t nhien, nh? ng v? n d? trong c? a hang ch? co v? r? t t? m thu? ng M? c du t? t c? m? i ngu? i noi v? i co la ngu? i dien. Co quy? t d? nh tr? l? i tru? ng d? i h? c va nghien c? u sinh h? c. 4 nam sau do, co da tr? thanh m? t th? mon tinh tinh. trong 2 nam qua, Victoria da du? c lam vi? c t? i th? gi? i con kh? , m? t trung tam ? phia tay nam nu? c Anh, sau khi loai vu? n da b? ?m du? c di? u tr?. Nhi? u ngu? i da du? c c? u thoat kh? i phong thi nghi? m va r? p xi? c tren toan th? gi? i. Co ? y lam vi? c nhi? u gi? , va ti? n luong khong ph? i la r? t t? t, nhung co ? yeu no Apes gi? ng nhu m? t gia dinh l? n, d? u co ca tinh rieng c? a h?. â€Å"Toi th? c s? h? nh phuc. K? t? khi toi b? t d? u lam vi? c ? day, toi c? m th? y r? ng toi da lam m? t cai gi do quan tr? ng, khong ch? lang phi cu? c s? ng c? a toi. Sally Gook th? c d? y m? i bu? i sang m? t b? u tr? i xanh th? m va m? t tr? i r? c. Trong 2 nam qu a, co da s? ng tren hon d? o Hy L? p nh? be c? a Lipsi, do la ch? co 16 km vuong va co dan s? ch? 650. Tuy nhien, cho d? n khi m? t vai nam tru? c day, co da s? ng trong Lonndon. â€Å"Toi da lam vi? c cho American Express va toi da ph? i d? y r? t s? m vao m? i bu? sang, thu? ng trong th? i ti? t kh? ng khi? p, va co du? c m? t xe l? a va ? ng d? lam vi? c. Sau do m? t ngay co va m? t ngu? i b? n quy? t d? nh h? c? n m? t k? ngh? thu gian, va h? da d? Lipsi. â€Å"Toi yeu it' nh? ng ngu? i, nh? ng ng? n nui, m? t tr? i, va th? c an ngon. D? t nhien, toi bi? t co m? t khac nhau ma da t? ch? c ngay ngh? c? a minh. K? t? do, co da du? c s? ng tren Lipsi va lam vi? c nhu la m? t hu? ng d? n vien du l? ch. B? n trai c? a co, la ngu? i Hy L? p, la m? t nong dan. Sally noi, toi da ch? tr? l? i London m? t l? n, va toi khong th? tu? ng tu? ng bao gi? s? ng ? do m? t l? n n? a ‘.

Owens & Minor Case Study Solution Essay

1. What is the value-added by Owens and Minor? Is this value-addition visible? * They own and manage the inventory for the manufacture * They take on the financial risk associated with the function of managing the inventory flow to the hospitals. * They care for product returns and carry the risk for that. * They carry the receivables (cash flow issues due to long payment terms of customers; actually a 90 days credit) * They carry and manage most of the inventory for the hospitals, which are sometimes even running stockless. * They track and verify customer prices for contracted product purchases and monitor agreements between end-users and manufacturers * The distribution has changed in a way that hospitals required the distributors to carry more of the inventory and making more deliveries in lower units of measure, while keeping the same originally negotiated prices. This has put a stronger burden on the distributors. * Owens & Minor creates a clear value-add for both manufacturers and suppliers. Manufactures usually only want to produce and sell the product before getting it out of the door * Hence Owens and Minor takes the full responsibility for all stressful parts of selling a product. On the other hand customers don’t want to buy and own products before they are ready to use it. * Thus Owens and Minor also enables them to achieving more efficient structures, while reducing additional costs related to managing efficiently. 2. Evaluate the impact cost-plus pricing has on distributors, customers, and suppliers. Distributors: * Services related to inventory management are not included properly, since the percentage they gain is the same for all products. Whether they are cheap and efficiently to handle or rather problematic. Hence costs will skyrocket if customers will ask for additional services (while keeping the same price). * They have the drawback of customers engaging in cherry-picking and only enabling the distributors to manage low-margin, inexpensive products. Customers: * Cost-plus pricing lead to a complicated pricing structures, since distributors and customers negotiated separate product prices from manufacturers, introduced incentives, let prices vary from customer to  customer, covered some products by contract and some don’t etc. * Hence purchasing managers were nearly unable to properly track actual product costs and compare quotes from competing manufacturers and distributors. Suppliers: * Suppliers have no motivation to try to reduce costs and increase efficiencies since profits remain the same. * Market demand is not taken into consideration. If a supplier has a markup, which takes the reseller’s price point beyond current market prices, the reseller’s demand will decrease dramatically. 3. What effect will ABP have on customer behavior? Provide an example to illustrate. ABP connects O&M‘s fee to the level of the service they provide * Customer is motivated to keep its activities down to a minimum level and only order services that he really needs * Customers who want to extend their service-level can get this because there is a way for O&M to price a higher service-level * ABP helps customers to optimize their service-level and hence their costs. 4. What are the obstacles to successful implementation of ABP at Ideal? How would you address these obstacles? * Internal systems at hospitals (e.g. budgeting, compensation) were tied to cost-plus percentages. * Product prices with cost-plus percentages were used to determine transfer pricing between hospital departments * Technological barriers: Customer has to change to an EDI system (electronical data input) * Hospital would have to change its systems and procedures for material handling * For a hospital to benefit it would have to be willing to change and shed personnel, equipment and warehousing space. * Culture of hospitals (e.g. surgeons have different preferences for many operating room supplies) O&M‘s response: * Offered to convert the activity fee to a cost-plus equivalent * O&M‘s logistical services worked closely with customers moving to ABP to help them realign processes and institute cost savings.

Folklore in two cultures (Cultural Anthropology) Essay

Folklore in two cultures (Cultural Anthropology) - Essay Example This paper will describe and evaluate examples of folklore in Irish culture and Bhutan culture, in order to determine the values they convey while at the same time being entertaining and instructive. Bhutan, in the mountains of the Himalayas and bordered by India and Tibet, is still very much an oral society (Penjore, 2005) today, and one that is absorbed in their traditions with most people wearing traditional clothes (Mystic Bliss). One of their most prevalent folktales is the story of a man called ‘Meme Haylay Haylay’ and his turquoise stone (Penjore, 2005, p.259). The story tells of an old and impoverished man who finds a turquoise stone while digging in his fields. On his way back home he meets a variety of men with whom he makes a number of different trades; he trades his turquoise for a horse, the horse for an ox, the ox for a sheep, the sheep for a goat, the goat for a rooster, and finally he trades the rooster for a song. Singing his song and continuing his jour ney home he feels he is the happiest and richest man in the world (Evans, 2010, p.12). As this story is relayed by different people the ending changes in a number of ways, dependent on how they prefer to interpret the tale (Penjore, 2005) in terms of whether they consider the old man as foolish or as the provider of the secret to happiness. In another version he trades the rooster for a flute; while playing the flute he slips in a wad of cow dung and forgets how to play it and thus ends up with nothing (Penjore, 2005). Whichever version is preferred however, they are used as a satirical account of sound or bad business decisions and the making of profit, and thus while being a form of entertainment in their humor to be enjoyed by all who are listening, they are more importantly a vehicle of instruction; if taken from the perspective that the old man made sound business decisions by appreciating the futility of finding happiness with material possessions and wealth, the ridicule pert ains to the other men who traded their happiness for material possessions. If on the other hand, it is told with the belief that the old man is foolish, then it is used as evidence for bad business practice and one not to be imitated (Penjore, 2005). Within the folklore of Irish culture there is much reference to little people, of which the leprechaun is probably the most famous. Leprechauns are described as small, clever and roguish men who lived in Ireland before the arrival of the Celts. The story tells of these little men about two feet tall with green or red coats and leather aprons, working as shoe makers, hammering away all day long. Leprechauns are said to be unfriendly and miserly and while working on making their shoes, store all their money in a pot which they hide at the end of a rainbow. If you catch one of these leprechauns he will lead you to the pot of gold but if you take your eyes of him, even for an instance, he will disappear with the pot of gold. Also, if you fi nd the end of a rainbow you will find a pot of gold. Such a folktale is obviously entertaining, especially for children, and has been passed down through generations, and like the Bhutan folktale, is concerned with wealth. This tale however, illustrates the futility of believing that money and richness come easily but instead, like the leprechaun, people must work hard and save

Charles Darwin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Charles Darwin - Essay Example The life of Charles Darwin was as eventful as his works. He had keen interest in natural history from his boyhood days. Even though his mother died when he was just a little boy, he had a proper and cultivated upbringing courtesy to the care of his older brother Erasmus who looked after the schooling of Darwin. He picked up things that interested him quickly and paid attention to medical studies in the initial phase of his university life. Later on he learned taxidermy from John Edmonstone, a black slave born in Demarara in the continent of South America. The 'Journey of the Beagle' was the most important voyage that Darwin embarked on to explore the evolution of life on earth. His main objectives during this journey were to collect specimens of natural history and to investigate geology. Theoretical speculations were made along with acute observations on marine invertebrates. Darwin's stature as a scientist rose to dizzying heights by the time the Beagle returned in 1836. He settled in Cambridge to work on the publication of papers on evolution of species. Darwin's experimental observations on the Galapagos birds were among the primary topics of his theory, which were to be reassessed by our team of Darwin scholars. To proceed furthermore with the discussion in hand, let us look at the team that has made a reliving quest in the Galapagos to remind us of the pros and cons of natural imbalance. Our team consists of: 1) Frank J. Sulloway - Darwin scholar 2) William H. Durham - Evolutionary Biologist 3) Mark W. Moffett - Entomologist 4) Greg de Nevers - Botanist 5) Roger A. Lang, Jr. - Conservationist 6) Lance Milbrand - Cameraman 7) Kathy Turco - Sound Recordist 8) Patrick Gambuti, Jr. - Editor 9) Michael Whalen - Composer 10) Bruce Weiss - Producer/Director Frank J. Sulloway is one of the most famous Darwin scholars to have been inspired by the dedication and vision of Charles Darwin himself. Sulloways's life and philosophies have been shaped to a great extent by the adventurous spirit of Darwin. The sphere of his personal works is based on the evolutionary theory. Dr. Sulloway has used the basics of this theory to investigate into the relation between family dynamics and personality development. He has shown through research and supporting evidences that birth order has an impact on personality and behavior. His famous book Born to Rebel: Birth Order, Family Dynamics, and Creative Lives captures the spirit of scientific reasoning along with the indomitable thirst to explore the unknown, much in sync with the mind of his mentor Charles Darwin. (Sulloway.org, 2009) In the context, one might quote the words of Professor John Stevens Henslow at Cambridge University. He viewed Darwin as "the best qualified person I know who is likely to und ertake such a situation." (Sulloway, p. 121) The team collectively put a great deal of effort on its own to recreate the past exploration in the Galapagos Island in 2002. If we trace the similarities between what it was like 160 years ago when a young Charles Darwin made his visit to the island and how it was in 2002, we will first of all observe the physical as well as mental condition of the explorers. Each member of our chosen team of naturalists was at their fittest best when

Topic about Phonology Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Topic about Phonology - Assignment Example Autosegmental phonology is simply defined as an approach to sound change and phonological process. Including the tone as well as harmony, that is independent and extends the sound process beyond the use of vowels and consonants. It is a non linear phonological approach. Auto segmental approach offers multi dimensional approach and representations. It has more than a few tiers. Each level or tier of this approach offers a collection of segments. These tiers further clarify how various segments are pronounced. In the analysis of auto segmental phonological approach, it is declared that the tone or sound is not an asset or a property of syllables and individual vowels but the sound is an asset or a property of the whole word. Auto Segmental theory presents that the elements or the features of phonology are not assembled together in segments and unordered sets but all the features lead independently. So, phonological construction can be observed as independent instruments that are in the correspondence to communicative organs which work and play together. We can further see tone behavior as an example when we talk about autosegmental phonology in action. If we look the matter from psycholinguistic standpoint, we will see that it does not make a lot of sense as it is easier job to count syllables than segments. Moreover, people who are not familiar with reading and writing find the later task almost impossible. They can perform the earlier task without so many problems. Next to psycholinguistic point of view, phonological theory also tells that segments are not the only primitives of auto-segmental theory. There are some other small elements that play vital role making up the words of a natural language. So, a question to discuss here is that what is the organization of auto segmental theory looks like. According to this theory, we can observe the organization and structure of vocal sounds in human mind more or less similar to a musical score. Each and

Persuasive speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Persuasive speech - Essay Example Secondly, I will provide a simple solution to dealing with second hand smoking. Lastly, I will inform you of the action you can take to avoid being a victim of second hand smoking. A. Statement of need: Just like smoking, second hand smoking has its consequences. Second hand smoking damages the human body by destroying cells (Golden 56). It causes many harmful diseases such as lung cancer, breast cancer, heart disease, and other kind of serious illnesses and eventually death. Second hand smoking also affects people that are asthmatic. According per the Christopher Reynolds, more than twenty million smoking-related deaths have been reported in USA alone since 1964 (67). Among these deaths, 2.5 million deaths are among the non-smokers who have died as a result of second hand smoking. Moreover, during the same time, approximately 100,000 infants have died as a result of second had smoking (Reynolds 68). B. Illustration: Show a picture of Ainsley. I would love for you to meet Ainsley. As you all can see from the picture, Ainsley is lying in a hospital bed after being diagnosed with lung cancer. According to Ainsley’s doctors, his illness has been caused by inhaling too much tobacco from cigarettes. Notably, Ainsley is non-smoker and he has never smoked in his life. Ainsley works in a street that is full of smokers. After working for several years in this street and coming into contact with tobacco smoke dairy, the results are lung cancer. 1. Show a picture of Abbie. Abbie is an asthmatic child. Just the other day, Abbie was rushed to the hospital after suffering a major asthmatic attack which nearly killed her. The cause of this attack was exposure to second hand smoking in the park where she goes to play. As a result of the exposure, her asthmatic episodes have increased. 2. Show a picture of Alton. Alton, may God rest his soul, died when he was just seven months old. His mother was a smoker and she used to smoke

Briefing Paper on Cadbury Schweppes (Business Environment) BTEC Higher Essay

Briefing Paper on Cadbury Schweppes (Business Environment) BTEC Higher National Diploma (HND) in Business - Essay Example P1. The purpose  of Cadbury Schweppes Cadbury Schweppes seeks to: increase share prices; meet customer by addressing their demands and awarding them the best quality and prices; challenge rival companies by keeping up with their prices; and, make more profit. In order to meet these objectives, Cadbury Schweppes seeks to develop a good reputation by an aggressive advertising heavily, increase sales and market share by always seeking new ideas in its product and packaging. The core purpose of Cadbury Schweppes rests in â€Å"working together to generate brands that people love.† Cadbury Schweppes seeks to be judged as a company that is among the best within the business world for being successful, significant, and admired. One of the Cadbury Schweppes goals relates corporate social responsibility, which centres on high reputation as a great company to work for and one that is socially responsible to consumers and communities across the globe (Nelson College London 2013,p. 2). P 2. Employees and customers satisfaction Cadbury Schweppes maintain regular and open discussions with all its stakeholders and utilizes diverse ways to communicate with the diverse stakeholder groups. Consumers have an opportunity to contact the company through various means on a daily basis; moreover, Cadbury Schweppes undertakes market research to track the changing consumer trends and utilize surveys and market research panels to determine what consumers think. Cadbury Schweppes also has ongoing discussions with its customers in which wholesalers and retailers provide the vital link to consumers. Cadbury Schweppes works with customers to deliver highly appealing products of high-quality (Blowfield and Murray 2011, p. 51). The company appraises its suppliers based on a set of standards including ethical labour practices and environmental protection before doing business with them, and stipulates their principles and standards to be maintained during the relationship. Cadbury Schw eppes has a tradition of fostering a direct, two-way involvement and communication with employees. Managers regularly hold individual and team meetings to inform colleagues regarding the business and hear about their views. Cadbury Schweppes also score highly in its corporate social responsibility. In 2011, Cadbury Schweppes ranked in the top ten of the FTSE 100 in terms of community investment as it seeks fresh and better ways of building stronger communities. Some of the benefits include motivating employees by utilizing company resources to support causes that they care about, and building loyalty among who are proud to work for the company that is socially responsible and a good neighbour. The community engagement has also helped the company to develop a better understanding among employees of the diverse nature of society, and improve team working via employee participation in community activities. The extent to which Cadbury has met its objectives concerning customers and empl oyees Cadbury Schweppes’ central objective centres on â€Å"working together to create brands that people love† and some of the most popular brands include Cadbury Dairy Milk, Flake, Roses, Trebor mints, Bassett’s range, and Maynards range including Wine Gums and sours. Cadbury Schweppes is governed by five goals with regard to balancing stakeholders and their interests: (1) delivering superior shareholder performance; (2) profitably and significantly

The indigenous cultures of the Americas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The indigenous cultures of the Americas - Essay Example According to the historians, Holmberg spent his time in the 1940s among the Sirono tribes and decided to call them the most culturally backward people in the entire world. He stated that these tribes had no religion, no art or design, no musical instruments, no domestic animals and no clothes, and lived in constant hunger and want. They couldn’t even make fire or count to three. Mann decided to argue against these findings with deep respect. He stated that Holmberg thought that the people before Columbus had no real history, while he did not take into account that people before Columbus were just persecuted survivors and had been totally devastated with the smallpox and influenza in the 1920s. Mann detailed his personal experience with the pre-Columbian times history within the article that he discussed in his book, according to which he said that during his times in the high school, he learned that the Indians came over to the land of Americas over 12000 years ago across the Bering Strait, and these Indians lived in isolated and small groups and had little to no impact over the environment. As a result, the land of Americas remained wild and barren even after millennia of habitation. In the introduction of his book, he compares his research with Holmberg’s and initially it seems as if both are two different pieces altogether. However, after reading the entire book, it becomes apparent that the investigation of anthropologists had come up to wrong conclusions. The greatest mistake according to Mann is the assumption that many historians made assuming that the Indians had no history before the arrival of Columbus on the continent. Mann looked at the history before Columbus from various points of views, and ended up making a specific kind of anthropological revolution. According to the investigations that he made about the life of the contemporaries and the field of culture showed that the Indians took proper and

The Realities of Post-Modern Society Have Made the Concepts of Youth Essay

The Realities of Post-Modern Society Have Made the Concepts of Youth Culture and Youth Subculture Redundant - Essay Example In this paper, I plan to analyze youth subcultures of the past; their significant characteristics, also seek a definition of ‘postmodernism’ and how it fits our world and culture, as well as the effect that changes in the post- postmodern world have had on youth cultures.I also hope to justify the theory that globalization, and free media practices have helped form a globally uniform youth culture; or rather, a culture where the youth aren’t liable to set themselves apart, but prefer to stick to societal norms. Youth Subcultures refer to the cultural preferences and tendencies exhibited by groups of young people which differ from the practices of the dominant groups. Youth cultures often differentiate themselves from others in respect to their musical tastes, distinctive fashion and shared names, which are names that the sub-groups in the youth culture assign to themselves and each other to differentiate them from the others. These names are like rappers, punks, g eeks, and nerds for example (ENCARTA). Frequently, youth subcultures are formed due to differences in social class, gender and ethnicity. The need of youth to express their distinction from (or as a way of rebelling against) the dominant culture by using a different mode of expression, or changing their lifestyle— which reflect their attempt to solve simplify what they perceive are flaws in a society’s make up.'s make up. Youth cultures are often said to have gained popularity after World War II and the boom in the consumer-based boom in the economy which created a market specifically for the youth. However historic evidences also exist of youth cultural groups differentiating themselves from the other age related groups. However most of these youth cultural groups have been found in western society. However in recent years there has been a change observed in the overall atmosphere as instead of youths being specifically divided into sub-groups of their own youth culture, they often tend to shift from one social group to another in no fixed pattern (Kahn and Kellner). The choice of becoming a member of any group they wish is the contemporary aspect to the postmodern society. And this is what will be analyzed throughout the course of this assignment. History of Youth Subcultures Since the 1950's, distinctive youth subcultures have come to the forefront. They seek to be different through their music, their clothing, and their lifestyles. Similarly, members of subcultures seek to show their individuality by being (ironically) choosing to be part of a clique, and sharing a title. Youth subcultures have become an object of study from the 1950's onwards. It has been theorized that the growth of a consumer-oriented society, and the media and advertisers focus on youth and beauty have made youth the dominant culture of Western societies. Subculture theorists study the symbolism attached to clothing, music, and other distinguishing articles (such as body art, and dialect) by members of the subculture and also the ways in which these same symbols are interpreted by members of the dominant culture. According to wikipedia.com, Subculture theorist Dick Hebdige states that the a young individual shows his willingness to be a part of a subculture by making concrete choices in his clothing styles, hairstyles and footwear. However, abstract elements, such as common interests, dialects and slang, music genres and gathering places can also become deciding factors. Youth subcultures are popular as they provide young people with

Management Information Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Management Information - Assignment Example An understanding and acceptance as to what are their roles and responsibilities 5. Implementation A priority list of projects to be undertakenProject management plans against which to check progressProgrammes of change management to promulgate the strategy and gain acceptance and understanding of it. 6. Monitoring and review monitoring the effectiveness of the strategy,monitoring the scope within which the strategy needs to operate,Review and update the strategy as necessary. Benefits of an Information Strategy to Brumshire Bank: Strategically a well-defined information strategy would ensure a smooth flow of information throughout the Brumshire organisational structure. Information will be easier to access by all the employees. As the processes will be outsourced also a comprehensive information strategy would ensure timely availability of information as and when required. Second major benefit that the Brumshire bank would have is that the duplication of information will be reduced to minimal. As some of the operations will be set up in India as a result of outsourcing, which include operations such as BB support centre, the Phone Bank centre, the Regional Administration offices and the Enquiry Centre, there will be no need to maintain separate data centres at both the countries. A centralized data centre would minimalize redundancy as well as the overhead of maintaining and updating data at both the centres. Thirdly the competitive intelligence will improve a lot. The information strategy would ensure timely information readily available which will serve as a key to take key decision about the changing competitor's behaviour as well as to improve Brumshire internal... Strategically a well-defined information strategy would ensure a smooth flow of information throughout the Brumshire organisational structure. Information will be easier to access by all the employees. As the processes will be outsourced also a comprehensive information strategy would ensure timely availability of information as and when required. Second major benefit that the Brumshire bank would have is that the duplication of information will be reduced to minimal. As some of the operations will be set up in India as a result of outsourcing, which include operations such as BB support centre, the Phone Bank centre, the Regional Administration offices and the Enquiry Centre, there will be no need to maintain separate data centres at both the countries. A centralized data centre would minimalize redundancy as well as the overhead of maintaining and updating data at both the centres. Thirdly the competitive intelligence will improve a lot. The information strategy would ensure timely information readily available which will serve as a key to take key decision about the changing competitor's behaviour as well as to improve Brumshire internal procedures. By outsourcing Brumshire Bank ensure that the company that is outsourced will always be sure to reach their targets, deliver on time, ensure stringent security and maintain a level of productivity which will help the Brumshire Bank to stick to their core objective rather t

Kenya education Essay Example for Free

Kenya education Essay An Overview of the Kenyan Education System: Issues and Obstacles to Learning Posted by Lee-Anne Benoit on April 27th 2013 I’m back again with an outline of what I’ve learned about the Kenyan Education system from the diverse experiences that I’ve had. You’ll notice this blog is slightly more academic in nature, but I felt that it was important to find research to back up my own observations. Education is perceived as one of the principal motivating factors behind national economic development and it is one of the most effective ways in which individuals can ever hope to achieve better opportunities and a higher standard of living in Kenya. For these reasons Kenya has invested heavily into its education system over the past twenty years. It is my primary objective in this blog to express all that I have learned about the primary and secondary education systems in Kenya in the short 12 weeks that I have been here. I discuss the structure of primary and secondary schools, the implementation of universal free primary education (FPE), limited and equitable access to education, obstacles to learning within the classroom, special needs education and inclusion. My understanding is derived from my experiences visiting and working at eleven different public and private schools in Kenya, two Masters courses in Special Needs Education that I audited, academic journal articles as well as several discussions and conversations that I have had with various individuals related to the field of education. Structure of Primary and Secondary Education To begin, I’d like to outline what I have learned about the structure of primary and secondary schooling in Kenya. I have gained most of my insight from visiting nine different public and private schools in Nairobi and Mombasa. During these visits I was able to tour each school, observe classes, and interact with administrators, teachers, and students. What follows is an account of some of the pertinent information that I have gathered. Children begin primary classes around the age of three years old. They enter a nursery program for roughly two years before commencing Standard 1. Depending on their final KCPE (Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education) examination marks at the end of Standard 8, students may or may not qualify to attend a secondary high school. Secondary school in Kenya has four levels, forms 1 – 4 and is completed only when students finish their KCSE (Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education) examinations. Again, student grades play a key role in determining whether or not students are able to attend university. Due to the ethnic diversity in Kenya (42 different tribes), children begin school speaking a variety of languages. Because of this, all students study their subject material predominantly in Kiswahili up until Standard 3 in a homeroom classroom. It is not until Standard 4 students are immersed in English and must follow a strict timetable of up to 10 lessons a day. The subjects taught in the primary grades include Math, English, Kiswahili, Science, Social Studies and Christian Religious Studies. Depending on the location of the school, students may study Islam. Looking through the Kenyan Primary Education curriculum documents, I noticed that art and music were indeed included in the syllabus. However, after inquiring after this, I discovered that art and music have been cut from the timetable due of the cost and perceived unimportance of the subject material. From the little experience I have, it seems as though the degree to which children are allowed to express themselves creatively through art and music depends largely on the school and classroom teachers. From personal observation I can say with confidence that the approach to education in Kenya is largely teacher centered and by the book. Teachers strictly adhere to the Kenyan syllabus for both primary and secondary students and textbooks are a teacher’s primary resource during lessons. Standardized examinations are the sole assessment techniques that I have noted being used in regular classrooms thus far to report student progress. Students in every grade level must complete these standardized examinations at the end of each term, including students in preprimary programs. Grades are critical indicators of success and failure in the lives of students for they ultimately determine whether or not one is able to advance to secondary school. As I mentioned earlier, students must complete their KCP examinations at the end of standard 8. These are national, standardized exams in all subject areas and are worth a total of 400 marks. Students must achieve a minimum of 250 marks if they wish to enter secondary school. In order to graduate High School students must complete their KCSE examinations, and achieve high grades if they wish to enter university. I would like to point out that Kenyan teachers have excellent classroom management. Most of the students that I have observed are incredibly well behaved and show a level of focus and respect that I have not seen on such a large scale before. I am impressed by teacher’s classroom control especially considering the large class sizes that they handle on a daily basis. I attribute this classroom control to the use of corporal punishment, which is considered to be the norm in Kenya. It has also been argued that students’ passivity in the classroom dates back to British colonial days and has been an aid and a challenge in encouraging students to take responsibility for their learning (Ackers and Hardman, 2001). Universal Free Primary Education Another key point that warrants discussion is the implementation of FPE, Universal Free Primary Education, in Kenya. Many of the challenges that the Education system currently faces are directly linked to the implementation of FPE. G. J. Cheserek and V. K.  Mugalavai argue that the main problems facing the education system are, â€Å"issues of access, equity, quality, relevance and efficiency in the management of educational resources,† (2012, 473). The following discussion will elaborate on such issues. As of January 2003, the NARC government established the FPE program to satisfy the pledge it made during the 2002 general elections in order to provide opportunities to disadvantaged children (Makori). This project was a great success in terms of the increased enrollment of disadvantaged children. More than 1.5 million children enrolled in public schools across the country, (Makori). However, the country was not yet prepared to accommodate such a large increase as can be seen by such drastic consequences. Few primary schools were built to accommodate the influx of students, which led to over crowding and congested classrooms. There was a shortage of teachers at the time, which led to the employment of unqualified teachers (Makori). Schools lost revenue from the lack of tuition fees, which led to a strain on teaching materials and resources as well as limited physical facilities (Makori). Lastly, teachers’ challenges increased as their class sizes grew. Although Primary School tuition fees have been abolished, several factors continue to impede access to education in Kenya. Many parents still cannot afford to pay for school uniforms, textbooks, transport, meals and supplies, without which students cannot attend school (Glennerster and Kremer, 2011). These fees are especially difficult for marginalized children such as females, orphans, and the financially underprivileged. Poor health and the inability to seek medical attention also impede many children’s access to education and negatively affect their academic performance, (Glennerster and Kremer, 2011). Many children cannot attend school due to intestinal worms, malaria, and other health concerns such as malnutrition, which can seriously affect their cognitive development. A teacher at the Kiambui Primary School informed me that many of the students arrived at school without having eaten breakfast and who did not bring lunches. Many teachers, despite their low salaries, felt obligated to bring food for the most needy. Lastly, there is an issue of distance and transportation. For some, transportation is unaffordable and the distance to school is too great to walk, which renders the possibility of attending school impossible (Glennerster and Kremer, 2011). Despite advancements in accessing primary education, access to secondary education has remained quite low in comparison. There are a number of reasons that account for this. For instance, secondary schools still require tuition payments. Although these fees have been reduced, it is still quite expensive for many. Distance also plays a major role for some in accessing education. As of 2011 there were approximately 26, 000 primary schools and 6, 500 secondary schools spread across the country, which meant that many communities did not have a nearby high school (Glennerster and Kremer, 2011). Poor KCPE examinations scores at the end of Standard 8 also create a barrier in accessing Secondary School. 2004 KCPE results show that a much higher percentage of students from private schools qualify for secondary school than public school, which has led to an overrepresentation of private school graduates attending top Kenyan Secondary Schools (Glennerster and Kremer, 2011). The quality of primary education, so it seems, acts as a serious barrier to obtaining secondary education. Finally, there is limited space in secondary school so parents and students alike must compete for placement in one if not one of the elite National schools. Yet another interesting point to note is that FPE does not enable all children equitable access to quality education; the key word here being ‘quality. ’ There is an alarming difference between the quality of education that public schools offer vs. that of private schools as noted earlier. After visiting both private and public schools I can attest to the difference. The five private schools that I visited had a low teacher to student ratio, more resources and materials for students, an adequate amount of desks for their student body, as well as electricity and running water. On the contrary, some of the public schools that I visited had class sizes of 60 to 80 students, limited electricity, insufficient textbooks and desks for students. There is much speculation that the poor performance of public school graduates on the KCPE examinations is due to a number of specific factors. For example, because of the increased enrollment in primary schools in 2003, teachers had to contend with extraordinarily large class sizes made up of a diverse range of students whose preparedness varied. Circumstances such as these diminish a teacher’s ability to differentiate their instruction and give individualized attention. Resources and materials are spread thin and mobility within classrooms becomes limited. It is thought that this large influx of â€Å"first generation learners† has contributed to declining test scores in the public school system (Glennerster and Kremer, 2011). It is also thought that poor performance in primary schools is perpetuated by an increasing stratification between public and private schools. This disparity becomes all the more clear when considering the disparity between the KCPE scores of public and private school graduates (Glennerster and Kremer, 2011). Under qualified teachers has also been stated as a factor as well as corruption. Obstacles to Learning Within the Classroom â€Å"For Kenya to be internationally competitive and economically viable, the Republic of Kenya requires an education system that will produce citizens who are able to engage in lifelong learning, learn new skills quickly, perform more non – routine tasks, capable of more complex problem-solving, take more decisions, understand more about what they are working on, require less supervision, assume more responsibility, have more vital tools, have better reading culture, quantitative analysis, reasoning and expository  skills† (Cheserek and Mugalavai, 2012, 472). As this statement explains, Kenya needs a strong education system that will train individuals to meet the growing economic needs of society. However, as discussed previously, evidence shows that students in public primary schools are achieving significantly lower their private school counterparts. There are a number of factors that can account for this disparity, which directly relate to the quality of primary education and the interactions between teacher and pupil. In 2001, Jim Ackers and Frank Hardman conducted a study on classroom interactions in primary schools in Kenya and found that the predominant teaching style was characterized by the ‘transmission of knowledge’ and was teacher focused in nature. Students were motivated to participate but answered preplanned, ‘closed’ questions and lessons often involved a high degree of choral response and repetition of memorized information (Ackers and Hardman, 2001). They go on to write that, â€Å"there were few examples of interaction between teacher and pupils that extended or even encouraged higher order thinking because of the domination of the recitation mode, where typically the teacher asks a series of pre-planned questions, initiates all the topics, and rarely interacts with the substance of the pupils’ answers except to evaluate them†(Ackers and Hardman, 2001, 12). Interestingly enough, this literature mirrors my own observations. I also noted the predominance of a rote learning style of teaching while visiting a number of primary schools. The teachers that I observed lectured on a topic for a large portion of a lesson and then questioned students to see what they were able to absorb. I did not observe any inter pupil interactions or discussions during class time. Rather, students spent the remainder of the class silently copying notes and answering questions from the board. I observed this pattern across multiple subjects and classrooms. Acker and Hardman point out that impediments to learning also include a lack of teaching resources and poor physical conditions of classroom spaces (2001). From what I have noted, the blackboard and student textbooks are the primary teaching aids in a lot of schools. Another obstacle to learning within primary grades is the size of the class. In many cases, teachers can have upwards to 80 students at a time in a regular sized classroom, which creates a congested environment. In such cases it is virtually impossible for a single teacher to meet the needs of every individual learner. Differentiation becomes ineffectual, as does mobility within the classroom. Resources are spread thin and many struggling learners are overlooked. In addition to overcrowded classrooms, teachers face many challenges, which in turn affect student performance. Firstly, they are under a great deal of pressure to teach all of the curriculum outcomes in order to prepare students for their examinations. Combined with a lack of funding and classroom space, teachers are at a loss when it comes to planning creative lessons. Secondly, teachers face a strong tradition of teaching practice that is both historically and culturally embedded. Attitudes towards change can be stubborn, making transformation a slow process. Thirdly, teachers lack an appropriate amount of support and assistance within the classroom as well as opportunities for professional development. As it stands, resource and literacy programs are virtually non-existent in schools, and the government cannot afford to pay for assistants within the classroom. Few primary schools can even afford a library. Fourthly, and in part due to distance, there are barriers to communication between home and school, which negatively impacts student progress. Lastly, primary school teachers work for very low wages, which can be demotivating for some, ultimately affecting their professional pedagogical practice. For many teachers and students alike, school can be a truly sink or swim endeavor. Special Needs Education and Inclusion My insight into special needs education derives from two sources. Firstly, I have audited two Masters level courses on special needs education in Kenya entitled Guidance and Counseling of Special Needs students and Issues and Problems in Special Needs Education. Secondly, I have worked for a short time at a private special needs school entitled Bright Hills. In addition to Bright Hills, I have also visited three different ‘Special Units’ in public schools: Kaimbui Primary School, Kilimani Primary School, and Muchatha Primary School. I would like to share some of the pertinent information that I have learned. According to my own personal experience and research, special needs education is predominantly segregated from general education classes. Many primary and secondary schools have classes termed ‘Special Units. ’ These classes are home to students who have a wide range of learning needs, which â€Å"cannot† be met by regular classroom teachers. I have been told that Special Units are inclusive in the sense that all students who have a disability or a special need share a common learning space. It is the role of the special education teacher to tackle the challenging task of differentiating lessons for many students who have varying degrees of learning dependency. Many of the students of Bright Hills Special Needs School are taught the regular primary school curriculum. However, other special needs students are given vocational training, which I observed at the Kiambui Special Unit and the Deaf and Blind Unit at the Kilimani Primary School. Learning skills such as beading and weaving give students the potential to earn a livelihood outside of school and become productive members of society. Although the Kenyan Minister of Education approved a policy in 2009 that supports the equitable access to quality education and training of learners with special needs, special needs education still faces many challenges. The factors that hinder the provision of education for special needs learners include vague guidelines that describe the implementation of an inclusive policy, insufficient data on children with special needs, ineffective assessment tools, curriculum, and a lack of qualified professionals, (Lynch, McCall, Douglas, McLinden, Mogesa, Mwaura, Njoroge, 2011). Many of the discussions in which I participated in my class: Issues and Problems in Special Needs Education mirrored this argument. Major issues that were discussed include the stigmatization of persons with disabilities, a lack of funding to equip teachers with the resources, materials and support required to meet learners needs, a lack of curriculum adaptations, differentiation, appropriate methodology and qualified personnel, inappropriate and biased assessment measures and the misdiagnosis of learning disabilities, which leads to the misplacement of Students in Special Units. I have also had several discussions concerning the implementation of inclusive educational practices within Kenyan Schools. Many of my classmates believe that inclusion is indeed the way forward in reforming the issues inherent in special needs education. Others however, believe that inclusive education is too ambitious a reform to make. Dr. Mary Runo stated in a lecture that she is not certain that inclusive education is what Kenya presently needs. Rather, the focus of reform should be on government policy and persistent negative attitudes towards disabilities. Although inclusive practices are in a fledgling state in Kenya, there are a few successful cases. Take for example the Kilimani Primary School, which is the only school in Nairobi that incorporates the hearing and visually impaired into general classrooms. Numerous supports are provided to students such as braillers, translators, adaptations, and individual assistance. The Kilimani School also has a segregated Special Unit for those who are deaf or blind as well as a Special Unit specifically for those who are deaf and blind, both of which are well equipped with qualified and dedicated teachers as well as a diverse range of teaching aids and resources. It is common practice for a Primary school to pull struggling students out of the regular classroom and place them in a Special Unit for a short time until they can successfully transition back into a regular classroom. The Kyangoma Primary School has 68 special needs learners, the majority of which study in a Special Unit. However, students who have physical disabilities or are highly functioning cognitively are integrated into general classrooms in order to follow the regular school curriculum. Although integration does not equate inclusion, it is evidence that there is a growing acceptance of inclusive practices. Overall, I would argue that special needs learners are segregated from regular classrooms for the most part and that levels of inclusive practice vary from school to school, depending on financial resources, teachers’ attitudes, and community support. Conclusion It is difficult to articulate all that I have learned about the Kenyan education system in the past twelve weeks, as my experiences have been diverse and I have come to understand the cultural context within which this system works. The education system in Kenya has been undergoing considerable change since the induction of Universal Free Primary Education in 2003. Despite the many deep rooted and interconnected problems that impede equitable access to quality education, reformation is high on the government’s list of priorities. One thing that I can confidently attest to is the unquestionable confidence and positivity that I have encountered in many Kenyans who strongly believe in the advancement of the education system. Kenya’s future is bright as long as these discussions continue and individuals strive to make change. References Ackers, J. , Hardman, F. (2001). Classroom Interaction in Kenyan Primary Schools. Compare, 31(2), 245-61. Cheserek, G. , Mugalavai, V. (2012). Challenges and Reforms Facing Kenyan Education System in the 21st Century: Integrating the Principles of Vision 2030 and Constitution 2010. Journal Of Emerging Trends In Educational Research Policy Studies, 3(4), 471-478. Glennerster, R. , Kremer, M. , Mbiti, I. , Takavarasha, K. (2011). Access and Quality in the Kenyan Education System: A Review of the Progress, Challenges and Potential. Retrieved from: http://www. povertyactionlab. org/sites/default/files/publications/Access%20and%20Quality%20in%20the%20Kenyan%20Education%20System%202011. 06. 22. pdf KENPRO (2010). Challenges Facing Inclusive Education in Regular Primary Schools in Kenya. KENPRO Online Papers Portal. Retrieved from: www. kenpro. org/papers. Lynch, P. , McCall, S. , Douglas, G. , McLinden, M. , Mogesa, B. , Mwaura, M. , †¦ Njoroge, M. (2011). Inclusive Educational Practices in Kenya: Evidencing Practice of Itinerant Teachers Who Work with Children with Visual Impairment in Local Mainstream Schools. International Journal Of Educational Development, 31(5), 478-488. Makori, A. Implementation of universal primary education in Kenya: An analysis of its impact and progress towards achieving the EFA goal in Kisii District. Retrieved from: http://www. kaeam. or. ke/articles/vol1/makorifulltext. pdf Category: Uncategorized // 16 Comments  » 16 Responses to â€Å"An Overview of the Kenyan Education System: Issues and Obstacles to Learning† 1. women fashion show 2013 // June 25th 2013 Someone essentially help to make critically posts I would state. That is the very first time I frequented your website page and so far? I surprised with the analysis you made to create this particular publish incredible. Fantastic task! 2. Graham Mulligan // July 3rd 2013 Lee-Anne, thank you for this post. I concur with everything you describe regarding the current state of Primary Education in Kenya. Although there is much hope for change, there are enormous challenges ahead. I wonder what specific improvements can be made, especially in the many isolated and impoverished public primary schools. I am currently planning a short visit to do teacher training in some of these schools. Do you have any suggestions for me? cheers Graham 3. Rahab // July 4th 2013 Your observations are very insightful and on point. It is rather disturbing that all education activities in the Kenyan system end up creating bottle necks at some point or other. What are your suggestions on making the system create paths for learners graduating from the various levels of the system? How can the system encourage student creativity and participation both in school and out of school? Is there hope that the Kenya education system will ever become learner centered rather than content and teacher centered? 4. desigual sale // July 17th 2013 Someone essentially help to make critically articles I might state. That is the first time I frequented your web page and to this point? I amazed with the analysis you made to make this actual put up extraordinary. Wonderful job! 5. Evelyn Corrado // July 17th 2013 Very insightful paper for my study; I am researching on how we can move from teacher centered approach in Kenyan education into student focused, where students can creatively use their reasoning minds, work together to problems solve and bring in their daily experiences into learning.. i agree learning molds the Kenyan society and if problem solving conflict resolution is not enhanced in schools, no wonder the ethnic conflicts in Kenya society God-father system where minority rule and the rest can’t challenge it, for lack of confidence . 6. Alice Wawira // July 29th 2013 This is quite helpful and you have done great job. Just check: KCPE mark is 500 not 400. The public schools suffer a lot of deficiency ranging from teachers to resources. If only teachers were enough something like 1:25-35 which is the current proposal to the education ministry; enough classrooms and resources, I don’t think the syllabus would be a problem however wide. I’m inclined to believe so because the private schools and the well-established national schools manage to cover the syllabus long before the end of fourth year in secondary and end of eigth year in primary. The discipline exhibited by the students in the classroom as you explained is one major strength in these schools and as such, it would be quite helpful even in content coverage. Kenya is becoming gradually aware of SEN and some progress has been made. I would however wish that we borrowed a leaf from the international system where children with SEN are allowed to sit special exams and even have assistants in classroom and during exams. In Kenya, almost all the times they sit the same exam only that special consideration and provisions(like brille and additional time) are given during and after the national exams. The worst is when a child in hospital or one who has just given birth is allowed to sit the same exam as any other in good health. News has it that computers will come in handy for the hearing-impaired and this will be great. Fantastic job you have done. Having worked in the Kenyan system and in the international as well, I can’t fail to see the flaws in the former and I hope to do something about it only that for now, I have no idea where to start. 7. Leonard Kiarago // August 2nd 2013 Indeed, Kenya has a long way to go before the government is able to provide ‘quality education’; however, we must agree that there is some progress despite the obstacles. Kenya has the resources, the manpower and the capacity to provide the young generation with quality education. Kenya has highly qualified professionals produced by top universities all over the world, unfortunately when it comes to policy development and decision making, that is left to politicians leading to wrong policies being implemented without consideration for need assessment or putting priorities right. Take, for example, the issue of laptops for every kid joining primary school; is that really a priority for the Kenyan kids? Even in developed countries like the UK the government doesn’t provide laptops/computers to every single kid, instead schools have a computer lab used during IT lessons or for lessons requiring some research. Instead of considering building and equipping more classrooms as well as recruiting more teachers, the government is thinking about laptops for schools some of which kids learn under trees and with no electricity or teachers who have basic IT knowledge. The subject of how inclusive education should be implemented is a controversial one because even in developed countries like UK, they still  maintain special schools because inclusive practice is not just a matter of closing special schools and taking children with SEN to mainstream schools. How do you put a child with special needs in a class of 80 kids and call that inclusive education? For inclusive education to be successful there must be availability of resources and manpower as well as change of attitude by those who consider themselves ‘normal’. How that can be possible in a country divided through tribal and ethnic affiliations remains a big issue. If Kenyans cannot accommodate fellow Kenyans from a different tribe, how can they accommodate those perceived to be ‘abnormal’? What is most worrying is that any time you listen to news or read newspapers, the most likely headline to find is about a certain politician from a given community attacking another one from a different community instead of engaging in constructive politics. The article posted a few days ago in daily nation in which a governor was threatening to shut down schools just because they were built on the boundary by a neighbouring county leader is a good example of what I mean: http://www. nation. co. ke/News/Leader-orders-schools-shut-in-boundary-row/-/1056/1930912/-/view/printVersion/-/khd48cz/-/index. html ‘A society’s treatment of those who are weak and dependent is one critical indicator of its social progress’. This was an observation by Kirk, Gallagher and Anastasiow (1997) who in their study of children with special needs noted that social attitudes towards the education and care of children with special needs reflect the general cultural attitudes concerning the obligations of a society to its citizens. The problem with the provision of education in Kenya can only be solved if the government allowed professionals to contribute to policies related to their field of expertise and to set aside funds for research so that policies can be validated through research to avoid implementing policies, which are politically driven. (Kiarago is a doctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham) 8. Pierre Varly // August 19th 2013 thanks a lot for your excellent article full of infos and very well structured. i have a blog on education in the developping countries where i could publish the article also if you agree. 9. Isaac Maluki // August 22nd 2013 Thank you for your good report. Kindly tell me, how many students qualify for university education in Kenya but do not make it for lack of school fees? 10. Amen K. Rahh // October 3rd 2013 Thank you for this insightful blog. I would however like to point out the roll of ICT and the growing impact online learning is having on learning in schools. With the introduction of laptops for primary school students, the Government seems to understand the survival of the failing education system is depended on IT solutions. http://www. cc-gate. com as well as the CCK are working on online content and tutoring coming in the future. 11. Edy // November 5th 2013 Hi, I found this blog a few days ago as I was looking for some research into the Kenyan education system. You have done wonderful analysis. However, one correction to your information is that Swahili is not the predominant teaching tool for Nursery-Std 4 pupils. In fact, and to the contrary, English is widely used to instruct children because apart from Swahili, all other disciplines, Math and Science included cannot be feasibly administered in Swahili. 12. John muema // November 7th 2013 these is true and i urge the government to employ more teachers 13. Agesa Akufa // November 9th 2013 This is a good, well researched and articulated work. just a point of correction, the kcpe marks total to 500 not 400. otherwise it is an impresive that will many researchers especially university students. if the government can take into account this piece of work then we should expect to see enormous steps taking root in the educational system. of course, steps to spin the country foward. i salute you! 14. THOMAS ODENY //.

Media Technologies And Journalism Media Essay

Media Technologies And Journalism Media Essay In the second half of the twentieth century and early of the twenty-first, along with the advancement of new media technology, we have witnessed the dramatic transformation of journalism. There can be no denying that the technological revolution has exerted far reaching influences on news journalism and its production. In 2000, Pavlik (p.229) has asserted: â€Å" Journalism has always been shaped by technology†. Pavlik as well as many academics in the field of mass communication believe that the profound changing of journalism are technologically determined. However, there are some researchers who criticise the idea of technological determinism. They argue that technologies not only transformed journalism but also were shaped and operated in the news production process. As Cottle (1999,p.22) has stated: â€Å"news technologies of news production are in fact socially and culturally shaped and embedded within corporate and professional contexts and practices†. It could be argued that the relationship between technology and journalism is not simply a cause and effect relationship, in fact, they changed and determined each other. The aim of this essay is to examine the interaction relationship between technology and journalism, with a particular focus on how new media technologies transformed news journalism. This research paper will begin by consider the impact of technology on journalism, and then account for the way that technologies are operated and integrated in the news production process. In the second section, the proliferation of the internet and blogs will be taken as prime examples of technological advancement which has offered opportunities as well as challenges to journalists and news organisations. Finally, the assignment will discuss whether technological changes and the adoption of new technology have led to the improvement or deterioration of journalisms quality. 1. The interaction relationship between news media technologies and journalism For the purpose of this assignment, this section will briefly introduce the theory of technology determinism as well as critical arguments of modern social scientists. The impact of new media technologies on news journalism will be examined and references are made to the work of academic in this field. Furthermore, evidence is provided in order to account for the way technologies are shaped and integrated in news production process. 1.1. The impact of new media technologies on news journalism According to Pavlik (2000,p.229), journalism are transformed by technology in four broad areas: practices of journalists, news content, the organization of the newsroom, and the relationship between and among news organisations, journalists and their many publics. â€Å" Technological changes have had an impact above all on the immediacy and availability of journalism as it has proliferated as a mode of communication† (Conboy,2004,p.205). 1.2. Technologies are shaped and integrated on news production process With a critical argument, Cottle (1999) views technology as a â€Å"creature of our own making â€Å", in his words, â€Å"which inhabits, was born out of, remains dependent on, and is socialised and put to work within determinant social environment† (p.23). In his study of â€Å" A combination of political regulatory change and the arrival of the new media organizations and products has introduced considerable competition into the broadcast environment..this competition appears to be the immediate cause of organisational and technological change† (Ursell, 2001,p.194). New operations have adopted new technologies with different degrees of extent and intensity (Ursell). Consequences for journalist: demand for and pressure on journalistic staff have increased. 2. Technological changes and the quality of journalism 2.1. The internet and blogs: a nascent phenomenon Internet: how it changes the newswork -> journalist practice(Pavlik), mot-used new resources for finding imformation(Garrison), journalist easily interact with audiences Define blog Bloggers 2.2. Quality of journalism in era of new media technologies: deterioration or improvement Though there can be no denying that the appearance of the internet and blogs has changed news journalism in many ways, it is now essential to consider whether it is better or worse journalism. Thus, this question has been the subject of a great deal of research. Ursell (2001) in his study of Convergence: â€Å" I assert that convergence merely holds the promise of a better, more efficient, more democratic medium for journalism and the public in the twenty-first century† (Pavlik,2001,p.xiii) Multi-skilling: High-Speed: â€Å"Speed is in danger of becoming the ultimate aim of journalism. The post-telegraph compulsion to beat competitors to a story, accelerate by new technologies, can mean it becomes more important to be first than to provide an adequate assessment of context† (Conboy,2004,p.207) â€Å" The pace of breaking news drives the possibility of in-depth analysis further down the line† (Conboy, 2004,p.207) â€Å"All of this compromises the incredible speed and technological sophistication of the journalism produced as it is often lacking in analytical depth or political variety† (Conboy,2004,p.207) Journalists who are under the pressure of becoming multi-skilled and technically competent to produce multiple media production do not have much â€Å"opportunities for creative reflection or innovation†(Cottle,1999). To illustrate this point, Cottle(1999,p.41) has quoted a statement of one broadcast journalist: â€Å"We dont have time to be creative. Its not that the equipment will not let us be more creative as we used to be†. Pavlik (2001) states that, on the plus side, new media technologies has offered potential for improving quality of journalism as well as helped journalist do their jobs more effectively. In other words, journalists can use new technologies to create much more â€Å"engaging, navigable, contextualized† news productions which reflect everyday life more â€Å"accurately, fully, and dynamically†(Pavlik,2001,p.xvi). However, on the negative side, â€Å"We journalists are no longer the gate keepers in the market place of ideas. The doors have been flung wide open by the egalitarian nature of the Internet and when you look at the big picture you see chaos. You see a medium in its infancy, howling and kicking against the limitations of the world into which it was born. Conclusion To bring this paper to a close, I summarise the main points here: new media technologies have transformed news journalism and its production, at the same time are shaped and operated in news production process. This essay set out to examine the intertwining relationship between technology and journalism, consider it in both positive and negative side. In the first section, it produced some insights into how journalism is influenced by technology and answered the question of how technology are shaped and integrated in news production process. In an attempt to demonstrate this point, evidence was presented relating to the change in news-making activities of journalist in the era of the internet and blogs. Finally, the evidence presented in this paper suggested that technological changes have had diverse impact on the quality of journalism. In other words, technological innovations lead to improvement as well as deterioration of journalism performance and output.

Kuwait Oil Fields Reconstruction Projects Construction Essay

Kuwait Oil Fields Reconstruction Projects Construction Essay During the Gulf war, Kuwait was invaded by Iraq and by the end of it almost all of oil production facilities of Kuwait had suffered extensive damage and had become defunct. Even after their Liberation in Feb, 1991 a large number of oil wells were on fire. To rebuild the countrys major source of income of the country a project was taken to reconstruct these oil fields. This was the Kuwait oilfields reconstruction project. Bechtel International was the project management firm given the contract to manage this reconstruction project by the Kuwait Oil Company. Work of planning of the project had started in November 1990 within three months of the start of the Iraqi Invasion, in the offices of Bechtel in London. Planning and organizing activities were being done in the offices in London, Houston, San Francisco, Dubai and Riyadh even when the war was still on. Since the war was still on, there was little knowledge of the total extent of the damage to the oilfields and how much work was to be done. However those damages that were identified till then were taken into consideration and front-end planning and procurement for the same had been started. During the end of the war, the retreating Iraqi troops had set the oilfields on fire. Thus to continue with the project first it was necessary to bring these fires under control. The personnel of Bechtel arrived in Kuwait 4 days after a complete sweep of the City was done by the allied troops. The main objective then of these personnel was to organize and manage the firefighting efforts. This was names project Al- Awada (Arabic for return). The vivid scenes shown by the newspaper, magazine, and television reports came alive for Bechtel project personnel. The days were dark with smoke from the fires blocking the sun, oil droplets filled the air, clean water and sanitary systems were not working, power plants were down, transportation was minimal as tires were a precious commodity, and food was very scarce. Initial accommodation was in refurbished ship quarters and in some vandalized apartment complexes without water and electricity, no more than a foam mattress on the floor, and a long hike up a darkened staircase. In addition to these problems, booby traps, land and water mines, unexploded shells and rockets, and other ordnance had littered the country. The temperatures in summer consistently were above 50 à Ã‚ ¦ C in shade (seldom below 37 à Ã‚ ¦ C at night), exposing the people in the field to temperatures of 55-58 à Ã‚ ¦ C in many locations, and hotter nearer to the fires. Just providing drinking water was a ma jor undertaking. John Oakland, senior vice president of Bechtel Corporation, who served as the manager of projects in Kuwait, remarked, This campaign, which was well covered by the international news media, was one of the most complex engineering and construction efforts in history. However, the following assignment, which was the reconstruction of the Kuwait oil fields, was an even bigger and more challenging task. The project of the reconstruction of the oil fields, which was named Al-Tameer (Arabic for rebuild), will be discussed in this report. Status of the Facilities The state of the two million barrels per day oil export industry in Kuwait after the completion of the fire-fighting effort was as follows: 647 wells had burned in total, 751 wells were damaged. Twenty-six oil gathering, separation, and production centers were damaged or totally destroyed. One marine export facility and its related single point mooring was totally destroyed, and the second marine export facility was partially damaged and out of commission. The equivalent of ten million barrels of crude oil storage tankage had been destroyed. The Shuaiba refinery was totally destroyed. A crude unit in the Mina Al Ahrnadi Refinery was completely destroyed. The rest of the refinery was partially damaged and the refinery was out of commission. The Mina Abdullah Refinery was partially damaged and the units were not operable. All communication towers and networks were destroyed. Most of the working population had either fled or were in hiding. Project Al-Tameer After the successful completion of the fire-fighting effort, KOC invited Bechtel to present its plan for the reconstruction of the oil fields production and exporting facilities damaged during the war, starting work by November 1990. KOCs goal was to be able to produce 2 million bpd of oil by September 1992. Planning and Organizing Phase The planning and organizing effort for the Al-Tameer project started with the Bechtel team that was already on-site as part of the Al-Awada project fire-fighting effort. An organization totally different from the Al-Awada project was required to scope, estimate, plan, execute, and turn over operational facilities to KOC. This organization had to be self-sufficient and be able to fully support and service a massive work force of more than 16,000 people. The main organization was divided into five main functions. One was to support KOCs future five-year budget planning with identification, scoping, and planning future projects. This was named KOC Major Projects Group. The other four groups consisted of: manager Al-Tameer projects, responsible for all planning and project management, as well as engineering and procurement manager coordination, responsible for scheduling, cost control, estimating, project reporting, public and community relations, and other relevant functions manager services, responsible for providing all the required support services for the project team including explosive and ordnance demolition group manager operation, responsible for field execution of all the defined work. A damage assessment and scoping team consisting of engineers, planners, and estimators walked every foot of the oil fields production and exporting facilities preparing a scope of work, cost estimate, a plan and schedule of work for each facility. The planning was based on a back to front scheduling defining the dates and production goals first, working backward to see when the drilling effort and facilities reconstruction work had to start to meet this goal. This approach also determined the required manpower and helped with direct hire and subcontracting plans. The overall plan defined the sequence of the work and prioritized the resources to make sure facilities with least damage were first priority for completion. The master schedule was developed based on nine subproject organization work breakdown structures (WBS) Oil recovery Tankage south North Kuwait Pipelines/flow lines Power, buildings, cathodic protection Marine facilities De-salters South gathering centers West gathering centers. Figure : Al Tameer Organization Each subproject having its task force, budget, schedule, and its priority on resources identified was headed by a project manager. The Al-Tameer project organization chart is shown in Figure 1. The teams were integrated with available KOC personnel who performed some of the project functions. Each subproject team was supported by local functional managers to provide them with staff and resources to execute the work. The key driver behind the plan was meeting the schedule and the production capacity. Execution Phase The project execution consisted of three main functions: detail engineering, procurement, and construction management. Detail Engineering Engineering and construction teams worked very closely during the planning phase to determine the best and most expedient way of rebuilding some of the facilities. This close collaboration continued until construction was complete. More than 200 designers and engineers worked in the makeshift project offices at various sites, with strong central support from a base that was set up in an old war-damaged girls school. This was later transferred to a newly constructed KOC engineering building. Additionally, a team of more than 200 engineers from various Bechtel regional offices worldwide provided continuous support and specialized expertise. The main deliverables of the engineering teams were construction drawings, construction packages, and material requisitions and technical bid tabs. This effort was not limited to oil production and exporting facilities; it included some of the necessary infrastructure required for the day-to-day operation of KOC. Offices, warehouses, guest houses, employees housing, roads, power, water, etc., were all part of the scope of the work. Because most of the original drawings and specifications were destroyed during the war, field sketches and measurements had to be used. A total engineering effort of 450,000 hours resulted in 4,500 major drawings. One totally new and fully modularized gathering facility (GC-17) was designed and built in Houston, Texas, and shipped to the sites. Other facilities were designed for rebuild based on their original concept, but modernized wherever possible. Some of the units were very old and were upgraded with the more modern versions of the equipment available. A more extensive use of distributed control systems and automation was one of the key areas that were upgraded. Procurement The project procurement group was established in full force during the firefighting phase of the project to provide resources for that very important effort. In the Al-Tameer phase the team was further expanded to support the massive procurement and contracting effort that was required to meet the target schedule. In addition, inventory control and warehousing material were also part of the procurement teams area of responsibility. The procurement team was also responsible for incorporating all the material into KOC1s automated material and inventory control system. The procurement effort driving the execution phase was centralized, and it was divided into three main areas: Material management Contracts management Warehouse management. Material management included purchasing, inspection, expediting, and traffic and logistics. Contracting included formation and administration. Warehouse management included central warehouses and satellite warehouses. The procurement team had three main goals within the projects overall objective: ensure the right material and resources were available in time to meet the schedule maximize the use of available local resources to assist in rebuilding the local economy ensure sure final warehouse inventory met KOCs material coding and identification system. The size and the particular nature of the project required that the procurement team be divided between material management-reporting to the manager of projects-and contracts management-reporting to the manager of construction. This arrangement facilitated the communication and management of site contractors work with Bechtels direct hire construction work. Material Management Project managers were responsible for development and processing of the material requisitions for their areas of responsibility. Orders over $100,000 required further approval by KOCs manager of the Al-Tameer project. Almost everything required for the execution of the project had to be imported from outside the country. At the early phases of the project the port facilities, custom facilities, and other services required for the proper importation of goods and services were not functioning. Bechtel established a staging area in Jebel Ali port of Dubai (UAE) to receive, inspect, and accept material. Utilizing much smaller vessels and boats, Bechtel then transported goods from Dubai to various Kuwait ports depending on availability and cargo size. This plan also included most of the air freighted material. Because timely delivery of the material was critical to meeting the project schedule, a very detailed material requisitioning plan had to be developed identifying every required detail. This plan was then incorporated into Bechtels worldwide Procurement Tracking System (PTS) that enabled all Bechtel offices to monitor and follow through each order until it reached the site. At later stages of the project when Kuwait ports and custom facilities became functional the above arrangements were changed and everything was imported directly into Kuwait. During this period more than 26,000 purchase orders were issued, and more than 520,000 tons of material were imported utilizing 742 aircraft and sea-going vessels. Warehousing Management One of the key activities of the warehousing management team was to incorporate the variety of material that was left behind after the war and the fire-fighting phase with newly ordered and engineering-specified material. Also, by continuously adjusting and monitoring quantities and specifications they could respond very quickly to emergency and out-of-schedule circumstances. The engineering and warehouse both utilized a common software (PCMC) to identify, locate, and quantify most of the bulk material making sure that when the material was required it would be made available immediately. Contract Management Although due to scheduled requirement reconstruction of some of the flow line, all of the gathering centers and booster stations were performed by Bechtel direct hires, nevertheless more than 300 major construction contracts and 650 equipment rental agreements were issued by the contract management team during the Al-Tameer project phase. The contract formulation team worked as a central group serving all subprojects. The contract administration group managed the administration work more by function than by area. Project managers were ultimately the responsible parties for the contractor work in their areas, receiving the necessary support and services from these two centralized teams. Construction Management Al-Tameer was probably one of the most challenging construction projects ever managed by Bechtel. The work required provision of labor, equipment, and support facilities in fifty-five locations and in four different parts of the country-North fields, South (marine facilities and refineries), West fields, and Burgan fields. The work involved construction of drill pads; roads for heavy rig transportation; well heads; flow lines; gathering centers; gas booster stations; oil storage tanks; water supply, distribution and storage; and marine export terminal and loading facilities. In addition, KOCs own infrastructure (offices, housing, clubs and restaurants, warehouses and buildings, telecommunication, etc.) had to be reconstructed. Construction efforts were divided between direct hire construction and subcontracted work. The total scope of work was divided into nine construction areas, each managed by a field superintendent. Each superintendent was responsible for both direct hire execution as well as field administration of the subcontractors scope of work within his area. Construction superintendents were supported by the central construction group that was the functional group supporting a project matrix team. Prioritization of resources and construction equipment was one of the major functions of the central construction team. Field construction teams were comprised of multinational forces (from thirty-six countries) with totally different cultures, languages, and performance capabilities. Catering and other cultural requirements had to be addressed to ensure each group could perform its function satisfactorily. Each task had to be tailor made to suit the team available. It was important that planning of the manpower and resources take into consideration availability of the right foreman and support group to be able to communicate and perform work with each team. Summary Approximately 1,000,000 hours in the regional offices and 4,000,000 hours in Kuwait were spent for project management/engineering/construction management during the first two phases of this project. Field labor hours were 50,000,000. These project man-hours were spent within the following project schedule milestones: start of planning November 1990 start implementation in Kuwait March 199 1 project completion June 1993. The sources of the project personnel were various. A total of 16,000 workers from thirty-six countries on five continents were involved in this massive effort. The countries that participated in the supply of manpower to this reconstruction included Kuwait, the United States, Great Britain, Canada, France, Australia, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Bahrain, Yugoslavia, Colombia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Afghanistan, the Philippines, India, Djibouti, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Pakistan, Trinidad, and Sierra Leone. Key Milestones Some of the more notable milestones in the program were: The last fire was extinguished and the well was capped on November 6, 199 1, eight months after the arrival of the first Bechtel team on-site. The first postwar oil was pumped from two of the original gathering centers on May 26, 199 1. By December 1991, more than 400,000 barrels of oil per day were being produced from the rehabilitated facilities. By April 1993, more than 11,000,000 barrels of weathered crude had been reclaimed from oil pits and lakes, and processed through the field treatment centers and the refinery. By the end of June 1993, eighteen of the original centers were back in operation, with all the production goals achieved as scheduled. Operation Phase Accomplishments The work was conducted in fifty-five locations that included fields in the north of Kuwait on the border with Iraq, west and south of Kuwait on the borders with Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and in the refineries and loading facilities along the coast and offshore. Five hundred square miles of land were swept and cleared of unexploded ordnance. More than 23,000 pieces of explosive devices were destroyed by explosive ordnance disposal teams. Although all work areas were swept, the risk from undetectable ordnance was ever present and some fatalities did occur. More than 26,000 purchase orders and 300 major construction contracts and 650 equipment rental agreements were awarded during Phases I and I1 of the project. (A more normal project performed over the same time frame may have 4,000 to 6,000 purchase orders.) A complete communication system dedicated to the oil industry was installed that included twenty-three satellite telephone systems, 4,500 telephones, and 2,000 portable radios. A twenty-four-hour health care and safety program was established that included two helicopter medivac teams, a forty-bed hospital, a dental clinic, and a team of approximately 100 professional medical personnel on duty at seven medical stations. More than 5,800 pieces of field operating equipment ranging from the larger bulldozers, cranes, trucks, front-end loaders, and heavy industrial equipment to ambulances, pickup trucks, cars, buses, and other support vehicles were shipped to the job sites. These pieces of equipment were purchased from twelve different countries. A total of 742 aircraft and sea-going vessels were deployed to ship more than 520,000 tons of equipment and material to Kuwait in support of this project. Six full-service dining halls with catering support staff provided about 3,500,000 meals for the workers during the fire-fighting campaign and 10,000,000 meals during the reconstruction phase. Menus were established to cater to the different ethnic backgrounds. Provisions and housing for 12,000 manual and 2,000 non-manual Bechtel employees were provided. All of the members of project management and their support teams, over 200 design and engineering personnel and around 200 procurement, administration and subcontracts management teams, were resident in Kuwait. Construction of a number of permanent offices, workshops, warehouses, maintenance shops, and housing complexes for KOC was completed at the same time. Fire-fighting efforts originally involved the four major international teams of Boots Coots, Red Adair, Safety Boss, and Wild Well Control. They were later joined by an additional twenty-three teams from Kuwait, Iran, China, Hungary, Great Britain, France, Canada, Romania, and Russia. Four hundred kilometers of water and oil pipelines were installed during fire-fighting efforts. Water lines and pumping stations could deliver 25,000,000 gallons a day to fire sites. Each of 360 lagoons was excavated, lined, and filled with 1,000,000 gallons of water for use in fire-fighting. Drilling pads and access roads were constructed for 700 new and work over wells. Three-thousand kilometers of new flow lines were constructed. One-thousand kilometers of new and refurbished pipelines were installed. Fifteen crude gathering centers, including a totally new and modularized early production facility, were assessed, designed, and constructed. Three gas booster stations were constructed Restoration and reconstruction of the marine loading terminals, offshore terminals, and SPM were completed. Construction of more than 10,000,000 barrels of new crude oil storage tankage was managed. Restoration of overhead and underground electrical power transmission and distribution system and cathodic protection system within the oil fields was completed. Construction repair and operation of water systems (fresh, brackish, and salt water) were completed. Construction and operation of oil recovery systems and facilities that collected and treated more than 25,000,000 barrels of weathered crude were completed.

Patients with Idiopathic Nephrotic Syndrome Essay -- Health, Treatment

Introduction It is known that glucocorticoids (GCs) therapy is the treatment of choice for patients with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS); however some patients fail to respond to the treatment even when given high-dose GCs. For those patients, the treatment should be bolstered by synergising GCs with other immunosuppressant [1]. Although biochemical alterations and clinical manifestations in most nephrotic patients seem to be quite similar, substantial differences are encountered regarding the course of disease. Relapses of proteinuria are experienced in approximately 60% to 80% of steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome patients and despite initial complete remission some remain steroid dependent or become steroid-resistant [2]. The lack of response to corticosteroids has been explained by several mechanisms. This may be ascribed to overwhelming disease severity, poor compliance, abnormalities in glucocorticoid metabolism or poor absorption, especially in patients with NS, who often develop heavy proteinuria and Hypoalbuminaemia, and, finally, by GCs resistance due to a GCR or postreceptor abnormality. GCR was incriminated in worsening the response to steroids earlier [3,4], but inadequate response to these agents, either due to inherited target tissue defective response or acquired impaired responsiveness is often reported by the clinicians in a number of patients [5]. If clinical response was predicted before therapy, synergised treatment might be performed at the beginning of the treatment to avoid side effects of chronic high-dose hormone therapy, which could improve the individual response to GC therapy and benefit more patients. Glucocorticoid receptor (GCR) seems to be related to the pathogenesis of steroid... ...ic indicator for patients with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome. During follow-up patients with non-relapsing and infrequent relapsing nephrotic syndrome had a median time to achieve remission 7 days [5]. Thus taken together all those data we can speculate that evaluation of the expression of intracellular glucocorticoid receptors shown as the percentage of lymphocytes (CD3/GCR) can directly predict early and late responders to steroid therapy, and as a result the outcome of nephrotic syndrome patients regarding future relapses if any. However, there has been no study on the relationship between the expression of lymphocytes GCR and the time to achieve complete remission in pediatric age group patients with steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome so far.

1984 Big Brother Is Watching You Essay -- essays research papers

Someone has always been there to tell you what to do in life. As a young child, you were told to behave properly and not to eat too many sweets. As you grew older and older, it seemed as if the responsibilities became greater and greater in number. Even as an adult, there was always an officious boss telling you what to do. There was always some higher force that bound your actions. Authority was the major theme in the novel 1984, by George Orwell. Authority was also a profound factor in Stanley Milgram’s experiment conducted in 1974. It seems that authority has been around longer than any of us can remember, and it is authority that dictates the way we act.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Authority is based on instinct. When we receive an order, we intuitively react and follow the command. At first, we do not think, nor contemplate the effects that come as a result of our actions. In 1984, we get a sense of a greater authority in Big Brother. Although we never come to know if Big Brother actually exists, the power and authority that this idol holds over the people is unimaginable. The people of Oceania are divided into two classes, the members of the Party and the proletariat. The Party members are like machines that do the jobs of the government. In this world, never has anyone thought any different of his or her place in society. Due to this authority that attempts to control the human train of thought, paranoia among the people became common. Nobody would talk to each other. Bonds between one another were broken, and it was never thought to be any different than before. To hold on to what makes you human - emotions and the ability to speak freely - was considered a crime against Big Brother. Of course, with authority comes punishment. To break from traditional views essentially asks for some form of retribution. For Winston, this resulted in undergoing a painful stay at the Ministry of Love. In the experiment conducted by Stanley Milgram, the power of authority over one’s personal conscience was laid bare. Subjects were asked to apply shocks to another person at increasing levels if questions were answered incorrectly. Although equipment was specious, 63% of the subjects followed through with the experiment and delivered the shocks at the highest intensity. “I was just following orders,'; was the excuse of many of the s... ...experiment, felt that the experiment made such a deep impression on him that he became convinced that “social sciences and psychology, are much more important in today’s world.'; One can only imagine the inner conflicts that were running through his head. After the experiment, he described the mood, “I did want to stop at that time. I turned around and looked at [the experimenter]. I guess it’s a matter of…authority.';   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It was clearly evident in the storyline of 1984, and was an outlining theme of Milgram’s experiment. Authority has always been with us; its laws are instilled within us. Most times, we know what is right and what is wrong. It is wrong to steal, and authority punishes us for doing so. It is wrong to disobey the government, and authority again punishes us for doing so. These truths are imposed upon us. Authority not only dictates the way we act, but it also changes our outlook on life. Ordering someone to apply shocks to another person is one thing. Making someone change the way they have viewed the world their whole life is something that authority has the power to make you do.