Michael Vick

  Psychological references of a personality can be correlated to each individual that resides on this earth.   Although some can be compared to others in terms of habitual actions through classifications, each personality interpretation is unique.   Personality classifications can be deemed as a selective grouping of traits that each individual acquires as a result of personal experiences, environmental influences, and category habitual traits.   These groups or categories each align one’s characteristics, thus organizing each person into a class or rank based upon traits identified by each grouping or classification.Thus far, 6 theories have been formulated to specify each personality trait including, humanistic, behavioral and social learning, cognitive, humanistic, psychoanalytical, and biological.   Each of these theoretical sects preserves the understanding of an individual’s actions as well as the identification of behavioral factors and qualities.   M any everyday people have undergone such evaluations in order to indentify, sort, and interpret personal behavior, however such theories are being examined in the lives of many high profile celebrities.For example, the latest bouts of strange behavior of Brittney Spears have also undergone these theories during the present custody battle with her former husband, Kevin Fedderline. Shaving her head along with her peculiar performance at the MTV movie awards have additionally undergone scrutiny.   Although Britney’s behavior has been rumored the result of substance abuse instead of personality flaws, many physiological theories has thus been applied in an attempt to explain the reasoning behind her actions.Moreover, football star Michael Vick has undergone a serious career adjustment only months ago after he was convicted of dog fighting charges.   Psychological personality theories can also be applied in order to understand the logic behind his recent actions.Although his ca reer seemingly ended earlier than expected, Michael Vick was not always in the bright spotlight that shined upon his career for so many years. Born in Newport News, Virginia, 1960, to then 16 year-old Brenda Vick and 17 year-old Michael Boddie, Michael Dwayne Vick was always responsible for his siblings while his father attempted to maintain a steady job.   Michael Boddie only served 2 years in the military before finally finding a steady job at the local ship yards as a painter.However, in Mr. Boddie’s spare time, he always reintegrated the discipline of football into his son, thus attaining Michael Vicks’ deep passion for the sport. After a rash of disciplinary issues as school, Michael â€Å"Ookie† Vick was forced to incorporate an extra-curricular activity into his schedule, thus he chose football. During his constructive varsity career at Warwick High School, Vick earned a scholarship to Virginia Tech.   Soon after a successful career at Virginia Tech, Vick was deemed one of the most sought after college quarterbacks in the entire United States, thus earning him a spot in the Atlanta Falcons lineup.During this time, The Atlanta Falcons had only advanced to the playoffs a total of 6 times; therefore they were attempting to acquire a team player whom could aid the team in accomplishing their feat in the Super Bowl.  Ã‚   Vick signed on for a six year contract totaling $62 million along with a $15 million sign on bonus.   Although then coach, Dan Reeves, only had intentions of orchestrating Vick from the sidelines of his rookie year, his impressive performance during training camp earned an early route to the field.   During his career since the start of 2001, Vick has proved to be an essential sect of the Falcons team (Black Book Partners, 2007).However, since his formal guilty plea in illegal dog fights, Vick has proved to be a tremendous loss to the Falcons dream team. â€Å"One of the most spectacular falls from grace in t he history of American sport was sealed yesterday as star quarterback Michael Vick formally pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and involvement in dog-fighting, that could see him jailed for a year or more†¦Vick had been one of the biggest stars of the National Football League, a quarterback of explosive speed and phenomenal throwing power. He was in the middle of a record-breaking $137m (68.5m), 10- year contract with the Falcons, not to mention a host of lucrative endorsement deals† (Cornwell,   August 2007).   Since his recent indefinite expulsion from the NFL in the later portion of 2007, the Atlanta Falcons have only attained 3 wins, and have consequentially ended their once always sold out games.   In early December, Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison with a projected release date of summer 2009.Although there are 6 sects of trait theory, Vick’s actions can only be interpreted under the Social-Cognitive Theory.   Under this theory, internal and external factors influence an individual, not either or.   This theory is also called the reciprocal theory because each factor, internal and external, corresponds with each other, not separately.   All Psych noted that  in his classic experiment, Bandura (1965) looked at the behavior of children after watching a model on TV perform aggressive acts.   The children were divided into three groups; model rewarded, model punished, and no consequence, referring to the outcome of these aggressive acts.As he expected, all of the children were able to perform the aggressive acts even though they had never performed them or been rewarded for them in the past.   However, those who witnessed the aggressive model being punished exhibited less aggressive acts themselves in the play time that followed. (AllPsych, 2004). Bandura reintegrated the thought that people not only react to personal feelings or inhibitions, but that they also act upon outside influences.   These influence s could range from television, friends, family or even things witnessed in the workplace.Realistically, in correlation to Michael Vick’s dog fighting offences, others were involved in the case, including friends and family.   Vick admitted to brutally killing at least 8 dogs either during or after the fights, however, others that were involved in the gambling and actual dog fights themselves did not take responsibility for their actions during the ordeal.   This leaves on to suspect if Vick himself was solely responsible for the fights or if others influenced him to do so because of his celebrity stature and ability to gain discretion for the events.During his childhood, any actions of violence or extreme cases of anger can not be pinpointed, therefore, psychologically, the visibility of these bouts of aggression that were taken out in the form of dog fighting is not rational.   In addition, Cornwell also suggests that â€Å"Like cock-fighting (which Louisiana, inciden tally, became the last state to ban a few weeks ago), dog-fighting has been around here for generations, at least since the early 19th century and probably before that. Blame those early British colonists and the popularity of the pastime back home in the old country. For a long time, it was above all a rural pursuit, entrenched in the South and in the Mid-Atlantic States, where the Vick case occurred† (July 2007).This also correlates with the Social-Cognitive Theory hence its environmental influence on the act.   Although most individuals perceive the violence of the fights as cruel, this type of behavior is a cultural issue which customarily prevails in the south.   In American culture, dog fights just as cock fights have dated back to the early colonization of the United States, therefore preserving the earliest forms of sportsmanship.   Other issues lie behind the dog fighting that Vick pled guilty to such as the gambling ring, which suggests that Vick orchestrated t he financial bets and racketeering that also prevailed; moreover, it appears that outside influences instead of sole internal desires influenced Vicks decisions.In conclusion, many high-profile celebrities have risen to the charts not because of their efforts towards charity, but for their outrageous behavior.   One of these authoritative figures is Michael Vick.   Although he was raised with small town values which ultimately earned him the spot as the most invasive quarterbacks of his time, he consequentially succumbed to internal and external pressures that have now landed him 23 months in prison.   The type of theory that can be applied to his behavior, Social-Cognitive, explains the nature behind his ludicrous conduct.Social-Cognitive behavior can be classified as the integration of both internal and external factors such as environment and self-indulgence that causes one to act in a certain manner.   Many studies have been conducted such as that of Bandura, which conse quentially supports the theory.   The theory behind behaviors such as that depicted by Michael Vick should be further analyzed in order to broaden the spectrum of understanding.   Affirmative and destructive aspects of the Social-Cognitive theory apply.For instance, theoretically, the Social-Cognitive trait theory can supplement one’s actions for external factors.   This can be affirmative or negative in the sense that this allows an individual to focus on the outside influences instead of logical thinking and reason.   Additionally, this theory allows psychologist to properly analyze and represent individuals when facing legal actions against them.   In demonstrating the analytical properties of an individual’s mind set, fair sentencing can be given in correlation to psychological facets of the law and societal influence.WORKS CITEDAll Psych. (2004). Personality Synopsis Chapter 8: Learning Theory Section 5: Social Cognitive Theory.   Retrieved December 13 , 2007, from http://allpsych.com/personalitysynopsis/social_cognitive.htmlBlack Book Partners. (2007). Michael Vick. Retrieved December 13, 2007, fromhttp://www.jockbio.com/Bios/Vick/Vick_bio.htmlCornwell, R. (2007, July 22). The football superstar and the dog-fighting ring.The London Independent. Retrieved December 13, 2007, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_200705/ai_n19388909Cornwell, R. (2007, August 28).   Vick faces jail after admitting dog fights.   TheLondon Independent. Retrieved December 13, 2007, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20070828/ai_n20523470

Sfi ( Students’ Federation of India )

Students Federation of India (SFI) is one of the major student organisations in India. Founded in 1970, it is the students' wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). As of 2012, it claims a membership strength of nearly 40 lakhs school and university students. [1] SFI is currently led at the All India level by Ritabrata Banrjee, General Secretary and V. Sivadassan, President.Being the students wing of the , the Students’ Federation of India, abbreviated SFI, carries forward the heritage of the progressive student movement of our country, which has always considered itself an inseparable part of the broader struggle for social transformation. It is this legacy that the Students’ Federation of India holds aloft in its slogan of â€Å"Independence, Democracy, and Socialism! †The SFI believes that education is a major tool of social transformation and that this concept is especially relevant in a country like India, where regressive forces still prevail. Proper education, they believe, will counteract such forces and will help to build a new society based on rationality and justice. The SFI is an organization of students which is ever aware of its role in society. It identifies with a society's progressive forces and is totally committed to the idea of independence, democracy, and socialism.The following has been stated as the objective of the SFI in its Political program[2] 1. The Students’ Federation of India takes upon itself the task of organizing the students in schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions of the country and also Indian students studying abroad under its banner to build a powerful and well-knit student movement for the upliftment and betterment of the student community 2.The Students’ Federation of India fights for the realisation of its aim to establish a democratic, scientific, secular and progressive educational system ensuring education and job for all that calls for the implem entation of comprehensive land reforms, elimination of the stranglehold of international finance capital and indigenous monopoly capitalism. The Students’ Federation of India aims to accomplish this by organizing the student community in the struggles of the wider democratic movement of the workers, peasants, and other progressive forces . The Students’ Federation of India as a forward-looking and progressive student organization shall inscribe on its banner, â€Å"Independence, Democracy and Socialism†. It is with this perspective that Students’ Federation of India is committed to strive for a society free from all exploitation. It shall fight all such alien trends and tendencies that are disruptive of our struggle for the emancipation of our people and country 4.The Students’ Federation of India will continuously work to ensure all necessary facilities for complete and meaningful education – hostel, library and laboratory, sports and games , athletics and physical training, culture and entertainment, and other educative and social activities – that will be adequate and within the reach of all students. The Students’ Federation of India will continuously fight for the attainment of all just and democratic rights of students.It will fight and work for the right of students to democratic and independent expression and conduct, to form unions and associations, to assemble, to participate in the management of educational institutions and in all activities connected with the academic and other aspects of student life. The Students’ Federation of India will strive to develop the Students’ urge for more and more knowledge and to inculcate among students the practice of self-education and self-discipline.The Students’ Federation of India will further strive to develop close-knit relations between teachers, non-teaching staff, guardians, students and the rest of the academic community, and fos ter mutual respect and regard between them. The Students’ Federation of India will untiringly resist any attempt to drive a wedge between the students and the rest of the academic community. It will also oppose all attempts to alienate the student community from other democratic and toiling sections of our people. 5.The Students’ Federation of India, while stressing the duty and necessity of the student community for diligent and industrious study of the humanities and the sciences to equip themselves with adequate knowledge and enlightenment, simultaneously seeks to encourage and promote their thirst for political and social knowledge and consciousness. The students should thus be adequately prepared, on leaving school or college, to play their rightful role as conscious citizens of this fast changing society of our times. 6.The Students’ Federation of India pledges to fight for equality of all, irrespective of religion, caste, gender, language, and race and as part of this struggle, commits to fight for the empowerment of the disadvantaged classes, castes, tribes and communities, the women, and other marginalized sections of the society and for the protection of the rights of the linguistic, ethnic, racial, religious and other minorities. The Students’ Federation of India upholds the constitutionally guaranteed rights for minorities to run and manage educational institutions in the country.However it should be ensured that these institutions are not run with a commercial motive to earn profits and misutilised for spreading irrational and fundamentalist ideology. 7. The Students’ Federation of India stands firmly in defense of secularism, the complete separation of state and polity from religion. The Students’ Federation of India declares its uncompromising opposition to all forms of religious fundamentalism, bigotry and communalism, and pledges to fight against all forms of communal violence, terror, and in particula r communal fascism.The communal forces divide the student community thus weakening their struggles for educational and employment rights. The Students’ Federation of India unflinchingly confronts all attempts to destroy the unity of the students and the people at large on religious and communal lines and with unfailing sincerity addresses itself to the task of promoting communal harmony and patriotic unity of the people against the anti-national forces of communalism. 8.Students Federation of India is strongly opposed to all forms of gender discrimination and oppression in every sphere of life. The prevalence of age-old evil traditions like sati and dowry portray the deplorable condition of women in our country. It commits to fight all patriarchal values and practices which draw their basis both from the remnants of feudal relations, outmoded ways of thought, and from the commodification of women under capitalism. SFI shall fight for the emancipation of women and demands equa lity of access to education for girls.SFI stands and strives for a progressive and gender sensitive ethos and curriculum. 9. The Students’ Federation of India is vehemently opposed to all forms of caste discrimination and oppression. SFI strives to eradicate the inhuman practice of untouchability, all forms of social oppression and fights for the abolition of caste system. It supports reservations for the dalits, the adivasis and other backward castes and communities in the area of education and employment, and demands its extension to the private sector too.The Students’ Federation of India is of the considered opinion that other forms of deprivation like economic, regional, and gender-wise backwardness should also be taken into account in providing reservations. It also raises its voice for the fulfillment of the existing stipulation of reservations and new provisions wherever required for all other disadvantaged categories (physically challenged, etc. ). 10.The Stud ents’ Federation of India staunchly opposes all kinds of narrow, separatist parochialism and chauvinism, be it on linguistic, provincial, regional, or ethnic lines. The Students’ Federation of India strives for a democratic realignment of power between the Union and the state governments with emphasis on decentralization of power to strengthen the federal character of the nation in order to safeguard national unity and to ensure balanced development.The Students’ Federation of India fully supports the developmental aspirations, both material and cultural, of the various nationalities in the Indian Union within the territorial integrity of the country and extends full cooperation to their legitimate and democratic struggles against the oppressive and authoritarian policies of the State. 11. The socially unplanned and uncontrolled capitalist path of development with the sole objective of reckless profiteering has precipitated dangerous environmental degradation.Th e Students’ Federation of India is committed to environment-friendly development and will strive along with progressive peoples’ movements for protection and sustenance of environment. 12. The cultural diversity of our country is facing multi-pronged attacks. On one hand the onslaught of market-oriented consumerist values is deforming our cultural foundations while on the other hand aggressive communalism is seeking to impose a Manuvadi cultural hierarchy in the name of ‘cultural nationalism’.The Students’ Federation of India firmly resists all attempts to mutilate the mosaic of our varied and pluralistic culture while firmly rejecting the influence of the colonial-feudal culture. It stands committed to steadfastly promote development of people’s culture based on modern, scientific progressive and humanitarian values. 13. The Students’ Federation of India works towards protecting identity, languages and culture of indigenous, tribal co mmunities while fighting against their exploitation and dispossession for their overall development and helping them to integrate with the mainstream social life.At the same time, the Students’ Federation of India struggles for the development of education, welfare and integrity of tribes by defending their rights. The rights of the tribal people should be protected according to the Schedules V and VI of the Constitution of India, especially at a time of intensifying attack of imperialist globalisation. 14. The Students’ Federation of India is committed to strengthen the mass democratic movement in our country in order to advance the struggle for socio-economic emancipation of the people.The Students’ Federation of India, along with other progressive forces, stands committed to fight against the stranglehold of feudal and casteist values and rituals that severely impair the advancement of democratic consciousness among the masses. A radical social reform movemen t together with the fight against feudal land relations along with other democratic and progressive forces is an important part of Students’ Federation of India’s agenda to develop democratic consciousness among the vast toiling sections. 15.The Students’ Federation of India as an organization and movement inspired by anti-imperialist, democratic, and socialist ideas, is pledged to combat the onslaught of imperialist globalization and domination in all areas of student and public life. The Students’ Federation of India simultaneously is pledged to protect the unity and integrity of our country from the onslaught of communal and separatist forces. It extends its solidarity to all the progressive forces of the world fighting for freedom, independence, territorial integrity, democracy, and socialism against imperialist aggression.The Students’ Federation of India is committed to work in close coordination with all the progressive, democratic, and soci alist forces around the world and earnestly work for building a powerful international Student movement in defense of world peace, independence, democracy and socialism against imperialism. 16. The Students’ Federation of India seeks to establish warm and friendly relations with all other organizations and associations of students, youth and the academic community, which are pledged to work for independence, secularism, democracy, peace, and socialism.It is prepared to unite with all those who are willing to join hands with it on specific issues and demands, and jointly act with them for the redress of the Students’ grievances. 17. The Students’ Federation of India places this programme before the student community and calls upon the students, youth, women, middle classes, peasants, workers and all other forces interested in the democratic advancement of our country to unite for the fulfillment of these tasks and join hands to build a prosperous life for all our people.

Recently a small Young Enterprise Essay

Recently a small â€Å"Young Enterprise† group has set up a Sweet Stand, which sells a variety of sweets and soft drinks. The staff working at this Sweet Stand are Dave Currall (The Manager), Natalia Gelder (Assistant Manager). At the moment, the records which hold the information, are all paper based. This problem requires for Dave Currall to keep records in order, and also wastes time in writing the information down for the records. A stock check takes a lot of time to do although Nature of the problem User’s requirements 1. Stock checking forms. 2. Stock not re-ordered. 3. Wrong Minimum re-order quantities. 4. Don’t know who supplies which item. 5. Takes time and is difficult to prepare orders. 1. Form to use for stock checking. 2. Automatically identify when stock is low. 3. Items have a re-order quantity. 4. Each item has its known supplier. 5. System creates printed orders. Details of the problem Details of the user’s requirements 1. Stock checking form – its paper based. This means that too much time is taken filling in the stock check form. Paper can be easily lost; also after a period of time it begins to look all messed up. Repeating the tasks again and again wastes time. 2. Stock is not re-ordered which leads to that the items are running out, and customers will go elsewhere. 3. Wrong Minimum re-order quantities – re-order levels are being guessed, therefore at times too much, stock is being re-ordered. As a result, there are problems with the storage space; items go passed their sell-by-date and have to be thrown away. 4. We don’t know whom supplies which item, it also takes time to find the items, and the items could go to a wrong supplier leading to a loss of money. 5. Takes time, and is difficult to prepare orders – we need to know which items are low on stock, what items are needed, and who the order is coming from (the supplier). 1. Stock checking form – computer generated list of items that can be used to record the number of each item in stock. 2. Automatic low stock warning – the system needs to identify when a current item is below a certain mark of stock and will need to be highlighted for re-ordering. 3. Item re-order quantity – each item has a number, which is used as a re-order quantity. 4. Each item has its own supplier – the system needs to know if the supplier for each item, this could be coded, used to order items from the correct supplier. 5. System creates printed orders – the items that need re-ordering, are put on an order form which is then reading to be ordered with its certain No. in Stock. There will be a different order form for each supplier. This order form will require all of the important information. Method of collecting data Information collected   Items sold   No. in Stock of stock * Supplier   What the supplier suppliers/ what item(s)   Sell-by-date. Re-order level of items Method Used Items sold – The staff count the items and write all the stock items onto a list. So when an item is sold, the staff will write down what has been sold.   No. in Stock of stock – The staff will count how much stock of each item they have, and write it down on paper.   Supplier – The staff would contact the supplier and retrieve the information they need to know on what the supplier supplies.   What the supplier supplies/ what item(s) – The staff would contact the supplier and find out what stock the supplier has via telephone, letter, etc. Sell-by-date – each box of items shall have the same sell-by-date so the staff can write down the sell-by-date for that box and keep up to date with the items.   Re-order level of items – levels of items need to be monitored manually to see what items run out of stock quickly, and some items which don’t sell very much. This way different levels are aquired for each item. Suggested Alternatives Alternative solutions shall improve the Sweet Stand; these should be improving the capture of the records by inserting them into a database so that they are kept safe. It should be able to identify when an item should need to be recorded. Also, it will control the No. in Stock of each item. Also it will be able to identify which item has come from which supplier. Also, these orders will be prepared when an item needs to be reordered. Inputs, Processing and Outputs required Inputs Processing Outputs   Stock items   No. in Stock of stock   Supplier details   Re-order level   Formulae Stock check form   Order form   Stock listing report Detail of inputs, processing and outputs Name of input Detail of input Stock items. The items of stock that need to be ordered need to be input into the system No. in Stock of stock The number of items in stock will need to be an input into the system Suppliers details The information on the supplier will need to be input. This information is the address, name, and contact numbers. Re-order level The re-order level will need to be input for each item of stock. This is so that the calculation can alert the user that the item needs to be re-ordered. Name of Processing Detail of processing Formulae IF(‘RE-ORDER'

Finance and Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Finance and Management - Essay Example With the use of the budgets, businesses will produce different management reports to the various stakeholders. The reports will be important in the evaluation of the business performance and act as a motivation to the employees. Product cost can be defined a s the total costs that is incurred in the manufacturing of goods or the provision of servicers. Various cost elements are involved in the process of producing a product. These include material cost, labor costs, overhead costs, and other expenses (Polimeni, 2000). The sum of these costs constitutes product costs. Material costs are labor costs are direct cost that are associated with the goods and are easy to determine when determining the cost of products (Epstein & Lee, 2001). Material costs can be determined from the purchase receipts that are made. Labor expenses are also determined from the salaries and other allowances that are paid to the workers and other experts that are involved in the production of goods and services. The last component of product costs that includes the overhead expenditure poses a challenge to cost accountants on how to incorporate them in the product costs (Horngren, 2009). There are different cost accounting methods that can be used to allocate these costs to the products to determine the total costs of the products. Product costs are necessary for decision-making and for external purposes. Product costs can be determined using the following methods. First, marginal costing system can be used in calculating the product cost. In this method, only the variable costs are used in arriving at the product prices (Polimeni, 2000). The organization will therefore use these costs to make decisions. Fixed costs and sunk costs are not included in the calculation because they are past costs which cannot influence the future managerial costs. Product costs determined in this manner will only be important in making internal deci9isions and not for external uses. The second cost methodology that can be used is the total costing or absorption costing method. In this method, the prices of products are determined by adding all the costs incurred in production including the fixed costs and other overhead costs (Epstein & Lee, 2001). All the costs are considered relevant because the management incurred the cost in the process of making the product. The method of should be used in determining the selling price that is charged on the products because it incorporates all the costs involved in the process (Lucey, 2002). The prices can therefore be determined by adding a desired margin on the cost of the goods. Moreover, the product costs can also be determined by the use of activity based costing. Activity based costing assists in the allocation of overhead costs that are then summed up to the variable costs to arrive at the total product costs. In this method, the overhead costs are allocated to the various cost centers and using the cost drivers. The method helps in charging costs to the various activities. This method has been used widely to control the costs of activities and make managers do away with non-essential activities that do not add value to the product manufacturing. Through the elimination of the dummy and redundant activities, the management will be in a position to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in the process. The last costing methodology that can be employed is the throughout costing. This method is criticized by the accountants and is

Employer-Employee Relationship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Employer-Employee Relationship - Essay Example It fulfils the aspirations of millions around the globe, and makes every member a part of the universal whole and hurtles towards a chosen path and on to destiny. It involves a culture that is flexible, unique and peculiar to the specific organization or industry. It also involves administration, supervision, evaluation, performance, productivity, motivation, morale, and discipline. In short, it is the creation of a new dimension in relationship based on mutual understanding, trust, objectives, principles and routines. (Employee Relations Series) In the course of its existence, an organization settles down to achieve its aims and targets. The most important asset of the organization is its human resource. All the activities from the initial stage of acquiring an order to execution and delivery are dependent on human skills at every level and stage. The internal activities of an organization consist not only of executing orders or rendering services, but also constantly looking after its own position and welfare, which is the welfare of its employees. In the present economic scenario, policies and procedures relating to employee- related issues are the quick fix hire and fire routine, although enlightened management may not arbitrarily use them. There needs to be good deal of resilience and flexibility. Policies and procedures serve as guidelines and channels of hope to an aggrieved employee or group of employees with specific grievance. The emphasis is on the fact that the management is willing to lend a ear to an employee, thereby indicating the importance of the employee as an individual in the management's eyes. The management must also make it clear to the employee that they are aware of his good record and are appreciative about it. This emphasis on the capability and contributions of the individual helps to create a congenial atmosphere assuaging the aggrieved employee or group of employees right away. It wins the loyalty of the employee and exponentially serves to rejuvenate the employees' morale. Traits In the current economic and market scenario, there is less scope for white elephants and sycophants. Along with team management abilities, the people in charge are expected to endow their functions with an eye for talents and find out the aspirations of the employees under them. Understanding human resource and its potential and goals not only help employers to fathom the depth of their employees' capacities but also enable them to delegate responsibilities effectively and equip them with the means to effectively handle the day to day routines with foresight and fortitude. The layers of the managerial hierarchy have drastically reduced after the dawn of the electronic and information era. It is more empowerment based, and even the employee in the lower rung of the hierarchy is aware of his importance in the eyes of the management and how to bargain for better prospects. An important aspect of horizontal hierarchy is

Unit 4 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Unit 4 - Assignment Example It is not appropriate to use the personality tests as a main factor of job consideration, since many errors accompany the personality tests. Response distortion among the applicants is common as they align themselves with the best descriptive words that will win the hearts of the employer. The respondent can also be at a state of low mood at examination time hence the bias. It is worth noting that many people are dynamic and hence express different facets of personality. In addition to that, it is not appropriate to use these tests for the disabled people. Some occupations also do not require personality screening. The Americans with Disability Act outlines that people known to have psychiatric conditions should be exempted for the people with mental illnesses. The examinations should have a relation with the job opportunity at stake (Morgeson et al.). It is justifiable to use clinical personality tests for highly sensitive occupations such as cabin crews and police officers. The tests are likely to cause generally negative public relations feelings. The tools are excellent as they allow one to excavate deeply into a person’s perception about a specific job. However, the tests they should not receive excess overreliance from the employee as they only reflect a tip of iceberg regarding the personality. Taylor, Shannon G., and Donald H. Kluemper. â€Å"Linking Perceptions of Role Stress and Incivility to Workplace Aggression: The Moderating Role of Personality.† Journal of Occupational Health Psychology 2012 :

Issues of Transportation and Mobility Under Urbanization Process Research Paper

Issues of Transportation and Mobility Under Urbanization Process - Research Paper Example There is a big relationship between the urban transport structure and history. The residents of Toronto in particular have gained much access to personal cars due to developed infrastructure. This paper examines how urbanization has led to increased mobility and transportation. On the other hand, it reviews the problems associated with these developments. At the end of the day, the government has put up measures to counter problems associated to transport. This research paper comprehensively discusses the topic under question with reference to relevant sources that talks about case studies in similar situations. How transportation has developed in Toronto area Public transport system in Toronto has developed greatly after the year 1953 (Goodfellow et al., 2012, p.25). City is important in the North American state (Canada) since it is highly populated. This post war era saw urbanization across the world. In the same year, the Metropolitan Toronto made efforts of taking control of the public transit. The body did a good job of introducing two-tier system that improved the transportation system. The metropolitan’s government efforts extensively funded the project to become a success in the history of transportation (Kenworthy 2007, p.50). This funding reduced debts that the institution had. Despite digging deeper for the project, the institution realized great development that eased public transportation. This move would later form back born of transportation of the area. However, this development invited problems for the transportation and mobility. Car ownership increased which meant traffic snarl-ups. The number of households owing cars increased and the metropolitan government had to deal with problems like effects of automobiles on the environment, pedestrians. Since the Second World War, more vehicles have increased into the road (Renne & Fields 2013b, p.580). On the other hand, the public had to deal with long distances since the government had not p rovided incentives for constructing bypasses. Private car ownership increased. Traffic officials do have difficult time controlling private motorists. They always break the rules since and crackdown on them has proved hectic for the traffic police. In the post war era, mobility also proved difficult for the pedestrians. This mad the government to go back to the drawing table to salvage the situation. Pedestrians have equal rights to use the road. Motorists at this time were not considerate of this group of people and it resulted into numerous accidents (Kenworthy 2007, p.50). This resulted to traffic congestions, overcrowding at the public transport. In several occasions, the pedestrians were stranded in the city. Increase in car numbers also brought about parking problems in towns. There were many cars with limited parking space. The vehicles also affect environment. Comparable case studies Many case studies exist on transportation, which are comparable to the situations in Toronto (Renne & Fields 2013b, p.580). This book talks about case studies in major cities of the world that are metropolitan in nature. Cities like Tokyo, Moscow, Osaka Japan and New York have the same transportation features as Toronto. There is a case study on the transit system of Toronto. The system paves way for trolley buses and trams in the stations. It has really helped in improving mobility of city travelers. These modes of transportation and mobility are mostly popular in New York, a city that once faced mobility problems. Toronto Transit Commission

Mechanical orientation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mechanical orientation - Essay Example III (2009), he averred that â€Å"according to HomeDoctor.net, a roofing nail has a diamond-shaped sharp tip to help it nail through decking without splitting it. That is why it is important to use roofing nails when doing a roofing job. Roofing nails are made of galvanized steel to protect them from the elements. When installing roofing nails always make sure the nail is flush to the shingle. A countersunk nail will rip the shingle, and a nail that is not completely nailed down will eventually work its way out† (par. 6). There are different lengths of nails to use depending on the roofing materials one is working on. For asphalt shingles, Root III indicated that â€Å"when installing asphalt shingles on felt only to any grade decking you should use 1-inch long roofing nails. When installing dimensional shingles to felt only, Roofhelp.com recommends you use 1 1/4-inch nails. If you are putting a layer of asphalt shingles over an existing layer of asphalt shingles on to a 3/4-inch deck or a plank deck then you should be using 1 1/2-inch nails. If your decking is less than 3/4 inch then a 1 1/2-inch nail will suffice. For dimensional shingles being installed over a layer of existing dimensional shingles you should always use a 1 1/2-inch roofing nail† (Root III, pars. 4 & 5). A rubber mallet is â€Å"a hammerlike tool with a head commonly of wood but occasionally of rawhide, plastic, etc., used for driving any tool with a wooden handle, as a chisel, or for striking a surface† (Dictionary.com, par. 1). Wallender identified the following uses of a rubber mallet, to wit: â€Å"for ceramic tile, it helps gently tap tile into place; laminate flooring: great for this brittle material; tap carpeting onto tacking strips; a â€Å"sounding device† if you need to hear what is behind a wall or in a pipe; PVC pipe work; and two tight-fitting sections of drywall† (Wallender, par.1), among others. According to needs, the rubber mallet come in different types and prices, such as the

Common Mallow and American Ginseng Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Common Mallow and American Ginseng - Essay Example As the discussion stresses the plant is edible and can be eaten raw or cooked. In fact a decoction of the roots can actually be sued as an substitute for eggs when cooking meringue. In folk medicine, the mucilaginous nature of the plant was used for both internal and external cases of swelling and sores. It was also used to treat various kinds of inflammation and some skin infections including rashes.This paper declares that the plant is edible and its leaves and young stems are used in cooking and is used especially in salads owing to the mild taste and high nutritive value. The plant however, also has several medicinal properties. It is believed that the Cherokee Indians used the plants for treating sores. They would mix the flowers in oil and apply on the sores. The common mallow is most popularly known to help in treating respiratory disorders. The plant has mucous chemicals which help to form a layer on the mucosa of the respiratory tract. It may also be used for cough or hoarse ness.   Today, industries used the dried flowers of the plant to make over the counter medication for cough relief. For household purposes, one can boil the roots and the flowers in milk before consumption to treat chest problems and common cough.  The American ginseng is a commonly found herbaceous plant. It is a perennial plant and belongs to the ivy family of plants. Scientifically the American ginseng is known as Panaz quinquefolius. The leave of the plant grows in a circle around the stem and bears greenish, umbrella shaped flowers.

The Changing Role of Human resource management Essay Example for Free

The Changing Role of Human resource management Essay For years, businesses relied on personnel departments for the management of their employees. The primary concerns of the personnel departments included attendance records, benefits, and salary. Therefore, the personnel departments did not consider the importance of contributions a company’s employees made to the business. These contributions included such things as diversity and intellectual capital. As businesses began to expand globally, they began realizing the importance of their human resources. Thus the concept of Human Resources (HR) management began to emerge as an outgrowth of the personnel departments. According to the week one overview, companies depend on their human resources departments to manage and provide for the organization’s needs through the use of their human assets. These assets include the business partners, community, customers, employees, and stakeholders of the company (University of Phoenix, 2010). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the various responses by human resources management to (a) globalization, (b) technology, (c) diversity, (d) e-business, and (e) ethics. To begin with, a definition of human resources management is in order. Definition of Human Resources (HR) Management According to Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, and Wright (2007), a definition of HR management is the company’s guidelines, procedures, and structures that directly influence their employee’s actions, conduct, outlook, mindsets, and job performances. Modern companies consider human resources management to be good practice regarding the optimum use of their employees’ intellectual capital, including the skills and expertise these employees bring to the company, and work to ensure their human resources managers understand this (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, Wright, 2007). Response to Globalization As businesses enter the global market, they are beginning to realize the importance of HR management in such areas as change management, setting goals and objectives, recognizing employee skills, and working with diverse groups. According to a report released in 2000, for a corporation to develop a culture that is consistent the corporation must establish and preserve a â€Å"critical balance between a strong corporate culture and local cultural differences† (Rioux, Bernthal, Wellins, 2000, p. 1). The report went on to state â€Å"the globalization of HR is characterized by increasing levels of decentralization† (Rioux et al. 2000, p. 1). As a result, companies are placing their HR departments, including those in the global market, into more centralized areas containing one HR department and a regional or international staff. Because of this centralization, HR managers need to recognize differences among employees regarding areas such as culture, ethnicity, and religion. Response to Technology HR managers need to recognize that because of advances in technology, businesses are beginning to hire employees to work in areas that require higher education and special training including engineering, manufacturing, and quality management. To respond effectively, HR managers must develop and encourage the creativity and innovation these highly trained employees bring to their organizations. To accomplish this may mean HR managers need to improve the communication process, develop new and improved programs for continuing education, and realign staff (Bundy, 1997). Response to Diversity Among the challenges facing businesses today is an increasingly diverse workforce. As more minorities enter the labor market, HR managers are beginning to realize they have the responsibility of ensuring these minorities they do not become victims of discrimination. HR managers must learn to recognize and use their employees’ intellectual capital, including the abilities, expertise, and ethical values, these employees contribute to the workforce. A good HR manager will respect people of different cultures, ethnicities, and gender. According to Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, and Wright (2007) more businesses in the United States are beginning to realize they need to acknowledge and recognize the diversity of their employees and use this diversity in ways that will allow them to gain advantages over their competition (Noe et al. , 2007). Response to e-Business Individuals and organizations are beginning to recognize the importance of the Internet in conducting business. As a result, e-business is becoming more prevalent. The book defines electronic business or e-business as â€Å"any process that a business conducts electronically, especially business involving use of the Internet† (Noe et al. , 2007, p. 50). E-business allows consumers to purchase items using the Internet or conduct banking transactions, companies to conduct transactions with each other, and consumers to conduct transactions among themselves such as auctions. Because of the increasing use of the Internet to conduct business, HR managers find themselves faced with several challenges. These challenges include ensuring the company is continually updating their employee requirements regarding such things as ability and competence. HR managers must recruit and train people to meet those requirements. Response to Ethics Businesses need to ensure the people they hire to work in and manage their HR departments behave ethically. The definition of ethics is the â€Å"fundamental principles of right and wrong† (Noe et al. 2007, p. 17). HR managers must ensure their behavior is always ethical and the company’s employees also behave ethically. HR managers need to implement training programs that teach employees how to behave ethically in the workplace. For example, HR managers need to recognize that people have certain basic rights including the right to refuse to engage in activities that violate their morals (Noe et al. , 2007). Conclusion Over the years the role of HR management has undergone several changes. The human resources department is no longer just a personnel department concerned merely with attendance records, benefits, and salary. Instead, HR managers find they are becoming more involved in every department of the business. Companies are beginning to recognize that good HR managers are very important to the continuing success of their businesses. Therefore, HR managers need to ensure they have expertise in areas such as globalization, technology, diversity, e-business, and ethics.

Mental Health Groups: Theories and Methods

Mental Health Groups: Theories and Methods Constance Ballew All over the world the issue of mental health is a rampantly growing problem. With budget cuts both statewide and federally since the 1980’s by President Ronald Reagan, our country has had to create more cost efficient ways to meet the needs of our mental health crisis. Because of these budget cuts the need for more mental health services has grown and our county has responded to the outcry from those with mental health issues. Tulare County has come up with a way to help meet these needs locally through the Mental Health Services Act (MHSA), which was voted for in November 2004 and became effective January 2005. From August 2009 to October 20011 MHSA has helped over 16,000 Tulare county residents with mental health issues. This is possible because of a 1% tax surcharge on those who make $1 million or more per year. Mental health groups in Tulare County treat a broad spectrum of problems. From Bipolar Disorder and depression to schizophrenia, there are support groups to help c lients deal with the difficulties associated with mental illness (HHSA, 2012). In California the rate mental illness vary from county to county. Over all the rate of those with mental health issues in California are 16.3% that equals to about 4 million Californians. This percentage is a scarce comparison to that of all Americans who need mental health services. These figures which are 20-28% are alarming. Mental health affects everyone, even those who don’t have mental illness are affected by the mental health crisis in our county and country. Mental illness does not choose its victims by color, race, gender or age. Mental illness also does not prefer certain social or economic status. (Lund, 2001) Before 1956 many patients were not open to the idea of group therapy, almost two thirds of the patients in fact. And of those who entered group therapy 15% dropped out within the first 5 weeks of therapy. It is also shown in the study done by DeSchill that patients who had already received individual counseling did not increase their likely hood of staying in group counseling over those who had not. (DeSchill, 2014) The creation of mental health groups came from the need for more patients to be seen at a more economic and less time consuming. This is due to the introduction of Managed care into the mental health care system. Managed care has brought some limitations into treatment of mental illness as well as other groups. These are that managed care will pay for a certain amount of group sessions. There is a price cap on some of the sessions and therapist are often limited to the quantity and quality of care they provide group members. The Goal of mental health groups is to help people cope with the disabilities they face in life. It is this such support that helps many people around the U.S. live their lives in more fruitful ways than they would if they did not had the support of the mental health support groups. Mental health support groups provide an end to isolation. The isolation that people suffer who have mental health issues is debilitating and leads to early death rates for the mentally ill. According to Marla Szalavitz, in a study done by researchers at University College London, 6,500 people over the age of 52 where studied. The most isolated of those had a 26% higher chance of earlier death than those who were not isolated. Mental health groups have a valuable role in the part of treating those with mental illness, not just mentally but also physically (Szalavitz, 2013). The group members would be screened prior to entering the group. This is to ensure safety within the group and also to allow the maximum effectiveness for the group. The screening process would be done by a physician who would then refer the member to our group. This would help the therapist to focus on the members in the group who are able to do work and participate in their own change process. The roles of the members in a group are important to study. Each member role help to establish a flow for the dynamic and solidifies norms. The challenges of the leaders in a mental health group can be somewhat different from a leader in other groups. This is because the dynamic could change more often than that of other groups due to the challenges that face those with mental illness. The treatment models used to treat mental illness in group therapy according to Sara Battista, groups can be psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral psychotherapy and psychosocial. The purpose and goal of a mental health group is dependent on the type of model used. In psychosocial groups, the goal is to sustain a balance of norms in the clients life, change if it happens is slow and not expected with the psychosocial model of treatment. In a Cognitive behavioral model led group, the leader is an example for the group. The group is made of people with the same sorts of issues who seek the same goal. Psychodynamic groups focus on the role each member has had in their families or in society and now have in the group. (Battista, 2013) In addition to the generalization of the treatments used to treat mental health issues, there are more in depth tools used in groups for the treatment of mental illness. Depression for people who have a mild or moderate level has been treated with cognitive behavioral along with interpersonal psychotherapies. While patients who have a disorder such as schizophrenia have been shown to benefit from cognitive behavioral psychotherapy. (Lehman et al, 2004) Psychoanalytic groups or psychodynamic groups settings usually have anywhere from 5 to 10 people. In this type of setting there is a gender heterogeneity and the ages are usually within the same developmental stages. This is also a group which is cost effective and would benefit the members in financial hardship. The meetings are generally and 1  ½ long or longer depending on the group. This type of group would meet a couple of two to three time per a week. This model is used because of its effectiveness to deal with group issues such as resistance and transference. Because of the heterogeneity in the group, members are able to work out other emotional reactions they might have opposed to that of a homogeneous group. Group members use their interactions with each other to help them work out problems in their lives. There is a sense of self-awareness that is gained by this type of therapy in group and the individual is able to do work more efficiently than on his own (DeSchill, 1974 ). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy used in group sessions is cost and time efficient. This type of therapy helps the group members to focus on life issues such as relationships, matters of their health and are aims to help correct dysfunctional issues with the clients. The goals for this type of group would be to help the group members realize that they can have more choices than the ones that have had in the past. Also to replace faulty behavior with healthy emotions and behaviors. This group would be a smaller group of about 5-10 people and also heterogeneous. This group would most likely meet about twice a week for about 2 hours to help promote the necessary change needed in the group (Cowdry, 2012). Psychosocial group settings are settings in which the group members talk out their problems, this is an effective type of treatment for people who have various type of mental health disorders. The setting would also be gender heterogeneous and include different ethnic backgrounds. The cultural differences in the group may prove to be an issue of resistance but if the therapist is trained with a multicultural background it can be a learning experience for the rest of the group. This group much like the two previous types of groups I have mentioned would be smaller groups and would meet more frequently to help the process of change. (Cowdry, 2012) The group duration is ongoing for those with more serious mental health issues and can be more time limited for those with anxiety or depression issues. Since the goals for the groups are different. The duration would also be different. Meaning that people with schizophrenia will need a group with a longer duration, maybe 2 years while someone suffering from anxiety and depression may only need 16-18. This is because for those with serious issues the goals are more about maintaining their lives and with anxiety or depression it is to help produce change. The goals of each group would be depending on the degree of mental health issues in which the members have. For instance, the goals for group members who are more seriously mentally ill would more tailored to adapting or maintaining mental and physical health and not towards a cure or getting better. While the goals for groups that are for depression and anxiety are focused on cognitive and the behavioral changes for members. It is also focused on helping the group members see more positive ways to manage stress and coping skills to manage negative thoughts. (Corey et al, 2014). Group rules for mental health members should be clear and easy to understand. They should set limits on behaviors and encourage the members to share. Rules should also help to ensure safety and confidentiality within the group. Rules would be as follows; please allow people to finish sharing before speaking. Respect others thoughts and feelings. Please keep what has been shared in group inside group. Please share any thoughts or concerns you may have in group. The tools that can be used in the forming stage of the group can be activities used to create safety and trust. This would be for the first few sessions of the group. The next few sessions would be activities to confront resistance in the group so that the members can get through to the second stage of tuckmans model which is storming. Then a few team building exercises to help the group cohesion and encourage the norming stage. The next few sessions would be based on tools to increase performing within the members and the final stage and for the last few weeks group members and therapist would be focused on the ending of the group-termination. This final stage would be to help the member talk about any issues that they feel haven’t been addressed and also deal with the closing of the group. These last sessions will also be used to go over what has been learned by the group members, what they will do after group and help them with crisis plans. There are some ways in which a group can be evaluated to see if it has been an effective form of treatment. One way is to ask the clients to complete a pre group and post group questionnaire. This would ask questions asking the group member to rate their feelings toward themselves, their mental illness, their current abilities to function inside and outside of the group and also would ask them how willing they are to join the group. The post group questionnaire would also ask the client to rate their feelings based on how they felt after receiving the treatment in group. Another way to evaluate the effectiveness of the group would be to ask the group members to share with each other how they feel in group during the first few sessions about the effectiveness. This would be charted. The therapist can also ask members to come to a meeting after termination of the group in which they are asked their thoughts and feelings again about their time in the group. This would also be charted. T he comparisons used in the feeling checks before and after group can help the group leader determine the effectiveness of the group. A therapist can also evaluate the effectiveness of the group by research. The therapist can study how many people need more help, how many terminate early and for what reasons and also what changes need to be made to enhance the effectiveness (Corey et al, 2014). In doing this research, I found that mental health groups are a vital part of treating those with mental health issues. At times people feel alone, with group such as mental health treatment groups, members don’t have to feel alone and can relate to each other. References Battista, S. (2013) New Trends in Mental Health Treatment, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Retrieved From http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=Top_Storytemplate=/contentmanagement/contentdisplay.cfmContentID=158934 Corey et al, (2014) Theories and Techniques of Group Counseling, Groups Process and Practice, Ninth Edition, Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning Cowdry, R (2012) Treatments and Services, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Retrieved From  http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=About_Treatments_and_SupportsTemplate=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfmContentID=10510 DeSchill, S (1974) Introduction to Psychoanalytic Group Psychotherapy Part 1, The Challenge for Group Psychotherapy, Retrieved From http://americanmentalhealthfoundation.org/books/introduction-to-psychoanalytic-group-psychotherapy-part-1/ Health and Human Services Agency (2012) Tulare County Mental Health Services Act, Five Year Report, HHSA, Retrieved From http://hhsawebdocs.tchhsa.org/questys.cmx.hhsawebdocs/File.ashx?id=2819v=1x=pdf Lehman et al. (2004) Evidence-Based Mental Health Treatments and Services:  Examples to Inform Public Policy, Millbank Memorial Fund Retrieved From http://www.milbank.org/uploads/documents/2004lehman/2004lehman.html Lund, L. E. (2001) Mental Health Care in California Counties: Perceived Need and Barriers to Access, Center for Health Statistics, Retrieved From http://www.cdph.ca.gov/pubsforms/Pubs/OHIRmentalhealthCareCA2001.pdf Szalavitz, M. (2013) Social Isolation, Not just feeling Lonely May Shorten Lives, Time, Retrieved from http://healthland.time.com/2013/03/26/social-isolation-not-just-feeling-lonely-may-shorten-lives/

Is Export oriented industrialization indispensable for economic growth

Is Export oriented industrialization indispensable for economic growth INTRODUCTION One of the key indicators, of economic development of a country, is its level of industrialization. That is, as many empirical investigations proved the main reason for increased divergence in living standards between the advanced countries and the developing countries is their level of industrialization. This being the fact, it is only after decolonization and end of world War II that, developing countries consciously adopted industrialization strategies for economic development purposes and as a solution, from their vulnerable dependence on export of few primary products and import of high valued manufactured goods (Brisbane, 1980). The low terms of trade in international market for primary goods from former colonies and the determination to get out of severe poverty and register sustained growth, were the main reasons for the diversification of the narrow structure of the colonial economy. Industrialization is beneficial for developing countries for many reasons including the following (i) it reduces their vulnerable dependence; (ii) it speeds up their economic growth process; (iii) it modernize the economy through spill over or externalities effects associated with industrialization, from advanced countries; (iv) create more employment for the vast population in rural agricultural sector and accelerate income growth which is used as a means to re-distribute income to the impoverished masses; and (v) generate more foreign currency through export which reduces balance of payment problems (Brisbane, 1980). As Brisbane explained, to industrialize, developing countries adopted import substitution strategies from about 1945 to the 1970s. Import substitution strategy is designed to produce few luxury consumer goods for domestic consumption behind a very high tariff wall. However, most countries which followed the import substitution strategy failed, to meet the goal of industrialization, while spectacular growth and development was reported from developing countries that pursued an export oriented strategy, in the 1970s. Defined simply, export-oriented Industrialization (EOI) often termed as export led industrialization (ELI) is a policy designed for the purpose of speeding up the industrialization process of a country through exporting goods for which the nation has a comparative advantage. This policy requires countries to open up their domestic market to foreign competition in return to getting access to international market. In order to promote EOI and ultimately economic development, complementary policies in relation to tariffs, trade, exchange rate, and others need to be adopted and employed. This paper will critically examine how export oriented industrialization is essential for economic growth in developing countries, if it can be backed up by appropriate policies on trade, industrial policy and exchange rate policy, geared for that purpose. The paper also argues that export oriented industrialization has its own drawbacks. Thus, the essay is structured as follows: In section 2, It the paper analyses the significance of policies on the functioning of EOI, particularly: trade policy, industrial policy and exchange rate policy that developing countries need to adopt and identifies areas where government intervention is needed to bring economic development. It then explains the drawbacks of export oriented industrialization, on export dependence countries, in Section 3. Then section 4, empirically examines how EOI contributes to economic development and the conclusions are presented in section 5. 2. Significance of Policies on EOI The role of complementary policies for effectiveness of export oriented industrialization is undeniable. This paper focuses mainly on how trade, industrial and exchange rate policies can support EOI policy. 2.1 Trade policy: Appropriate trade policy is one of the key tools used for effective of export oriented industrialization and for economic development, in general. That is, the better trade policy a country has, the better chance it has for industrial diversification, creating value added products and getting more income from export. Theoretical context: Even if, there has been little consensus on the relationship between trade and short- to medium -term economic growth-and even less on its role in long term economic development. The principle of comparative advantage, which prescribe countries to specialize as to their factor endowment, first described by David Ricardo, forms the theoretical basis for traditional trade theory and provides the rationale for free trade. The principle states that even if a country produced all goods more cheaply than other countries, it would benefit by specializing in the export of its relatively cheapest good (or the good in which it has a comparative advantage)(Murray Gibbs 2007, p. 10). And some classical economists believed that the principal base for this principle is the difference in factor endowments among countries determine the relative cost of production. However, this traditional theory from classical economists has been challenged as it doesnt explain well the actual trade patterns and as the theory has unrealistic assumptions, like perfect competition, full employment etc (Murray Gibbs 2007). In addition to the unrealistic assumptions, in real situations the theory favors advanced countries, and developing countries hardly benefit anything from it. The controversial Singer Prebisch thesis, also explained this situation by stating that it is the center that gets all the benefits of international trade while the periphery gets nothing, which opposes to the Ricardian Theory of Comparative Advantage. He argued: given the differences in the existing economic, productive and labor market structures between the periphery and the center (in the application of technology in traded goods and in the market structures; oligopoly vs. competitive) less-developed countries cannot benefit from international market, if they adopt comparative advan tage doctrine (Todaro and Smith 2009).This is because developing countries usually produce and export primary products which have lower terms of trade. And the scope for diversification is too narrow, and these conditions put developing countries to have vulnerable dependence on international market. Thus, unlike the classical economists static comparative advantage doctrine, dynamic comparative advantage is a better option for developing countries. This is because as more innovation, technology, capital, and other requirements for industrializations are met and as industrialization happens in developing countries, it will be easier to diversify their economic structure, as manufactured goods have better terms of trade than primary products. Skarstein (2007) in his paper Free Trade: A Dead End for Underdeveloped Economies,criticized the comparative advantage doctrine. He argued, what matters most in international trade is the absolute advantage that countries get out of it than a comparative advantage. And empirical evidences show that the doctrines of comparative advantage and free trade benefit the advanced countries only. This is mainly because the doctrines are likely to exclude international learning among countries. Particularly, the WTO agreement, Trade related intellectual property rights (TRIPS), which is a big challenge developing countries to acquire technology, skill and international learning from the rest of the world. He also argued, for a trade policy to function effectively, developing countries have to make sure that, this policy is well integrated with their industrial policy. And in addition to these, developing countries have to get support from advanced countries, through reduced import tariffs for goods from developing countries and by giving developing countries a chance to protect their industries and to get easy access to international market. He also stressed that, developing countries have to ensure that food security is maintained in their countries, as it keeps them safe from their foreign account, balance of payment problems as well. Thus, governments of developing countries have to protect agricultural production for consumption. Therefore, while designing policies, developing countries have to consider the dynamic comparative advantage or absolute advantage options. In addition to this, they also have to consider how their economic integration to the world economy should be in support of EOI. 2.2 Industrial policy: A proper industrial policy is also another important tool for effective export oriented industrialization, as a countrys industrialization depends on how individual domestic firms are protected. This is because, it is individual firms that innovate and harness technological change and compete in the world market (Suranovic, 2002). The basic policy component of industrial policy for developing countries is Infant industry protection. It is a necessary condition, because newly emerging firms in developing countries need some policy to help them grow strong and to safeguard them from intrusion of foreign firms in their market, that have a negative effect on their growth. Infant industries in developing countries can mainly be protected through import tariff mechanism, which reduce imports from the rest of the world and raises demand and production of domestic product. This protection enables the domestic firms to cover their higher production costs and to remain in business. Depending on the nature of the firm, infant industry protection strategy will help the domestic firms to produce efficiently and to be competent in international markets. However, in order to use the infant industry protection policy as a tool for export oriented industrialization, government of developing countries need to have reliable information about what industry to protect, how large the production tariffs need to be and over what period the tariffs will be reduced and eliminated. Because import tariffs have to be gradually reduced and eliminated, to increase efficiency of domestic firms. A complementary policy component to infant industry protection in export oriented industrialization is export promotion. This component stimulates export and allows the infant industry to have access to international market, while Infant industry protection policy allows the new domestic firm to grow strong. For industrial policy to be effective it has to be complemented by competition policy, as some regulations are required for the competition among domestic firms and simultaneously, as there is a need for policy to protect the domestic firms from intrusion of foreign firms in their market. A coherent execution of industrial policy requires a coordinated approach to trade policies. This is because trade policies are designed usually in accordance with a countrys trade negotiations, which include: policies related to investment, tariff, Intellectual property, and others. The effectiveness of tariffs as a tool for industrialization is also linked to the monetary policy framework within which it operates. When the capital account is liberalized control over exchange rates may be lost and the appreciation of exchange rates can obviously undermine export competitiveness and the impact of tariff protection (Murray Gibbs 2007, p. 19). 2.3. Exchange rate policy: The role of exchange rate policy in the success of export oriented industrialization strategy is undeniable. Exchange rate is a policy on the level of exchange rate of a countrys currency. The main challenge in formulating the exchange rate policy is in keeping balance between maintaining exchange rate stability and maintaining export price competitiveness, which requires devaluation. Devaluation increases the value of imports, while it gives options for exporters to choose either to reduce the prices of their products or to keep them as they are, to increase their profit margin. Thus, devaluation, at a cost of higher inflation, enables domestic industries to be competent internationally, by keeping the volume of import down and by raising the volume of export (domestic output) higher. The role of government in controlling inflation, to stabilize the economy is very essential, here. Thus, this phenomenon in addition to supporting the export oriented industrialization process it helps countries to improve their current account balance in Balance of payment problem (Jacob, Atta ; Keith R., Jefferis ; Ita, Mannathoko and Pelani, Siwawa-Ndai 2000) 3. Drawbacks of Export dependence A country is dependent on export, if export constitutes the largest portion of its gross domestic products. However, even if EOI strategy contributes for economic development, the extent to which this strategy is applied has to be considered for various reasons. To mention some of them, as dependency theorists argue: first, export dependent developing countries cause chaos on the long-term economic planning capacity of a nation-state (Barratt-Brown Prebisch) as these countries have little or no control over the market, to allow sustained economic growth through stable revenue. Second, Income from export is not a reliable source for economic development for developing countries. As many of the export oriented industrializations in these countries are owned by multinational corporations, and large portion of revenue from such sources are not repatriated, to be used for re-investment (Jaffee, 1985). 4. Empirical evidence: Skarstein, 2007 paper Free Trade: A Dead End for Underdeveloped Economies, showed the empirical evidences on EOIs contribution for miraculous economic development of the Asian tigers and the now developed countries. It mainly showed the relationship between economic development and effective implementation of infant industries protection policy and export promotion policy. In support of this, it is argued, that many people have argued that Infant industry protection was precisely the industrial development strategy that was pursued by countries like the US and Germany during their rapid industrial development before the turn of the 20th century. Both the US and Germany had high tariffs during their industrial revolution periods. These tariffs helped protect fledgling industries from competition with more efficient firms in Britain and may have been the necessary requirement to stimulate economic growth (Suranovic 2002) Bairoch also analyzed data and concluded that the different the effect of free trade on developed and developing countries is. In all the cases he analyzed, free trade has a positive effect on developed countries while it lets the least developed countries to suffer. He mentioned that United Kingdom registered its fastest growth during the period (1860 1880). In those cases he analyzed, how effective import tariffs for developing countries were in their economic development (Bairoch, 1972, p. 211). In his paper, Skarstein, illustrated, with detailed data how the East Asian tigers used industrialization policy for their economic development. That is: first by implementing a policy of protected import substitution and then, as their industries grow competent, by shifting their industrialization strategy to export oriented industrialization, with a slow reduction of import barriers for industrial good. And, at the same time, how implementing high import protection for their agriculture helped them to maintain food security and helped their success in industrialization The miraculous performance of the East and South East Asian countries during 1970s to 1990s cannot be analyzed without considering the connection between the export -oriented policies and economic growth. In the Newly Industrialized Economies from East and South East Asia, the general macroeconomic policies as well as selective export promotion policies facilitated the high export and economic growth. Following their path China and India also changed their policy stance in favor of export oriented policies and moved on the high growth trajectories. 5. Conclusions: In sum industrialization is a key process for developing countries for economic development. However, as many economists agree, the process of economic development is very complex, as it depends on large number of variables such as political system, socio economic structure, capital accumulation (both physical and human), trade, price fluctuations, and income distribution, and even more on geographical characteristics. As such, while export oriented industrialization contributes to economic growth, it is not necessarily indispensable to the growth and development of developing countries. As explained in this essay, EOI can be one of the key strategies to register economic growth. And in order for it to function effectively it has to be supported by appropriate components of the policy like: infant industry protection strategy, competition policy, export promotion strategy and others. More specifically, it requires well functioning and well integrated macroeconomic policies like: trade policy, industrial policy, exchange rate policy, investment policy, tariff policy and others. Government intervention also plays a key role in making the export oriented industrialization effective for economic development. Examined empirical evidences also reveal that Export-oriented Industrialization was particularly the characteristic of the economic development of the Asian Tigers: Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore in the post World War II period . In addition to Asian Tigers, evidences also tell how EOI strategy contributed for the economic development of US, Germany and others, who are now in developed world category. However, though the role of export oriented industrialization in economic development is undeniable, countries have to also carefully consider its share in the gross domestic product, as larger export dependence has a negative effect on economic growth.

Thos Pynchons The Crying of Lot 49 - Embattled Underground Essay

The Crying of Lot 49: Embattled Underground In May of 1966, Richard Poirier wrote an article on Thomas Pynchon's latest novel at the time, The Crying of Lot 49. Clearly a fan of Pynchon's earlier novel V, Poirier praises what he calls another sample of Pynchon's "technical virtuosity" at "apocalyptic sat[ire]," of "saturnalian inventiveness" comparable to John Barth and Joseph Heller (Poirier 1). He admires Pynchon's adept confidence with philosophical and psychological concepts &endash; "his anthropological intimacy with the off-beat" (1). Before addressing what he believes to be flaws in the author's narration (the heaviest focus of the scope of his opinions), Poirier starts with a broad survey of Pynchon's intentions with form. Poirier suggests that the various interwoven quests of the protagonist Oedipa Maas is willfully elaborate to reflect the intricacies of the mind, a wasteland of suspicion and imagination. The imagination of the novels characters "first create and is then enslaved by its own plottings, its machines" (1). Late in the novel, as connections to the Tristero cult stack up, Oedipa wanders into the dense environs of nighttime San Francisco, dizzy with her imagination (or was it?) of the underground symbol: "This night's profusion of post horns, malignant, deliberate replication . . . one by one, pinch by precision pinch, they were immobilizing her" (Pynchon 124). Like the characters in V, Oedipa Maas runs from the responsibilities of love and finds herself in a maze. Pynchon mocks these situations "de void of love" with "Byzantine complications of plot" (Poirier 1). Concerning Pynchon's characters, Poirier also notes their desperate efforts of co... ...ility to describe objects within the American scenery with a tenderness for the "very physical waste of our yearnings, . . . the anonymous scrap heap of Things wherein our lives are finally joined" (5). Pynchon has extraordinary metaphoric skill illustrating his reverence for the human endeavor to code, decode and leave messages, to communicate; his own cry at the pathetic and the haunting failure to communicate. Finally, Poirier states that the largest character throughout the Crying of Lot 49 is Pynchon himself, whose voice moves passionately "with its capacity to move from the elegy to the epic catalogue . . . like a survivor looking through the massed wreckage of this civilization" (5). Works Cited Poirier, Richard. "Embattled Underground." New York Times on the Web 1 May 1966. 22 September 2000. Pynchon, Thomas. The Crying of Lot 49. New York: Har

A Shattered Dream in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller Essay

A Shattered Dream in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller Death of a Salesman tells the story of a man confronting failure in the success-driven society of America and shows the tragic path, which eventually leads to Willy Loman's suicide. Death of a Salesman?is?a search for identity, [Willy?s] attempt to be a man according to the frontier tradition in which he was raised, and a failure to achieve that identity because in [1942] and in [Brooklyn] that identity cannot be achieved. (Gross 321) Willy is a symbolic icon of the failing American; he represents those that have striven for success in society, but, in struggling to do so, have instead achieved failure in the most bitter form. Perhaps what is wrong with the society is not that it has implanted the wrong values in [Willy], values which finally do not lead to success anyway, but that it has lost touch with values which should never be relegated only to the personal sphere or the family unit. (Lawrence 57) In Arthur Miller?s Death of a Salesman, Willy Loman, the protagonist, pursues a false perception of the American Dream. Arthur Miller establishes Willy Loman as a traveling salesman in his sixties, a dreamer of success, and a troubled man. Willy is not a successful man, but clings to his dreams and ideals. ?[Arthur Miller] did not realize either how few would be impressed by the fact that [Willy] is actually a very brave spirit who cannot settle for half but must pursue his dream of himself to the end? (Hayman 55-56). Willy reminisces about the neighborhood years ago. His past recurs through the play in vivid scenes. Each time he returns from an episode in the past, Willy discovers new information that throws light on his troubled past. Willy portra... ... of a Salesman. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1988. 25-38. Roudanà ©, Matthew C. ?Death of a Salesman and the Poetics of Arthur Miller.? The Cambridge Companion to Arthur Miller. Ed. Christopher Bigsby. New York: Cambridge UP, 1997. 60-85. Sister, M. Bettina. ?Willy Loman?s Brother Ben: Tragic Insight in Death of a Salesman.? Modern Drama. Feb. 1962: 409-412. Spillane, Margaret. ?Life of a Salesman.? Nation 8 Mar. 1999: 7. Steinberg, M. W. ?Arthur Miller and the Idea of Modern Tragedy.? Twentieth Century Views Arthur Miller. Ed. Robert W. Corrigan. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1969, 81-84. Weales, Gerald. ?Arthur Miller?s Shifting Image of Man.? Twentieth Century Views Arthur Miller. Ed. Robert W. Corrigan. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1969. 131-142. ?Why Willy Loman Lives.? The Economist 19 June 1999: 19-21.

Mahmut Sait

Mahmut Sait Arslan 04 January 2013 The Role Of Religion in A Secular Society According to secularization theory, as societies become more modernized and rationalized, religion will gradually lose it’s authority in social life and governance(Norris & Inglehart, 2004, p. 4). Modernization did â€Å"undermined† lots of accepted beliefs(Holloway, 2011, para. 7). But, by contrast with secularization thesis, there is no significant diminution in people’s religious demands(Kuru, 2011, p. 4). Appearently, not all modernized societies call themselves as â€Å"secular† and not every secular state can completely ignore religion.In this work, I’m going to inspect secular societies and question how religion can take part in their governance, concerning American, French and Turkish examples. Historically, American’s and French have seperated the church and state for different reasons. The establishment of secular state in America was a result of a compromi se between rationalists and evangelists. These groups have agreed on the secular state for different reasons. Thomas Jefferson, one of the America’s Founding Fathers, had foreseen that the secular state would lead to the â€Å"freedom and triumph of the reason†.Oppositely, a famous Evangelist, Isaac Backus had believed that secular state would provide the spread of the religion(Kuru, 2011, p. 84). Because in America’s early years, none of the Protestant churches could provide the majority that is necessary to be legitimized as the official church. So, as the second best choice, they accepted the state to be secular(Kuru, 2011, p. 86). The secularization of the France is rooted in the ideas of Enlightenment. Philosophers of Enlightenment was trying to replace dogmatic values with rational and humanistic ones(Wikipedia, 2009).After the French Revolution, with the abolition of monarchy, the close relation between the French State and Catholic Church finished. Accor ding to Tocqueville, Christianity was the object of aggression not as a religion but as a political establishment. This was because of the cooperation between the monarch and the Church before the revolution(Kuru, 2011, p. 142). The different reasons led to different results in these countries. From the beginning of the 19th century, evangelists have strenghtened the socio-cultural hegomony of the Protestant college. Casanova, 1994, p. 137) Christianism was, in public sense, accepted as semiofficial religion of the U. S. It was also, accepted as a part of the state’s civil law(Kuru, 2011, p. 88). Even Supreme Court of U. S have acknowledged the U. S nation as a Christian nation(Kuru, 2011, p. 91). In this period, state was not neutral against all religions, but neutral amongst Protestant sects. Up till now, there has been ideological conflicts between rationalists and conservative people about the religion. There have been exclusivist and compromiser interpretations of the se cularism.But generally, it hadn’t been understood as hostility against religion. In America, churches are relieved from state’s effect, wheras in France the state is relieved from the Church’s effect. A radical interpretation of secularism which advocates the seperation of not just state and church, but of all kind of values like moral and human values, is hegemonic in France. In other words, eliminating the religion from public life and confining it with the soul of human. Some people even exceed it to create a â€Å"religion of humanity†(Holloway, 2008, para. 12).But, there have been lots of significant deviations from the ideology because of Catholic roots of French public and opposing ideological attempts. French government could easily ignore the religious demands of minorities like Muslims and Jewish. But they pay much attention to the demands of Catholics who form the majority. At the end of the first quarter of the 20th century, Turkey had to quot e the Swiss Civil Law because when they tried to make their own law, commission members couldn’t liberate themselves from their religious beliefs(Oguzman & Barlas, 2012, p. 27).But even when quoting they had to make some modifications according to Turkish culture. This was made in the name of being secular and neutral against all beliefs. Putting the history aside, I want to examine the impact of religious law in secular societies’ law system. Human made laws are inspired by lots of different sources like ethics, religion, philosophy, convenances, other law systems etc. These rules have some commonalities because they’re all aimed to establish the ideal society. Concerning this, secular legislatives should concern every law system and utilize them.For example, marriage is, in religious world, concerned as a religious practice. For secular people this mean nothing. But, if we take human nature into the account, inexistence of the institution of marriage could be a threat to the mental and physical health of the progenies(Oktem & Turkbag, 1999, p. 209). So, the legislatives may foresee a religious institution like marriage as necessary for secular reasons. The implementation of the secular law in Turkey has caused many problems because there were some rules which were opposite to the belief and perception of majority of the public like prohibiting headscarves.Ordering a believer not to do what they believe is like ordering somebody to jump off a cliff. Because they’re sure that they will be rewarded or punished according to their loyalty to their beliefs. The secularization thesis promise to be neutral against all religions. But applicating the inhibition of a religious obligation to all members of the society equally, is like prohibiting to sleep under the arch of a bridge for both rich and poor people equally(Kuru, 2011, p. 108). The acceptance of secularism as being neutral, and religiousity as differantiality makes secularists mor e advantagous.To eliminate unequality, chaos and tension states should pay more attention on public demands and trends. Compared to French and Turkish history, there were less religious related slaughters in American history. Without renouncing secularism, Americans could identify themselves as religious. They used secularism not as a tool to restrict and transform the public, but to ensure the freedom of different groups within the society. To be able to equal aginst every belief, each belief system should be approached equally.Like Islam or Christianity, secular people should be concerned as believers, believers of secularism. References Age of Enlightenment. (2009). In  Wikipedia. Retrieved january 4, 2013, from en. wikipedia. org Casanova, J. (1994). Public Religions in the Modern World. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Holloway, D. , (2008). The Secular State and The Oxford Union. Retrieved January 4, 2013, from http://www. church. org. uk/resources/csdetail. asp? cs date=01/02/2008 –(2011). A Judge, Secularism, Pluralism and Fundamentalism.Retrieved January 04, 2013, from http://www. church. org. uk/resources/csdetail. asp? csdate=01/03/2011 Kuru, A. (2011). Pasif ve D? slay? c? Laiklik: ABD, Fransa ve Turkiye. Istanbul: Istanbul Bilgi Universitesi Yay? nlar?. Norris, P. & Inglehart, R. (2004). Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide. New York: Cambridge University Press. Oguzman, M. K. & Barlas, N. (2012). Medeni Hukuk. Istanbul: Vedat Kitapc? l? k. Oktem, N. & Turkbag, A. U. , (1999). Felsefe, Sosyoloji, Hukuk ve Devlet. Istanbul: Der Yay? nlar?.

Education-Reading Assessment Essay

In determining books for elementary-grade children, it is important that I consider their curriculum as well as the level of their understanding and interest. Children have different interests. By this time, they are also starting to read on their own. Thus, books that they can read-along with, with subjects that they can associate with and learn from are my best choices. Not all elementary-grade children will like the same books. For children to develop interest in reading, it is also essential for them to be able to choose the books that they like. Thus, I should have several books tackling different subjects which children can choose from. If I must present or read a book aloud, I should try to choose something that can also be incorporated with sound effects such as animal or character stories. This way, I can get the attention of the children while we read. 2. Describe a creative way to document writing progress. Cite sources that you used to help you create this method. A good way to document writing progress is through a student journal. Students will be asked to keep a daily account according to specific instructions that will be given to them throughout the week. For example, for week one, they are going to write 100-word personal essays about a tangible thing. They are supposed to talk about one different thing for each day. Then, for week two they are going to write 100-word persuasive essays about anything that they think they should persuade people to believe, and so on. This method tackles the different areas of writing progress. It helps the students improve their writing vocabulary because of the daily exercise. It also entitles the students an exercise of the different aims of writing. The students will also be able to be sensitive about instructions while on the process of composing. According to the National Assessment Governing Board of the US Department of Education (2007), students need to know the definite expectation in their compositions. This does not only help them come up with more competitive essays that will mark higher, it will also make it easier for the teacher to streamline the evaluation and grading criteria. Busch, Hall and Lembke (2007) agree, stating that curriculum-based monitoring criteria are effective in measuring improvement of students. A journal is also a creative way to make the students write without pressure, instead of giving them daily writing seatwork which can give them the impression that they are pressured and tired. 3. How can you monitor children’s growth in spelling? Why have you chosen this method for monitoring? Curriculum-based monitoring (CBM) to measure spelling progress is a good method for assessing the improvement in children’s spelling. This can be done by dictating a list of words to spell to students. The words should match their current vocabulary level. Students are then expected to write down the words. A time limit will be necessary. (Busch, Hall and Lembke 2007) In scoring spelling activities using the CBM method, the words may be scored two ways. One is with correct spelling and another is through letter sequences, where letters placed in the correct sequence gets points. In this method, the total score is the total number of letters in the word—and each word is scored separately. With proper implementation, it is effective in gauging and monitoring the current level of a student’s spelling abilities. It is also creative and encouraging in such as way that students will not get frustrated over low spelling marks. Because they will realize that there are some words that they did not get correctly, they are encouraged to try harder for the next exercise. In the process, the students do not only see that their spelling was wrong, they also know what went wrong and how to remedy it. 4. Find a reading formula that you think you could use with a struggling reader. Name the formula. What have researchers written about the formula? Why do you think it will be productive? The Spache readability formula is a good tool for struggling readers. Dawson (nd) states that it matches readers up to the third grade, which makes the text easier for struggling readers of all levels as compared to texts which used the Dale-Chall formula. Moreover, Welna (nd) asserts that Spache matches actual classroom reading levels and is widely used. Coping with a struggling reader requires both patience and proper metrics. The use of Spache will not only ensure that the reader is starting at an early level, it also introduces new words and increases vocabulary. As the readers goes along, the Spache level of reading materials can be increased accordingly to introduce newer words and more complex sentences. Struggling readers need encouragement and one way that they can get this is with step by step reading guidance and monitoring. By introducing reading materials that are one score step at a time according to the Spache formula, the reader will slowly develop his reading skills. He will also feel positive about reading if he realizes that he is slowly conquering his own difficulties. On a technical note, because Spache is widely used, the reader is also assured that the level of reading metrics that he is achieving is similar with the skills developed in other students. References Busch,T. , Hall, T. , and Lembke, E. 2007. Using CBM for progress monitoring in written expression and spelling. Retrieved September 2, 2008, from http://www. studentprogress. org/summer_institute/2007/Written/ProgressMonitoring-Writing_2007. pdf Dawson, J. nd. How to choose the best readability formula for your document. Retrieved September 2, 2008, from http://www. streetdirectory. com/travel_guide/15675/writing/how_to_choose_the_best_readability_formula_for_your_document. html National Assessment Governing Board of the US Department of Education. 2007. Writing framework and specifications for the 2007 national assessment of educational progress. Retrieved September 2, 2008, from http://www. nagb. org/frameworks/writing-framework-07. pdf