Evaluate critically the effectiveness of large scale surveys in Essay

Evaluate critically the effectiveness of large scale surveys in measuring flexible employment in the UK - Essay Example Similarly, it is difficult to see with any clarity how these present drivers of the "new economy" will be changing the world of work and related issues. All that is known for sure is that the changes will be equally unpredictable and diverse. Work in the new economy or the information age is fundamentally different fro the industrial economy. The world is shifting to the "New Wave" information technology led economy. However, regulatory environments, social norms or academic research have to cope with both industrial age and new economy at the same time. It is generally accepted through large-scale surveys on the changes in employment that, above all, flexible employment is here to stay. What is not clear from surveys is the definition of what such work should be. In any case, the present version of flexible employment fails to keep pace with fast changing technological environments in Britain. Surveys, government sponsored or funded by private bodies, do not show how trends in emplo yment impact families, gender specific situations, and the work force in general. A flexible work force is paid normal rates to fulfil work, which is just adequate to require its services. The question is tied to fiscal and business issues. This deserves to be examined with the relevant perspectives in mind. Current research needs to adapt to changing situation. (Tones & Tilford, 2001) This is not merely an academic concern. ... An effective solution needs to be found for the problem of mismatch in skilled labour versus demand. The search for a solution merges academic and business based research bearing on fiscal and regulatory measures governing business, the needs and motivations of the labour force. The greatest problems are not technical. In fact, employees realize the imperatives for change and are open minded to it. The technology required is at hand and improves all the time. What is required is convincing academic research to support the business environment. What business will require at this point of time is guidance on how to implement and manage flexibility in the work place. Issues of social security and taxation within business remain firmly rooted in the industrial age. Clearly academic research is not keeping up with the pace of change experienced in the real world.Change is taking place in the world of work, which is indicated by a shift in emphasis from norms of permanent employment at one location. The academic community is equipped to face challenges at the macro level, and can influence governments, and suggest answers to questions raised about work in an emerging new economy. Nevertheless, ongoing research and surveys will be effective if the reality of the emerging work environments is accepted. We are already living the future. (King, 2005) The rise of services The traditional manufacturing sector measured as a share of GNP and in terms of numbers employed has declined in all mature industrial economies. On the other hand, the service sector has had a healthy growth, often complementing industrial processes. However, many of the new services are in fact industry-related services. For example, an in-house design team working for a manufacturer would be

Brand management the case of Verticon Ltd Essay

Brand management the case of Verticon Ltd - Essay Example On the other hand, it has been supported that â€Å"brands often can't justify the time and expense of developing new competencies until they are well behind the opportunity curve; successful licensing offers a way of accelerating new product development and deepening brand relevance† [1]. In other words, in order for branding to bring the necessary results, it has to be appropriately designed and developed taking into account that each particular company has its strengths and weaknesses that can be differentiated from the other firms that operate in the same industrial sector. For this reason, the brand management strategy which is going to be implemented in a particular company has to follow specific rules and, most important, to be adapted to the specific firm’s characteristics trying to promote the positive aspects of the organizational structure. Current paper refers specifically to the development of a brand management strategy for Verticon Ltd, a company that ope rates in the British market and especially in the fashion industry. The above firm operates quite long in the particular market, however the increase of the power of its competitors led the corporate managers to decide the establishment of a brand trying to enforce the firm’s performance and ‘secure’ its position in its market.

English Imperialism and Representations Essay Example for Free

English Imperialism and Representations Essay In William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Prospero, an exiled Naples duke, and his daughter, Miranda, are marooned on a remote island with the lone indigenous[1] inhabitant, a beast man named Caliban. Through his sorcery Prospero is able to enslave Caliban, the indigene, who toils for the benefit of Prospero and Miranda, the usurping colonial powers. While it is unclear if Shakespeare intended The Tempest to mirror English imperialism during the late 16th and 17th century, there are many congruencies between events in the play and events around the time of the play’s first performance in 1611. To begin with, in order to analyze these congruencies a brief overview of England’s New World[2] exploration and colonization is necessary. Next, Gonzalo’s interest in the island and his â€Å"plantation† scheme illustrate the English imperial yearning for the New World. In addition, the first exchange between Caliban and Prospero encapsulate the conflicts of indigenous people and the colonizers in an imperial relationship. Finally, the question remains if Caliban represents specifically Native Americans or broadly represents subjugated indigenous people by English colonization. Shakespeare’s The Tempest metaphorically represents English imperialism and encapsulates English sentiments towards the New World during the time of its cultural production. During the life of Shakespeare, especially around the time of the first performance of The Tempest, Europe engaged in imperialistic activities throughout the New World. In addition, during Shakespeare’s lifetime, England’s imperialistic activities would play a larger role in the country’s interests and developments. In Alden T. Vaughan article â€Å"People of Wonder: England Encounters the New World’s Native,† Vaughan describes how English perceptions of the Native Americans developed over the course of the 16th century. The English, while interested in the New World, did not play an active role in its initial exploration: â€Å"English people in the Tudor era lagged noticeably behind other Europeans in learning about the Americas. For nearly a century, English interest in the New World was surprisingly tangential, more a matter of curiosity than of conquest and based primarily on foreign rather than on English observation† (Vaughan, â€Å"People,† 13). For a majority of the 16th century the English received second hand accounts (writings and illustrations) of the New World. However, the English did make limited forays into developing first hand knowledge of the New World. Vaughan states, â€Å"The first document contact between the English and the Indians occurred in about 1502, when Sebastian Cabot†¦brought back [three men taken from Newfoundland]† (â€Å"People,† 14), but he continues, â€Å"Not until 1530, apparently, were other Indians brought to England, and not until 1553 did an English publisher issue a book with appreciable attention to America’s inhabitants† (â€Å"People,† 14). While slow to capitalize on exploring and colonizing the New World, the English â€Å"[became] actively involved in the exploration and conquest of the [Americas] and its peoples. Thereafter, England’s image of American natives reflected uniquely English experiences and expectations† (Vaughan, â€Å"People,† 13). One of the significant imperialist ventures around the time Shakespeare wrote The Tempest was the Jamestown colony. The English founded Jamestown in 1607, four years prior to the first performance of The Tempest. While a contemporary critic can only speculate the extent which the New World tantalized and influenced the English during this time, it must have had some sway on the popular imagination of English society, including Shakespeare’s. In The Tempest, the character Gonzalo demonstrates an interest with the pristine island setting that represents English imperial yearnings. After being shipwrecked on the island, Gonzalo first notices the natural beauty of the island. He exclaims, â€Å"How lush and lusty the grass looks! How green! † (2. 1. 53). From his initial observation of the health of the island, Gonzalo’s interest in the island soon becomes opportunistic: â€Å"Had I plantation of this isle, my lord –† (2. 1. 140). When Gonzalo says â€Å"plantation,† he means colonization. Gonzalo initial admiration for the island transforms into a scheme to start a colony; he envisions his colony as the antithesis of industry, a utopic society of idleness. Gonzalo describes his â€Å"plantation† in the following manner: â€Å"I’ the common wealth I would by contraries Execute all things; for no kind of traffic, Would I admit; no name of magistrate, Letter should not be known; riches, poverty, And use of service, none; contract, succession, Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none; No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil; No occupations; all men idle, all, And women too, but innocent and pure; No sovereignty—† (2. 1. 144-52) In Gonzalo’s colony people just lie around with no one telling them what to do; in addition, the women all stay virgins. Gonzalo’s companions quickly point out the impossibility of his Eden-like scenario. Sebastian indicates, â€Å"Yet [Gonzalo] would be king on [the island]† (2. 1. 153) to which Antonio adds, â€Å"The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning† (2. 1. 154). From the comments by Sebastian and Antonio, it is clear Gonzalo’s scheme is not practical, but certainly Gonzalo’s sentiment must have appealed idealistically to English and Europeans tired of the social turmoil in the Old World. Benjamin Bertram notes in The Time is out of Joint: Skepticism in Shakespeare’s England contemporaneous to Shakespeare’s life, London’s mercantile interests, unemployment, overpopulation, and â€Å"[i]mmigrants from the province† all made colonial ventures appealing (58). Gonzalo’s fantasizing might tap into the socioeconomic conditions contemporary to the time of cultural production of The Tempest. For some Europeans the social turmoil of the Old World was a sore spot, yearning like Gonzalo for a fresh start and for a better society in the New World. French courtier Michel De Montaigne in his essay â€Å"Of the Cannibals† (1580) argues the New World inhabitants are no more barbarous or savage than the Old World denizens, suggesting things might be better in the case of the former. De Montaigne establishes, â€Å"I find (as far as I have been informed) there is nothing in that nation [the American Indians], that is either barbarous or savage, unless men call that barbarism which is not common to them† (119). De Montaigne alludes to the social problems of 16th century Europe in pointing out the hypocrisy of the Old World labeling the New World as â€Å"barbarous† or â€Å"savage. † Moreover, De Montaigne sees the New World inhabitants as closer to a natural state and less tainted by â€Å"human wit† when he observes, â€Å"It is a nation†¦that hath no kind of traffic, no knowledge of letters, no intelligence of numbers, no name of magistrates, nor of politic superiority; no use of service, of riches, or of poverty; no contracts, no successions, but common, no apparel but natural, no manuring of lands, no use of wine, corn, or metal† (120). Curiously, both Gonzalo and De Montaigne evoke the idea of unfettered idleness and non-use of wine, corn, and metal as a more natural society. Also, in painting an idyllic picture of the social items supposedly absent from the New World, De Montaigne overlooks that corn is a New World vegetable and that American Indians were familiar with the practice of fertilization, although maybe not â€Å"mannuring. † While a lot of De Montaigne’s generalizations of the New World inhabitants are arguable, he calls the readers attention to a litany of social items as evidence of the Old World tainted by â€Å"human wit. † However, De Montaigne sarcastically concludes that what the American Indians, supposedly, do with their dead is no more barbaric than what the Europeans do with the living by torturing people, stating â€Å"there is more barbarism in eating men alive than to feed upon them being dead; to mangle by tortures and torments a body full of lively sense, to roast him in pieces, to make dogs and swine to gnaw and tear him in mammocks†¦than to roast and eat him after he is dead† (120). De Montaigne’s relativistic view of transatlantic cultural practices demonstrates culture in the Old World was not necessarily better than culture in the New World. Some Europeans might have yearned for a reprieve from the rigid trapping of the Old World; the New World to them might have represented an opportunity for a fresh start, a chance to create a utopic society. The only problem was what to do about the indigenous people already there. The English public had a growing interest in the New World during Shakespeare’s lifetime, and The Tempest almost predicts the course of English imperialism would take. The exchange between Caliban and Prospero in Act 1 Scene 2 metaphorically represents the underlying conflicts plaguing indigenous people and English colonizers. Caliban represents prototypical native Other[3] as he argues against Prospero, the colonial master. Caliban’s articulation that he is the rightful owner of the island sounds like the universal grievance of many colonized people: â€Å"This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother, / Which thou tak’st from me† (1. 2. 335-6). Caliban’s ownership stems from his mother, a witch, who bore him on the island, and this claim is reminiscent of many indigenous people who trace their social beginnings through a creation myth fixing them to the land. As Caliban goes on, his description of the initial friendly relationship he had with Prospero, parallels the prototypical dealings between indigenous people and colonizers. Often this friendly period includes an exchange of items and information between the two parties. Caliban describes the following: When thou cam’st first, Thou strok’st me and made much of me, wouldst give me Water and berries in’t, and teach me how To name the bigger light, and how the less, That burn by day and night. And then I loved thee And showed thee all the qualities o’ th’ isle, The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place and fertile. (1. 2. 337-43) Caliban attests he â€Å"showed† Prospero â€Å"the qualities† of the island, and in essence, Caliban taught Prospero how to survive on the island. This detail interestingly parallels the situation in Jamestown. B. J. Sokol in A Brave New World of Knowledge points out that â€Å"sojourning Europeans almost entirely depended upon the services of native inhabitants for material survival, and especially for food† (83). This grace period between indigenous people and colonizers, however, does not last forever. Sokol continues, â€Å"In both [The Tempest] and Virginia these services had at first been voluntarily offered [by Native Americans], then they were purchased or extorted, and finally there was refusal, resistance, and rebellion† (83). Soon the colonizer presses for more resources, more control over the land, and more control over the indigenous people: soon the indigenous people become the colonized. Caliban describes himself from the position of the colonized, â€Å"For I am all the subjects that you have, / Which first was mine own kin; and here you sty me / In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me /The rest o’ th’ island† (1. 2. 345-7). Caliban’s central grievance is how Prospero has stripped Caliban of his autonomy and his control over the island. The central grievance for many colonized people is how the colonizer strips self-direction and control over ancestral lands from the colonized. Richard Hakluyt in his essay â€Å"Reasons for Colonization,† written in 1584 about the Virginia colonial project (125), succinctly describes the intentions of the English imperialism: â€Å"The end of this voyage [to North America] are these: 1. ) To plant Christian religion. 2) To traffic. 3. ) To Conquer. Or, to do all three† (129). As demonstrated earlier, Caliban is unhappy with his conquered status, a status Prospero confirms when he rebuts Caliban’s grievances, â€Å"Thou most lying slave† (my emphasis, 1. 2. 347). Prospero interestingly goes on to indicate his own inherent superiority and Caliban’s inherent inferiority, a privileging central to any colonial situation. Prospero states, â€Å"I have used thee, / Filth as thou are, with humane care† (1. 2. 348-9). Prospero ascribes the quality of â€Å"filth† to Caliban and â€Å"humane†-ness to his own actions. As the Hakluyt states, the first objective of the colonizer is â€Å"to plant Christian religion† or bring morality to the heathen indigenous people. Prospero’s ultimate argument for supplanting Caliban evokes the moral order the colonizer supposedly brings, for Prospero states the reason he has enslaved Caliban is because Caliban sought â€Å"to violate/ The honor of [Prospero’s] child† (1. 2. 350-1). From the perspective of the colonizer Caliban attempted to rape Miranda; however, from the perspective of the lone indigenous person Caliban attempted to propagate his culture: â€Å"O ho! O ho! Would’t had been done! / Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else / This isle with Calibans† (1. 2. 352-4). While this relativism does not absolve Caliban of attempting to forcefully procreate with Miranda, it does not absolve Prospero of enslaving Caliban either. Unfortunately, Prospero uses one crime to justify another crime: Caliban’s attempted rape leads to his enslavement at the hands of Prospero. Furthermore, when Miranda tries to instill Caliban with a sense of guilt over his attempted rape, she states she â€Å"endowed [Caliban’s] purposes / With words that made them known† (1. 2. 360-1). However, by endowing Caliban with the language of the colonizer, Miranda has merely indoctrinated Caliban in the ideology of the colonizer in which Caliban, the colonized, occupies the margin. The colonizer’s language is a burden upon the colonized, for in order for the two groups to communicate the onus is on the colonized to learn the colonizer’s language. Caliban concurs with this onus when he says, â€Å"You taught me language, and my profit on’t / Is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you / For learning me your language! † (1. 2. 366-8). Another privileging in the imperial situation is the language and culture of the colonizer over the language and culture of colonized. For instance, Thomas Harriot spent time in the Virginia colony and wrote about the Algonquian people in Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia; his English contemporaries criticized him for learning the language of the Algonquians (Bertram 59). Bertram notes, â€Å"the English feared much more than foreign languages, as contact with foreign cultures inspired probing questions about cultural identity†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (59). Miranda’s effacement of Caliban’s language demonstrates her fear of foreign language and culture. Just as Caliban threatens Miranda’s physical sanctity, he also threatens her cultural sanctity by not communicating in the controlled discourse. Clearly, the conflict between Caliban and Prospero in The Tempest metaphorically represents the imperialistic conflicts between the colonized and the colonizer. Lastly, although Caliban can metaphorically represent the colonized Other, did Shakespeare intend Caliban to represent Native Americans specifically? Alden T. Vaughan in his article â€Å"Shakespeare’s Indian: The Americanization of Caliban† examines the history of The Tempest analysis which attempted to see Caliban as representative of Native Americans. Vaughan concludes, â€Å"If an intentionalist reading is insisted upon, and if early interpretations of Caliban are taken into account, his principal prototype was probably the European wild man of Renaissance literature and iconography† (â€Å"Shakespeare’s,† 153). In addition, Ronald Takaki offers in â€Å"The ‘Tempest’ in the Wilderness† the context surrounding the first performance of the play; also, he explains how Shakespeare’s audience might have perceived the character of Caliban. Takaki explains the following: [T]he timing of The Tempest was crucial: it was first performed after the English invasion of Ireland but before the colonization of New England, after John Smith’s arrival in Virginia but before the beginning of the tobacco economy, and after the first contacts with Indians but before full-scale warfare against them. This was an era when the English were encountering â€Å"other† peoples and delineating the boundary between â€Å"civilization† and â€Å"savagery. † The social constructions of both these terms were dynamically developing in three sites—Ireland, Virginia, and New England. (143) If Shakespeare’s audience saw Caliban as more man than monster, they likely conflated all known savage Others in their perception of Caliban. When Prospero says, â€Å"This thing of darkness [Caliban] I / Acknowledge mine† (5. 1. 275-6), Caliban could seem more monster than man, â€Å"darkness† meaning evil, or Caliban could seem more man than monster, â€Å"darkness† referring to skin color. It is unclear what Shakespeare intended; however, how people interpret Shakespeare is entirely another matter. Although Vaughan dismisses the notion Shakespeare intended Caliban to be Native American, he supports the notion that Caliban can metaphorically be seen as Native American, stating, â€Å"metaphoric readings of The Tempest have had equal legitimacy with the older literal approach† (â€Å"Shakespeare’s,† 153). There are scholars who have a stake in seeing Caliban as solely meant to be Native Americans. An immediate thread of their inquiry is Caliban’s name, which might be an anagram from a variant spelling of the word canibal. John F. Moffitt and Santiago Sebastian in their text O Brave New People: The European Invention of The American Indian describe how the lurid European popular perception quickly associated cannibalism with the inhabitants of the New World. Moffit and Sebastian describe the following: Cannibalism was also the specific subcultural attribute of the aborigines of the Other World that, as might be expected, some European illustrators found most noteworthy. In a crude woodcut†¦, a German print of 1505†¦representing the earliest European depiction of American Indians†¦cannibalism becomes the foremost collective characteristic of the newly described peoples†¦. (264-5) While Europeans, according to Vaughan, were familiar with the concept of anthropophagi, or eaters of human flesh, such people were considered mythical (â€Å"People,† 15). Vaughan goes on to note, â€Å"So prominent did some accounts make the eating of human flesh that the word cannibal, from the Carib Indians who presumably practiced the vile custom, gradually replaced the older, more awkward, term for eaters of human flesh† (â€Å"People,† 15). Curiously, if Shakespeare meant to evoke the sensational trait of cannibalism ascribed to Native Americans by Europeans in his character Caliban, he does not develop the trait in the play. Conversely, if Caliban does not represent Native Americans, certainly the European characters within the play perceive his usefulness like Native Americans during the early 17th century. The play mentions dead or alive a Native American is profitable for displaying in England. Additionally, Trinculo notes, â€Å"[the English] will / lay out ten to see a dead Indian. (2. 2. 31-32). Later, Stephano schemes to capture Caliban, or as Vaughan euphemistically refers to Native Americans kidnapped by Europeans, â€Å"coerced American envoys† (â€Å"People,† 12). Stephano states, â€Å"If I can recover him [Caliban] and keep him tame and get / to Naples with him, he’s a present for any emperor that / ever trod on neat’s leather† (2. 2. 65-7). Although Caliban might have the same display value as a Native American in England, this fact does not necessarily make Caliban Native American. Within The Tempest, there is not enough strong evidence to support the reading that Shakespeare meant Caliban to be Native American. If Shakespeare intended Caliban to represent Native American then Leslie Fieldler notes, â€Å"Caliban’s attempt on Miranda’s virtue makes him ‘the first nonwhite rapist in white man’s literature’; his freedom song is ‘the first American poem’; and when he guzzles too much of Stephano’s wine, Caliban is ‘the first drunken Indian in Western literature’ (Vaughan, â€Å"Shakespeare’s,† 148). Native Americans struggle enough with poor representation in American society; there is not a pressing need to demonstrate Shakespeare intended Caliban to be solely Native American if it results in additional derision. In contrast, Jeffrey L. Hantman in â€Å"Caliban’s Own Voice: American Indian Views of the Other in Colonial Virginia† summarizes the 20th century importance of Caliban as a universal indigenous voice, â€Å"He is African, and he is Caribbean. He has been a native of Madagascar, Quebec, Cuba, Nigeria, Kenya, and Zambia. Today, he is sometime enslaved, and psychologically dependent, but he is also a guerilla, a revolutionary, and a hero† (71). Who Shakespeare intended Caliban to be is a non-issue for those who identify with Caliban. If people find an entryway into identifying with Caliban, then certainly Caliban becomes them as much as they become Caliban. Although it would be erroneous to claim Shakespeare meant The Tempest as an allegory for English Imperialism in the New World and Caliban solely represents Native Americans, the play does metaphorically represent English imperialism and encapsulates English sentiments towards the New World during the time of the play’s cultural production. A brief overview of England’s New World exploration and colonization demonstrates how the English perception of the New World and Native Americans transformed during the development of English imperialism. Within the play, Gonzalo’s interests in the island and his â€Å"plantation† scheme illustrate the English imperial yearning for the New World and an opportunity to develop a society closer to a natural state. Furthermore, the first exchange between Caliban and Prospero encapsulate the conflicts that mar imperial relationship between indigenous people and the colonizer. Moreover, although Caliban does not represent specifically Native Americans, he can broadly represent all subjugated indigenous people. There are many congruencies between events in The Tempest and events during the late 16th and 17th century English imperialism. The Tempest is an example where Shakespeare was not necessarily predicting a future outcome but more likely articulating the trajectory of a present English course. Works Cited Bertram, Benjamin. The Time is out of Joint: Skepticism in Shakespeare’s England. Newark, NJ: University of Delaware Press, 2004. De Montaigne, Michel. â€Å"From Of the Cannibals. † William Shakespeare The Tempest: A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Ed. Gerald Graff and James Phelan. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 119-20. Hakluyt, Richard. â€Å"Reasons for Colonization. † William Shakespeare The Tempest: A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Ed. Gerald Graff and James Phelan. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 125-34. Hantman, Jeffrey L. â€Å"Caliban’s Own Voice: American Indian Views of the Other in Colonial Virginia. † New Literary History 23. 1 (1992): 69-81. JSTOR. Winona State University, Darrell W. Krueger Lib., Winona, MN. 3 Mar. 2007 . Moffitt, John F. , and Santiago Sebastian. O Brave New People: The European Invention of the American Indian. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1996. Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. William Shakespeare The Tempest: A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Ed. Gerald Graff and James Phelan. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 10-88. Sokol, B. J. A Brave New World of Knowledge: Shakespeare’s the Tempest and Early Modern Epistemology. Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses, 2003. Takaki, Ronald. â€Å"The ‘Tempest’ in the Wilderness. † William Shakespeare The Tempest: A Case Study in Critical Controversy. Ed. Gerald Graff and James Phelan. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000. 140-172. Vaughan, Alden T. â€Å"People of Wonder: England Encounters the New World’s Natives. † New World of Wonders: European Images of the Americas, 1492-1700. Ed. Rachel Doggett, et al. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1992. -. â€Å"Shakespeare’s Indian: The Americanization of Caliban. † Shakespeare Quarterly 39. 2 (1988): 137-153. JSTOR. Winona State University, Darrell W. Krueger Lib. , Winona, MN. 3 Mar. 2007 . [1] Throughout the paper instead of simply using the term â€Å"natives,† I use indigenous people because the term â€Å"natives† carries negative imperialistic connotations. [2] I use the term New World provisionally in order to describe the dichotomy between Europe, the supposed Old World, and their realization of the Americas, which they dubbed the New World. [3] While some scholars have argued that Shakespeare intended Caliban to be representative of Native American, this intentionality is problematic. I will examine this later in the paper.

Education Via Facebook Benefits And Challenges Education Essay

Education Via Facebook Benefits And Challenges Education Essay As many teachers might attest, students diligently clicking away at their laptops during class are not always taking notes or interacting with class material. If their minds are wondering, chances are they are browsing the Internet. Though the internet provides many options for diversion, statistics show that one of the most likely places students are spending a portion of their class time is on Facebook. As likely as Facebook is to be a distraction in the classroom it also has the potential to be a teaching tool when used strategically and creatively. Social Media is an emerging technology with growing popularity. Most students and educators are familiar with Facebook. Some argue that Facebook isnt a reliable mean to transform knowledge between educators and students and is viewed as rather distracting than beneficiary. In this paper, I will review findings by some researchers to understand the relationship between Facebook and education, and whether it could be a reliable mean to b e used in Education by educators and students as nowadays, people are divided into two major groups in terms of familiarly with technology: digital immigrants and digital natives (Siegle 2011). Digital natives are those who have always relied on technology as a way of life where Digital Immigrants are people who live in two worlds, one of which technology is overlooked. In the second world, it dominated our lives and became a recognized necessity (Siegle 2011); e.g. while digital immigrants prefer to use emails; digital natives prefer to use text messaging. Conventional media such as radio, television, and newspapers are associated with many challenges related to high costs and access limitations. Social media, on the other hand, is highly accessible anytime and anywhere the internet can reach (Tiryakioglu and Erzurum 2011). Conventional media cannot be changed after production, whereas social media can be immediately changed and/or updated via comments, likes, and dislikes. According to researchers, social networks can help developing communication skills and encourage participation and social commitment (Tiryakioglu and Erzurum 2011) Facebook can be defined as an online platform where users can create profiles, generate and share content and information, and interact with other known and unknown contacts (Boyd and Ellison 2007). Following its launch in 2006, Facebook has grown rapidly in terms of the number of users and the amount of time its users spend browsing compared to other websites. Facebook is now considered to be the dominant network of all the international social networks and has led people to abandon other websites like MySpace, which some have gone so far as to refer to as the ghetto of social networks (Siegle 2011). In this paper, I will present and discuss what other scholars have concluded from their research on the use and effects of social networks (i.e. Facebook) in education. The studies used in this paper were conducted on teachers, university professors, college students, and high school students to understand and assess the usage of social networks in the light of education and its effect on students academic achievements as well as fulfilling the desire of promoting knowledge and maintaining effective and efficient student interaction with educators. This paper will eventually answer the following question: does Facebook usage by students and educators improve the interaction between both parties to promote knowledge? The objective of this essay is to present the benefits and challenges that face students and educators in practicing their role in education in the light of using Facebook. Communication through Facebook is different from traditional face-to-face communication. First, friendships through Facebook are explicit, where traditional friendships usually tend to be implicit. Secondly, conversations through Facebook are persistent. They are permanently stored and easily retrieved at any point in time. Finally, Facebook conversations are shared with all friends who can access someones profile (Siegle 2011). While Facebook enhances the process of communication, it is important to perceive it as a possible threat to its users privacy, which may in turn cost them educational and career opportunities (Siegle 2011). Fortunately, this threat can be avoided by a simple application of personal judgement before sharing private matters a person does not desire to be shareable with anyone at any point in time. Before I discuss the usage of Facebook by college students, lets take an overview on the first time Facebook is used by young users (teenagers, for example). Unlike the past, teens dont need to physically leave the house to socialize. Facebook is used as a primary communication activity through which they post, comment, and share information with each other. To preserve this tool, young users ought to be advised from the beginning as to how to use social networks responsibly and be aware of all the issues that might arise from such activity including exposed privacy. Facebook can provide a window into anyones life. Given that fact, it is the responsibility of the parents to monitor and provide guidelines to their children once they start using Facebook. The use of Facebook by students entails education-related interactions, while some use it to obtain information on a missed class, others may use Facebook to engage in humorous comments about their own and their teachers actions. Todays classroom lexicon contains words with different meanings, including post, message, tag, poke, and inbox (Fewkes and McCabe 2012). No one can deny the fact that Facebook broke down the barriers between students and educators because the informal learning that occurs in the context of sharing media offers important opportunities for increased student involvement in formal learning settings (Fewkes and McCabe 2012). Psychologists have argued that a learning community would perform its best if the characteristics of connectedness and trust have been established amongst the learners (Fewkes and McCabe 2012). For this reason, education remains one of the areas most heavily impacted by technology. Although some argue that technologies like Facebook could involve some challenges for students, that is, when implementing new technologies in classrooms, it is important that teachers focus on promoting knowledge rather than simply being a source of information (Siegle 2011). Moreover, the nature of multimedia can captivate students easily; too much multimedia stimulation can interfere with the deeper cognitive processing that is critical to learning (The American Psychological Association). Aaron M. Fewkes and Mike McCabe conducted a survey on a sample of students at Waterloo Regional District School Board after the latter had made a decision to embrace the growing popularity of Facebook to verify if their vision of using Facebook in schools aligns with the actual behaviour of the students. The results show that 48% of students do log on to Facebook at least once during class time, moreover, the research exposed a possible disconnect between school board and students due to improper implementation of this policy. Facebook, however, can be a powerful communication tool that could serve as a professional resource for educators. ( Pilgrim and Bledsoe, 2011). Educators can respond to the use of technology in their classrooms in five ways: 1 1. Ban it: This has been deemed ineffective due to the fact that technology is becoming a part of our life that we constantly use. Typical workarounds are hiding devices behind books and texting from pockets. 2. Do business as usual: I disagree with this behaviour of educators as it is the educators responsibility to engage the students in their classrooms 3. Limit the use of Technology: a clear guideline indicating what is to be tolerated and what would be unacceptable. 4. Enhance traditional practice: Technology is dependent on users. 5. Use the technology to restructure the educational process: encourage students to use technology for inquiry, problem solving and/or instruction. If I was an instructor, my choice would be the fifth option, as it is the most effective and efficient according to the studies conducted by Pilgrim, Beldsoe, and Siegle, who all have concluded in their studies the importance of learning how to incorporate Facebook into the education process. The use of technology allows students to use social media websites like Facebook to engage in formal or informal discussions with their instructor as well as their fellow students. There are many ways educators and students can connect using Facebook. For instance, the teacher can post comments for the students, students can post their final work for their peers to review and provide feedback, and also students can use the wall feature to ask questions and respond to each other. In addition, I would set up a central page where all classroom mates can join to participate at any time of their choice to exchange knowledge and understanding of the subject being studied. Using social media should be, however, accompanied by some important precautions which educators should adhere to when using Facebook as a tool for educating students:2 1. Teachers should consider setting up a separate Facebook account 2. Educators should obtain signed parental consent prior to interacting with young students on Facebook. 3. Teachers should refrain from installing any applications on their page that would negatively affect their professional image. 4. Educators should remind students that they need to transfer the respectful tone teachers expect in class to their online interactions with them and ensure that students are aware that a teachers ethical responsibility will continue online. According to some studies (Seigle 2011), educators who relied on Facebook to follow professional organizations were more knowledgeable than those who did not (Pilgrim and Bledsoe 2011). We live in an age in which we are fully dependent on instant updates and information, the rationale behind using Facebook as a tool for professional learning adopts the idea that the internet is this generations defining technology for literacy (Pilgrim and Bledsoe 2011). Facebook is indeed an important source of information for educators who seek to continue their learning. According to a study conducted on university instructors in Turkey, all instructors who participated in the survey somehow use Facebook in their courses; even the instructor with the lowest frequency had used Facebook to make announcements about the course by creating a group. The study concludes that instructors have adopted Facebook and they are using it intensively, with a greater tendency toward its use for educational purpose s. According to my cited sources, the studies recognized Facebook as a reliable source for academicians because it is flexible and user friendly, in addition, the sources emphasized on the role of Facebook as a medium between students and instructors and argued that Facebook can neither be solely dependable for conducting courses nor can it be ignored. After I have explored the usage of Facebook by educators as well as students and identified the benefits and challenges of such usage by each party, I can assert that Facebook is a dependable, reliable, and popular medium through which both educators and students can interact appropriately. In order for this medium of communication to work in its most effective and efficient way, students need to be trustful and self-regulated, that is, to refrain from the over- use of Facebook and eventually the addiction to it leading to damage to their potential academic achievement. In conclusion, Educators and students use Facebook; the education process should be focused on the interaction of each party with the other and not the technology itself. Facebook opens new doors to students and allows their knowledge to grow. Facebook also allows them to learn about themselves from their peers. It is my belief that social networks like Facebook will continue to evolve and optimize the education channels in the context of human communication. Educators should consider Facebook as a mean of enhanced communication that provides traceability to what has been discussed and a source of feedback and/or evaluation on whether the discussion has fulfilled what it is mandated for or not.

Instruments Of The Orchestra :: essays research papers

Instruments of the Orchestra Strings: The viola is an important member of the orchestra, but is not often heard by itself. Because it is bigger than the violin, with longer strings, it makes a rich, warm sound that is lower in pitch. In contrast to the viola the violin is the smallest member of the string family. Because its strings are the shortest, it produces the highest sound. The viola is a little heavier, and its shape is slightly different, too. But it is still played on the violist’s left arm, just like the violin. Unlike the viola, the violins play in two different groups: with the first violins playing the highest-pitched part and the second violins playing the second highest. Both the viola and the violin are placed to rest on one shoulder, and held in its place by the chin and the left hand. You have to hold the bow in your right hand, and draw it across the strings. Pitches can be change in two ways: by drawing the bow across different strings, and by pressing on the strings with the fingers of his left hand. The viola plays a beautiful â€Å"middle† part in the orchestra’s harmony. The violas can be hard to pick out when the whole orchestra is playing, but you would really miss the violas if they weren’t there! In the other hand the violin has stayed pretty much the same ever since the 1500s. That’s almost 500 years! The modern violin has four strings, but the earliest ones had only three. Fiddlers played them on the streets, which hoped that people passing by would like their tunes and toss them a few pennies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Viola  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Violin Woodwinds: The bassoon is a double-reed woodwind instrument. It has almost 8 feet of wooden tubing, bent into a narrow U-shape. The reed is secured in a curved metal tube. Bassoons are the largest woodwind instruments in the orchestra - except for the contrabassoons, which are much bigger and plays a whole octave, lower than the bassoon! In contrast to the bassoon, you can hear the smooth, velvety sound of the clarinet in the orchestras, military bands, and in jazz groups. Clarinets are made of wood or molded plastic, and can be found in the different range of notes. The standard â€Å"B-flat† clarinet is a little more than two feet long. An orchestra also often includes an â€Å"E-flat† clarinet, which is smaller and plays a higher range of notes, and a bass clarinet, which plays an octave lower.

Child Care and Observation Essay -- Child Psychology Essay

Observation is very important in young children because that is how you get to know a child better. While observing how a child interacts with their peers, adults, and how they behave in different settings, you are getting to know the child without speaking to them. It may be important to observe a child but at the same time it may mislead you into being judgmental, too soon. For instance, if you observe a child misbehaving, not getting along with the other children or talking back to the teacher, you might get the impression that he/she is a 'bad' child and you might treat and act differently with that particular child. From my personal experiences, I have to come to the conclusion that it doesn't always work the way I believe when observing a child. I strongly feel that in order to get to know a child you should not spend most of your time observing him/her. Interacting with the child gives off better results. Not once or twice, this should be a consistent thing. For example, in room seven we have a child by the name of Thomas which most of us have heard about him. He appears to be very aggressive and angry from what we have observed. Even though the child may be difficult at times, I cannot turn my back on him and give up because of this. We can only observe what lies in front of us. No one really knows what goes on when the child is home with his parents. He might be going through some really hard times with his family and this is how he is coping with it but, ...

Probability Exercice

MTH3301 Fall 2012 Practice problems Counting 1. A closet contains 6 di? erent pairs of shoes. Five shoes are drawn at random. What is the probability that at least one pair of shoes is obtained? 2. At a camera factory, an inspector checks 20 cameras and ? nds that three of them need adjustment before they can be shipped. Another employee carelessly mixes the cameras up so that no one knows which is which. Thus, the inspector must recheck the cameras one at a time until he locates all the bad ones. (a) What is the probability that no more than 17 cameras need to be rechecked? b) What is the probability that exactly 17 must be rechecked? 3. We consider permutations of the string †ABACADAFAG†. How many permutations are there? How many of them don’t have any A next to other A? How many of them have at least two A’s next to each other? 4. A monkey is typing random numerical strings of length 7 using the digits 1 through 9 (not 0). Call the digits 1, 2, and 3 â₠¬ lows†, call the digits 4, 5, and 6 †mids† and digits 7, 8 and 9 †highs†. (a) How many di? erent strings can he type? (b) How many of these strings have no mids? c) How many of these strings have only one high in them? For example, the string 1111199 has two highs in it. (d) What’s the probability that a string starts with a low and ends with a high? (e) What’s the probability that a string starts with a low or ends with a high? (f) What’s the probability that a string doesn’t have at least one of the digits 1 through 9? 5. School of Probability and Statistics (SPS) at IUA University has 13 male Moroccan professors, 8 female Moroccan professors, and 12 nonMoroccan professors. A committee of 9 professors needs to be appointed for a task. a) How many committees can be made? (b) What’s the probability 1 that the committee contains 2 Moroccan women, 3 Moroccan men, and 4 non-Moroccans? (c) What’s the probability t hat the committee contains exactly 4 nonMoroccans? (d) What’s the probability that the committee contains at least 4 nonMoroccans? (e) What’s the probability that the committee does not contain any Moroccan men? Conditional Probability, Bayes’ Theorem 1. Before the distribution of certain statistical software every fourth compact disk (CD) is tested for accuracy.The testing process consists of running four independent programs and checking the results. The failure rate for the 4 testing programs are, respectively, 0. 01, 0. 03, 0. 02 and 0. 01. (a) What is the probability that a CD was tested and failed any test? (b) Given that a CD was tested, what is the probability that it failed program 2 or 3? (c) In a sample of 100, how many CDs would you expect to be rejected? (d) Given a CD was defective, what is the probability that it was tested? 2. A regional telephone company operates three relay stations at di? rent locations. During a one-year period, the number of malfunctions reported by each station and the causes are shown below: Station Problems with electricity supplied Computer malfunction Malfunctioning electrical equipment Caused by other human errors A 2 4 5 7 B 1 3 4 7 C 1 2 2 5 Suppose that a malfunction was reported and it was found to be caused by other human errors. What is the probability that it came from station C? 3. Police plan to enforce speed limits by using radar traps at 4 di? erent locations within the city limits.The radar traps at each of the locations L1 , L2 , L3 , and L4 are operated 40%, 30%, 20%, and 30% of the time, and if a person who is speeding on his way to work has probabilities 2 0. 2, 0. 1, 0. 5 and 0. 2, respectively, of passing through these locations, what is the probability that he will receive a speeding ticket? You can assume that the radar traps operate independently of each other. 4. Jar A contains 6 red balls and 6 blue balls. Jar B contains 4 red balls and 16 green balls. A six-sided die is th rown. If the die falls †6†, a ball is chosen at random from jar A.Otherwise, a ball is chosen from Jar B. If the chosen ball is red, what is the probability that the die fell †6†? 5. The word spelled HUMOR by a person from the United States is spelled HUMOUR by a person from UK. At a party, two-thirds of the guests are from the United States and one-third from UK. A randomly chosen guest writes the word, and a letter is chosen at random from the word as written. (a) If this letter is a U, what is the probability that the guest is from UK? (b) If the letter is an H, what is the probability that the guest is from UK? 6.Jar A contains two black balls, jar B contains two white balls, and jar C contains one ball of each color. A jar is chosen at random. A ball is drawn from the chosen jar and replaced; then again a ball is drawn from that jar and replaced. If both drawings result in black balls, what is the probability that a third drawing from the same jar will a lso yield a black ball? 7. A jar contains 5 red balls and 10 blue balls. A ball is chosen at random and replaced. Then 10 balls of the same color as the chosen ball are added to the jar. A second ball is now chosen at random and seen to be red. What is the probability that the ? st ball was also red? Discrete Random Variables and their Cumulative Distribution Functions and Probability Mass Functions 1. A dice has 6 sides labelled 1 through 6, and the associated probabilities are a, b, c, d, e, and f respectively. Furthermore, you are told that P ({1, 2, 3}) = P ({4, 5, 6}). This die is tossed once and random variable X is twice the face value that showed up. Answer the following questions about X: 3 (a) What is the range space of X? (b) Draw the cumulative distribution function of X. (c) Write down the probability mass function of X. 2. A jar contains 10 balls, labelled 1 through 10.We will take 3 balls out of the jar. Let B be the random variable that is the highest label among the 3 balls withdrawn. Answer the following questions about B: (a) What is the range space of B? (b) Calculate p(b) for b = 3, 6, 10. (c) Calculate F (b) for b = 3, 6, 10. (d) Calculate P (B ? 8). 3. Consider a group of 5 blood donors, A, B, C, D, E, of whom only A and B have type O+. Blood samples will be taken from each donor in random order, until an O+ donor is reached. Let the random variable Y be the number of blood samples taken until an O+ individual is reached. (a) What is the range space of Y? b) Write down the probability mass function of Y. 4. A jar contains 15 balls, 10 of them red and 5 of them blue. Three balls are picked and let R be the random variable that is the number of red balls in these 3 drawn. (a) What is the range space of R? (b) Write down the prob. mass func. of R. (c) Write down the cumulative distr. func. of R. 5. A random variable Z has following range space and probability mass function: 4 value -3 -2. 5 0 4 12 20 probability of this value 0. 1 0. 15 0. 05 0. 3 0. 3 0. 1 (a) Draw the line graph of this PMF. (b) Write down the CDF of Z and draw its graph. (c) Calculate P (Z). . After all students have left the classroom, a probability professor notices that 4 copies of text book were forgotten behind. At the beginning of the next lecture, the professor distributes the 4 books in a completely random fashion to each of the four students who lef the books behind. Let X be the number of students who receive their own book. Determine the pmf of X. Hint: Think of permutations of 4 symbols. 7. Let X be the number of tires on a randomly selected automobile that are underin? ated. Which of the following three p(x) functions is a legitimate pmf for X, and why are the other two not allowed? p(x) p(x) p(x) 0 0. 3 0. 4 0. 4 1 0. 2 0. 1 0. 1 2 0. 1 0. 1 0. 2 3 0. 05 0. 1 0. 1 4 0. 05 0. 3 0. 3 8. In our experiment, we pick a random permutation of 1234. Let X be the number of symbols that remained in their original places. For example, if the rand om permutation is 3214, X = 2. Find the pmf of X. 9. In our experiment, we type a random string of length 6 using only the letters A, B, C, D, E, X, Y, Z. Let R be the number of letters that are occuring more than once. So, for example, if the string is †BAYEDA†, R = 1. If string is †DEBAZY†, R = 0. If string is †AABAXY†, R = 1.If string is †AABBXY†, R = 2. (a) How many elements are there in the sample space of the experiment? (b) How many elements in the range space of R? 5 (c) Calculate pR (0). (d) Calculate pR (r) for r ? 4. 8 6 (8)(6)? 7? 6? 5? 4+(8)(6)? 7? 6? 5+(1)(4)? 7? 6+(8)(6)? 7+(8)(6) 1 3 1 5 1 6 . (e) Show that pR (1) = 1 2 6 8 Continuous Random Variables and their Cumulative Distribution Functions and Probability Distribution Functions 1. A college professor never ? nishes his lecture before the bell rings to end the period and always ? nishes his lectures within 2 minutes after the bell rings.Let X equal the time that ela pses between the bell and end of the lecture and suppose the pdf of X is f (x) = kx2 0 0? x? 2 otherwise (a) Find the value of k. (b) What is the probability that the lecture ends within one minute of the bell ringing? (c) What is the probability that the lecture continues beyond the bell for between 60 and 90 seconds? (d) What is the probability that the lecture continues for at least 90 seconds beyond the bell? 2. The time X (in minutes) for a lab assistant to prepare the equipment for a certain experiment is believed to have a uniform distribution for values of X between 25 and 35. a) Write the pdf of X and sketch its graph. (b) What is the probability that the preparation time exceeds 33 min.? (c) Without computing it mathematically, what do you think is the mean value of X? (d) For any a such that 25 < a < a + 2 < 35, what is the probability that preparation time is between a and a + 2 minutes? 3. Consider the following pdf, where k and C are constants: f (x) = kC k xk+1 0 6 x? C x 50 1 625 r If the propolis content is less than 10 parts per thousand, the honey sells for 300 Dirhams per kilogram.If the propolis content is more than 40 parts per thousand, the honey sells for 200 Dirhams per kilogram (because of the too strong taste). If the propolis content is between 10 and 40 parts per thousand, the honey sells for 450 Dirhams a kilogram. Let the price of honey per kilogram be the random variable X. (a) Draw the pdf of R. (b) Determine the pmf of X. Continuous Functions of Continuous Random Variables 1. Let continuous random variable X have pdf fX (x). Let Y = |X|. Write FY (y) in terms of integral(s) of fX . 2. For more practice here, make sure you can do problems number 9 and 13 in Chapter 3 exercises in our text book. 8