The Mythology Of Baseball Essays - Smile, Pat,

The Mythology Of Baseball A Night At The Ballpark Upon arrival at the opening game of the season for the Whitecaps, I feel very self concious, as if I do not belong here. I glance at my companions and laugh, they probably feel the same way. We walk up the steps of the stadium and I smile, momentarily caught up in the sweet charm of a group of elderly men, playing 'Take Me Out To The Ballpark' in old fashioned brass style. This will be an interesting night at the very least. We joke around as we buy our wine coolers, thinking that if we are to experience a large American myth, baseball, we should also do something very American while doing so, namely drink. We settle into our seats, the frigid metal benches searing our bottoms as we realize it is very cold tonight. There is a band on the field and our classmates begin to arrive. We joke around alittle with them and I notice that one has brought her child, a little one about age three. I watch him off and on, his child's glee at the commotion delighting me, taking me to the child within for a few moments. Then, a pre game show begins, talking about the mascots of the past, complete with cars, another American myth, for each era represented. I laugh out loud as I see the Bleacher Creature, and laugh even harder as cheesy music associated with baseball is blasted through the loudspeakers. The game begins. Everyone rises to sing the National Anthem. I stay seated, getting picked on alittle by those around me. I feel alittle out of place, but I place no value on this song. We wrap in blankets, huddling together to stay warm as the first inning progresses. It is cozy and I can't help thinking about the good life and the American Dream. It takes me most of the first and second inning to figure out the basic rules of the game. My companions are joking and laughing around me. Everyone is having a good time. Throughout the game I am distracted, turning to listen to those around me, watch them, and see thgeir reactions to the game. I come to notice after a while that everyone is interested in the game, try as they might to hide it, and I even catch myself grinning in anticipation and cheering on the home team almost against my will as the magic of baseball takes me up. The game ends with the home team winning. Fireworks blast in the night air and we all watch as if we were children again. As we leave, I smile. I am very glad I came. The basic Myths in baseball become evident after this experience. Death is represented by the winning or losing of the game. the victor is the survivor. It has meaning because there are stakes present. It is all about cheering for the home team, loyalty which is present whether or not they win. Mythology Essays

Social Housing Providers And Homelessness Social Work Essay Essay Example

Social Housing Providers And Homelessness Social Work Essay Essay Example Social Housing Providers And Homelessness Social Work Essay Essay Social Housing Providers And Homelessness Social Work Essay Essay In seeking to compose a study on the impact that societal lodging suppliers have had on turn toing the issue of homelessness in the UK it is to be appreciated that there are a figure of important issues to be dealt with with a position to deciding this complex societal job. Chiefly there is a demand to recognize that a figure of factors serve to act upon cases of homelessness originating including household dislocation, intoxicant or drug abuse, eviction, or mental and physical wellness that are all important societal issues on their ain to be resolved but are merely made all the more complex to decide in position of their links with homelessness. With this in head, it will be recognised that societal lodging suppliers by and large seek to promote relocation of persons made homeless to carry through the purpose of assisting to decide this issue and offer support whilst besides empower people to pull on their ain accomplishments and cognition to so do their attempts at happening adjus tment more successful. It is so necessary to see the impact upon societal lodging suppliers through the consideration of three specific illustrations by manner of practical instance surveies before looking to reason with a sum-up of the cardinal points derived from this treatment in relation to their critical success factors for accomplishing a decrease in the degree of homelessness within society. ( 2 ) Introduction Having recognised the country to be discussed in relation to societal lodging suppliers as being the demand to look to efficaciously turn to the issue of homelessness within society in the UK, it is necessary to first expression to sketch the cardinal issues that are to be dealt with in this respect by lodging suppliers. Then, following on from the acknowledgment of such issues that are associated with homelessness, there is a demand to look to measure the impact upon societal lodging suppliers with this in head through the consideration of a figure of illustrations so as to better exemplify the points that are made in this respect. Finally, this study will look to reason with a sum-up of the cardinal points that have been derived from this treatment of the impact societal lodging suppliers have had upon the affair of homelessness with respect to what are recognised as being the critical success factors. To better exemplify the point a critical success factor refers to an component n ecessary for the accomplishment or success of the mission of an administration or single undertaking ( Boynlon A ; Zmud, 1984 ) . For illustration, a critical success factor related to homelessness is user engagement i.e. in other words, stateless people responding and being proactive in relation to the affair of societal lodging suppliers supplying them with places and declarations to their other associated jobs. ( 3 ) Issues With a position to recognizing the issues involved with societal lodging suppliers efficaciously deciding jobs of homelessness it is to appreciated that this is a multi faceted job that has come to be good noted by a considerable figure of different research workers as a much more complex issue than merely happening adjustment ( Anderson A ; Tulloch, 2000 ) . On this footing, it has been recognised that cases of homelessness can originate from out of a figure of factors including household dislocation, intoxicant or drug abuse, eviction, or mental and physical wellness that can besides present important jobs ( Lemos, 1999 ) . In each single instance as it arises such troubles can function to do it well more complex to look to resettle single citizens into their ain adjustment in the event of their holding been recognised as homeless by the local governments ( Pearl, 1997 ) . Problems in this respect are so really frequently merely farther compounded by the troubles that are found to be inherently involved with remaining in impermanent adjustment like a inn. The ground for this is that there is a demand to understand that some inn adjustment can be said to move as a farther complication as opposed to a benefit for those desiring to resettle into the community in independent adjustment ( Clapham, 2005 ) . By manner of illustration, faculty members including Galchagan A ; Wallace ( 2001 ) have served to propose that before an person can be resettled a drawn-out procedure of going unsettled may hold led to a individual being homeless and in impermanent adjustment so that this so serves to intend that the affair of homelessness has come to be something of a revolving door procedure ( Galchagan A ; Wallace, 2001, p.2 ) . On this footing, societal lodging suppliers by and large seek to promote relocation of persons that have been made homeless to carry through the purpose of assisting to more efficaciously decide this issue and offer support whilst besides functioning to authorise people to pull on their ain accomplishments and cognition to be able to so do their attempts at happening adjustment well more of a success ( Clapham, 2005 ) . The ground for this is that it has been recognised that without support faculty members including Schofield ( 1999, at p.3 ) have come to propose that certain groups like those with mental wellness jobs will stop up sing the same jobs. In add-on, it is besides to be noted that the Homelessness Directorate of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister ( 2002 ) has antecedently served to foreground the fact there is excessively small information presently available with respect to the extent with which cases of repetition homelessness have arisen although it should be not ed that the figures that have been generated from certain local governments have served to gauge this figure could be at least 20-30 % of all instances originating to be decided upon ( Cave, 2007 ) . With this in head, Schofield so looks to reason that non merely is this really frequently something of a crushing blow to the non inconsiderable recognised hopes and aspirations of a stateless individual but it besides incurs an unbelievable cost imposed by occupancy failure and excess clip spent in impermanent adjustment, which is necessarily more expensive for the person involved ( Schofield, 1999, at p.3 ) . ( 4 ) Impact on Social Housing characteristics With respect to the impact upon societal lodging suppliers, in relation to the affair of lodgings allotment more by and large, Parts VI and VII of the Housing Act 1996 govern the manner councils allocate their lodging and how they should help those designated as being homeless. The Homelessness Act 2002 so served to amend the Housing Act 1996 at Parts VI and VII so the processs for using for ( and the allotment of ) lodging were revised along with the responsibilities owed by councils to those recognised as confronting homelessness in the UK. As a consequence, societal lodging suppliers have been actively encouraged to take part in undertaking homelessness by functioning to place a Homelessness Champion and besides develop their ain schemes for battling this all excessively copiously complex societal job to be engaged their precedences and partnerships. For illustration, the Bath A ; North East Somerset Council Homelessness Strategy, 2008-2013 ( 2008 ) recognised Knightstone Housi ng Association and Somer Community Housing Trust are the country s chief local lodging suppliers although the figure of leases has been diminishing ( e.g. 79 in 2005/06 fell to 55 in 2006/07 ) . Therefore, the council felt it was necessary to work with suppliers to better maximize leases to homeless people since societal lodging is accessed by registering on the local authorization s online pick based leases scheme Homesearch . As of 2008 there were over six thousand people registered with the Bath A ; North East Somerset Council about two tierces of which necessitating one sleeping room places but the job is that leases have diminished in the last five old ages so demand for lodging far outstrips supply ( Bath A ; North East Somerset Council, 2008 ) . A farther illustration of societal lodging suppliers work arose when more than 100 lodging associations situated in the North West sought to undertake the affair of homelessness through the constitution of a set of committednesss in the tally up to Christmas 2009. To this consequence a study by the North West Housing Association entitled The North West s Housing Associations Our Committednesss to Tackling Homelessness ( 2009 ) has found there are merely non sufficient places available in the part. That this has proved to be the instance is marked by the fact waiting lists for a societal place have increased by over 50 % in the last five old ages and will increase even more due to the economic downswing ( National Housing Federation, 2009 ) . However, to better trade with the job good over 100 lodging associations have signed up to the aforesaid committednesss since they jointly manage over 450,000 places to organize a homelessness scheme. This is brooding of the fact it is possible for them to work together to vouch lodging associations and local governments work together to present cardinal services, supply support and offer solutions to undertake homelessness by placing and covering with factors that cause the job in the first topographic point including worklessness , fiscal exclusion, anti-social behavior and low educational attainment ( National Housing Federation, 2009 ) . But lodging associations in the part are already assisting undertake homelessness in many ways as the study included in the aforesaid study found 74 % provide entree to preparation to increase renters opportunities of employment ; 76 % have linked up with recognition brotherhoods ; and 98 % of associations offer their renters entree to a lodging advice service with a position to offering aid to those who do lose their places ( North West Housing Association, 2009 ) . Another illustration arose in the Liverpool part with the Riverside Project ( 2009 ) will increase low-cost places supply to people within the part, offer comfy adjustment for those people who are likely to be stateless and offer tailored lodging and support services ( a ) set uping a mark to construct 2,000 new low-cost places between 2008/2011 ; ( B ) supplying first-class supported lodging services to our 3,000 bing service users and by bettering the quality of our lodging stock by accomplishing what are recognised as Decent Homes marks ; ( degree Celsius ) doing suited adjustment available to appliers that are stateless ; ( vitamin D ) looking to develop new strategies for supported lodging as set out in the concern program and vouching specialist proviso for the homeless is delivered to run into the demands of the wider community ; ( vitamin E ) developing our bing drifting support services and furthering internal and external links with cardinal spouses ; ( degree Fahrenheit ) guaranteeing that local schemes allow us to see the demands of the homeless and those that are threatened with homelessness ; ( g ) working to cut down overcrowding by runing a sensitive allotments policy and optimizing stock s best usage by back uping renters who are under busying to travel to more appropriate adjustment ; ( H ) back uping the development of strategies for local and national mobility ; ( I ) providing or facilitating AIDSs and versions and working together with other bureaus to assist handicapped people remain at place. ( 5 ) Decision In seeking to reason this study on the impact that societal lodging suppliers have had on turn toing the issue of homelessness in the UK it is to be appreciated that one of the most important critical success factors is user engagement. Therefore, it is incumbent upon societal lodging suppliers to look to promote those who are stateless ( or those who might be made homeless ) to use their services with a position to staying feasible members of society. The ground for this is that, in concurrence with local governments in the UK, societal lodging suppliers have looked to non merely cover with the issue of homelessness that serves to plague our society. However, whilst societal lodging suppliers have doubtless looked to help the homeless in a assortment of ways, as the illustration of the Bath A ; North East Somerset Council Homelessness Strategy, 2008-2013 ( 2008 ) has served to exemplify the figure of leases by societal lodging suppliers has really been diminishing at a clip when p eople are arguably at there most vulnerable in position of the hapless economic system. Therefore, as has already recognised possibly the most important critical success factor for deciding the issue of homelessness is for societal lodging suppliers to look to work with the local governments to break trade with peoples demands within a peculiar part.

Blaise Pascal

Bryce Pascal We reach the truth for not just reason but for the mind. (1) Bryce Pascal says that he is one of the greatest thinkers of the 17th century. The 17th century is an era of scientific revolution. In the meantime, the main idea of ​​everyone is not just to listen to stories, but to ask everything. This brought about a change in thinking in the field of religion and science. Science makes it possible to cast doubts on the teachings of old churches. Scientists suffer from thought of mathematics and physics, but philosophers are suffering from the idea of ​​God. Small ideas are related to ordinary extraordinary, wonderful ideas. It was told once by Blythe Pascal. Bryce Pascal, born in Clermont-Ferrand, France on June 19, 1623, will change the world of science and mathematics. He is a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Christian philosopher. He is a genius of children. His early life was neither a sad story nor a very happy story. But his invention is still highly appreciated. - The French Revolution took place from 1789 to 1799 when the monarchy was overthrown, the Republic was founded, and the church was restricted. The French Revolution ended in 1799 with the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte. The French Revolution founded the French Legislative Assembly. Many people think revelation is the cause of the French Revolution, but revelation is not one of the main driving force of the revolution. Blaise Pascal is the third child of Étienne Pascal's child and his only son. Blythe 's mother died when she was 3 years old. In 1632, the Pascal family, Etienne and his four children left Clermont and settled in Paris. Bryce Pascal 's father decided to teach his son from an unusual educational point of view. Étienne Pascal decided that Blaise would not learn mathematics by the age of 15 and decided that all mathematical texts would be removed from their home. But his curiosity piqued his interest and he began studyin g geometry at the age of twelve. He learned that the sum of the angles of the triangle is two right angles When his father noticed, he allowed soft copies of Blaise Euclidean.

Western liberal democracy. The evolution of liberal democracy Thesis

Western liberal democracy. The evolution of liberal democracy - Thesis Example Liberal democracy,otherwise called constitutional democracy,is the most dominant form of democracies in the contemporary world and the phrase 'Liberal Democracy' is a frequently used to describe Western democratic political systems including the United States,Britain,New Zealand,Canada,Australia,and other nations. To define a liberal democracy, it is "a form of representative democracy where elected representatives that hold the decision power are moderated by a constitution that emphasizes protecting individual liberties and the rights of minorities in society, such as freedom of speech and assembly, freedom of religion, the right to private property and privacy, as well as equality before the law and due process under the rule of law, and many more." 1As against the distinction with the Communist People's Republics or the 'Popular Democracies' of the Cold War period, constitutional democracies in the modern period are differentiated from the direct democracies and participatory dem ocracies. The various constitutional forms of liberal democracies include republics, as in the case of the US, India, and France, and constitutional monarchy, such as the UK and Spain. This paper deals with Western liberal democracy in two sections: the evolution of liberal democracy and the nature of liberal democracy.Liberal democracy has its origins in the Age of Enlightenment in Europe in the 18th century at a time when monarchy was the practice of the time. The Western liberal democracy has emerged from the unique history of European civilisation and it has grown to become one of the most important forms of democratic government in the contemporary world. Today, one prevalent question concerning the Western liberal democracy is whether it can be served from its Western historical context and universalised for all nations of the world. The evolution of Western liberal democracy needs to be realised as the result of influential movements in the Europe, including the French Revolu tion and the English Revolution, based on the theoretical and philosophical thoughts such as liberty, equality etc. The American story of the evolution of liberal democracy is not different. "In part enlightened by European theoretical works, in part influenced by the European history, and in part responding to new life in American colonies, Madison, Hamilton and Jefferson, among others, conceived a federal republic, creating a new version of democracy which is elegant in theory but miserly in fact. It is elegant in the way it structures a durable government. It is miserly in the way it embraces the realities of the eighteenth century America, excluding a vast majority of people from the democratic process. Initially confined to one race and one gender, the base of American democracy has gradually expanded." 2 Thus, the American liberal democracy mixes reality with vision and today it has become the epitome of Western liberal democracy. Today, the eighteenth century liberalism which was based on property has been transformed o a new liberalism which is established on formal equality and liberty. . The Western liberal democracy in the contemporary world demonstrates that civil and political rights of the people can go hand in hand with higher standards of living. "In light of these achievements, liberal democracy is touted as the ideal form of government for all the peoples of the world. Any other system, including any other notion of democracy, is seen as a lesser construct, an inferior design, a recipe for social and economic backwardness." 3 Analysing the chief components in the origin and development of the Western liberal democracy, it is essential to relate to some essential sources of it. Any political ideology has a historical life, growth and development and the ideology of the Western liberal democracy is not different. Thus, it is important to have the background knowledge about the Greek heritage of democracy and the contributions of Christian theology and Roman

Academic carrier goal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Academic carrier goal - Essay Example My papers were appreciated a lot both in home and school. Teachers approved of my critical analysis and encouraged me to practice the act quite frequently. They visualized a potential producer and director in me because of which, throughout my high school, I was named â€Å"2 in 1†. Gradually, the inspiration I gained from my mentors became ingrained in my thinking, and I wanted to build my career in film making. This field is perfect for me because it accords with my aptitude. I was recently studying the program of film making at an art school, which considerably lacked the technology that is essential for the demonstration of skill. Therefore, I have decided to transfer my credit hrs to another school, the Chapman University in LA. From the prospectus, I have come to know that Dodge College is well equipped with latest technology pertaining to film direction and production. Sound capturing is an important element if film making, and can both make and break the quality of a f ilm. In order to be a good producer and director, it is compulsory to be educated on the use of equipment. Dodge College equips digital audio recorder, boom microphone, digital editing software and such other tools that I can practice on and learn the art of film making. Therefore, I want to pursue my studies in this college.

Departmental imaging requirements Essay Example for Free

Departmental imaging requirements Essay Introduction Diagnosing, staging, and re-staging of cancer, as well as the monitoring and planning of cancer treatment, has traditionally relied on anatomic imaging like computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Spatially accurate medical imaging is an essential tool in three dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT) and intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) treatment planning. CT imaging is the standard imaging modality for image based radiation treatment planning (RTP). CT images provide anatomical information on the size and location of tumors in the body. They also provide electron density information for heterogeneity-based patient dose calculation. The major limitation of the CT imaging process is soft tissue contrast, which is overcome by using contrast agents or using another anatomical imaging modality like MRI. One of the disadvantages of anatomical imaging techniques like CT and MRI is its inability to characterize the tumor. Tumors need to be characterized whether they are benign or malignant and if malignant it would be helpful to know whether the proliferation is slow or fast. Necrotic, scar, and inflammatory tissue often cannot be differentiated from malignancy based on anatomic imaging alone. Anatomical imaging has high sensitivity for detection of structural changes, but a low specificity for further characterization of these abnormalities. Single photon emission computed tomography and positron emission tomography (PET) are imaging techniques that provide information on physiology rather than anatomy. These modalities have been used for evaluation of tumor metabolism, differentiation between tumor reoccurrence and radiation necrosis, detection of hypoxic areas of the tumor, and other functional imaging. Radiation treatment planning requires an accurate location of the tumor and the normal tissue and also knowledge of the size of the tumor for contouring the treatment volume. Although PET provides necessary functional information for RTP, it has a few limitations. The spatial resolution of PET is too poor to give accurate quantitative information. The greatest limitation in using PET for RTP is its lack of anatomical information. This limitation of PET is overcome by evaluating PET and CT images together. Fused PET and CT images give better diagnostic evaluation than PET or CT images used alone (Bar-Shalom et al, 2003; Cohade Wahl, 2003). But fusion of PET and CT images are meaningful only when they are correctly spatially registered. Hence a proper spatial registration is required for accurate delineation of tumor volume. The necessity of accurate spatial registration of fused images requires different fusion techniques for different image datasets. Software fusion and hardware fusion are the two different approaches considered by the scientific community (Townsend et al, 2003; Townsend et al, 2002). Software fusion approaches use different transformation algorithms to fuse different modality images acquired at different times. The transformation algorithms are classified as rigid and non-rigid transformation algorithms. They are based on whether they fuse images of rigid-body (e. g. , head) or non rigid (e. g. , abdomen) objects (Patton, 2001; Yap, 2002). Although software fusion gives better diagnostic information than using separate images, physicians may not rely on the information if the fused images were acquired at different times. Also the chances of a change in patient position are high for image acquisition done at different times. The hardware approach of image fusion is headed towards designing a single imaging system to acquire simultaneously the different image modalities required. Hardware fusion is partially achieved by construction of a hybrid PET/CT scanner (Beyer et al, 2000; Townsend et al, 2004) which acquires different modalities sequentially. These hybrid scanners are two separate scanners enabled to operate in sequence one after another to acquire the different image modality datasets in a single imaging session. Although hybrid scanners do not give a true hardware fusion and have not proven to be a better fusion technique scientifically (Kalabbers et al, 2002), they have gained popularity for image acquisition in a single session. Due to reduced scan time and patient motion, PET/CT is considered reliable among the oncology community. These hybrid PET/CT scanners, due to reduced scan time and reliable registration of PET and CT datasets, are becoming common in RTP. A PET image fused with a CT image can be used in treatment planning to eliminate geographic misses of the tumor and escalation of dose to the hypermetabolic aspects of a tumor. Fused images improve the accuracy in staging of lymph nodes. Although the use of PET/CT in RTP is growing at a fast pace, little research has been done in the direction of validating the PET/CT datasets for RTP. Discussion CT images describe the electronic density distribution of cross sections of the patient anatomy. CT systems provide gray scale display of linear attenuation coefficients that closely relate to the density of the tissue. CT imaging evolved from conventional planar radiographs. In planar X-ray film imaging the three dimensional anatomy of the patient is reduced to a two dimensional attenuation projection image and the depth information of the structures are lost. In CT imaging several attenuation projection images for a volume of tissue are acquired at different angles. These sets of projection images are reconstructed by filtered back projection algorithm to generate two dimensional attenuation cross-section of anatomy of the patient. The attenuation measurement for a CT detector element is given by Equation 1 and Equation 2. Equation 1 represents attenuation measurement for homogenous object and Equation 2 represent attenuation measurement for inhomogeneous (heterogeneous) objects. _ P(x) =1n [I0] = ? x ? (1) __ _ I x _ _ _ P(x) = 1n [I0] = x d x ? (2) __ L _ I x In the above equation P(x) is the measured projection data for attenuation along the x direction. Io is the intensity of the x-ray beam measured without the patient in the way for that detector element. This is also known as a blank scan. I (x) is the measured intensity after attenuation by the patient.? (x) is the measured attenuation coefficient as a function of location in the patient. A CT scanner positions a rotating x-ray tube and detector on opposite sides of the patient to acquire projection images. Early CT scanners used pencil beams of x-rays and a combination of translation and rotation motion to acquire projection images (Bushberg et al, 1994). Modern CT scanners have a stationary or rotating detector array with a rotating fan beam x-ray tube. There are also two types of scanning: axial and helical CT scanning. In axial scanning the patient is moved step by step acquiring sets of projection images for each slice. In helical scanning the patient table moves continuously while the x-ray tube acquires a series of projection images. The projection images are acquired for a helical path around the patient. In helical scanning to reconstruct a cross-sectional planar image, the helical data is interpolated to give axial plane projection data before reconstruction. By removing the time to index the table between slices the total scan time of the patient is reduced. Also reconstruction can be done for any slice thickness after acquiring the data. This helical scanning is available in most of the current CT scanners. The reconstructed CT image is a two dimensional matrix of numbers, with each pixel corresponding to a spatial location in the image and in the patient. Usually the matrix is 512 pixels wide and 512 pixels tall covering a 50 cm x 50 cm field of view. The numeric value in each pixel represents the attenuation coefficient as a gray level in the CT image. These numbers are called Hounsfield units or CT numbers. The reconstruction process generates a matrix of Hounsfield units which give the linear attenuation values normalized to the attenuation of water. This normalization is given by Equation 3. CT Number (HU) = 1000 (? pixel ? water) ____________ ?water CT number gives an indication of the type of tissue. Water has a CT number of zero. Negative CT numbers are typical for air spaces, lung tissues and fatty tissue. Values of ? pixel greater than ? water correspond to other soft tissues and bone. Radiologists occasionally make critical diagnostic decisions based on CT number of particular regions of interest. Also attenuation values given by CT numbers are used to calculate the dose delivered to the tumor in RTP. CT number is an important parameter in CT images which must be frequently checked for accuracy. Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging generates images that depict the distribution of positron emitting radionuclide in the patient body. PET imaging often uses the F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) radioactive tracer to track increased glucose metabolic activity of tumor cells and to provide images of the whole body distribution of FDG. When the positron is emitted by the radioactive tracer it annihilates with an electron to generate two 511 kev photons emitted in nearly opposite directions. These photons interact with the ring of detector elements surrounding the patient. If both the emitted photons are detected then the point of annihilation lies on the line joining the points of detection. This line joining the points of detection is known as the line of response (LOR). The circuit used by the scanner to record the detector interactions occurring at the same time is called coincidence circuitry. This whole process is called annihilation coincidence detection. Thus a PET scanner uses annihilation coincidence detection instead of mechanical collimation like gamma cameras to acquire projections of activity distribution in the patient. Projections acquired at different angles are reconstructed using iterative algorithms to generate cross-sectional images of activity distribution. The annihilation coincidence detection process allows many false events to be acquired. Corrections are necessary for these false events before the projections are reconstructed. The total events acquired are classified as trues, random and scatter. A true coincidence is simultaneous interactions occurring in the detectors resulting from emissions occurring in the same nuclear transformation. Random coincidences occur when emissions from different nuclear transformations interact in coincidence with the surrounding detectors. Scatter coincidence occurs when one or both photons from annihilation is scattered in the patient body and interact with the detector to give a false LOR. The acquired annihilation events need to be corrected for random and scatter events. Random coincidence events along any LOR may be directly measured using the delayed coincidence method (Levin, 2003). The delayed coincidence method uses two coincidence circuits. The first circuit measures both true and random coincidence events. The second circuit has a delay of several hundred microseconds inserted into the coincidence window, so all true coincidences are thrown out of coincidence. The counts measured in the second circuit are subtracted from the first to give true counts. Scatter correction is done for the projection data by model-based scatter estimation (Levin, 2003). The scatter correction factor is estimated by mathematical models and applied to the projection data before reconstruction. Image fusion was initially achieved by software fusion of anatomical and functional images. Software fusion was generally successful with brain and rigid body volumes. It encountered significant difficulties when fusing images of the rest of the body. Alignment algorithms fail to converge the two image sets due to problems of patient movement or discrepancies in patient positioning between two scans. Also involuntary movements of internal organs arise when patient are imaged on different scanners and at different times. Dual modality PET/CT imaging is a combination of imaging technologies helping to acquire accurately aligned anatomical and functional images in the same scanning session. Also an additional advantage of the combined PET/CT scanner is the use of CT images for attenuation correction. CT images can be scaled in energy and used to correct the PET data for attenuation effects (Kinahan et al, 2003; Kinahan et al, 1998). Dual-modality PET/CT was first built at the University of Pittsburgh in collaboration with CTI (Knoxville, TN) and Siemens Medical Solutions (Hoffman Estates, IL), combining separate PET and CT scanning devices into one device. The PET/CT prototype consisted of a rotating partial ring PET system and a single slice CT scanner mounted on the same rotating support. The CT scanner combined with PET often uses helical scanning CT to enable fast patient throughput, but new scanners with both helical and axial scanning are available now. The CT data is usually acquired first, followed by PET acquisition. There are typically two separate acquisition processing units for CT and PET, and an integrated display workstation. The acquired CT and PET datasets are sending to the reconstruction processing unit for reconstruction. Reconstructed images are fused in the fusion workstation. CT and PET images can also be separately viewed in the workstation. The protocol for PET/CT imaging starts with patient preparation. 5 – 15 mCi of FDG is injected into the patient 45 – 60 min before the start of image acquisition. After 45 min, the glucose circulates through the body; the patient gets ready for image acquisition by emptying the bladder. The patient is positioned on the table for an initial topogram. The topogram is used to select the scan range for PET/CT image acquisition. The scan range is selected as a number of bed positions. Once the image acquisition region is selected in the topogram, the helical CT scan is done first; it takes around 30 sec to acquire one bed position. After completion of the CT portion, the scanner bed is moved to the PET starting position and the emission scan is started. The emission scan duration per bed position varies with the detector technology used. With conventional bismuth germinate oxyorthosilicate (BGO) system, acquisition times will range from 5 to 8 minutes per bed position. The new lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO) technology reduces emission scans to 3 to 5 minutes per bed position (Humm et al, 2003). The CT data are used to perform attenuation correction. Image reconstruction is completed a few minutes after the PET image acquisition is completed. Since the CT data is used for attenuation correction, the total scan duration for a PET/CT scanner is shorter than that for stand-alone PET scanner, because the CT acquisition is much faster than a conventional PET transmission acquisition. Conclusion. To conclude, Positron Emission Tomography/Computerized Tomography (PET/CT) is an imaging test that produces high resolution pictures of the body’s biological functions and anatomic structures. These images show body metabolism and other functions rather than simply the gross anatomy and structure revealed by a standard CT or MRI scan. This is important because functional changes are often present before obvious structural changes in tissues are evident. PET/CT imaging can uncover abnormalities that might otherwise go undetected. For example, PET/CT can determine the presence and extent of tumors unseen by other imaging techniques, or detect Alzheimer’s disease one to two years before the diagnosis would be made with certainty by your primary doctor. PET/CT is believed to be the most accurate imaging test available to evaluate lung cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, lymphoma, head and neck cancer, and esophageal cancer. In published research studies, PET has been shown to have an approximately 90% accuracy in many of these cancer types. PET is the most accurate imaging test available to determine the presence of a dementia process such as Alzheimer’s disease. PET is also the most accurate test available to evaluate patients who have had a previous heart attack and are being considered for a procedure to improve blood flow to the injured heart muscle. References Bar-Shalom, R. ; Yefremov, N. ; Guralnik, L. ; Gaitini, D. ; Frenkel, A. ; Kuten, A. ; Altman, H. ; Keidar, Z. ; Israel, O. 2003. Clinical performance of PET/CT in evaluation of cancer: Additional value for diagnostic imaging and patient management. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, Vol. (44. ): 1200-1209. Beyer, T. ; Townsend, D. W; Brun, T. ; Kinahan, P. E; Charron, M. ; Roddy, R. ; Young, J. ; Byars, L. ; Nutt, R. A. 2000. Combined PET/CT scanner for clinical oncology. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, Vol (41):1369-1379. Bushberg, J. T; Seibert, J. A; Leidholdt Jr. , E. M; Boone, J. M. 1994. Essential of Physics of Imaging (2nd Edition). Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore. Cohade, C. ; Wahl, R. L. 2003. Application of positron emission tomography/computed tomography image fusion in clinical positron emission tomography-Clinical use, Interpretation methods, diagnostic improvements. Seminars in Nuclear Medicine, Vol (XXXIII): 228-237. Humm, J. L; Rosenfeld, A; Guerra, A. D. 2003. From PET detectors to PET scanners. Eurpoean Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular imaging, Vol (30): 1574-1597. Kalabbers, B. M; De Munck, J. C. ; Slotman, B. J; Bree, R. D; Hoekstra, O. S; Boellaard, R. ; Lammertsma, A. A. 2002. Matching PET and CT scans of the head and neck area: Development of method and validation. Medical Physics, Vol (29), 2230-2238. Kinahan, P. E; Hasegawa, B. H; Beyer, T. 2003. X-Ray based attenuation correction for positron emission tomography/computed tomography scanners. Seminars in Nuclear Medicine, Vol (XXXIII): 166-179. Kinahan, P. E; Townsend, D. W; Beyer, T. ; Sashin, D. 1998. Attenuation correction for a combined 3D PET/CT scanner. Medical Physics, Vol (25): 2046-2053. Levin, C. S. 2003. Data Correction Methods and Image reconstruction algorithms for positron emission tomography. AAPM meeting. Continuing education, San Diego. Patton, J. 2001. Image Fusion in Nuclear Medicine – PET/CT. Abstract ID: 7192, AAPM Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City. Townsend, D. W; Beyer, T. ; Blodgett, T. M. 2003. PET/CT scanners: A Hardware approach to Image Fusion. Seminars in Nuclear Medicine, Vol (XXXIII): 193-204. Townsend, D. W; Beyer, T. 2002. A combined PET/CT scanner: the path to true image fusion. The British Journal of Radiology, Special issue Vol (25): S24-S30. Townsend, D. W; Carney, J. P. J; Yap, J. T; Hall, N. C. 2004. PET/CT today and tomorrow. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, Vol (45): 4S-14S. Yap, J. T. 2002. Image Reconstruction and Image fusion (PET/CT). Abstract ID: 8391, AAPM Meeting Abstract ID: 8391, Montreal. Zaidi, H. ; Hasegawa, B. 2003. Determination of the attenuation map in emission tomography. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, Vol (44):291-315.

Intercultural Communication and Acculturation :: globalization, misunderstanding

Communication within one culture can often be difficult, convoluted and result in many misunderstanding, this process can be significantly exacerbated however when communicators are from different cultures. With the world becoming smaller day by day due to globalization and cultures converging from all corners of the globe, communication and culture as we know it has drastically evolved and become very complex. Examples of this can be seen right here as people from all over the world immigrate to America. Throughout history as people from around the globe made America their new home they have had to address and overcome the looming issues of intercultural communication and acculturation. According to Webster.com acculturation means; cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture; also: a merging of cultures as a result of prolonged contact (Webster†¦..). Beyond having to learn a new language which is difficul t enough but through the process of acculturation they have to learn social values, norms, rules that very often is entirely different that that of their native culture. In order to successfully thrive and survive people have had to master a language while navigating through a society that often looks, behaves, sounds and fundamentally believes differently than they themselves do. Making this process even more difficult is always the prevailing desire to hold true to native customs values and traditions which may not be accepted practice in the new society. For example in America we believe in and exercise freedom of religion however in a predominantly Christian society practicing other faiths such as Muslim of Buddhism may prove more confined and contained than in ones home land where the majority practices their religion. Further examples of this point may stem to the work place where women are treated equally and their ideas and opinions are accepted and sought after but in other nations women are treated as second class citizens and therefore have no voice in public environments. These instances can require great adjustment on the part of ind ividuals who may not be familiar with American customs and treatment of women in the workplace or otherwise. Also the inability to find adequate words from a native tongue may pose a problem and great frustration if there is no literal translation in the new language. Although acculturation does not require complete assimilation and abandonment of one’s beliefs or culture it does require embracing and adopting practices of the new culture.

African American History Paper Essay

Dr. Hardy’s view is that if you really want to understand slavery and know its full legacy and meaning you have to work with blacks. Dr. Hardy felt that even though slavery was so long ago we still feel the suffering and sorrow psychologically. According to Hardy, â€Å"talking about slavery may evoke feelings of shame and humiliation or anguish and rage in African Americans, while it tends to bring up shame, guilt, and denial in White people.† Dr. Hardy believes that even though slavery happened so long ago today both black and whites have negative feelings when the topic of slavery is brought up. The documentary that we watched in class called Africans in America: the terrible transformation is about slowly but surely piece by piece African Americans became enslaved in the US. Now to tie these together is very difficult. They are similar yet different subjects. The major topic that ties them together is slavery. What is most critical to understand especially when we consider the video Africans in America: a terrible transformation is that the Atlantic Slave Trade and slavery in America were invented to pull poor people, black and white people apart to keep them fighting one another making blacks and whites begin resent each other. I agree with Dr. Donald H. Matthews when he pointed out, in his book Slavery was â€Å"a violation of one of the greatest achievements of Western Civilization, namely, that one should never treat a subject as an object.† When we watched the PBS documentary Africans in America: the terrible transformation I learned about how slowly America was evolving into a country of slavery. Before life wasn’t perfect but it was decent not everyone was equal neither. Even not all white people were equal the classes were rich and poor. The blacks and the poor whites were on the same level/class and they began to fight though like I said earlier. There aren’t many differences between the documentary and the book that Dr. Hardy wrote but I can name a couple. The documentary looks at the past and how it evolved. While the book looks at the future/present and how we are affected now. Even though these very different they bring together the same idea that slavery has a big effect.

Social Acceptances And Critical Thinking In Adolescents Education Essay

Critical thought is the attitude of being willing to see in a thoughtful manner the jobs that come within the scope of 1s experiences ; cognition of the methods of logical probe and logical thinking ; and some accomplishment in utilizing those methods ( Glaser, 1941 ) . Another definition of critical thought is a alone and calculated thought in which the mind consistently and normally inflicts standards and rational criterions upon the thought, taking charge of the construction of thought, steering the construction of the believing harmonizing to criterions, and mensurating the effectivity of the believing harmonizing to the intent, standards, and the criterions of thought ( Richard Paul, 1995 ) . Peter Facione ( 1990 ) stated: † We appreciate critical thought to be calculated, self-regulatory determination, which consequences in reading, analysis, rating, and illation, every bit good as justification of the evidentiary, theoretical, methodological, criteriological, or background considerations upon which that determination is based † . Facione went on to depict good critical minds as â€Å" habitually speculative, intelligent, trusting of ground, open-minded, flexible, fair-minded in rating, honest in forepart of personal prejudices, careful in doing judgements, willing to reconsider, clear about jobs, orderly in complex affairs, hard-working is seeking relevant information, sensible in the choice of standards, focused in probe, and changeless in seeking consequences which are every bit precise as the topic and fortunes will let. † The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in the UK provinces that a pupil should be able to do critical opinions and ratings as portion of their generic accomplishments ( The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, 2002 ) . Thinking is the most cardinal of adult male ‘s abilities. We are able to sort, analyze, generalize, deduce, induce, make determinations and work out jobs without holding been taught to believe officially. It might non needfully be true that being able to believe spontaneously would take to the ability to believe efficaciously and good. The basic issue that justifies the call for learning thought in schools is the grounds that after 11 old ages of schooling, many pupils are unable to use the content cognition acquired in school to real-world jobs. The concern sector is kicking about the quality of the alumnuss they received from the universities who sometimes could non even grok direction manuals, what more the manner a piece of equipment plants. In the instance of the United States, the diminution in the pupils ‘ thought competency was farther highlighted by the consequences of the National Assessments of Educational Progress. Teaching pupils to believe would intend to be tter the quality of their thought so that it would be consistent, productive, meaningful and effectual. The ability to believe critically and creatively becomes more important in the age of information and globalisation whereby persons have to screen through dozenss of information which is non needfully relevant. One of the challenges confronting Malaysia amidst its economic development is the accomplishment of a critical thought society. This would heighten and vouch the success of research and development plans in add-on to holding other socioeconomic effects. The Malayan Ministry of Education realized the above-named demands and had begun to slowly shoot the thoughts of critical and originative thought in the school system every bit early as in the late 1980s concurrent with the debut of the Integrated Curriculum for Secondary Schools ( KBSM ) as a mechanism to recognize the National Education Philosophy. The Ministry realized that the old course of study was non balanced and over-emphasized the rational facet more than the religious, emotional and physical facets. Although cognitive accomplishments were highlighted, they were merely those on the lower measure of Bloom ‘s categorization, which consist of the ‘lower order accomplishments ‘ . The KBSM was an betterment as it encourages treatment and enquiry. Some of the instruction schemes that it proposed were methods of find and enquiry, treatment, the Socratic method of oppugning and job work outing through the scientific method. The KBSM was to develop and heighten pup ils ‘ rational capacity with regard to rational, critical and originative thought. However, the greatest drift to stress the instruction of thought in the instruction system came after the Prime Minister unveiled his Vision2020 for the state in 1991. Malaysia ‘s Vision 2020 describes nine challenges confronting the state that aspires to develop holistically which includes development of the assorted dimensions such as economic sciences, societal, political relations, psychological science, religious, and cultural. Interestingly, one of the major challenges lies in furthering and developing a mature democratic society, practising a signifier of mature consensual, community-oriented Malayan democracy. To run into this challenge would necessitate Malaysians to believe positively, critically and creatively. The most important move made by the Ministry after the KBSM was the debut of the construct of the ‘smart school ‘ in 1997, whereby originative and critical thought would go one of its landmarks, the other being the focal point on the petition of informations and communicating engineerings in instruction and acquisition. The Ministry of Education and the Faculty of Education of public universities throughout the state mounted more research on the educating of critical and originative thought accomplishments, particularly in the 1990s. Unfortunately, this punctilious research were largely kept on the library shelves garnering more dust and was ne'er able to inform the practicians in the Ministry and schools. Therefore, practicians were unable to utilize research as a model for doing practical determinations. In the context of Malaysia, most of them either could non acquire entree to the relevant literature, do non possess the learning civilization for self-reformation, are excessively busy learning and fixing pupils for scrutiny or are self-satisfied with their patterns despite the worsening educational criterions. Eisner wrote on this phenomenon of educational research seldom informing educational pattern and suggested some alterations in attack that research workers need to set about if educational research desires to inform educational pattern. The Ministry of Education has conducted several undertakings and plans of believing accomplishments in schools through the Curriculum Development Centre ( CDC ) , and Teachers ‘ Education Division ( TED ) . They have besides conducted workshops and provided preparation to instructors. For case, the CDC conducted a pilot undertaking on believing accomplishments across the course of study in 1992/1993 in the territory of Gombak, Selangor. This undertaking involved 10 secondary schools and Form One teachers. The intent of this undertaking was to expose instructors to believing accomplishments, how to be after and fix instruction and acquisition stuffs, and formulate schemes for learning thought. At the terminal of this undertaking, instructors were found to hold that believing accomplishments were utile and should be taught in schools. They felt that due to the restraint of clip, the extract attack is most suited for learning thought. The Ministry introduced the Program for Instruction in Learning and Thinking Skills ( â€Å" PeningkatandanAsuhanDayaIntelek † ; PADI or PILTS ) in 1992. The chief focal point of the PILTS Program is the designation of a nucleus of relevant thought and larning accomplishments to be taught, integrating of these accomplishments in the content being learned, supplying appropriate instructions and rating of the accomplishments taught. The consciousness of a demand to learn believing earnestly in schools gained impulse when in 1993, Tan Sri Dr Wan ZahidMohamadNoordin the so Director-General of Education made it the duty of the learning profession to develop believing accomplishments in society through brooding enquiry. He asserts that â€Å" instructors must prosecute in brooding enquiry, transmit cognition, attitude, and accomplishments. They should develop believing accomplishments. The pupil should non merely be taught to reply inquiries, but besides to inquiry replies and to o ppugn inquiries † . † The Curriculum Development Centre even published a manual to explicate the construct, theoretical account and instruction schemes for learning critical thought accomplishments to instructors. ‘ A twelvemonth subsequently he announced that the chief mark of the Ministry of Education by the twelvemonth 2000 is to hold sixty per cent of the scrutiny inquiries to be of the â€Å" critical thought † nature. In fact the SijilPelajaran Malaysia ‘s History paper in 1994 had already used inquiries which require critical thought. Subsequently, in 1996 the Teacher Education Division ( TED ) of the Ministry of Education, introduced a class entitled â€Å" Critical and Creative Thinking Skills † in its Post-Degree Teaching Program ( KPLI ) . This class was an attempt to educate future instructors on how to learn believing accomplishments across the course of study. The TED besides introduced this topic for its in-service classs. The societal component in Kuhn ‘s ( 1991 ) definition refers to the treatment of thoughts with equals who are engaged in a collaborative procedure of cognition edifice. Research workers have argued that equal relationships are alone in their ability to supply the types of interactions that lead to the development of empathy, knowledge, and societal behavior ( Youniss, 1980 ) . Johnson and Johnson ( 1999 ) maintain that collaborative equal larning promotes greater conceptual development and consequences in greater enjoyment of the acquisition undertaking. Collaboration is thought to lend to higher order larning through cognitive restructuring or struggle declaration. Anderson, Howe, Soden, Halliday, and Low ( 2001 ) stated thatpeer communicating can hold a positive consequence on conceptual development as a map of conceptual struggle. However, in add-on they note that grounds besides exists ( Roazzi & A ; Bryant, 1998 ) for the positive effects of understanding. Many surveies have examined the effectivity of intercessions aimed at bettering critical thought accomplishments ( see Pithers and Soden, 2000 ) . These intercessions have included the construct of guided pattern ( Anderson et al. , 2001 ) and scaffolding ( Wood & A ; Wood, 1996 ) to guide pupils through the thought procedure by measuring their current degree of believing through duologue and so inquiring inquiries to travel them into the following degree. Other intercessions have involved the debut of equal interaction into critical thought undertakings in an effort to better pupils ‘ cognitive accomplishments in this country ( Anderson et al. , 2001 ; Schwartz, Neuman, Gil, & A ; Ilya, 2003 ) . Research by Anderson et Al. ( 2001 ) supported Kuhn ‘s ( 1991 ) suggestion that critical thought accomplishments, in peculiar evidence-based justification, can be improved with guided pattern. Their research involved vocational instruction pupils from Further Education colleges who were engaged in peer-based critiquing of each others ‘ undertaking proposals. It was found that face-to-face equal interaction was good in bettering critical thought accomplishments ; nevertheless, justification tended to be anecdotal in nature or based on personal experience, as opposed to justification utilizing research-based grounds. Ocker and Yaverbaum ( 1999 ) used a repeated-measures experimental design to compare pupil groups each of which teamed up on two instance surveies, one utilizing face-to-face association and the other utilizing asynchronous computing machine discoursing. Their findings indicated that tie ining in the on-line status was merely every bit successful as in the face-to-face status, in footings of acquisition, high quality of solution, solution content and pleasance with the solution. Newman, Webb, and Cochrane ( 1995 ) besides compared face-to-face groups with on-line groups, concentrating on the deepness of critical thought. They found grounds for critical thought in discourse from both face-to-face and computing machine conference seminars and their analysis showed similar deepnesss of critical thought in on-line treatment and face-to-face one. However, a greater proportion of new thoughts emerged in the face-to-face seminars, whereas more thoughts in the computing machine conferences were coded as of import, justified or linked together. Newman et Al. ( 1995 ) argued that the asynchronous environment discouraged pupils from brainstorming and lending new thoughts, but instead encouraged considered, good thought-out parts. Newman et Al. ( 1995 ) developed an extended content analysis technique, based on Garrison ‘s ( 1991 ) theoretical account of critical thought, to code the online and face-to-face parts of pupils on an Information Society faculty. However, they did non code every statement in the transcripts, pretermiting to number or code content that was deemed excessively subjective or interpretative for intending to be faithfully inferred. Therefore, their method of analysis involved sorting merely the obvious illustrations and disregarding content that could non be identified easy as belonging to a peculiar crit ical thought class. Statements were described as frequently demoing more than one index and there was no step of translator dependability as it was hard to clearly specify a unit of analysis. Therefore, the dependability of this method is questionable when trying to objectively measure the nature of educational discourse and the degree of critical thought in face-to-face treatment and online transcripts utilizing a quantitative content analysis technique. The critical thought accomplishments known by the board of experts were reading, analysis, appraisal, tax write-off, description, and self-regulation. If the degree of critical thought in adolescence pupils is measured, it is truly helpful to curriculum developer or who are in charge to educational policy to do the best determination for learning believing accomplishments. In the universe beyond the schoolroom, high school pupils are au naturel to powerful messages that confuse attempts to believe critically. The cardinal demand for critical thought in and beyond formal acquisition in mundane life, relationships, ethical picks, and in the saving and development of participatory democracies grows more and more evident ( Edwards, 2001 ; Halpern, 2003 ; Pithers, 2000 ) . The proliferation of information via the Internet will merely be managed efficaciously by persons with well-developed thought accomplishments. Critical thought used to be thought of as an rational exercising expected merely of an educated influential. This pattern of trusting on a little subdivision of the population to be the minds for society is superseded ( Hay, 2001 ) . Marshak ( 2003 ) writes: The public school system that we have today was constructed during the first two decennaries of the twentieth century. . .public schools were shaped to suit industrial theoretical accounts of efficient industry. One cardinal function for schools was screening kids harmonizing to their evident abilities and promoting many to fall out and travel to work every bit unskilled laborers. In add-on to the academic lower status of the schools that normally serve big alternate populations, economically hard-pressed and alternate households frequently lack the cognition or connexions with establishments that can ease entry into college or a occupational preparation plan, every bit good as possible support beginnings and career options ( Neill, 2003 ; Stanton-Salazar, 1997 ) . This deficiency of societal capital or entree to societal constructions in order to achieve a certain terminal well affects their future chances. It is truly pointed out how these pupils are farther disadvantaged when thei r school experience does non include the development of critical thought accomplishments like job resolution, determination devising, concluding through statement, and acknowledging ways in which they may avoid delicate irresistible impulse into a life style that is counterproductive to puting long-run purposes. High school pupils who do non divert a hereafter that includes station secondary instruction manner out the K-12 grapevine prior to graduation at a much higher rate than their privileged fellow pupils. A recent survey by the Urban Institute ( Orfield, Losen, Wald, & A ; Swanson, 2004 ) exposed that the national high school drop-out rate is far greater than the provinces ‘ self-reported rates. In California, the Numberss are peculiarly high, particularly among Afro-american and Hispanic pupils ; merely 57 % of African-Americans and merely 60 % of Latinos graduated in 2002, compared with 78 % of White pupils and 84 % of Asians. The branchings of such big Numberss of drop-outs for the person, their households, and society are profoundly dismaying as are the suggestions that pupils are being forced out by schools seeking higher duty trial tonss ( Harvard University, 2005 ) .Statement of ProblemIt is clear that adolescence is one of the most critical phases in homo ‘s life spa n. In this phase, they typically increase the sum of clip spent with their equals. Besides communicating with equals helps them to socialise in society, there are many knowledge accomplishments that may larn by equal interactions. Harmonizing to the cognitive theory striplings start to believe logically. They use theories and programs to work out their jobs, so it could be conveyed critical thought procedure Begin in adolescence. Although it is equivocal in which degree critical thought appear in this phase and does it be affected by societal elements. Furthermore limited research related to critical thought in adolescence was identified. since critical thought in adolescence is subject-specific ( Ennis, 1989 ; Facione, 1990 ; Tindal & A ; Nolet, 1995 ; Angeli, 1999 ; Halliday, 2000 ) , and they learn many accomplishments through communicating with equals and society so at that place seems to be a demand for a survey that would explicate the critical thought ability of stripling and its interaction with peer communicating and societal behavior.Theoretical ModelThis survey based on combination of both cognitive and societal cultural theory: Piaget ( 1958 ) stated striplings begin to believe logically, inventing programs to work out jobs and consistently testing solutions. So harmonizing Piaget theory critical thought should accrue in adolescence. Vygotesky ( 1978 ) accent on the societal component in kids ‘s construction of cognition has led to the coaction with equals helps scholars reach new cognition.Conceptual ModelThree chief variables will be utilized in this survey. However, there are any possibilities about the manner of relationship or interaction between them. It is obvious human ecology of participants will be influenced in societal elements ( societal credence and peer communicating ) straight, although it is equivocal which societal variables, societal credence or equal communicating, intercede other variable to critical thought. It is a more possible theoretical account of relationship between variables. Degree centigrades: UsersHomeDesktopUntitled.jpgJustification of StudyAs a portion of formal operational phase in Piaget theory, procedure of visual aspect of critical believing start in adolescence. Adolescents should get down to take some chief personal and societal determinations in their life. It are seen that 90 % of striplings associate themselves with a equal group. The nature of an stripling ‘s behavior is greatly influenced by his friends and comrades.Research QuestionsThis survey includes three research inquiries that investigate possible interactions between critical thought, societal credence and equal communicating. A Is there significance grounds of critical thought in striplings with high degree in equal communicating? Is there significance grounds of critical thought in striplings with high degree in societal credence? Make critical thought and societal credence and peer communicating interact with each other?Significance of StudyThis survey has the possible to impact the research participants themselves, and besides the population of adolescence pupils they represent. Bing able to explicate critical thought accomplishment in footings of the independent variables used in the survey could assist course of study developers, pedagogues, and decision makers to develop the critical thought rating and public presentation processs necessary to raise the overall critical thought accomplishments and temperaments of pupils. This survey is of import because many people and organisation could utilize of its determination. This determination will be utile for all educational centres, schools and particularly for The Malaysian Ministry of Education. There is plentiful grounds that a big proportion of high schools inadequately arrange immature people for the real-world demands of work, higher instruction, and mundane life. Primary among the shortages recognized are competences associated with specific higher degree cognitive procedures, or merely set, critical thought. High school alumnuss must be able to judge the credibleness of beginnings, evaluate statements, and separate among facts and sentiment.to evaluate [ the media ] to assist them place possible prejudice†¦ assist them go assurance media consumers. . . to construe, make informations to inform determinations or draw decisions. Students themselves recognize the importance of higher order believing accomplishments in footings of their ability to win as immature grownups. In an online study of over 10,000 high school pupils across the state, over 40 % responded that they did non experience their school experience provided practical and necessary life accomplishments, and over one-third rated their critical thought preparation as fair-to-poor ( National Governor ‘s Association, 2005 ) .General ObjectiveDescribe part of critical believing degree in high school pupils. Identify relationship or impact of societal factor on visual aspect of critical thought process.Find an appropriate theoretical account to depict and foretell the relationship between variablesDefinition of TerminologyConceptual:Adolescent: Adolescent is a transitional phase of physical and mentalA human developmentA by and large happening betweenA pubertyA and legalA maturity ( Viner R 2005 ) .A A Critical thought: critical thought is calculated, self-regulatory determination which consequences in reading, analysis, rating, and tax write-off account of the determination ( Facione, 1990 ) . Peer communicating: equal communicating is the association of equals into little groups that have changing abilities in which all pupils can take part to acquire a common purpose. Social credence: societal credence is the grade to which an stripling is socially accepted by equals. It includes the degree of equal attraction and the easiness with which an stripling can get down and continue acceptable equal relationships.Operational:Adolescent: Harmonizing toA Erikson phase ‘s of human development an stripling is a individual between the ages of 13 and 19 Critical thought: The pre-disposed attitude one of course possesses sing critical thought. The degree of critical thought in participants will be measured through the researcher-developed Engagement, Maturity, and Innovativeness ( EMI ) . Peer communicating: The degree of equal communicating will be measured by The kids ‘s outlooks of societal behavior questionnaire ( Rudolph, Hammen, & A ; Burge, 1995 ) and stock list of equal fond regard ( Armsden & A ; Greenberg, 1987 ) Social credence: This survey will happen the degree of societal credence through societal credence Asher and Dodge ‘s ( 1986 ) step.Specific ObjectiveIdentify the nexus between equal communicating and critical thought Identify the nexus between societal credence and critical thought Did peer communicating intercede the nexus between societal credence and critical thought?Research HypothesisThis survey hunt for placing interacts and impacts of societal elements on critical thought, so there are three hypotheses to expect relationship between variables. There is significance grounds of critical thought in striplings with high degree in equal communicating There is significance grounds of critical thought in striplings with high degree in societal credence Critical thought and societal credence and peer communicating interact with each other.MethodologyResearch Design:In this quantitative research will be used correlativity design to find the relationship between variables. Besides, descriptive method will be used to depict the distribution of variablesInclusion StandardsAges: all participants will be in adolescence age ( 13-19 ) Gender: They will be approximately every bit split by gender Race and Language: they will be selected approximately every bit among three races ( Malay, Indian, and Chinese )Sampling and participantsParticipants will be selected through bunch trying method. Population will be all striplings in KL high schools. Participants will be 300 striplings in KL high schoolsData CollectionAll informations will be collected through questionnaires with good dependability and cogency. Therefore, it could be conveyed self-report questionnaires will be used as a information aggregation technique in this survey.InstrumentFour questionnaires will be used in this survey: The researcher-developed Engagement, Maturity, and Innovativeness ( EMI ) critical thought temperament appraisal will be used to mensurate the critical thought temperament of striplings. Adolescents ‘ representations of equals. The Children ‘s Expectations of Social Behaviour Questionnaire ( Rudolph, Hammen, & A ; Burge, 1995 ) will be used to tap kids ‘s representations of urine R. Inventory of Peer Attachment ( Armsden & A ; Greenberg, 1987 ) to mensurate peer fond regard in striplings. Social credence Asher and Dodge ‘s ( 1986 ) societal credence step will be used in this surveyDependabilityAdolescents ‘ representations of equals. The Children ‘s Expectations of Social Behavior Questionnaire ( Rudolph, Hammen, & A ; Burge, 1995 ) will used to tap striplings ‘ representations of equals. intentionally, this 15-item questionnaire taps striplings ‘ outlooks of their equals ‘ responses to conjectural aversive state of affairss in which a stripling needs aid, keep up, and sensitiveness from his or her equals. This step was made to order to do it allow for state of affairss that involved striplings, and to include a 4-point response format ( instead than a 3-point response format ) runing from ( 1 ) most positive outlook to ( 4 ) most negative outlook ( Cassidy & A ; Woodhouse, 1997 ; Appendix B ) . All points will b eupturned scored. For each point, striplings read a sketch picturing a conjectural state of affairs and were so instructe d to acknowledge how the equals would reply to the state of affairs. Rudolph et Al. ( 1995 ) accounted good psychometric belongingss for theprimary step ( e.g. , good internal consistence, test-retest dependabilities and significant concept cogency in a sample of 7-to 12-year-old kids ) . They besides reported good convergent cogency for this step. For illustration, they found that kids who had more negative representations of equals were significantly more likely to exhibit maladaptive societal behaviour and lower societal competency. In that survey, the Cronbach ‘s alpha was 0.76. This step contained a set of written instructions inquiring striplings to â€Å" rate the extent to which you like to be in activities with the undermentioned pupils. † Below this set of instructions, was the same roll of 75 schoolmates that the stripling used in the societal behaviour instrument. Adolescents used a 5-point Liker-type graduated table runing from non at all ( 1 ) to a batch ( 5 ) to do their evaluations. A societal credence mark for each participant was computed based upon evaluations that the participant received from his or her schoolmates. This mark was calculated foremost by taking the mean of all the evaluations for that participant and so standardising this mean within the participant ‘s school. Furthermore, in a longitudinal survey of early striplings, Wentzel and Caldwell ( 1997 ) reported significant test-retest dependability and prognostic cogency, bespeaking that societal credence mediated by prosocial behaviour was related to striplings Ã¢â‚¬Ë œ GPA during 6th and 8th class. From the original 60 point critical thought pilot temperament trial, point and scale dependability analysis left a graduated table with 30 points and an overall Cronbach ‘s alpha of 0.86. The Innovativeness concept was represented by seven points and a standardised Cronbach ‘s alpha of 0.79, the Maturity concept was represented by six points and a standardised Cronbach ‘s alpha of 0.75, and the Engagement concept was represented by 13 points and a standardised Cronbach ‘s alpha of 0.89. These dependability estimations were deemed really high utilizing the standard standards ( R = 0.65 to 0.75 ) of Norris and Ennis ( 1989 ) . Extra statistics, such as each point ‘s mean, standard divergence, corrected item-total correlativity, and alpha if the point were deleted are reported in Table 3-3. Items were retained if they did non hold utmost agencies ; had what was considered to be adequate variableness in responses ; had corrected item-total correlativities ov er 0.2 ; and would do the dependability of the graduated table stronger. After the pilot trial tonss were analyzed and the strongest graduated table was identified, the research worker added points to the Maturity concept to include a broader representation of facets of the Maturity temperament. This left the new EMI instrument with 33 points. Peer fond regard graduated tables ( a = .90 ) consisted of 25 points and were rated on a five-point graduated table ( sample points: †my parents/friends understand me † ) . Each of the subscales ( trust, disaffection, and communicating ) was submitted to a Personal computer factor analysis and a parallel factor emerged for both parent and peer fond regard. The factor from the parent graduated tables was labelled †parental secure fond regard † ( k = 2.41 % ; 80.4 % of the discrepancy ) and consisted of trust ( .91 ) and communicating ( .88 ) , which loaded positively and disaffection, which loaded negatively ( _0.90 ) . The factor from the equal graduated tables was labelled †peer secure fond regard † ( k = 2.31 % ; 77.1 % of the discrepancy ) and consisted of trust ( .92 ) and communicating ( .91 ) , which loaded positively and disaffection, which loaded negatively ( _.80 ) .Data Analysis MethodMean, manner and discrepancy will be used to depict part of informations T-test will be used to place the nexus between variablesMultiple arrested development analyses will be used to place direct and indirect nexus between variables that mediated by other variables. Statistical Package for Social Science ( SPSS ) will be used to analysis all informations.

Internal Audit of Ryanair Essays

Internal Audit of Ryanair Essays Internal Audit of Ryanair Paper Internal Audit of Ryanair Paper This paper is to examine the key potential drivers within the present internal environment. Several models would be applied to support the answer and they are Stakeholder Power/Interest Matrix, Cultural Web, Resource audit, Value Chain, and threshold and core competences. With using Ryanair as an industrial example, this essay would talk about how important strengths and weaknesses are to be used in designing strategy. Ryanair was founded in 1985 by Tony Ryan who already died in 2007. It was originally a full service airline and turned into a low-cost carrier in 1990s. Ryanair used a series of cost-cutting policies to attain to the target as its mission statement (Ryanair Annual Report, 1999): â€Å"Ryanair will become Europe’s most profitable, lowest cost scheduled airline by providing its low fares/no frills service in all markets in which it operates to the benefits of our passengers, people and shareholders† Ryanair is now the largest low-cost carrier in Europe and is controlled mainly by the chief executive officer, Michael O’Leary. The following would be the further explanation of the key potential drivers within its current internal environment. Figure [ 1 ] Stakeholder power/interest matrix adapted from Mendelow (1986) Stakeholder mapping help identify stakeholder expectations and power and help in understanding political priorities. (Mendelow, 1986 cited in Johnson et al, 2011) The mapping shows Michael O’Leary and David Bonderman are the main facilitators of the strategies. Their power and interest in Ryanair is so large to be the key player to influence the strategies. EU and BAA this kind of official authority could possibly be the blocker of the strategies as they are the rule setter. Ryanair’s strategies should follow their regulations. In addition, customers’ expectation should be most considered since they have highest expectation on Ryanair’s performance. Manager could thus realize which internal or external stakeholders are needed to be more considered when they carry out a new strategy. Meanwhile, the purpose of a new strategy should be designed to satisfy the stakeholders. Figure [ 2 ] Cultural web adapted from Johnson et al (2011) Cultural web shows the behavioral, physical and symbolic manifestations of a culture. Johnson et al, 2011) It centers the paradigm associated with six surrounding components which are story, symbol, power structures, organizational structures, control system, and rituals and routine. The cultural shows all the historical culture of Ryanair and managers can thus realize the current environment. It is mainly reflecting its reliance on the top level as well as that Ryanair target so much on â€Å"low cost† and â€Å"high efficiency†. The paradigm largely remind the managers of the missions of Ryanair when they are thinking of a new strategy. Organization culture Figure [ 3 ] Value chain adapted from Porter (1985) The value chain describes the categories of activities within an organization which, together, create a product or service. (Johnson et al, 2011) It helps the manager understand that its best value would be found in the operatio. Basically customers who usually fly with Ryanair would mostly be interested in its low-fare ticket so, as a low-cost carrier, Ryanair mainly add value to its product through packaging in the cheapest way. Simultaneously, Ryanair keeps other primary activities common to its competitors so it will not be outperformed easily. Additionally, human resource and procurement would be th e most value-adding supporting activities of Ryanair. Through long-term outsourcing some of the operations such as baggage handling, car hiring, insurance and etc. to the third parties, and contracting with suppliers so as to get certain discounted price, Ryanair could lower the cost of its operation and supported hardware. Constantly, Ryanair further cut its operational cost by recruiting limited staff and offering low-cost training. These kinds of cost-cutting policies would be able to add value to its products and could hardly be imitated or duplicated by its competitors. Hence, the value chain could clearly show that Ryanair’s competitive position is highly related to its low-fare products. Resources are the assets that organizations have or can call upon (e. g. from partners or suppliers); competences are the ways those assets are used or deployed effectively. Johnson et al, 2011) For the physical resources, Ryanair currently has 272 Boeing 737-800 in operation. It is headquartered and owns Ryanair Direct limited in Dublin. Current assets could be considered one of financial resources and the rest would be current liabilities, long-term debt and shareholders’ funds. Human resources include over 8,000 people working around the world, Michael O’ Leary, who is the chief executive officer and David Bonderman, who is the chairman of Ryanair. Intellectual resources of Ryanair would be its own webpage. Threshold competences are those needed for an organization to meet the necessary requirements to compete in a given market and achieve parity with competitors in that market. (Johnson et al, 2011) The main competence of Ryanair is that they provide flights at a low price. They do this, for example, by having a no-frills and ancillary service, fleet commonality, contracting service out, using secondary and regionally airports. Core competences are the linked set of skills, activities and resources that, together, deliver customer value, differentiate a business from its competitors and, potentially, can be extended and developed. (Johnson et al, 2011) A core competence must fulfill the following three criteria, a core competence gives a company the opportunity to enter different markets; a core competence must provide a significant contribution to the advantages a customer has with a given product; a core competence must be difficult for a competitor to imitate. Hamel Prahalad, 1994) Quick turnaround time is one of the aforementioned targets Ryanair is focusing on. It lets passengers walk straight out through the front and back exit or entrance, and does not use the air bridges. Simultaneously it does not offer any pre-assigned seats so more possibly passengers are ready at the gate before the boarding time to choose their preferred seats. These are all arranged in order to quicken the procedures that fli ghts get ready to disembark or embark the passengers. Additionally, it does not serve free food and drink on-board so as to speed up the cleaning process as the cabin crews could finish the cleaning more quickly during stops and complete cleaning would only be done at nights. This could not be achieved by full service airlines because of more debris and possibly trade union resistance. (Shaw, 2004) A unique cost cutting policy would be the main core competence of Ryanair. It refuses to provide any meal vouchers or hotel accommodation for flights which are delayed or cancelled for reasons beyong Ryanair’s control in order to reduce the operating cost. Ryanair, 2011) Meanwhile, Ryanair is using LFA business model to design the size of its flights’ seats which are 30-inch tall while an economy class seat of a full service airline usually has a seat pitch of 32 inches. (Doganis, 2001) For instance, Ryanair fits 189 seats into its Boeing 737-800 (Ryanair, 2011) while KLM fits 171 seats (KLM, 2011) and Qantas fits 168 seats into their Boeing 737-800. (Qantas, 2011) Higher seat density could thus generate a potential cost advantage. Strengths and weaknesses could be summarized from the above key internal drivers. By understanding the strengths and the weaknesses, managers could think about the strategic capability of Ryanair so as to overcome the business environment and thus design the future strategies to outperform its competitors. (Bladwin, 2008; Johnson et al, 2011, p. 106) Strengths of Ryanair could be high efficiency of its service, quick turnaround time, low-fare ticket, comprehensive internet service and ancillary services. However, low-class service would be a weakness of Ryanair as it provides no in-flight meals, entertainment, multi-class seating and other amenities. In addition, Ryanair’s service is mainly offered in less conveniently located airports. Booking possibility for flights is limited in travel agencies. Simultaneously, Ryanair has no links with other flights provided by different airlines. Existing strategy of Ryanair would be of the direction of market penetration (Ansoff, 1957). Ryanair would consolidate to defend its market share in the face of the intense competition of the airline industry since there are three recent large airline mergers, BA-Iberia, KLM-Air France and Lufthansa-BMI. Ryanair is trying to cut out the less profitable routes, reduce unprofitable winter capacity at high-cost airports such as Dublin and London’s Stansted. Constantly, Ryanair focused more on the more profitable routes by flying more frequently and charged more by its unique cost-cutting policies. According to the PIMS (Profit Impact on Market Strategy) findings, high volume and particularly high market share can lead to lower overall costs and higher profitability (Russel Gale, 1987)

The impacts of recent recession on consumer behaviour within Airline Literature review

The impacts of recent recession on consumer behaviour within Airline industry - Literature review Example From a marketing perspective, the ability to influence consumer behaviour is to understand the intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting the consumer behaviour (Vanhuele, Wright and East, 2013). Consumer behaviour is the activities which people undertake when obtaining, consuming and disposing of products and services (Blythe, 2008, p. 56). The fundamental basis of marketing should be that the customers are at the centre of everything the firm does. In marketing management customers are the key concern. This means that understanding the behaviour pattern of the customers is essential for the managers. Traditional marketing management emphasized on product features and competitive positioning of the product (Abramovich, 2005). The conventional marketing management theory focuses on the customer relationship with the marketers of the company and the product value (Statt, 2011). The purchasing behaviour of the consumers relates strongly to the segmentation of the markets. There are three types of segmentation; geographic segmentation, psychographic segmentation and demographic segmentation. Geographic segmentation means to divide the market area according to the location of th e potential customers. Psychographic segmentation means to segregate a consumer’s characteristics and behaviour. Demographic segmentation means the division of consumer groups according to variables such as wealth, gender, age and education level etc (Blythe, 2008). The managers of the company can strengthen their relationship with the consumers. The relational bonding between customers and employees will enable the managers to develop a product which will fulfil the consumer wants and needs. An established connection with the consumer provides the marketer information regarding the consumer behaviour. For example, the marketers would like to repurpose their products and services without hampering

OHSA Fall Prevention Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

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