Tuesday, December 31, 2019

How to Conjugate Jouer (To Play) in French

The French verb  jouer  means to play. This is a very common regular  -er  verb and it is used so much that youll want to be able to use it properly. That means that you need to know how to conjugate it and understand how to use it to mean different types of play. A quick French lesson will show you how all that is done. Conjugating the French Verb  Jouer Just as in English, French verbs need to be conjugated to match the tense of the sentence. You will use a different form of jouer when you want to say playing in the present tense, played in the past tense, and will play in the future tense.   The good news for French students is that  joeur is a  regular -er verb. It follows the most commonly found conjugation pattern in the French language, which means that it is easier to memorize. This is particularly true if youve studied similar regular verbs like  sauter  (to jump) or  poser  (to put), or any of the other words that fall into this group. We will begin with the indicative mood. You must first identify the verb stem (jou-), then add various endings based on the subject pronoun and the tense of your sentence. Using this chart, you can learn that I am playing is  je joue  and that we will play is  nous jouerons. Practicing these in context will help you memorize them, so go ahead and play around with  jouer. Present Future Imperfect je joue jouerai jouais tu joues joueras jouais il joue jouera jouait nous jouons jouerons jouions vous jouez jouerez jouiez ils jouent joueront jouaient To form the  present participle  of jouer, add -ant  to the verb stem. The result is jouant. Among the many compound tenses that you can learn, the  passà © composà ©Ã‚  is the most common and easiest to construct. To form this past tense of  jouer, you will use the  past participle  jouà © along with the auxiliary verb  avoir.  For example, we played is  nous avons jouà ©. There are a few more simple conjugations you can use for  jouer  and they each serve a purpose. The  subjunctive and the  conditional each imply uncertainty to the action in their own way. If you do much reading, its possible that you will come across either the  passà © simple or the  imperfect subjunctive. Subjunctive Conditional Pass Simple Imperfect Subjunctive je joue jouerais jouai jouasse tu joues jouerais jouas jouasses il joue jouerait joua jout nous jouions jouerions joumes jouassions vous jouiez joueriez joutes jouassiez ils jouent joueraient jourent jouassent There will be times when you want to say something as simple as, Play! For this, the  imperative verb mood is used and you can skip the subject pronoun completely, leaving it at Joue! Imperative (tu) joue (nous) jouons (vous) jouez Jouer  With No Preposition Jouer with no preposition means to play, have fun, or fool around: Arrà ªte de  jouer!  -  Stop playing/fooling around!Je  fais  Ãƒ §a pour  jouer.  -  Im doing that for fun. In reference to music, theater, television, and movies,  jouer  means to play or perform: Quel  orchestre  va  jouer  ce  soir?  -  Which orchestra is playing tonight?Tu  joues  trà ¨s  bien. -  You act very well.  / Youre a very good actor. Jouer  can also mean to gamble, bet, wager,  to speculate (in the stock market), or to deceive or dupe, as  in:   Messieurs,  faites  vos  jeux.  -  Gentlemen, place your bets. (roulette especially) Jouer  With Prepositions Jouer  can be used both transitively and intransitively, and it requires different prepositions depending on what exactly is being played. Jouer à  Ã‚  means to play a  game or sport, or to play with something: Il  joue  aux à ©checs.  -  Hes playing chess.Nous  allons  jouer  au  golf.  -  Were going to play golf.Elle  ne  joue  pas à   la poupà ©e.  -  She doesnt play with dolls.  jouer  Ãƒ   la  guerre  -  to play soldiers Jouer de  means to play a musical instrument: Jaimerais  jouer  du piano. -  Id like to play the piano.Depuis  quand  joue-t-elle  de la  flà »te?  -  How long has she played the flute?Il  ne  sait  pas  jouer  de la  guitare.  -  He doesnt know how to play the guitar. Jouer  avec  means to play or toy with: Il  joue  toujours  avec  ses  cheveux. -  Hes always playing/fiddling with his hair.Il  ne  faut  jamais  jouer  avec  les  sentiments. -  You should never play with someones feelings. Jouer  sur  means to play on, use, or exploit: Jaime  jouer  sur  les  mots. -  I like to play with words  / make plays on words.Il  faut  jouer  sur  leffet  de surprise.  -  We should use the element of surprise. Using Se Jouer Se  jouer, the pronominal form of  jouer,  can be used in the  passive voice or the active voice  with quite different meanings. Passive In film: to be on,  to be shownIn theater:  to be on,  to be performedA piece of music:  to be played  or  performed Active   Mon sort  va  se  jouer  sur  cette  dà ©cision.  -  My fate  depends/hangs  on this decision.Lavenir du pays  se  joue  dans  cette  nà ©gociation.  -  The fate of the country  depends / hinges  on the outcome of these negotiations.en  se  jouant  -  with the greatest of ease Se  jouer  de  is the  pronominal  form plus the preposition  de.  It means to ignore, or to deceive, dupe, fool. Expressions With Jouer As you might imagine, there are a number of common French expressions that use  jouer. Among those are a few that you need to conjugate. Others already define the subject, so the conjugation is done for you (unless you change the subject pronoun). jouer avec le feu to play with fire (literally and figuratively) jouer franc jeu to play fair jouer le jeu to play the game (literally and figuratively) jouer un mauvais/vilain tour quelqun to play a dirty trick on someone se la jouer to show off (informal) Je ne joue plus. Im not playing anymore.(figuratively) I dont want to have any part of this anymore. quel jeu joues-tu? What do you think youre playing at? Ne joue pas au plus fin avec moi! Dont try to be smart/clever with me! Bien jou! (games) Well played! / Good move!(figuratively) Well done! Rien nest encore jou. Nothing has been decided yet. jouer gros jeu (literally and figuratively) to play for high stakes / big money jouer un rle (literally and figuratively) to play a part /a role jouer des poings to use ones fists

Sunday, December 22, 2019

The Hidden Truths Behind The Education System - 1300 Words

In America, individuals tend to not speak about the hidden truths behind the education system. Everyday minorities are deprived of education because of low income to afford school and other various reason. These reasons extend to that lack family support, demographics and being from foreign countries and not speaking the native language. Achievement gap goes all the way back to slavery. It shows how minorities were never on top and were never seen as equal their superiors. In today’s society’s minority’s feel like they are owed for what people from back then had done to them. Some people tend to say history is not important anymore but in reality, it really is. It needs to be talked about, to explain the effect these things have. As for me†¦show more content†¦Various published articles suggest â€Å"that the achievement gap between rich and poor children is widening a development that threatens to education’s leveling effects† (Tavernise, Sabrina. Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Say. The New York Times. The New York Times, 09 Feb. 2012. Web. 12 May 2016.) . This shows that in education you have to be one the right side to seek the best. Kids are deprived of learning because of the resources that they lack. It is known that children who are from prosperous families tend to do better in school. But the income divide has received far less attention from policy makers and government officials than gaps in student accomplishment by race. Studies are finding that while the achievement gap between white and black students has narrowed down over the past few years. The gap between rich and poor students has grown extensively during the same period. A reason for this grow in achievement gap, is that they say, â€Å"could be that wealthy parents invest more time and money than ever before in their children (ballet, music lessons, math tutors, and in overall active in their children’s schools), while lower-income families, which are now more likely than ever to be headed by a single parent, are increasingly stretched for time and resources† (Tavernise, Sabrina. Education Gap Grows Between Rich and Poor, Studies Say. The New York Times. The New York

Saturday, December 14, 2019

Communication Barrier Free Essays

Communication Barrier between Local and International Student in Malaysia. The increasing number of international student in Malaysia brings many benefits to the country as well to the local students. However, there are many problems that faced by these international students in this country. We will write a custom essay sample on Communication Barrier or any similar topic only for you Order Now One of them is communication barrier between the local students. Communication barrier always bring difficulty to them when interacting with the local students in the campus. This includes both verbal and non-verbal communication. These are the barriers:- * Limited interaction There are limited interactions between the local and international students. The international students or the local students only communicate with each other when there are group discussions in the class or a meeting on a group assignment. They like to be with their own group of friends that are similar nationality, race and culture with them. These bring them to have less communication with the other group of students. If this thing keeps continuing then the international students cannot learn the host country culture, tradition and beliefs. They also will have less knowledge about the host country. Later on, this will bring difficulty to the international students when they enter in the work field at the host country. * Poor language The local and the international students also have problems with the language. In Malaysia, there are only two languages that are used widely not only in the university but in the whole country, which is Bahasa Malaysia and English Language. The international students or the local students only use English Language when communicating with each other because the international students don’t know the local language which is Bahasa Malaysia. The international students that not from English spoken country like students from China, Turkey, Arab and Japan, always have problem to speak in English with the local students. Some of the local students or the Malaysian students also have the same problems when speaking English with the international students. These problems occur due to poor language skills. This make them to communicate non-verbally more than verbal. * Few close friends The international students in Malaysia have few close friends. They like to be friend with people that make them comfortable. They also make less new friends. This make them always think in the box and not out of the box. Most of the international students don’t like to be friend with the local students. Same goes with the local students. These things occur due to some thought of similarity between them. They make these things more important than the other rest like to make friends to learn new thing and to gain knowledge. * Slang Slang is colloquial language, where words mean something other than their formal meanings, or where words are used that is not actual English words. Sometimes slang or vernacular words will become dictionary words through use and custom. Slang also one of the biggest communication barriers between the local and international students. The international student’s slang or accent also brings difficulty to the local students when talking with them. They hard to understand what the international students try to tell them and sometimes, these will also bring misunderstanding between them. Due to these problems, they communicate less with each other. Reference 1. Hasri Hassan, Zulaikha Nurain Mudzar, Lucien Low, (2013), Corporate Communication, Pearson, Kuala Lumpur. 2. http://blogs. nottingham. ac. uk/chinapolicyinstitute/2013/01/28/integration-of-chinese-internationals-students-with-the-local-community-issues-arising-from-the-sccs-community-building-forum/ 3. http://english. peopledaily. com. cn/90001/90782/90872/7233749. html 4. http://www. awej. org/? article=20 5. http://www. purdueexponent. org/campus/article_f0ea98bd-10f3-5507-b699-b85e32fb1955. html 6. http://www. ijbssnet. com/journals/Vol. _2_No. _7;_Special_Issue_April_2011/5. pdf How to cite Communication Barrier, Papers

Friday, December 6, 2019

Family Perspectives on Aggressive Cancer †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Family Perspectives on Aggressive Cancer. Answer: Introduction The primary sources that can provide information about the Mrs. Walkers medical history are the people who were taking care of her earlier as cited in Alzheimers, 2015. According to the case study, it elaborates that those people who were caring Mrs. Walker are the family, medical team and her psychogeriatric. These people must have kept some records concerning medicine Mrs. Walker takes. In reference to Burge et al (2014), the case of Mrs. Walker requires adaptive stage of interview. The reason for the adaptive method of the discussion is that the patient, Mrs. Walker, may fail to speak at this moment. Her health has deteriorated. When diagnosing her, one should concentrate on the non-verbal movement she is making this is according to D'onofrio et al (2015). On the other hand, she may also get angry at any moment. There is need to be patient while diagnosing Mrs. Walker. On should acknowledge the feeling of Mrs. Walker in order to get to the cause of what is happening to her. It is what referred to us the adaptive stage of the interview is, where one acknowledges how patient the feels. Identifying health problems in older people requires some concentration. The way nurses do assessment to the younger people differs from the older people. There are various reasons why older people need specific assessment tools in reference to Groot et al (2016). The first reason is that older patients have some particular complication that comes because of aging. For instance, the older person may experience walking difficult, due to this, he or she may need diagnosis at home. Another essential thing is that older people may have hearing problems that is why while assessing them one needs to even concentrate on the facial expression of the patient. The vital assessment tools inevitable in the case of Mrs. Walker are the psychological assessment tool and the medical assessment tools as cited in Holthoff et al (2015). Walker is suffering dementia, which may cause some memory problems this is according to Kentish-Barnes et al (2015). After the unsuccessful effective communication to her, it may be essential to discuss the difficulties a psychiatric nurse. The psychiatric nurse handles both memory and mental issues. The nurse may provide the effective way of treating the patient. After that, it is easy to get the unmet ways that are important to address in referencing to Lee et al (2018). The nurses will assess the situation of Mrs. Walker and give the best direction to go. In addition to, it is good to handle the nurse with an assessment tool. The psychological assessment tool that was earlier elaborated may be given to the nurse for further assessment. The nurse that should operate with Mrs. Walker requires maintaining the standards. These standards comprise of ensuring the confidentiality of Mrs. Walker. Another thing is that the nurse should support the policies of the law as stated by Mace Rabins (2017). On the other hand, the nurse should also ensure that the services are timely and are of quality. Lastly, he or she should maintain good communication. Restraints refer to the preventive steps that are applied to a patient to control the movement or behavior of that specific patient. The reason why this limitation is used in the patient is to prevent further injuries that may be reported this is according to Miyajima et al (2014). In addition to that, the boundary also helps to maintain the safety of the people around the patient. The nurse taking care of the patient is the one responsible for deciding on how the restraint is going to take action. The type of restriction applicable in the case of Mrs. Walker is the physical restraint. The reason why this is the best restraint is that she had become a stress to both caregivers and the family. Besides that, she burnt herself due to instability in the kitchen. Physical restraint will control her movement hence no more physical injuries. Once this restriction is put in place, there should be only specific people that attend to Mrs. Walker.The first reason that causes weight loss in the case of Mrs. Walker is the loss of interest in food. The family states that she is not eating and this may lead to this problem. Food is essential to increase the weight of the body. The second reason that causes weight loss is the unbalanced eating meal. Mrs. Walker has been only consuming food, which cannot maintain the weight of the individual. The balanced diet is the one that makes the body weight to be at a good point. The third point is that dementia causes memory loss. Most probably, she has forgotten to eat most of the moments. The last thing is the stress; Ornstein et al (2015) stated that dementia brings a lot of pressure to the patient and the concentration drops. It is why caregiver is necessary to monitor the eating habit of Mrs. Walker. Physical disability makes some complication such as Mrs. Walker cannot cook herself in that case. When one does not prepare, there is no eating and thus leading to loss of weight. In addition to that, Mrs. Walker may experience some problems of taking food to her mouth. This problem persists and many days she can go without food. Several health professions can health Mrs. Walkers family deal with her condition. The general health practitioner has skills to help in the situation. It is essential to discuss changes in Mrs. Walkers body with the general practitioner. Besides that, the type of medication she has been undergoing is also necessary. The public health practitioner will use all these to give the best healthcare.There are various ways in which inadequate oral health care contributes to poor health in older people. The first way is poor chewing of food. The reason that might bring poor chewing is the dental problems. One needs to visit a dentist to ensure that the tooth are right conditions. The second unfortunate care is the inadequate saliva flow. Saliva is the one responsible for good swallowing. If the patient has weak saliva flow, she may develop dry mouth and poor swallowing of food. The other thing is the decay of teeth. Teeth take part in digesting food. If they are worn out, older people do not understand well and thus brings inadequate health care. The other thing may be the lips problem, which may make the older person not to consume hot food. Good health is essential for everyone; however, caring the old people who have dementia may be a bit challenging. In this case, Mrs. Walker needs oral health care to maintain good health. The vital things that one should look at while doing oral assessment should comprise the following. The first one is the missing teeth. Teeth are an essential part of the mouth that helps in digesting food, and if one is missing, it is possible to replace. The other thing is the rate of the periodontal infection that is affecting Mrs. Walker. Moreover, tooth decay is another aspect that determines oral assessment. Lastly, the lips need to be checked whether they have cracked or not. There are many ways in which Mrs. Walkers daughter can assist her to maintain good teeth. There are behaviors that the two should adapt to achieve the best result. The first thing is that, if Mrs. Walker is feeling pain on the gums while using the toothbrush, her daughter can use cotton instead to do the cleanliness of the mouth. The other guidance is that the daughter should do the tooth cleaning when Mrs. Walker is calm and able to cooperate with her. If Mrs. Walker develops a tendency of swallowing the toothpaste, the doctor can try the homemade once to avoid other complications. On the other hand, they can seek professions to clean the dentures. Most importantly, after every meal, the daughter should clean the dentures to prevent entry of bacteria. Some dentures may not fit well, and it is advisable that you wait over time. If the problem persists, they should see a dentist to correct the situation. Lastly, the daughter should remove the dentures when Mrs. Walker wants to go and sleep. She can even soak the dentures. The best assessment of this case is the functional assessment. In this assessment, it elaborates on the status of the patient and the environment may affect the situation. The nurse responsible for Mrs. Walker should use the functional assessment tools to establish on how Mrs. Walker can help herself. In addition, if support is necessary, she should be provided.Dementia is a disorder that causes fall in the capability of the brain of a person to carry out daily activities. In this case, of Mrs. Walker, the type of dementia that is affecting her is the Alzheimer. It is the most prevalent type of dementia. This type of infection leads to several defects in the affected individual in reference to Stroebe et al (2017). The problems include memory loss, poor perception and reasoning, communication problems and inability to pay attention to a particular thing. The signs and symptoms of dementia start at a low pace in the patient and slowly grows to worsen situations. The brain cells of the affected person are usually interfered with at all moment. Because of that, the brain experiences challenges to communicate with other parts of the body. When you have any member of the family showing the signs, one should not ignore but report to a doctor. Early treatment helps in managing the disease. The difference between the end of life care and palliative care is a nightmare for many people. Palliative care takes into account care and treatment of people who are under severe complication this is according to Poblador-Plou et al (2014). In many cases, the cure of the disorder may be painful. The signs and symptoms of the illness are put under control in this care. Palliative care does not focus only on the life of the patient undergoing treatment, but also the people providing care to that patient. Apparently, the way the caregiver lives cares even. It involves the consideration across the board including spiritual, psychological and social responsibility. On the other hand, end of life care is part of the palliative care. This portion of palliative care looks at the health of individuals who are near to end life. When the patient dies, it should be a death of dignity rather than regretful death. Another essential part of the end of life care is the incorporation of legal issue s while providing care to the patient as stated by Winblad et al (2016). After the two weeks of medication, Mrs. Walker still has deteriorated health. The worse health status brings the need to discuss the situation with a general health officer concerned with dementia. The medical officer suggests that the first thing her daughter can do is to change the medicine used to control the memory loss problem. However, before doing this, a doctor must be consulted according to Peters et al (2015). Another option suggested by the officer is to take Mrs. Walker to surgery to check for the brain tumor. In addition to the above, the officer indicates some other medication that the daughter can buy for her. The medicine includes vitamins that can rectify lack of vitamin B12 in her body. The other drug is the one that treats the depression problem. Lastly, the additional step that the daughter should take is to visit a psychiatrist to give further advice continuously. There are benefits if Mrs. Walker feels that her environment is physically and emotionally relaxed. The first impact is that it provides ample time for her daughter to give her the drugs. When she follows the dose prescribed, the effect of the disease reduces. The second importance is that she will eat very comfortably and gain weight. For proper digestion of food to happen in the body, it also requires peace of mind. Feeling positive in her emotion and physical state will allow her to socialize with others this is in reference to Prince et al (2016). Socializing reduces the lousy feeling now and then. On the other part, people around her will feel free to interact with her. It is evident that everyone had feared her because of some physical problems she may cause. When Mrs. Walker is cold, she will last longer than expected. The reason why carer recognition act was implemented is to educate more people on roles of carer in ensuring that there are support and care for people with mental challenges, disability or too old as stated by Wiener et al (2015). The carer recognition act of 2010 provides the way the person caring the patient and the patient himself should be considered. The following three consideration provides ways in which legal act care for the two people. The person caring the patient has the right to confidentiality. The patient and the carer have right to complain. The two people have right to be recognized. When caring for a deceased patient, there are the different aspect that still needs consideration. The first thing is that there should be the continuous support to the family. The second thing is that the offices where the deceased might have work should also take a step in ensuring the deceased fare well. Lastly, another thing that is considered is the donation of tissues. Romero et al (2014) stated that, there are things that one should take caution while caring for the deceased. The first thing is that you must prepare the family members before they come to view the body. Secondly, you should always remain calm. Do not express any anger or attempt of violence in the scene. In case the deceased died in another environment, do not remove anything from the body until the body is identified. The first way is to contact the bereaving family as soon as possible and establish any need required. The second thing is to leave the family to express themselves. Expression gives the opportunity to do away with all the anger as illustrated in Wright et al (2016). References Alzheimers, A. (2015). 2015 Alzheimer's disease facts and figures.Alzheimer's dementia: the journal of the Alzheimer's Association,11(3), 332. Burge, F., Lawson, B., Johnston, G., Asada, Y., McIntyre, P. F., Grunfeld, E., Flowerdew, G. (2014). Bereaved family member perceptions of patient-focused family-centred care during the last 30 days of life using a mortality follow-back survey: does location matter?.BMC palliative care,13(1), 25. D'onofrio, G., Sancarlo, D., Addante, F., Ciccone, F., Cascavilla, L., Paris, F., ... Chiarini, R. (2015). Caregiver burden characterization in patients with Alzheimer's disease or vascular dementia.International journal of geriatric psychiatry,30(9), 891-899. Groot, C., Hooghiemstra, A. M., Raijmakers, P. G. H. M., Van Berckel, B. N. M., Scheltens, P., Scherder, E. J. A., ... Ossenkoppele, R. (2016). The effect of physical activity on cognitive function in patients with dementia: a meta-analysis of randomized control trials.Ageing research reviews,25, 13-23. Holthoff, V. A., Marschner, K., Scharf, M., Steding, J., Meyer, S., Koch, R., Donix, M. (2015). Effects of physical activity training in patients with Alzheimers dementia: results of a pilot RCT study.PLoS One,10(4), e0121478. Kentish-Barnes, N., Chaize, M., Seegers, V., Legriel, S., Cariou, A., Jaber, S., ... Mathonnet, A. (2015). Complicated grief after death of a relative in the intensive care unit.European Respiratory Journal,45(5), 1341-1352. Lee, E. E., Chang, B., Huege, S., Hirst, J. (2018). Complex Clinical Intersection: Palliative Care in Patients with Dementia.The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry,26(2), 224-234. Mace, N. L., Rabins, P. V. (2017).The 36-hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for People who Have Alzheimer Disease, Other Dementias, and Memory Loss. JHU Press. Miyajima, K., Fujisawa, D., Yoshimura, K., Ito, M., Nakajima, S., Shirahase, J., ... Miyashita, M. (2014). Association between quality of end-of-life care and possible complicated grief among bereaved family members.Journal of palliative medicine,17(9), 1025-1031. Ornstein, K. A., Teresi, J. A., Ocepek-Welikson, K., Ramirez, M., Meier, D. E., Morrison, R. S., Siu, A. L. (2015). Use of an item bank to develop two short-form FAMCARE scales to measure family satisfaction with care in the setting of serious illness.Journal of pain and symptom management,49(5), 894-903. Peters, M. E., Schwartz, S., Han, D., Rabins, P. V., Steinberg, M., Tschanz, J. T., Lyketsos, C. G. (2015). Neuropsychiatric symptoms as predictors of progression to severe Alzheimers dementia and death: the Cache County Dementia Progression Study.American Journal of Psychiatry,172(5), 460-465. Poblador-Plou, B., Caldern-Larraaga, A., Marta-Moreno, J., Hancco-Saavedra, J., Sicras-Mainar, A., Soljak, M., Prados-Torres, A. (2014). Comorbidity of dementia: a cross-sectional study of primary care older patients.BMC psychiatry,14(1), 84. Prince, M., Comas-Herrera, A., Knapp, M., Guerchet, M., Karagiannidou, M. (2016). World Alzheimer report 2016: improving healthcare for people living with dementia: coverage, quality and costs now and in the future. Romero, M. M., Ott, C. H., Kelber, S. T. (2014). Predictors of grief in bereaved family caregivers of person's with Alzheimer's disease: A prospective study.Death studies,38(6), 395-403. Stroebe, M., Schut, H., Boerner, K. (2017). Cautioning health-care professionals: Bereaved persons are misguided through the stages of grief.OMEGA-Journal of Death and Dying,74(4), 455-473. Wiener, L., Weaver, M. S., Bell, C. J., Sansom-Daly, U. M. (2015). Threading the cloak: palliative care education for care providers of adolescents and young adults with cancer.Clinical oncology in adolescents and young adults,5, 1. Winblad, B., Amouyel, P., Andrieu, S., Ballard, C., Brayne, C., Brodaty, H., ... Fratiglioni, L. (2016). Defeating Alzheimer's disease and other dementias: a priority for European science and society.The Lancet Neurology,15(5), 455-532. Wright, A. A., Keating, N. L., Ayanian, J. Z., Chrischilles, E. A., Kahn, K. L., Ritchie, C. S., ... Landrum, M. B. (2016). Family perspectives on aggressive cancer care near the end of life.Jama,315(3), 284-292.

Friday, November 29, 2019

Platos Cave Still Current in Mass Media Essay Example

Platos Cave: Still Current in Mass Media Paper Plato describes a group of stupefied people who have been trapped in a cave their entire lives. These prisoners are chained facing a wall; they cannot see anything except the shadows on that wall, which are being cast by men carrying unknown objects in front of a glowing fire. They never see the actual carriers or Items, and they hear nothing but the echoes of these obscure men, yet are still entranced by these illogical sounds and images. Plats Cave illustrates how people solely base their perception of the world on their experiences of physical objects, and by doing so, they limit themselves to the confined notions prescribed by their fear of change. The purpose of this essay Is to prove how and why the stubborn Ignorance present In Plates Allegory of the Cave can still be found In many aspects of todays mass media, including television, news broadcasting channels, and advertising. Today, most people have been chained to their television since childhood. These attached viewers can be seen as prisoners in their own cave. We will write a custom essay sample on Platos Cave: Still Current in Mass Media specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Platos Cave: Still Current in Mass Media specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Platos Cave: Still Current in Mass Media specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The television screen plays the role of the wall with shadows, and the television speakers replace the echoes. Instead of the men carrying objects, the creators of the televisions shows broadcasted are now projecting their desired Images. The oblivious prisoners absorb these relentlessly exposed illusions, and expect to encounter them in reality, which differs greatly from their own reality, which is composed of the images. This intertwining and disorientation of realities becomes even more abstruse when the transmitted Images are that of reality television shows. Since these series are presumed to be real, the captives are forced to believe that such scornful people rule exist and such outrageous events have actually occurred. However, in true reality, the people starring in the television shows are merely creating images of Images to entertain the prisoners, and are trapped inside their own caves. If the prisoners were to open their minds and escape the cave (building/room with the television and interact with others outside the dark cave, they will soon come to the realization that the world is made up of deep human beings. At first, this comprehension will appear as unfathomable and distress [them] (Plato, Allegory of the Cave, p. 2), since the captives have been taught these false realities their whole lives, but as these personal relations continue, the prisoners will be enlightened towards [a] more real existence a clearer vision (Plato, Allegory of the Cave, p. 52), and into a broader view of life and the people living in it. Similarly, news channels tend to perform the same puppet-shows. People watch the news in order to retrieve information on current events; however, the news broadcasting channels may be feeding them distorted facts. Humans cannot personally experience all of the occurrences of the world, and as a result, they upend on news channels, Like Fox News, to remain informed. These viewers are also trapped in their own caves. The prisoners expect the information to be true, yet they 1 OFF can never truly control Its accuracy, or Decode enlightened, unless teen were to go and take part in the actual event themselves. Due to this, the puppet-masters, Fox News, can slyly manipulate their facts, in order to manipulate their viewers into a system of false beliefs. However, as Plato stated: better to be the poor servant of a poor master, and to endure anything, rather than think as they do and live after their manner (Plato, Allegory of the Cave, p. 53); it is better to be exceedingly informed by upsetting facts, than to be ignorant and satisfied from false information. Just like the chained prisoners, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images (Plato, Allegory of the Cave, p. 2), and the television viewers regard the news from Fox News to be truthful as well. This use of manipulation can also be found in advertising. The media has transmitted harmful messages through advertising. These ads and can be seen in every public area, however it is the commercials on television that array the most detrimental results. The companies, or the Carr[risers of] all sorts of vessels (Plato, Allegory of the Cave, p. 52), that create these commercials, succeed in enticing their consumers, by creating buried messages behind their deceptive use of striking images. They plant seeds of insecurity into the prisoners, who now forcefully believe that purchasing the companies products will results in the instant deposition of their haunting anxieties. Not only this, but the corporations will alter the images prior to showing them to their audiences. Being oblivious to this, the consumers are comforted that such people/objects appear to be so attractive, yet they/their possessions do not. It is this discomfort that transforms into an obsession to become/ own such unattainable images, and it is this failure to achieve such a state that deteriorates the self-worth of the buyers. The clouded truth is being so distorted that the majority of world bears no knowledge of what reality truly is. The captives are consumed by their necessity to conform to the impossible expectations of the media, and stop at nothing until they reach them. It is only by the recognition of the infeasible qualities of such standards, that they can crack open their shackles, and continue the path towards illumination through the acceptance of themselves. However, numerous captives may never be able to see the light outside of the cave, and remain surrounded by these projected truths. Many prisoners still trapped in the caves may argue that Plats Allegory of the Cave is irrelevant to todays society and media. They consider their beliefs and realities to be true, and will distrust others that do not share such principles. Even though no one is completely free from the endless number of caves and walls being lived in/ gazed at, the first step to being set free, or freeing others, is to accept the fact that everyone is being held captive. Not everyone is raised to have the same puppet- masters or images, therefore, not everyone shares the same false beliefs. However, by allowing themselves to consider others realities and recognizing why personal realities differ so greatly from one person to another, a common ground will be established. It is this mutual understanding that may spark the enlightenment of the outside, where true reality forms beliefs, unlike the cave, where it is the beliefs that arm realities.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Free Essays on The Metamorphosis

. Gregor Samsa is whom the story is based on. He has been transformed into a giant insect. It is generally agreed, however, that the story portrays a world that is unfriendly and perhaps absurd and that major themes in the story include rejection, alienation and burden of responsibility (economic). Rejection is felt in many parts of the story; in the opening lines Franz Kafkas’ short story â€Å"The Metamorphosis†, the main character Gregor Samsa a traveling salesman who lives with and supports his parents and little sister, awakens from a night of horrible dream to find that he has been metamorphosed into a cockroach he calls a â€Å"monstrous vermin† (short stories, page 156). . The rejection and fear of his family not being sympathetic to him, not wanting him apart of the family. George’s mother faints. His father beings to weep and the chef clerk only startled Aoh!@ AThat made his mother scream again, she fled from the fable and fell into the arms of his father, who hastened to catch her.@ (168). Moreover, he not only looks like a cockroach but his voice which sounds normal to him translates to others in the sound of a cockroach. Upon hearing this insect like sound and seeing Gregor as he now is the chief clerk leaves the Samsa’s house ne ver to return taking not only Gregor’s job with him but all hopes of Gregor ever repaying the family debt. Once again rejection at play. â€Å"During the time that Gregor was forced to live out the remainder of his life in his now prison like room, many family matters occurs.†(Glatzer 54) â€Å"George’s father springs into action, grabbing a stick and a newspaper and herding Gregor back into his bedroom with prods and fierce hisses.†(Hughes) This was the man that he had once looked up to and worked thro out his life to help him. Nevertheless, he is rejecting him. Before his m... Free Essays on The Metamorphosis Free Essays on The Metamorphosis The Metamorphosis In "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kalka, there are many themes that speak louder then words. Gregor Samsa is whom the story is based on. He has been transformed into a giant insect. It is generally agreed, however, that the story portrays a world that is unfriendly and perhaps absurd and that major themes in the story include rejection, alienation and burden of responsibility (economic). Rejection is felt in many parts of the story; in the opening lines Franz Kafkas’ short story â€Å"The Metamorphosis†, the main character Gregor Samsa a traveling salesman who lives with and supports his parents and little sister, awakens from a night of horrible dream to find that he has been metamorphosed into a cockroach he calls a â€Å"monstrous vermin† (short stories, page 156). . The rejection and fear of his family not being sympathetic to him, not wanting him apart of the family. George’s mother faints. His father beings to weep and the chef clerk only startled Aoh!@ AThat made his mother scream again, she fled from the fable and fell into the arms of his father, who hastened to catch her.@ (168). Moreover, he not only looks like a cockroach but his voice which sounds normal to him translates to others in the sound of a cockroach. Upon hearing this insect like sound and seeing Gregor as he now is the chief clerk leaves the Samsa’s house ne ver to return taking not only Gregor’s job with him but all hopes of Gregor ever repaying the family debt. Once again rejection at play. â€Å"During the time that Gregor was forced to live out the remainder of his life in his now prison like room, many family matters occurs.†(Glatzer 54) â€Å"George’s father springs into action, grabbing a stick and a newspaper and herding Gregor back into his bedroom with prods and fierce hisses.†(Hughes) This was the man that he had once looked up to and worked thro out his life to help him. Nevertheless, he is rejecting him. Before his m...

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Machiavelli in practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Machiavelli in practice - Essay Example The success of the quote will be looked at as well. â€Å"A man who is used to acting in one way never changes; he must come to ruin when the times, in changing, no longer are in harmony with his ways.† This quote means that some rulers are stubborn. They feel that their way has worked for years. Their way is right. However as the world changes the ruler is disposed due to his unwillingness to change. Whether a country changes politically, economically, territorially, or otherwise a ruler must be able to rule the changed country. If the ruler does not change to meet the new challenges, the ruler will be overthrown. An example from history about a man never changing is Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler came to rule Germany during an economic crisis. His policy of a greater Germanic race had an underlying policy of war. Hitler wanted to rule Europe as a pure Aryan race with the Slavic peoples as slaves or dead. When the war begin going against Hitler, he refused to change his policies. Hitler could have surrendered, but he did not want to. His vision of conquering Europe blinded him. If he would have changed, Hitler might not have eventually been defeated. Saddam Hussein is another example of a man unwilling to change. Hussein ruled Iraq with an iron fist. Iraqis that opposed him were put to death or tortured. Hussein invaded Kuwait. Hussein’s goal was to rule Iraq with an iron fist. After the first Gulf War, Hussein was placed under a monitoring system through NATO. He defied the order over and over. Nothing happened for turning away NATO inspectors or continuing down the path he was on. However, after 9/11 the threat of a nuclear Iraq was intolerable to the United States. It was not true, but even the appearance of the threat was unbearable. Hussein did not change with the times. He kept baiting the United States. As a result America invaded Iraq. Hussein was eventually

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Creation and Evolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Creation and Evolution - Essay Example Evolution, though scientific theory, is a much stronger argument when measured against creationism when viewed from a scientific point of view. Evolution is not rooted merely in theory but in great part by scientific fact which is observable and shown consistently to be true. It is not merely an idea but a proven fact that this occurs and has occurred through gene mutations, DNA science and other examples such as the increased height of Europeans in the preceding centuries (Moran). Biological evolution refers to changes that are easily definable and provable in populations over time. DNA analysis shows that though we have much more in common with primates we still have over 200 of the same DNA as bacteria, a single celled organism, which is the premise that life began with evolution. Natural selection and species adaptation have been shown proven within our lifetimes through thousands of studies. Evolution can often also include the suggestion that all beings evolved from one original ancestor, which in itself is difficult to fathom as we are (Evolution) though entirely plausible. Genes carry the DNA code responsible for how a species is created and many studies, such as plant hybridization, show that it is very possible for genes to mutate, reshuffle, and produce genetic variations which are the premise behind evolution. Evolution theory through gene mutation is well documented within every species known to man. The scientific community likely finds it difficult to fathom that as intelligent as they are they are unable to create new life forms thus it would be unlikely that another being could do so while creationist lend more credence towards an ultimate being based on their desire for there to be an ultimate being greater than what we are able to know or comprehend. The argument between evolution and creationism lies in the ultimate beginning of life, which

Monday, November 18, 2019

Master degree in Immunology Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Master degree in Immunology - Personal Statement Example ting my Bachelor studies in Biomedical Science, I would like to take my academic career to the next level by doing Masters in Immunology from the University West of England (UWE). The best field to graduate in is certainly one that coincides with me past professional experience, so I have chosen to do Masters in Immunology. I am positive that getting this degree will lend me a professional recognition as a specialist in immunology, and open doors to new opportunities for me all over the world. I choose to do my graduate studies from UWE because of its high ranking, global recognition, and well-equipped laboratories catering for immunological studies. Among other subjects that form part of this program, I am especially interested in studying Methods in Clinical Analysis, and Applied Immunology. I look forward to using the latest immunological techniques for devising advanced treatment approaches to diseases. I am a suitable candidate for Master’s program in Immunology at UWE be cause I am both hard-working and highly motivated to give my general education a specialized

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Theories for Play and Learning in Childcare

Theories for Play and Learning in Childcare Introduction: Education is the backbone for any nation and children are future of a country. Proper education for children is very important for any children. But this education process must need to be productive and effective and designed in structured ways for prosperity of nation. To make education process effective through play and learning planners need to plan according to theoretical approaches practiced long time in play and learning. Not every child in a school or learning activity set is same. Some children are with special needs and need to be teaching carefully. Several types of assessment can be conduct to find out these children with special needs and teach them. Planning play and learning activities for children will be more productive by preparing them by consulting with parents and professionals. Finally results should be recorded for future uses with further education planning for a nation to be more developed. Wrong education in early stages can ruin the future of a child. So hi gh care, in designing early learning activities need to be taken for development of children and nation. Assessment criteria 1.1- Describe the development, over time, of theoretical approaches to play and learning. Several theories in play and learning have developed time to time but no theories were good enough to describe it. Many theories for development in educational practices for children are being used during 20th century. Important theories among them are maturational theory, behaviourist theory, psychoanalytic theory, constructivist theory, socio-historical theory, ecological theory, ecological theory, environmentalist theory and many others. Maturational Theory: This theory was developed by Arnold Gesell in 1925. This theory was developed, based on 3 assumptions, Development base is biological, Type of body, Ectomorph Endomorph Mesomorph Alternating between good and bad years. These assumptions are related with personality development that influenced teaching and reading method of children in mid nineteenth century. By this theory children were not ready for study until 6 years old mentally. Activities in school were developed for unready children to help them to be ready for reading. This process is still in practices known as preschool. Behaviourist Theory: Behaviourist theory was developed by Skinner and Bijou. This theory influenced special education programmes in schools. Its main theme is role of environment in children’s education and development. Teacher uses this theory for those who found with difficulties in on-going environment. Major objective of this theory was not left any children behind. Psychoanalytic Theory: From the very start of 1920 this theory was used for analysing behaviour disorder of children, developed by Freud. In this theory, play therapy was recommended for children accompanied by parents or children. This theory was very useful for children with special needs. Constructivist Theory: There are many constructivist theories, among them theory of Pia Get affects activities of classroom in 21st century. This theory focused on mathematical and logical knowledge of children via improving individual’s relationship rather than socially build knowledge. Socio-historical theory: Developed by Vygotsky in 1978 gave importance on socio-historical context of learning by teaching culture, language and literacy and involvement of adult persons in proximal development zone of a child. Proximal zone of development in children education concept affected learning and play greatly. Ecological System theory: This system stated that children’s learning capabilities are directly or indirectly get affected by their residence place. All macro, micro, meso and exo system of residing place affect a child’s temperament, activity, capability to learn and attention. Environmentalist Theory: This theory resembles ecological theory in some point. Follower of this theory believe that learning theory of children get shaped by environment they belongs to as natural response tendency of human to nature. This concept leads to the idea of developing schools, educators and most importantly families for proper learning of a child. Multiple Intelligence Theory: Developed by Gardner, this theory is influencing recent learning system. Main theme of this theory is to develop multiple types of problem solving abilities in children to develop them. Assessment criteria 1.2- Evaluate different philosophical approaches to play and learning. Philosophical approaches in play and learning are approaches taken by preschools to improve readiness of children. There are many of these approaches and some of them are evaluate below. Play based: Play based philosophy is program of school where children have the ability to choose activity according to their interest. This approach is also known as â€Å"child-centered† approach. In this philosophy, classroom is divided into various sections such as, science, kitchen, reading and many other reading related toys. Teachers let children to play. It seems that children are just playing but through playing they are building social communication skill, cooperation and getting interested in specific subject. This approach is one of the best philosophical approaches. Academic: It is designed with lots of activities for children. Opposite of play based where teacher guide children to do specific activities. Here children get prepared for reading. Teacher let children learn music, letters, shapes, colours etc. most of the parents think that this approach is best as their children are learning in a structured way but philosophers says that preschool stage is for learning social and communication skills. Montessori: This approach designed by Maria Montessori in Italy. This approach is play based with focus on academic activities. In this system children learn according to their pace. Teachers gathered them and design the classroom according to age. This helps younger to learn from older. This is a good approach as it’s based on play and learning both. Waldorf: This system increase children’s creativity in learning. Specific activities set according to time in weeks and ages of children where they can learn gardening, music, reading, singing, and acting. This system is a blend of creative learning and reading. They also learn other social skill in this system. Reggio Emilia: This system is designed to let children explore their learning capabilities. It was developed by Reggio Emilia in Italy. It is project based philosophy where students can learn according to their interest. Though, this system is good for aged children but not appropriate for younger children. Assessment criteria1.3- discuss on current influences on play and learning and the planning and provision of learning. Influencing factors Play and learning Planning and provision of learning Physical security In play and learning students do lots of activities and security program must be taken for them. Sometimes teachers may reject some activities where children might get physical injury. Social and emotional issues. Wrong social and emotional education ruins students’ ability in social skills and emotional feelings. Planners have to choose teacher with good social skills and emotional knowledge which is a tough task. Environment Environment of learning and play influence children ability to learn. Higher school authority has to ensure perfect environment for play and learning which is sometimes costly. Curriculum Curriculum leads children to further learning process after preschool. Wrong curriculum can kill valuable times and future of children so it must be designed with specialist. Parent and teacher role Better parental and teacher role can develop learning process and let a child learn hurry. Teacher role can be controlled by supervision but parent need to be counselled by school authority which increase cost and manpower. Assessment criteria 2.1- explain the use of observations to assess learning needs, consider how assessment based on observations can inform planning and respond to individual learning needs. Observation can be great uses to asses learning needs of a child. In this process a teacher observe children behaviour of academic learning, engagement in activities, interest, response to environment, continuity in interest, progress made by children etc. and record them. Parents can also children behaviour in their community. Systematic observation over time is better than one time observation. By observing several time it easy to know interaction of a child with activities and toys around him/ her. By documenting children behaviour, measuring children’s needs is easy. It allow to design further learning plan for children. For example 3 children playing with parts of aircraft toys and talking for much time help an observer to decide about children’s interest in airlines education along with their language, social and cognitive skills. Observer must be an unbiased person and avoid their personal interests and impression to assess needs of a child. Systematic observatio n should be; Happen several times over a time period. Designed to collect information about children from various types of sources including parents. Designed to collect information about children from various types of context. If teachers observe children they can know about the environment, curriculum, planning and strategies for teaching and can determine whether it need to be developed or not. Assessment criteria 2.2- discuss how information from other agencies can contribute to the assessment of learning needs. Information from other agencies can also contribute to the assessment of learning needs. It will help school to know about pros and cons of it. It enables a school to know perfectness of its progressing and needs. Information from other agencies also can be useful to know about of areas that need to be improved. It also informs about various types of different activities from other children in the community and can take precautionary system to avoid any wrong done in learning and play for future. Performances of other agencies also lead to motivation for teacher. Exchanging information between agencies can lead to amalgamation of agencies to work as safeguard for children and their learning. It can protect children from maltreatment, maintaining equality in children’s development, proper curriculum for learning process and take step that will help children to get the best outcomes. Professionals from agencies can analyse each other’s information to develop a much broade r and effective learning activities set or proper curriculum too. For example information from agency where only children with special need learn can be useful for children with special needs in another agency. These are some ways agencies information exchange can develop learning and play process of education for children. It is responsibility of agencies, authorities and parents in the community to work together to bring best outcomes of children for further national development through education. Assessment criteria 3.1- explain how to plan curriculum activities which promote learning. Curriculum activities are predesigned set of activities for learning of children step by step. Flawless curriculum can provide a child with best education he/ she needed and promote learning. Curriculum can be planned in various ways according to culture and social needs and experience of adults. But curriculum planned to promote learning must include following; The arts: Children need to be encouraged and stimulated by adult persons to reveal their thought, ideas and develop their creativity. Opportunity to share these ideas and thought via various types of arts such as writing, music, drama, dance, painting, design and other activities are very important. Language development: Language development is to improve children’s basic language skill and improve them to communicate with other. Language is the only media to share, gather and learn. So language development is a crucial part for development. Mathematical knowledge: Developing mathematical knowledge in early stage is important. Mathematical knowledge develops children’s logical skill and need for day to day life problem solving skill. Both indoors and outdoors activities should include this. Personal, social and emotional development: This is the utmost important education for children. This is about building their mental identity, values, norms, sustainable relationship, positive attitudes and finally for their well-being. Strong socio-personal and emotional development leads to success in other learning. Physical development: Physical play in outdoors or indoor develop physical strength and stamina of children and let them physically fit beside developing balance and body controlling and awareness about surroundings. Others thing need to be include in curriculum to promote learning are diversity, goals and objectives, routines, family involvement in learning process etc. Assessment criteria 3.2- assess the effectiveness of different approaches to planning learning opportunities. Whole school approach: Whole school approach is based on the idea that, every child has the ability to learn. Whole school practices is the method of diversified learning with high sets of measurement tool for achievements, learning and outcomes and teaching according to achievements of each students. This system includes behaviour support and learning support that need these. In a whole approach system teaching system s diversified with differentiate teaching style according to learners’ needs. Teachers teach here in 2 groups; focused teaching for student with normal achievement pace and intensives teaching for few students who need extra care. Integrated teaching approach: It’s a combination of play and learning guided by either elder person where adult people are intentionally involved with children in playing and learning or child directed play. Child directed play is learning process lead by children’s interest of exploring things. Children are able to learn by themselves but in this approach adults increase children’s learning by intentional engagement. Assessment criteria 3.3- consider methods of involving parents and other professional in reviewing assessments and plans. No specific methods are available of involving parents and other professional in reviewing assessments and plans. It happens in numerous ways. Professional and parents involvement in reviewing assessments helps to understand assessments results in a better way and to create more perfect plans for learning. Family centred system: Parents also can assess children’s behaviour and other activities. Observing only activities in school can’t provide better result. Children’s behaviour and interaction in society and community is important too, that can be assessed by parents and professionals in home. Working together: Another better way for parents, school and professional is to work together to assess behaviour of children and create plans for further learning. They can set standards for assessing by their experience and viewpoint and create plans. This assessment and planning method is more fruitful than any other. Communication: School authority also can communicate with parents and professional as needs to increase effectiveness of learning. Communicating them with assessment process and vital standards will bring proper result and plan. Advocacy and decision making: Advocacy by parents and professional in decision making process by using information from assessment can helpful too. School authority can take suggestion, guidelines and necessary step to make assessment and plans more successful. Community collaboration: Community collaboration by school with professional and parents can be great resulting methods. Collaboration with community let school and professional know more about activities and behaviour of children outside the school. That helps in assessment and planning. Assessment criteria 4.1- analyse the key issues in ensuring that assessment are objective and valid. Key principles for an assessment to be are validity, reliability, practicability and equitable and fair. Assessments procedures and process should be in standard way that can be reliable. Unbiased and regular practicability of assessment procedures is important also. These make an assessment objective. But to be valid there are 6 more key issues and they are, Content and standards: enough time should be taken to familiarise assessor with the units and their needs. This help to determine knowledge and skills need to assess. Create an assessment plan: assessment plan need to be created in this step. Considering learning stage of candidate along with assessment criteria. Choosing assessment method: it is very important issue. Method should be supportive to learning, capable of collecting evidence, providing chance for combination of assessment. Developing an assessment: assessment methods, standards and other criteria determined here. Determining acceptable evidence for the assessment: evidence of developing learning needs should be determine in this stage. Assessment criteria 4.2- reflect on the role of the practitioner in meeting children’s learning needs. Practitioner plays an important role in early learning of children with relevant curriculum. Practitioner must act properly and need to be productive to carry on their role to fulfil learning needs. Their roles are described below; Practitioners have to be capable of understanding curriculum for children education to implement them. They have to understand the importance of physical, intellectual, emotional and social knowledge needed for children. They should ensure security and value for every child equally without considering any discrimination. Practitioner and parents must have to work together to increase confidence of children. Practitioners have to help children to overcome their disadvantages. Positive relationship by practitioner with children and parents create an effective learning environment where children can feel safe and sound. Practitioner should engage children in different kinds of activities designed and lead by them. They need to be able to communicate with children appropriately. They need to take purposeful activity and proper intervention to engage children in learning process. At last, education to be productive and effective needs high care by practitioners. Conclusion: Various types of theoretical approaches used and being used in learning process of children. They were developed time to time and have effective influences in play and learning activities. Combining these theoretical approaches with philosophical approaches in play and learning can be more successful. These approaches affect play and learning and planning of play and learning. Observation method of assessment is one of the best methods to assess learning needs of children for future planning of learning. Information of other agencies is useful in case of planning developed learning plan. Play and learning activities in any school run according to a curriculum. A curriculum must be planned in ways that promote learning. Integrated approaches can be effective one to plan learning opportunities. Parents and professional involvements give different dimension to plan of play and learning. Their evaluation and opinion helps to develop a more productive and effective learning plan. For that , assessments of children need to be valid and objective and practitioners have to works perfectly for education of children needed to be effective in all sector of nation.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

empiricism Essay -- essays research papers

Empiricism Empiricism by nature is the belief that there is no knowledge without experience. How can one know what something tastes like if they have never tasted it? For example, would someone know that an apple is red if they have never actually have seen one. Someone can tell you an apple is red, but, if you never have seen one, can you really be sure? Empiricists use three anchor points in which they derive their opinions from. The first of these points is; the only source of genuine knowledge is sense experience. An easier way to understand this is to compare the mind to a clean sponge. As the sponge touches things, it takes with it, a piece of everything it touches. Without this, the sponge would remain clean and be void of anything other than its own material. With this conclusion, empiricist believes we must be content with the knowledge we have at hand, rather than things we have not yet been privy to. The second anchor point is; Reason is an unreliable and inadequate route to knowledge unless it is grounded in the solid bedrock of sense experience. Empiricists believe that all of our words meanings are derived from our experiences. Everything can be traced back to a single moment in our lives. Empiricists understand that reason is necessary in helping us make our experience intelligible, but reason alone cannot provide knowledge. The third anchor point is; there is no evidence of innate Ideas within the mind that are known apart from experience. What this means is the mind does not possess ideas that are not backed by experience. In no case are there a priori truths that can both tell about the world and are known apart from experience. When asked the three epistemological questions the three empiricists all have different answers. The first of these questions is; is knowledge possible? John Locke (1632-1704) states â€Å"Knowledge, however, is not something lying out there in the grass; it is located in our minds. So to understand knowledge we have to analyze the contents of our minds and see what they tell us about the world† (pg. 93). Locke believes that all of our known truths are made up of simple ideas. Simple ideas are what make up the rudimental elements of everything else we know to be true to us today. For example, they consist of ideas such, hot and cold, soft and hard, bitter and sweet. They also give us experience through are own mental o... ...s not possible for our knowledge to truly represent what reality really is. He believes that â€Å"the only certainty that we can have concerns the relationships of our own ideas. Since these judgments only concern the realm of ideas, they do not tell us about the external world† (p. 108). This means that any knowledge about reality must be based on a posteriori judgments. These judgments are made by Hume because he believes there is no way to have a true reality through knowledge because you only gain knowledge through experience. In conclusion, Hume states that many empiricists discovered that reality is an impossible goal to understand. Overall, Empiricists believe that there is no knowledge without experience. While their individual views may differ, their fundamental ideas are used to make conclusions about theories in the world. Each of these men have ideas about how knowledge is used and what it creates for each person. Through each of these theories it is apparent that knowledge and reality are difficult to access in such a complicated world. References Lawhead, William F., The Philosophical Journey: An Interactive Approach, Second Edition. McGraw-Hill, 2003.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Earned Value Management System Essay

Earned Value Management System (EVMS) guiding principles incorporate top business practices to give strong benefits for program or enterprise planning and control. The process includes the incorporation of program scope, schedule, and cost objectives, establishment of a baseline plan for success during the execution of a program. The structure provides a solid foundation for problem recognition, corrective actions, and management replanning if required. This system helps program management integrate the work scope of a program with the schedule and cost elements for most favorable program planning and control. There are three basic elements of earned value management which are: Planned Value (PV) Actual cost (AC) and earned value (EV) each of these elements are used on a standard basis as of a reporting date. Planned value (PV) is the total cost of the work schedule calculated as PV or BCWS=Hourly Rate* Total Hours Planned or Scheduled. Actual cost (AC) is the cost taken to complete the work as of a reporting date calculated as AC or ACWP=Hourly Rate* Total Hours Spent. Earned value (EV) is the total cost of the work completed/performed as of a reporting date calculated as EV or BCWP=Baseline Cost* % Complete Actual. Some of the principles involved with earned valued management system (EVMS) are as follows: * EVMS information is used in the organization’s management processes. * Create a plan for all work scope in the program– from beginning to end. * Have a structured breakdown of the program work scope into set pieces that can be assigned to a liable person or organization for control of technical, schedule, and cost objectives. Utilize actual costs acquired and documented in accomplishing the work performed. * Incorporate program work scope, schedule and cost objectives into a performance measurement baseline plan against which accomplishments may be measured. The fundamental nature of earned value management is that, providing a stage of detail appropriates for the amount of technical, schedule, and cost risk or uncertainty connected with the program, a target planned value (i. e budget) is created for each scheduled element of work. As work is completed, their target planned values are â€Å"earned†. Summing up the earned value management system– it is an efficient project management process used to find variances in projects based on the comparison of work accomplished and work planned. The Gold Card is individual-sheet reference that provides definitions of common Earned Value (EV) terminology. It lists EV metric equations, and labels the most common EV graph. It also summarizes the EVM policy and EVM contracting requirements. At the bottom contact information to the EVM home page is provided. Other elements located on the Gold Card are variances, overall status, DoD metrics, baseline execution index (BEI), estimate at completion number, and complete performance index (TCPI). A structured breakdown of contract prices that branches off all the way down to work packages and planning packages is displayed on the Gold Card. The earned value management Gold Card is a handy reference tool for project managers to use for their own personal use.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Marketing Blog Example

Marketing Blog Example Marketing Blog – Article Example Pricing Strategy Pricing Strategy Given the different demographic characteristics of consumers in the market, marketers are normally faced with difficult situations when they want to make prices for every consumer in the market. For this reason, there is a high tendency by the marketers to group consumers into different segments using the different consumer characteristics, hence coming up with different segments of customers, sometimes known as market segments (Salin, 2012). After a market has been divided I to different segments, there is need to differentiate the products into different forms and sizes that will meet the needs of different market segments. This therefore calls for product differentiation to fit every consumer’s needs. Differentiation makes products to be in different forms and sizes, hence, different prices will apply. In real life, Coca Cola products in the city centers are normally sold in big sizes of containers such as of 10liters, 5 liters, or 2 liters . However, in the remote villages, one will only find these products being sold in small sizes such us in 1 liter, 500ml, 300ml or even smaller quantities. This phenomenon does not just happen by chance, but through critical pricing strategies by marketing managers. Marketing managers have divided the market into segments and identified that consumers in the city centers have a lot of disposable income, hence purchase in bigger quantities. However, the consumers in the villages may be having no or little income, hence can only be able to purchase in smaller quantities. These differences in quantities also have differences in prices tied to them. ReferenceSalin. (2012). Pricing Strategy. Economic Times , 1-2.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Essay about Leadership

Essay about Leadership Essay about Leadership Leadership Theory Assignment I want to be a leader driven by a bigger purpose rather than things that give me temporary satisfaction such as money, material goods, recognition, or power. The value that drives me is understanding. That to me means understanding ideas, understanding self, understanding others, fostering a mutual understanding among people and encouraging the search for understanding. I believe that understanding is the foundation to success in life. To have healthy relationships, it is necessary to understand each other, to have compassion, and to be open to others’ perspectives and experiences (compassion and openness being two of my supporting values). To be successful in school or work, it is necessary to have this open mind and curiosity (another supporting value) to constantly seek to enrich yourself, to take on different perspective, to sharpen curiosity and problem-solving skills. Another supporting value that I want to add that is not on my chart is authenticity. I believe that it i s vital that we are all honest, hold ourselves to the highest standard of integrity, and deepest level of humility. Because I see people as the best outlets for knowledge and learning, to have honesty and authenticity would foster trust in our quest for truth. As a leader, I want my ultimate driving point be understanding. I will be asking myself, â€Å"Is what I’m doing enriching my or others’ learning?† In my future career in human resources, for example, I want to promote an inclusive, open community in the workplace so that employees can better work together and work on each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I will constantly assessing if my behaviors are promoting this value, or straying from it. Leadership is the influence a person projects onto others through deliberate responses to situations and understanding of people that allow the entire group to move toward a desired direction. For example, in Mumford’s Model, a leader is to have knowledge of a certain situation (individual attributes), apply that to appraise a situation’s problems and impact on people (competencies skills), and finally successfully implement the strategy for a successful solution to the problem (leadership outcomes). This is would be the leader deliberately choosing a response to a situation, being able to understand and move his followers, and finally achieving his goal. My value in understanding is clearly reflected here- understanding the situation, the behaviors necessary, and the needs of followers are all important for success. The trait approach is a set of personality straits that allow a person to rise up to the status of a leader. These traits are inherent in leaders, and are clearly seen by their followers. These traits can be easily noticed by followers or other observers and summed up in one word. For example, Northouse identifies the major leader traits to be his/her intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability. It describes who the leader is, rather than what the leader does. This is how the trait approach is unique from other leadership theories- traits are intuitive and easy to identify. When we ask someone, â€Å"Why is this person a leader?† The usual, quick response is â€Å"Well, he’s charismatic, confident, etc..† This theory also states that, since these are inherent personality traits, leaders are not usually developed, but born. It also does not take in account of the situation- that could imply that regardless of the situation, leaders are leaders. This makes it difficult to train people to be leaders. In the Leadership Trait Questionnaire, I found that between my own scores and the average scores ascribed to me by others, there were some discrepancies. For example, there was a large discrepancy in my â€Å"Self-confident† score where on average, others thought I was much more (0.8) self-confident than I think I am. I also saw discrepancies among raters: some raters gave me a 5s for â€Å"friendly,† whereas

Monday, November 4, 2019

Can foreign policy be both 'ethical' and Realist or Discuss the Essay

Can foreign policy be both 'ethical' and Realist or Discuss the similarities and differences between the League of Nation - Essay Example 19). The United Nations Charter was approved in 1945. The League of Nations was formed in 1919 following the world I. It was discredited because of its failure to prevent future wars and conflicts after the lessons from the World War I. The league had failed to prevent the Second World War that realised massive casualty of soldiers and civilians (Jansson, 2012, p. 20). The United Nations The United Nations is an integrated network of international agreements, conventions and organisations that were formulated by United Nations. The UN was shaped in 1945 following the World War II. The UN system comprises of five organs, â€Å"the UN Security Council, The UN General Assembly, the UN economic and social council, the trusteeship council, the International court of Justice and the UN secretariat† (Jansson, 2012, p. 17). The five permanent members in the council include USA, China, Britain, France and the Soviet Union (Jansson, 2012, p. 17). The League of Nations (LoN) The League o f Nations was formed in 1919. It comprises of three organs that include the Assembly, the Council and the secretariat. Its goal was to oversee world peace by preventing the occurrence of wars (Jansson, 2012, p. 17). Similarities According to Gareau (2002, p. 44), the UN and the League had been founded after appalling world wars. They were both peace structures that aimed at realising permanent solutions for wars. The UN and the LoN were structured around large assemblies and small councils. The council members were mandated to use their collective effort to avert aggression. The councils averted the underlying differences between nations through dialogue and rationality (Gareau, 2002, p. 46). Pierce (2007, p. 12) contends that both UN and LoN promoted rational avenues such as courts, reconciliation and arbitration to thwart the likelihood of war between nations. Both international organs had permanent secretariats that were served by international civil servants. The civil servants did not answer to their national governments. Therefore, averting conflicts was the major goals of LoN and the UN because they were charged with the responsibility of maintaining overall international peace and security. Both organisations have historically relied on peaceful strategies for solutions to international disputes and have requested for punitive measures such as sanctions to the aggressor nations (Pierce, 2007, p. 22). In the LoN, the big powers exercised their influence in shaping its policies. Similarly, in the UN, the big powers of USA, Russia, Britain, China and France played a crucial role of directing the calendar activities (Daniel, 2008, p.30). Similarly, both are deliberate associations of sovereign states established to enhance cooperation among the members on specific political, fiscal and social arenas (Conforti, 2005, p. 34) They are both endowed with similar organisational appendages that include an assembly, council, fiscal and social bodies, trustee commi ttees, court and secretariat. In most instances, these organs were authorised to recommend rather than command (Page & Sonnenburg, 2003, p. 39). Both organisations relied on an assembly with universal membership where members enjoy equality of voting rights. They also instituted a council consisting of major super powers as members and a secretariat that is permanent and international in character. A secretary-general heads

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Short story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Short story - Essay Example Their grief at the loss did not last forever, however. A year later, they were blessed with another daughter, the beautiful Princess Annabelle. Everyone agreed she was the sweetest child they had ever seen. Moreover, as she grew she remained sweet and innocent. Now she was 14 and the loveliest girl in all the land. They also had a son, Prince Benjamin, the Heir Apparent. Ben was a cheeky boy, barely twelve years old. He was tall and well built. As such, he looked older than a child of his age did, but he was playful and impish and always getting himself – and his sister – into trouble. Annabelle, for all her beauty, was naà ¯ve and impressionable and Ben would use that to his advantage. She was constantly getting into trouble because of him. Getting caught in the kitchen with her hand in the cookie jar, being blamed for stopping up all the heralds’ trumpets with feathers, but she didn’t mind. She loved her brother completely and everyone knew his pranks w ere harmless fun. Unfortunately, not everything was harmless and fun in the kingdom. The northern side of the palace faced a humongous, lone mountain. Not so long ago it was merely an inconvenient landform, making passage to the north more difficult than it might have been. But then, rumor has it, an evil witch decided to make the mountain and its many winding caves her home. Travelers began setting out to the lands north of the Kingdom and disappearing. Caravans of tribute began disappearing. The King sent a legion of soldiers to the mountain to oust the Witch, but they were struck down. A few bodies were found, but no one came back alive. This really troubled the king because it was frustrating efforts to ensure that his subjects were safe and had the freedom of movement. At some point, he asked his subordinate to arrange a troupe of the best soldiers who would

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Present the current status of gene therapy for retinal diseases Research Paper

Present the current status of gene therapy for retinal diseases - Research Paper Example Diseases of the eye which have the potential of being treatable with gene therapy in future are retinitis pigmentosa, proliferative retinopathy, autoimmune uveitis, gyrate atrophy, age-related macular degeneration, retinoblastoma and Leber's congential amaurosis. Thus gene therapy has the potential to treat various inheritable retinal diseases in future. As of now, no product has been approved for clinical use and most of them are in clinical trial stage. Introduction Whenever a particular gene is defective or absent, there is either absence of a particular protein, or there is production of abnormal protein or the amount of protein produced is insufficient. This causes diseased states. Many of these diseases can be either prevented or treated by replacing the abnormal gene, or by introducing the absent gene or by supplementing the defective gene. Using genes thus to prevent or treat a disease is known as gene therapy (HGPI, 2009). This is an experimental technique and is done by ins erting genetic material into the patient’s cells. The genes thus introduced exert their benefits by either compensating for the abnormal genes or by producing beneficial protein or by supplementing the abnormal gene (Hecht, 2004). ... g genetic material into cells that cause cancer cells to revert back to normal cells, delivering genes of bacteria or virus as a form of vaccination, elivering genetic material that either impedes or promotes growth of a new tissue and delivering genetic material that stimulates healing of a damaged tissue (Hecht, 2004). Currently, research is going on for gene therapy by various approaches in different parts of the world for various diseases like combined immuno-deficiencies, hemophilia, Parkinson's disease, cancer and even HIV. Thus, gene therapy has emerged as one of the novel treatment strategies for several untreatable diseases (Singh and Tripathi, 2002). One significant area in which enormous research has been done with regard to gene therapy is retinal diseases. In this article, the current status of gene therapy for retinal diseases will be discussed through review of suitable literature. Why is retina suitable for gene therapy? Several genes which are responsible for various inherited retinal disorders have been identified (Dejneka and Bennett, 2001). Eye, especially retina, is one of the best suitable targets for gene therapy because of easy accessibility and allowance for local application of various therapeutic agents, along with decreased risk for systemic effects. Another major advantage is that the effects of therapy can be monitored through various non-invasive tests. Of the parts in the ocular system, retina is the most suitable candidate for gene therapy. This is because; the amount of virus that needs to be injected into the retina is just 1/1000 of that needed for other systemic diseases (Singh and Tripathi, 2002). The blood ocular barrier that is present in the eye separates eye from other parts of the body and protects retina. This barrier

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Utilitarianism In Contemporary Ethics Essay Example for Free

Utilitarianism In Contemporary Ethics Essay 1. State the Principle of Utility as formulated by Bentham and Mill and apply it to a particular action (e. g. , lying) to illustrate how it works. (3 points. ) 2. Explain the di%erence between â€Å"act utilitarianism† and â€Å"rule utilitarianism. † (2 points. ) 3. Identify three di%erent utilitarian philosophers and explain how their versions of utilitarianism di%er from one another. (3 points. ) 4. Identify one strength and one weakness of the utilitarian view. (2 points. ) 1. THE PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY DEFINES AN ACT OR RULE THAT IS IN THE RIGHT, WILL CREATE THE GREATEST GOOD OR HAPPINESS FOR THE GREATEST NUMBER OF PEOPLE. FOR EXAMPLE, IF A FRIEND LIES TO A GROUP OF HIS/HER FRIENDS, THAT GROUP OF FRIENDS COULD QUITE POSSIBLY FIND OUT ABOUT THIS LIE THAT COULD CAUSE A NEGATIVE EFFECT FOR THE FRIENDS. THUS, NO GOOD OR HAPPINESS WAS CREATED FROM AN ACTION THAT WAS NOT GOOD FOR THE GREATEST NUMBER OF PEOPLE. CONVERSELY, THE PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY WOULD CONDONE AND APPROVE A LIE IF IT RESULTED IN GREATER HAPPINESS (E. G. , LYING ABOUT AN EXTRAMARITAL AFFAIR TO PROTECT A PERSON’S REPUTATION OR TO AVOID CAUSING NEEDLESS DISTRESS TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY). 2. RULE UTILITARIANISM MEASURES THE AMOUNT OF GOOD THAT AN INDIVIDUAL ACTION DOES ACCORDING TO A RULE OR LAW. ACT UTILITARIANISM DOES NOT JUDGE AN ACTION IN TERMS OF RULES OR LAWS BUT WHETHER OR NOT THE ACTION BENEFITS THE MOST PEOPLE. 3. PREFERENCE UTILITARIANISM FIRST PUT FORWARD BY JOHN HARSANYI (1977) PRACTICES THAT THE ULTIMATE CRITERION FOR DECIDING WHAT IS GOOD OR BAD FOR AN INDIVIDUAL IS JUDGED BY THE INDIVIDUAL’S OWN DESIRES AND PREFERENCES. NEGATIVE UTILITARIANISM BROUGHT ON BY R. N. SMART, INSTEAD OF JUDGING WHAT IS BEST FOR THE GREATEST GOOD THE PHILOSOPHY IS TO JUDGE BY WHAT CAUSES THE LEAST AMOUNT OF PAIN FOR THE MOST AMOUNT OF PEOPLE WHEN PRESENTED WITH A SITUATION THAT WOULD ENTAIL SUFFERING. NEGATIVE UTILITARIANISM WAS PROPOSED BY KARL POPPER. SMART OPPOSED IT. ACT UTILITARIANISM BROUGHT ON BY WILLIAM PALEY, DETERMINES IF AN ACTION IS RIGHT IF IT FOLLOWS A RULE THAT WILL MAXIMIZE UTILITY. PALEY WAS AN EARLY PROPONENT OF UTILITARIANISM WHO COMBINED UTILITARIAN ETHICS WITH CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS. 4. ONE STRENGTH OF A UTILITARIAN VIEW IS THAT IT AIMS TO HELP SOCIETY EXIST IN A WAY THAT WOULD BENEFIT THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF INDIVIDUALS IN THAT SOCIETY. ONE WEAKNESS OF UTILITARIAN VIEW IS THAT IT DOES NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT WHO DOES THE ACTION, SO LONG AS THE CONSEQUENCES OCCUR. WHY IS THIS A WEAKNESS? THE MAIN WEAKNESS OF THE THEORY IS THAT IT CONTRADICTS OUR COMMON-SENSE ETHICAL VIEW THAT MOTIVES AND INTENTIONS MATTER AND THAT SOME ACTIONS SEEM WRONG REGARDLESS OF THEIR OUTCOME. 8. 5 POINTS.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Techniques of Team Building for Organizational Development

Techniques of Team Building for Organizational Development Abstract In organizational development the team building process can benefit the corporation by grouping people together with common skills and providing them with a clear and concise mission and common goal. Team building is also a function that does not end when the team comes together, but is an ongoing process that runs throughout the project. Teams are a necessary part of organizations and will be important far into the future. The knowledge of team cultures and dynamics can be an invaluable tool for organizations. Techniques of Team Building for Organizational Development A Review of Forming and Managing Teams within an Organization A team is a small number of people with complementary skills, who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable (Gordon p. 489). Teams are also described as groups of two or more people who interact and influence each other, are mutually accountable for achieving common goals associated with organizational objectives, and perceive themselves as a social entity within an organization (McShane 2010, p. 234). Since the beginning of time there have been teams such as hunting teams, where each member of the team has a specific task, but the overall goal for the team was to kill an animal for food. When man began building large structures there were work teams that would be in charge of producing the stones for the structure, work teams that would be in charge of moving the stones from the quarry to the structures construction site, and work teams that constructed the structure. The purpose of building teams is to allow employees to participate in the planning problem-solving and decision-making to better produce products and provide services. When companies grow they become more complex, therefore having groups or teams within the company allows the company to perform tasks more efficiently and effectively. An example of this can be seen in the automotive industry. Small car companies can have as few as seven employees performing specific skills to produce one vehicle at a time. Over time if this company is successful and begins to grow it will need to hire more employees. These employees will need to be placed into teams with each team performing a certain task or group of tasks in a certain area such as a body shop, and engine shop, a chassis shop, or an interior shop. Each shop has a group of employees that specialize in a particular area in the company that is necessary to produce the product. When the company was small one person could build an engine in a day for one car, but as the company grew more people are required to build more engines for more cars each day. There are various different types of teams: work teams, project and development teams, parallel teams, management teams, transitional teams, virtual teams, and self-managed teams. Work teams perform operations like manufacturing, assembling, selling, or providing services (Gordon p. 490). Work teams are the most common type of teams because theyre the most basic. Project and development teams work on projects that take a long time and they have specific tasks such as research and development. The teams new members usually contribute expert knowledge and judgment to the project, so they must be trained in that particular area for the work that is being performed. These teams work on one project and then disband when it is completed. Parallel teams are made up of individuals who are picked from various different teams in the organization and brought together to work outside the organization temporarily. Parallel teams are different in that they are formed to produce a product or service that is not normally done within the organization. Management teams provide direction to and work within, to other teams under their leadership. Management teams are a group of managers responsible for different subunits were together form a team and establish should take a direction and manage the companys overall performance. Transnational teams have members in multiple countries and are different from other work teams because they are multicultural and geographically dispersed. Also transnational teams also tend to be virtual teams. A virtual team has members that are not located in the same location. They communicate through e-mail, telephone, or with a teleconference system. Virtual teams created difficult challenges because of the way they operate and communicate. Virtual teams are usually made up of self-managing professionals. Some of them are made up of individuals that are trained to do all or most the jobs for specific task and have no supervision. Usually, as with virtual teams, self managed teams make the decisions that are usually made by their supervisors. There are advantages and disadvantages of forming teams. Early studies have shown that under the right conditions teams make better decisions, develop better products and services, and create a more engaged workforce than do employees working alone (McShane p. 237). Most teams create an environment that promotes communication, motivation, and better work ethics. Most employees prefer to work in teams because it gives them a sense of belonging. The motivation to work can be strong when the team is part of the employees social identity and by being accountable to their team members who watches their performance and quality of work more than their supervisor would. The drawbacks of developing teams is that the teams take a lot of energy and resources to develop and that some of the members of the team may not be trained to the level of skills that are required to be at to perform the certain task asked of them. Another disadvantage of developing teams is that adding new members to an ex isting team may drawdown the process and quality of work performed by the team. Source: Retrieved from PM: Program Manager (Online) July August 2002 Issue p. 79 There are five stages of team development; they are forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjoining. Forming is when the members get acquainted with each other and figure out the benefits of staying in the team. During this stage the members learn about the evolving culture within the team and the social boundaries in its environment. The storming stage is when the members become more comfortable in the team that they begin to test the boundaries and become more competitive with each other. During this stage norms of appropriate behavior are established. Norms are the shared rules and expectations that are established to regulate the behaviors that are important to the members of the team. The norming stage is when the team members come together and gain trust within the team. As objectives are established the team members begin to form a consensus on the goals. During the performing stage the team member are resolving conflicts by themselves. The members adjust to changes in the environment easier than at any other time. The adjourning stage comes at the completion of the project, the members disband and move on to other projects and teams or as an old team they take on a new project and start the process all over again. Teambuilding is an ongoing process, even though the team is formed, the process of maintaining the team goes on throughout the project. The most important property of a team is cohesiveness. Cohesiveness is the degree to which a group is attractive to its members, members are motivated to remain in the group, and the members influence one another (Gordon 2010 p. 501). The two reasons why cohesiveness is important in the team is first, it contributes to the member satisfaction and second, cohesiveness has a major impact on the teams performance. An organizational planner may be called on by company to assist them in developing or managing their teams. To be successful in this you need to know about personal behaviors, team dynamics, and about the individual roles within a team. When constructing teams it is best to select team members who are trained to perform the required roles necessary for that job so they may become effective contributors to the team. There are two roles that must be performed within the team, first the team specialist is a role that is filled by an individual who has a particular job-related ski ll and ability, secondly the team maintenance specialists develop and maintain harmony within the team by boosting morale, giving support, providing humor, soothing hurt feelings, and generally exhibiting a concern with team members well-being. The most important facet for team effectiveness that an organization must know is that to enable the teams productivity and cohesiveness the members must have a clear and concise knowledge of what tasks and duties they are responsible for. As a team performs a job, the individuals within the team perform specific tasks the culmination of these tasks make up the jobs at the team is responsible for. Allowing team members to be involved with the leadership and decision-making process will also motivate them toward superior performance as well as assisting them in the understanding of what they are required to perform through clear communication. Being able to identify performance norms allows for adjustments in the team to achieve optimal output and member satisfaction. In an article about building a better team Kevin Mehok stated: Picking the right players is critical to building a solid team. There are so many aspects of this process. You need to have the right people for the right job (2010 p. 2). The following chart displays the high and low cohesiveness versus the high and low performance norms. (High cohesiveness and low performance norms shows that there is high goal attainment based on the groups perspective but there is a low task performance based on managements perspective. Source: retrieved from, /imagecache/book/28776/fwk-bauer-fig09_004.jpg>. Low cohesiveness and low performance shows that there is poor goal attainment and poor task performance. With high cohesiveness and high performance norms there is a high goal attainment and a high task performance whereas with the low cohesiveness and high performance norms there is moderate goal attainment and task performance. Non-cohesive groups with high performance norms can be effective from the companys standpoint; however they wont be as productive as they would be if they were more cohesive (Gordon 2010 p. 502). Being able to understand the teams cultural environment makes it easier to make adjustments if necessary to enhance the teams cohesiveness. Some of the cultural environments are the clan, adhocracy, market, and hierarchy. A summary of the Hawthorn White Paper (2009) described the four different cultures as in a clan when the members identify with the group like they would a family where the emphasis is on team and teamwork and the members are loyal and friendly. Adhocracy is when the members have a large amount of independence with an emphasis on developing cutting-edge products and services. Hierarchy is where tradition and formality are dominant values and the emphasis is on stability, rules, and efficient processes. Market is where the members are competitive, hard-working, and demanding with the emphasis on productivity and beating the competition. Teams that are operating effectively and efficiently can identify problems faster. This allows the members to feel more confident in the decision making process. Having confident team members also reduces constructive conflict. When building an effective team there are a few activities that can be performed to boost morale, communication, and trust, along with having a lot of fun. Activities can range anywhere from a simple 10 minute exercise to a week long adventure. Measuring how effective such one-time activities are in changing a culture is difficult, so team building now employs more subtle methods to break down mistrust, inadequate leadership, and weak communication among employees (Laff 2006 p. 1). The greatest effect of these activities is the members are awakened by the obstacles of working with others, this comes out at the end of the exercise when they discuss there experience with each other. Usually a company will hire someone to facilitate these team building activities. One of the activities is that Alan Chapman (2010) posted on his web site that a developer can facilitate. It is an experiment to explore the brains capability to estimate scale. Using sticky notes have the team members mark a distance of ten feet on the floor, a height of three feet on a wall, and a distance of one yard on a table. They must do this without a measuring device. Review the activities as appropriate for your purposes, points for example: What surprises did we find? What clues are there to peoples different abilities? What differences are there in guessing different types of scale? What creative methods were used in measuring? How does the brain guess something? In work/life how do we decide when to guess and when to measure, and are these the best criteria? How can we make our guessing more reliable? (If exercises are performed in teams) are team guesses more reliable than individual guesses? What merit is there in the Wisdom of Crowds in guessing and making intuitive judgments? At the end of the exercise the facilitator will provide an assessment of the effectiveness that the activities provided the organization along with possible follow up events to maintain team cohesiveness. Have a facilitator draw out the dynamics using the Socratic Method of learning to tie together what happens in the office setting with what the members just experienced. Also remember to remind participants that they are not at the office, many of the activities still contain some form of gaming (Laff 2006, p. 1). Training team members to operate in the environment around them and not to hide from it, ignore it, and to not fight it will further enhance their efficiency in the team. May organizations are looking to streamline their operations, one of the tools they can turn to is hiring team building facilitators to perform exercises and give feedback. Of all of the functions an organizational developer performs to analyze, troubleshoot, and coach an organization toward their optimal output, team building is one of the most effective.