Thursday, October 31, 2019

Seismic action and methods od analysis Dissertation

Seismic action and methods od analysis - Dissertation Example Earthquakes trigger one mode of vibration which is the lowest fundamental mode besides higher modes which take place as a result of tremors. 2.1 Development of Seismic Regulations The Building Seismic Safety Council was put up in 1997 as an affiliate of National Institute of Building Sciences. Its main purpose is to promote safety of the public by providing guidelines to construction, designing, planning, utilization and regulation of buildings. It deals with reduction of risks posed on buildings by earthquakes. The main areas which the Building Seismic Safety Council focuses on are structures, kinds of buildings and related facilities. The Building Seismic Safety Council believes that the level of risks vary and therefore has a versatile approach to seismic safety that considers the risk of each region or community separately. It works together with construction industry, governments, non-governmental organizations and public in general to meet its objectives (Housner, 1990). It adv ocates for earthquake risk reduction measures to be adopted by organizations and institutions. The Building Seismic Safety Council main goals are; to catalyse development of seismic safety, promote use of appropriate seismic voluntary standards, assess implementation of recommendations and find out opportunities for improving regulations on seismic safety. 2.2 Design Seimic Actions Earthquake is a great disaster to lives and economy and there is need for design of buildings and structures which are resistant to seismic actions. The effect of an earthquake can be enormous to the extent that a region may not be able to help itself. Collaboration between architect and engineers in the foundational planning will help bring out an expertise to improve safety. There is lack of structural undertakings to curb seismic hazards in the world. The design of new buildings must be able to significantly counter earthquakes. Most current buildings lack resistance and others even have more vulnerabi lity to earthquakes. 2.2.1 Seismic Zones of Seismicity of Greece Greece experience earthquakes regularly although they are mild and therefore do not cause significant damage. It is an active region with small earthquakes annually. This has made builders in Greece to develop structures that are safe during earthquakes. The neighboring Turkey has less-strict building regulations and small earthquakes normally cause them large damages. Greece faces potential earthquakes from active volcanoes such as Nysiros Volcano. Most of Greece islands also have fault lines align in different directions. Most of Greek earthquakes originate from under seas which shake the surrounding islands. In 1999, the Athens Earthquake affected its outskirts and people killed, others displaced and buildings collapsed. Ancient Greece also faced earthquakes majorly caused by volcanoes (NATO ADVANCED RESEARCH WORKSHOP ON EARTHQUAKE MONITORING AND SEISMIC HAZARD MITIGATION IN BALKAN COUNTRIES & HUSEBYE, 2008). This i ncluded the Eruption of Thira and Earthquake of 365. 2.2.2 Ground Seismic Acceleration Seismic waves move in the ground causing vibration of the crust. This energy causing vibration is continually transmitted anything that is attached to the ground including buildings and structures. The structures are damaged since they resist making sudden change because of their inertial forces. The rate of move of speed of seismic waves on the ground is dependent on some factors. These include; the type

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Health Care Reform Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Health Care Reform - Term Paper Example levels of income and working for diverse employees, since they will be given greater opportunity to access cheaper and more expansive health insurance coverage (Jackson & Nolen, 2010; Thoma, 2010). People who will not benefit that much or will be negatively affected by the health care reform are: 1) Illegal immigrants who cannot participate in the reform and its insurance exchange, even when they fully pay for their expenses (Jackson & Nolen, 2010); 2) This group composes about â€Å"one third of the 24 million who will remain uninsured† (Thoma, 2010); 3) The insured will also be adversely affected, since this can increase their premiums; 3) Doctors will not largely benefit, due to lower Medicare payment rates; and 4) The wealthy will foot the bill of those who will benefit from the health care reform, since there will be a â€Å"0.9% increase in Medicare payroll taxes† for those who earn higher than $200,000 per annum and the rich will also be taxed 3.8% on their investment income by 2013 (Wingfield, Whelan, & Herper, 2010, p.3) The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (2009) will focus on attaining the information needs of the Health Care Reform, such as identifying who will receive additional Medicare and Medicaid services. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will also be involved in the reform activities, because it will provide medicine discounts for senior citizens, and expand Medicaid to include more families and childless adults, beginning in 2014 (Jackson & Nolen, 2010). The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) (2011) will ensure that insurance providers will not deny insurance to covered children due to â€Å"preexisting conditions† (Jackson & Nolen, 2010) and that they will allow children to be part of their parents insurance until the former are 26 years old (Jackson & Nolen, 2010). Paradis, Wood, and Cramer (2009) reported that there will be higher demand for advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) as a

Sunday, October 27, 2019

The Genting Highlands Resort

The Genting Highlands Resort Introduction Genting Highlands Malaysia is a city known as the Fun City above the Cloud, as it is quite similar to Las Vegas which isnt actually all that close. The primary draw is that, Genting is one of the hotspot in Malaysia where you can gamble legally. Whereas, there is also a theme park to keep the kids amused. The atmosphere located at that area is cooler than the steamy lowlands. Theme Park The cool air makes it an exhilarating experience to enjoy many outdoor rides. Whether taking leisure drives in the Antique car or experiencing the adrenaline pumping Space Shot, its a wonderful and magical adventure of fun and excitement for the family. Casino The casino at Genting offers a host of exciting international-level games, among the most popular games like for an example, Roulette, Baccarat, Blackjack, and Caribbean Stud Poker. Jackpot machines are one of the tourist attractions too. International class shows and live entertainment provide the accompanying glamour. Hotels Genting Highlands resort has approximately six hotels, which is First World Hotel, Genting Hotel, Highlands Hotel, Theme Park Hotel, Resort Hotel, Maxims Hotel and Awana Genting Highlands Golf Country Resort at the mid-hill which is total up offering up to approximately 10,000 hotel rooms. The prices for these hotels are approximately affordable where First World Hotel is one of the cheapest among all. 2 History The story of Genting, is that most Malaysians will recognize it as synonymous with the rise of its name, Hill Resort and Genting Highlands Resort are the most popular hotels in Genting Malaysia up until now. Many may not have truly appreciated the mammoth task involved in the construction and the resources and reserves mobilized to ensure what it has proven up to today to be an unprecedented successful in resort development itself. In the beginning stages, the idea of a hill resort was brought up by the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong amidst the crisp air of Cameron Highlands in 1963. Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong was working on a project on hydro-electric power at the most popular hill resort, which is patronized mainly by the British colonials seeking cool refuges from the tropical heat itself, as when he foresaw a prosperous Malaysia of the future desiring a cool-air mountain holiday resort within the reach of all Malaysians, this is when the great idea was brought upon. Besides that, on 18 Aug 1964, a technical and construction team began the task that would take approximately four years to complete the access road between Genting Sempah towards the peak of Gunung Ulu Kali. By ensuring the sound pollution and prompt construction of the hotel-resort, Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong has to spend all of his time, capital and resources, including the reserves of his family company, Kien Huat Bhd towards the making of his so called dream resort. Furthermore, since after the opening of their first hotel in 1971, Genting Highlands Resort has continued to grow from strength-to-strength. Whereas, the development of that area has continued to this present day to enhance Genting Highlands Resort as one of the premier holiday destination in the Malaysia/Asia while ensuring that the natural beauty of the rain forest is taken care of. In 1996, Genting Highlands Resort further developed its facility attraction by constructing a transportation shuttle service which is called Genting Skyway cable car which is as long as 3.38km transportation towards the hill-top. Genting Skyway is recognized as one of the Worlds Fastest Mono Cable Car in 2002 with an optimum speed of 20.7km per-hour, plus it is the Longest Cable Car in Malaysia and towards SEA region.http://www.genting.com/images/history4a.jpg Their mission is to be committed towards innovation and the adoption of new technology to achieve great competitive advantage and to pursue personnel policies and by rewarding employees which that has great performance in their montly/yearly job and contributions and also provide proper training for employees, development and opportunities for career advancement. 3 Business Genting Highlands Resort Genting Resort is one of Southeast Asias major holiday destinations in Asia and a holiday desired destination in Malaysia, attracting visitors from all over Malaysia, Singapore and all over the world, mainly the Asia-Pacific region. Hotels The six hotels at the Resort itself Maxims, Genting Hotel, Theme Park Hotel, First World Hotel, Highlands Hotel and Resort Hotel with approximately total of about 10,000 hotel rooms, an overall occupancy rate of 68% in 2003. Also, It particularly attracts tourist from all over countries like Singapore, China, Indonesia and Taiwan. Conventions Genting international convention centre is a place dedicated for Incentives, Meeting, Conventions and Exhibitions at the resort itself. Approximately over total of 2,208 functions were held at the convention centre during the year of 2003. Shopping and Food Beverage (FB) Shopping and FB like First World Plaza is a special-cooling shopping paradise in Malaysia, it comes with an offer for visitors to have an experience of dining, shopping and entertainment. First World Plaza has exactly 49 FB outlets, 87 retail shops and kiosks, 21 rides and attractions and 6 leisure and entertainment outlets under one area. A range of merchandise and products are sold at many branded retail outlets, such as Camel Active, B.U.M Equipment, Dockers, Apex Pharmacy, Levis, Nike, Addidas and many more. Genting Theme Park The main satisfaction comes from Genting Theme Park itself, which comprises exactly 51 rides and attractions up to 600 video games simulators at the Resorts Outdoor and Indoor Theme Parks and at the First World Plaza, continues to live up to its theme of giving endless and excitement fun time at the peak of Genting Malaysia. 4 S Strengths Genting Malaysia Has a strong brand name in the local market and good reputation among customers. Great location which is located in a hill-top where people can enjoy cooler weather and the breathtaking views which is wonderful. It is easy to be accessed by either car or bus about an hour drive from KL. It is also accessible by the worlds fastest and SEAs longest cable car called Genting Skyway which is 3.38km long Genting Group provides a wide range of facilities and services including hospitality and leisure business and its activities cover seaside resorts, hotels, gaming, theme parks and entertainment for the total comfort of all customers/guests. W Weakness High maintenance and cost of repairs of broken stuffs/leakage Lack of financial resources. Lack of information provided regarding the rooms rates and details in their official website. The Customer related processes are not efficient enough O Opportunities Improving their current system and offering more features and services is good chance for Genting Hotels Group to increase sales and attract more customers locally and globally. Use of Internet, social networks and blogs to attract new customers and maintain the loyalty of the excising once. Alliances with travel agencies are good opportunities for Genting Highlands to attract more guests globally. Growth of Internet users in Malaysia which brings opportunities for new market strategies T-Threat Increasing the number of hackers and unauthorized accessed through internet and some Customers still afraid of transact money through internet, they do not trust online payment because of credit card fraud. The economic is slowing down and all exterior changes. Increased the number of competitors due an expanding in the gaming market in the same region. For instance, Macau and Singapore. The highly competitive challenges in the hotels industry and the increasing the number of stronger competitors as well as the price war and the lower costs provided by competitors. 6 Physical evidence For physical evidence, the main important part is the service itself. Which is by providing good products, the company should also provide good services, for an example, the casino, and hotels. For hotels, First world hotel is as low as RM127 per night and the facilities they provide is business center, casino, coffee shop, concierge, disabled facilities, meeting facilities, restaurant, safety deposit boxes, shops. For Tune Hotel, it is RM150 per night. The facilities they provide are Air conditioning, breakfast OR 2 people room provided on hourly basis, Gym, Swimming pool, 24 hours security. There are NO casino competitors out there in the whole of Malaysia. Product For Genting Highland, they have quite a few main key products, which is that their products are separated into four categories of products. One of the types is, Theme parks for those who love to have excitement and adventure. There are also casinos, for those who are very attracted to gambling. Theres also the Genting international convention center, for those who is serious about work can held meetings there. And lastly, for every customer that goes to Genting Highland, their hotels. Place By having a good location in a business point of view is the most important of all. Genting Highland have the best strategic location anywhere else in Malaysia for relaxing, mostly its because of the cold weather only us as Malaysians can experience. It is one of the key points that will attract customers who love cold weathers in Malaysia. Pricing For pricing, there is not an issue at all. Genting Malaysia Bhd monopolizes the whole of Genting Highland. For example, if anyone were to visit Genting Highland, there would be no choice but to stay in their hotels, because they are the only hospitality service provider. In fact, if Genting Malaysia rises the prices of hotels, we would have no choice but to stay in them. Promotion For promotion, Genting Malaysia emphasize so much on their advertising that they covered everything there is to advertising. Their campaign for the company of advertising are, newspapers, TV commercials, radios, magazines, and website. They even have promotional packages that is only particular to that one season of festive. Genting Malaysia also have a member card, called World Card this card is only for members only. What privileges that members can get its by getting discounted hotel prices, and food. 7 People For people, Genting Malaysia Bhd is mostly based as a hospitality service provider for example, hotel check-in and check-out, ticket selling, and room services. These are the operations that provide with first contact to the guests or customers which will involve the staffs and facilities. It is so crucial to treat guests or customers with politeness, and friendliness, because this will help create values to guests or customers by increasing their satisfaction level. For example, their hotel lobbys are big enough so that it get crowded when there is a lot of people walking in and out, and with a lot of ticket counters there will not be a problem of slow service. Process Lastly, process. This is like behind the scene of how Genting Malaysia are able to get good staffs to operate in a daily basis. Basically there are three stages in this process, which is recruiting, training and development. About recruiting, Genting Malaysia gets their recruitment from web based, and also walk in, they will then sort out their recruitment by age, academic background, and working experience. After that, even though new or old employees will undergo training, this is to have them master their skills in facial and body language talk, and communication skills. This is somewhat the most important skills to learn of all, because if there is good customer service, there are always happy customers. Lastly, the development stage. What the development stage does is to transfer or rotate jobs around the company, this will help staffs to learn different things and develop different skills, and of course to keep the staffs excited when changing into new roles in the company. 8 Customer service issues on Genting Malaysia Internet In Genting Malaysia, when internet access is free in almost every restaurant, hotels, customers are annoyed that Genting Malaysia is continuing to charge for the fees. After the customers paid for the fees, the connection are either unreliable or very slow. Untidy room Cleanliness must be a top priority as a dirty room does not only spoil the hotel reputation but turns the customers stay into an inconvenient one. Bedbugs have been found in some of the rooms at First World Hotel. It may be due to the signs of untidiness, or dusty and smelly rooms, or unclean bathrooms. In order to gain customers loyalty, the cleanliness of hotel rooms is a top priority. Uncooperative and rude staff By having uncooperative and rude staffs, it will ruin the image of Genting Malaysia. Customer wants to be treated with pleasure and kindness. Showing bad attitudes from staffs is a major dissatisfaction Noise One of the main purpose customers stay in hotel is, relaxation. Noise pollution will make customers dissatisfied as they will not be sleeping well. Whereas, the image of the hotel will be downgraded towards customers perspective Extra Room Charge In First World Hotel, sometimes the hotel are overcharging the rooms price. Extra Room Charge is one of the most hated things that customers have to hear when they are staying in hotels. Who would want to pay for something they unknowingly spent for? Complaints in hotel never do end as long as they charge the customers for something that they do not need in the first place. Hotels must clearly indicate the cost of every service or feature that must be paid for be it the use of the television, or the food. Housekeeping Ignoring the Do Not Disturb Sign Invasion of privacy is one usual hotel complaints that customers do when they feel like the housekeeping staff is checking what they are doing in the comforts of their hotel room. The customers pay for the room to relax and not a pain in the neck. Unfortunately, housekeeping personnel follow a strict schedule when making rounds and doing room cleaning so they have no choice but to do it even if the room is currently occupied. They need to peek in to check it out whether the guest is occupying the room or not. 9 Latest Venture Genting Malaysia announce acquisition of the echelon site on the strip and outline plans to build a 2$ billion hotel-casino complex on the 87-acre development halted by the onset of the recession almost five years ago. This will help Genting Malaysia to expend their business throughout the world, and people will take notice of their business and the company will have a high reputation towards their customers. Genting Malaysia will also benefit from business from around the world, from earnings and recognition. 10 Conclusion As a conclusion, with various strengths and strategies that Genting Malaysia has, it has a high ability to take advantages of every opportunity that can bring Genting Malaysia one step ahead. Their strengths and strategies can help them to encounter any threats that come across them. It is believed that it could help Genting Malaysia in building a stronger brand name and image, also to capture a bigger market share in the hotel and theme park industry. 11 Recommendation Resort World Genting is known for city of entertainment. It is recommended for travellers who likes to gamble and so on. There are more than six hotels at Resort World Genting, the hotels consists of Genting Grand, Highlands hotel, Resort Hotel, Theme Park Hotel, First World Hotel, and Awana Genting Highlands. And there also budget motel which is located near the Theme Park, so budget travellers doesnt need to worry about spending too much money. Besides that, the Casino De Genting is another main attraction of the whole Resort World Genting. Casino De Genting is Asias Best International Casino Resort, Casino De Genting is the perfect place to be when it comes to sophisticated gaming and excitement. So for people who likes to play slots, table games, and electronic table games, Casino De Genting is the perfect place for them to hang out. For people who likes adventure, Genting outdoor theme park, water park, and First World indoor theme park is the recommended place for them. The coo l mountain air makes it an exhilarating experience to enjoy the rides at the outdoor theme park. Whether taking leisure drives in Antique car or the adrenaline pumping Flying Coaster, it is a magical adventure of excitement and fun for the guests. Besides that, the First World Indoor Theme Park features thrill rides, family rides, children rides and many other rides. It is recommended that customer who likes to play golf should pay a visit to Awana Genting Highlands Gold Country Resort. For customer who likes to hang out at night, there will be night entertainment available at Resort World Genting. For local Chinese travellers who likes culture, the Chin Swee Caves Temple will be a perfect spot for them to explore. It is located at the most scenic site of Genting Highlands. Within the temple is seated a black statue of the Reverend Master Chin Swee who has long been referred to as a deity in Fujian province for his supernatural abilities to summon rain and drive away evil spirits. 12

Friday, October 25, 2019

Lady Macbeth The Real Power Behind the Throne :: essays papers

Lady Macbeth The Real Power Behind the Throne Power is a theme used by Shakespeare throughout the play Macbeth. The plot involves Macbeth trying to gain more power. Lady Macbeth tries to convince Macbeth to kill Duncan so that he will become king in his place. Macbeth also is persuaded to kill anyone who threatens his chances of being king, including Banquo. Power is used by certain characters in the play to influence others. One such character is Lady Macbeth. In the beginning of the play, she is a strong-willed character. She takes on the role of a dominant male. She has great influence over her husband, who appears to be weaker than she is. It is her influence that convinces Macbeth to murder Duncan. Lady Macbeth is the dominant partner at the beginning of the play, she persuades Macbeth to achieve his goal, and she plans the murder of Duncan. Lady Macbeth takes the role of the dominant partner in the beginning of the play, by acting as the real power behind the throne. For example, it is easily recognized that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are opposite in many ways (Scott 236). He is weak, indecisive, and takes on the traditional female role of the marriage; she is strong, decisive, and takes on the traditional male role. One place in the play where Macbeth’s character is shown is Act I, Scene 5, Lines 15-17. She says, â€Å"Glamis thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be / What thou art promis’d : yet do I fear thy nature / Is too full o’ the milk of human kindness.† This is just after Lady Macbeth receives the letter from Macbeth. It is also important to notice that when Macbeth’s first thoughts of killing Duncan appear, he is scared. After he commits the murder, Macbeth says, â€Å"To know my deed, ‘twere best not know myself † ( 2. 2. 72 ). Knowing that he has committed such a vil e act makes him uncomfortable. It will be difficult to act innocent and deal with his guilt. Lady Macbeth thinks that being gentle is a weakness. When she says Macbeth is â€Å"too full o’ the milk of human kindness,† she means that he is too gentle and weak to murder Duncan (Scott 37). For example, in Act II, Scene 2, Lines 57-74, Macbeth has trouble dealing with the guilt of committing such a crime. He immediately wishes Duncan were alive again.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Availability Of Instructional Materials Essay

Some people learn in different ways. Some people are extraordinary good of retaining information fed to them orally and others absorb and retain a great deal of information that they’ve read. Others need visual stimulants or cues to facilitate learning. Education in Basilan State College is now experiencing a period great change, and problematic situations that can spur creative and innovative effects  towards educational experiences. The needs to restore the learners are the instructional materials, because it helps to stimulate and motivate learners. (Esu, Enukoha and umeron 2004). Education will have to project new vision and a new perspective which will expand the school of the community and make it its laboratory for the teaching-learning opportunities that will be provided. Teachers will be a key factor in education and in a culture like ours, they will still be accepted authority in the classroom. Educational facilities and instructional materials do need in improving performance, but in view of limited resources creativity and innovativeness most are experience in their used. Since all effort will involve all people, actions of education system must be directed to make all sectors like media, association and other government and non government agencies compliment rather than compete in the task in developing education so that it can contribute more substantially to the rebuilding of our nation. Instructional materials are said to be part of the instructional procedure. Thus, studies have shown that when skills are related to practical situations, attitude and improve. Inyang-Abia and Esu (1990) cited in Esu et. Al (2004) asserts that instructional materials are the pivot or which the wheel of individuals differ in so many aspects and they learn at different levels, so providing alternative resource materials is very necessary. The purpose of instruction therefore, is to help people learn. Instruction may include events that are generated by a page of prints, by a picture, by television program, or by combination of physical objects among other things. The aim of designing instruction is to activate and support learning of the individual pupil. This aim is characteristic of instruction whenever it occurs whether between a tutor and the pupil in a school classroom, an adult interest or the job setting. A fundamental reason for designing instruction is to ensure that no one educationally disadvantaged and that all pupils have equal opportunities to use their individual talents to the fullest degree. Instructional design calls for a preplanning it involves preparing a blue print of instructional development and delivery, utilizing multimedia, multi disciplinary approaches with objective of improving the teaching and learning processes on one hand. These instructional materials brought about meaningful insight and provide direction for change in education. Basic instructional materials will have to be developed very carefully since these may have in the process of education. They should provide for the desirable values and the skills and knowledge proposed to be learned in each learning level and adequately provide for mastery learning which is requisite to the achievements of quality. Good teaching is not an accident. It is thoroughly planned and organized by a teacher who has in mind the nature of the learners, the objective of the lessons and the availability of materials. All that happens inside the classroom contributes to the learner’s acquisition of knowledge, values and skills. The learning environment provides very meaningful experience not only to the learners but to the teachers as well. Good teachers become better teachers when they used appropriate materials in their classroom. Theoretical Framework Instructional materials have been defined by various authors. For example, Obanya ( 1989) viewed them as didactic materials thing which supposed to make learning and teaching possible. According to Abdullahi (1982) instructional materials or tools usually made or imported that could made  tremendous enhancement of lesson impact if intelligently used. Ikiereonwun (Isola 2010) refered to them as objects or devices, which help the teacher to make a lesson make clearer to the learner. Instructional materials are also described as concrete or physical objects which provides sound, visual or both to the sense organs during teaching (Aguina-obu) 2005). There are also instructional materials that educators use which provide creative ideas to assist in the learning process. Finally, instructional materials can help one troubleshoot a product that is not functioning properly. Instructional materials serve as the channel between the teacher and the students in delivering the instruction. They may also serve as the motivation on the teaching- learning process Instructional Materials serve as the channel between the teacher and the students in delivering the instruction. They may also serve as the motivation on the teaching- learning process. Use to get the attention of the students in order for them to experience boredom, just want to add the importance of instructional materials is that good instructional materials do not teach it encourage the learners to learn. Conceptual framework Instructional materials are in various classes. Independent Variables Dependent Variables Implication Statement of the Problem This study was conducted to determine the availability of instructional materials of the college of Health and Science in Basilan State College. Specifically, it answers the following questions. 1. What are the instructional materials use by the teacher of college of Health and Science a. Audio b. Visual c. Audiovisual 2. To what extent is the audio instructional materials used by the teacher in terms of: a. Radio b. Tape recording 3. To what extent is the visual instructional materials used by the teacher in terms of: a. Chalkboards b. Chart c. Slide d. Film Strip 4. To what extent is the audio-visual instructional materials in terms of: a. Television b. Picture c. Slide show Hypothesis of the Study The under listed hypothesis were formulated to guide these study. There are no significant difference between students taught with standard instructional materials, improvised materials and convention instruction. There is no significant relationship between availability of instructional materials and effective implementation of College of Health and Science. Significance of the Study With insights on the availability of instructional materials brought about meaningful insights and provide direction for change in education. Through the use of instructional materials the students are easily arouse their learning. Students may have different interest and abilities that determine their pace of learning. The Teacher With the use of instructional materials for the teacher in place, their instructional efficiency can be improve. The overcome of this research may help the teacher in place and load more available instructional materials in their classroom or materials. The Department This research will increase and improve the implementation of the available instructional materials to indulge the learning of the students. Scope and Delimitation of the Study Teaching materials is a generic term use to describe the resources teachers use to deliver instruction. Teaching materials can support student learning and increase student success. Teaching materials come in many shapes and sizes, but they all have in common the ability to support student learning. This study was conducted in the College of Health and Science at Basilan Sate College Isabela City Basilan. This study determines the availability of instructional materials in College of Health and Science. Teachers at all levels utilize a variety of instructional materials such as textbooks, presentations, and handouts to enhance the quality of their lessons. The quality of those materials directly impacts the quality of teaching. Knowing how to find the best instructional materials is valuable skills for a teacher. What the use of instructional materials should be useful when they used it, the students can easily gain important information. These instructional materials are used to aid the transference of information from one to another. Right for instance, a teacher may use instructional materials to aid in the learning of subject matter in the class. Instructional materials serve as the channel between the teacher and the students in delivering the instruction. They may also serve as the motivation on the teaching learning process. Definition of Terms For better comprehensive of this study, the following terms were defined: 1. Availability – The quality or state of being available (Merriam Webster) 2. Instructional Materials – Educational resources use to improve students’ knowledge, abilities, and skills to monitor their assimilation of information, and to contribute to their overall development and upbringing. 3. Students – is a learner or someone who attends an educational institution. 4. Teacher – Teacher is the one of parent who thinks good for our future and is the only person who helps us to make the decision then the right for us. 5. Needs – A need is something that is necessary for organisms to live a healthy life. Needs are distinguished from wants because a deficiency could clear a negative outcomes, such as disfunction or death. Needs can be subjective or physical, such as food, or they can be subjective and psychological, such as the need for the self – esteem. Chapter II Review of Related Literature and Studies Some people say that learning can be learned through the use of visual-aids and as a matter of fact, 75% of learning can be acquired through the sense of sight. Now a days students are very much particular with its comes to the teachers visual-aids. Sometimes they find the discussion boring if the teacher didn’t provide their visual-aids. Traditional instructional materials are the materials traditionally use by the teachers to their students in teaching their lessons. It includes the use of textbook, chalk, board, marker, charts and flash cards. These are the common materials that help the teachers to explain the lessons clearly. Instructional materials These are materials that are use to aid the transference of information from one to another. For example, a teacher may use instructional materials to aid in the learning of subject matter for a class. These instructional materials could include power point presentations (visual aids). Books Articles The list can go on and on some call them instructional materials while others may call learning or teaching aids. Instructional materials serve as the channel between the teacher and the students in delivering the instruction. They may also serve or the motivation on the teaching learning process. Students learn principally through interactions with people (teachers and peers) and instructional materials (textbooks, workbooks, instructional software, web-based content, homework, projects, quizzes, and tests). But education policymakers focus primarily on factors removed from those interactions, such as academic standards, teacher evaluation systems, and school accountability policies. It’s as if the medical profession worried about the administration of hospitals and patient insurance but paid no attention to the treatments that doctors give their patients. There is strong evidence that the choice of instructional materials has large effects on student learning—effects that rival in size those that are associated with differences in teacher effectiveness. But whereas improving teacher quality through changes in the preparation and professional development of teachers and the human resources policies surrounding their employment is challenging, expensive, and time-consuming, making better choices among available instructional materials should be relatively easy, inexpensive, and quick. Student learning occurs primarily through interactions with people (teachers and peers) and instructional materials (textbooks, workbooks, instructional software, web-based content, homework, projects, quizzes, and tests). The contexts within which these interactions  occur are surely important. The effectiveness of teachers, the behavior of peers, and the instructional materials with which students have the opportunity to interact are affected by layers of influences that range from circumstances in the home, to leadership in the school, to the international macro-economy and everything in between. But students do not engage in instructional interactions with the governance mechanism for their school or with state standards or with a school district’s evaluation system for teachers or with collective bargaining agreements or with the leadership qualities of their school principal—they learn by engaging in cognitive processes that are triggered and shaped by interactions with people and instructional materials. The balance between attention to context and attention to instruction has come to be substantially out-of-kilter among education policymakers.2 It is as if the managers of a professional sports team spent most of their time and resources on the layout of the stadium, the advertising of the games, the logistics of travel, and the equipment in the weight room while giving little attention to playing the game itself. Instructional interactions are the core of student learning but policymakers attend mostly to context. We must give priority to the education policies that are most likely to improve instructional interactions if we are going to achieve substantial progress in student achievement. CHAPTER III RESEARCH DESIGN AND PROCEDURES These chapters discuss the Research Methodology, Instructional Materials and Achievement Grades, Survey Data and Survey Population and Instrument. METHODOLOGY An instructional material has been shown to have positive impact on teaching and learning in classrooms (Baylor and Ritchie, 2002). For this study, instruction materials were defined as all the materials and equipment that  are used to enhance the teaching and learning process, specifically chalkboards, flip charts, locally available resources, overhead projectors, videos, and computers. The academic achievements in the College of Health and Science could be attributed to many factors among which teachers strategy itself was considered as an important factor. The teaching without instructional materials may certainly result in poor academic achievements. The availability of instructional materials has been found to the consistently positive determinant of academic achievement. In addition to studying the effects of availability of instructional materials like textbooks on achievement it is important to know the extent to which the instructional materials being used in the College of Health and Science to the learning needs of the students in the said college. The purpose of this study was to survey students to determine what instructional materials were available in the teacher training colleges. INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS There have been several studies on instructional materials and academic achievement. For instance, Momoh (Isola, 2010), conducted a research on the effects of instructional resources on students’ performance in West Africa School Certificate. Examinations (WASCE) in Kwara State. He correlated material resources with academic achievements of students in ten subjects. Data were collected from the subject teachers in relation to the resources employed in the teaching. The achievements of students in WASCE for the past five years were related to the resources available for teaching each of the subjects. He concluded that material resources have a significant effect on student’s achievement in each of the subjects. In the same manner, Moronfola (1982) carried out a research in Ilorin Local Government Area of Kwara State. She used questionnaires to collect data on the material resources available for the teaching of some selected subjects  in ten secondary schools and related these to students’ achievements in each of the selected subjects and to the amount of resources available for the teaching of the subjects. Finding showed a significant effect of material resources on the students’ academic performance in these subjects. In the same vein, Popoola (1990) investigated the effect of instructional resources on the academic achievements of students in Ogun State. Five secondary schools in Abeokuta were used for this study. Questionnaires were designed to elicit responses on instructional materials that were available for the teaching and learning of each of the three school subjects he examined. He collected WASC examination results for five years and compared achievements of students in schools with adequate material resources and achievements of students in schools with inadequate material resources. He found a significant difference in the achievements of the two sets of students. The schools with adequate instructional materials performed better than those with inadequate instructional materials. The absence instructional materials in the school were great limitation to a number of teachers. Administrators should be aware of the importance of the instructional materials as an instructional tool and provide it to the teacher. Like for instance, textbooks and exercise books are the most important teaching/learning aids. In this study it was found that in general teachers had textbooks for the subjects they were teaching. THE SURVEY DATA There are several ways that surveys can reach respondents for completion. A researcher can contact respondents by mailing the surveys to them and wait for their responses. The advantages with mail out surveys are that the researcher is able to reach participants who are scattered and cannot easily be met in person, and also that respondents have ample time to think of the answer. On the other hand, mailing has a disadvantage because in many cases response rate is low, and the researcher must make several attempts to remind participants to respond (Ary, Jacobs and Razavieh, 2002, Fowler, 2002, Rea and Parker, 1997). In this study the researcher administered the survey in person, one by one. Despite the time and expense incurred, this approach helped the researcher to have a high response rate (Ary, Jacobs, and Razavieh, 2002), since the surveys were collected immediately after completion. Another advantage was that since the respondents were clustered at their classes it was possible to get almost all respondents at the same time and allow them to fill in the surveys at the same time. In addition, as Ary, Jacobs, and Razavieh (2002) put it, â€Å"the researcher is present [and can] provide assistance or answer questions† about the items. SURVEY POPULATION AND INSTRUMENT The population for the survey was derived from the ten (10) respondents in the College of Health and Science. The instrument used in this study were self-design contains of 7 items and 2 choices or options the â€Å"Yes or No â€Å". The respondents are the students of College of Health and Science an we gathered at least 10 respondents in the said college. The students were made to check the answer of the survey questionnaire. The survey questionnaire was use to measure the achievements of the students in the College of Health and Science through the use of various instructional materials through the contribution also of their teachers. And it was used to measure how does these instructional materials affecting the grades pr the achievement grades of the students in the College of Health and Science.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Enron Corporation Essay

I  Ã‚   The Beginning When Enron Corporation declared a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2001, it left the public especially its investors and stockholders reeling from such financial scandal and collapse.   Enron had allegedly overstated its profits by $586 million since 1997 in order to protect the firm’s balance sheet and practiced insider trading as well fraud and conspiracy. Enron had been the seventh largest company in the United States and had been one of the largest financial contributors to the Presidential elections, especially the Bush family. To the outside world, Enron portrayed a picture of success.   However, upon closure inspection on the inside, Enron was on the brink of collapse. When Enron’s stock price hit its highest at $90, the executives who allegedly knew of the offshore accounts of Enron started selling their respective shares and to encouraged the public to continue buying the said stocks.   However, the executives knew that the stock prices would not increase anymore but still reassured the public and its investors that the prices of stock would reach a high $130-140 per share. By August 2001, Enron’s stock prices had dropped from $90 to a measly $42. It became evident that the company had fraudulently induced and fooled the public, investors and stockholders to buying the company’s stocks and shares. Amidst all these, Enron founder and former chairman Kenneth Lay continued to reassure the public to remain calm, and asked the investors to buy the company’s shares as the company will regain its profits in the succeeding months. Nonetheless, in October of 2001, the stocks plunged to $15 but the investors saw this as an opportunity to buy Enron stocks at such low prices. But the truth about the company’s financial standing became public and the stock price finally hit rock bottom at $1 per share. II   Basis of the Charges Stockholders and investors gathered and instituted a class-action suit against Enron and its officers in order to recover the millions of investment they made on Enron as result of the false representation and fraud by the company. Enron top executives specifically its Chief Executive Officers, Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were charged and convicted with the collapse of the energy giant. Kenneth Lay faced seven counts of fraud and conspiracy while Skilling faced 31 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors about Enron’s financial position. In 1987, Enron auditors found out a billion-dollar oil trading scandal in its New York offices.   Traders had been engaged in this kind of practice – falsifying transactions in order to boost their volume and profit thereby fattening their bonuses as well. Although CEO Kenneth Lay knew of this, he did not fire the traders nor contacted the authorities in order to cover up their problems. But this incident did not deter the traders and six months later, competitors began to grow suspicious because if word got out, Enron’s trading partners could have demanded that the company cover its positions with cash, which the company did not have (Fowler).   Thus, the traders were fired and charged but not until they were able to transfer million of dollars into their personal accounts.   Enron for its part was able to get away by bluffing the market and reported $85 million in loss but sources claim that the loss totalled to at least $135 million. CEO Jeffrey Skilling, who joined Enron in 1990, did not care much about the expenses incurred by the company as long as the margins looked good.   He was also more concerned with the revenues increases and widening profit margins instead of the cash flows which was practiced by his predecessor. So enamoured were the top executives in increasing business profit that when a deal failed or fell apart, more effort was placed into hiding the consequences instead of rectifying and owning up to the problem.   After taking over as chief operating officer, he renewed the almost non-existent post of chief financial officer and delegated many of the management responsibilities. In theory, Enron had mechanisms that would assess risk and accurately report financial numbers. These mechanisms required that deals should be strictly analyzed which included review by the legal department of the originating unit, the corporate legal department, chief risk officer and chief accounting officer.   However, due to the insidious practice of the company, auditors and accountants were bullied to over ride the system and departments were able to determine the total value of their proposals by manipulating the long-term price of whatever product was sold or bought.   The company also used a â€Å"mark-to-market† accounting system pushed by Skilling which allows a company to report as current revenue the total value of a deal over its projected lifetime (Fowler). This system made earning appear good which in turn pumped up the stock prices and increased the value of stocks which executives received as bonuses. III Trial As the stunned investors witnessed Enron’s stock prices plunged, the government began a massive crackdown on the executives who were responsible for the collapse of the company, and would end up in the conclusion of convincing and proving to the jury that Lay and Skilling, the two top executives of the company, where guilty of massive fraud and were thus guilty. Government prosecutors were at first overwhelmed with the girth of the corporate fraud.   Nevertheless, they began to take measures to respond to these kinds of crimes and a barrage of criminal and civil investigations and prosecutions began to surface.   Thus, in 2002, the Presidential Corporate Fraud Task Force filed criminal charges against more than 900 defendants, of which 60 are chief executive or president level and successfully prosecuted or convicted 500 of them. The case against Lay and Skilling were heard by US District Judge Sim Lake and lasted nearly four months while the jury deliberated for six days.   The defense counsel initially attempted to persuade the judge to move the trial away from Houston, Enron’s hometown as they were afraid that the jury might be influenced by anger due to the resulting loss of jobs and money and would see them as a way of revenge. Kenneth Lay faced seven counts of fraud and conspiracy fraud and conspiracy while Skilling on the other hand, faced 31 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors about Enron’s financial position.   Although both asserted their innocence of the charges against them, they were convicted for a total of 29 criminal counts as well as conspiracy to hide the failing health of the company by selling boosterich optimism to Wall Street and the public (MSNBC). Lay, who was convicted to 6 counts of conspiracy, securities and wire fraud in the corporate trial and 4 counts on separate personal banking trial, surrendered his passport and posted a $5 million bond secured by the family.   His sentence also carried a maximum penalty of 45 years in prison for the corporate trial while 120 years in personal trial respectively.   Ã‚  Skilling on the other hand, was convicted by 19 counts out of the 28 charged as well as one count of insider trading while being acquitted with the remaining charges. The charges against   these Enron top executives prospered as other executives turned the table and plead guilty in their respective charges in order to receive lower sentences than that prescribed.   Among the former employees who testified against Lay and Skilling was Ben Glisan who is now serving a 5-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy.   According to Glisan, both Lay and Skilling knew that the company was in deep financial trouble but tried to hide it instead. Ultimately, the jury rejected Skilling’s defense that no fraud happened at Enron save for those committed by a number of executives skimming millions in secret side deals, while bad publicity and poor market confidence resulted in the collapse of the energy giant. III. Effects of the Enron Collapse As the jurors found that these once-wealthy and powerful executives repeatedly lied to cover up the real position of the company by covering up accounting and auditing failures which eventually led to its collapse in 2001, the left a devastating effect in the business world as well as the lives of the investors and shareholders.   The demise of Enron wiped out more than $60 billion in market value, almost $2.1 billion in retirement savings and costs more than 5,600 to lose their jobs. The anger of the public over the recent corporate scandals led to the passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was designed to make company executives more accountable. Although public distrust for white-collar trial could not actually reverse the damage done to investor confidence, the Lay and Skilling trial however has become a start of a healing process for public-investor relations to be righted again. IV Timothy Belden    Apart from the other key witnesses who were former Enron employees and who testified against the top two Enron officials, Timothy Belden particularly made the charges against Lay and Skilling stick, ending in their conviction.   Belden who was the first person to be charged in the manipulation of Western Energy markets, initially engaged in lengthy dance with federal officials over his plea and eventual cooperation in testifying against Lay and Skilling.   He pleaded guilty in 2002 to conspiracy and admitted that he gave false information to California’s electrical grid operators.   Belden is also said to be the â€Å"mastermind behind the strategies described† in memos that spelled out how Enron manipulated the California market (Schreiber). Beginning in the mid-nineties, California was among the first states to deregulate electricity.   The deregulation occurred just as when companies were leaving the state in numbers thereby creating a recession. The deregulation was supposed to reduce the ten percent of the tax payers’ bill while breaking the old methods of greedy companies.   As California deregulated the wholesale side of its energy markets, it also kept price caps in the retail side. It coincided with the State’s decision to bar utilities from signing long-term cheap fixed prices which forced them to into an unpredictable market.   Thus, the utilities were made to pay exorbitant prices but were not able to pass on to their consumers the prices they incurred.   Enron promised to deliver power more efficiently and build new plants that can run on cheaper fuels. Commencing in 1998 until 2001, Belden as well as other executives from Enron devised a fraudulent scheme in order to obtain increased revenue for Enron from wholesale electricity consumers and other market participants in the State of California. The schemes perpetrated by Belden and the other Enron executives required them to submit false information to the companies supplied by Enron and misrepresented the nature of electricity which the company was supposed to supply. Despite being paid to relieve congestion, the company however, did not do so and instead imported as well as exported electricity in order to receive higher prices from the companies they supply. Of particular interest in the course of the trial is a transcript of conversation between Belden and one of the operators of the power plant wherein the two discussed shutting down one of Reliant’s power plants in California to create a shortage in order for the prices to skyrocket. As the scheme worked, causing the power prices to arrive at high and unjust levels in California, it thereby became illegal under the Federal Energy Policy Act. In his testimony, he called California’s post-deregulation power market dysfunctional and said his company bought cheap electricity in the Northwest to sell in California at a profit (Baker). This practice created the appearance among consumers that there was shortage of electricity, thereby having the need to jack up the prices. Enron was able to pocket off almost $1 billion in a period of nine months in 2000 and 2001. Belden admitted however, that he only met with Lay and Skilling once during a colleague’s party.   But nevertheless, Belden’s testimony proved to be a very crucial one as it confirmed and proved that Lay and Skilling knew of what was happening in California but turned to hide it instead. As company vice-president and head of Enron’s West Coast trading operation, Belden supervised a staff of 120 that went from $50 million in earnings in 1999 to $800 million in 2001, while California’s power markets disintegrated into panic and sky-high prices. When one of Enron’s lawyers started investigating these â€Å"irregularities† as a response to the investigation conducted by the California Public Utility Commission. The lawyers found out of Enron’s tactic of using advantage of the energy crisis and revealed through a memo that Enron created false congestion lines, transferred energy in and out of state to avoid price caps and charged for services the company never actually provided (Swartz).   And yet, inspite of the information the lawyer gave to the top executives, and traders have been told to return the money made on improper trading, the executives at Enron still decided against it despite knowing that the practice was illegal.   For Belden and the other traders, sending the money back would mean that the other companies will know what Enron was doing.   Nevertheless, Belden and Enron continued on with the practice.   Skilling, on the other hand, fully knew well of the said practice by the company in 2001 as he was already tipped by one of the executives who learned of the previous investigation. During examination, Belden admitted to US District Judge Martin Jenkins that he did it because he was trying to maximize profit for Enron. Belden claimed that he was only following Enron’s instructions as he handled his trades (CBS News).   According to Belden’s counsel, Enron knew fully well of Belden’s action but was never disciplined nor sanctioned at all. In fact, Belden may have reaped bonus for such practice as revenues from his trading unit climbed from $50 million in 1999 to $500 million in 2000 to $800 million in 2001.     When he was charged with conspiracy, Belden after a long time of dealing and negotiating with the federal government, decided to turn against Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, claiming that the two top executives knew of the practice he and other traders did as indicated by the internal company memos which described how Enron took power out of California at a time of rolling blackouts and shortages and how it sold out of state to elude price caps (CBS News).

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Maslows Hierarchy Of Needs Questions 1-4 Essays - Happiness

Maslows Hierarchy Of Needs Questions 1-4 Essays - Happiness Maslows Hierarchy Of Needs Questions 1-4 September 24TH 2015 1.Using your Everyday Encounters textbook as your reference, provide a brief description of Maslows Hierarchy of Needs in your own words. Explain briefly how communication helps us meet our needs (3 pts.). I believe we need communication in everyday life, its how we survive. Maslows hierarchy of needs starts with what I think is important, self-esteem needs are what we need to respect ourselves, to be values and to be respected by others. We strive for self-confidence in everyday life, we want to be better than we were yesterday. Thats how we communicate to ourselves to grow and succeed. 2.Select one of the eight needs on the hierarchy. Provide a definition of that need (3 pt.). The rest of the assignment will focus on this need Self-esteem needs are most important, they are competence, approval and recognition. -Competence is having suitable or sufficient skills, knowledge, and experience -Approval is valuing and respecting ourselves and being valued and respected by others. We communicate through our mind to respect our selves -Recognition is confirmation that another person exists, we do this by non-verbal Behaviours such as a smile or a touch or even verbally by saying things such as Hello nice to meet you. 3.Reflect on a time when you used interpersonal communication in order to meet that need. Explain the situation, who was involved, what you and the other person or people communicated, and how your need was met (6 pts.) When I decided to come out as gay, I had to communicate with my family to let them Who I was. I was so nervous to talk but once I started speaking I was calm. My family sat there and listened then reassured me that it was ok that they love and respect me no matter what. Communicating helped meet my needs by putting self confidence in myself. 4.Consider your future workplace (i.e. addictions) where you will work with clients from different walks of life. Provide an example of a situation in which you will use communication to help someone meet the need you selected (6 pts.). Becoming a counsellor if someone came to me with a situation like mine they were having a hard time coming out to their family, I would tell them about my experience about coming out to my family because I have that knowledge. I then would make sure they are confident in themselves that they would have the approval they need from their parent (example: are they comfortable with other people who are gay) I then would ask the client if they respect them self well enough to be sure that this is what they want. I would make sure he recognises that I am understanding and listening well too him by showing empathy for them. Communication allows your voice to be heard. .

Monday, October 21, 2019

Free Essays on Dark Lady

One of the many intriguing aspects of Shakespeare's Sonnets is the identity of the principal characters within them, of which there are three: The Young Man, the Dark lady, and the Rival Poet. Nowhere in the Sonnets are these people explicitly identified and their anonymity has spawned much debate as to who these people could have been. The content of the Sonnets that refer to these people however, undoubtedly show that these were indeed real, living people and not imaginary inventions by the author for the sake of literary exercise. â€Å"They are love poetry beyond what was considered love poetry by the Petrarchan sonneteers [†¦] they are, often, ingenious exercises in wit-verbal, rhetorical, logical. They are not in any way poems meant to be overheard. They speak, most of the time, to a persona, perhaps invented, and perhaps derived, in some way from an actual person. They are lyric poems, expressing mainly feelings that any capable reader can respond to as profound and true. But they are poems of the second voice, poems addressed to an audience of one or more [†¦] The persona of the hearer enables the reader to participate in the poem in a more active way than is possible for the [sic] over hearer [†¦] this is the kind of poem that only a dramatist could write. Even in the compass of the sonnets, all the worlds a stage†(Hallett 79). This is something that every critic of Shakespeare’s sonnets knows. But what is still questionable is who he is saying everything too. In most love poems he has a certain listener in mind. In Shakespeare’s case he writes to two people, â€Å"A young man who is fair and socially and morally superior, and a woman who is dark, dishonest, and down right damnable†(Malabika 347). Sonnets 127-152 are mostly directed to the dark lady. Shakespeare describes her as â€Å"black as hell, with black eyes and brow, and black wires in place of hair on her head†(Malabika 347). He says this about her but yet tal... Free Essays on Dark Lady Free Essays on Dark Lady One of the many intriguing aspects of Shakespeare's Sonnets is the identity of the principal characters within them, of which there are three: The Young Man, the Dark lady, and the Rival Poet. Nowhere in the Sonnets are these people explicitly identified and their anonymity has spawned much debate as to who these people could have been. The content of the Sonnets that refer to these people however, undoubtedly show that these were indeed real, living people and not imaginary inventions by the author for the sake of literary exercise. â€Å"They are love poetry beyond what was considered love poetry by the Petrarchan sonneteers [†¦] they are, often, ingenious exercises in wit-verbal, rhetorical, logical. They are not in any way poems meant to be overheard. They speak, most of the time, to a persona, perhaps invented, and perhaps derived, in some way from an actual person. They are lyric poems, expressing mainly feelings that any capable reader can respond to as profound and true. But they are poems of the second voice, poems addressed to an audience of one or more [†¦] The persona of the hearer enables the reader to participate in the poem in a more active way than is possible for the [sic] over hearer [†¦] this is the kind of poem that only a dramatist could write. Even in the compass of the sonnets, all the worlds a stage†(Hallett 79). This is something that every critic of Shakespeare’s sonnets knows. But what is still questionable is who he is saying everything too. In most love poems he has a certain listener in mind. In Shakespeare’s case he writes to two people, â€Å"A young man who is fair and socially and morally superior, and a woman who is dark, dishonest, and down right damnable†(Malabika 347). Sonnets 127-152 are mostly directed to the dark lady. Shakespeare describes her as â€Å"black as hell, with black eyes and brow, and black wires in place of hair on her head†(Malabika 347). He says this about her but yet tal...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Monoclonius - Facts and Figures

Monoclonius - Facts and Figures Name: Monoclonius (Greek for single sprout); pronounced MAH-no-CLONE-ee-us Habitat: Woodlands of North America Historical Period: Late Cretaceous (75 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 15 feet long and one ton Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Moderate size; large, frilled skull with single horn About Monoclonius If Monoclonius hadnt been named by the famous paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in 1876, after a fossil specimen discovered in Montana, it might long ago have receded into the mists of dinosaur history. Today, many paleontologists believe that the type fossil of this ceratopsian should properly be assigned to Centrosaurus, which had a strikingly similar, massively ornamented frill and one big horn jutting out of the end of its snout. Complicating matters further is the fact that most Monoclonius specimens appear to be of juveniles or sub-adults, which has made it more difficult to compare these two horned, frilled dinosaurs on a conclusive adult-to-adult basis. One common misconception about Monoclonius is that it was named after the single horn on its snout (its name is often mistranslated from the Greek as single horn). In fact, the Greek root clonius means sprout, and Cope was referring to the structure of this ceratopsians teeth, not its skull. In the same paper in which he created the genus Monoclonius, Cope also erected Diclonius, about which we know next to nothing other than that it was a type of hadrosaur (duck-billed dinosaur) roughly contemporary with Monoclonius. (We wont even mention two other obscure ceratopsians that Cope named before Monoclonius, Agathaumas and Polyonax.) Although it is now considered to be a nomen dubiumthat is, a doubtful nameMonoclonius gained a lot of traction in the paleontology community in the decades after its discovery. Before Monoclonius was eventually synonymized with Centrosaurus, researchers managed to name no fewer than sixteen separate species, many of which have since been promoted to their own genera. For example, Monoclonius albertensis is now a species of Styracosaurus; M. montanensis is now a species of Brachyceratops; and M. belli is now a species of Chasmosaurus.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Dental Office Network Systems Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Dental Office Network Systems - Case Study Example Despite the robustness of the proposed network, the report will details its risks along with its benefits. Network Requirements The entire organization, which has five offices, must connect to a central repository where all data will be stored. Because of this reason, proposed network must have a server to store all files for the five offices. In addition, the need for a fast and reliable network calls for a fast network connection that supports high throughput such as T1 lines. In the new organization, four dentists are mobile, which calls for a provision of remote connectivity such as VPN along with switching services using routers and layer three switches. With the network responsible for securing patient’s data as per HIPPA laws, the network must allow data encryption and authentication of users who access the network. Safety of Information Safety of patient’s data is an paramount goal the proposed network must address effectively. Since the organization will be dea ling with crucial information about patients, all information about patients including admission and treatment records be safe and secure. This will be possible if the files server will encrypt data using encryption such as EAS. Moreover, the network must protect data during transmission using encryption techniques and technologies such as VPN. Among the five offices, the network must allow senders and recipients of data to authenticate before transmission of data. The VPN technologies will mobile workers to connect to the central file server securely without compromising on safety of data (Baldauf & Stair, 2011). The network must also have a firewall and intrusion detection system to prevent any unauthorized access to the organization’s data. Users will also need to authenticate their devices before using the network especially wireless access points due to security concerns. Network Type, Components, Devices, and Equipment for the Network A metropolitan network (MAN) system is the best network type that will match the requirement of the new organization. A MAN network has the capacity to span several cities and capable of delivering high bandwidth connections using existing telecommunication lines (Morley & Parker, 2009). The proposed network will have several components to link the five offices and the remote workers. Consequently, the proposed network will have five routers connected with serial cables in a mesh topology. These routers connect to layer three switches to enable packet switching and separation of departments using VLANS. The switches must have at least enough number of ports and support security protocols such as IPSEC. For remote workers, each will have a laptop and a VPN enabled dongle that will allow them establish a secure connection to the central database. With security being a vital issue, devices such as firewalls and backups devices must be located within the network to improve security and recovery process. Most important, t he network must have a network server that will store all data and identifiable using a static IP address and a secondary backup in the cloud to provide continuity during an outage. The servers must have power backup and standby power generators not to mention hot swap features to avoid taking the server offline during service. Network Design Diagram The network diagram for the proposed netw

Friday, October 18, 2019

Is charity sufficient in an age of capitalism Essay

Is charity sufficient in an age of capitalism - Essay Example As such, organizations will only venture into CSR as charity and when it suits them, and therefore rendering charity unsustainable. In the article, Friedman’s main idea or central argument is that since CSR has never been defined, it has always been taken for organizational charity. Not only is the noun phrase CSR to vague to instill meaningful obligations on the side of organizations, but the same is also wrongfully through its assumptions assigns organizations the roles of a natural person. An organization cannot decide on its own to engage in CSR, outside the will of its executives, stakeholders and owners. What is at stake here is that organizations are using the vagueness in the definition of CSR to exploit the environment without giving back (Friedman, 3). Friedman is advancing his argument on the basis of his authority in academics, since he served as an economist, statistician and lecturer. It is obvious that his argument is also informed with personal experience and history from which he had made observations as a scholar and an employee. There European Commission’s insight on CSR seems to contradict Friedman’s perspective, since it sees CSR as a strong catalyst for social development. Nevertheless, despite EU’s insight appearing to be antithetical to my thesis statement, yet it does not sufficiently annihilate my standpoint since the EU has regulations on CSR that organizations and enterprises have to adhere to. This still indirectly supports my statement that CSR is too vague a concept to bring positive change. This vagueness has underpinnings in the fact that CSR is inadequately defined. Because of this inadequate definition, organizations through their executives and stakeholders are left to surmise for themselves, the optionality of engaging in the same, and the extent to which CSR should be pursued. Thus, even an organization which contributes only 200 US dollars to the society can still brag about having participated in

Destruction Art of Yoko Ono Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Destruction Art of Yoko Ono - Research Paper Example The research paper "Destruction Art of Yoko Ono" highlights Yoko Ono’s work based on â€Å"destruction art†. The life of Ono and her work received misunderstanding from many people. The art was an ethical matter where the survivors tried exposing the violence and their histories. Most of the artists were both concerned with destruction of physical materials and objects and using media to address the issues of violence and destruction. In the entire career of Yoko Ono, she defied the usual contemporary of arts by making use of the concept power to convey the philosophical and aesthetic meaning. Yoko Ono’s work has since addressed the issues related to destruction through modification of objects, presentation of objects, conceptual instructions, and conceptual performance. Incorporating the issues of destruction in her work, promoted creative thinking, drawing the destruction reality hides in the social and physical body. Most of her works are an annexed with the u nusual experiences in the beginning of her life. Today, Yoko is an artist that was influential because he pushed the boundaries of film, art, and music and theatre media. Yoko Ono’s ideas and work had an enormous influence on a whole generation in 60s and early 70s. It has remained a crucial mark in the development of various forms of art in every part of the world today. Yoko Ono used intangible and ephemeral materials to draw the audience back to the philosophical and conceptual state. She plays with silence and noise and created temporary pieces from shadows and touch.

Compensation strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Compensation strategy - Essay Example Improvements in the strategy would be suggested at the end of the paper. McDonalds, in its values, regards its employees as an important part of the system. They state that they are committed to their people and ‘provide opportunity, nurture talent, develop leaders and reward achievement’ (Mission and Values, 2013). A typical McDonald’s restaurant has 8 levels of hierarchy. These are shown in Figure 1. In each restaurant, McDonalds usually employs 60 individuals. These mainly consist of the crew members who occupy the lowest rung of the organizational hierarchy. The job of the crew members is clear cut without them having to take any decisions. They have to prepare the food the standard way, serve the customers and maintain an efficient work and service flow within the restaurant. Above the crew members are the training crew, floor managers, shift running floor managers, trainee managers and assistant mangers. Like the job of the crew members, the job of these employees is also quite standard. Each day, they have to follow the same steps without them having to take any decisions or choices in their roles. The managers are the controlling head of the restaurant. They are responsible for running the daily operations within the restaurant and have to handle and monitor the rest of the employees. These managers are responsible for sales of the restaurant and for providing training to the employees placed below them. McDonald’s in UAE, similar to McDonalds is every other country hires on the basis on equal opportunity. McDonalds has a strong commitment towards diversity and inclusion. It therefore disregards any difference of color, race, religion, age or gender when employing or paying its workers. The average salary of an employee within McDonald’s varies from region to region. In most countries, employees are paid on hourly basis. However, in UAE, hourly pay is not common and employees are paid

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Managing Information 1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Managing Information 1 - Assignment Example It is important because in the absence of long term information and corporate strategies, it is not possible for the company to succeed (Faulkner, 2013). ALIGNMENT STRATEGIES Companies adopt different alignment strategies because there is no single structure for a business strategic plan that would fit with every company effectively. An effective information and corporate strategy must communicate effectively among all levels of employees whether they are management or are in the rank and file. Currently it is a recognized fact that knowledge is essential for managers for their organizations to survive and prosper. Information systems are also important for the effective implementation of corporate strategies because it controls organizational ability and enables competitive advantages to companies. A strategic plan is not the same as an operational plan because it is creative and perceptive and evaluates things in the long run (Aloufi & Kabir, 2013). Case Study The role of informati on management is to support corporate strategies. This case study is about â€Å"Tree Top Incorporated†. The company needed to improve the customer services to increase revenues and also to for greater margins for stock-holders. They decided that replacing their existing software would upgrade business processes because their current software was not adequate to meet customer demands. The management of Tree Top Inc also perceived this as an opportunity to move forward their corporate goals by aligning the new software with corporate strategies. Although they had decided to change their existing systems in phases, they had to make sure that the new systems would get the desired results in the shortest time possible. They also had to ensure that the new system would help measure their progress in the achievement of their goals. The management decided that â€Å"Intentia† Application Suite suited their requirements because it was designed specifically with aligning market ing information with corporate strategies (Thompson, 2006). Planning the Strategy To implement the new marketing software with corporate goals, a team of Tree Top and Intentia started the project. The team met separately for each business operation and met with respective management representatives for each operational activity. The first and most important aspect was to include Tree Top’s business strategies in software such as how many people were involved in monthly estimation of the amount of product to be created and sold. This included other data, such as product groups, markets, locations and monetary information. It was also recommended that customer service be calculated by â€Å"crucial functioning conditions†. Overeaters Anonymous (OA) recommended operational activities that had a direct bearing on â€Å"Key Performance Indicators† such as improving order entry/maintenance which would work very well with the order metric. This could probably mean that maintenance improvements the company’s return on equity. Other essential business activities such as sales, production would improve by selecting the appropriate personnel to implement the best practices which would in essence improve overall corporate strategies which numbered around thirty five best practices . It was practically not possible to implement all thirty five best practices, so it was decreased to the nine best practices w

The Guest Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Guest - Essay Example In this case, the French did not consider the conflict created by ordering Daru to bring a fellow countryman, albeit an alleged criminal, to French authorities. Desolation is symbolized by Daru's character. He is from the impoverished region, and as a school teacher there, he was ". . . satisfied with the little he had . . ." (373) and, "Everywhere else, he felt exiled" (373). Camus closes the story saying, "In this vast landscape he had loved so much, he was alone" (383) A greater meaning was that Daru followed his conscience, instead of following orders, by not delivering the Arab to the authorities. This reflects his contempt for being under the French government's authority; he made it clear to Balducci by saying, "I won't hand him over" (376). However, it was "with heavy heart" (383) that he sees the Arab walking in the direction of prison instead of possible freedom, after Daru shows him the two different directions, gives him provisions for two days and leaves him. This, according to Thomas Arp, is a demonstration of ". . . the unpredictability of the consequences of human choices in unfriendly conditions" (386). Overall, the characters are believable and the plot is realistic; it is well crafted fiction. Its success stems from its historical setting, just before the Algerian War, 1954-1962, when Algeria rebelled against French rule and won independence.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Managing Information 1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Managing Information 1 - Assignment Example It is important because in the absence of long term information and corporate strategies, it is not possible for the company to succeed (Faulkner, 2013). ALIGNMENT STRATEGIES Companies adopt different alignment strategies because there is no single structure for a business strategic plan that would fit with every company effectively. An effective information and corporate strategy must communicate effectively among all levels of employees whether they are management or are in the rank and file. Currently it is a recognized fact that knowledge is essential for managers for their organizations to survive and prosper. Information systems are also important for the effective implementation of corporate strategies because it controls organizational ability and enables competitive advantages to companies. A strategic plan is not the same as an operational plan because it is creative and perceptive and evaluates things in the long run (Aloufi & Kabir, 2013). Case Study The role of informati on management is to support corporate strategies. This case study is about â€Å"Tree Top Incorporated†. The company needed to improve the customer services to increase revenues and also to for greater margins for stock-holders. They decided that replacing their existing software would upgrade business processes because their current software was not adequate to meet customer demands. The management of Tree Top Inc also perceived this as an opportunity to move forward their corporate goals by aligning the new software with corporate strategies. Although they had decided to change their existing systems in phases, they had to make sure that the new systems would get the desired results in the shortest time possible. They also had to ensure that the new system would help measure their progress in the achievement of their goals. The management decided that â€Å"Intentia† Application Suite suited their requirements because it was designed specifically with aligning market ing information with corporate strategies (Thompson, 2006). Planning the Strategy To implement the new marketing software with corporate goals, a team of Tree Top and Intentia started the project. The team met separately for each business operation and met with respective management representatives for each operational activity. The first and most important aspect was to include Tree Top’s business strategies in software such as how many people were involved in monthly estimation of the amount of product to be created and sold. This included other data, such as product groups, markets, locations and monetary information. It was also recommended that customer service be calculated by â€Å"crucial functioning conditions†. Overeaters Anonymous (OA) recommended operational activities that had a direct bearing on â€Å"Key Performance Indicators† such as improving order entry/maintenance which would work very well with the order metric. This could probably mean that maintenance improvements the company’s return on equity. Other essential business activities such as sales, production would improve by selecting the appropriate personnel to implement the best practices which would in essence improve overall corporate strategies which numbered around thirty five best practices . It was practically not possible to implement all thirty five best practices, so it was decreased to the nine best practices w

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Equality Act Essay Example for Free

Equality Act Essay Learning intentions: Investigating the legislation that protects all groups covered Breaking down the key features of the legislation Assessing the ways in which the legislation addresses their needs Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the legislation To consider how a range of care workers would use anti-discriminatory practise Success Criteria Can I name the legislation that protects all groups covered? Can I explain the key features of this legislation? Can I assess how this legislation meets the client’s needs? Can I evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this act? Research Questions: 1. New definitions of discrimination As well as direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation The Equality Act outlines three new categories of discrimination that certain groups of individuals are protected against. Define the three additional types of discrimination below: 2. Who is protected under the Equality Act (protected characteristics)? a) Age- The Act protects employees of all ages but remains the only protected characteristic that allows employers to justify direct discrimination, i.e. if an employer can demonstrate that to apply different treatment because of someones age constitutes a proportionate means of meeting a legitimate aim, then no discrimination will have taken place. The Act continues to allow employers to have a default retirement age of 65, as long as the default retirement age remains. b) Disability- The Act includes a new protection arising from disability and now states that it is unfair to treat a disabled person unfavorably because of something connected with a disability. An example provided is the tendency to make spelling mistakes arising from dyslexia. Also, indirect discrimination now covers disabled people, which mean that a job applicant could claim that a particular rule or requirement disadvantages people with that disability. c) Gender reassignment- It is discriminatory to treat people who propose to start to or have completed a process to change their gender less favorably, for example, because they are absent from work for this reason. d) Marriage and civil partnership- The Act continues to protect employees who are married or in a civil partnership. Single people are however not protected by the legislation against discrimination. e) Pregnancy and maternity- The Act continues to protect women against discrimination because they are pregnant or have given birth. f) Race- The Act continues to protect people against discrimination on the grounds of their race, which includes color, nationality, ethnic or national origin. g) Religion or belief- The Act continues to protect people against discrimination on the grounds of their religion or their belief, including a lack of any belief. h) Sex- The Act continues to protect both men and women against discrimination on the grounds of their sex. i) Sexual orientation- The Act continues to protect bisexual, gay, heterosexual and lesbian people from discrimination on the grounds of their sexual orientation. http://www.fpb.org/hottips/601/The_Equality_Act_2010:_protected_characteristics_and_types_of_discrimination.htm 3. Research examples of discrimination and place them into the chart in the correct place Type of Discrimination Example Direct discrimination For example, when people are treated less favorably than others because they have some ‘irrelevant’ characteristic; i.e., they are from a different ethnic background or belong to a religious minority. Indirect discrimination For example, a dress code that requires women to wear a knee length skirt (which has no direct relation to their ability to carry out their work) could be indirectly discriminatory against women from certain cultural or religious groups. Harassment Victimisation For example, a person is victimized (punished or treated unfairly) because  they have made a complaint, or are believed to have made a complaint, or supported someone who has made a complaint (this is a form of harassment). Discrimination by association For example, refusing to promote a woman who has some caring duties because her mother has recently had a stroke is discrimination arising from association. Perception discrimination For example, a heterosexual man who has a gay friend cannot be discriminated against because someone believes (wrongly) that he is also gay. Third party harassment For example, a waitress of Asian origin has complained on several occasions to her employer that a particular customer has been making racist remarks to her. The employer should take steps to protect the employee from harassment by a third-party, such as banning the customer from the restaurant.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Effect Of Authentic Listening Materials English Language Essay

Effect Of Authentic Listening Materials English Language Essay This article is about the role of authentic listening material on students motivation and how it helps them in improving their learning. Many researchers have studied about the authentic materials. They advocate the use of authentic material and have different point of views, but they agree upon one idea: exposure, exposure to real language and real life, in other words, the advantage students get from being exposed to the language in authentic materials. The authentic materials should be used with the students level of knowledge and the students should be aided by their teachers to deal with the difficulties they face. I Introduction There are some definitions regarding listening. According to definition by Oxford (1993, p. 206), listening is a complex problem solving skill and it is more than just perception of the sounds. Listening includes comprehension of meaning words, phrases, clauses, sentences, and connected discourse. In another definition by Oxford dictionary, listening is defined as make an effort to hear something; listen to the radio, listen for the bell, to pay attention, heed. Listening skill is a significant function in foreign language learning. Among the skills, listening is the important one. Furthermore, according to Saricoban (1999), considers listening as one of the fundamental language skills. It is a medium through which children, young people and adults gain a large portion of their information, their understanding of the world and of human affairs, their ideals, sense of values, and their appreciation. Rivers (1978) believes that listening is a creative skill. It means we comprehend the sound falling on our ears, and take the raw material of words, arrangements of words, and the rise and fall the voice, and from this material we create significance. He also states that listening skill is listening with comprehension, attention and appreciation. Then, listening activity needs to integrate skills of language, such as pronunciation, vocabulary mastery, writing, speaking, and reading. According to Rivers listening skill should be integrated with other skills. So in this case it includes not only the listening activity itself but also writing , speaking, and so on. There are some problems regarding listening that Underwood (1990) mentions some kinds of them in listening that are directly related to the students themselves. One of the problems is based on the fact that students have established learning habits in the sense that they have been encouraged to understand everything by listening carefully to teachers who probably speak slowly and clearly. Hence, when they fail to understand every word while listening, they stop listening and lose the thread, which seems to be the reason for the state of panic and worrying they usually show before and during listening. In relation to those problems, we cannot deny that students motivation plays important role in learning listening. As mentioned in Brown (2006), another theme will be motivation. I believe that listening and motivation are interrelated and influence each other . Because listening is so challenging, teachers need to think carefully about making the activities successful and the content interesting. We can create interesting and motivating activities when listening such as using English songs. Thus, the students will be stimulated and not be frightened or worried when they are practicing listening. There have always been a lot of disputes over the effect of listening in foreign language learning. Some believe that listening should be regarded as an essential element of foreign language proficiency, and as such plays an important role in foreign language programs. Other claim that there must be a strong relationship between listening materials and EFL students motivation. As a matter of fact, student motivation is an essential element that is necessary for quality of education. How do we know when students are motivated? They pay attention, they begin working on tasks immediately, they ask questions and volunteer answers, and they appear to be happy and eager. (Palmer, 2007). This article describes a classroom research project to investigate whether listening materials increase the classroom motivation of learners, a claim often made but rarely, if ever, tested. But before getting started to describe the impact of listening materials we should take into consideration that what kind of listening materials do we mean? Are they authentic materials i.e. (what native speakers produce and write) or non-authentic ones (by which I mean materials produced specifically for language learners, e.g. exercises found in course books and supplementary materials). Many writers claim that authentic listening materials motivate learners because they are intrinsically more interesting or stimulating than artificial or non-authentic materials . Proponents of this view include Little and Singleton (1991:124), Freeman and Holden (1986: 67); Allwright(1979: 179); who refer to this as the classic argument; Little, Devitt, andSingleton (1989: 26) , who add that authentic texts bring learners closer to the target language culture, making learning more enjoyable andtherefore move motivating; King (1990: 70), and Bacon and Finnemann (1990: 459-60), Swaffar (1985: 18),. Far fewer authors maintain that authentic materials reduce learner motivation because they are too difficult: Morrison (1989: 15),Freeman and Holden (1986: 68), and Williams (1983: 187; 1984: 26),. Despite the fact that authentic listening resources are often seen as having the potential to motivate learners, Rost (2002) points out that some teachers believe authentic material is too difficult for the students to handle1(p. 125). Anderson and Lynch (1988) stress, encourage passive and unsuccessful listening habits where the learners equate listening with sitting back and letting a largely meaningless sequence of sound wash over them (p. 45). Such a view reflects a general concern, no doubt influenced to some extent by Krashens (1981) input hypothesis, to ensure that task difficulty be set at an appropriate level. After all, most teachers would want to avoid possibly demoralizing learners with input too far beyond their. Apart from being dispiriting, exposing learners to incomprehensible listening materials can, linguistic competence II Literature review Motivation DÃÆ'-rnyei believes that motivation is one of the most elusive concepts in applied linguistics and indeed in educational psychology in general.(DÃÆ'-rnyei, 1999, p. 525). he thinks that motivation is hard to grasp and is one of the central problems in educational psychology. A review of the mainstream psychology literature shows the difficulty of the concept of motivation along with the difficulty to conceptualize it. This difficulty in defining motivation is represented, on the one hand, by the several definitions of motivation, 1 and on the other, by the abundance of theories of motivation which are associated with different psychological perspectives on human behavior. In spite of the conceptual distinctions, however, most researchers agree that motivation is related to persons choice of a particular action, persistence with it, and effort expended on it. As Oxford and Ehrman maintain: The external or behavioral features of motivation include decision-making, persistence, and ac tivity level. The learner decides to choose, to pay attention, to engage in one activity but not others; the learner persists over an extended time. . ..and the learner maintains high activity level (Oxford and Ehrman, 1993, p.190). 2 These features of the motivated behavior are inbuilt in definitions given by mainstream psychology, as well as FLL literature on motivation. More recently, motivation is a process whereby a certain amount of instigation force arises, initiates action, and persists as long as no other force comes into play to weaken it and thereby terminate action, or until the planned outcome has been reached (DÃÆ'-rnyei, 1998, p. 118). In mainstream psychology, motivation is defined as the process whereby goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained (Pintrich and Schunk, 1996, p. 4). In the FLL field, when in the early 1990s the motivation agenda was reopened towards a more situated approach, as will be mentioned later, Crookes and Schmidt wrote . . .teachers would describe a student as motivated if he or she becomes productively involved in learning tasks, and sustains that engagement, without the need for continual acknowledgement or direction (Crookes and Schmidt, 1991, p. 480). As it is clear, in the above-mentioned definitions, (a) motivation is a process, (b) it involves goals which individuals have in mind and try to attain (or avoid), (c) it requires activity on the part of the individuals; the activities that students involve in are geared toward attaining their goal, and (d) motivated activity is both instigated and sustained. DÃÆ'-rnyei includes in his definition the phrase: . . . as long as no other force comes into play to lessen it and thereby finish action. . . which is also encompassed in Kuhls (Kuhl, 1987) control theory (again from mainstream psychology). Thus, DÃÆ'-rnyei s definition accommodates the possibility of the existence of factors which could intervene and weaken or terminate the persons action. The last parameter allows us to discuss the effects of the milieu (society/parents, school/ teachers) on learners motivation. In fact, the inclination to incorporate the impacts of contextual transactions (Paris and Turner, 1994) in the discussions of motivation, has recently become obvious. So we should agree with him because contextual factors are essential in improving motivation in learners. The need to discuss motivation as functioning in a social context, the classroom in particular, spurred the boom in research and theoretical postulations in the early 1990s. these discussions and findings have indicated that the interpretive power of the construct of integrativeness for motivation and accordingly, achievement in FLL to occur (Gardner, 1985) had been overestimated. The use of authentic materials has been widely supported and there is, as Guariento and Morley (2001) mention, a general consensus in language teaching (p. 347) that it makes use of the learning process. A principal merit proposed for presenting samples of genuine spoken interaction is that it exposes learners to those language properties that are often missing from concocted texts. As Willis (2003) warns, there is a serious danger that specifically designed texts will show the language not as it really is, but as the course writers imagine it to be or would like it to be (p. 224). Less apparent, perhaps, than the benefit from exposure to this real-world language, is the affective role of authentic resources. Peacock (1997) suggests that amongst language teachers there is a subjective impression that these resources confer a positive effect on learner motivation (p. 144). His study found an increase in on-task behavior and observed motivation when a variety of authentic materials were incorporated into language classes. An approach to motivation has been suggested by Peirce (1995, p. 17); she believes that investment would be a more appropriate term, signaling that learners invest in learning a second language in order to increase their cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1991). According to this view, the notion of investment . . . attempts to grab the relationship of the language learner to the changing social world (Peirce, 1995, p. 17). Further, rather than prioritizing acculturation to the L2 community, as many previous attitudes studies have done, the notion of investment focuses on the individuals self-identity as the locus of concern. 1.2. Beliefs about Listening The importance of listening in language learning has only been recognized relatively recently (Oxford 1993). Since the role of listening comprehension in language learning was taken for granted, it merited little research and pedagogical attention. Although listening played an important role in audio-lingual methods, students only listened to repeat and develop a better pronunciation (for speaking). Beginning in the early 70s, work by Asher, Postovsky, Winitz and, later, Krashen, brought attention to the role of listening as a tool for understanding and a key factor in facilitating language learning. Listening has emerged as an important component in the process of second language acquisition (Feyten, 1991). This research base provides support for the pre-eminence of listening comprehension in instructional methods, especially in the early stages of language learning. Listening comprehension has received considerable attention in the fields of applied linguistics, psycholinguistics and second language pedagogy during the last two decades (Anderson Lynch, 1988; Flowerdew 1994; Rost, 1990; Underwood, 1989; Ur, 1984). Results of the large body of research have shown that listening is not a passive process, in which the listener simply receives a spoken message, but rather a complex cognitive process, in which the listener constructs the meaning using both her linguistic and non-linguistic knowledge. The importance of the listeners cognitive and social judgments in the process of listening, in addition to the linguistic knowledge, has been especially emphasized (Rost, 1990). Some scholars believe that listening is an active process.in traditional view listening was regarded as a passive . Listening comprehension is viewed theoretically as an active process in which individuals focus on selected aspects of aural input, construct meaning from passages and relate what they hear to existing knowledge. III Conclusion In the light of these findings, I recommend that teachers of adult EFL to beginners try appropriate authentic listening materials in their classroom, as they may increase their learners levels of on-task behavior, concentration, and involvement in the target activity more than artificial materials. (It is possible to speculate that this would apply equally in intermediate advanced classes.) They may, however, reduce the levels of learner interest engendered by the materials used. It is important that materials selected for the classroom motivate learners, so one criterion for the selection of materials should be their effect on motivation. materials to be significantly less interesting than artificial materials. This stands in direct contrast to the large number of assertions listed above, to the effect that authentic materials are more motivating because they are intrinsically more interesting. These findings are a preliminary indication that this is not the case; learners were more motivated by authentic materials, but not because they were more interesting. These results also indicate that, at least for the learners who participated, interest in the materials in use is quite separate as a component of motivation from levels of attention or action and persistence with the learning task. For this reason it was not possible to say whether authentic materials motivated learners or not. None of the authors who assert that authentic materials motivate learners make this distinction between separate components of classroom motivation, I suggest that in classroom motivation research, treating these two as separate components of motivation would lead to a clearer understanding of the meaning of the construct motivation, and a more precise picture of the effects of different materials on learner behavior in the classroom. The generalizability of the results is limited by the small scale of the study and the level of the learners, who were all beginners. It could be argued that the topic (and to a lesser extent the activity based on the material, though these were similar every day) might have affected results. I was unable to control for their effects, being unable to reliably isolate and quantify their inherent motivational level. One indication that levels of class interest in the topic or activity did not significantly affect levels of motivation is the fact that after day 8 of the study, the use of authentic materials invariably resulted in higher levels of on-task behavior and overall class motivation. If a motivational level of the topic or activity was a major variable, this would almost certainly not have been the case. They may well remain as a minor variable. IV References Allwright, R. (1979). Language learning through c ommunication practice in C.J. Anderson, A., Lynch, T. (1988).Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DÃ ¶rnyei, Z. (2001). Motivational strategies in the language classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Feyten, C., (1991). The power of listening ability: an overlooked dimension in language acquisition. Modern Language Journal 75 (2), 173-180. Freeman, D. and S. Holden. 1986. Authentic listening materials in S. Holden (ed.) Techniques of Teaching. London: Modern English Publications: 67-9. Kienbaum, B. E., A. J. Russell, and S. Welty.1986.Communicative Competence in Foreign Language Learning with Authentic Materials.Final Project Report.Purdue University,Calumet, Indiana.ERIC No.ED 275 200. Krashen, S. D. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Oxford: Pergamon. Little, D. and D. Singleton. 1991. Authentic texts,pedagogical grammar and language awarenessin foreign language learning in C. James and P. Garret (eds.). Language Awareness in the Classroom.London: Longman: 123-32. Peacock, M. (1997). The effect of authentic materials on the motivation of EFL learners.ELT Journal, 51 (2), 144-154. Rost, M. (2002). Teaching and researching listening. New York: Longman. Swaffar, J. K. (1985). Reading authentic texts in aforeign language: a cognitive model.ModernLanguage Journal 69/1: 15-34.