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The Great Gatsby2 essays

The Great Gatsby2 articles The Great Gatsby, a novel by F. Scott Fitsgerald, is about the American Dream, and the destruction of the indi...

Monday, September 30, 2019

System of Linear Equation

SYSTEM OF LINEAR EQUATIONS IN TWO VARIABLES Solve the following systems: 1. ? ? x ? y ? 8 ? x ? y ? 2 by graphing by substitution by elimination by Cramer’s rule 2. ? ?2 x ? 5 y ? 9 ? 0 ? x ? 3y ? 1 ? 0 by graphing by substitution by elimination by Cramer’s rule 3. ? ?4 x ? 5 y ? 7 ? 0 ? 2 x ? 3 y ? 11 ? 0 by graphing by substitution by elimination by Cramer’s rule CASE 1: intersecting lines independent & consistent m1? m2 CASE 2: parallel lines inconsistent m1 = m2 ; b1 ? b2 CASE 3: coinciding lines consistent & dependent m1 = m2 ; b1 = b2 Classify the following system, whether (a) intersecting, (b) parallel, or (c) coinciding lines 1. ? ? 3 x ? 4 y ? 1 ? 0 ? 3 x ? 4 y ? 2 ? 0 ? 3 x ? 4 y ? 1 ? 0 ? 6 x ? 8 y ? 2 ? 0 Solve the following systems in three variables: 1. ?3 x ? 4 y ? z ? 1 2. ? x ? y ? 2 ? ? x ? 4 y ? 3z ? 3 ? 3 x ? 2 y ? 2 z ? 0 ? ________ ? ? 3 y ? z ? 1 ? x ? 2 z ? 7 ? 2. ? ________ 3. ? ?2 x ? 5 y ? 1 ? 0 ? 5 ? x ? 2 y ? 2 ? 0 ? ?2 x ? ? 1 ? 4 x ? 2 y ? 3 ? x ? 2 y ? 1 ? 0 ? 2 x ? y ? 1 ________ 4. ? ________ 5. ? ________ ?1 ? x ? ? Solve ? ?1 ? ?x ? 2 ? 3 y 3 ? 2 y Problem solving Form a system of equations from the problems given below. A) (MIXTURE PROBLEM 1) How many pounds of a 35% salt solution and a 14% salt solution should be combined so that a 50 pounds of a 20% solution is obtained? B) (UNIFORM MOTION) Two motorists start at the same time from two places 128 km apart and drive toward each other. One drives 10kph than the other. If they met after 48 minutes (that is, 4/5 hr), find the average speed of each. C) A dietician is preparing a meal consisting of foods A, B, and C as shown in the table below. Fat Protein Carbohydrate If the meal must provide exactly 24 units of fat, 25 Food A 3 2 4 units of protein, and 21 units of carbohydrate, how Food B 2 3 1 many ounces of each food should be used? Food C 3 3 2

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Global communication Essay

The explosion of the internet has improved global communication and created a significant impact in our lives. With the advent of broadband wireless internet access in Singapore, our adolescents are spending intensive hours in cyberspace everyday and everywhere to meet their educational, entertainment, social and emotional needs. While they are going through this transitional stage of their life in seeking the ‘Who am I’ answers, this article reviews and seeks to understand what they do on the internet. It was discovered that both U.S. and Singapore adolescents enjoy interactive cyber communication with their peers and sharing common interest such as on-line games and audio/video downloading. An action research on a group of 35 adolescents in Singapore has revealed some interesting patterns in their internet engagement. This emerging engagement cannot be ignored by parents and teachers as we discuss our roles in protecting and nurturing our adolescents. Literature Review Introduction The Singapore Government is systematically and strongly promoting the use of information technology. One of its strategies is to make it compulsory that 30% of the school curriculum to have an information technology component and to be computer-based by 2002 (Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, 2000). Naturally, the advocacy of Internet use is part of this omnipresent attempt. Young Singaporeans are placed right in the midst of all these changes and soon Internet use will be commonplace given the Government’s ubiquitous promotion. As an academic staff in the Polytechnic, my objective is to study what our adolescent students do on the internet. By having a better understanding of their engagement on the internet, it would help us as facilitators to identify their interests, needs and to understand what motivates them. This literature review covers some surveys on adolescents conducted in the United States, studies on the impact of the internet on adolescents’ be haviour and a regional governmental conference on cyber endangerment. United States Adolescents’ Engagement on the Internet As the U.S. adolescent internet usage grew exponentially in the last decade, a number of correspondent expectations have emerged (Gross, 2000). Gross performed a research to identify the activities that adolescents in suburban California engaged in on the internet and why they perform them. She discovered the following: (1) that gender predicts usage, i.e., boys spend more time online, surfing the web and playing violent games, while girls chat or shop online; (2) that internet use causes social isolation and depression, especially for teens; and (3) that adolescents use the internet for anonymous identity experimentation. By means of highly detailed daily reports of adolescents’ home internet usage and peer-related adjustment, the present research sought to compare these expectations with the actual experiences of early and mid-adolescents in 2000 and 2001. For the most part, adolescent boys’ and girls’ online activities have become more similar than different. On average, boys and girls alike described their online social interaction as (1) occurring in private settings such as e-mail and instant messages, (2) with friends who are also part of their daily, offline lives, and (3) devoted to fairly ordinary yet intimate topics such as gossiping with friends (Gross, 2000). This is an interesting article that relates the conflicts faced by adolescents. According to Erikson, adolescents are experiencing a transitional stage of their life between childhood and adulthood where they need to deal with the conflict between identity attainment and identity diffusion (Berk, 2002). Gross(2000) discovered that adolescents need to explore their identity through identity play and role experimentation. Apparently, the internet serves as an ideal platform for them to play an anonymous role in their email and instant messaging (IM) communications. They tend to take on a role of an older character in attempt to explore their future self and identity (Gross, 2000). Another of their interest at this stage is to relate to their peers more than their parents or teachers. They could engage in intimate and private relationship with their peers on the internet interactively and instantly. Escober-Chaves, Tortolero, Markham, Low, Eitel and Thickstun (2005) attempted to study the effects of the internet on adolescent sexual behaviours. It was triggered by the fact that adolescents in the United States were engaging in sexual activity at early ages and with multiple partners. The mass media have been shown to affect a broad range of adolescent health-related attitudes and behaviours including violence, eating disorders, and tobacco and alcohol use. The authors wanted to explore the factors that contribute to adolescents’ sexual activity. It was found that the mass media plays a very influential role in shaping adolescents’ attitudes and behaviour towards violence, eating disorders, tobacco, alcohol and sex. Based on their survey, the internet is a significant media that the U.S. adolescents engage in (Escober-Chaves, Tortolero, Markham, Low, Eitel & Thickstun, 2005). In 2003, 60.8% of the U.S. household have at least one desktop computer at home. The adolescents spend 2 hours online each time for 4 days per week. Of the contact time on the internet, 61% of it is spent on surfing the internet. It is interesting to note that the adolescents consider 14% of what they do in the internet as activities they would not want their parents to know. The authors have summarised some pre-studies of the effects of media on adolescents. They have collected some useful statistics that describe the breakdown of adolescents’ exposure to the media, from radio, television, internet to magazines. The statistics in adolescents’ sexual behaviours have supported their linkages to adolescents’ exposure to sexuality in the media. Regardless of the measure of the correlation, one thing that is apparent is that the media does pose a significant impact on adolescents’ attitude and behaviour in various areas, including violence, eating disorder, tobacco, alcohol and sex (Escober-Chaves, Tortolero, Markham, Low, Eitel & Thickstun, 2005). How the adolescents were influenced by the media were also analysed in this article. Adolescents learn their behaviour through imitating a character they aspire to be (Bandura’s social learning theory). Other supporting theories include arousal, motivation and super-peer theory. In the latter, adolescents have a tendency to model people older than themselves. This resonates with the earlier findings by Gross (2000) that adolescents like to explore their self and future identity. Singapore Adolescents’ Engagement on the Internet The above studies have surfaced couple of gaps that I could address in my research. Firstly, we need to do a study in Singapore’s context. Secondly, I can learn from the challenges that the authors have shared. It would be an upstream task to measure the specific effects of the media on adolescents. Hence, the key objective of my research would be focusing on finding out and understanding adolescents’ usage of the internet. Moving closer to this region, Singapore’s Senior Minister of State and chairman of the Inter-Ministry Committee on Youth Crime, Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee talked about the internet and its impact on Asia (Ho, 2005). He suggested that as nations and governments become increasingly ‘wired’, its youths naturally become more in tune with the cyber world and its hosts of activities. Our youths surf the Internet for information and resources for their schoolwork. They play online games with faceless opponents for their leisure; or to enhance their social life, they may enter chat rooms and journal their thoughts in blogs and make new friends in cyberspace. These are creative and healthy online activities – if done with the right motivations and values, and in moderation. But, as our youths become increasingly cyber-savvy, they are also becoming increasingly cyber-endangered. Hence we need to be cautious of the dark side of internet (Ho, 2005). Besides cyber addiction, we need to be aware that exposure to unhealthy materials on the internet such as violence imageries may lead to increasing violence and anti-social behaviour amongst youths. Apart from preparing our youths to be cyber-savvy and protecting them from becoming victims, we should also be mindful that they are susceptible to the temptations of cyber vices and may end up committing cyber crimes themselves. Once online, a whole new cyber world greets them. Therefore, proper education and programmes need to be in place in society in order to help our youths cope with making informed online decisions, and learning to surf the internet safely and moderately. Professor Ho has started a discussion on the double-edged impact of the internet on our youths. While the internet is a valuable resource basin for their learning and development, it could also pose a threat to their safety, social, emotional and moral developments. There is a need to protect and educate our youth on how they could use the internet safely and responsibly. He shared an important statistic in our youths’ usage of internet. 68% of Singapore youths have frequent access to the internet; that is 18% higher than the regional average of 50% (Ho, 2005). Hence it is critical that we take the leadership role in understanding our youths’ engagement in the internet and taking proactive measures to promote cyber wellness. Research Question The Research Question: What do Singapore adolescents do on the internet? Purpose Why do I want to understand adolescent usage on the internet? Firstly, it is the desire of adults including parents, teachers and mentors, to improve our communication with adolescents. By understanding what they do on the internet, we would be able to identify their interest and needs. According to Ho (2005), it is important that we understand the potential threat based on the activities they engage on the internet. Besides promoting their cyber wellness, it is also our desire as adults to determine effective channels to influence them positively and to support their development. Benefits The results of this survey would be useful for me as an academic staff whose primary role is to facilitate their learning and development in the polytechnic. By understanding their interest and internet activities, it would help me to improve my communications with them and strengthen facilitator-student bonding. I believe that this would in turn increase my effectiveness in preparing them for the industry as they graduate from the polytechnic. The second group of adults that would benefit much from this research are their parents. In the same way, by understanding the paradigm that their children live in, parents could better connect with them and improve family bond. Methodology Research Paradigm Our nation has arrived at this era where youths are playing a more critical role in leading our country. That is why our Ministry of Community Development has added in Youth as an additional portfolio that deserves increased focus and attention. In the recent general election in 2006, the incumbent People’s Action Party has recruited significant number of young leaders who were born after our independence in 1965 (Balakrishnan, 2004). The key reason is to equip the party with leaders who are closer to our youths and adolescents in communication and understanding of their needs and ideology. This group of citizens plays a pivotal role in shaping our future nation as they would be exercising their voting power in future elections, getting involved in national policies and ultimately replacing our current aging population in the long term. With the emergence of information technology and the internet, the learning curve of our adolescents has risen exponentially. As far as communication and information exchange is concerned, the size of our globe has shrunk and distances between countries have become irrelevant with the click of the computer mouse. The internet has emerged to be a major channel of media, especially among the adolescents. The researches done in the U.S. as discussed above have shown that internet pose a significant impact on adolescents. Considering the higher internet penetration in Singapore compared to the U.S. per household, we would not expect the impact of the internet on our adolescent to be any lower. Scope As discussed in the review of Article, it is important that I set a realistic scope of study considering the limited time and resources. As this is the first research, I would be focusing on finding out the activities that adolescents engage in on the internet. I have designed a survey that captures what adolescents use the internet for, the activities they engage in, how much time they spend on them. There were some qualitative question to understand their preferences, interest and reasons for engaging in the internet activities. Subjects and Materials The stakeholders were adolescents. I managed to survey 35 adolescents in my network, of which most of them are polytechnic students between 18 to 19 years old. The materials required for this survey were basically printed copies of the survey questionnaires. They spent about ten minutes each to complete the survey forms. Procedures As this is my first research on the adolescents, it would be practical for me capture a broad span of their activities as a foundation for future or follow-up focused activities. The model of action research used must support continuous improvement and leverage on past findings with an interpretive approach. Hence, the model which I choose to adopt is the Zuber-Skerritt’s spiral model. The steps of Zuber-Skerritt’s spiral model are: (1) develop a plan of critically informed action to improve current practice. The plan must be flexible to allow adaptation for unforeseen effects or constraints; (2) the group members act to implement the plan which must be deliberate and controlled; (3) this action is observed to collect evidence which allows thorough evaluation. The observation must be planned and the action process and its effects within the context of the situation should be observed individually or collectively; (4) reflection of the action recorded during observation is usually aided by collaborative discussion among the group members. Group reflection can lead to a reconstruction of the meaning of the social situation and provides a basis for further planning of critically informed action, thereby continuing the cycle. I designed a survey questionnaire and printed out multiple copies to the adolescents. Participation was purely based on voluntary basis and their identities were all anonymous. I explained the objectives of my survey clearly to them through both direct verbal communication and highlighting them on the survey form in print. Results and Discussions The Survey forms were given to adolescents in my network as planned. They responded positively and completed the survey with ease. The feedback was that the questions were clear. There were total 35 adolescents who participated in the survey. The gender groups were well represented with 16 males and 19 females. There were some triangulations of the reflection stage of this research as I spent some time after the survey to talk to some of the adolescents to clarify certain information pertaining to some websites or online games which I was not familiar with. It was a meaningful session as they were very open to share with me their interest such as why the males like to play challenging online games like Dota and Warcraft. I then compiled that information gathered into a spreadsheet and studied the pattern of their engagement in the internet. Activities on the Internet It is interesting to note that the adolescents spend more than one-third (an average of 9 hours per day) of their time on the internet. This is supported by the fact that internet access is highly available both at school and at home. First of all, the Polytechnic provides the infrastructure to support the use of Information Technology (IT) in learning. Every student is required to own a notebook computer for administration, curriculum-related communication, research, performing on-line tutorials and submissions of assignments. The entire campus is enabled to provide wireless broadband access. In line with the national adoption of internet access, all the students here have internet access at home. Internet access and cost of IT equipment have become so affordable that most of them (26 out of 35) have wireless broadband access in their homes. [pic] Note: IM : Internet Messaging Games: On-line games on the internet Blog : blogging on the internet Surf : Internet search for information Music : Downloading of audio files Video : Downloading of video files and watching video on-line Chart 1 : Adolescent Internet Usage It is apparent that the adolescents spend most of their time on the internet messaging and chatting. Comparing with the adolescents in the U.S. (Gross, 2000) who spend about 40 minutes in IM per day, Singapore adolescents spend 4.75 hours per day. That is an astounding seven times more. Next in line would be surfing the internet, followed by entertainment such as video and music downloads. Why do they spend almost 5 hours per day internet messaging? Based on the survey, the adolescent revealed that IM is the most convenient and fastest way for them to communicate with their classmates and friends. Besides, it is interactive and free. This is in line with Gross’s analyses of the rationale for adolescents’ affinity to IM (Gross, 2002). Adolescents like to move fast and do not have much patience to wait for response especially when they want to relate to their peers. IM is real-time. They could instantly chat with their peers online and express their emotions immediately. Similar to adolescents in the U.S. as studied by Gross (2000), I also discovered that the adolescent here do not use their real names in their IM image. They like to use emotive roles such as â€Å"I am so scared†¦test is coming†. This also reflects Erikson’s theory on adolescent anonymous identity which teenagers enjoy relating their emotions to their peers in role exper imentation (Suler, 2005). The second most common activity the adolescents engage in is in surfing the internet for information. This is not surprising as they are required to research for information as part of the requirement in projects and assignment in class. [pic] Chart 2 : Favourite Website With reference to Chart 2, it is not difficult to explain the frequent usage of Google and Yahoo as search engines for their studies. However, it is unanimous that Friendster is the most popular website that the adolescent visit. The reasons quoted for visiting this website are to connect with their friends and to update each other of their latest profile. This is in line with Suler’s findings on peer intimacy (Suler, 2005). During adolescence, humans experiment intensely with new intimate relationships, especially opposite sex relationships. They look for comrades and new groups where they can feel a sense of belonging. All these relationships become a big part of exploring one’s own identity. Through communication website like Friendster and Livejournal, there is an almost limitless array of people and groups to interact with – all kinds of people and groups with all kinds of personalities, backgrounds, values, and interests. The adolescents here are curious in discovering both their identity and that of their peers. To reinforce adolescents’ interest, Blogspot and Blogger take up 13.4% of the total favourite websites count. Of the 35 adolescents surveyed, 7 of them have their own blog site and 10 of them are active blogger. They enjoy expressing their emotions and sharing their social life with their peers. One popular site they like to visit, especially among the females is that of a flamboyant 21-year old female XiaXue. The girls like to her blog because it is funny and she shares her social life openly. This confirms that adolescents prefer to interact with people they can identify with (Berk, 2002). Another interest that is significant is that of video watching on the Youtube website. The adolescents’ favourite videos are humorous and entertaining like those of XiaXue and Mr. Brown who is famous for his local political jokes. Gender Comparison [pic] Chart 3: Gender Comparison of Internet Usage Chart 3 above is essentially a breakdown of Chart 1 by gender. It is interesting to note that males spend more time than females in IM. This is also related to their indulgence in on-line games and video downloading. Because of these common interests among their peers, the males derive a sense of achievement as they share information of the latest on-line games and videos using IM. In fact, the more knowledgeable or competent males would co-teach their peers on how they could excel in the on-line game. This phenomenon was highlighted by Suler(2005) in his study. He suggested that adolescents love the sense of mastery and accomplishment as they engage in peer teaching. While females prefer fantasy on-line games like Maple Story and Audition, males indulge in war, strategy and shooting games like Warcraft and Dota. The key reasons are that the males enjoy challenge and like to take risk. Besides, they are also intrigued in connecting with and challenging people in other parts of the world. Males spend substantial time in downloading video over the internet. Their favourites are comedy movies. For females, their favourite are MTVs of their idols. This resonates with the study done by Gross (2000) on adolescents’ tendency in pretending to be someone else. By idolising an older person such as a superstar, they are exploring their future identity (Gross, 2000). Recommendation First of all, as part of the Zuber-Skerritt’s spiral model in action research, I would recommend a follow-up to the above research. We have achieved our objective of gaining a general understanding of what adolescent do on the internet. Of the various activities they engage on the internet, the most significant is in IM. Hence, I would propose to do a further action research on why and how they use IM. In doing so, adults could understand them better and even use IM in improving adult-adolescent relationship. Secondly, I would recommend to adults including parents and teachers of our adolescents to be aware of the above findings and take proactive actions to build strong bonding with our adolescents and to protect them from the potential cyber danger. As is true of all adolescent activities, they need at least some supervision to stay on track and avoid trouble (Suler, 2005). Getting involved doesn’t just mean supervising in order to avert trouble. The world of computers also can become an excellent way for parents and adolescents to have fun together, to get to know each other better. There will be a part of the adolescent – maybe even a part that they try to hide – that will love this. Suler suggested a few anecdotes which I think could be applied in Singapore. First, adults could get knowledgeable of the internet and join in with the adolescents. To be most effective in supervising the adolescent’s cyberspace activities, the parent needs to know something about the topic. Parents could talk to their kids about cyberspace and join them in some of their online activities. They could even communicate occasionally with their adolescents through IM to keep in touch with them. It is encouraging to note that our government is supporting the formation of cyber wellness centre such as the PlanetCRuSH which was launched by TOUCH Community Services in August 2006 (Seow, 2006). During the official launch of the centre by Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, some parents and their adolescents were playing on-line games together in the E-sports Carnival competition to promote family ties (Seow, 2006). Secondly, adults need to acknowledge the merits and threats of the internet. We should not vilify cyberspace – that will only alienate the adolescent. Instead, we could talk to them openly about both the pros and cons. We should show an acceptance of their cyber life, but discuss some of the dangers and what steps they should take if they encounter unsavoury situations or people. Thirdly, adults should advocate and encourage a balance in cyberspace time and other activities. If there’s something they really enjoy on the Internet, find a way to expand that activity into their in-person life. The idea is to integrate cyberspace into the rest of their life, and encourage them to develop non-Internet activities too. Conclusion Through the above article review and action research, I see Erikson’s psychosocial theory of adolescents’ behaviour in action. What adolescents do on the internet are manifestation of their identity experimentation and exploration, peer intimacy and belongings, separation from parents and venting frustrations. The common activities that both U.S. and Singapore adolescents engage in are IM, emails, audio/video downloads and online games. However, in terms of the length of engagement, Singapore adolescents spend 7 times more than their counterparts, especially in IM. This could be due to the higher broadband internet access rate and availability in Singapore. A further study on how adolescent use the IM is recommended to understand this intense engagement of activity. As parents and teachers, we need to be aware of the intensity of adolescent engagement in the internet and take proactive measures to protect them from cyber danger and be jointly involved in some of their internet activities such as IM and on-line games. By expressing our interest in their lives and communicating with them via their preferred platform, not only could we create a positive impact in their internet experience, we could also foster strong adult-adolescent bonding. Reference List Balakrishnan, V. (2004). Youth Mentoring Convention: Speech by Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Ag Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports. In MCYS [on-line]. Available WWW: http://app.mcys.gov.sg/web/corp_speech_story.asp?szMod=corp&szSubMod=speech&qid=863 [2006 November 15]. Berk, L. E. (2002). Infants, Children, and Adolescents (4th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Escobar-Chaves, S. L., Tortolero, S. R., Markham, C. M., Low, B. J., Eitel, P., & Thickstun, P. (2005). Impact of the Media on Adolescent Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors. In Pediatrics [on-line]. Available WWW: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/116/1/S1/303#F1 [2006 Sep 29]. Gross, E. F. (2000). Adolescent Internet use : what we expect, what teens report. In UCLA Digital Media Centre [on-line]. Available WWW: http://www.cdmc.ucla.edu/downloads/Adolescent%20Internet%20usepdf.pdf [2006 Sep 29]. Gross, E. F., Juvonen, J., & Gable, S. L. (2002). Internet use and well-being in adolescence. Journal of Social Issues, 58, 75–90 Ho, P. K. (2005). The Youth.Net: Developing Cyber Wellness In Conjunction With Asean + 3 Seminar On Urban Youth Work III at Orchard Hotel – Speech by Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee, Senior Minister of State (Law And Home Affairs) And Chairman of the Inter-Ministry Committee on Youth Crime (IMYC), 26 July 2005. In News@Home [on-line]. Available WWW: http://www2.mha.gov.sg/mha/detailed.jsp?artid=1614&type=4&root=0&parent=0&cat=0 [2006 Sep 29]. Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (2000). Broad-based approach to make Singapore the location for infocomm manpower and savvy workforce. In IDA [on-line]. Available WWW:http://www.ida.gov.sg/Website/IDAContent.nsf/dd1521f1e79ecf3bc825682f0045a340/7f1eda7f3c633fd1c825689800580dc9?OpenDocument Seow, E. (2006, September 30). Safe Fun and Games at New Cyber Wellness Centre. Keeping in Touch, p. 5.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

What Are the Causes and Impacts of Water Pollution Essay - 1

What Are the Causes and Impacts of Water Pollution - Essay Example Water pollution has numerous causes, some of which can be avoided by promoting and implementing proper waste treatment before disposal in water bodies, proper application of fertilizers and herbicides in farms and appropriate usage of water by users in its natural state. Most municipalities mainly in the developing world do not have modern sewage treatment systems to optimally treat wastes collected. Moreover, the systems in place are not very efficient in the treatment of the wastewaters since most are poorly maintained and repairs are hardly affected. In addition, treatment is mainly restricted to primary and secondary treatment processes thus removing only pathogens and gross organic wastes. The water released is thus harmless to other users but laden with nutrients (Rogers 2004). High nutrient fertilizers applied to agricultural lands mainly by large scale farmers are a source of pollutants causing water pollution. High levels of nitrogen and phosphorous are essential in the efficiency of these products. Therefore runoff from fertilized areas into water bodies such as rivers causes a dramatic increase in nutrient levels in the water bodies.(Jeffries & Mills 2003). Many domestic and industrial detergents contain significant levels of nutrients which are responsible for eutrophication of water bodies. An example is the cleaning activities carried out by residents living around a water body. Domestic and industrial solid wastes deposited in various areas contain large amounts of organic matter and heavy metals. Nutrient-rich, organo-chemical byproducts of decomposition are leached from these sites and find their way into water bodies through surface and underground flow. Many industries in numerous parts of the world release effluent laden with nutrients, organic matter and heavy metals into water bodies. These components increase the nutrient content of the water causing its eutrophication. Various manufacturing industries such as chemical, beer and tanning industries regularly release acidic substances from point sources directly into water bodies such as rivers. In addition to these sources, low PH precipitation resulting from atmospheric pollution (acid rain) is a major cause of water pollution .This has been observed as a substantial problem especially in industrialized countries.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Democracy and human rights in asia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Democracy and human rights in asia - Essay Example As far Asian and Western culture is concerned, it can be studied in two ways along wise that is dogmatic or communal (Bell, 2000, pg. 67). If one has to pen down the social uplifts in both these cultures, then morally and ethically Western culture is far behind in moral norms as compared to Asian averages. West has by far with an approach being not keeping abreast of religious medians in political implementations. Religious medians are more expressive and demanding regarding the human uplifts and hominid elevations. Although West has totally defined human rights and since by far trying reach the best of its output but the limitations and boundaries set by such Western liberalism is not apprehend able by a nonprofessional. Western democracy is somehow a kind of dictatorship where only those can survive easily who are in relation to those liberal rights designers from the perspective of religion. Western liberal democracy does not render a true platform to followers of a certain minority religion holder to apply their values openly while living in such states. Roseau stated that the big the state is; the more difficult it would be to run it with democracy where rights and thoughts of every person are valued. Asian democracies in political perspectives although not very successful in certain countries of the world but their values for upholding a pure socially upgraded and esteemed are far fruitful than those of Western ones. Liberal democracies are true pictures of autonomy, copious, supremacy, and genuine build-ups. Therefore, simply if these attributes are existed in any democratic state either western or eastern that state would be more appropriate in building up a pure social and human rights building state. Asian democratic sates are individual value based set ups with power of legitimate enactments. There is a conflict in human rights and societies dimensions in both cultures because as far the individual is satisfied and pro-active the more that society

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Understanding and Coping with Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Understanding and Coping with Change - Essay Example Change can be planned where the activities involved are intentional and goal oriented and it can also be observed that change is mainly influenced by both internal and external factors. However, change in an organization is often met by resistance as a result of various reasons. Individual resistance to change is caused by a variety of factors such as fear of the unknown, security issues, lack of trust among the management as well habit among the employees (Baack, 2012). If carefully managed, resistance to change can be a source of functional conflict in the organization. Through resistance to change, the employees raise meaningful debate where their ideas can be taken into consideration in the decision making process in the organization. Resistance to change only becomes dysfunctional when it becomes counterproductive in the organization. In my career, I have often witnessed people resisting change mainly as a result of low tolerance to change coupled with personal interest. For instance, I used to work in a fashion and clothing shop as a till operator. We used to start work at 8:00 AM and finish at 5PM. After realising that the company was recording a significant increase in the number of sales towards closing time, the management decided to extend the closing time from 5 PM to 6PM. This was not just an ad hoc arrangement since proper measures were taken in order to establish the impact of such proposed change to the operations of the whole organization. Indeed, there were benefits likely to be derived from implementing this kind of change in the operations of the organization. For instance, the change initiative was likely to result in an increase in the number of sales. This meant that the revenue collected through the operations of the organization would be improved. Through intolerance of change, it was realised that some sections of the organization were against this proposed change. Some people argued that this change will negatively impact on

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Rent Control is Out of Control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Rent Control is Out of Control - Essay Example Rent control has had the opposite effect of its original intention, to provide affordable housing. Rent control should be abolished in cities where rent control exists, and politicians should be proactive and lift controls with an eye on the economics involved and a deaf ear to the activist hysteria. Rent control results in higher prices for available housing by reducing the supply. Landlords are offered little incentive to build new units that will fall under price control. Tenants have no incentive to move from a low rent situation. Elderly parents whose children have moved away may continue to live in a 4 bedroom unit to maintain the current rental rate long after the space is needed. As the supply shrinks, would-be renters turn to the shadow rental market. This market, which may account for as much as 30 percent of the available housing market, exists outside the rent control laws due to special exemptions or the government's desire to maintain a relief valve for excess demand. However, due to the short supply and high demand, these units may be priced several times higher than the market value. Housing quality also suffers under rent control. Landlords faced with limited rental income are reluctant to make improvements or even do minimum repairs.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Research on Article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Research on Article - Essay Example This might have a devastating effect on the security status of the country. The bill will improve the security through counter-radicalization measures. This is through requiring that all schools and colleges work together with the government in ensuring that students do not get radicalized. This is through reporting any radicalized suspects to the authority. This will ensure that the young minds in the country are protected from destructive ideologies by the terrorist groups. The bill will make changes to the existing Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures. This is to make it possible for the authority to force a suspect to move to another country or town. The laws will also limit the movement of such suspects 1. However, in order to avoid any form of malicious deportation, the new TPIM has been changed to ensure that high standards of proof will be required before such orders are implemented. The bill intends to give the authority the power to seize a suspect’s passport at the airport. Currently, the Home secretary has to give authority to seize passport of a suspect. This has been slowing the fight against terrorism in the country. However, with this bill, the police and border officials will have the powers to confiscate the passport of a suspect temporarily for a period of thirty days as the investigations are being undertaken. This will contain the movement of the suspects. The bill intends to prevent jihadists from returning back to the country. Through Temporal Exclusion Orders, such suspects will be banned from entering the country for a period of two years. Nevertheless, they will only be allowed in the country under very strict measures. This aims at deterring the Britons from joining Terrorist groups. The passports of such suspects will be cancelled and put under â€Å"no fly lists† 1. This will hinder them from getting back to the country. Those who will be willing to come back to the

Monday, September 23, 2019

Responsibility of a Nurse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Responsibility of a Nurse - Essay Example The level of responsibility of a nurse in advocating a patient with suspicious injury or illness is very high. A nurse needs to make the patient aware of his/her actual injury or disease in order to make the patient mentally prepare for proper treatment. If there is a possibility of substance abuse or domestic violence, the level of responsibility of a nurse becomes even higher. A nurse needs to report any suspicious injury or illness present in the patient to the doctor in order to assist the doctor in suggesting an appropriate treatment for the patient. It is the ethical and legal responsibility of a nurse to provide the patient with physical as well as psychological treatment while advocating a patient with suspicious injuries. Some of the best ways in which nurses can fulfill their ethical and legal responsibilities include taking proper care of the patient, examining all aspects of the injury, making the patient feel relaxed and safe, and reporting complete case to the doctor. N urses face a number of challenges while dealing with patients having suspicious injuries. Some of the major challenges include making the treatment practical for the patient, making the patient mentally strong, making the patient forget the incident, and maintaining openness and honesty while dealing with such patients.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Together We Stand Outline Essay Example for Free

Together We Stand Outline Essay Suppose you live in a new suburban community that combines all the amenities and benefits of a tight-knit small community with the benefits of living close to the big city. Some years pass, and several children and adults in the community start developing extensive and similar illnesses. You think this is clearly not a case of genetics, and you become suspicious that something has gone wrong in the development planning and execution of your community. You start researching possible causes for the illnesses plaguing the community and, upon further investigation, find out that a company’s unsafe chemical-disposal practices may be to blame for the calamity. You decide to notify your community of your findings so that everyone can unite in a fight for justice. Create a detailed outline that you would use for composing the letter, which you intend to have published by your local newspaper, addressing your concerns about the community’s health. Address the following in your outline: Describe the types of questions that you asked yourself to ensure that you used critical thinking in your research and analysis of the problem. Explain what strategies you would have applied, if actually investigating the problem, to help foster critical thinking and to help lead you to the root cause of the illnesses. What assumptions did you have to be aware of to ensure that they did not interfere with your critical analysis of the situation? What fallacies did you encounter as you researched possible causes for the illness? Cite any sources and references consistent with Associate Level Writing Style Handbook guidelines.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Multimedia Courseware Shell Proposal Essay Example for Free

Multimedia Courseware Shell Proposal Essay A new experimental degree program, the Bachelor of Applied Business Program (BAB), was launched Spring Quarter 1994 by Continuing Education and Extension. BAB is a practitioners’ degree for the working adult student. The emphasis in the program is on learning skills and accessing information to apply to solving practical workplace problems in a rapidly changing business world. The program was developed with substantial involvement of the Inver Hills Community College, the business community in the Twin Cities area, and the University of Minnesota’s Continuing Education and Extension (CEE) unit. This is the first degree program offered by CEE, and—if successful—it will serve as a model for redefining â€Å"outreach† in the urban corridor to fulfill part of the land grant mission of the University of Minnesota. We are currently in the process of developing the course materials and selecting faculty to teach in the program for Fall Quarter 1994. Note that the three distinguishing features of the BAB program include a number of technical features, graphic elements, or applications that could be significantly enhanced by multimedia courseware: †¢ Courses are being designed with substantial involvement of area businesses to give students â€Å"hands on† experience, including leading and participating in group work; skills for managing upward and downward business relationships; storing, accessing, and retrieving information; creating and implementing budgets, operations flowcharts, schedules, and staffing plans. †¢ Learning outcomes will be specified for each course and applications-related competencies will be integrated into courses across the curriculum. These will include emphases on writing, speaking, and visual communication; using technology and information management techniques, engaging in applied problem-solving and critical thinking skills, working in teams, quality in the workplace, ethics, and the dynamics and management of a diverse workforce. †¢ Practicum/project work will also be an important aspect of the BAB curriculum and students will be encouraged to develop and maintain a portfolio of their coursework and practical experiences which can later be used as evidence of the competencies that they have developed. Our business partners stressed that the BAB upper division courses must be applied and skills-oriented, making use of interactive learning modules that model actual workplace situations. Moreover, the courses must integrate both medium and message into a fast-paced, electronically connected, multimedia learning environment that requires that students take the initiative and work on real projects with limited supervision. Project Description Under an earlier MinneMac grant the principal investigator, Elizabeth Michaels, collaborated with Deborah Henderson and Ann Douglas to create WAC (Writing Across the Curriculum), a courseware shell, for delivering instruction in writing, pharmacy, and business courses. This shell has been used extensively in the English Department since 1990, at Grace High School since 1991, and for the past two years, in five Central and Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The major shortcomings of WAC are its lack of graphics or visual capabilities and its lack of integration with other software packages. However, if we could integrate the basic principles of text delivery that we have already developed in WAC with the capabilities of the PowerMac 7100—specifically with its AV Video, CD-ROM, and color display, we could develop a powerful multimedia component that will teach students how to manage a business â€Å"from their desktops.† Moreover, by linking to other programs, like Microsoft Projectâ„ ¢, Excelâ„ ¢, or Directorâ„ ¢, we can create a multi-functional learning tool that can be used in labs and for distance learning throughout Minnesota. The multimedia courseware shell we propose to develop will provide an innovative and easily updated method of delivering timely, practical, high quality business courses to working adults. The PowerMac 7100 which we are requesting will be used initially by the multimedia courseware development team: Elizabeth Michaels, Principal Investigator (English); Mr. Pat Lingren, Program Director (CEE); and our project consultant, William Rudel (Carlson School of Management). After the courseware has been developed and alpha tested, faculty designing the target courses will be trained in the use of the courseware shell to develop their own multimedia course modules. The project we propose, therefore, is to design an interactive, multimedia courseware shell, initially for four key courses in the curriculum. The BAB MultiMedia Courseware shell (BAB-MMC) will enable us (1) to develop multimedia case studies and (2) to create course materials which will enable students to integrate various project planning, database, spreadsheet, business graphics, and electronic mail packages with textual information in their classes. The BAB-MMC will serve two purposes: as a training tool for innovative and experimental curriculum development for BAB faculty and as a teaching/learning tool for BAB students. The following is a description of the four courses and how we will use the BAB-MMC in each of them. 1. Planning and Implementing at the Business Unit Level (4 cr.) This course focuses on creating and implementing plans such as operations flowcharts, budgets, schedules, and staffing plans at the business unit level. The BAB-MMC will integrate these flowcharts, budgets, schedules, and staffing plans as well as the presentational software for creating written and oral briefings for presenting, monitoring, and revising these plans. It will also contain strategic planning instruction and forecasting techniques. Moreover, the course will make use of multimedia case studies to give students practice in solving real logistics and planning problems. 2. Project Management in Practice (4 cr.) This course has two objectives: (1) to teach students about project management and the various tools and techniques available to the project lead in such areas as scheduling, coordinating, allocating resources, and monitoring project activities; and (2) to provide students with the opportunity to carry out a field project and put the tools of project management into practice. These projects will be carried out in teams whenever possible. The BAB-MMC will integrate into the course a number of the abovementioned project management tools which will then be used by the students in recording and reporting on their field experiences. The students will also communicate electronically with the instructor and regularly post messages to a class bulletin board as a means of communicating progress and requesting help with problems. 3. Accessing and Using Information Effectively (4 cr.) This course begins with a conceptualization of the role of information in business operations including information systems and data management. The BAB-MMC will serve as a tool for developing short case studies and exercises, which include data-based, text-based, oral, written, and multimedia elements. Students will learn to access external information for the firm through library resources, information search services, CD-ROMs, and periodicals and internal information through desktop database systems, e-mail, or computer conferencing. 4. Practicum (4 cr.) Two of the three forms the practicum could take are (1) to develop a business plan for a new venture or (2) to complete a portfolio of projects which demonstrate transferable skills from previous courses or fieldwork. The BAB-MMC will take the current course materials that we have developed for the business plan and convert them into self-study units which will integrate spreadsheet, cash flow analysis, financial analysis, and graphics packages capable of creating organizational charts and other business graphics to enhance and simplify the preparation of a complete business plan and its pro formas. The third form a practicum could take is a supervised project at the student’s workplace or at another location. For this option, the BAB-MMC will set up a course Website where the students report electronically to the instructor and other students. This will minimize the need for site visits and enable one professor to manage and respond to the individual need s of six to eight students who are enrolled in the practicum in any quarter more efficiently. Evaluation The BAB-MMC will be evaluated by the developers conducting user testing on the shell and sample modules and by instructors developing modules for their courses to determine its ease of use and effectiveness as a classroom tool. Students will be asked to evaluate the BAB-MMC as part of their regular course evaluations at the end of each quarter. We will also have two representatives of the Digital Media Center conduct an independent evaluation of the multimedia courseware shell as a teaching/learning tool. Quantitative and qualitative data will be collected.