Ethical dilemma Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ethical dilemma - Assignment Example However, the beliefs of the patients obstructed appropriate nursing procedures to be conducted. Deontology theory forms the best approach to guide in the decision making, in such an ethical dilemma. As a health caregiver must always subscribe to the rule, â€Å"Always try to save life.† Applying a pure rule of deontological approach, the ethical decision would be in favor of carrying out the blood transfusion. In addition, using such an approach, there is little attention to the contextual details or social aspects of the situation because the decision making is grounded in ethical rules (Jones & Beck, 1996). Using a pure deontological approach, whether rule or act, confines the focus for decision making to the immediate situation. This is to imply that the consequences, situational and contextual details, and the social and interactional aspects are not the primary focus. This theory focuses on the ethics of the actions (Butts & Rich, 2008). This theory pays attention to the patient’s rights, goals and autonomy. As described by Noureddine (2001), this approach is based on four key principles that include autonomy, or the personal liberty to act; nonmaleï ¬ cence that is doing no harm; beneficence, or the requirement of action to improve the welfare of others; and justice, which directs action to treat people justly and distribute resources

Ishmael Bernal and Religious Interpretations Essay Example for Free

Ishmael Bernal and Religious Interpretations Essay Ishmael Bernal’s films have received countless acknowledgements throughout the years because of his unique style of â€Å"working out patterns of symbolic details† (Lumbera 25). And through these patterns, Bernal was able to portray his views on things as an auteur. This paper examines his interpretations of religion and religious activities through his films. But this only includes three of his works: Manila by Night (1980), Himala (1982), and Hinugot sa Langit (1985). These three films’ devotional approaches are analyzed by both their mise-en-scene and fabula. On that note, religion as tackled in this paper only pertains to the Philippine religion of Christianity/Catholicism, since Bernal’s films appear to be only on the Catholic’s view. How did Bernal attack Catholicism? Why did he represent the country’s most widespread religion in that manner? What are the implications of his works on the era during such films were distributed? How do these films affect the contemporary time? And what do these films impose on the society and on the religion majority of it believes in? Hence, this paper has these films examined through the eyes of a spectator, and relates that analogy to Bernal’s own philosophies as an auteur. Religion in Mise-En-Scene and Iconographies Through the apparatus theory, Bernal’s religious interpretations in his works can be examined. Ponsford’s Film Theory and Language from media. edusites. co. uk says apparatus theory suggests that film is created to illustrate different ideas and that everything has meaning even starting from the camerawork up to the editing. Manila by Night is a drama film made by Bernal in 1980. It is a multiple-charactered film where the characters’ existences in the city were unveiled as they live by the ruthlessness of drugs, poverty, adultery, and lust. In Manila by Night, Bernal constantly used iconographies and effigies of divine entities in several sex scenes through elaborate camerawork and editing. An example is a scene where a couple (Adelina, played by Moreno and Pebrero, played by Ojeda) who routinely cheated on each other made love while religious icons peered over them (Santos 21). There is another sex scene where instead of figures, Bernal focused a shot on a chaplet necklace worn by the indolent college guy (Alex, played by Martinez) for a few seconds just before he had premarital sex with his girlfriend (Vanessa, played by Alajar). Bernal not only used these icons in sex scenes. In one scene where the neurotic mother of Alex, Virgie (Solis), trashed their home when she found out he was doing drugs, multiple shots of religious statues were shown simultaneously with the scene of flying plates and broken furniture in the screen. Hinugot sa Langit also has a remarkable mise-en-scene in terms of religious interpretations. It is a film about infidelity, unwanted pregnancy, and abortion. In the scene where Carmen (Soriano) was rushed to the hospital after attempting to commit suicide, the disparity between the two conflicting characters of Aling Juling (Solis) and Stella (Austria) was clearly depicted. Aling Juling, being the sanctimonious that she was, gave the feeble Carmen her Holy Bible, hoping that it helps Carmen as it did to her. Seconds after Aling Juling left the room, Stella put a bag of apples on top of the bible as she jokingly referred to it as â€Å"holy mansanas (apples)† which may be interpreted as the apple Eve took from the treacherous snake in the Garden of Eden. The style Bernal had in Manila by Night was still used in Hinugot sa Langit. There was the scene of Mang David’s (Ventura) child’s wake where an image of Christ hung over Carmen and Mang David’s backs as they talked about the latter’s debts from Aling Juling. There’s still that style but other sightings of the religious icons and statues were not shown in that ambiguous manner anymore; instead they were shown conspicuously to prove a point like every time Aling Juling conducted prayer meetings and worship time. The irony in showing religious images and sinful acts simultaneously is an apparent symbolism of the societal hypocrisy towards faith and Christianity. Morality Issues on Manila by Night, Himala, and Hinugot sa Langit These three films are all packed with morality issues and what are morality issues if there is no religion? Morality, I believe, is bound by the norms and rules of whatever religion an individual believes in. Therefore, people do what for them is â€Å"right† because the religion they keep their faith in tells them to do so. Himala is a story of a girl named Elsa (Aunor) who claims to have seen the Blessed Virgin Mary on the top of the very hill where she was found by her non-biological mother years ago when she was still a baby. Since then Elsa started to â€Å"heal† people through the use of the power that was allegedly bestowed upon her by the Virgin Mary. She was situated in a small town called Cupang where the soil was always dry because of a â€Å"curse† from long time ago. Since then people came flocking to Elsa’s house to seek treatment from her miracles. She had her own followers and a bunch of detractors. In the end, when she faced piles of troubles—from not being able to â€Å"heal† anymore to being raped along with her best friend who later on committed suicide—she came clean and announced that there is no miracle, that it is the people who create their own miracles. She was shot dead at that same moment. The morality issues in this film is particularly apparent during the time when documentarist Orly (Manikan) battles with himself whether to have Elsa and Chayong’s (Centeno) rape video shown to the public. In the end he seeks help from the priest, which only made it clear that his decisions still depended largely on the â€Å"Catholic opinion† even though he was a self-proclaimed atheist right from the start. Manila by Night touches more morality issues than Himala. Since it is a film using a multiple-character format, the struggles each persona faces vary. There was a cheating guy (Pebrero), a liar prostitute (Adelina), a hypocritical ex-prostitute (Virgie), a happy-go-lucky gay (Manay Sharon), a dope-pusher lesbian (Kano), a blind whore (Bea), a college dropout (Alex), and his girlfriend (Vanessa). Their characters differ from each other but what’s uncanny about it was that their lives intertwine one way or another. Set in the city during a time when people’s freedom was being suppressed, these characters faced the question of what to do in times like that. Whether they hold on to their principles and strive to live for the good or just continue their dishonest lives to be able to endure everything and coexist. In a country where Catholicism is dominant, what Bernal showed in Manila by Night questions the values the religion upholds for its followers. The ending of the film where after all the mayhem that happened in the city during the past night seemed to be forgotten and the characters are portrayed as monotonous citizens living their routinely-charged lives is a strong point for proving how people trapped in the confusion of what’s good or evil can act as two-faced individuals who eventually become victims of the system. Hinugot sa Langit, on the other hand, tackles a more brazen topic that’s related to religion: abortion. When Carmen found out she was having Jerry’s (Tantay) child, she was faced with only two options: one is to keep it and the other is to abort. The problem the film earlier gave was that Jerry was already married with someone else and he made it clear right from the start that he didn’t want anything to do with the child Carmen was carrying. This, on top of the incessant urging of her straightforward cousin Stella, pushed Carmen to the edge of option number two. But her landlady, Aling Juling, insisted otherwise—saying abortion is a sin to God. As Carmen’s pregnancy became relatively closer to three months (which is the point when a mere embryo becomes human according to the abortionist) she began thinking about the issue of whether abortion is already an act of killing or not. But eventually, she chose to have abortion. Near the end of the film where she pounded on Mang David for stabbing Aling Juling to death, Bernal used a brilliant camera shift from Mang David’s staring face to Carmen’s while she was yelling, â€Å"Wala kang karapatang pumatay ng tao! You have no right to murder anyone! ),† as if giving the former a reason to say that she did not have any right to kill her child either. As Oggs Cruz put it in his blog, â€Å"Hinugot sa Langit may be branded as preachy and anti-abortion but in reality, the film has side stories that suggest a more pressing issue: societal hypocrisy. † This is not only apparent in the abortion issue but also in Aling Juling’s actions. It’s just that, as Cruz again puts it, â€Å"abortion is the most telling of issues. The Philippines being a prominently Catholic nation declares abortion as criminally and morally wrong yet funnily, the practice is unwrittenly accepted among women who are time-pressed with a decision. † Elsa and Aling Juling While Manila by Night’s interpretations of religion banks largely on its mise-en-scene, what Bernal created in Himala and Hinugot sa Langit were characters who seemed to embody the â€Å"divine† and through them, Bernal showed how false devotions and idolatry can be misleading. Elsa’s alleged involvement with the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary made her just as acred as the holy mother of Christ in the people’s eyes. She became, in an obvious way, the people’s source of blind faith that led them to their own pits of darkness as shown in the last part of the film where healthy and sick people alike experienced a stampede that caused them physical pain. This false faith is also ostensible in Aling Juling’s character in Hinugot sa Langit. Even from the start of the film, her character already proved to be a hypocrite. She dressed conservatively, regularly attended prayer and worship meetings, firmly discouraged Carmen to do an abortion, and constantly spoke about the Divine. But she also wanted to have the informal settlers removed from her land at any cost just to be able to build a chapel, claiming it is for the greater good. Aling Juling proved to be the perfect devotee, but failed to act as a true child of God for the other people; and there lies the biggest fallacy built in her persona. There was also one scene where Carmen and Aling Juling went into a brief screaming match about how should the former handle her problems. In the one line of Carmen saying, â€Å"Ano pa bang gusto Niya (pertaining to God), ano pa bang gusto mo?! What else does He want, what else do you want?! ),† the character of Aling Juling seemed to be a symbolism of the â€Å"god† Carmen had come to believe in. Instead of the all-powerful, all-knowing One, because of her problems, Carmen landed on believing Aling Juling’s preaching as that of God’s. Elsa and Aling Juling both died at the end, and both by being brutally attacked. What I see in this phenomenon is the attempt to â€Å"kill off† the wrong and misrepresentative beliefs brought about by these two characters, and probably the only way Bernal suggests to do that is through a vicious, one-time manner. Bernal as Auteur This paper is not about Bernal but about the works of Bernal. But since he is an auteur, understanding his background is essential in understanding the concepts behind his works. The auteur theory proposes that the director is the author of the film and that the director is the primary creative source, therefore the films produced express the director’s distinctive vision of the world (Pramaggiore and Wallis 398). Therefore, his politics mirror his representation of religion, thus making his films a reflection of his own beliefs. According to Bayani Santos’ Bernal as Auteur, Ishmael appreciated the values of Gregorio Aglipay and Catholicism. He also admired the disciplines of Iglesia Ni Cristo but criticized it for its exploitation of religion in politics. It was also said that he â€Å"respected Catholicism as faith, but always qualified it with a historical reminder of its political and economic crimes against the nation† (Santos 19). It was also said in the same article that Bernal’s view of shallow Catholicism among Filipinos as facts of Philippine life was not just mocking jibes against superficial religiosity but rather â€Å"accurate descriptions, as synecdochical of Philippine reality† and having the satirical impact arrive after a realization by the audience that, indeed, the descriptions are ‘us’ (21). Bayani continued on to saying that Bernal’s politics are â€Å"deeply buried in many of his works† (31). His politics involve not only his aforementioned views on Philippine religion but also his involvement in communism. This notion is perceivable in the three films being analyzed by this paper. In Manila by Night, Bernal took jibes on Martial Law more than anything. In Hinugot sa Langit, he â€Å"showed the desperate situation of the poor in a script that scrupulously avoided overt political commentary† (31). In Himala he managed to speculate a Marxist view of religion as an opiate when Elsa’s death became a dismaying reversion to mass hysteria and fanaticism (31). Bernal’s Films then and now These three films were produced during the second golden age of the Philippine cinema, during the years that mark off the end of the Marcos Martial Law regime. Bernal’s films were acclaimed during those times because both the films and timing were apt to belong to the cinema that recognizes the struggle as the most gigantic cultural, scientific, and artistic manifestation our time, the third cinema (Solanas and Gettino 47). This is what makes Bernal’s films timeless. The impact these films made during those times were huge. Bernal revealed how the Marcos regime exploited the Filipinos. This is overtly seen in Manila by Night, where his depiction of the supposed city to signify the â€Å"New Society† is the exact opposite of it. The term â€Å"New Society† claimed that the dictatorship had eradicated corruption and transformed Philippine society (Lumbera 359). This same â€Å"New Society† was also exploited, although for good reasons, by Bernal in his film Himala. According to Lumbera, Himala criticized the manipulative religiosity of this society which â€Å"drew the people’s attention away from the realities of poverty, violence, and moral decay† (359). This, however, is still manifested in the present time. There is this one scene in Himala that is applicable to both the past and present times. When people started coming to Cupang for Elsa and Elsa’s â€Å"apostles used the water Elsa blessed for profit, it was a hypocritical move on the side of Elsa and her followers to lure people into giving them money when all they were meant to do in the first place was to offer treatment for everyone who asked for it. The past screams about the pretentious â€Å"New Society† and the present stages the scene in real life whenever such religious items or services that are supposed to help them are still sold for amounts to the people. (e. . : a priest’s service fees, blessed rosaries, mass guides) Another thing that might have helped in the success of Himala is the fact that superstar Nora Aunor played the lead role. In the Noranian Imaginary, it is said that Himala is as much about the popular hysteria mediated by the idol Nora Aunor as it is about the mass hysteria endemic to Catholicism as held by many (Tadiar). People saw Elsa in Nora and Nora in Elsa—th e same poor, unfortunate protagonist who strive against all odds to defend herself and achieve goals. In these times, Nora may not be that same girl many Filipinos used to idolized, but the imprint she left on Elsa’s character is so known to almost every Filipino as â€Å"that† girl who everyone admired. Elsa’s death at the end of the film may be read as liberation from such faith, since she made confessions about the inexistence of miracles prior to his death. But the people’s continuous idolatry in her after she passed away seems to be a symbol of the people of today—those who still continue hang on to false hope and devotion even after such devotion proves to be wrong. As Patrick Flores puts it in Himala: Fall of Grace, â€Å"Himala is against the miracle and it is against the cinema. † Hinugot sa Langit, lastly, also speaks of a timeless issue in Catholicism: abortion. The values the film imbibes a great impact on the beliefs of the majority of the Filipino citizen. The question of whether abortion is or is not an act of murder is still being debated upon until today. Bernal’s films speak of ageless and timely issues concerning the Filipino people and that’s what makes his films succeed not only in the era during which it was manufactured, but also in the present time.

Discuss The Importance Of Ethics And Social Responsibility

Discuss The Importance Of Ethics And Social Responsibility Ethics also known as moral is determined by the class of philosophy to addresses about morality i.e. concepts such as good vs. bad, right vs. wrong and matters of justice, love, peace and virtue. The term is used to indicate how individuals or organization choose to conduct themselves in relation to universal moral behavior and actions. Ethics involve choosing actions that are right and proper and just. The individual behaviour can be right or wrong, proper or improper and the managerial or individual decisions can be fair or unfair. Ethics are vital in businesses and all aspects of living. The foundation of society is built on Ethics. Without ethical principles a business/society is bound to be unsuccessful sooner or later. Business Ethics look at ethical philosophy , moral or ethical problems and deal with issues concerning the moral and ethical rights, duties and corporate authority between a corporation and its shareholders, workers, clients, media, government, provider and dealer. Ethics are connected to all discipline of organization including accounting information, human resource management, sales and marketing, fabrication, logical belongings information and talent, global business and financial system. Social responsibility can be defined as the responsibility of the organisation to operate in ways that provides both its individual benefit like making a profit and also the benefit of its stakeholders- those people and groups who are affected in one way or another by the behaviour of the organisation. For example, an industrial chemical plant has a responsibility not only towards its customers, but also towards the shareholders and the board of directors, and to those people who live in the surrounding area. This responsibility can be negative, meaning there is exemption from blame or liability, or it can be positive, meaning there is a responsibility to act beneficently. Lets take an another Example, in corporate company a chief executive make expenditures on reducing pollution beyond the amount that is in the best interests of the corporation or that is required by law in order to contribute to the social objective of improving the environment. There are lot many benefits to any o rganisation of being social responsible. First and foremost benefit to organization is that to ensure the customers, suppliers and the local community knows what you are doing. Publicity like this can be a key part of using CSR to win contracts. People want to buy from businesses they respect. Through this way your business reputation will be growing day by day and it encourage customers to stay with you and do business with your company. Compare and contrast the difference between ethics from a personal perspective to one established viewpoint of ethics from an organisational perspective. Personal perspective view of ethics Peoples lives are built on moral foundation of personal ethics. They support in conclusion making, guides people to contribute measures that helps to meet their inner moral principles. Ethics are used by people in solving problems in everyday life and also help for determining correct versus incorrect. Ethics are not absolute rules but they are developed during life based on range of factors. Defining personal ethics are a difficult venture for many people as they think their inner voice is all the ethical guidance they require. Perception plays a great role in what one finds ethical. By organisation view, ethics plays a vital role that defines the way of representation, way of talking, body language, attitude etc. The lack of personal ethics gives a negative response in managerial processes. For example, if a company is launching the product with risk taking, then the manager should be fully ensured with correct way of personal ethics, as the product may be failed to attract custome r if marketing manager lacks in personal ethics. So, it is clear that personal ethics makes a man to take a right managerial decision. A standard way of understanding ethical decision-making is to understand the philosophical basis for making these decisions. People and organizations need each other.The written and unwritten codes of principles and morals that administer decisions and actions inside a business are known as Business Ethics. In the Corporate world, the organizations traditions sets principles for determining the differentiation involving excellent and dreadful judgment making and manners. Discuss four benefits and four disadvantages of social responsibility to an organisation. Benefits of social responsibility Providing good value for money If the management and workers of the organization are well social responsible for internal and external environment of the organization then it would result in best productivity and obviously the good image of the organization. The biggest power of the any organization among all resources is the human resource thats why if human resource is so well behaved with good ethical ways the value of any organization will be good enough. Broadening the futuristic concept of business If the organization is giving best output to the public demand satisfying their needs with latest trends and technology, it means that the business of the organization is good and as public response is excellent the organization would have better future aspects. This all happen due to the organizations social responsibility towards their employees and environment factors. Also workers stay longer if the business has high-quality status. For example, MC Donalds is giving best variety of food in hygienically manner, where all the perception of individual match such as price, food quality, taste etc. Their business is so good that we can find its outlet anywhere in the world. MC Donalds is popular because they are socially responsible to the environment and for their work. Â ·.Good relationships with local authorities help doing business easier. Disadvantages of social responsibility towards organisation Everything has some prons and crons, similar to social responsibility where so many people argued on the benefits and disadvantages of social responsibility. First the most important is that the organization is running for profit maximization mostly, the social responsibility shows the fundamental misconception of the character and nature of a free economy. Business functions are moreover economic rather than social if come to the practical way and it is judged by economic criteria alone. This point of view comes to the employees mind most of the time leading to not to concentrate much in their work which automatically results in bad productivity. The role of corporation is to make a profit and maximize social welfare through the efficiency of the employees. In some cases where employees are not much social responsible for the organization than it would be very difficult for the managers or corporation to do the best out of the work and lead the group, resulting in bad image of the organization and bad internal environment There is the concern for the efficient use of national resources, because of social costs; profitability is not necessarily the best measure of effectiveness which affects the organization goal. Lack of interest of the employees towards social responsible in their business also not good for the organization Competency sometimes makes the stake holders to go beyond the limit forgetting their social responsibility that harm the nature and organization too. Being socially responsible costs organisations money, and sometimes the bill is huge. Therefore the organization think to do for profit maximizing rather than be social responsible. Discuss social responsibility barriers that inhibit an organisation Barriers that inhabit an organization Social responsibility has certain costs. Its not the natural thing to be responsible. Greed and selfishness work against social responsibility. When greed and selfishness become higher values, social responsibility goes out the window. One of the problems with our culture is that we worship wealth. People who have a lot of money are heroes to us and we strive to emulate them. We see wealth and power as an indicator of merit and virtue. But people who are rich and want to be richer, and corporate and industrial leaders whose jobs are to put the prosperity of their companies at the top of their priorities, often trivialize social responsibility, and this sets the tone for the whole culture. In social responsibility every individual in the organisation is not social responsible towards the work, it depends upon the people behaviour and motivation level within the organisation. Today every people think about wealth rather than social responsibility that they possess towards the organisat ion. This is the barrier in the organisation. For e.g.:- in an organisation if certain facility is lacking for the staff then staff will suffer and this management must be think which in reality they dont. This lacking of facility may affect the work out going on within the organisation. Flow of information in the organisation should be well enough to avoid any conflicts between the staff but it arises due to the problems that every employee are not social responsible. A vendor to the company first think towards the money he/she will get from doing particular kind of work.

Essay --

Even in the short term, the women’s movement is the detonator which will explode neopatriarchal society from within. If allowed to grow and come into its own, it will become the permanent shield against patriarchal regression, the cornerstone of future modernity. Hisham Sharabi, Neopatriarchy Introduction During the week long demonstrations at Tahrir Square, Egyptian women defied the socially accepted behaviors and opposed stereotypes. Oppressed by an autocratic regime that they deemed no longer effective women revolted along with the youth movement and labor unions during the Arab Spring of January 2011. Driven out of the public conversation women were subject to coordinated scare tactics by the government and on the streets of Cairo. No longer remaining silent, Egyptian women fought for full integration into public life but they battle tradition, culture and religious attitudes about gender roles. Almost every woman has experienced some form of oppression. Even in western culture women challenge perceived gender roles too. During the 1963 March on Washington, African-American woman questioned leadership about their role in the March. Acknowledging the main focus of the March was about jobs and education. African-American women unwillingly accepted the subordinate role to further the discussion on race relations. Repeatedly, women are expected to wait for equality and the discussion of women’s rights. Deep seated societal attitudes about segregated gender roles keep women from participating politically and becoming full citizens. In this essay, I will first examine the impact of traditional gender roles on Egyptian women who participated during and after the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, as well as, the role of African America... ...ssues of sexism would have to be addressed with the male leadership before going forward in the movement. After Tahrir Square Segregation, voting rights, refusal to give up her bus seat galvanized the bus boycotts in Montgomery, Alabama ending bus segregation. Even Ella Baker Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee conducted the first lunch counter sit-in in 1960 by North Carolina AT&T students. As more people heard about the protests their participation was met with same opposition-your voice is not needed here. Social behavior dictated an patriarchal attitude that relegated women to of In the United States but Egyptian women were mingling with men voices but Conclusion Revolutions are rare dramatic events that rapidly and violently transform political, social, and economic institutions from below.

Global Warming †Myth or Fact? Essay

Climatic conditions have dramatically changed. There are long periods of extremely hot weather and severe cases of drought. Arctic ice is melting and both poles are warming. Oceans are heating up and sea levels are rising. There are worst and widespread floodings. Strong hurricanes, heavy snowfalls, heat waves and mosquito-borne diseases are observed to have been frequent and unusual occurrences. All these are signs pointing to the undisputable fact that there is indeed global warming. Scientific, investigative studies find that carbon emissions trap the heat from the sun and cause the earth to warm up by more than â€Å"1 deg Fahrenheit since 1900† (The New York. Com, 2008). The effects of global warming are serious and pose great threats to life in this planet. Indications are frightening. Actions to combat and control the causes are rather slow in coming and do not have significant support. The figures are grim. For instance, scientists warn of a triple increase in temperature towards the end of this century. If emissions continue, we are to expect a worst scenario in our children’s children world. It is not enough that we know the facts as they are and express helplessness. No matter how dreadful the future of this warming planet seems, there is much that can be done to reverse the direction of things. It will take humanity’s collective will and concerted efforts. Nations must band together and revisit their destructive practices resulting in the onslaught of our natural resources and degradation of the environment. We must all mend our ways before everything gets done a second too late. The United States happens to be the highest carbon monoxide pollutant in the world, contributing one-fourth of the entire planet’s emissions. The US has been conducting studies and researches on global warming. The world benefited from these in that they were furnished the information and knowledge on global warming and more importantly on the catastrophic effect it has on our world and its inhabitants. With equal enthusiasm, the United States must likewise lead the world in arresting our worsening state leading to global warming. The US has the resources to employ to reverse the situation. Unfortunately, the American leaders and its big businesses do not fully support measures that would make the country switch from fossil fuels to biofuels and other alternative renewable energy sources. True, Al Gore received the Nobel for his campaign. He has been going around the world to urge nations to do something about global warming. Great! But first he must ensure his own country and countrymen are doing that. President Bush’s Energy Program is not comprehensive enough and has been carried out in trickles. A Clinton initiative on strict energy efficiency requirements for air conditioning and heating units for homes is an excellent first step. The forecasted reduction in emissions is significant and very encouraging to replicate. â€Å"51 million metric tons of carbon equivalent to 34 million cars off the road for a year† can be realized. (NRDC, 2007). It is incumbent upon governments to enact laws that would regulate the operation of coal-fired power plants, require the use of biofuels and alternative renewable energy sources, give car makers tax incentives for manufacturing fuel efficient vehicles, and fund research and development for alternative environment-friendly energy sources. People must opt for energy-efficient appliances and conserve energy at all times. Halting global warming is a shared responsibility, commitment and drive of both the government and the people. Global warming has come upon us like a war which must be won at all costs. Nations rallied for the cause of freedom in Vietnam and Iraq, why can they not once again come together as a new coalition of the willing for the greatest cause of all time – saving Planet Earth so that mankind will survive. Reference climatehotmap. org. (1999). Global Warming: Early Warning Signs. Retrieved April 19, 2008, from http://www. climatehotmap. org nytimes. com (2008). Global Warming. Retrieved April 19, 2008, from http://topics. nytimes. com/top/news/science/topics/globalwarming nrdc. org (2007). Issues: Global Warming. Retrieved April 19, 2008, from http://nrdc. org/globalWarming/f101. asp nrdc. org (2007). Issues: Oil and Energy. Retrieved April 19, 2008 from

Example University Of Maryland Admisson Essay

Example University Of Maryland Admisson Essay Free Online Research Papers Example University Of Maryland Admisson Essay June 11, 2004, 4:37 a.m. As dawn approached I was still awake, packing and repacking my bags. As I noticed the rainy weather I wondered what the weather would be like in Sells, Arizona. I had been anticipating this missions trip for weeks and had planned meticulously for it. My parents called me paranoid, but I really only wanted to be prepared; after all, I was going to live for weeks without family. The first step in this new experience was to let go of the starting point and family. As I left for the airport, they looked at me as though they would never see me again. However, although the worry they expressed was earnest, something inside me felt compelled to push away all my insecurities as we exchanged our farewells. After the missions teams five hour plane ride across America to Sells, we were at our final destination. Surprisingly, after the strenuous workout of dragging around heavy luggage with a combination of being sleep-deprived, one look at the few enthusiastic church members was all it took to transfer their contagious energy into my own body. Thousands of miles away from home, I felt as though I had been abducted by aliens since my surroundings were remote and exotic. The exhausting heat and barren land were all foreign to me. Upon arriving at the destination, I observed carefree children playing in decrepit shelters. As I adjusted to my surroundings, I befriended the natives that I would live with for the next two weeks. Each one of them possessed a unique personality; yet, like my friends at home, they all had the same quality in their smile, which never failed to persuade me to return that same genuine smile. However, despite their seemingly contented attitude on the surface, deep inside each one of them was a harrowing whimper for help. Many were struggling to escape poverty, gangs, homelessness, drugs, and hardships beyond my imagination. Soon, I realized that I took many of my opportunities and possessions for granted, and became more determined than ever to give what I could to my Arizona kids. . The unforgiving sunlight woke me every morning and hauled me out of my sleeping bag. Although sometimes I would be discouraged at the challenging tasks before me, my comrades, especially my friend Steves utmost jubilation and optimism encouraged me as we tackled another day of service. After a couple days of the routine breakfast, bible study and crafts, praise and worship, I became gradually more confident in my abilities to help others. I formed habit of waking up early and tried to rise even before the sun. One morning I set out to help my pastor prepare the days food and services. In return, I received gratitude and sense of assurance from my pastor and the other missionaries analogous to the comfort of home and family. In my serving I received, in return, a sense of accomplishment and belonging. This leadership position was crucial because of the duties that I fulfill for the mission and children. But, I also realized such position holds a greater importance because I am able to be a motivator and influence others in a undertaking to make a difference in old child, an elderly, disabled, and countless others who seek help. In every project my prayer was that I would make at least one persons day brighter. I grew less aware of unbearable heat and lack of luxury, as I saw the change in the lives of the children I met. I devoted every motion and thought into the service to the children. What I thought would be a simple mission trip extended to one of much more significance, a lesson in life, giving me motivation to view life in a new perspective. I came to realize just how harsh of a condition these kids grew up in. Having always been provided with all the necessities in life by none other than my own two parents, I never understood exactly how well I had it. Essentially, what began as a mission to change the kids became a journey in which these kids, who were more unfortunate than I ever was, changed me by teaching me to cherish everything I had. .I returned home, with a better understanding of the importance of family, a greater appreciation for my teachers and their service in education. I also gained a new determination to serve those around me. Through my involvement of community service, ranging from serving food and playing music in homeless shelters to helping the elderly play bingo at retirement homes to tutoring elementary school kids, I have realized the truth in Martin Luther Jr.s proclamation: Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You dont have to have a college degree to serve. You dont have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. By attending University of Maryland, I hope to find even more opportunities to serve others. Realizing the importance of viewing every opportunity as a precious gift, I am confident that I will be able to take my pursuit of knowledge to its highest level. I am excited to be immersed in intellectual inquiry that I seek from a college setting and will make myself be known as a disciplined person who tackles challenges and is not satisfied until the best has been achieved. Through exchange of ideas and collaboration of efforts, I wish to build a promising and fulfilling future where I can not only fulfill my dreams but impacting the lives of people I love, know and live among this world. To me, college is the best opportunity that can be given to a person; I will seize college to make it the pinnacle of my accomplishments. Research Papers on Example University Of Maryland Admisson EssayThe Spring and AutumnThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XTrailblazing by Eric AndersonInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenPersonal Experience with Teen Pregnancy

Java vs C++ essays

Java vs C++ essays Since their inception, computers have played an increasingly important role in todays society. Advancements in technology have enabled computers to become faster and cheaper. Today, the majority of families own a home computer that is vastly more powerful than giant mainframes of years gone by. Computer hardware has been evolving rapidly with no end in sight, and with all of the advancements in computer hardware come advancements in computer software; gone are the days when FORTRAN and COBOL were the languages of choice. Today,vvv two hot new object oriented programming languages have entered the computer programming arena, Java and C++, this paper will examine the similarities and differences between these new languages. Both Java and C++ are object oriented programming languages, but what does that mean? Object oriented programming (OOP) emphasizes data, instead of algorithms for solving problems. Instead of trying to fit a problem to the procedural approach of a language, OOP attempts to fit the language to the problem, in other words, OOP is structured to produce an answer without changing the question. Object oriented programming involves two separate parts, class and objects. Class is a specification that describes a new data form, it is a template that defines how an object will look and behave.(Kaj 1996, 8) An object is that particular data structure constructed using the parameters defined by class.(Prata 1995, 5) The object oriented programming approach to program design is to first design classes that accurately represent those things with which the program deals. A drawing program, for example, might define classes to represent rectangles, lines, circles, brushes, pens, and the like. The class definitions, recall, include a descriptions of permissible options for each class, such as moving a circle or rotating a line.(Prata 1995, 5) The main advantages of OOP, besides being able to create more compl...

igneous rocks essays

igneous rocks essays En este capitulo, consideramos la familia de las rocas à ­gneas intrusivas - granito, gabro y otras de la misma familia - las cuales se cristalizan, desde su fundicin a grandes profundidades en la corteza terrestre y que luego son traà ­das a la superficie por la erosin de las formaciones superiores. La gnesis desde una fundicin a altà ­simas temperaturas (aprox. 900C), y kilmetros de ascenso imprimen caracterà ­sticas especiales en estas rocas. Tambin consideraremos las particularidades quà ­micas y mecnicas de la inusual roca: serpentina, la cual se origina en el manto terrestre, en algunos casos ascendiendo en estado slido con grandes deformaciones internas. Contrariamente a la serpentina que generalmente presenta problemas desde el punto de vista ingenieril, las rocas granà ­ticas son generalmente consideradas como el mejor aliado de los ingenieros, con buenas cualidades, sin meteorizacin y sin fracturamiento el granito es el prototipo de un lecho de roca. Sin embargo, gen eralmente las rocas granà ­ticas presentan meteorizacin o fracturamiento, o ambas. Esto puede generar muchos problemas. Las rocas granà ­ticas las encontramos haciendo parte de los nà ºcleos de gran cantidad de monta, que se extiende desde las Montan de los Grandes Lagos en U.S.A. Existen escudos similares de rocas granà ­ticas que se encuentran bajo la superficie de Brasil, El oeste de Australia, Africa, Escandinavia y Siberia. Un gran porcentaje de roca de estos escudos se asemeja al granito, pero pueden haberse formado por metamorfismo y no por solidificacin de masa en fusin. Las rocas de tipo granà ­tico tambin pueden encontrarse en masas se...

Analyze and research 2 original works of art Paper

Analyze and 2 original works of art - Research Paper Example However, there are exemptions and contradictions to the said expression of belief in art. An example of this can be exemplified through the marble statue of the Old Woman. At the present, both are located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. These two pieces, when studied closely, have seemingly diverse themes in artistic approach. Both have also left numerous mysteries and secrets with questions and answers waiting to be revealed – revelations of stories each once told. In this light, this paper will focus on the mentioned classical marble monuments that exhibit extensive pieces of evidence about the classical period. It will describe each of the respective piece’s physical characteristics and figures. Then, an analysis of artistic style based on the classical techniques will be given. Thereafter, both will be compared based on the individual analysis conducted. The mentioned statues will also be historicized based on the prevailing themes they possessed. Such historical study will explain the type of society and political atmosphere where these statues were conceptualized. In the physical and technical attributes of the marble statue Hermes, it can be said that the piece is a close life size depiction of Greek god Hermes, the messenger to Zeus. It stands at 71 1/4 x 29 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches. The statue’s left hand, nose, and tips of some fingers have been duly restored in its present museum condition. Its artist, Polykleitos, displays Hermes with a graceful stance. One can begin to imagine how the sculpture came about. In the viewer’s plain sight, it was as if Hermes was present and posing for the artist. Polykleitos depicts Hermes’ stance using contrapposto, meaning â€Å"counter poise.† This particular stance applies all of the subject’s weight shifting to his left leg, with his right leg slightly bent ahead of the other. He stands tall, with might, shoulders back and head tilt forward. This pose causes the figur e’s hips and shoulders to rest at opposite angels and gives it a slight and almost unnoticeable s-curve to the torso. The statue’s head is tilted forward, as if he gazes down upon something and with his left arm, reaching out for something. Such particular pose implies the notion of the god giving a hand out to travelers, as if to assist them in a safe and easy journey as many Greeks would do when they called out and made sacrifices to Hermes before any trips were conducted.2 The statue’s chitin is held at his left shoulder, draped off the body with remainder of the material gathered in the left arm. The marble statue of Hermes is of many similar Greek originals and Roman copies, as they constantly display desired physical beauty and idealism in lieu of concrete beauty and realism. It is from this technical characterization that the style where Hermes was based can be deduced. From what was mentioned earlier, the classical Greek art can be attributed to the them es of naturalism and idealism. The technique of naturalism is evident within Hermes through the very image of the Greek god where the male figure exhibits nudity. Nudity, in a classical and artistic sense, can be seen as being one with the natural world. The utter simplicity in physical attributes can be shown through the sole use of a piece of clothing draped upon one’s shoulder. This natural attachment to the world is the core

Product design overview Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Product design overview - Coursework Example The design places open drawers underneath the table with elevated sides and fluid mechanical structure for easy and minimal effort in sliding the drawers and for tagging along of the product. With no doubts, this concept of a product is actually possible to render. The product is viable and can be made by the Just Add Glue workers who have certain limitations because there are already existing counter tables with drawers that are industry made by workers with basic molding tools. Although existing, these counters are made of driftwood and tiles which make these existing counter drawers hard to maneuver, not made for mobility, and are not geared for the elderly people. These existing counters are hard and heavy to open the drawers, and impossible to tag along because of the material. On the contrary, the Tag-along product is actually a portable counterpart of these kitchen counters that already exist. This can be produced by the JAG workforce since simple molding tools can produce the Tag-along table. The feasibility of this project is unquestionable as it can be easily moved along in the kitchen while storing all the kitchen necessities. It is lightweight which makes the target consumers, which are old people, taken into consideration. The target market is real because there is a need for elderly people to be effort efficient when they move about the kitchen. As seen in the Survey Results Analysis, there were actually real people who were willing to pay the average of 60$ from 67% of the senior respondents for the Tag-along Table product. These consisted of 47% who thought 60$-80$, 20% of the respondents who were willing to pay 40$-60$, These target market range from the 50-80 year old elderly people in the suburbs of Eastern and Western Sydney. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics In June 2010, there has actually

A letter to University Program Leader for an enquery Essay

A letter to University Program Leader for an enquery - Essay Example n thrown into uncertainty by the fact that the structure of my academic program will change from a 15 credits module to a 20 credits module in the September semester. This change is going to affect my study schedule since it is likely to raise the number of credits required for a complete semester and I may end up with fewer modules completed. In March, I made enquiries with the E-learning team on when and what modules would be available for enrolment in the April Semester and I was notified to take two modules in Biological Psychology and Social psychology even though I was aware that the semester had three level 4 modules on offer; Biological, Social and Developmental Psychology. Following the unsatisfactory response that I received from the E-learning team, I contacted the E-learning team for the second time, enquiring for the possibility of adding Developmental Psychology to my program for the Semester beginning April 2012. In response, the E-learning team informed me that the program leader would not allow me to take three modules, leaving me with the unfavorable option of taking the two modules that the program leader advised. However, at the beginning of my Second Semester in mid April, I realized that some students who started in January were taking three modules (Biological Psychology, Social Psychology and Developmental Psychology) for the January Semester. I sought the advice of the program leader and the E-learning team again but did not get any responses and so I had to proceed with the two modules. In the period April to June, I frequently contacted the program leader and the E-learning team to allow me takes the third module without much breakthrough. The E-learning team later informed me that the program leader would not allow me take the third module since the Semester was just four weeks away from the assessment date and so he advised me to wait for a few more weeks when I would obtain my new study pathway. I have since received my study plan

Development Aid Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Development Aid - Essay Example Such countries began to borrow capital from other well to do rich countries to start developing their own economies and thus began the concept of Development Aid. There has been a lot of monetary transfer between the poor countries and the developed countries with regard to the development aid. Development Aid was made mandatory by the United Nations in the year 1946 to ensure that the countries which were destroyed and affected adversely during the World-War II, to recover from their state. The concept of providing Development Aid was to help the third world countries recover from their poverty and help them come on to the path of progress. Development Aid was meant to be the means of maintaining a peace accord between two rival countries affected by war for quite some time. Development Aid helps countries to develop and progress instead of sliding back into the stages of conflicts and war. Development Aid also termed as foreign aid was meant to promote improvement in economic growth of the third world countries and to bridge the gap between the poor and rich. ... r the domestic economy were taken up by a new breed of development economists who argued that investment in less developed countries could be stimulated by injections of cash from overseas. The logic of this new development theory was simple: investments are determined by savings - and savings are determined by per capita income. Since poor countries have low incomes and accordingly, low savings, they are caught in a 'vicious circle of poverty': they experience a 'low-level equilibrium trap' where higher income does not lead to increased saving but only results in higher population growth. Thus, it was argued, investment financed by foreign aid will dissolve this vicious circle and connect the less developed countries to the virtuous circle of productivity and growth. Pros and Cons Good Governance is the latest term being used for the diplomatic as well as the bilateral issues of Development Aid. Good Governance is a term which is very common amongst the general public with regard to Development Aid; mostly hearing at public speeches or through some media like the television, the newspaper, etc. Good Governance as told is like a diplomatic and bilateral condition in multi aid proposals (O'Neill, 1997). Bilateral issues in multi-aid proposals include the two countries coming to a common understanding between each other, signing some pacts which would have to be followed in the following times after the pacts have been signed. Many people and governments are of the opinion that Good governance is an integral concept and entity to improve the flow of aid thereby proving to be a bolster to the economic growth of a country as well as a means to alleviate poverty from that particular country. Many have different views about good governance which might mean different things

Case study 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Case study 2 - Essay Example Founded in the year 2008, Orla’s Coffees has been experiencing continuous growth with its eight coffee shops across different locations in Dublin. The organisation is basically renowned for its thematic interior, which offers quality based coffee to each consumer or group. The coffee shops of the organisation offer a thematic library experience to its valuable customer groups, who are also provided an opportunity of borrowing and donating books as per their interests. Throughout the years, Orla’s Coffees shops have drawn the attention of varied group of consumers across the whole area of Dublin city in the form of providing greater product and/or service values to them. Therefore, offering product and/or service value towards each repeated consumer is one of the imperative factors for the success of the coffee shops of the company. However, despite the challenges derived from the major economic transitions, Orla’s coffees shops have also been recognised to undergo major constraints due to its ineffective data information system infrastructure. Due to the impact of economic recession, the company has had experience of reducing its numbers of coffee shops from eight to five throughout the previous three years. The situation thus called for making a major decision towards rejuvenating potentials of the company. In order to effectively deal with the problems, it is quite necessary for Orla’s Coffees to obtain valuable responses of its customer groups by combining their location and demographic data. This can substantially enable the organisation to make strong decisions in the sphere of raising maximum profitability. Therefore, the primary objective of this report is to critically assess the current business performance of Orla’s Coffees and develop an effective management decision-making tool on its behalf. The proposed

Cases Write Up Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Cases Write Up - Essay Example After 1990, worldwide software companies discovered a new phenomenon called open source business model, and they started developing and distributing open source software. These types of software are distributed free both for private and commercial use. MySQL is the world’s most popular Relational Database Management System. It provides multi-user access to, and runs as a server of, a number of databases. MySQL was first released in 23rd July in 1995 by three Scandinavian founders, Axmark, Larsson, and Widenius. The company was incorporated in 2011 as MySQL AB in Uppsala, Sweden (MySQL, â€Å"About MySQL†). MySQL used open source business model and used it as a viral marketing vehicle for penetrating in the global information technology market. For its open source status, it has gained a higher extent of visibility among the software developers community, including individuals and companies. Using the open access model, MySQL made available its products under a dual lice nsing policy allowing anyone to download them under GPL and use them for individual or commercials purposes. They required no fees for the use, and commercial users can purchase them at the minimum price, much lower than competitive market prices of other database management systems (O’Reilly 8). ... This type of business culture allowed MySQL to become a virtual organization. 120 employees of this organization are scattered across 17 countries across the world, and they efficiently communicated with each other through email and other means of internet communication. It can be stated that this model has provided the company with effective global penetration at a very low cost of operation. MySQL marketing strategy was developed based on the open source business followed by the company. The strategy was to supply a better product at a lower price. Its goal was to penetrate global information technology market to develop a positive distribution network trough a wide installed base (Krishnamurthy 11). This strategy of open source business model helped the company to achieve a tremendous growth in its specific segment of target customers. Thus, open source business model has eventually superseded more traditional business models, and the companies that implemented this model enjoyed higher demand of their open source products. Case question 2 (Google) Google is recognized as the most successful and innovative business in the current internet-based business world. Microsoft has proved its rapid growth through innovations in the sphere of computer technology, whereas Google has showed its innovation in information technology, analytical decision-making, efficient product development, experimentation and other types of relatively unusual and uncommon ways of innovation. Google has been successfully balancing innovative ideas, evaluation methods, and the use of advanced technologies for the evaluation of innovative ideas. Google has made itself recognizable as a leading exponent or a creator of new

Development Aid Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Development Aid - Essay Example Such countries began to borrow capital from other well to do rich countries to start developing their own economies and thus began the concept of Development Aid. There has been a lot of monetary transfer between the poor countries and the developed countries with regard to the development aid. Development Aid was made mandatory by the United Nations in the year 1946 to ensure that the countries which were destroyed and affected adversely during the World-War II, to recover from their state. The concept of providing Development Aid was to help the third world countries recover from their poverty and help them come on to the path of progress. Development Aid was meant to be the means of maintaining a peace accord between two rival countries affected by war for quite some time. Development Aid helps countries to develop and progress instead of sliding back into the stages of conflicts and war. Development Aid also termed as foreign aid was meant to promote improvement in economic growth of the third world countries and to bridge the gap between the poor and rich. ... r the domestic economy were taken up by a new breed of development economists who argued that investment in less developed countries could be stimulated by injections of cash from overseas. The logic of this new development theory was simple: investments are determined by savings - and savings are determined by per capita income. Since poor countries have low incomes and accordingly, low savings, they are caught in a 'vicious circle of poverty': they experience a 'low-level equilibrium trap' where higher income does not lead to increased saving but only results in higher population growth. Thus, it was argued, investment financed by foreign aid will dissolve this vicious circle and connect the less developed countries to the virtuous circle of productivity and growth. Pros and Cons Good Governance is the latest term being used for the diplomatic as well as the bilateral issues of Development Aid. Good Governance is a term which is very common amongst the general public with regard to Development Aid; mostly hearing at public speeches or through some media like the television, the newspaper, etc. Good Governance as told is like a diplomatic and bilateral condition in multi aid proposals (O'Neill, 1997). Bilateral issues in multi-aid proposals include the two countries coming to a common understanding between each other, signing some pacts which would have to be followed in the following times after the pacts have been signed. Many people and governments are of the opinion that Good governance is an integral concept and entity to improve the flow of aid thereby proving to be a bolster to the economic growth of a country as well as a means to alleviate poverty from that particular country. Many have different views about good governance which might mean different things

Cases Write Up Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Cases Write Up - Essay Example After 1990, worldwide software companies discovered a new phenomenon called open source business model, and they started developing and distributing open source software. These types of software are distributed free both for private and commercial use. MySQL is the world’s most popular Relational Database Management System. It provides multi-user access to, and runs as a server of, a number of databases. MySQL was first released in 23rd July in 1995 by three Scandinavian founders, Axmark, Larsson, and Widenius. The company was incorporated in 2011 as MySQL AB in Uppsala, Sweden (MySQL, â€Å"About MySQL†). MySQL used open source business model and used it as a viral marketing vehicle for penetrating in the global information technology market. For its open source status, it has gained a higher extent of visibility among the software developers community, including individuals and companies. Using the open access model, MySQL made available its products under a dual lice nsing policy allowing anyone to download them under GPL and use them for individual or commercials purposes. They required no fees for the use, and commercial users can purchase them at the minimum price, much lower than competitive market prices of other database management systems (O’Reilly 8). ... This type of business culture allowed MySQL to become a virtual organization. 120 employees of this organization are scattered across 17 countries across the world, and they efficiently communicated with each other through email and other means of internet communication. It can be stated that this model has provided the company with effective global penetration at a very low cost of operation. MySQL marketing strategy was developed based on the open source business followed by the company. The strategy was to supply a better product at a lower price. Its goal was to penetrate global information technology market to develop a positive distribution network trough a wide installed base (Krishnamurthy 11). This strategy of open source business model helped the company to achieve a tremendous growth in its specific segment of target customers. Thus, open source business model has eventually superseded more traditional business models, and the companies that implemented this model enjoyed higher demand of their open source products. Case question 2 (Google) Google is recognized as the most successful and innovative business in the current internet-based business world. Microsoft has proved its rapid growth through innovations in the sphere of computer technology, whereas Google has showed its innovation in information technology, analytical decision-making, efficient product development, experimentation and other types of relatively unusual and uncommon ways of innovation. Google has been successfully balancing innovative ideas, evaluation methods, and the use of advanced technologies for the evaluation of innovative ideas. Google has made itself recognizable as a leading exponent or a creator of new

How Piagets theories support universal preK in the US Essay Example for Free

How Piagets theories support universal preK in the US Essay Jean Piaget is famous for developing one of the most influential theory, the theory of cognitive development. The theory is mainly concerned with the construction and emergence of schemata which comprises the schemes of how a person does perceive the world especially during the developmental stages when the children are gaining new means of mentally expressing information. The theory is considered constructivist in opposition to other theories which could be either nativist or empiricists, (Brainerd, C. 1978). The theory proposes that we do get to construct our cognitive abilities through the self-motivated action in ones world. The nativist theory on the other hand asserts that cognitive development is the unfolding of innate abilities and knowledge while empiricist theories defines cognitive development as a gradual process in which knowledge is acquired through experience, (Brainerd, C.J. Reyna, V.F 2002). For this theory, Piaget won the Erasmus prize. There are four main periods that Piaget used to describe the schemes that children make use of to understand the world, (Gallagher, J.M. Reid, D.K. 1981). Four stages as described by Piaget’s. Sensorimotor period. This occurs at the age of 0 to 2 years, (Piaget, J. 1929). According to Piaget, children are born with a congenital reflexes which permits them to float in the dense world beyond their drive to explore the world around them. The initial schemes that the children have at this stage is all based on the differentiation of their congenital reflexes. Since this is the first of the four stages according to Piaget it marks an important stage in which the child develops spatial abilities to understand the world in six different stages, (Piaget, J. 1929). These stages include; †¢ The reflex scheme stage that takes place from birth to one month. It is primarily associated with the development of reflexes. †¢ Primary circular reaction stage is the second stage that occurs from one month to four month. It is primarily associated with the development of habits. †¢ The secondary circular reactions phase forms the third stage. It occurs from the fourth month to the eighth month and is primarily associated with the development of vision and prehension coordination, (hand-eye coordination). †¢ The fourth sub stage is concerned with the development of the object permanence development. It is generally called the coordination of secondary course round modest circular reactions stage and occurs from the eighth month to the twelfth month. †¢ The tertiary circular reactions phase is what Piaget suggested to the fifth sub stage from twelve to eighteen months. This is the stage that Piaget suggested that the ‘little scientist’ is born through active creativity and experimentation. †¢ The sixth final sub stage here is characterized by the beginning of symbolic representation and it occurs from the eighteen months to twenty four months. At this stage the new found means of considering before taking an action gives the child new ways of eventually achieving a goal without having to go for the trial and error experiment, (Gallagher, J.M. Reid, D.K. 1981). preoperational stage This is the second of four main stages of cognitive development. Piaget demonstrated that a qualitative psychological functioning does occur as the child approaches the end of second year. According to Piaget, a preparatory thought is any particular procedure that promotes mental action on objects. The main hallmark in this stage is logically inadequate and sparse mental operations, (Flavell 1963). It is at this stage that the child learns to repress and use objects by words and images, that is symbolic thinking is evident. Since the child still has difficult of adopting other people’s viewpoint, thinking is still egocentric. It as it this stage that the child has the potential to classify similar objects together trough a single feature such as color or shape, (Brainerd, C. 1978). Piaget suggested that this stage which immediately follows Sensorimotor stage occurs between 2-7 years of stage. It at this stage that children develop their language skills and thus they begin expressing things using images and words. Worth noting here is the child relies more on intuition that the logical reasoning at this stage. At the beginning, there are more egocentric since they are not yet aware that other people are not thinking or perceiving things in the same way like they do. It at this time that their imaginative mind is very active and they thus associate emotions to certain inanimate objects, (Piaget, J. 1929). This stage is further broken down into Preconceptual stage and the Intuitive stage. The Preconceptual stage occurs at the stage of 2-4 years and is mainly characterized by egocentric thinking as well as animistic thought. A child with animistic thought is one who has the tendency to assign attributes of living things to inanimate objects such as the perception that a glass does feel pain when it is broken. The intuitive stage that occurs between the forth year to the seventh year is characterized by the potential child who is actively solving problems through the mental process. Though at this stage they do manage to achieve some goals, they are however unaware on how they achieved their conclusion. A simple example is when a child is able to correctly identify the majority from the minority just by the virtual of sight. An example is when a child is presented with seven dogs and maybe 2 cats and he/she is asked if there are more dogs that cats. As expected the child would respond positively but will also commit a logical error if supposedly asked the same question in the same way but differently such as if there are more dogs that animal, (Brainerd, C. 1978). The child will most likely respond by saying yes thus showing the use intuition at this stage. An important observation by Piaget is that children mainly learn through play and imitation through these first two stages, (Gallagher, J.M. Reid, D.K. 1981).. Concrete operational stage This is the third of the four stages in Piaget’s cognitive development theory. It follows preoperational stage and is suggested to occur between the age of 7 to 11 years, (Piaget, J. 1929). It is characterized by the appropriate use of logic and at this stage some of the important processes that have been identified include; †¢ Seriation, which is the ability to sort different objects based on shape, size or other characteristic. A good example is the potential to differentiate color gradient. †¢ Classification-the ability of the child to identify and name sets of objects based on size, appearance as well as other characteristics that may suggest that one object may include another. †¢ Decentering-this is a process where the child is able to take into account multiple aspects of a problem towards solving it. An example is the change in perception where a child will no longer will no longer hold the perception that an exceptionally wide yet short cup will hold less amount that one that is normally tall and wide. †¢ Reversibility-where the young one is able to comprehend that objects and numbers can be altered and eventually returned back their original state. Thus the child will be able to comprehend that since 3+3= 6, then 6-3=3. †¢ Conservation- the ability to understand that length, quantity or number of items is basically mot related to their appearance or arrangement. †¢ Elimination of egocentricim- this is the ability of the child to understand and view things from another perspective even though they may think incorrectly. Formal operational stage This is the fourth and the final stage in cognitive development according to Piaget’ theory. It starts at around 12 years of age soon after the Concrete Operational stage and continues all the way to adulthood, (Ashurst 1985). It is the stage that is characterized with the ability to reason logically, think abstractly, and be able to draw conclusions from the available information. It is at this young adult stage that one is able to understand such aspects as logical proofs, love and values. Some biological factors can be traced during this stage as it occurs during puberty thus marking the entry into adulthood in cognition, physiology, moral judgment (Kohlberg), psychosocial development (Erikson) and psychosexual development (Freud). It is estimated that approximately two-thirds of all the people fail to develop this type of reasoning fully for it to become their normal cognition mode and thus they remain as operational thinkers even as adults, (Flavell 1963). The above four stages have some general observation. One is that though they may vary in time, sequence does not change, (Brainerd, C. 1978). The stages also apply to thought and not to children and they universal thus they cannot be associated with any culture. Shortcoming to Piagetian stage theory. There are several challenges that have been put froth against Piagetian theory some of which even Piaget himself has noted such as the fact that development does not have to progress in such as the smooth manner that his theory has proposed. His theory is a general one since it suggests that cognitive maturation occurs across different aspects of knowledge such as logic, mathematics, language among others, (Gallagher, J.M. Reid, D.K. 1981). Application of Piagetian theory Most of the educators as well as psychologists do manage to receive piagetian theory training during their professional training. A piagetian assessment is more likely to be a familiar concept among the psychologists who work in those districts that carry out alternative assessment of cognitive ability on regular basis. A good example are the psychologists at the Southern California Diagnostic Center who do make use of the Ordinal Scale more in depth during a Piagetian assessment. For most of these psychologists, a Piagetian assessment is like a departure from the standardized intelligence testing. The standardized intelligence tests that are available usually diagnose the student’s academic achievement expectancy and it may usually take considerable amount of time and thus may not be done for more than one year. This thus limits the tests for use during short term interventions such as pre-test or post-test. More to this is that standardized cognitive tests quantify a students power or strength of abilities or processing but unfortunately the quantification does not precisely predict the intervention method that are most likely applicable or useful, (Flavell 1963). A curriculum-based measurement (CBM) can be done several times within a year by the school psychologists as a pretest or post-test on how effective the intervention is. Unfortunately, CBM does not provide details of why the intervention may or may not be successful nor does it serve as a diagnostic tool for the instructional modifications. On the other hand, Piagetian screening can be useful in giving instructional interventions especially incases to do with comprehension or math concepts, (Piaget, J. 1929). Piagetian theory gives the stage wise development of qualitative means of developing thinking from one stage to the next. Through this understanding it is possible to understand more easily why students experience learning difficulties. Thus Piagetian screening does provide an avenue of quickly estimating a student’s cognitive development level, (Ashurst 1985). In a summary thus, one can point to Piagetian tasks as signposts that indicate the level or stage that a child of a particular age is functioning. Thus it is important to understand that teaching   a child certain specific tasks does not in any way change the development stage of the child. Thus these signpost are useful when developing accommodations and modifications that do support a match between a Childs a curriculum with his/her cognitive processing ability. Necessary interventions for a child curriculum especially at the age of 4. Most of the children usually do encounter difficult math problems. Piagetian theory can be used to explain the appropriate interventions that can be adopted and especially at the age of four. For a student to effectively understand the mathematical concepts of simple subtraction and addition, there is need for him/her to acquire the concept of conservation of numbers. A child who is yet to attain conservation of number concept can still be able to perform, state or memorize various procedures such as subtraction or addition but may most likely be confused with the same concepts weeks, days or even hours later. The main reason for this is that information is stored as verbatim representations and the gist representations, (Brainerd, C. 1978). The modern theories of memory suggest that memory is stored as verbatim (exact input), or gist (concepts) and these representations of   memory   are accessed independently. Thus a child who has not yet attained the conservation of number rarely has the conceptual framework that is needed for a one-to-one correspondence since they lack the conceptual framework, (Gallagher, J.M. Reid, D.K. 1981).. At a later time when the child is not able to accurately carry out math operations, an impression of memory deficit may most likely be the first impression. But the main problem maybe that the child has not yet attained the developmental stage that is required to understand the mathematical concepts. It is in such circumstances that the child may only store verbatim memories and fail to do the same for the conceptual knowledge, gist memory. Necessary interventions in this case suggest that one ought to be very sure that the concrete operations level is emerging. If this is not the case, the child may most likely be in the pre-operational thinking stage which is also the intuitive level. The necessary interventions can be aimed at helping the child accelerate moving from intuitive stage towards the concrete stage. A good example is at the age of four, which is generally regarded as the stage of ‘why’ where the course-effect thinking is learnt in details. Worth noting is that some of the primary school-age children whom have not yet attained the level of being intuitive thinkers usually get on to ‘why stage’ one or two years later and may thus have not had the opportunity of having the questioning behavior reinforced, (Flavell 1963). Students are also known to experience problems with comprehension. The frequent complaint are usually at the 4th grade all the way to the eighth grade. The difficult maybe complex but with the application of Piagetian theory it is possible to determine whether the student did manage to attain the necessary developmental stages to be able to comprehend different concepts that do involve   some partially overlapping sets of information. Though the international model age for attaining classification task as age 9, an upward variance is usually observed. Most of the upper elementary science, literary concepts and social sciences involve also mental manipulation. Usually students gain the attention of the school psychologists due t issues that are associated social behavior.

Analysis of validity and reliability of intelligence assessments

Analysis of validity and reliability of intelligence assessments Measuring intelligence has always been a pragmatic thing to do (Wilhelm Engle, 2005). Most people find it hard to be rational in measuring their intelligence. As a common usage, intelligence is attested quantifiably by understanding the admissibility of a degree (Bartholomew, 2004) In other words, there can be no way that intelligence would be perfectly quantified. Only the nearness or the relative distance can be the mode of measuring ones intelligence. David Wechsler (Bartholomew, 2004) defines intelligence as the aggregate ability of an individual to have a rational thinking, a purposive act, and an effective dealing with his environment. Some writers however define intelligence negatively. That is, the doing away of tests. It is important to differentiate between intelligence quotient (IQ) and intelligence itself. IQ does not simply refer to the quantity of intelligence a person has, rather it refers to the relative standing of an individual with regard to his performance in an intelligence test as compared to others who took the same test (Zastrow Kirst-Ashman, 2007). When intelligence is measured in terms of a numerical result (i.e. I.Q. is 140), we cannot be sure that we are really talking about intelligence since there is a substitution of precision for vagueness (Govier, 2009). The original purpose of intelligence test was primarily to identify the least capable students that are finding it hard to learn from ordinary schooling (Kalat, 2010). However, it was later used to determine who among the students excel and during entrance examinations in universities. It is seemingly difficult if not impossible to devise a test that would truly measure the innate intelligence without being bias culturally. Innate ability cannot be measured if cultural bias exists (Young, 2006). Bias refers to the existence of nuisance factors that makes it difficult to compare the intelligence tests results across different cultural groups (Prifitera et al. 2008). There are three kinds of cultural biases in intelligence tests vis-a-viz construct bias, method bias, and differential item functioning (Lovler, Miller, McIntire, 2010). Construct bias occurs when there are different systems of meaning from culture to culture. For instance, a good daughter in a country might have a different characteristic in another country. Method bias occurs when the procedure of the test vary from different cultures such as when in a certain country, participants are used to input data electronically while in another country, participants are used to answering manually through paper s. Differential item functioning or item bias occurs when there is a great gap in the test scores of the participants in different cultures who have relatively the same abilities. For example, different regional groups might have different scores in a history test regarding their home country even if all of them are familiar with its history. In order to eliminate cultural biases in intelligence tests, culture-free tests became a demand. As the name imply this test attempt to eliminate cultural and educational differences (Haselbauer, 2006). The most common mediums used in this test are pictures or images which assess spatial capabilities of the participants such as visualization and perception. The validity of the tests is equally important as the reliability of the test. Validity is challenged when a participant in the test cannot communicate in the language used in the test (Rhodes, 2005). Critics of IQ tests argue that the differences in IQ scores are attributable to the orientation of the test makers such as their experiences, vocabulary and language, and lifestyles (Weiten, 2008). Construct-related validity refers to the extent which the test instrument can capture the details it is designed to measure (Sternberg, 2010). Methods To be able to determine the validity of intelligence tests particularly on the way it is constructed, this paper will investigate whether validity of tests vary between English speakers and non-English speakers. The kind of test that will be used is PSYGAT which focuses mainly on the verbal capability of the participant. This will be conducted after the participants have taken the Queendom test and Culture Fair IQ test. Participants will be composed of a total number of 337 from which 269 (79.8%) are females and 68 (20.2%) are males. The sex standard deviation for the participants with English-speaking backgrounds (ESB) will be 0.407 while those with non-English speaking background (NESB) will be 0.389. After getting the result of the test, it will be analyzed based on age. The age standard deviation for ESBs will be 7.514 while for NESBs it is 7.627. Ages range from 19-55 for ESBs and 19-62 for NESBs. Aim This study aims to determine if PSYGAT is internally reliable when a group of participants with English-speaking backgrounds and non-English speaking backgrounds are compared. An initial hypothesis for this study is that PSYGAT will be a reliable means of intelligence computation vis-a-viz significant convergent validity in the same way as the Queendom and Culture Fair IQ tests. However, between ESB and NESB, it is hypothesized that they will differ in terms of reliability and validity. Results Item Analysis Upon checking for internal consistency of data using Cronbachs alpha, it can be assessed that results were reliable, especially as most of the generated alpha were higher than 80 percent. The following are reliability statistics with their corresponding Cronbachs alpha  [1]  : Reliability of data for overall sample for all 55 questions Reliability Statistics Cronbachs Alpha .898 Reliability of data for overall sample for the 25 best discriminating questions Reliability Statistics Cronbachs Alpha .848 Reliability of the data for ESB group for the 25 best discriminating questions Reliability Statistics Cronbachs Alpha .851 Reliability of the ESB for all 55 questions Reliability Statistics Cronbachs Alpha .901 Reliability of the data for NESB group for the 25 best discriminating questions Reliability Statistics Cronbachs Alpha .841 Reliability of the NESB group for all 55 questions Reliability Statistics Cronbachs Alpha .889 Validity of PSYGAT In order to test the validity of PSYGAT, the correlation scores of the PSYGAT (total scores) on each of the Queendom tests were obtained using SPSS. Correlations (for all sample) Total Queendom Verbal Adjusted Total Pearson Correlation 1 .466** Sig. (2-tailed) .000 N 337 337 Queendom Verbal Adjusted Pearson Correlation .466** 1 Sig. (2-tailed) .000 N 337 337 Queendom Culture Fair IQ Pearson Correlation .098 -.283** Sig. (2-tailed) .073 .000 N 337 337 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Correlations for ESB Group Total Queendom Verbal Adjusted Total Pearson Correlation 1 .433** Sig. (2-tailed) .000 N 244 244 Queendom Verbal Adjusted Pearson Correlation .433** 1 Sig. (2-tailed) .000 N 244 244 Queendom Culture Fair IQ Pearson Correlation .067 -.341** Sig. (2-tailed) .295 .000 N 244 244 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Correlations for NESB group Total Queendom Verbal Adjusted Total Pearson Correlation 1 .567** Sig. (2-tailed) .000 N 93 93 Queendom Verbal Adjusted Pearson Correlation .567** 1 Sig. (2-tailed) .000 N 93 93 Queendom Culture Fair IQ Pearson Correlation .238* .011 Sig. (2-tailed) .022 .918 N 93 93 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). Assessment of Differences between ESB and NESB groups in terms of reliability and validity By splitting the data according to its background (i.e., ESB and NESB group), the following correlations were obtained: Correlations English Queendom Culture Fair IQ english speakiing background Queendom Culture Fair IQ Pearson Correlation 1 Sig. (2-tailed) N 244 Queendom Verbal Adjusted Pearson Correlation -.341** Sig. (2-tailed) .000 N 244 non english speaking background Queendom Culture Fair IQ Pearson Correlation 1 Sig. (2-tailed) N 93 Queendom Verbal Adjusted Pearson Correlation .011 Sig. (2-tailed) .918 N 93 **. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). The observed z value will be obtained using the following formula: where: rESB= -0.341 NESB = 244 rNESB= 0.011 NNESB = 93 Transforming the correlation coefficient to their corresponding z values, zESB = -0.355 zNESB = 0.011 Using the values above, the following observed z value was obtained: Z = -2.96 To evaluate the observed z value, the obtained value must not be between -1.96 and +1.96 to conclude a statistical difference between the two correlation coefficients. From this, it can be assessed that there is a statistical difference between the 2 correlation coefficients, due to the fact that the observed z value does not fall between -1.96 and +1.96. Discussion and Conclusions Many researchers have argued that the measurement of intelligence through IQ tests is no doubt based on the culture to which the individual belongs to. In an attempt to assess the reliability and the construct validity of the PSYGAT a verbal assessment developed by Psychology students in 1998 344 Psychology students were tasked to complete three tests which comprises of two Queendom tests (verbal adjusted and culture fair test) and the PSYGAT. The results of the PSYGAT were then analysed for internal validity. Construst validity of PSYGAT was also examined by analyzing the test scores alongside the Queendom tests. The hypothesis that the PSYGAT test would show significant internal reliability and construct validity as it was analysed alongside the other two tests was supported. Significant correlations were also found in the results for Queendom Verbal Adjusted and the PSYGAT for English speaking background group. Upon computation of observed z values, it was also concluded that th ere were statistical differences between the ESB and NESB correlation coefficients. Thus, it can be further assessed that PSYGAT can be used validly for verbal intelligence assessments, although, further research is recommended for its use in culture fair factors. One limitation though of this study is the fact that participants were all university students, specifically Psychology students. Perhaps, there is a need for further research that will involve a much diverse population, considering that participants in this study can be considered as well-educated. Despite their non-English speaking background, it can also be assumed that perhaps are also well-versed in the English language. Another limitation is also the fact that the tests used the English language as the first language in the assessments. Such factor may pose limitations for specific ethnic groups whose first language is not English. It can be considered that future researches be conducted that will be more culture sensitive and be conducted using the first language of the specific ethnic group. References Bartholomew, D. J. (2004). Measuring intelligence: facts and fallacies: Cambridge University Press Govier, T. (2009). A practical study of argument (7th ed.): Cengage Learning. Haselbauer, N. (2006). The everything test your IQ book: discover your true intelligence: Everything Books. Kalat, J. W. (2010). Introduction to psychology (9th ed.): Cengage Learning. Lovler, R. L., Miller, L. A., McIntire, S. A. (2010). Foundations of psychological testing: a practical approach (3rd ed.): SAGE. Prifitera, A., Saklofske, D. H., Weiss, L. G. (2008). WISC-IV clinical assessment and intervention: practical resources for the mental health professional (2nd ed.): Elsevier. Rhodes, R. L., Ochoa, S. H. Ortiz, S. O. (2005). Assessing culturally and linguistically diverse students: a practical guide: Guilford Press. Weiten, W. (2008). Psychology: Themes and variations (8th ed.): Cengage Learning. Wilhelm, O. Engle, R. W. (2005). Handbook of understanding and measuring intelligence: SAGE. Young, E. M. (2010). Dealing with the cultural bias in intelligence testing: culture free and culture fair iq tests. Retrieved 29 April 2011 from: . Zastrow, C Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2007). Understanding human behavior and the social environment (7th ed.): Cengage Learning.

Comparing the powerful experiences of, You Will Be Hearing Form Us Essa

Comparing the powerful experiences of, You Will Be Hearing Form Us Shortly and Lucozade. The powerful experiences in both â€Å"Lucozade† and â€Å"You Will Be Hearing From Us Shortly† are dramatic in their own ways. In â€Å"YWBHFUS† the interviewee is the person you fell sorry for because there are sarcastically being bullied, whereas in â€Å"Lucozade† the powerful experience is the death of her mother. The poem â€Å"YWBHFUS† really makes interviewer means, he/she makes the â€Å"victim† feel really embarrassed and ashamed by saying things like â€Å"Might they, Perhaps, find your appearance disturbing?† This is very rude question and if you are quite shy and embarrassed it does become a rhetorical question. This type of question would really make the person fell bad and put them on the defensive side, t...

Escaping the Chains of Slavery Essay -- Slavery Essays

In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Written by Himself, Douglass writes about his life in slavery. Douglass portrays how he overcame being separated from his mother, of witnessing a slave being whipped for the first time and enduring his servitude for multiple masters. However, his major triumphs in life were moving to Baltimore, overcoming illiteracy and gaining his freedom. Douglass was between the age of seven or eight when he was sent to live in Baltimore, a move that would forever change his life. He was introduced to a different way of living for a slave. For example, on the plantation slaves were subject to merciless beatings, hunger, and cold. Clothing was provided, but if slaves did not sustain them throughout the year, they were forced to walk around half-naked. However, in Baltimore slaves were permitted to walk in the street as free men and women; they were properly dressed and well fed. Furthermore, it was considered an embarrassment to the slaveholder if their neighbors noticed they were not feeding their slaves adequately. Baltimore was of great importance since this is where he was sent to live with his new mistress, who forever changed his life. At the beginning of his stay in Baltimore, his new mistress, Sophia Auld teaches Douglass his A, B, C's. However, when her husband find out what was going on, he put a stop to it. Mr. Auld said, "If you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It w...

Reflective Essay on Module

With the help of the Gibbs model for reflection I have written the below reflective essay. I have chosen this model for reflection cause: Firstly it is simple to understand and secondly it follows a very systematic and easy approach. As I began with the module I was quite happy that it has been included in the course, as it would help me overcome academic writing skills difficulties. Although, initially I did feel that the module would only aim at giving academic support, but eventually I realized that like its name suggests it also helped develop my personalities as well.In this module, we were given to make a poster and a formal report. In this way I felt the module evaluates an individual in different ways and on different aspects. By making a poster the creativity of an individual can be evaluated. Poster presentations are becoming common at workplaces and the first assignment helped us have an experience on how to make on. The second assignment was a critical report based on the same article we used for the poster. This assignment helped us improve our critical skills and present it in a formal report structure.Since we had to critique only one report it was quite difficult as there were nothing to compare it to. We only had theories as a base to help us write the critique. Whilst doing research for the report, I came across a learning styles model by Honey and Mumford. The model is given as below. Peter Honey and Alan Mumford (1992) connected each stage in this learning cycle with a preferred learning style: Stage 1 Having an experience – Activist Stage 2 Reflecting on the experience -Reflector Stage 3? Concluding from the experience -Theorist Stage 4?Acting differently as a result/planning the next steps- Pragmatist As I read about what each part meant I could completely relate myself to the Activist part of the model. I am generally very enthusiastic about things and like to be in power whenever in a group discussion. It gives me a sense of satis faction. Also when we were given discussions in the Tutorial to undertake I would tend to lead and chair the group. Something that is not is that just as the model suggests even I tend to act and then consider the implications afterwards. This is one attitude of mine that I am trying to hange and adapt to a reflector model where I consider the implications of my actions before acting on them. As it is famously said â€Å"Think twice before you act†. I must inculcate this proverb in my acts of life. Many a times when I introspect on my learning altitudes I also feel that a part of me is the Pragmatist learner. As I mentioned earlier I am always enthusiastic and keen to learn and experience new things. I always understand concepts faster which I can relate to practical experiences in the past and apply to my job in future. Just as the theory states even I tend to generally get impatient with lengthy discussions and conversations.From a pragmatist point I want to try to improve my patience level especially in lengthy discussions as often in workplaces lengthy discussions are carried out. Personally when I looked at the theorist attitude I felt I could not fit there but should try to adopt some of its attributes such as trying to be a perfectionist. Applying this concept to my PRS module when I was given the poster to do, I did not think much. I just looked up a few posters and got down to making my poster. It was later that I realized I should have first had discussions with my class mates on how they are approaching the assignment.By then I had already acted like an activist but it was time to become a reflector and overcome my hasty behavior. Hence, before I started critiquing the article with my peers and only then got down to do some relevant reading. Coming back to the first assignment. I quite enjoyed making the poster much more than the report as the poster involved using creativity. While I was writing the report I felt quite dull and boring as a f ormat had very formal approach. This is when I realized that I need to increase my interest for formal writing.Reflecting the Gibbs way I have reached the Analysis stage. To this I concluded that maybe more reading around the topic and reading a few sample reports would have probably helped to do it better along with more interest. For that I have thought I must plan a minimum amount of reading target to be set. And undertake detailed discussions with my class mates on a regular basis apart from the one’s that happen in the tutorials. On a general note, during the module when the topic of report writing was being covered, I had doubts but felt they were too silly to ask the module tutor.Due to this I had numerous difficulties while starting the critical report. I have decided not to fear from people judging me and go ahead and ask the questions to clear my doubts. In fact I did start acting on it and did start questioning tutors and friends. I realized I should have done this much before. The Personal and Research skills module has taught me about researching which gave me a sense of self confidence on something I wasn’t sure I could do. Or rather knew how to do. Before I joined the master’s course I was quite friendly with MS Office.But some of the tutorials and lectures on IT skills helped me enhance my technical skills prezi, a very interesting application was unknown to me. After the lecture I downloaded it and started to see its features. I have always been interested in enhancing my technical skills in any form. Because in today’s tech savvy corporate environment one is considered un-updated if they do not poses skills. Referencing was a very new concept to me. Initially, I just could not get my head around it. One of the PRS lecture taught us how to use ref works. Now, I just do not need to bother with journal articles referencing.Refworks had made it so easy. I have particularly mentioned about Prezi and refworks as these we re two highlighting factors that I found in the module, very helpful in making my coursework manageable. As I attended the lectures I felt that the PRS model has been formatted in a way to help students do their coursework and acquire the intellectual and technical skills required to complete the MSC in Human Resource Management at Robert Gordon University. Before I came I had heard that RGU has a high performance demand. I felt this module was designed, to make sure that students meet up to it.The good part of this modules experience is it does actually help you acquire the Personal and Research skills that it aims to. But in my opinion the module was a little insufficient in providing writing skills, especially for international students who are doing this form of studies for the first time. But as I thought of it I felt it is the master level and everything cannot be fed on a spoon to the students. To this thought I felt, I need to put in some more effort from my side maybe throu gh taking help of the study skills help available.I have come to a belief now that at masters teachers are more of a catalyst then an ingredient to our masters degree. On a concluding note, the Personal Research skills module in my opinion is essential for every business related course. Maybe if I had had something like this while doing my degree it would have been more helpful at a master’s level. But whether at a master or at a degree it is an essential model helping an individual to develop ass sorts of skills needed in today’s competitive business environment. References: HONEY, P. and MUMFORD, A. , 1992. The manual of learning styles