Jung

The American Commonwealth, James Bryce talks about equality in America when he visited the united States in the asses. Bryce provides his own view of the different equalities that all Americans possess. He states that in America, equalities are present as listed: legal equality, material conditions-wealth, education and intelligence, social status, and estimation. Legal equality is that all are equal under the law whereas material condition equality means that everyone has equal wealth.Educational and Intellectual equality means that everyone has equal Intellect and equal education. Social status equality means that no one is socially higher or lower than another. And finally, equality of estimation is the value which men set upon each other. Out of all of these types of equalities the three that Bryce list that all Americans have are wealth, education, position. Brace's listing of wealth, education, and position as American equalities brings up a valid position on whether or not Ame rica had actually possessed these equalities.In all honesty, It's all how It's perceived by different people that determine equality. Did all Americans have equal wealth, education, and position back in the late asses? Well, compared to most countries America was a land full of equality. I don't necessarily believe that these views of equality were as glorious as Bryce had perceived them to be, however seeing that he came from Britain- a land of big inequalities between those of upper, middle and lower class- America was seen as a land with greater equal opportunity.As this was written during the Gilded Age, Americans all lived In salary lifestyles as barnacles powered through the Industrial revolution. People worked mostly for big industries receiving little pay, little to no education and the same position as the country labor force therefore they were all equal. In today's world, without the fact that America is no longer the major industrial power it was one was, these equalitie s of education, position, and wealth still exist and can even be taken further In depth.Now everyone is entitled to equal wealth, education, and position but they determine their own equality. For example, two people share the same type of position as everyday citizens with the same type of education and the same wealth. One person decides to go to college and becomes a politician after he graduates while the other person goes out and parties. They both had the same equalities at one point in their lives but it was when they decided to either expand or hinder themselves that truly determined their equality.A student an attend a high rated school and could care less about education as well as a student who can attend an average public school and become the top of their class. Even Americans chose their own position in life, they can decide to be the owner of a multimillion dollar company or be a manager at McDonald's. All these things are available to all Americans as long as they ar e willing to want and work for these things. Americans will always be granted the same equalities of wealth, education, and position but they get to choose their own wealth, education, and position.

Obesity in America

Obesity in America Obesity has become a concern for many Americans. The obesity rates have gotten worse over the years. People are constantly looking for ways to better themselves and improve their appearances. In our society, obesity has become one of the biggest problems of American culture. So many people are obese or overweight due to a number of factors that include behavior, environment, genetics, and medical conditions. Each play significant roles. Behavior relates to a person eating to many calories and not getting enough physical activity.Environment involves work, home, school, or community that provides barriers for active or inactive lifestyle. In addition to all the other factors, Americans do not get enough physical activity. Ehow. com states one of the main reasons of obesity is lack of exercise. A lot of the new technologies have taken up most of our time that going outside and exercise has been taken out. Many of our schools have taken physical education course out o f their curriculum’s. Exercise is not a priority for many Americans, and if we are taking the courses out of the curriculum’s, how are our youngsters able to learn good habits. It also statesLivestrong. com states several factors that contribute to the overall obesity problem. Getting too little sleep can increase a person’s body weight. Lack of sleep can contribute to hormonal changes, which in turn can increase appetite. CBS News conducted a study and ranked lack of sleep as the new overlooked cause of obesity. People tend to eat more during the day to increase their energy, because of not sleeping the recommended number of hours. Livestrong. com also states that Americans are smoking less. This leads to weight gain as your metabolism may slow down after one quits smoking, therefore burning fewer calories.There are many medical conditions that can cause obesity (WebMD. com). Hypothyroidism is a condition that affects ones thyroid. The thyroid produces too litt le hormone in the body and this slows down the metabolism and cause weight gain. Cushing syndrome is another. This is when the adrenal glands produce too much of a steroid hormone called cortisol. This can cause fat to build up in certain parts of the body. Some people with depression also tend to overeat. A doctor can test for symptoms and treat accordingly, if possible. Another possible reason for obesity is stress. According to yesword. om stress could be the main reason for obesity in America. Most Americans have very busy schedules, and eat on the run. Managing one’s life from work, family and social standpoints have stressed many Americans. Setbacks in personal or professional lives sometimes make one indulge in high caloric foods, known as comfort foods. CBSNews. com cited an article by David B Allison, PhD, University of Alabama at Birmingham as saying we are paying attention to the â€Å"Big Two†. They are fast food and too little exercise. He goes on to say t hat other factors are not explored. He and his colleagues suggest other possible reasons for obesity.Pollution can affect hormones. Hormones control our body weight. Most people live and work in temperature-controlled environments. Being in a room too hot or cold actually helps burn calories. Medicine can affect hormones. Drugs used to treat blood pressure, diabetes, and depression can cause weight gain. It has been suggested that the older a woman is when she gives birth; the risk is higher to the child to be obese. , Obese woman tend to marry obese men. There are studies that obesity is genetic, thus a union of two obese people, may pass down this trait for generations.In Conclusion, Obesity is one of the biggest problems people face every day. With better knowledge of contributing factors that can make a person obese, Americans can and will change this trend. It is important to eat properly and exercise, one's life could depend on it. Works Cited http://www. theyesword. com/main_ causes_of_obesity_in_america. htm http://www. webmd/diet/medical-reasons-obesity http://www. livestrong. com/article/354282-what-are-the-main-causes-of-obesity-in-america http://www. ehow. com/how-does_5558417_causes-obesity-america. html David B. Allison, PhD http://www. cbsnews. com/2100-500368_162-1757772. html

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 8

Marketing - Essay Example Concept of Marketing The marketing concept can be described as the achievement of corporate goals through meeting and exceeding customer needs and expectations better than the competition or competitors. This can be done by three steps: 1. Customer orientation – the company’s main focus should be on its target market i.e. customer satisfaction rather than solely improving costs and methods for the company itself 2. Integrated effort – fulfilling customer satisfaction is not a one-man job, it requires a management team and workforce with the common motive to achieve this task through production, finance, research and development 3. Goal achievement – for integrated work to run smoothly and successfully, the management must have strong belief in the fact that corporate goals can be achieved through consumer satisfaction. Marketing Mix A marketing mix is a company strategy that helps boost a company customers, profits and innovations with the help of four ste ps (known as the 4 P’s) i.e. product, price, promotion, and place. These 4 Ps are the key decision elements that marketers must follow in order to achieve the wants and needs of their clientele above their competitors. This marketing mix however has been extended to 7 Ps with the three additions of people, progress and physical evidence due to the rapid growth of the service industries. The emphasis of every individual element varies depending on the commodities the organization offers. Product. The product decision includes choosing which goods and services the company is willing and able to produce and supply to its target customers. This includes product creation as well as integration and development where by the products supplied and new and improved with the advancements in technology and taste. This phase also includes the branding image of the company i.e. its name, packaging and promotions and offers. It seems that Britvic seems to rely on the porter’s model o f differentiation to keep its products relevant to the UK’s beverages market. Hence there is more focus on offering the customers a good variety and availability of product, importantly, along with a focus on development of the products to keep the customers interested rather than offer the highest standards of quality (taste) or uniqueness of product and taste. This might be because a large part of Britvic’s business activity consists of distributing drinks of established brands such as PepsiCo and hence the company can choose to rely on provision of quality service to other businesses to maintain relevance to the consumer market rather than on maintenance of quality. Placement. Placement deals with decision making regarding distribution channels. Key management decisions stress upon locations of its outlets, transportation facilities, and inventory levels of stock and stock needing to be reordered. The main goal is to ensure products and services are available in the desired and sufficient quantities, at the desired time durations and venue. These distribution channels consist of organizations such as retailers and wholesalers who act as an intermediary through which commodities pass on their way to customers. Producers need to manage their relationships with these organizations in order for them to provide cost-effective access to that specific firm and the market they belong to. They also need to be familiar with new methods of

Investment Basics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Investment Basics - Essay Example Creating portfolio involved asset allocation, asset selection decision, and asset execution. In asset allocation, the investors will decide on what marketable securities will he be investing, either in equities, fixed-income securities, and real assets (physical or identifiable assets). After the allocation, investors need to select on what are his asset preferences between stocks, bonds, and many more. The selection will be followed by the execution of investment portfolio and investment strategy. The final part of the process is performance evaluation wherein investment is constantly monitored by the investors themselves or through a portfolio manager. The Four Investments for Consideration in any Investment Portfolio Bonds (Municipal & Corporate). It is a debt instrument with specific return, interest and principal, and maturity date (Brigham & Ehrhardt, 2008, p. 157). Municipal bonds are debt securities issued by the government level whose maturity date is in a long-term basis. T hese bonds are considered to be secured and these are issued in order to support government operations and projects for the common good. Municipal bonds are known to be tax-exempt but it depends upon the purpose and jurisdiction. Corporate bonds are debt securities issued by corporations or business firms to finance variety of private purposes. These bonds are subject to a much higher interest rate for it is a risky investment (Brigham & Houston, 2009, p. 196). Stocks (Common and Preferred). These are issued securities that represent ownership. Ownership through the purchased of stocks are called stockholders which these are represented by stock certificates. Usually, stock prices of companies who are financially stable are high compared to those who are poor in performance because the higher is the value of the stocks the greater is the return of investment. There are two types of stocks, the common and the preferred stocks. In terms of the declaration of dividend and bankruptcy, p referred stockholders are satisfied first before the common shareholders (Investors Business Daily, 1996, p. 36). Both stocks running after income, the only difference is the risk involved. Preferred stocks are less risky but the growth income is fairly dependable while common stocks assumed higher risk but unlimited growth in income and capital gain (Rini, 2003, p. 33). Mutual Funds. It is an investment that used money â€Å"from a group of people with common investment goals to buy securities such as stocks, bond, money market instruments, a combination of these investments, or other funds† (Mobius, 2007, p. 3). These groups of investment securities are put together in a portfolio and it is appropriately managed by a portfolio manager. More often, investors prefer to invest in mutual funds because of access to a diversified portfolio, liquidity, and expertise by professional fund managers; however, mutual funds shared almost the same risk with investment in individual stock s, and drawbacks are always present. Derivatives. It is a financial instruments based on financial measurement of other assets that usually comes in contracts (Bragg, 2002, p. 156). Some of derivative instruments are forward, future, options, and swaps. The value of derivatives is based on the prices of some underlying assets or instruments. It also involved contracts between a seller and a buyer wherein the value is based on bargaining power (Rezaee, 20001, p. 390). Risk

Bilingual Education - Does bilingual education only go to further the Research Paper

Bilingual Education - Does bilingual education only go to further the isolation of ESL students - Research Paper Example However, teaching and use of English was faced some challenges since English is not the first language of everybody across the world. Hence, bilingual education, programs that provide support to students with limited English proficiency was introduced. Some of these programs teach academic subjects in the student’s home language while also requiring language-minority students to take classes English as a second language (ESL). Other programs aim at teaching English to language-minority students by immersing them in English-only classes. It is believed that ESL students have been isolated from those who English is their first language. Consequently, this has led to the question on whether bilingual education only go to further the isolation of ESL students. This paper is therefore aimed at determining whether bilingual education only go to further the isolation of ESL students or not. Bilingual education refers to the programs that offer support to students with limited English proficiency. Students are taught in their home language in these programs while also needing language-minority students to take classes in English as a second language (ESL). Other programs aim at teaching English to language-minority students by immersing them in English only classes. Others are dual-language programs that aim for fluency in two languages such as English and Spanish. These main approaches have numerous variations and their combination might be used by districts and schools (Ramà ­rez et al., 1991). Hence, when people argue about effectiveness or ineffectiveness of bilingual education, they could be discussing various forms of bilingual education. Nevertheless, in public debate, bilingual education normally refers to transition bilingual education which offers native-language instruction to non-English-speaking learners in their preparation of their ultimate learning of E nglish in mainstream

Egyptian women Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Egyptian women - Essay Example Violence against women in such an atmosphere is very common. Among the identified types of violence that women are subjected to include, physical, sexual, psychological and economic violence. Due to the response, a woman gets in such a society to the violence she faces, often violence goes unreported. Denial and social taboo also become a hindrance in a woman being able to seek help for any violence committed against her. However, the situation is not completely bleak and there are, for example, shelter, medical and legal assistance, witness protection and housing etcetera. When women were granted the right to khula in Egypt in 2000, the media gave it extremely negative coverage. However, other more recent laws that are in the same vein have received a more positive response. For example, in 2009 the media gave extremely supportive coverage to a law penalizing sexual assault. The main stakeholders and catalysts in Egypt concerned with the treatment of women and their rights are gover nment and women’s NGOs. They combine regularly with international entities in the same interest, like the United Nations in an effort to provide financial support for the projects they have started to help Egyptian women. (Dawoud, Aliaa, 2011).The development of the intellectual struggle for women’s rights in Egypt can paradoxically be attributed to male modernist reformers. Women’s contributions to the issue have encouraged debate on social issues related to the man issue of gender discrimination.

Democracy in Mexico Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Democracy in Mexico - Research Proposal Example e with all other parties to come to an agreement of the national project, as expected in a multiple party parliamentary system, but instead they deal with the instances that directly allocate funds –i.e. Secretarà ­a de Hacienda y Crà ©dito Pà ºblico-, aiming to benefit great economic interests and local political powers. The above scenario exacerbates the wealth distribution gap among Mexican citizens, whose protection should be constitutionally guaranteed by the State. In this context, the aim of my dissertation would be to strengthen the understanding of the challenges and consequences that the Mexican State faces in securing essential conditions of responsibility towards its citizens. It has been said that Mexico is on the brink of becoming a failed state. (Peschard-Sverdrup 2008, p. 238) An examination of the social and political variables that weaken its political system is, therefore, significant in several fronts. First, it would validate the argument whether the modern state of Mexico is, indeed, under attack and in danger of succumbing to its crises. Secondly, the outcome of such analysis could provide adequate lessons in regard to how the structure of modern democratic government can be eroded, highlighting its consequences to the state and to its citizens. This is particularly important because, as Laski put it, â€Å"no democracy can afford to neglect the proved sources of efficient service since that is the basis of its life.† (p. 117) Also, in this area – in the Mexican experience – solutions could be developed to address the crises and threats that undermine the modern state. Finally, the research subject could underscore the impo rtance of institutions and democratic concepts such as individual rights in the survival of a political system. The research will use the qualitative approach in an attempt to examine and understand: 1) the subject matter from the perspective of the stake holders; 2) the Mexican social and political setting in order

Women in the Canadian Political System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Women in the Canadian Political System - Essay Example For many years, the underrepresentation of women in the institutions that forge Canadian pubic policy has proved to be the subject of incredibly widespread discussion and debate, as have the various different manifestations of inequality that have been present on the laws and policies themselves of which are involved. The role and influence that women have played in the Canadian political system has been considered different by various personas, however regardless of this, the fact still remains that the role of women in the Canadian political system is incredibly important and significant. The aim of this paper is to not only discuss the actual role and influence of women in the Canadian political system, but as well discuss any and all other key and related issues in regards to this matter. By doing this, we will be able to gain a much more informed and knowledgeable understanding on the subject matter at hand. This is what will be dissertated in the following. Canada is known as being a constitutional monarchy and a Commonwealth Realm, with a federal system of parliamentary government, as well as incredibly strong democratic traditions. "Many of the country's legislative practices derive from the unwritten practices and precedents set by the United Kingdom's Westminster parliament; however, Canada has evolved variations. Party discipline in Canada is stronger than in the United Kingdom, and more of the votes are considered confidence votes, which tends to diminish the role of non-cabinet Members of Parliament (MPs). Such members, in the government caucus, are known as backbenchers. Backbenchers can, however, exert their influence by sitting in parliamentary committees, like the Public Accounts Committee or the National Defense Committee" (Wikipedia, 2007). Women made up about 21 percent of all elected politicians in Canada, in provincial and territorial legislatures and Parliament in the year 2006, however "their representation ranged acr oss the country, from a low of 10.5 percent to a high of more than 30" (CBC, 2007). Women were actually excluded in the negotiations that created Canada in 1867 and they have since been fighting the laws, government, and political system for the basic democratic right to do things such as vote, hold office, and participate equally in public life. Although women have definitely come a long way since then, they are still incredibly underrepresented in Canadian government and politics, and this undermines the democratic principles of the Canadian electoral and political system as a whole. The role that women play in Canadian politics is truly one of great complexity, and certainly one which has altered quite dramatically over time, particularly in more recent years. This issue is one which is drastically broad and widespread, and it involves theoretical, historical and practical issues; it addresses political inputs, political processes, and policy outputs, and it examines gender politics at both the mass and elite levels, and as well addresses the impact of multiple identities on women's movement and women's issues in general in Canada. There has always been an incredibly significant and obvious imbalance in politics when it comes to the

Economic Policy Essay Example for Free

Economic Policy Essay The essence of economic policy in the areas of urban housing, urban education, and urban transportation in the United States National Government is cored on the achievement of trade targets. Boosting its market efficiency and redistribution of supply and services grounded on public values are its primary interest (Feldstein, 1999). These economic policies make up a part of the body of agenda. These are of regulated policies prepared by the Federal Reserve System headed by the President of the United States of America and the legislative branch of government (Poole 1999). Body At the outset, economic policies are decisions. President Harry Truman was a decision maker of the land in his time (Mankiw, 1998). He mentioned of his need to find one-armed economist (Mankiw 1998). This is a manifestation that the concept of economic information is ambivalent (Mankiw, 1998). Decisions are taken initially based on individual principles of: trade offs in efficiency and equity, cost of something versus opportunity cost, marginal changes to a plan, and response of people to trade offs (Mankiw, 1998). Subsequently, societal interactions principles are considered based on: trade, markets, and governmental market policy (Mankiw, 1998). Finally, national economy is considered upon the principles of: production of goods and services, inflation, and tradeoff between inflation and unemployment (Mankiw, 1998). Three of the economic policies Of the United States of America National Government are in the areas of urban housing, urban education, and urban transportation. These are parts of the regulated competitive industries (Feldstein, 1999). The urban housing policy covers private and social benefits of homeownership (Haurin, 2003). Bush said, homeownership is the core American values of individuality, thrift, responsibility, and self-reliance (Haurin, 2003). It represents a pathway to pride and prosperity for many families, encourages values of responsibility and sacrifice, creates stability for neighborhoods and communities and generates economic growth that helps strengthen the entire nation (Haurin, 2003) Dietz and Haurin (2003) however showed that 25% more of spouses in owner-occupied households work or are employed. They also have to face up to inevitable tax revenues through mortgage deductions (Haurin, 2003). While the data presumes that the rest of the population in owner-occupied households does not work, this would mean, this group is above average income in the strata of society. The next issue then is to know why were governmental supports for homeownership projects in the scale of billions of dollars far exceeded expenditure on education (Haurin, 2003) when most homeowners have beyond workers financial capabilities. Were the determinants of families becoming homeowners covered by public policy (Haurin, 2003)? What economic public policy would justify lumping up of burdens on homeowners who are mere workers? What economic public policy would explain governmental support to boost the status of those who can afford a home? Would this public policy be in consistent with the targets of government as pronounced by the President? Enhancement of market efficiency is focused on: developing performances of industries by eliminating anticompetitive elements; providing consumer protection like making informed choices possible; and ensuring product cost would include externalities (Feldstein 1999). While redistribution of resources and services anchored on the policy of collecting higher taxes from those who earn more to provide for those who earn less (Feldstein 1999). These policies however are often influenced by international institutions like the International Monetary Fund or World Bank as well as political beliefs and the consequent policies of parties. Housing Policy for example is usually analyzed in economic industry, as a form of market. Market leads to efficient allocation through a complex process of matching supply and demand. This depends on competition, good information, the existence of multiple suppliers, and the existence of different multiple purchasers. At the beginnings of the 21st century the demographical changes in the United States shaped housing consumption (Masnick, 1990). This is marked though by the big problem in urban housing policy which became inadequate for the increased number of houses required to support increasing population (Masnick, 1990). The number of homeless people is constantly increasing annually (Masnick, 1990). Homelessness became a very complex problem (Masnick, 1990). This means, if there were not enough places for people to live, then there are really those who does not have any shelter of their own (Masnick, 1990). The housing market bloated beyond previous policy allocations (Masnick, 1990). As a consequence, those who were not originally included generally became the poorest constituents of society (Masnick, 1990). Subsequent to demographical changes is the alternative of the homeless to find shelter in temporary shanties on unoccupied lands (Dunleavy, 1981). This led to problems of land entitlements (Dunleavy, 1981). Squatters over time on squatted settlements built more stable houses (Dunleavy, 1981). Homelessness often led to development of individual characteristics such as alcoholism, psychiatric illness, unemployment, and marital breakdown (Dunleavy, 1981). The situation is further aggravated by the decrease in privately owned housing programs (Dunleavy, 1981). The local governmental systems then were obligated to absorb the market (Dunleavy, 1981). As it turned out, it is cheaper to buy houses than to rent (Dunleavy, 1989). Housing conditions in many cities which were particularly unsatisfactory being old and in poor condition were improved (Dunleavy, 1989). Looking back, series of policies since the late 1960s focused on the problems of deprivation in inner city areas (Dunleavy, 1989). Much of the concern was with the inner cities growth which was an attempt to produce an acceptable racial policy. Despite this, ethnic minorities have had no proportionate share of resources from policies for the inner cities (Dunleavy, 1989). However, local government economic policies today are more focused, and greatly in consistent with constant changes in the societal demographics regardless of ethnicity (Gabriel, 1990). Another consideration however must be made. This is because of: the limited availability of affordable rental units, mortgage finance, reduced housing and income assistance to very low income populations, problems of public housing, low income housing preservation, issues of equal opportunities in housing and housing finance market (Gabriel, 1990). Thus it could be said that housing trends are developed largely because of statistical increase in the number of people as well as their movements for relocation needs (Masnick, 1990). The individual household needs were then used as the foundation for the modification of housing policy. This is in addition to the different economic changes which were built-in, in the shifting demographic landscape (Masnick, 1990). In the area of education, improvements must be made in urban education policy (Hess, 2001). Urban districts are now facing hazardous problems in educating young people because of the lack of support from the local government (Hess, 2001). Many buildings in urban public schools are very old (Hess, 2001). Because of this, despite the big number of public schools in the United States, only one-fourth of the country’s students are attending the classes throughout districts (Hess, 2001). These are the main problems of the district official in the urban public area (Hess, 2001). They are unable to comply with the needs of their student population Hess, 2001). The rates of dropout students are also increasing (Hess, 2001). The urban education policy that would most likely fit implementation will be one that is site-based management throughout the district (Hess, 2001). This will allow officials and teachers at the school level to focus more on the specific needs of the students (Hess, 2001). Educational reform efforts and policy initiatives are now under way that shows commitment in improving the quality of education. It will include the proper raising of the student outcomes in the urban districts (Hess, 2001). A key issue though in urban education policy is the potential impact of market-based reforms (Hess, 2001). It will require more than the application of additional money in improving the quality of urban education (Hess, 2001). Allocations of school funds must be centered on the functions of instruction, administration, operations, and maintenance of almost the same statistical number of clients (Picus, 1996). Urban transportation policies must likewise be modified as societal demographics evolved (Norton, 1955-1970). Many states have still no urban freeways (Norton, 1955-1970). The ever increasing numbers of privately owned cars warrants improvement in policies (Norton, 1955-1970). Evolving Americans have to face up to transport problems in the cities (Norton, 1955-1970). The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944 made a beginning at bringing highways to the city (Barranda, 2004). It set aside 25 percent of federal highway funds for urban projects and called for the designation of a National System of Interstate Highways† (Barranda, 2004). Although funding of these projects in the late 1940s and early 1950s was at more than two and a half times the prewar levels, total annual federal highway appropriations remained a half billion dollars or less (Barranda, 2004). The problem was that while government and industry both wanted highways, neither wanted to foot the bill (Barranda, 2004). Industry opposed excise taxes and tolls, while government opposed special bond issues and debt increases (Barranda, 2004). Divisions between pro-highway industries impeded their ability to lobby for an effective highway program (Barranda, 2004). However, eventually, the highway system that the government-industry partnership built was urban (Barranda, 2004). The unique degree of private participation in U. S. ransportation policymaking, and a federal policy treated all transportation problems as matters for highway engineers to solve (Barranda, 2004). In 1954, President Eisenhower suggested that metropolitan area congestion be solved by a grand plan for a properly articulated highway system (Larsen, 1995). In 1956, the House Committee on Public Works urged drastic steps, warning that otherwise traffic jams will soon bring down our growing economy (Larsen, 1995). The demise of the highways-only policy stemmed also from serious flaws in the policy itself (Larsen, 1995). At the end of World War II, the federal government began a significant intervention in urban transportation (Larsen, 1995). It was one which had increased to enormous proportions by 1960 (Larsen, 1995). But the funds were provided exclusively for the construction of urban highways (Larsen, 1995). Thus, urban transportation systems necessarily became imbalanced in favor of automotive transport (Larsen, 1995). Even the automotive transport systems were imbalance too (Larsen, 1995). Inequality was brought about by the ways in which federal dollars were allocated (Larsen, 1995). For example, while new freeways were providing automobiles unprecedented ease of access to cities, substantially, less federal allocations was provided for the downtown streets that had to bear the increased load (Larsen, 1995). No budgets were also allocated to provide the record numbers of cars for parking areas (Norton, 1955-1970). The US new urban transportation policy serves greater idea in resolving congestion problems in the cities (Barranda, 2004). Highway-Only Policy is one of those new integrated ideas (Barranda, 2004). Industry, not government, took the initiative in proposing that highways go downtown (Barranda, 2004). Eisenhowers coalition was composed of industries associated with the highway problem and interested in highway development, in the words of the Clay Committee report (Barranda, 2004). Although the Clay Committee conferred with the American Railway Association in drafting its report, this group was the only one of twenty-two trade organizations consulted which had an interest in rail transport (Barranda, 2004). Fourteen of the groups consulted were expressly concerned with roads (Barranda, 2004). But these industries were not simply developing a highway policy (Barranda, 2004). This is their foundation in creating a new national transportation policy (Barranda, 2004). However, many cities in the United States have recently built light-rail systems to combat congestion problems and at the same time avoid pollution (Barranda, 2004). To some critics oppose this policy is not fit because of the function in some small downtown areas (Barranda, 2004). The application of this light-rail however, after its almost universal domination in the 20th century is one of the greatest twists in transportation history. This application policy is an exclusive idea whose time appears to have come (Barranda, 2004). Local government now hopes that the light-rail will gain moderate transportation that will reduce the traffic problems around the country (Barranda, 2004). Fighting congestion was the main rationale for making American highways enter cities to a degree unmatched elsewhere in the world (Barranda, 2004). The consequences of the improved policies ultimately transformed U. S. urban transportation system (Barranda, 2004). Critics of the policy, in government, and outside of the government circles achieved broad bases of support by confronting this problem (Barranda, 2004). Expertise in urban transportation matters, which had been the exclusive domain of highway industry, emerged in other institutions, both governmental and private (Barranda, 2004). The road builders promises to end congestion, to keep downtowns vital visibly failed to pan out (Barranda, 2004). In brief, the vigor of the government-industry partnership that brought the freeways into the cities did not last, but is envisioned to trigger interest on alternative prospective partners (Barranda, 2004). Conclusion The basic portfolio principles of economics provides conceptual structures underlining maintenance of flexibility of economic policies whether it is in housing, education, or transport, or even in prices where speculators are left with the liberty to discern and give value to market stocks so long as it is within the economic parameters of the United States of American government, its Federal Reserve System, its legislature as well as its executive governmental administrators that works within the framework of Federal Democracy.

Java-Whitepaper Essay Example for Free

Java-Whitepaper Essay This white paper compares C++/Qt with Java/AWT/Swing for developing large-scale, real-world software with graphical user interfaces. References are made to independent reports that examine various aspects of the two toolsets. 1 A Comparison of Qt and Java 1. What Do We Compare? When selecting an environment for a large software development project, there are many aspects that must be considered. The programming language is one of the most significant aspects, since its choice has considerable impact on what other options are available. For example, in a GUI development project, developers will need a GUI library that provides ready-made user interface components, for example, buttons and menus. Since the selection of the GUI library itself has a large impact on the development of a project, it is not uncommon for the GUI library to be chosen first, with the programming language being determined by the languages for which the library is available. Usually, there is only one language per library. Other software components like database access libraries or communication libraries must also be taken into consideration, but they rarely have such a strong impact on the overall design as the GUI libraries. In this white paper, the objective is to compare the C++/Qt environment with the Java/AWT/Swing environment. In order to do this in the most useful way, we will begin by comparing the programming languages involved, i. e. C++ and Java, and then compare the two GUI libraries, Qt for C++ and AWT/Swing for Java. 2. Comparing C++ and Java When discussing the various benefits and drawbacks of particular programming languages, the debate often degenerates into arguments that are based on personal experience and preference rather than any objective criteria. Personal preferences and experience should be taken into account when selecting a programming language for a project, but because it is subjective, it cannot be considered here. Instead we will look at issues such as programmer-efficiency, runtime-efficiency and memory-efficiency since these can be quantified and have been examined in scientifically conducted research, although we will also incorporate information based on the practical exerience of projects that have been implemented in our own company. 2. 1. Programmer-efficiency Programmer-efficiency describes how efficiently (i. e. how quickly and accurately) a programmer with a given degree of experience and knowledge can implement a certain set of requirements in a particular programming language, including debugging and project setup time. Since developer salaries are one of the primary cost factors for any programming project, programmer-efficiency greatly affects the 2 A Comparison of Qt and Java cost-efficiency of the project. To some extent, programmer-efficiency is also determined by the tools available. The main design goal of Java is increased programmer-efficiency compared to other general-purpose programming languages, rather than increased memory- or runtime-efficiency. Java has several features designed to make it more programmer-efficient. For example, unlike C++ (or C), the programmer does not have to explicitly free (give back) allocated memory resources to the operating system. Freeing unused memory (garbage collection) is handled automatically by the Java runtime system, at the expense of memory- and runtime-efficiency (see below). This liberates the programmer from the burden of keeping track of allocated memory, a tedious task that is a major cause of bugs. This feature alone should significantly increase the programmer-efficiency of Java programmers, compared to C++ (or C) programmers. Research shows that in practice, garbage collection and other Java features, do not have a major influence on the programmer-efficiency. One of the classic software estimation models, Barry Boehm’s CoCoMo1 predicts the cost and schedule of a software project using cost drivers which take into account variables like the general experience of a programmers, the experience with the programming language in question, the targeted reliability of the program, etc. Boehm writes that the amount of effort per source statement was highly independent of the language level. Other research, for example, A method of programming measurement and estimation by C. E. Walston and C. P. Felix of IBM2, points in the same direction. Both the reports cited here pre-date the advent of Java by many years, although they seem to reveal a general principle that the sophistication of a general-purpose programming language has, compared with other aspects, like the experience of the developers, no significant influence on the overall project costs. There is more recent research that explicitly includes Java and which supports this hypothesis. In An empirical comparison of C, C++, Java, Perl, Python, Rexx, and Tcl3, Lutz Prechelt of the University of Karlsruhe, describes an experiment he conducted in which computer science students were assigned a particular design and development task and asked to implement the specification provided in any of the languages C, C++, or Java which they could freely choose according to their personal preferences (the other languages were examined in a different part of the research project). The data gathered shows almost the same results for C++ and Java (with C running third in most aspects). This is also backed up by our own experience: if programmers can choose their favorite programming language (which is usually the one they have most experience of), programmers with the same level of experience (measured for example, in years of programming experience in general) achieve about the same programmer-efficiency. Another interesting aspect that we noted (but which is not yet supported by any formal 3 A Comparison of Qt and Java research) is that less experienced developers seem to achieve somewhat better results with Java, medium-experienced developers achieve about the same results with both programming languages, nd experienced developers achieve better results with C++. These findings could be due to better tools being available for C++; nevertheless this is an aspect that must be taken into account. An interesting way to quantify programmer-efficiency is the Function Point method developed by Capers Jones. Function points are a software metric that only depend on the functionality, not on the implementation. Working from the function points, it is possible to compute the lines of code needed per function point as well as the language level which describes how many function points can be implemented in a certain amount of time. Intriguingly, both the values for the lines of code per function point and the language level are identical for C++ and Java (6 for the language level, compared with C’s 3. 5 and Tcl’s 5, and 53 for the lines of code per function point, compared with C’s 91 and Tcl’s 64). In conclusion: both research and practice contradict the claim that Java programmers achieve a higher programmer-efficiency than C++ programmers. 2. 2. Runtime-efficiency We have seen that Java’s programmer-efficiency appears to be illusory. We will now examine its runtime efficiency. Again, Prechelt provides useful data. The amount of data he provides is huge, but he arrives at the conclusion that a Java program must be expected to run at least 1. 22 times as long as a C/C++ program. Note that he says at least; the average runtime of Java programs is even longer. Our own experience shows that Java programs tend to run about 2-3 times as long than their equivalent C/C++ programs for the same task. Not surprisingly, Java loses even more ground when the tasks are CPU-bound. When it comes to programs with a graphical user interface, the increased latency of Java programs is worse than the runtime performance hit. Usability studies show that users do not care about whether a long running task takes, say, two or three minutes, but they do care when a program does not show an immediate reaction to their interaction, for example when they press a button. These studies show that the limit of what a user accepts before they consider a program to be unresponsive can be as little as 0. 7 seconds. Well return to this issue when we compare graphical user interfaces in Java and C++ programs. An explanation about why Java programs are slower than C++ is in order. C++ programs are compiled by the C++ compiler into a binary format that can be executed directly by the CPU; the whole program execution thus takes place in 4 A Comparison of Qt and Java hardware. (This is an oversimplification since most modern CPUs execute microcode, but this does not affect the issues discussed here. ) On the other hand, the Java compiler compiles the source code into bytecode which is not executed directly by the CPU, but rather by another piece of software, the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). The JVM in turn, runs on the CPU. The execution of the bytecode of a Java program does not take place in (fast) hardware, but instead in (much slower) software emulation. Work has been undertaken to develop Just in Time (JIT) compilers to address Java’s runtime efficiency problem, but no universal solution has yet emerged. It is the semi-interpreted nature of Java programs that makes the compile once, run anywhere approach of Java possible in the first place. Once a Java program is compiled into bytecode, it can be executed on any platform which has a JVM. In practice, this is not always the case, because of implementation differences in different JVMs, and because of the necessity to sometimes use native, non-Java code, usually written in C or C++, together with Java programs. But is the use of platform-independent bytecode the right approach for crossplatform applications? With a good cross-platform toolkit like Qt and good compilers on the various platforms, programmers can achieve almost the same by compiling their source code once for each platform: write once, compile everywhere. It can be argued that for this to work, developers need access to all the platforms they want to support, while with Java, in theory at least, developers only need access to one platform running the Java development tools and a JVM. In practice, no responsible software manufacturer will ever certify their software for a platform the software hasnt been tested on, so they would still need access to all the relevant platforms. The question arises why it should be necessary to run the Java Virtual Machine in software; if a program can be implemented in software, it should also be possible to have hardware implement the same unctionality. This is what the Java designers had in mind when they developed the language; they assumed that the performance penalty would disappear as soon as Java CPUs that implement the JVM in hardware would become available. But after five years, such Java CPUs have not become generally available. Java automatically de-allocates (frees) unused memory. The programmer allocates memory, and the JVM keeps track of all the allocated memory blocks and the references to them. As soon as a memory block is no longer referenced, it can be reclaimed. This is done in a process called garbage collection in which the JVM periodically checks all the allocated memory blocks, and removes any which are no longer referred to. Garbage collection is very convenient, but the trade offs are greater memory consumption and slower runtime speed.. With C++, the programmer can (and should) delete blocks of memory as soon as they are no longer required. With Java, blocks are not deleted until the next garbage collection run, and this depends on the implementation on the JVM being used. Prechtelt provides figures which state that on average ( ) and with a confidence of 80%, the Java programs consume at least 32 MB (or 297%) more memory than the C/C++ programs ( ). In addition to the higher memory requirements, the garbage collection process itself requires processing power which is consequently not available to the actual application functionality, leading to slower overall runtimes. Since the garbage collector runs periodically, it can occasionally lead to Java programs freezing for a few seconds. The best JVM implementations keep the occurrence of such freezes to a minimum, but the freezes have not been eliminated entirely. When dealing with external programs and devices, for example, during I/O or when interacting with a database, it is usually desirable to close the file or database connection as soon as it is no longer required. Using C++’s destructors, this happens as soon as the programmer calls delete. In Java, closing may not occur until the next garbage collecting sweep, which at best may tie up resources unnecessarily, and at worst risks the open resources ending up in an inconsistent state. The fact that Java programs keep memory blocks around longer than is strictly necessary is especially problematic for embedded devices where memory is often at a premium. It is no coincidence that there is (at the time of writing) no complete implementation of the Java platform for embedded devices, only partial implementations that implement a subset. The main reason why garbage collection is more expensive than explicit memory management by the programmer is that with the Java scheme, information is lost. In a C++ program, the programmer knows both where their memory blocks are (by storing pointers to them) and knows when they are not needed any longer. In a Java 6 A Comparison of Qt and Java program, the latter information is not available to the JVM (even though it is known to the programmer), and thus the JVM has to manually find unreferenced blocks. A Java programmer can make use of their knowledge of when a memory block is not needed any longer by deleting all references that are still around and triggering garbage collection manually, but this requires as much effort on the part of the programmer as with the explicit memory management in C++, and still the JVM has to look at each block during garbage collection to determine which ones are no longer used. Technically, there is nothing that prevents the implementation and use of garbage collection in C++ programs, and there are commercial programs and libraries available that offer this. But because of the disadvantages mentioned above, few C++ programmers make use of this. The Qt toolkit takes a more efficient approach to easing the memory management task for its programmers: when an object is deleted, all dependant objects are automatically deleted too. Qt’s approach does not interfere with the programmer’s freedom to delete manually when they wish to. Because manual memory management burdens programmers, C and C++ have been accused of being prone to generate unstable, bug-ridden software. Although the danger of producing memory corruption (which typically leads to program crashes) is certainly higher with C and C++, good education, tools and experience can greatly reduce the risks. Memory management can be learned like anything else, and there are a large number of tools available, both commercial and open source, that help programmers ensure that there are no memory errors in the program; for example, Insure++ by Parasoft, Purify by Rational and the open source Electric Fence. C++s flexible memory management system also makes it possible to write custom memory profilers that are adapted to whichever type of application a programmer writes. To sum up this discussion, we have found C++ to provide much better runtime- and memory-efficiency than Java, while having comparable programmer-efficiency. 2. 4. Available libraries and tools The Java platform includes an impressive number of packages that provide hundreds of classes for all kinds of purposes, including graphical user interfaces, security, networking and other tasks. This is certainly an advantage of the Java platform. For each package available on the Java platform, there is at least one corresponding library for C++, although it can be difficult to assemble the various libraries that would be needed for a C++ project and make them all work together correctly. However, this strength of Java is also one of its weaknesses. It becomes increasingly difficult for the individual programmer to find their way through the huge APIs. For any given task, you can be almost certain that somewhere, there is 7 A Comparison of Qt and Java functionality that would accomplish the task or at least help with its implementation. But it can be very difficult to find the right package and the right class. Also, with an increasing number of packages, the size of the Java platform has increased considerably. This has led to subsets e. g. , for embedded systems, but with a subset, the advantage of having everything readily available disappears. As an aside, the size of the Java platform makes it almost impossible for smaller manufacturers to ship a Java system independent from Sun Microsystems, Java’s inventor, and this reduces competition. If Java has an advantage on the side of available libraries, C++ clearly has an advantage when it comes to available tools. Because of the considerable maturity of the C and C++ family of languages, many tools for all aspects of application development have been developed, including: design, debugging, and profiling tools. While there are Java tools appearing all the time, they seldom measure up to their C++ counterparts. This is often even the case with tools with the same functionality coming from the same manufacturer; compare, for example, Rational’s Quantify, a profiler for Java and for C/C++. The most important tool any developer of a compiled language uses, is still the compiler. C++ has the advantage of having compilers that are clearly superior in execution speed. In order to be able to ship their compilers (and other tools) on various platforms, vendors tend to implement their Java tools in Java itself, with all the aforementioned memory and efficiency problems. There are a few Java compilers written in a native language like C (for example, IBM’s Jikes), but these are the exception, and seldom used. 3. Comparing AWT/Swing and Qt So far, we have compared the programming language Java and the programming language C++. But as we discussed at the beginning of this article, the programming language is only one of the aspects to consider in GUI development. We will now compare the packages for GUI development that are shipped with Java, i. e. AWT and Swing, with the cross-platform GUI toolkit, Qt, from the Norwegian supplier, Trolltech. We have confined the comparision on the C++ side to the Qt GUI toolkit, since unlike MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes) and similar toolkits, This seems to contradict Java’s cross-platform philosophy and may be due to the the initial AWT version being reputedly developed in under fourteen days. Because of these and a number of other problems with the AWT, it has since been augmented by the Swing toolkit. Swing relies on the AWT (and consequently on the native libraries) only for very basic things like creating rectangular windows, handling events and executing primitive drawing operations. Everything else is handled within Swing, including all the drawing of the GUI components. This does away with the problem of applications looking and behaving differently on different platforms. Unfortunately, because Swing is mostly implemented in Java itself, it lacks efficiency. As a result, Swing programs are not only slow when performing computations, but also when drawing and handling the user interface, leading to poor responsiveness. As mentioned earlier, poor responsiveness is one of the things that users are least willing to tolerate in a GUI application. On today’s standard commodity hardware, it is not unusual to be able to watch how a Swing button is redrawn when the mouse is pressed over it. While this situation will surely improve with faster hardware, this does not address the fundamental problem that complex user interfaces developed with Swing are inherently slow. The Qt toolkit follows a similar approach; like Swing, it only relies on the native libraries only for very basic things and handles the drawing of GUI components itself. This brings Qt the same advantages as Swing (for example, applications look and behave the same on different platforms), but since Qt is entirely implemented in C++ and thus compiled to native code; it does not have Swing’s efficiency problems. User interfaces written with Qt are typically very fast; because of Qts smart use of caching techniques, they are sometimes even faster than comparable programs written using only the native libraries. Theoretically, an optimal native program should always be at least as fast as an equivalent optimal Qt program; however, making a native program optimal is much more difficult and requires more programming skills than making a Qt program optimal. Both Qt and Swing employ a styling technique that lets programs display in any one of a number of styles, independent of the platform they are running on. This is possible because both Qt and Swing handle the drawing themselves and can draw GUI elements in whichever style is desired. Qt even ships with a style that emulates the default look-and-feel in Swing programs, along with styles that emulate the 9 A Comparison of Qt and Java Win32 look-and-feel, the Motif look-and-feel, and—in the Macintosh version— the MacOS X Aqua style. 3. 2. Programming Paradigms In Qt and Swing While programming APIs to some extent are a matter of the programmers personal taste, there are some APIs that lend themselves to simple, short, and elegant application code far more readily than others.

Data For A Given Business Problem Marketing Essay

Data For A Given Business Problem Marketing Essay Introduction In this assignment discuss about type of data, a methodology of gathering data from various sources, arranging them according to a system to get useful information which leads to take better decisions. Analysing data and information is very important to take efficient and effective business decisions. This will help the management to understand the industry status, can be a value addition tool and introduce new processors, rules and regulation to increase quality, quantity and productivity. Now a days organisations uses technology to arrange data and to get information according to their requirement. According to the scenario is about Halford group a product, service and expertise provider of motor, bicycle, and great getaway that means a transportation facilitator according to customers requirement. Halford has more than 402 superstores, 34 compact stores, 31 metro compact stores and 261 auto centres across in the United Kingdom and in the Republic of Ireland. They have introduced a Bike hut as a showcase to promote their bike brands. Where they want to increase their customer satisfaction level and need to clarify the feedback of the market about their products. Task 1 Requirement 1: P1.1 Create a plan for the collection of primary and secondary data for a given business problem Data are statistics, details, verses, photographs, charts, images and etc. There are two types of data, such as quantitative data and qualitative data. As per Pawar (2004) quantitative data means where data gathered from surveys, questionnaires, trials and etc. these data are much in number format. Qualitative datas are that has recorded in detail. It is very important to collect both types of data to get a great output. Primary data can be collected by interviews, research, or by observations. But for the given scenario it is important to gather customer feedback therefore interviews are important. The Even Halfords Group can use their site, e-commerce link as a resource to collect data by adding a short questionnaire. Secondary data are records which exist currently. Plan to collect primary data and secondary data for the given situation are, quick questionnaires, informal interviews, telephone surveys, observing the customers, analyse the previous company details, use the web site to get feedback from customers and etc. Figure 1: Data Cycle (Source: http://analyticalconsulting.info/services/) P1.2 Present the survey methodology and sampling frame used Survey methodology is a tool that use to gather data from a specific segment. In this scenario it is important to gather information mainly from cyclists about their requirements, their liking and dis-likings, value additions, knowledge about the product, ideas to improve the invention and etc. The survey question list can be made out of closed questions and open questions. According to Curwin and Slater (2008), surveys can be conducted mainly in two ways, that is interviews and questionnaires. This is also can be done by qualitative assessment or as a quantitative design methodology. On the other hand there are two sampling types, as probability and non probability sampling. Probability and non probability sampling has different techniques of sampling. For example probability sampling has simple random sampling method, cluster sampling, stratified sampling method and systematic sampling method. Where non probability sampling has snowball sample method, quota sampling and judgmental sample method. In this case it is appropriate to use questionnaires containing both open ended and close ended questions. And non probability sampling technique can be use as the sampling frame. Figure 2: Selecting a Sample (Source:http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~dfinnega/sw690/RBnotes_ch9_full.htm) P1.3 Design a questionnaire for a given business problem Halfords Product Awareness and Customer Satisfaction Evaluation Survey 2013 Dear Valued Customer, We Halfords group as the leader in cycles retailing market always looking forward to give more that our client expects. We have introduced Bikehut Stores where you can easily reach and access premium bike brands. To enhance more customer oriented service we would like to ask few questions. Many thanks in advance for your precious time taken to fill the below questionnaire. Looking forward to provide better service in future. Best regards, Manager, Halfords Group Name : à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Address : -à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Age :-à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. Gender :- Male  £ Female  £ Are you happy to deal with Halfords : Yes  £ No  £ If your answer is no please specify :- à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Are you aware of the new store chain called Bikehut : Yes  £ No  £ Please range the below from 1 5 (1-Unsatisfied, 2-Good, 3-Very Good, 4-Satisfied, 5-Exceed expectation) Question 1 2 3 4 5 Overall quality of the product  £  £  £  £  £ Overall satisfaction of the product  £  £  £  £  £ Service in the Bikehut  £  £  £  £  £ After sales services  £  £  £  £  £ Compared to other suppliers our product and services  £  £  £  £  £ Do you think the price of this product is reasonable : Yes  £ No  £ If your answer is no, please state why? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Do you recommend our products to another person : Yes  £ No  £ Your ideas are very important to us to provide an extravagantly personalised service and products to you. Please comment : à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Please use the envelope attached to send your valued ideas. Task 2 Requirement 2: P2.1 Relate information for decision making by summarising data using representative values Total Response is = 225 Product use age according to the gender Male 150 Female 75 Happy to deal with Halfords Yes (217) No (8) Awareness of the Bikehut stores Yes (185) No (40) Overall quality of the product 1-(4) 2-(23) 3-(68) 4-(120) 5-(10) Overall satisfaction of the product 1-(2) 2-(32) 3-(89) 4-(79) 5-(23) Service in the Bikehut 1-(0) 2-(93) 3-(102) 4-(23) 5-(7) After sales services 1-(3) 2-(42) 3-(88) 4-(80) 5-(12) Compared to other suppliers our product and services 1-(0) 2-(17) 3-(107) 4-(75) 5-(26) Price is reasonable Yes (157) No (68) Product recommendations Yes (210) No (15) (1-Unsatisfied, 2-Good, 3-Very Good, 4-Satisfied, 5-Exceed expectation) P2.2 Analyse the results draw valid conclusions in a business context. Total Response is = 225 Product use age according to the gender Male 150 Female 75 Male 66.67% Female 33.33% Happy to deal with Halfords Yes (217) 96.44% No (8) 3.56% Awareness of the Bikehut stores Yes (185) 82.22% No (40) 17.78% Overall quality of the product 1-(4) 1.78% 2-(23) 10.22% 3-(68) 30.22% 4-(120) 53.33% 5-(10) 4.44% Overall satisfaction of the product 1-(2) 0.89% 2-(32) 14.22% 3-(89) 39.56% 4-(79) 35.11% 5-(23) 10.22% Service in the Bikehut 1-(0) 0% 2-(93) 41.33% 3-(102) 45.33% 4-(23) 10.22% 5-(7) 3.11% After sales services 1-(3) 1.33% 2-(42) 18.67% 3-(88) 39.11% 4-(80) 35.56% 5-(12) 5.33% Compared to other suppliers our product and services 1-(0) 0% 2-(17) 7.56% 3-(107) 47.56% 4-(75) 33.33% 5-(26) 11.56% Price is reasonable Yes (157) 69.78% No (68) 30.22% Product recommendations Yes (210) 93.33% No (15) 6.67% (1-Unsatisfied, 2-Good, 3-Very Good, 4-Satisfied, 5-Exceed expectation) The customer base is at 66.67% of males and 33.33% female. The company should look forward to encourage more females to use the product. When advertising focus to touch famine market too. 96.44% customers are happy to deal with the establishment, 82.22% customer base is aware of the new store chain. 98% of customers are satisfied about the product quality, where 99% are overall satisfied about the product. 100% customers are happy about the service provided at Bikehut. 97% of customers are delighted about after sales services. 70% of clients say that the product price is reasonable. 93.33% of customers will help to bring business by recommending the product to others. This is a free advertising for the company. When considering the overall information the company is performing well. Customers are satisfied with the establishment and as well as the product and the service. P2.3 Analyse data using measures of dispersion into inform a given business scenario. As per the deliberation by Francis (2008), measures of dispersion means when scattering data how the statistics are comparable individually. There are three ways to measure dispersion, namely as the range, the semi interquartile range (SIR) and variance / standard deviation.In range dispersion uses the lowest value and the highest value in the given data set and the difference is taken as ranges. 1 2 3 4 5 Overall quality of the product 4 1.78% 23 10.22% 68 30.22% 120 53.33% 10 4.44% Overall satisfaction of the product 2 0.89% 32 14.22% 89 39.56% 79 35.11% 23 10.22% Service in the Bikehut 0 0.00% 93 41.33% 102 45.33% 23 10.22% 7 3.11% After sales services 3 1.33% 42 18.67% 88 39.11% 80 35.56% 12 5.33% Compared to other suppliers our product and services 0 0.00% 17 7.56% 107 47.56% 75 33.33% 26 11.56% Question Highest Value Lowest Value The Range Overall quality of the product 120 4 116 Overall satisfaction of the product 89 2 87 Service in the Bikehut 102 0 102 After sales services 88 3 85 Compared to other suppliers our product and services 107 0 107 Semi interquartile range (SIR) = (Q3-Q1) /2 Q3 Q1 Q3-Q1 (Q3-Q1)/2 Overall quality of the product 68 4 64 32 Overall satisfaction of the product 89 2 87 43.5 Service in the Bikehut 102 0 102 51 After sales services 88 3 85 42.5 Compared to other suppliers our product and services 107 0 107 53.5 Standard Deviation 1 2 3 4 5 Std. Div. Overall quality of the product 4 23 68 120 10 49 Overall satisfaction of the product 2 32 89 79 23 37 Service in the Bikehut 0 93 102 23 7 49 After sales services 3 42 88 80 12 39 Compared to other suppliers our product and services 0 17 107 75 26 44 P2.4 Explain how quartiles, percentiles and the correlation coefficient are used to draw useful conclusions in a business context. According to Anderson et al (2012), quartile use to separate data in two quarters. Percentiles are where the observed data are similar or larger than the percentile figure. The correlation coefficient is the tool that uses to interpret the linear relationship between two variables. M1. Apply quartiles, percentiles and the correlation coefficient in your data set. 1 2 3 4 5 Overall quality of the product 4 23 68 120 10 Overall satisfaction of the product 2 32 89 79 23 Service in the Bikehut 0 93 102 23 7 After sales services 3 42 88 80 12 Compared to other suppliers our product and services 0 17 107 75 26 QUARTILE 0 1 2 3 4 4 10 23 68 120 2 23 32 79 89 0 7 23 93 102 3 12 42 80 88 0 17 26 75 107 Correlation coefficient Overall quality of the product 4 23 68 120 10 Overall satisfaction of the product 2 32 89 79 23 87% Service in the Bikehut 0 93 102 23 7 After sales services 3 42 88 80 12 62% Overall quality of the product 4 23 68 120 10 Compared to other suppliers our product and services 0 17 107 75 26 78% Task 3 Requirement 3: P3.1 Produce graphs using spread-sheets and draw valid conclusions based on the information derived Main customer sector can be identified from the above chart. This graph will indicate the satisfaction level of customers. This graph shows the correlations of the overall product and quality satisfaction. P3.2 Create trend lines in spread-sheet graphs to assist in forecasting for specified business information The customers are highly satisfied about the overall quality of the product but it is important to improve product satisfaction and after sales services. Quartile forcast. Almost every purchaser likes to deal with the company. More than 50% of the clients agrees that the product price is reasonable. Therefore no need to do price change. Has to advertise more about Bikehut for customer awareness. M2 Critically analyse the findings in 3.4 P3.3 Prepare a business presentation using suitable software and techniques to disseminate information effectively P3_3- Halfords Group.pptx P3.4 Produce a formal business report, M3 Present and communicate the results in 3.4 Subject : The customer satisfaction and Bikehut awareness survey To : The Management From : The Market Research Team Date : 12th March 2013 This is about the awareness and a satisfaction survey about our products and services. In addition to that verify the new outlet chain status. As per the management request our team conducted a questionnaire survey and interview to collect the required data. We have got 225 feedback forms from customers. According to the collected data after sampling and analysing them, we recognise that the males are using our product greater than the females. Overall the customers are happy to deal with our establishment. 185 customers out of 225 were aware about the Bikehut store. 70% of clients are pleased with our product prices. As per the information our products quality and services satisfies customers where the company has built a very good reputation. Therefore we have a 93% of word of mouth promotion via the satisfied customers. Conferring as per the data gathered the organisation performs incredibly well than the industry competitors. We recommend that the after sales service should improve. Most of the feedback has rated very well, but the organisational goal should be to give an extravagantly personalised service to get more rates on exceeding expectation. The customer service manager is responsible to introduce customer oriented training. It is the human resource managers duty to implement appreciation programme and reward the employees as a motivation factor. Production has to innovate appropriate cycle designs for females. Advertising team should attract feminine market and promote Bikehut stores as well as Halfords products Task 4 Requirement 4: P4.1 Use appropriate information processing tools As interpreted by Bajic and Wee (2005), information processing tools are the processors and tangible and non tangible equipment that use to arrange data, such as database, servers, computers, transmitters, ATMs as well as softwares, methodologies, internet, networks, websites and etc. By using the correct methods and equipment the organisation can be benefited. The output will be accurate to take effective and efficient decisions. In an organisation, budgets, project plans, cash flow statements, investment appraisals are used as information tools. Figure 2: Data Processing Tools (Source: http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/SB-EETD-tuning-buildings.html) P4.2 Prepare a project plan for an activity and determine the critical path P4.3 Use financial tools for decision making. To evaluate a project in the main financial tool which use as a decision making technique is calculated net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR). Organisation invests in projects expecting an upright return in long time span. By using NPV the management can decide the surplus or the shortage of the cash flow. IRR calculation mainly considers about the discount rate only. The discount rate may change over the time period. Therefore the IRR rate will also change accordingly. Using the internal rate of return is not rational to evaluate a project. Discount Rate 12% Period Sum 0 (50,000.00) 1 12,000.00 2 15,000.00 3 15,000.00 4 18,000.00 5 10,000.00 NPV 462.49 IRR 12.371% D1 Explain the results of NPV and IRR Since this has a positive NPV, it is worth to invest in this project. It will recover the initial investment and can earn a better return. Net present value is the difference that occurs when evaluating the project market value and its cost. In addition to the NPV the internal rate of return (IRR) is 12.37%. When the internal rate of return is higher than the discount percentage then it will indicate a continuation of the project. Though investors calculate net present value and internal rate of return, they mainly consider on the net present value. D2 Use Critical reflection to evaluate and justify your overall valid conclusion Conclusion

William Golding - Lord of the Flies :: Free Essay Writer

William Golding - Lord of the Flies William Golding William Gerald Golding, born in Cornwall, September 19, 1911, is a prominent English novelist, an essayist and poet, and winner of the 1983 Nobel Prize for literature. Golding's often allegorical fiction makes broad use of allusions to classical literature, mythology, and Christian symbolism. Although no distinct thread unites his novels and his technique varies, Golding deals principally with evil and emerges with what has been characterized as a kind of dark optimism. Contents: A plane crashes over the Atlantic. The only survivors are schoolboys and a choir. There are no grown-ups on the island they landed on. Ralph and Piggy find a shell and Ralph blows it. All the boys come together and they call an assembly. Ralph wins the vote for a chief and he and Jack, the leader of the boys choir, and Simon climb the mountain to explore the land. They discover it being an island. The boys have another meeting in which a little boy describes a beast he maybe has seen in one of his nightmares. Ralph gets the idea to make a fire and smoke on the mountain in order to get noticed and rescued. At first the boys collect wood as fuel, but they haven't got any matches or other instruments to inflame the pile. Then Jack suggests to use Piggy's specs to light it. So they do, but by accident they burn down a large part of the forest. Piggy calls their attention to the disappearance of the little boy who has uttered his fear about the beast. It is most likely that he died in the flames in the forest because he has never been seen again. While Ralph and Simon try to build shelters Jack and the others either hunt or rush off and do whatever they want. Neither the hunting nor the building of the shelters is successful because they don't work together. Ralph thinks that huts are more urgent in case that it rains and accuses Jack not to have helped them. This is the first sign of Ralph's and Jack's antagonism. Simon is seen to separate himself from the others; sometimes he goes to a place he likes and stays there for a long time. Jack and his choir go hunting. At the same time a ship passes the island. Because Jack needed all of them to hunt a pig they let the fire out. Ralph and Piggy are indignant of Jack's carelessness. This drives Jack to violence and he breaks Piggy's specs. This evening for the first time the hunters play their game: one pretends to be the

The Madina Collection of Islamic Art at the LACMA Essay example -- ess

The Madina Collection of Islamic Art at the LACMA Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) announced recently that it had acquired â€Å"the remarkable Madina Collection of Islamic art. The collection contains works of various media dating from the late 7th through 19th centuries from the vast areas that comprise the Islamic world, from Southern Spain to Central Asia† (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2005). While the museum already had quite an extensive collection of Islamic art, this particular exhibit truly adds the collections as a whole. The Madina Collection of Islamic Art   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first item to be examined is a bowl from the 14th century, from either Egypt or Syria (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2005). It is ceramic, fritware and is underglazed-painted (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2005). It is 10 and  ¾ inches in diameter. The design is very symmetrical and incredibly colorful in its green and cream along with black lines. Without knowing what the design symbolizes one could imagine that it is very much an Islamic design, and appears to be religious or spiritual in content. There is a Mandela presence to the design, with very strong lines and striking elements. http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=record&key=8533   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The next piece to be examined is cup from the 13th century, from Greater Iran. This cup is â€Å"Silver, gilded, chased and punched† and measures â€Å"3 7/8 x 4 5/8 in. (9.84 x 11.75 c...

Motivation and Organizational Culture Essay

Motivation and Organizational Culture Assignment In any given business or workplace environment the employees that work there should be the most valued assets. Research has shown that personnel who are happy and taken care of are much more productive than those who are not, therefore establishing a more pleasing work atmosphere. That being said, business leaders and managers alike play an extremely important role in workplace psychology. According to our text, leadership is the process of leading a group and influencing its members to achieve common goals. All managers are leaders (Robbins, DeCenzo, and Coulter, 2011). In today’s society more managers are leading through empowerment by allowing team members to be involved in the decision making process. More and more employees â€Å"are developing budgets, scheduling workloads, controlling inventories, solving quality problems, and engaging in similar activities that until very recently were viewed exclusively as part of the manager’s job. As mentioned earlier, research has shown that employees who are pleased are far more beneficial than employees who are not. There are many things that managers can do to ensure that their employees feel valued, and remain satisfied. First of all, it is important that managers avoid using intimidation. To intimidate means to make nervous, or instill fear. In some cases an individual can take advantage of their title and turn in to an authoritarian. In a sense this means that the big guys squash the little guys.

Human Organ Shouldn’t Ligalize

The sale of organs means that organs are removed from inside the body for the purpose of commercial transactions. Although the sales of human organs have been done since long ago, and there are many claims and proposal to make it legal, a lot of oppositions are against this idea. * Money the purpose Considering the poor status of most donors, one of the primary stated reasons for organ selling is to pay off debt. Those who are poorest are frequently seen as more reliable targets for transplant tourists because they are the most in need of money.It is said by the other side that legalizing the organ sale can help people who are in need to continue to survive. But at the same time, it also increases money desire for many poor people. For example, in 2007 a man in UK tried to sell his kidney online for 24,000 pounds in order to pay off his gambling. * Increase crimes and black market Legality of the organ sale would even encourage organ theft through murder and neglect sick individuals for a financial gain. There are many case like beautiful girls or handsome men trying to attract someone and flirting around with them until they agree to go with n end up waking without kidneys.Another example, Few families would turn down the opportunity to receive compensation (ensure financial stability or the dead is the main earner), so they may charge the hospital the same price, or they will turn to black market for higher price. Besides, there might be some criminal who break the promise to pay the donor higher amount for the organ than it was actually paid out or even escape without payment. * Imbalance between the rich and the poor Payment for organ is likely to take unfair advantage of the poor.Even if organ trade is legalized, it is still the third – world wealthy people who can afford the organ for transplantation. And the poor people are still vulnerable and unfortunate because they are the one who always make donation. Moreover, it is injustice to give pure or gan to those rich people who usually spending lot of money on drinking, eating, party, and cause the disease by themselves. * Health: The  WHO  first declared organ trade illegal in 1987 *Affect to living donor Although some medical research proved that there are not many effects on the donors with their left organs.However, a question is asked that if it is not so important, why people are born with both organ, for example kidneys or livers. Kidneys or livers do not regenerate as the other human products like blood or sperm. WHO reports has shown that there is decrease in human well being, especially, those who make living on physical labor. 96% of donors regret selling their organs. *Affect to recipient It is risky to introduce trafficking diseased organ to recipients because those donors often comes from the poor population where they don’t live well and receive good health care.There is a possibility of 1:18 to acquire HIV from such transplant. The diseases donâ€℠¢t show up on the screen of the analysis probably because they just start within three weeks before the donor’s death. One more thing is the change of recipients’ body rejecting of organ result from different blood type or genetic make-up. * Ethical concern *Violate human right The state often denies individuals the right to do certain things with their bodies because they may not make good decision for themselves.Furthermore, any procedure which tends to commercialize human organs or to consider them as items of exchange or trade must be considered morally unacceptable, because to use the body as an object is to violate the dignity of the human person. World Health Organization said that the transplantation promotes health but transplantation tourism violates human right. Organs can be bought and sold arbitrarily. *Corruption There is corruption in healthcare system and government and it sometimes turn to organ trafficking. For instance, In India, a patient unaware th at his kidney transplant procedure took place and was asked to pay after that.For example, in 2006 China made selling of executed prisoners’ organs and claimed that those prisoners had filed agreement and permission, but still the Chinese officials are suspected of these corrupted activities that the profit might go to them not the donors or their families. * Religion For the religious view, body and soul are one entity and very valuable that cannot be treated as property and make business. Traditionally, Muslim believes that oppose donation from human living and deceased donors because the human body is sacred thing from God so any part of the body must not be separated in life or death.Chinese customs call for people to be buried or cremated with the body complete orginally. One die-hard superstition has it that if an organ is taken from a body after death, the person in question will be reborn with a handicap in that organ in his or her next life. Nowadays, trade in human organs is illegal in all countries except Iran. Before, India and Philippine used to legalize this activity too but it turns out that they ban it later on, and it is clear enough why it couldn’t be practiced.There must be many complicated issues occurred. Solution The solutions have been put forward to both increase the amount of legally available organs and stop the flow of illegal organ trafficking around the world. One policy is â€Å"presumed consent†. (Successful in Brazil, US, several nations of Europe and increase the amount of organs available), patient can choose not to donate by submitting document. Worldwide, the trend has been move toward increased regulation of organ trading internationally.

Effects of Globalisation on Brazil

Discuss the impact of globalisation on Brazil: Orientation: Globalisation refers to the integration between different countries and economies and the increased impact of international influences on all aspects of life and economic activity. Brazil is one of the fastest growing economies and superpower of South America. In the recent decade Globalisation has allowed Brazil’s economy to sustain stable economic growth, this was proven when Brazil experienced a very mild recession during the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.Due to the high levels of economic growth as well as increases in GNI per Capita Brazil’s government has also been able to implement successful macroeconomic policies that have allowed for consistent economic development. Though Brazil has benefited greatly from Globalisation they also have experienced many problems including the currency crises in the 1980-90’s which caused the country to undergo a complete economic restructure.Brazil also faces p roblems with environmental deconstruction that due to globalisation that are yet to be solved. Globalisation impact on Brazil Economically: Brazil’s failure to embrace Globalisation in the 1960’s 1970’s and 1980’s caused Brazil to be unable to fund its foreign debt and ultimately experience a currency crisis in the early 1980’s. Through the 1960’s and 1970’s successive governments sought to create a large industrial base and minimise Brazil’s dependency on imported manufactured goods.Brazil relied on foreign debt borrowing to fund this industrialisation movement but rather than increasing its economic integration the purpose of this industrialisation was for Brazil to become less heavily dependent on imports and more self sufficient; reducing reliance on the global economy and going against principals of globalisation in becoming more integrated. Due to large amount of foreign debt and Brazil’s inability to service this debt due to small amounts of export revenue Brazil’s debt servicing ratio reached 102% and, unable to service the debt Brazil’s currency depleted.For Brazil this outcome was among the most undesirable impacts of globalisation as it caused extreme volatility in Brazil’s exchange rate. From 1980 due to Brazil’s inability to repay debt, the Brazilian economy experience many exchange rate crises due to concerns that Brazil could not meet the debt repayments; this caused extreme inflation of over 1000%. Inflation was due to the rising cost of imports for Brazil as currency value fell sharply.In order to prevent/reduce the occurrence of extreme currency fluctuation and extreme inflation Brazil adopted the ‘Real Plan’ strategy in which a new currency known as the ‘real would be pegged 1 to 1 against the US dollar to control inflation. However this had to be abandoned as the currency had to once again be floated as investors pulled out of Brazi l in the wake of the East Asian financial crisis which spread to other developing nations. Brazil now continues to floats the currency relies on strong values of exports, keeping foreign debt low and consistent economic growth in order to reduce fluctuating currency.Brazil has also established a currency reserve to buy back currency and increase its price if financial speculation causes to fall to low. After embracing globalisation, Economically Brazil has greatly benefited from Globalisation as foreign direct investment (DFI) flows have allowed Brazil to become competitive in the world market. Brazil receives the highest level of FDI inflows in Latin American and the 5th highest in the world; this has led to sustained economic growth and greater economic stability.Investment by transnational corporations has helped Brazil develop telecommunications, chemical, pharmaceutical, automotive and mechanical industries. After FDI inflows falling to only 345million in 1986 due to lack of co nfidence in Brazil’s ability to repay foreign debt, Brazil’s economic situation has been consistently improving as the government strategies for industrialisation were restructured with a movement more to funding industrialisation through FDI rather than borrowing from Foreign markets. In 1996 FDI inflows had increased to 11 Billion and in 2011 FDI inflows stood at their peak of 66 Billion US dollars.Through FDI inflows employment was created as transnational corporations such as L’Oreal and FIAT group began expanding into the Brazilian market. Lowered unemployment combined with reductions in income in-equality among the people of the Brazil provided sought after government revenue. This government revenue allowed for the Brazilian government to fund national activities in the areas of transportation, industry and trade as well as energy and mining which all helped in the growth of Brazils manufacturing industry.Growth of the manufacturing industry is now the la rgest contributor to Brazil’s exports comprising of 45%. The manufacturing industry and other large industries that contribute to Brazils exports have allowed for Brazil to increase GDP levels from 385Million in 1980 to 2. 4 Trillion in 2010. Due to the efficiency of industries and economic growth, globalisation also allowed for sustained economic stability to also be achieved.This was made evident during the 2008-09 Global Financial crises where due to the integration of financial markets across the world many markets entered large recessions and therefore loss of confidence for investment Brazil only experienced a mild recession of -0. 6% growth in 2009. From this recession however growth soared to 7% the following year as market confidence was immediately restored with FDI inflows bouncing back from the reduced amount of $26 Billion to $49 Billion the following year, almost doubling.It is clear that in Brazil’s ability to embrace FDI inflows and investment by transn ational corporations have allowed Brazil to form and specialise in competitive industries such as the manufacturing industry. These industries then have the ability to sell the produced product to a world demand that has been created through improvements in technology and the breaking down of trade barriers, which are all effects of globalisation.Globalisation effect on Brazil Socially: Globalisation has also significantly affected Brazil socially. Investment into the country as well as demand for Brazil’s exported goods and services have allowed Brazil to substantially reduce income inequality and achieve economic development. As globalisation lifts economic growth rates in the Brazilian economy, it also raises the income levels of society and provides the government with greater amounts of revenue.After the Brazilian government received higher revenue due to increases in the country’s GDP, the government’s aim was to increase the quality of life among the peop le of Brazil, reducing poverty, increasing education level and increasing health and life expectancy. Programs such as the Fome Zero (zero hunger) program was widely regarded as one of the most successful government funded programs. It provided 11. 4 Million of Brazil’s poorest family’s sufficient income to be able to sustain basic needs in life.The policy was one of many that aimed or the government to reduce inequality by margining income distribution payments. Brazil has also achieved a substantial degree of progress in the economic development due to economic growth of the country through principles of globalisation. Through improvements in the government’s health care system as well as reduction in the cost of medicine as Brazilian companies begin producing pharmaceutical products of their own Brazil rank on the HDO increased from 0. 68 in 1980 to 0. 699 in 2010, mainly reflecting improvements in health care and income levels.Conversely, Brazil is still neg lecting the significant problems that globalisation has cause to the natural environment. As Brazil is still as a majority a low income country it is desperate to obtain as much foreign investment as possible in order to earn higher export revenue; because of this is engages in some economic behaviour that harms the environment. For Brazil this environment destruction occurs in the form of large scale deforestation that Brazil undertakes mainly for paper and wood chips but as well as government income received through selling rainforest/forest land.Not only does this practice allow for foreign investors to have rights to Brazils agricultural land but is also causes for many species of plants and animals to become extinct and many rainforest plants hold value due to undiscovered possible medicinal purposes. Due to the large scale deforestation that Brazil undertakes, Brazil is now the 4th largest emitter of carbon emissions in the world. The High carbon emissions add to the most seri ous environmental problem of the 21st century which is climate change.In order to reduce this environmental destruction Brazil committed in 2009 to reduce deforestation by 80% by 2020. Conclusion: It can be concluded that Brazil has become a large beneficiary of globalisation. Brazil is attracting more foreign investment, expanding its own businesses offshore, enjoying strong sustained growth in exports, in particular in the resources sector, and government policies have been effective in making sure that the macroeconomic successes of recent years are resulting in improvements in living standards for the people of Brazil.

Early Childhood Education Essay

He taonga te reo: Honouring te reo me ona tikanga1, the Maori language and culture, within early childhood education in Aotearoa2. Dr Jenny Ritchie, Associate Professor, Early Childhood Teacher Education, Unitec Institute of Technology, New Zealand Abstract This paper considers data from recent research which illustrates the ways in which tamariki (children), whanau (families) and educators are integrating the use of the Maori language within their everyday educational interactions, as mandated by the bilingual New Zealand early childhood curriculum, Te Whariki (Ministry of Education, 1996). Languages reflect cultures, expressing our deeper meanings and representations. Inscribed within verbal and non-verbal languages are our ways of being, knowing and doing (Martin, 2008). Jeanette Rhedding-Jones has inquired in her Norwegian multicultural context as to â€Å"What kinds of constructions are the monocultural professionals creating for cross-cultural meetings and mergings? † (2001, p. 5). What follows is an exploration of strategies by which Maori ways of being, knowing and doing are being enacted through the medium of te reo in early childhood centres. Introduction Te Whariki (Ministry of Education, 1996), the first bicultural education curriculum in Aotearoa, reaffirmed a commitment already widely acknowledged across the early childhood education sector in this country, to Te Tiriti o Waitangi3, and the validation and inclusion of te reo me ona tikanga4 as an integrated component of early childhood education programmes. Te Whariki contains strong clear statements of expectations for educators in terms of enacting te reo Maori within their teaching: New Zealand is the home of Maori language and culture: curriculum in early childhood settings should promote te reo and nga tikanga Maori, making them visible and affirming their value for children from all cultural backgrounds. Adults working with children should demonstrate an understanding of the different iwi and the meaning of whanau and whanaungatanga5 (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 42) The juxtaposition of the promotion of te reo and tikanga alongside whanau and whanaungatanga is insightful. Previous research had identified that as early childhood 1 2 Te reo is the Maori language, tikanga are Maori beliefs, values and cultural practices. Aotearoa is a Maori name for New Zealand. 3 Te Tiriti o Waitangi/The Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840 between Maori chiefs and the British Crown, promised protections to Maori of their lands and taonga – everything of value to Maori , which includes their languages, beliefs, values and traditions. 4 Te reo is the Maori language and tikanga are Maori cultural practices. This phrase, literally, â€Å"the language and its cultural practices† demonstrates how intrinsically the language and culture are linked. 5 Iwi are tribes, whanau are families, and whanaungatanga is the building of relationships. 2 educators generate an environment reflective and inclusive of Maori values such as whanaungatanga, Maori families are more comfortable and become more involved within that early childhood setting (Ritchie, 2002). Te reo Maori has been severely jeopardised by the processes of colonisation. As Mere Skerrett has written: Maori ways of speaking were also colonised through the subjugation of te reo Maori, to be replaced by English. This, at times violent, process of colonisation caused a disruption in the intergenerational transmission of Maori language, Maori knowledge and, as a consequence, disrupted Maori lives and Maori societies. (2007, p. 7) Whanau Maori have consistently stated their preference that their children learn their language and culture within education contexts (AGB/McNair, 1992; M.Durie, 2001; Else, 1997; Te Puni Kokiri/Ministry of Maori Development, 1998) in affirmation of their identity as Maori, since â€Å"Te reo Maori serves as the medium through which symbolic and cultural components are properly united and Maoriness most appropriately expressed† (A. Durie, 1997, p. 152). Young children learn languages comparatively easily. Early childhood centres are a logical site for young children to have opportunities to learn te reo Maori, in naturalistic experiential ways, consistent with both early childhood and second language learning pedagogies (Cummins, 2001; Ritchie, 1994). This will only occur if we are able to provide them with a linguistically rich environment and authentic language models. It is reasonable that Maori parents might expect that their children will not acquire poor pronunciation of their own language from their educational experiences. Previous Research In 1999 as part of my doctoral research (Ritchie, 2002), I observed 13 different early childhood settings in the Waikato area (Ritchie, 1999). I noted that in most of the settings there was at least one staff member who attempted to use some Maori language. This was a stronger use of te reo than Pam Cubey observed in eight Wellington early childhood centres in 1992, when she reported that virtually no Maori language was heard (Cubey, 1992). During my observations, the most frequent usage of te reo Maori were ‘commands’, such as: â€Å"Haere mai ki te kai; E tu tamariki; E noho; Haere mai ki te whariki; Horoi o ringaringa†6. There were also instances of counting and naming colours in te reo Maori. Several staff repeatedly inserted single Maori nouns within some of their regular English sentences, for example, â€Å"Do you want some fruit? Some panana 6. Haere mai ki te kai – come and eat E tu tamariki – stand up children E noho- sit down Haere mai ki te whariki – come to the mat Horoi o ringaringa – wash your hands panana – banana aporo- apple taringa – ear(s) waha – mouth 3 or some aporo? Turn on your taringa, zip up your waha†. During my visits, eight of the 13 centres sang at least one song in te reo Maori, usually at structured mat-times, which were compulsory for all children. These teachers identified confidence and competence as barriers, because, as one teacher explained, â€Å"you feel like a real twit when it comes out wrong†. I was concerned that the available te reo Maori resources appeared to be under-utilised and that the range of language use was restricted to simple commands, the use of colour names and counting in Maori. This indicated reliance on a limited range of vocabulary, with little knowledge of Maori grammar. Teachers expressed their need for support and encouragement to broaden their ‘comfort zone’ beyond single words, to using complete and more complex phrases that represent linguistically authentic Maori structures. I suggested that teachers consider widening the range of formats in which they used Maori phrases. Recent data Whilst 6. 58% of registered early childhood teachers are Maori (Ministry of Education, 2007), only 1. 6% of New Zealanders of European ancestry speak Maori (Ministry of Social Development, 2007). Early childhood teachers’ use of te reo may seem encouraging in that 75% of Pakeha early childhood teachers said that they use some Maori whilst  teaching, yet 70% of these teachers reported themselves as speaking Maori â€Å"not very well† (Harkess, 2004, p. 12). In 2006 we reported on a two-year study7 with a range of participants, which included early childhood educators, an Iwi Education Initiative8, teacher educators, specialist educators and professional learning providers, co-exploring strategies for supporting the involvement of whanau Maori within early childhood settings other than Kohanga Reo9 (Ritchie & Rau, 2006). Using narrative (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990; Schulz, Schroeder, & Brody, 1997) and Kaupapa Maori (Bishop, 2005; Smith, 1999, 2005) research methodologies, we explored early childhood educators’ strategies for encouraging the participation of whanau Maori within early childhood education settings, and ways for implementing understandings of commitments derived from Te Tiriti o Waitangi as expressed in the bicultural early childhood curriculum, Te Whariki, through the delivery of Tiriti-based programmes10. Participants in this study were those who were strongly committed to implementing Tiriti-based practice. Pedagogical enactment described in this study was consistent with 7 This project was funded through the Teaching Learning Research Initiative, a fund provided by the New Zealand Ministry of Education, and administered by NZCER. 8 We gratefully acknowledge the support and contribution of Kokiri Tuwaretoa Education Initiative to the Whakawhanaungatanga study. 9 Kohanga Reo are Maori-medium educational settings where young children are immersed in the Maori language and culture in a whanau-based context. 10 The term Tiriti-based practice is derived from a commitment to Te Tiriti oWaitangi, the treaty signed in 1840 by Maori chiefs and the British Crown, that legitimated the presence of immigrants, initially from Britain, alongside the tangata whenua, Maori, the indigenous people of this land. 4 a view of Maori language and cultural practices as being holistically and simultaneously performed. This enactment includes daily welcoming and spiritual rituals in te reo, and is inclusive of waiata11. This climate generated a sense of welcoming and safety for Maori families, which resulted in their increasing involvement in centre reo and tikanga implementation. An educator demonstrated how this whanau participation was integral within their early childhood centre programming: â€Å"In partnership with whanau we  introduce new waiata each term, and tikanga experiences, such as, hangi, powhiri, harakeke, [and] legends of the whanau, hapu12, and iwi attending the service. † Other Maori co-researchers within the Whakawhanaungatanga research project also identified aspects of Te Ao Maori13 that they would like to see reflected within early childhood education and care settings. They considered it important that Maori parents and whanau sense a match between their values and those of educational settings. They valued a sense of whanaungatanga generated and enacted within the early childhood centre, whereby tamariki and whanau, kuia and kaumatua, and other whanau members such as â€Å"Aunties† (Martin, 2007) participated as a collective, learning and teaching alongside the teachers and children, educators sharing responsibility and demonstrating willingness to identify and support the needs of all members of that collective. In this vision, te reo Maori is modelled and integrated throughout the programme, with support for adults to increase their own facility with the language alongside their children, and there is ongoing everyday enactment of tikanga such as: rituals of welcoming and farewell; sharing of kai14; a value of inclusiveness; reference to Te Ao Wairua15 and nga Atua16, and annual celebrations such as Matariki. 17 Children, in this view are exposed to te reo as part of the daily enactment of Maori beliefs, values and practices. Co-researchers in this project demonstrated a commitment to integrating te reo and tikanga within their centre practice, in ways that were meaningful and contextual for children and families. Working with natural materials, such as harakeke (flax), provided a source of learning of traditional knowledge, involving the planting and care of the flax bushes, weaving of rourou18, children observing alongside adults, connected to the land and its spiritual significance, as Ana, a Playcentre kaiako, described: So even though we had those harakeke within our centre boundary, in our lawn, we knew that the pa harakeke19 of that harakeke that we had, came 11 12 Waiata are songs. Hangi are feasts cooked in earth ovens, powhiri are greeting ceremonies, harakeke is flax, and hapu are sub-tribes 13 Te Ao Maori is the Maori world. 14 Kai is food 15 Te Ao Wairua is the spiritual dimension. 16 Nga Atua are supernatural beings, or gods. 17 Matariki is the constellation whose arrival announces the Maori New Year. 18 Rourou are flax food baskets. 19 Pa harakeke are flax bushes, often planted as a source of flax for weaving and rongoa (medicinal remedies), and also refers metaphorically to the nurturing by the wider family of the offspring, the younger shoots. 5 from a bigger picture. And all the natural resources on our little wagon inside, in the area of where they go and make pictures and glue things and make structures out of the driftwood and put their shells and tie their shells on and harakeke, they might have been just in the rourou baskets, but we knew and the tamariki knew they come from this bigger picture out there in the whenua20, because they had gone to get them. So we brought our big world reality and our spiritual world reality into the bounds of that centre. Pania, a Maori kindergarten teacher, spoke of her bilingual approach as being like a whariki,21 †¦where you get two strands and you build them together to make your little kete22 or your whariki of learning. And [implementing a bilingual approach] is a way that I can facilitate my programme that is non-threatening. It’s an option for the child – and the parent – whether they would like to do it, but it’s also another teaching technique and a resource and a learning strategy. Daisy, a Pakeha kindergarten teacher, actively researched aspects of tikanga that she was interested in integrating into her teaching: I wrote a story and what I wanted to do was encompass the tikanga aspects on collecting kai moana23. I wanted it to be something Pakeha could grasp, something simple, that was really clear and conveying the tikanga aspects because it’s not just about going down to the beach and picking up a few pipis24, its deeper than that, there’s a lot of kaupapa25 behind it. How did I know about all the tikanga? —I’ve never gone out collecting kai moana in my life? Research, korero26 with others more knowledgeable. As far as getting it to children it needs to be simple and straight-forward. The pipi story is focused on Tangaroa,27 the protocols around that. The tamariki seem to enjoy it, but in order to deepen their understanding, and extend the story, I set up the pipi hunt in the sandpit. So the story was a visual and a listening experience, whereas the pipi hunt was a tactile experience, so that then I think I would have managed to tap into every child’s way of learning. Daisy also involved whanau Maori of her centre in her planning, although she took primary responsibility for researching the reo and tikanga that was to be incorporated. Incorporating te reo and tikanga was more effective when educators were committed both individually and collectively to proactively integrating this within planning, teaching 20 Whenua is land. Whariki are woven flax mats. 22 A kete is a woven flax basket. 23 Kai moana are seafoods. 24 Pipi are cockles. 25 Kaupapa is philosophy. 26 Korero is talking. 27 Tangaroa is the Atua, supernatural being, or God, of the sea. 21 6 interactions, programme evaluation, and centre review. Many of the Pakeha coresearchers have worked hard over the years to increase their competence in te reo, and continue to do so, by taking courses. At Ariel’s childcare centre, all the teachers had attended a reo course offered in their local community. Penny, a kindergarten head teacher who was also studying te reo, explained that as her own confidence grew, and supported by her co-teacher, the quality of te reo within the centre programme continued to strengthen, as â€Å"the reo is fed in gently and quietly†. Respondents from the Hei Ara Kokiri Tuwaretoa Education Initiative data articulated aspirations for early childhood education services that envisioned all children as being supported to become biculturally and bilingually competent. The following example recognises the important role of early childhood services in offering quality models of te reo Maori: To be fully bicultural and therefore bilingual all children in Aotearoa/NZ should have the opportunity to learn to be fluent in Maori and English and develop understanding of both cultures’ world view. We need proficient Maori speaking teachers in all ECE learning environments. It is not enough to use Maori language in directives – information – acknowledgment contexts. We need to work towards providing environments where children can use the target language, be completely immersed in te reo Maori. We need to promote environments where the conscientization of language is constructed as normal to prevent dialogue being used by teachers to act on children. Teachers and children need to be using dialogue to work with each other – co-constructing. In order to reflect this, we need to provide environments rich in Maori language. We need proficient speaking Maori teachers! Regurgitating learnt phrases will not provide the opportunities for children to really conscientise their experiences, that is, thinking in Maori. Only a very high level of exposure in Maori will do that. Honouring the indigenous language and culture of this country remains an ongoing challenge for educators, particularly given the legacy of colonialistic arrogance that has limited access for many people, both Maori and non-Maori. Kaupapa Maori models are providing inspirational pedagogical models that honour te reo me ona tikanga (Skerrett, 2007). However, as the numbers of Maori children in education services other than kaupapa Maori remains high, the onus is on educators in these sectors to find strategies to provide Maori children and families with the language that is their birth-right and source of identity as affirmed by Article 30 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of The Child (1989), which requires that: In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of Indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is Indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practise his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language. 7 Conclusion Maori continue to seek education provision that respects and honours their identity, including the linguistic affirmation of authentic models of te reo Maori (Robertson, Gunn, Lanumata, & Pryor, 2007). As early childhood educators seek to deliver on the expectations outlined in the early childhood curriculum, Te Whariki (Ministry of Education, 1996), there remain many challenges, not the least of which is the lack of linguistic competence in te reo Maori of the vast majority of teachers (Harkess, 2004). Our research indicates that educators who are dedicated to an ongoing journey of reflexive praxis founded in a commitment to social justice and the promise of Tiriti-based partnership are generating early childhood programmes which respectfully reflect the Maori language and culture, and this in turn encourages the participation of whanau Maori in these services. References AGB/McNair. (1992). Survey of Demand for Bilingual and Immersion Education in Maori. A Report to the Ministry of Education. Wellington: AGB/McNair. Bishop, R. (2005). Freeing Ourselves from Neocolonial Domination in Research: A Kaupapa Maori Approach to Creating Knowledge. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds. ), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed. , pp. 109-164). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. Connelly, F. M., & Clandinin, D. J. (1990). Stories of Experience and Narrative Inquiry. Educational Researcher, 19(5), 2-14. Cubey, P. (1992). Responses to the Treaty of Waitangi in Early Childhood Care and Education. Unpublished M. Ed. Thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington. Cummins, J. (Ed. ). (2001). Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. Durie, A. (1997). Te Aka Matua. Keeping a Maori Identity. In P. Te Whaiti, M. McCarthy & A. Durie (Eds. ), Mai i Rangiatea. Maori Wellbeing and Development (pp. 142-162). Auckland: Auckland University Press with Bridget Williams Books. Durie, M. (2001). A Framework for Considering Maori Educational Advancement. Paper presented at the Hui Taumata Matauranga, Turangi/Taupo. Else, A. (1997). Maori Participation & Performance in Education. A Literature Review and Research Programme. Wellington: Ministry of Education. Harkess, C. (2004). Ethnicity in the Early Childhood Education Teacher-led Workforce. Demographic and Statistical Analysis Unit: Ministry of Education. 8 Martin, K. (2007). Making Tracks and Reconceptualising Aboriginal Early Childhood Education: An Aboriginal Australian Perspective. Childrenz Issues, 11(1), 15-20. Martin, K. (2008). Please knock before you enter. Aboriginal regulation of Outsiders and the implications for researchers. Teneriffe: Post Pressed. Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whariki. He Whariki Matauranga mo nga Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early Childhood Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media. Ministry of Education. (2007). Nga Haeata Matauranga. Education 2006/2007. Wellington: Ministry of Education. Annual Report on Maori Ministry of Social Development. (2007). The Social Report. Retrieved 30 July, 2008 from http://www. socialreport. msd. govt. nz/documents/sr07-cultural-identity. pdf Rhedding-Jones, J. (2001). Shifting Ethnicities: ‘Native informants’ and other theories from/for early childhood education. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 2(2), 135156. Ritchie, J. (1994). Literature Review on Pedagogy of Second Language Acquisition in Immersion Early Childhood Care and Education Settings Report to Te Puni Kokiri. Hamilton: University of Waikato. Ritchie, J. (1999). The Use of Te Reo Maori in Early Childhood Centres. Early Education, 20(Winter), 13-21. Ritchie, J. (2002). â€Å"It’s Becoming Part of Their Knowing†: A Study of Bicultural Development in an Early Childhood Teacher Education Setting in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Waikato, Hamilton. Ritchie, J. , & Rau, C. (2006). Whakawhanaungatanga. Partnerships in bicultural development in early childhood education. Final Report from the Teaching & Learning Research Initiative Project. Retrieved February 21, 2008, from: http://www. tlri. org. nz/pdfs/9207_finalreport. pdf Robertson, J. , Gunn, T. R. , Lanumata, T. , & Pryor, J. (2007). Parental decision making in relation to the use of Early Childhood Services. Report to the Ministry of Education. Wellington: Roy McKenzie Centre for the Study of Families & Ministry of Education. Schulz, R. , Schroeder, D. , & Brody, C. M. (1997). Collaborative narrative inquiry: fidelity and the ethics of caring in teacher research. Qualitative Studies in Education, 10(4), 473-485. Skerrett, M. (2007). Kia Tu Heipu: Languages frame, focus and colour our worlds. Childrenz Issues, 11(1), 6-14. 9 Smith, L. T. (1999). Decolonizing methodologies. Research and Indigenous Peoples. London and Dunedin: Zed Books Ltd and University of Otago Press. Smith, L. T. (2005). On Tricky Ground: Researching the Native in the Age of Uncertainty. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds. ), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed. , pp. 85-107). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage. Te Puni Kokiri/Ministry of Maori Development. (1998). Making Education Work for Maori. Report on Consultation. Wellington: Te Puni Kokiri/Ministry of Maori Development. United Nations. (1989). United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved February 21, 2008, from: http://www. cyf. govt. nz/432_442. htm.