College Computerized Billing System Essay

With the power of technology nowadays, people get interested with computers. They tried to indulge themselves on it to have a productive result in a more efficient and time saving process. It is highly valued in institutions like business enterprises, schools, hospitals, government and non government services. However, some of them are still using manual system. In this regard, we acknowledge the value of computerized system. As of today’s generation, there are already many college schools existing. One of which is IJMS College Departmentthat serves tutorialtype. It is located at Malvar, Santiago City and is owned by Dr. Imelda B. Brilliantes. IJMS started the operation of their college department onJune 2004. Since the said industry is new, they still don’t have computerized system for reservation and billing which is very useful for business purposes. For thesis project, the researchers would like to propose a reservation and billing system to D’ Budgetel to help the management and have a synchronize flow in their transactions system. 1. 2 Statement of the Problem Hotel customers choose important considerations in choosing a place to stay like location, price/value and service. These are very important because these are the primary basis of a customer to be attracted in that business. Since the researchers found out that manual procedure are still used in processing their billing and reservation transactions, it greatly affects their customer’s need. This study aims to look for the following problems: 1. The School billing statement doesn’t provide specific or detailed information regarding on student’s payment or charges.

Men Should Get Paternity Leave from Work Essay

Why not? In today’s world where gender equality is slowly taking importance, men getting paternity leave does not seem like an alien idea. Maternity leaves are never objectionable however when it comes to paternity leaves it becomes one of the most controversial topics of all times. Reasons for maternity leaves are well justified as the women have to carry the child with them as part of their body until the child is born but there are justified reasons for the paternity leave as well. Men have just as much right, need and obligation to spend quality time bonding with and caring for a newborn. With families living isolated from close relatives, it may be difficult for the mother’s family to support her after the birth of the baby as was tradition. Now introducing paternity leave, the father can play this important role. Men should get paternity leave from work for a reasonable amount of time, because becoming a parent is a life-changing event that they need to be a part of. Statistics have proven that men that are an active part of their children’s births and are present for the few weeks after have a stronger bond with their children, making them better fathers, and giving the children a better environment to grow up in. When a woman gives birth to a child, it is emotionally and physically draining. If a father has the opportunity to stay home for the first couple of weeks to care for both his wife and his new child, it will make a world of difference. I don’t believe that paternity leave needs to be several months like maternity leave is. But giving men a few weeks will have a positive effect on home, family life, and happiness. There is always a moral support when the man is there in the house. A man on paternity leave may dedicatedly serve his partner. Not all out of house assignments can be carried out by a pregnant woman. Giving the maternity leaves alone can’t help the women completely as how would they overcome the needs at critical times. No one understands her better than her husband. Gone are the days when there used to be joint families. Most of the policies existing today are based on policies formulated during those days only. Nowadays people prefer living lives their way. When the number of members in the family are restricted to husband and wife only, it becomes difficult for the lady to cope with even the minor requirements. It is not always feasible to call the neighbors especially in the metropolitan where all are busy and you really do not know much about them. In a world where nobody has the time to stand and take a deep breath paternity leaves come in handy as it allows the men to take a break from their hectic schedules and give time to their family. It is a common scene these days that due to work pressure the employees cancels or postpones number of personal commitments which are seldom recognized by the organizations. Certain jobs require lot of outstation travels hence they get the least time to support their partner when she needs them the most. Sometimes the irony is that the traveling is increased during those critical periods leaving the men regretted forever. Paternity leaves will help people in this sector. I would like to conclude by saying that both the father and the mother should get a set amount of time they can distribute among themselves as parental leave. This would allow flexibility and is the most fair option. Only allowing women to get leave is sexist, but requiring an equal split would ignore the personal needs of families.

Med School Essay

I had a long discussion with my dad today about religion, but I also got a touch of his childhood. As the discussion progressed, I came to the realization that I know nearly nothing about my father my whole life. This was one of the first times he actually spoke to me about his past in any sort of detail at all my whole life. The only thing he would tell me as I grew up was that his father passed away when my dad was nine and that his father was an honest man. I still have much, much more to learn about my dad’s past, but the things he told me have made me so grateful to be born in America and  to have such high hopes for a brighter future. Today I found out that my grandfather went to college in the number one university in South Korea to study electricity, but he didn’t know a thing about light switches. My grandfather was a coal worker who participated in the strikes of 1987 that swept the nation off its feet. Unfortunately, he passed away nine years into my father’s life for reasons my dad has yet to tell me. Following my grandfather’s death, my dad’s family had a really rough time, moving around the country and being dirt poor to the point where malnutrition became a health concern in his  childhood. There were days when he would be out for a walk and he’d suddenly collapse on the spot due to intense stomach pains. People would pass by, but no one ever helped him up. After lying on the ground for God knows how long, he would rush back to the house to poop, only to find his efforts futile. He couldn’t afford a doctor and his mother was too busy trying to make ends meet. On top of that, he had two older sisters and, later, two older step-sisters. He attended college in Korea, where he started to form his smoking and drinking habits, which he  still carries to this day. Despite having friends who all started smoking and drinking in high school, he was always the one who stayed clean. I guess college changed him. (On the bright side, he promised me that he would quit smoking starting January of 2015. I told him that if he continues to smoke, that I would start smoking too. Wish him luck! ) In his twenties, he moved to the states with his mother in hopes of a better life. I guess he moved to the wrong part of America though because he had a lot of trouble with the people he interacted with  everyday and a colossal language barrier that prevented him from truly appreciating life in the states. He told me that he didn’t truly get the opportunity to live a normal life due to having to work long hours every single day just to get by. When he was thirty, he had me. A little bundle of hope that would be raised to live a life nothing like the one that my dad had to live. So why am I writing all of this? I honestly do not know. But if there’s one thing I’m damn sure of, it’s that I want to make sure my dad’s efforts aren’t in vain. My whole life I’ve been careless and a bit too relaxed about everything. I failed through middle school and I got suspended a grand total of four times. I had the same work ethic in high school, but I managed to get by with a 3. 7 GPA. My SAT score was a lifesaver in getting me into NYU, the school that I am currently attending. But even now, I feel as unmotivated and carefree as I was in middle school and high school. I volunteer every opportunity I can with children. Before today, they were the sole reason that I truly found a passion  and enjoyment in life. But now, all I can think of is becoming a pediatrician in the future. I don’t want any child to live as my dad did when he was a child. I want all children to have the same opportunities that my dad has worked so hard to provide for me. My goal is now med school. It may seem unrealistic for a guy with my personality, but I want to make a difference in my life and my dad’s life. I have decided to start hitting the books and to work as hard as I physically can to achieve these dreams. POWERED BY TCPDF (WWW. TCPDF. ORG)

Diabetic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Diabetic - Essay Example Social support is getting support from friends and family who give assistance and comfort. Having the social support can improve the psychological well being of the patient (Schwartz, 2000). The relationship that exists among social support life stress, patient’s locus of control and the blood glucose control become evaluated in individuals with diabetes mellitus, using the objectives measures of the psychosocial variables. Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS) and Glycosylated Hemoglobin (Hgb A-1C) control measures become taken at two regions for them to check the problems of the psychosocial variables on the change in diabetes control. A decrease in the social support leads to the worsening of the long term glycosylated hemoglobin control over time (Hellier, 2009). According to medics, diabetes is a progressive disease that surfaces as impaired glucose intolerance with a high level post meal glucose. These high glucose levels increasingly demand the pancreas to secrete additional insulin leading to a state of hyperinsulinemia. Nevertheless, the body gets resistant to insulin, and it later develops lack of insulin and high fasting glucose levels. This pattern represents Type 2 diabetes. The eventual exhaustion of the islet cells leads to the absolute lack of insulin presenting type 1 diabetes. To patients suffering from diabetes is quite a frightening experience, and the patients require all the physical and emotional support they can receive from their loved ones (Schwartz, 2000). The patients suffering from diabetes often complain of anxiety and fear about the future, experience fluctuations in their moods and find it difficult to cope with their daily lives. They also get tired at times. Depression is another common and dangerous complication witnessed by the people suffering from diabetes. The diabetics with depression posses a high rate of recurrent episodes of depressions in the preceding five years. Depressed persons do not have the motivation to

Case Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Case Analysis - Essay Example The whole point behind sponsoring a person is because of the recognition he or she has and that recognition helps them to sell their goods. It was also mentioned that when Dwyane Wade showed his skills during the 2005 playoffs, his converse contract was revised from $500,000 to 10 million dollars. This shows that converse is mainly depending on his performance and based on his performance his popularity and fan following at large. The risk involved in this kind of partnership is the player performance. He cannot assure that he will keep on performing. Rather this factor can never be constant. There are ups and downs in sports. So once the performance level of Dwyane Wade falls, his fans will start decreasing and so will his popularity. This in return will affect the sales of all the products being promoted through him. This is the main risk factor associated with this case. However this issue cannot be stopped or avoided. The companies need to be careful before doing big investment r elated to

Take home 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Take home 3 - Essay Example Its disadvantage is that it is slow and unstable and exposes vital organs to danger. In this way, the speeds attained by those species with bipedal abilities are far below those attained by the species that essentially use all limbs. Ostriches are among the fastest of bipeds even though their speeds do not compare well with those for quadrupeds.Bipedalism evolved due to the need to to free the hands for using tools as man and other animals evolved. B) When closely studied, the fossils of both Australopithecus anamensis and Australopithecus afarensis show that they were bipedal. In those records, all evidence in their knees, hips and foot morphology points to their having been bipedal.When compared to a modern human foot, the footprints called Laetoli Tracks in Tanzania point to a non-opposable hallux and an arch similar to that of a human being. Another piece of evidence displayed is that of the 7 Ma cranium which has an inferior placement of the foramen magnum which suggested that it was bipedal. The tibia of these species also had right angles between the shaft and the proximal surface which are evidence of bipedalism. These earlier hominids, though, are said to have been in the early stages of bipedalism given that further evidence has pointed to their using all four limbs especially for movement. 2.A) a) Orrorintugenensiswas discovered in Tugen Hills in Kenya in 2000. It is estimated to be between 5.7 to 6.1 million years old. Orrorin was bipedal given that its lesser trochanter protruded medially. From the evidence gathered about this hominid, its primary diet must have consisted of leaves and other forms of vegetation. b) Sahelanthropustchadensiswas discovered in 2001 in the Djurab Desert of Chad and was estimated to be about 7 million years. It was bipedal given that the shape of the anteriorly placed foramen magnum bore signs of bipedalism. More evidence points to it having

Biology (plant and people)- research proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Biology (plant and people)- - Research Proposal Example The corn’s high yield-per-hectare increased the available food supply, which contributed to the increase in the population especially among corn-growing areas. La Fleur, J. D. (2012). Fusion foodways of africa's gold coast in the atlantic era. Leiden: Brill. La Fleur provides a history on how corn became popular during the 1500’s and beyond in the African continent. African farmers were able to experiment planting and breeding corn sourced from Portuguese outposts, using techniques similar to growing local grains such as sorghum. The corn responded well after being planted during the rainy season, and the farmers were able to successfully harvest a lot during the end of the rainy season. Aside from the experimentations in breeding corn, the local folk also tested several methods of processing corn and creating novel dishes. The excitement from breeding various varieties of corn as well as in experimenting with different methods of preparing the crop helped it gain wide acceptance among many people within Africa. Maddison, A. (2007). Contours of the world economy 1-2030 AD: essays in macro-economic history. New York: Oxford University Press. Maddison describes how maize was introduced into the African continent, which is mainly via the slave trade routes by Portuguese colonizers. During the 1500’s, early introductions of European crops into the African continent proved futile, mainly due to the poor and uncultivated soils in areas where colonies were first established. Since most of the local folk were hunter-gatherers, the soils were unfit for planting most European-sourced crops. However, with the expansion of the slave-trade by Portugal in Africa as well as discovering and conquering other areas within the New World, there was an increase in the influx of various items across three separate geological regions. As Portugal brought Christianity from the mainland to the South Americans, corn was later exported from the Americas and into Afri ca, and from Africa came the slaves, which were sold to Europeans, thus completing a cycle of imports and exports from the countries under control. McCann, J. (2005). Maize and grace: africa's encounter with a new world crop, 1500-2000. Harvard University Press. The author discusses the natural characteristics of corn that made it widely popular in Africa despite its cultural diversity. First, the sub-tropical and mid-altitude locations of most areas were corn was first introduced were fairly similar to where maize came from, which contributed to the vigorous growth of the crop and fairly high yields. Second, it can be planted as an intercrop along with other kinds of food sources. Thirdly, corn as a crop is easy to transport to other places due to some â€Å"floury† varieties as well as the numerous husks covering the cob. Lastly, corn kernels greatly-resembled locally-grown sorghum, and this gave farmers and local folk ideas on how to prepare harvested corn for their dishes . Warman, A. (2003). Corn and capitalism: how a botanical bastard grew to global dominance. University of North Carolina Press. The flexibility of corn in being used for a variety of food stuffs lead to its acceptability, and is discussed by the author in this book. It is a fact that corn was a crop that was the product of multiple cross-breeding by humans for

Personal leadership and management developments Essay

Personal leadership and management developments - Essay Example Good leaders know their own values, strengths, and limitations and are able to control their emotions and behaviors. They must strive for personal development by engaging in continuous learning and being willing to seek help when needed or admit when they have made a mistake. They should be able to adapt to stressful or dynamic situations and be able to maintain a balance between their work and non-work lives. a) Organizational objectives, values and culture The significance of the impact of organizational objectives on leadership and management can be traced to Peter Drucker’s invention of the concept of Management by Objectives (MBO) whereby managers and employees work coherently towards the accomplishment of specific organizational objectives within a set time frame (Thomson, 1998). Organizational objectives can be defined as the overall  goals, purpose and  mission  of a  business  that have been  established  by its  management  and communicated to its  employees. ... However, there may be significant differences between the objectives that managers and leaders pursue. For instance, while managers are responsible for establishing agendas, setting timetables and allocating resources, leaders take on more strategic roles such as creating organizational vision and setting strategies (Kotter, 1990). Furthermore, organizational objectives of growing in size and increasing staffing, for instance, may require managers to develop work incentives for the newly hired workforce while leaders deal with the larger function of motivating, empowering and developing employees’ potential. Most importantly, however, organizations may incorporate â€Å"change management† as one of their objectives (Northouse, 2011). To this end, the role of leaders is critical as they act as change agents. Secondly, values are traits or qualities that are considered worthwhile; they represent your highest priorities and deeply held driving forces. Core values of an org anization are central to its functioning and decision-making as well how as the organization manages individuals and operations (Routledge & Carmichael, 2007). They are statements about how the organization will value customers, suppliers, and the internal community (Heathfield, 2013). It plays a key role in the choices made by leader. Values will affect not only the perceptions of appropriate ends, but also the perceptions of the appropriate means to those ends. From the concept and development of organization strategies, structures and processes, to the use of particular leadership styles and the evaluation of subordinate performance, value systems will be persuasive. In short, people decide according

Soda Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Soda - Essay Example Given that the company we are dealing with is a multinational, different strategies are used to distribute the soda depending on the specifications of that particular segment. The soda is normally distributed using the five main distribution channels namely: Vending, Food stores, convenience & gas, fountain, and mass merchandisers. Supermarkets being the principal customer for soft drink makers are highly fragmented although it will be one of the main channels we are going to exploit. We will use them as one of the channels to get to the clients because they have a big customer base owing to the heavy flow of traffic. The problem with national mass merchandising is that they have a big bargaining power which significantly reduces on the profitability of soda. This is also coupled with the fact that their loyal clients expect discounts in order to continue using their services. Low prices means less profits although this is a channel that is crucial for us especially in terms of marketing our product and establishing a market niche (Keller 114). The fountain sales are equally less profitable just like the national mass merchandising but we will consider it as paid sampling. This channel is a little tricky because the buyers at major fast food chains often stock products from one producer in order to have a stronger bargaining power. The effect is that the sales volume will be high although the profitability level will be low owing to the relatively big percentage of the sales going to them. However, this is a very important channel for us because it will help us in building our brand and developing customer loyalty. This is the reason why we will invest in fountain equipment and cups used to serve the sodas in these outlets. The most profitable channel of distribution for soda is vending because we will be able to sell directly to the clients without using any

Electronic Banking Has More Benefits for the Bank than for the Bank's Essay

Electronic Banking Has More Benefits for the Bank than for the Bank's Customers - Essay Example Because customer satisfaction has gained much significance in all industry segments, and banking being a retail industry where rush of customers for their daily banking needs is huge, benefits of e-banking to the customers are being provided with extra vigour by the banking industry to attract more and more customers as banking market is very competitive. For banks, internet banking offers the strategic possibility of cutting costs, better customer service; attract more customers and add-on with the cross-selling opportunities. Banks view electronic banking a very positive feature of their services. E-banking has its own challenges and opportunities, challenges emerging from the serious ramifications of global e-banking. In the global context, it is stated that the transaction costs have reduced drastically making it feasible to realise cross-border banking transactions electronically. Such an opportunity provides to the banks the potential of economies of scale. Such electronic cros s-border transactions need to be cleared by banks by taking additional safety measures (Nitsure, 2004). Benefits of e-banking to Banks Cost-effective According to Orr (1999) electronic banking cuts the cost of each transaction at once. ... It cuts down the cost of the bill if it is served to the customer electronically in comparison to when it is physically delivered in hard paper via post. Irvine (1999) remarks that banks leverage cost by saving 40% than in hard copy. Both the customers of the bank and the bank itself get the benefit from reduced cost without affecting the provision of effective and comprehensive services. Loyal Customers According to a research organised by Forrester Research, 61% of the participants were of the view that if banks come forward to deliver the services as desired by them they would gladly remain customers with such banks (Dixon, 1999). Knowing well what their customers want, banks are offering a â€Å"hub† of related services such as bill presentment and payment, financial planning, property planning, insurance, loans and brokerage services. The internet has facilitated this convergence of financial services, which was not possible otherwise from a centralised system. Banking we b sites providing convergence of services to the customers deliver a more comprehensive experience to such customers who randomly visit the bank website to use the offered services. The objective of the banks behind such convergence of offered services is to hook the customers by creating loyalty, providing the opportunity of bundling of services, which can be realised in increased earning from such customers, using various services of the banks under the umbrella. Additional Services Banks are offering financial portal services to their customers wherein various financial services and products like stocks and mortgages are presented to the customers, which have opened up another earning stream for the banks. It has become possible because of Internet integration.

Native American culture Essay Example for Free

Native American culture Essay Native Americans were influenced by the environment, plants, and animals in the areas in which they settled. Some practices were influenced over time by migration and contact with other tribes along trade routes. Many tribes used herbs and seeds gathered from their immediate environment and from hunting excursions for healing rituals or ceremonies. Many Native medicine practices were lost or driven underground because they were banned or illegal in parts of the United States until 1987; when the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed. In 1987 there were difficulties with ceremonies and rituals on sacred sites, as ritual activities are sometimes forbidden because the land now serves other purposes. Today, Native American and American Indian community-based medical systems still practices some Native American healing rituals, while others secretly practice in their homes and refuse to use conventional medicine. Those who grew up within the Native American culture still apply what they learned or grew up with, which is healing spiritually along with their illnesses. They do not believe in modern medicine and question any of the practices that are available now. Native Americans tap into the knowledge gained from their ancestors and prefer to â€Å"sweat it out† instead of giving in to conventional medicine. Beliefs and Practices. With this in mind, the Native American culture carries the understanding that the harmonious balance between oneself, man and nature is sophisticated and should not only exist, but it needs to be respected. Rituals and practices bring participants into harmony with themselves, their tribe and all of life. There is a belief that violating tribal laws carries consequences to include mental and physical illness, ongoing bad luck, disability or trauma. Any violations must be made right in order for harmony and good health to be restored. Among Native Americans, the idea remains that the sickness and illness that one experiences is related to a spiritual cause, and in turn creates a disparity between mind, body and spirit. Native Americans deem their bodies as an expression of the spirit and just as each person has to keep harmony with oneself, each person is responsible for his or her own health and also recognizing that all thoughts and action (negative or positive) carries consequences; creating either harmony or disharmony. Any disharmony or disparity may cause illnesses. Native Americans believe that they are related to and intertwined with all forms of life; therefore they can call on or evoke spirits, which strengthens their inner being and can be called upon to render assistance; further emphasizing why harmony and oneness in the Native American culture is a necessity. The Native American philosophy recognizes that there are various aspects of natural world that cannot be seen by the naked eye or with any form of technology, but can only be experienced spiritually. Furthermore, Native American healing also includes a variety of practices; such as religion, spirituality, herbal medicine and rituals to treat people with medical and emotional conditions; including the use of sweat baths, usually in a â€Å"sweat lodge† to purify, cleanse and allow participants to emerge reborn. The lodge is a darkened enclosure heated with stones from a fire and represents the warm moist heat of the womb, allowing them to be renewed into the Light of the world. They also wear medicine bags, which are painted or beaded with designs and patterns for the wearer; this is done to entice the spirit of the animal figure of symbol. Most medicine bags usually contain common object such as stones, ash from a ceremony fire, roots and barks, herbs, feathers, dirt from a ceremonial ground, or wood from a tree struck by lightning. Native Americans primarily used herbs to correct and to fix the mind, body and spirit; for example, sage is believed to protect against bad spirits, heal the stomach, nasal passages, colon and kidneys; cedar is used for coughs and forehead colds and sacred or pure tobacco which allows their breath, the source of life to become visible; rising up to the Great Spirit carrying prayers. Native American healing practices differ greatly, as there are over five hundred and the type of ritual is based on their Native American Nations, which are called tribes. There are many tribal differences and the most sacred traditions are still kept secret, passed from one healer to the next. The most common healing ritual involves herbal remedies which can include teas, tinctures, and salves. For example, one remedy for pain can be treated with bark from a willow tree which contains acetylsalicylic acid also known as aspirin. Native American medicine addresses imbalance on every level of life, from the most personal inner life to the most overt behavior. Some illnesses are believed to be caused by angry spirits; a healer would perform a ritual to cleanse this person and them. Disease is not defined by physical pathology, but viewed from an expanded context that includes body, mind, spirit, emotions, social group, and lifestyle. Most Native Americans believe that illnesses come from spiritual problems and that their healing practices can cure almost anything. Some healers are believed to have cured heart disease, diabetes, thyroid problems, asthma, and cancer. Scientifically, there is no evidence that supports that Native American healers or herbalists can cure cancer or any diseases and there have been no scientific studies that have supported those claims. On the other hand, individual reports suggest that it can reduce pain and stress and improve quality of life and Native and non-Native Americans alikesuggest that these methods really do work for a range of physical and emotional ailments, including heart disease, diabetes, thyroid conditions, cancer, skin rashes, asthma, alcoholism, and depression. Native Americans use a wide variety of treatments such as herbal remedies, purifying rituals, shamanism, and symbolic healing rituals to treat illnesses of both the body and spirit. Native Americans rely heavily on herbal remedies which are used to treat physical conditions, whereas purifying rituals are used to cleanse and prepare the body for healing. Shamanism refers to the belief and practice of communication with the spiritual world. Shamans are intermediaries between the human and spiritual world and treat sickness and diseases by healing the spirit. Symbolic healing rituals use ceremonies involves the community and sometimes included chanting, singing, painting bodies, dancing, exorcisms, sand paintings, and limited use of mind-altering substances can be incorporated into the ritual to persuade the spirits to heal the sick person. These rituals can last hours or even weeks and are a way of asking for help from the spiritual dimension and the healing treatments are usually a slow process, spread over days or weeks. The person who is ill is with the healer most of the time to make sure that the healer can connect with the spirit of the one who is ill. Prayer is also an essential part of all Native American healing technique. Most Native Americans see their healers for spiritual reasons, such as to seek guidance, truth, balance, reassurance, and spiritual well-being and call conventional medicine a cure to the â€Å"white man’s illness. † They prefer to use spiritual healers and native remedies in place of conventional medicine. Conclusion Finally, Native American health beliefs and practices as patients and as medical professionals can have an adverse effect. Healers and family members perform or participate in ceremonies to rid patients of bad spirits, or offer song and prayer in blessing a room where someone has died, but modern medicine, also known as the cure to the â€Å"white man’s illness† still has to intervene. This intervention is frequently a must as herbs and potions used by herbalists, medicine men and women may have not been thoroughly tested to find out how they interact with medicines, foods, or dietary supplements. When a Native American physician goes to see a patient, due to strong cultural doctrines and beliefs, eye contact is avoided and speaks in third person when delivering a difficult diagnosis. If the patient does not inquire about the chances of survival, nothing is said about it. Strongly held Navajo cultural tenets do not allow directly linking a person to an illness and its consequences. To do so could be interpreted as wishing harm. Cultural deference only goes so far; ultimately, the patient has the right to know everything and all options for treatment in order to make an informed decision. Nowadays, Native American patients may seek medicine men for encouragement and to restore their spirituality, yet they also must put faith in modern doctors. Bridging the cultural chasm between physicians and traditional healers is seen as essential for improving care to the Native American population. Although Native American healing has not been shown to cure disease, anecdotal reports suggest that it can reduce pain and stress, and improve quality of life. Also, due to the limitations in the studies that were conducted, it is impossible to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of Native American healing, consequently requiring more clinical studies to confirm the benefits of the specific healing methods. Regardless, the communal support provided by this type of healing could have beneficial effects. Prayers, introspection, herbal remedies native ceremonies, rituals and meditation can be calming, reduces stress and can create a lifetime of comfort, benefit and peace of mind for those who live and believe in it.

Calorimeters Essay Example for Free

Calorimeters Essay The Calorimeters Calorimeters are a device that can measure the heat that comes from burning an item. Simple Calorimeter A simple calorimeter is used to detect the enthalpy change when a fuel is burned. The fuel is burnt to heat a specific mass of water and then measure its rise in temperature. The word calorimeter comes from the Latin phrase calor which means heat. A simple calorimeter just consists of a thermometer attached to a metal container full of water suspended above a combustion chamber. Below is a diagram of a simple calorimeter. The temperature of the water allows for calculating calorie content of the fuel. Pressurized with pure oxygen and containing a known mass of a sample and a small amount of water, it is submerged under a known volume of water before the charge is electrically ignited. The bomb, with the sample and oxygen, form a closed system, no air escapes during the reaction. The energy released by the combustion raises the temperature of the steel bomb, its contents, and the surrounding water jacket. The temperature change in the water is then accurately measured. This temperature rise, along with a bomb factor (which is dependent on the heat capacity of the metal bomb parts) is used to calculate the energy given out by the sample burn. A small correction is made to account for the electrical energy input, the burning fuse, and acid production (by titration of the residual liquid). After the temperature rise has been measured, the excess pressure in the bomb is released. Basically, a bomb calorimeter consists of a small cup to contain the sample, oxygen, a stainless steel bomb, water, a stirrer, a thermometer and ignition circuit connected to the bomb. Below is a diagram of a bomb calorimeter.

Oral And Written Feedback To Improve Writing English Language Essay

Oral And Written Feedback To Improve Writing English Language Essay This study is an investigation of the perceptions about effectiveness of oral and written feedback on writing of thirty-seven Cambodian English-major students at the National University of Management (NUM). Two instruments were used to collect data from the oral feedback group (N=19) and the written feedback group (N=18) before and after the two-month treatment: questionnaires and student paragraphs. Results indicate that the two groups equally delivered better performance on holistic writing although oral feedback was viewed as preferable to written feedback. While the former positively impacted on both the micro-aspects (i.e. grammar, vocabulary, and mechanics and spelling) and the macro-aspects (i.e. content and organization), the latter encouraged revision only in language and organization. The study suggests that student writing improve, regardless of feedback method; that preference may not associate with revision; that reading be integrated into L2 writing classes; and that re vision may correlate with feedback intake which depends on learner-focus and teacher-student interaction. Introduction Since the late 1950s, attitudes towards the role of corrective feedback have changed along with the evolution of language teaching methodologies grounded on theories of both educational psychology and second language acquisition with the aim of enabling learners to acquire the target language effectively. In the late 1950s and 1960s, the Audiolingual Method (ALM), based on behaviorism and structuralism, was very popular in second and foreign language classrooms. Error correction was seen as helping learners to form good habits by giving correct responses instead of making structural mistakes. In the 1970s and 1980s, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), developed from nativism, was commonly practised to equip learners with communicative competence in terms of function over form or comprehensibility over grammaticality. It infers that formal correction should be discontinued since it was deemed as interfering rather than facilitating the acquisition of the target language. In the ear ly 1990s, the Interaction Approach (IAA) emerged, and it entailed such three dimensional phases as learning through input, production of language, and corrective feedback that comes as a result of interaction that arises authentically. Since the mid-1990s, the position of feedback, with the dominance of CLT, has been debated among the theorists, researchers, and practitioners in the fields of second language writing and second language acquisition. In 1996, Truscott, for example, claimed that feedback on student writing should be discarded because it is ineffective and harmful. Ferris (1997), on the other hand, argued that feedback is virtuous as it enables L2 students to revise their own writing and assists them to acquire correct English. Because research evidence was scarce in support of feedback, both Ferris and Truscott called for further research into questions about the impact and provision of feedback on L2 student writing (Bitchener Knoch, 2009). Accordingly, a great body of research has been conducted with a look into teacher written feedback: correction strategies (e.g., Bitchener, Young, Cameron, 2005; Ferris, 1997; Ferris Roberts, 2001; Lee, 1997; Sugita, 2006), feedback forms (e.g., Hyland Hyland, 2001; Silver Lee, 2007; Treglia, 2008), feedback foci (e.g., Ashwell, 2000; Ellis, Sheen, Murakami, Takashima, 2008; Sheen, Wright, Moldawa, 2009), students attitudes toward feedback (e.g., Alamis, 2010; Lee, 2004, 2008a; Saito, 1994; Treglia, 2008; Weaver, 2006), and teachers beliefs about feedback (e.g., Lee, 2004, 2008b). These studies suggested that feedback plays a pivotal role in helping L2 students improve the accuracy and quality of their writing. This finding is in line with the Vygotskyan model o f Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) which claims that learners need to be provided with scaffolding to be capable of reaching a stage of autonomy and accuracy (Patthey-Chavez Ferris, 1997). However, many of the studies have design flaws in terms of the small sample size or of not having a control group. Other studies explored the effectiveness of other feedback techniques: oral feedback or teacher-student conferencing (e.g., Hedgcock Lefkowitz, 1992; Hyland, 2003; Marefat, 2005; Sheen, 2010a, 2010b), peer feedback (e.g., Kamimura, 2006; Rollinson, 2005; Tsui Ng, 2000), reformulation (e.g., Hyland, 2003; Santos, Lopez-Serrano, and Manchon, 2010), audio-recorded feedback (e.g., Huang, 2000; Jordon, 2004), and computer-mediated commentary (e.g., Ferris, 2003; Hyland, 2003; Hyland Hyland, 2006). However, most of the studies failed to examine which feedback mode was more effective in improving student writing. Even though some of them were comparative in nature, the studies were conducted solely with a group of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) learners. As a result, conclusion is hard to be drawn with regard to the effectiveness of each feedback strategy when it is applied in another classroom setting where English is in the Kachrus (1985) expanding circle or where English is taught as a foreign language. As Ferris (2003) put it, What is preferable cannot be equated with what is effective, and what is effective for one student in one setting might be less so in another context (p. 107). In light of the aforesaid insightful and encouraging premise, this current quasi-experimental research attempts to compare teacher oral and written feedback in terms of perceptions and efficacy among Cambodian English-major students at the National University of Management (NUM henceforth). Definition of Terms: Oral Feedback and Written Feedback According to Rinvolucri (1994), the term [feedback] originates in biology and refers to the message that comes back to an organism that has acted on its environment. In biology it describes a neutral process, a link in the chain of action and reaction. (p. 287) In second language writing, feedback can be defined as input from a reader to a writer with the effect of providing information to the writer for revision (Keh, 1990, p. 294). Simply put, the teacher suggests changes that will make the text easier for the audience to read, or that help the writer to be more aware of and sensitive to his/her reader. When the writer of any piece of writing gets the perspective of the reader, then that writer is able to see more clearly where any points of confusion exist. As Keh (1990) elaborates, The writer learns where he or she has misled or confused the reader by not supplying enough information, illogical organization, lack of development of ideas, or something like inappropriate word-choice or tense (p. 295). In this study, feedback can be operationalized in terms of oral and written feedback (Berg, Admiraal, Pilot, 2006; Hedgcock Lefkowitz, 1992; Hyland, 2003; Hyland Hyland, 2006; Patthey-Chavez Ferris, 1997; Sheen, 2010a, 2010b). Oral feedb ack (OF) refers to the provision of feedback on errors and weaknesses in content, organization, and language (i.e. grammar, vocabulary, mechanics and spelling) through face-to-face conferencing lasting about five minutes for each student-writer. In so doing, the teacher gives comments (in the forms of questions, imperatives, praises, and suggestions), provides correct forms or structures in faulty sentences, tells the location of errors, makes recasts, and gives prompts in the forms of elicitation, clarification requests, and repetition of errors. Written feedback (WF), on the other hand, refers to the correction of errors and weaknesses in content, organization, and language through writing on student paragraphs. In this regard, the teacher makes use of direct versus indirect correction, coded versus uncoded feedback, and marginal versus end comments, in the forms of corrections, questions, imperatives, praises, and suggestions. Literature Review Written feedback A number of studies have been done to examine what to be commented on for substantive revision. For example, Ellis (1994), reviewing several studies on what effect formal corrections have on language acquisition, concluded that the learners whose errors are corrected improve the accuracy of producing existential structures (i.e. There is/are). However, the Ellis-reviewed studies entail only focused feedback, meaning that only one linguistic feature is targeted. Kepner (1991), in a comparative study of feedback on content and grammar, found that students who receive content feedback produce writing that has better content than those who receive grammar feedback. He also found that students who receive formal feedback do not produce fewer errors than the uncorrected group. In another study, Leki (1991) asked 100 ESL freshmen to complete questionnaires to examine how effective feedback was and how they reacted to the positive and negative comments on both form and content. He found that correcting errors in both form and content is beneficial since good writing is viewed as equated with error-free writing. Moving a step away from what to be commented on, several studies have been carried out to investigate how errors should be corrected to improve student writing. According to Ellis (1994), formal feedback is helpful to L2 acquisition only if problems are corrected implicitly or only if the errors are induced and then corrected. In a similar vein, Weaver (2006) explored how 44 students in the Faculty of Business, Art and Design perceived written feedback and if the feedback that they received showed a student-centered approach to learning. In light of interviews, questionnaires, and feedback content, he found that teacher comments are useful only if they are specific and clear, give sufficient guidance, focus on positive points, and are related to assessment criteria. Ferris (1997), examining over 1,600 marginal and end comments written on 110 first drafts by 47 university ESL students, found that marginal comments are more immediate and easier for students to locate errors and revise, whereas end comments can be more useful for writing development since they summarize major problems. Marginal comments are also deemed to be more motivating since the reader is actively engaged with the writers text (Goldstein, 2004, as cited in Hyland Hyland, 2006). In a related vein, much research has focused on whether comment types influence revisions and which of them are more, if not the most, effective. In so doing, Sugita (2006) analyzed 115 revised papers by 75 EFL students at a private university in Japan. He found that imperatives are more effective than statements and questions. In contrast, Conrad and Goldstein (1990, as cited in Hyland Hyland, 2006) found that imperatives, declaratives, or questions were less effective than the type of problem in the feedback. They further explained that problems related with facts and details were successfully revised by 50%, while those dealing with argumentation and analysis were successfully revised only by 10%. Treglia (2008) interviewed two teachers and fourteen students in a community college in the United States to examine how the students reacted to the feedback given by the teachers in the forms of mitigation and unmitigation. This study showed that the students saw both mitigated and dir ective comments easy to revise, but they liked the feedback in the forms of acknowledgements, suggestions, and choices. Alamis (2010) investigated the reactions and responses of 141 students at the Faculty of Arts and Letters of the University of Santo Tomas towards teacher written feedback. In light of questionnaires and student essays, Alamis found that praises are superior to criticisms and that content feedback should entail suggestions rather than questions, direct corrections, and indirect corrections. However, this study is a result of opinion-based responses, so it may be hard to conclude that its findings were valid. Many other researchers have moved farther to find out the extent to which teacher written feedback should be made explicit and sufficient in order to encourage comprehension and revision. In so doing, Enginarlar (1993) used 20-item questionnaires to examine the attitudes of 47 freshmen at Middle East Technical University to coded feedback and brief comment in English Composition I class. This study revealed that the participants like the two feedback types, seeing review work as a type of co-operative learning in which the amount of work and responsibility is shared by students and teachers. Ferris and Roberts (2001) also explored how explicit error feedback should be to help students to self-revise their papers. By analyzing papers written by 72 university ESL students, they found that the treatment groups outdo the control group in relation to self-revision, but the coded feedback group is not statistically different from the uncoded feedback group. Ferris and Roberts also conclude d that less explicit feedback seems to facilitate self-revision just as well as corrections coded by error type. Ferris (2003), in her review of three key studies, suggested that comprehensive feedback (i.e. all errors marked) is preferable to selective one (i.e. only some errors marked) and that indirect correction (i.e. coded and uncoded errors) is more effective than direct one (i.e. teachers making the corrections for students). Lee (2004) analyzed teacher error correction tasks and used questionnaires to and follow-up interviews with teachers and students to examine their perspectives on error correction practices in the Hong Kong secondary writing classroom. Like Ferriss (2003) reviewed studies, this research showed that comprehensive error feedback encourages substantive revision and that students depend on teachers to correct their errors. Oral feedback The effectiveness of oral feedback for improving student writing has still got very few answers (Hyland Hyland, 2006). As such, several studies have been done to examine teacher-student dialogue, and they found that successful conferencing rests on the interactive nature. For example, Hyland (2003) claimed that conferencing is fruitful when students are actively involved, asking questions, clarifying meaning, and arguing instead of accepting advice. Johnson (1993, as cited in Gulley, 2010) did a qualitative study and concluded that the question, a tool often used by teachers and tutors during a writing conference, can be ineffective in eliciting a meaningful response from students (p. 13). By contrast, Carnicelli (1980, as cited in Gulley, 2010), in his qualitative study among English-major students at the University of New Hampshire, showed that conferencing is more preferable to in-class teaching. He also noted that conference might fail if the teacher does not listen to the student, if the student feels insecure, or if the student does not remember the teachers comments (p. 13). However, this study has a design flaw in terms of not having a control group, so it is hard to conclude if such a preference is a result of conferencing, instruction, or practice. In his response to Carnicelli, Keh (1990) did his article review and pointed out that conferencing fails when the teachers take an authoritarian role, dominate the conversation, and pay no attention to what their students ask during the dialogue. He also noted that teacher-students conferencing is more effective than teacher-student conferencing since the former allows them to learn ideas and problems from one anot her. Moving a step away from the teacher-student interaction, several studies have been conducted, focusing on students-related variables that may affect the substantive revision of student writing. In so doing, Marefat (2005) examined the perception about the efficacy of oral feedback on the improvement of writing among 17 male and female Iranian students of English as a foreign language. He found that males could write paragraphs better than females, whereas females outperformed males in essay writing. He concluded that the students can produce pieces of writing with better quality, regardless of the feedback technique. Patthey-Chavez and Ferris (1997, as cited in Hyland Hyland, 2006) investigated how four writing teachers did conferencing with poorer and better students. They found that however useful teacher suggestions were for revision, the poorer students seemed to use advice more often than their counterparts. Better students were more self-confident, and they often used teacher suggestions as a base to revise their own writing. The co-researchers suggest that in the case of less capable students, conferences may be harmful if they entail appropriation rather than intervention. In another study, Goldstein and Conrad (1990, as cited in Hyland Hyland, 2006) noted that the L2 learners having cultural or social inhibitions about engaging informally with teachers are most likely to passively and unreflectively use teacher advice to revise their writing. The co-researchers found that only students negotiating meaning well in conferences were able to perform revision more successfully. This finding was similar to that of Williams (2004, as cited in Hyland Hyland, 2006), claiming that students were successful in using advice when teacher-suggestions were direct, when students actively engaged in negotiating meaning, and when they took notes of teacher comments, during the dialogues. Williams also added that negotiation is a precondition for revising higher-level texts, although her research suggested that conferencing has greater impact on correcting local errors (as cited in Hyland Hyland, 2006). However, the findings of all the four studies are based on the sm all sample size, so it is unclear if conferencing strategies and other contextual factors play a part in improving student writing. In line with the studies grounded on L2 writing theory, a number of studies have been done based on the theories of second language acquisition to investigate the impacts of indirect and direct corrective feedback, focusing on single linguistic structures. For example, Ellis, Loewen, and Erlam (2006, as cited in Sheen, 2010b) did an experimental study to examine whether implicit or explicit feedback is more helpful for adult ESL learners to acquire regular past tense. They put the students into three groups: the group with implicit recasts, the group with explicit metalinguistic feedback, and the group without any corrective feedback. The findings showed that both implicit and explicit feedback does not have any impact on the immediate posttests, but the latter is more effective than the former on the delayed posttests. In another study, Sheen (2007, as cited in Sheen, 2010b) found that explicit corrective feedback is superior to implicit corrective feedback in terms of formal acquis ition in both the immediate and delay posttests when the former is provided in the form of metalanguage and the latter in the form of recasts. Several other studies have also been done to compare input-providing feedback in the form of recasts with output-prompting feedback in the forms of elicitation, clarification requests, repetition of error, and metalinguistic clues. Lyster (2004, as cited in Sheen, 2010b) did a study with a group of fifth-grade French learners to examine whether recasts or output-prompting feedback methods encourage more accuracy of using articles agreeing with the gender of nouns. The study revealed that the output-prompting group alone outdid the control group on all eight measures of acquisition. Ammar and Spada (2006, as cited in Sheen, 2010b) investigated if recasts are more effective than prompts on the acquisition of possessive pronouns among six-grade learners in intensive ESL classes. They found that prompts were more helpful only for students with pretest scores below 50 percent, whereas recasts and prompts together were less effective for those whose scores were below 50 percent. However, t hese studies entail only focused corrective feedback, meaning that only one linguistic feature was targeted. Therefore, the results are hard to be generalized since the effects of recasts and prompts might be different if multiple-linguistic features are corrected. Research Questions As can be seen, no research had been conducted before to explore the comparative effectiveness of oral and written feedback in improving student writing in the context where English is in the Kachrus (1985) expanding circle. Accordingly, the present study sets out to look for answers to the following two research questions: How do Cambodian English-major students at NUM perceive oral and written feedback? Which feedback strategy, oral or written, is more effective in improving student writing as measured by writing performance? Methodology Participants Thirty-seven students participated in the present study, 19 of whom were males and 18 were females, with an average age of 22.59 (SD=.62) years. They were English-major students at NUM, and they had been learning English since Grade 7 of Cambodian Secondary Education (G7CSE) under the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports (MoEYS). The subjects were selected from each English class of the university based on the pre-treatment scores of 150-word paragraph writing. Based on this criterion, 19 of them were put into the oral feedback (OF) group, and 18 were filtered into the written feedback (WF) group. A control group was excluded from this study for two main reasons. First, it is believed that feedback is an essential element, so to get student to write without feedback would be unfair to them. Second, it is claimed that one of the things that students expect from teachers is feedback, so to deny them feedback would be unethical. Instruments Two instruments employed in this study were questionnaires and student paragraphs, both of which were used for data triangulation. The questionnaire, so-called Affective and Effective Response Feedback (AERF), consists of three sections with a total of 22 items: Section A (A1-4 for Demographic Data), Section B (B1-9 for Effective Responses), and Section C (C1-8 for Affective Responses). A five-point Likert scale (1=Strongly Disagree, 5=Strongly Agree) was utilized for the 17 items in the latter two sections (B1-9 and C1-8), and several items thereof (i.e. B1, B3, B5, B8, C2, C5, and C8) were reverse-ordered to reduce response set bias. A statistical validity analysis showed that EARF was reasonably reliable with the Cronbachs Alpha value of .853. The student paragraphs were collected before and after the two-month treatment, and they were inter-rated by three well-trained teachers each with more than four-year experience of teaching writing skills to English-major university students. The scoring was performed based on the researcher-formulated criteria divided into content, organization, grammar, vocabulary, mechanics and spelling, each of which earns equal marks (1=Very Poor, 5=Excellent), with the total score of 25. The reliability of the inter-rated scores employed by the present study was .789 for the pre-treatment scores and .806 for the post-treatment scores, using Cronbachs Alpha coefficient of internal consistency. Procedures Before this study, letters were sent to the Chair of Foreign Languages Center (FLC) of NUM, where it was conducted, and finally to the Rector of the university as well. Once approval letters were received, the researcher went on to select classes for both groups (OF and WF) and sent out informed consent forms. There were informative meetings with both groups of participants to let them know about the study and to receive signed informed consent forms. It was also made clear to the subjects that this study would not affect their course grades. They responded to the questionnaires anonymously, and those who mastered more than 80 percent of the total scores in paragraph writing would be awarded with Certificate of Recognition in order to motivate them to write and incorporate the feedback they had received from one week to another into their revision process. Data collection was conducted in the following steps. First of all, the students were asked to write a 150-word paragraph about the person whom I admire in my life. The paragraphs were then collected and inter-rated by three well-trained lecturers who had been teaching writing skills for more than four years. Based on the results, the participants were divided into two groups of similar size (OF=19, WF=18) and overall equivalent writing competence. An independent-samples t-test revealed that the overall mean score of the oral feedback group constituted 16.47 (SD=3.042) and that of the written feedback group was 16.46 (SD=3.045). Then, the treatment was conducted for two months with single-draft feedback provided on each of the three paragraph types taught during this experimental period: narrative, process, and compare-contrast. The topics included my happy story, how to make a nice cup of coffee, and rural life and city life. The feedback on each topic was comprehensive and targeted all aspects of writing: content, organization, grammar, vocabulary, mechanics and spelling. In this regard, various feedback strategies of each commentary mode were employed to ensure that both groups would receive similar treatment condition and that they would provide more authentic responses to the research questions. It is worth noting that the treatment (i.e. the delivery of feedback) was undertaken with specific reference to the operationalized terms at the very beginning of this study (Please refer to pages 3-4.). Soon after the two-month study, the participants were again asked to write a 150-word paragraph about one of the three topics (i.e. my bedroom, my house, or my favorite place), complete the questionnaires consisting of both close- and open-ended items. Finally, the data obtained from the questionnaires and student paragraphs were coded and input into SPSS 19.0 with the utilization of one-sample t-test, independent-samples t-test, and paired-samples t-test for data analysis, using the test value of 3.5 and the significant level of .05. Findings and Discussion Research question 1: How do Cambodian English-major students at NUM perceive oral and written feedback? A one-sample t-test was employed to provide descriptive statistics by comparing the mean scores and standard deviations of the oral feedback group and the written feedback group with the test value of 3.5 rather than with those of the written feedback group and the oral feedback group, respectively (i.e. oral feedback group vs. written feedback group, and vice versa). Table 1 shows that the students had highly positive attitudes towards oral feedback in the forms of detailed correction (M=4.42, SD=.838, p=.000), comprehensive suggestion (M=4.26, SD=.806, p=.001), and sincere praise (M=4.00, SD=.816, p=.016), which thus enabled them to write with increased confidence (M=4.26, SD=.452, p=.000). This preference was due to the fact that oral feedback was perceived as the cornerstone of building closer bonds (M=4.16, SD=.765, p=.001) between the student and the teacher who always paid special attention during each dialogue (M=4.58, SD=.507, p=.000). However, no statistical differences wer e significant in motivation (C5. It encouraged me to work harder on my revision) and sufficiency (C8. It was helpful enough for my revision), the p-values of which constituted .137 and .497, respectively. Table 1 Descriptive statistics for affective responses of OF group M SD t df p C1. It made me feel I had a more personal and human relationship with my teacher. 4.16 .765 3.750 18 .001 C2. I did not feel more confident about my writing. (Reverse-ordered) 4.26 .452 7.353 18 .000 C3. It gave more details about the errors in my writing. 4.42 .838 4.793 18 .000 C4. It gave more details about how I can improve my writing. 4.26 .806 4.129 18 .001 C5. It discouraged me from working harder on my revision. (Reverse-ordered) 3.84 .958 1.556 18 .137* C6. Praise was helpful for my revision. 4.00 .816 2.669 18 .016 C7. I got special attention from my teacher. 4.58 .507 9.271 18 .000 C8. It was not helpful enough for my revision. (Reverse-ordered) 3.68 1.157 .694 18 .497* * p > .05 (not significant) As can be seen in Table 2, students preferred written feedback in the forms of comprehensive correction (M=4.39, SD=.698, p=.000), detailed suggestion (M=4.39, SD=.608, p=.000), and sincere praise (M=4.22, SD=.647, p=.000), to make them feel more confident about their writing (M=4.00, SD=.594, p=.002). A one-sample t-test also indicates that statistical differences were significant in attention (C7) [M=4.22, SD=.808, p=.001], but not in relationship (C1, p=.655), encouragement (C5, p=.055), and sufficiency (C8, p=.080). Taken Tables 1 and 2 together, oral feedback, unlike written feedback, builds closer bonds between the teacher and the student because the former tends to be more interpersonal in terms of reciprocal attention during the dialogue. While written feedback, if it includes encouragement and personal, text-specific comments, can also strengthen teacher-student relationships, it is not the same experience as sitting down face-to-face for negotiation and questions. Table 2 Descriptive statistics for affective responses of WF group M SD t df p C1. It made me feel I had a more personal and human relationship with my teacher. 3.61 1.037 .455 17 .655* C2. I did not feel more confident about my writing. (Reverse-ordered) 4.00 .594 3.571 17 .002 C3. It gave more details about the errors in my writing. 4.39 .698 5.404 17 .000 C4. It gave more details about how I can improve my writing. 4.39 .608 6.206 17 .000 C5. It discouraged me from working harder on my revision. (Reverse-ordered) 4.00 1.029 2.062 17 .055* C6. Praise was helpful for my revision. 4.22 .647 4.738 17 .000 C7. I got special attention from my teacher. 4.22 .808 3.790 17 .001 C8. It was not helpful enough for my revision. (Reverse-ordered) 3.00 1.138 -1.87 17 .080* * p > .05 (not significant) Table 3 presents the descriptive statistics of the perceptions about the impact of oral feedback on improving student writing. A one-sample t-test was performed with the test value of 3.5 and the p-value of .05. The results show that oral feedback was viewed as effective in encouraging substantive revision of organization (B4) [M=4.32, SD=.671, p=.000], clarity (B1) [M=4.05, SD=.780, p=.006], content (B5) [M=4.00, SD=.577, p=.001], and grammar (B2) [M=3.95, SD=.705, p=.013]. Significantly, oral feedback was also seen as enabling students to use specific linguistic features in conformity to different genres or text-types (M=3.95, SD=.705, p=.013). Such an improvement was strongly confirmed by the

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The intention of this essay is to explore the area surrounding how cognitive psychology has affected or disaffected policing practices and the positive or negative outcomes of it. To do this, a deeper understanding of the terms cognitive and psychology, along with their interactive relationship had to be expounded. The scope of cognitive psychology is vast in relation to the public and police, particularly due to the fact that it is an individual process with many external mitigating factors. Therefore I have attempted to narrow the field and concentrate on a couple of specific examples of the use of cognitive psychology, while attempting to explain the theories behind the processes. What is psychology? In basic terms it is simply the study of the mind, but that very general description has a much wider application as the psychology of today differs from that of two centuries ago. Psychology as a discipline dates back to the nineteenth century when a philosopher named William Wundt opened the first psychology laboratory at a German university. What Wundt and his co-workers attempted to do was to investigate the mind through introspection, which was observing and analysing the structure of the subjects conscious mental processes, (Thoughts, images and feelings), under controlled conditions. Today's psychology has dramatically changed and is now focused on how ones behaviour changes as a result of experience. Cognitive means to learn, to observe, to experience. When applied to psychology it is further broken down into how that particular learning observations and experience directs a person's development. Factors such as physical, emotional, educational and behavioural cognitive (copycat learning) are influenced by parents... ...orary Psychology (Dec 2001) APA review of Books Volume 46, No 6 Gleitman (1992) Basic Psychology (third edition): WW Norton & Co Harrison, P. (1983) Inside the Inner City; Penguin Books Hollin. C, Koppen. P, Penrod. S (2003) Psychology, Crime and Law (journal); Volume 9, No 2: Brunner Routledge King. R, Winchup. E, (2000) Doing Research on Crime and Justice: Oxford University Press McLaughlin and Muncie (2001) The Sage Dictionary of Criminology: Sage Publications Maguire. M, Morgan. R, Reiner. R (1994) Oxford Handbook of Criminology: Oxford Press Roger, Hopkins, Burke (1998) Zero Tolerance Policing: Perpetuity Press Rose, D (1992) A Climate of Fear: Bloomsbury Press S.E.G. Lea (1984) Instinct, Environment and Behaviour: New essential Psychology Talor, Peplau, Sears (1994) Social Psychology (eighth edition): Prentice-Hall

The Maori Culture Essay -- Zealand Religion Spiritual Essays Papers Na

The Maori Culture Introduction The following paper examines the history and religion of the ancient Maori people. It is my belief that exploration of traditional belief systems and ritualistic practices will lead to a greater understanding of the Maori culture in present-day New Zealand. The objective of the paper is to illustrate the Maoris’ unique perception and spiritual connection with their natural environment. Brief Maori History The Maori, â€Å"Children of Heaven†, are the indigenous people of New Zealand. It has been thought that Polynesian navigator Kupe, discovered New Zealand in 950 AD, and named the island Aotearoa, â€Å"Land of the long white cloud†.1 The Maori migrated to New Zealand from the tropical islands of Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean. The long voyage was made possible by the Maoris’ ability to use the stars, birds’ flights, cloud patterns, and the water’s color to guide their canoes to shore.1 Upon arrival, the Maori settled into various tribes (Iwi) and sub-tribes (Hapu) across the island.3 In order to adapt to the cool, damp climate and rough terrain of New Zealand, the Maori created durable shelter and clothing. They resourcefully utilized the wood and flax fibers from the abundant forests to build homes and weave clothing.4 The Maori tribes were able to evolve and flourish as a result of hunting and agriculture. The relative isolation of the island enabled the Maori to develop a rich, unique culture.5 Thus, the Maori culture was able to resist crumbling under European colonization in 1769. Regardless of the Europeans’ incessant fight for land ownership, the Maori persisted in viewing that the land as â€Å"Mother Earth’s placenta† and not belonging to anyone.3 It is remarkable that the Maori withstood... ... belong to humans; rather the humans belong to the land.3 The perspective that humans play a small role in the universe’s movement is a humbling thought. The Maori live their lives as human beings, while allowing nature to live its life. As seen above with the seasonal rituals, the Maori have a deep understanding, reliance, and respect for nature. It is their brothers’ that bring the seasonal weather changes and the life cycles that result. Thus, the Maori view the variable climate of New Zealand in a deep, meaningful light. Bibliography http://www.geocites.com/TheTropics/Shores/9338/culture.htm 1 http://www.crystalinks.com/maori.html http://travel-by-mouse.com/page.asp?PageID=151&LangID=2 5 http://www.pacificislandtravel.com/new_zealand/about_destin/maoritanga.html 6 http://www.ace.net.au/darkmoon/kiwipag.htm 7 http://www.hakoke.com/wheel.html

Balcony and monument scenes Essay

Write about the effectiveness of Shakespeare’s imagery in The Banquet, Balcony and Monument Scenes of â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† â€Å"That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet. † Shakespeare uses imagery and metaphors throughout â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† to great effect. By using language, instead of props or backdrops to produce a vivid picture, he is engaging the audience more and making them think for themselves. This dramatic technique is used to the best effect in the Banquet, Balcony and Monument scenes, when portraying Romeo and Juliet’s love. The Banquet scene is the first time Romeo sees Juliet, so the language used has to make a big impact so as to convey to the Elizabethan audience that this is true love, in contrast with Romeo’s infatuation with Rosaline. â€Å"O she doth teach the torches to burn bright†. Shakespeare uses alliteration on â€Å"teach the torches† and â€Å"burn bright† to make Romeo’s words sound more beautiful and poetic, ideally like a sonnet. The words are coincidently very much like one of Shakespeare’s sonnets, Sonnet 21, where he contrasts light with dark. Shakespeare uses this same comparison throughout the play to convey emotions, foreshadow tragedy and express the stages of the young love to the audience. In a way, Romeo and Juliet’s devotion is like light against the dark background of feuding families. By claiming that Juliet is brighter than any other torch, Romeo is directly comparing her to other girls, in particular Rosaline. When Romeo speaks of Rosaline, he uses the language of Elizabethan courtly love. All his feelings are quite contained in comparison to the poetic imagery he uses upon seeing Juliet for the first time. He says about Rosaline â€Å"She’s fair I love†, which in Shakespeare’s time was the sort of language one would use when describing their love. However, Romeo describes Juliet’s beauty as â€Å"too rich for use† and later claims that he â€Å"ne’er saw true beauty till this night†. The audience knows straight away that this is true love. But the audience is also aware of the fact that this love is doomed, and there is some irony in a number of Romeo’s lines. â€Å"Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear†. This suggests that Juliet is out of Romeo’s reach, which, being a Capulet, she is. He is also comparing her to an angel or heavenly creature, which he does throughout the play. This is Shakespeare’s way of showing that although these are young lovers, they are very spiritual too. The idea that she belongs to heaven because she is too good for earth builds up a feeling of unease and sadness in the audience, as they know she is going to die and therefore will not belong to the Earth anymore. This spiritual imagery is used when the lovers exchange their first words. Romeo tries to entice Juliet by referring to her as his â€Å"holy shrine† and to his lips as â€Å"two blushing pilgrims†. This shows Romeo to be a more sensitive and poetic character, which makes the audience, and Juliet, fall in love with him. By referring to her as his â€Å"holy shrine† he is showing the audience that he idolises her, and sees himself as lowly compared to her beauty. This speech between them is laid out in sonnet form. Sonnets are generally about love, which emphasises to the audience that Romeo and Juliet are in love. It also contributes to Romeo’s poetic image. Upon walking home later that evening, Romeo decides he has to see Juliet again. He finds his way into her garden and stands by the balcony. Romeo sees Juliet at her window. He exaggerates the pale flicker of the candlelight to describe it as the East. â€Å"But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun. † Shakespeare is using Romeo’s dialogue to â€Å"light† the stage. He puts a clear image into the audience’s minds. Again Romeo is comparing Juliet to light; this time the sun, the brightest light of all. This is his poetic way of declaring that she is the brightest and most beautiful of girls. It also signifies how very important she is to him, as the sun is imperative to everyday life. The light from Juliet’s window is said to â€Å"break† through. This could imply a breakthrough in Romeo’s love life; he has found his soul mate. In the Balcony scene Shakespeare uses language about the moon to help create a scene in the audience member’s mind. This means they are more involved in the play, and can imagine themselves there in the moonlight. â€Å"Arise fair sun and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief That thou her maid art far more fair than she. † It is interesting that Romeo compares Juliet’s beauty to the moon here, as he has just described her as his sun. In mythology, Diana, the Goddess of the moon, is served by virgin maids. Being a virgin, Juliet is depicted as one of these maids, but Romeo believes that Diana is jealous of Juliet’s beauty. He asks her to stop serving the moon, and therefore stop being a virgin and become his lover instead. This shows Romeo is passionate in a sexual way about Juliet, which would be quite exciting to an Elizabethan audience member, as sex was not as commonly talked about as it is now. The fact that the moon is â€Å"sick and pale with grief† could be foreshadowing future grief for the couple. By asking the sun to arise, Romeo is wishing the day to come, therefore reminding the audience that it is night. When Romeo decides to reveal himself to Juliet she, feeling embarrassed and shocked, asks him who he is. Of course he has recently discovered she is the daughter of his family’s enemy, and feels his name is hurtful to her. â€Å"By a name I know not how to tell thee who I am. My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,Because it is an enemy to thee. † Romeo and Juliet strongly believe in their names being a now unwanted allegiance to their family. Despite the fact that their names are just words, both of the star crossed lovers feel they are chains, locking them to their families, and keeping them away from each other. Again he refers to Juliet as a â€Å"saint†. This would seem high praise to an audience of very religious Elizabethans. In Shakespearean times, exploring was very popular and a lot of new lands were being found. Because travel was not as easy then as it is now, and the knowledge of the world was not as advanced, exploring new lands was very exciting and appealing to the Elizabethans, which was why it was a popular subject matter and why Shakespeare used it throughout the play. â€Å"I am no pilot, yet wert thou as far, As that vast shore washed with the farthest sea, I should adventure for such merchandise. † The word â€Å"adventure† is used here because in the Elizabethan times, international traders were known as Merchant adventurers. It also suggests that Romeo finds his and Juliet’s love very exciting, as adventure is usually associated with new and exciting things. Shakespeare’s use of imagery to convey Romeo’s love as a new found land helps to set a picture in the audience’s minds of a far off tropical shore. In Shakespeare’s time there would not have been a lot of back drops and flats setting the stage, so it would be up to the audience to imagine their own scenery, and up to the playwright to use the correct language to stimulate these thoughts. Romeo describes himself being hidden from the eyes of Juliet’s guards and family. â€Å"I have night’s cloak to hide me from their eyes. † Again Shakespeare is using light and dark to set a scene for the audience. His actors would not have had the electrical lighting actors have now, so he would have to create moods and light by using words. Romeo is telling the audience it is dark, so it is easier to imagine. This contrast is used a lot in the monument scene too. When Romeo hears that Juliet is dead he goes to the tomb where she is said to be. After killing Paris he looks at Juliet for the last time. He describes the days they spent together as â€Å"A lightning before death†, because it was believed in those days that before somebody died, they would seem very well and happy temporarily. This is the contrast between light and dark again, which adds mood to the scene; the audience knows Romeo is deeply saddened by the sudden death of Juliet and, because of this, so are they. The word â€Å"lightning† makes you think of lightning as in a quick flash. Their romance was very sudden and over quickly, but very enlightening all the same. Romeo mentions Juliet’s beauty despite her death too, especially concentrating on her lips and cheeks. â€Å"Beauty’s ensign yet Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks† Romeo talks about Juliet’s beauty a lot throughout the play. In the balcony scene he says â€Å"The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars† and then proclaims â€Å"O that I were a cheek upon that hand†. It is interesting how Romeo talks of Juliet’s cheeks so much. Perhaps Shakespeare is trying to link the two scenes together to show that Romeo’s love for Juliet was present from the beginning to the end of their relationship. He still felt the same for her when she was dead as he did when their love was blooming. â€Å"I will raise her statue in pure gold† Montague says this of Juliet in the last scene. Gold was a very expensive and prized material to the Elizabethan audience and so proves that Montague means well. It is a bit ironic that he is comparing her to a statue, because in the first scene Romeo and Juliet meet, the banquet scene, he describes her as a holy shrine. It is a very sad moment as the audience are reminded how happy the lovers used to be. The audience really benefits from Shakespeare’s imagery as it brings the play to life. It makes the words far more beautiful and the character’s easier to relate to. Romeo seems more poetic and easier to fall in love with. Juliet appears to be intelligent and loving. Without the imagery the audience would not feel as involved with the plot, and would therefore not sympathise with the characters. The imagery heightens the emotions of the audience and confirms â€Å"Romeo and Juliet† as one a Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies.

Essay on Family Supper

A Family Supper The Japanese fighter pilots in WWII committed suicide attacks on allied forces aka kamikaze; it was considered an honorable service to the Empire of Japan. Death instead of defeat and shame is the primary tradition in the Japanese samurai culture. They lived with the bushido code: â€Å"Loyalty and Honor before death†. The short story in discussion is â€Å"A Family Supper† written by Kazuo Ishigoru.This story tells us about an evening when the son-the protagonist and the narrator of this story, returns to Japan to meet his family after spending two years in United States, and the unsaid tension between him and his father. This story is about loss; Loss of family, friends, love and hope. The author shows the father as lost, hopeless and desperate. The loss of his wife, firm and children and the hopelessness leads him to consider suicide. The setting of the story symbolises the father’s worries and disappointments.The dusk, dimly lit rooms, the gar den and the ghost story is a major part of the setting that the author wants the reader to imagine in order to predict how the story will unfold. The narrator’s state of mind is never really told directly, but the readers can judge it by the way he behaves with his family. The repetition of death and loss; the mother’s death, the fathers loss of firm, his friend’s mass family suicide, the loss of his son and his daughter which he probably foresees, results in father’s depressed and disappointed state of mind.The author starts the story with death of the mother by fish poisoning, usually if death is mentioned in the beginning, the reader braces himself for a story involving death, and the way the story unfolds there had to be at least a death if not a mass suicide. The setting of the story symbolises the father’s worries and disappointments. The narrator describes his father as a â€Å"formidable-looking man with a large stony jaw and furious black eyebrows† (338) tells the reader about the generation gap between the father and son.The story is set in dark and dimly lit backgrounds; the sun was setting by the time they reach home. The Garden in which Kikuko, the sister and the narrator take a stroll is probably the darkest part of the setting, they discuss their childhood memories of the ghost in the garden; at that time he casually finds out about his sister’s plans to leave Japan to be with her boyfriend, perhaps the father foresees her intensions, it is not conclusive. The dark garden symbolises the anxiety of the sister, the mother’s beliefs in ghosts and her disappointment to the narrator’s actions.She blamed herself as she thought she was not a good parent, though this matter was not elaborated by the siblings as they thought it was useless to bring it up and won’t change anything. The narrator says â€Å"My relationship with my parents had become somewhat strained around the period of time. †(338). Later, when the narrator looks around the house, the large dark empty rooms, or overly cramped room shows how the father has acted all these years by keeping off his emotions and secluding himself from the rest of the family.The awkward long pauses between him and the father, the father’s inquisitiveness about his (sons) future plans, demonstrates the unsaid tension between the father and son. By this setting, the author wants the reader to feel the menacing effect of the story. The narrator’s character can be judged by his thoughts. By his conversations it can be said that he does not feel the love and emotions that one should feel for family.The battleship shows that the father had a lot of time in his hands, but when he says: â€Å"these little gunboats here could have been better glued, don’t you think†(342), he is perhaps comparing the battleship to his broken family , and asking if it could have been better, but the son did not realize this or perhaps he may have understood what his father was asking and answered â€Å"it looks fine†(342), Later in the story he looks at his mother’s photograph but he cannot recognize his mother and asks, â€Å"who is the old women in the white kimono? (343), first he mentions that his mother looks a lot older, later he says, â€Å"it’s dark. I can’t see well† (343). These incidents show that he has truly been an irresponsible son, nobody talks about their dead mother like he just did; he does not care about his family, their love that his parents expect from him and he fails to see the misery of the father.Moreover, the father looks like he is willing to forgive his son, though the story does not give any hint of his compromise on the Japanese values and traditions, it does show that he wants his children to be a part of his life. Death was mentioned repeatedly in the story. Starting with the mother’s death by fugu, the partner Wa tanabe’s suicide was mentioned three times at different scenes in the story. The father acknowledges that he likes Watanabe’s ethics in general; he calls him â€Å"a man of principle and honor† (339).The father says he wishes to be a pilot because â€Å"in an airplane there is always the final weapon†, this shows that the father’s state of mind was no different from that of his partners, the father thought dying in an airplane by kamikaze was a better way to go, this shows that his father is considers death as a means to unite the family. The Japanese traditions do not look down upon suicide. In the Japanese culture people don’t live in shame and dishonor. It’s far honorable die then to live in shame. The dead business partner has been glorified by the father in more than one occasion. A family supper† is not a story of just one family, it is a story that separates two generations, and it is a story of the father who was once a hero to his children. This story tells us about the older generation’s honor and sacrifice to their values, culture and traditions on the other hand it demonstrates how the world today has changed to be practical and not tied up with relations; how the younger generation sees today’s seniors as empty and dimly lit rooms. In this story the father was lonely, he lost his wife, his firm, his son and very soon he will be losing his daughter.The father always wanted his children to be with him, he offers the narrator to stay with him, he is desperate to see his family united, and is afraid that his family can never be happy as he wanted. This desperation mixed with the Japanese philosophy of pure blood samurai; leave the father an option of suicide. This way he can be with his family and leave this disgraceful life. The need for love and bonding is demonstrated in this story. Japanese traditions like many Asian traditions dictate that you satisfy the elders with respect and happiness and never leave them to be alone.

Dianna Abdala

Group Name: The McLovetts Group Members: Casie Mahalitc, Candice Lovett, Matt Cliborn, Louis Fratesi Project Two: Chapter 11: Incident 1, Dianna Abdala Questions: 1. With whom do you side here-Abdala or Korman? Neither because both made mistakes that created the situation. 2. What mistakes do you think each party made?One mistake made by both people was the fact that both parties could not refrain from insulting one another. If one or the other would have simply been the bigger person and stopped responding, the situation may have not gotten out of hand.Abdala’s Mistakes She should have used a richer channel of communication for delivering her decision to not accept the job offer. For instance, she could have scheduled a day to go by and tell Korman in person.-Challenging his credibility as a lawyer -Accepting the job offer, if what Korman said is true, before putting careful thought into making a decisionKorman’s Mistakes -He could have acknowledged her offer rejection respectfully instead of going as far insulting her and her method of delivery. By keeping calm and being respectful, a possible olive branch could have been extended for the company’s future needs in staffing. Although it is his company, it was very spiteful of him to forward the exchange to his colleagues. What happened between he and Abdala should have stayed between them.Not having a job offer contract in writing for future credibilityUsing profanity3. Do think this exchange will damage Abdala’s career? Yes, because it is never a good idea to burn bridges with people. Being that Korman has his own firm and experience in prosecutions, Abdala may have ruined her chances at even having him being her counselor. Korman’s firm? His unprofessionalism may gain him a reputation, but not as much damage will be done to his firm. If he is responding to offer rejections the way he did with Abdala, he could miss out on an opportunity to later hire quality candidates for other positions in his firm.4. What does this exchange tell you about the limitations of email? It shows that email is not the best way to deliver bad news or negative messages. As discussed in the chapter, during an email inhibitions go out the window and people do not take the time to think about what they are going to say and what consequences may follow.

Relations of the mind to the body

A definite relationship exists between the mind and the body.   Some theorists express this relationship as the mind-body connection, and many continue to debate about whether the mind controls the body or whether the body controls the mind.   â€Å"The body-mind problem concerns the relationship between minds, or mental processes, and bodily states or processes.   Philosophers aim to explain how a supposedly non-material mind can influence a material body and vice-versa,† (Philosophy of the Mind, n.d.). Although it may be difficult to explain, there is evidence that people experience this mind-body connection on a regular basis.   Throughout history people have used their minds to control their bodies.   For example, â€Å"using ancient meditation techniques, Tibetan monks have demonstrated to scientists their ability to raise their own body temperature and hold it high enough that they are able to dry out wet cold sheets wrapped around their body, even in a chilly room,† (Bridger, 2006). Our bodies respond to our minds, the way we think, and to our emotions.   What happens in our minds greatly affects our bodies, as there is a definite relation between the two.  Ã‚   However, many people don’t realize the extent of this connection.   For example, â€Å"poor emotional health can weaken your body’s immune system, making you more likely to get colds and other infections during emotionally difficult times,† (American Academy of Family Physicians, 2006).   If you want to change your body, you have to change your thoughts.   â€Å"We do not realize that little ordinary negative thoughts we have throughout the day have the power to create substantial changes within our bodies.   Negative thoughts wreak havoc on your body and will age you at a greatly accelerated rate,† (The Mind Body Connection, n.d.). I believe in the body-mind relation because I have experienced the connection.   When I have allowed myself to think bad thoughts, I have noticed that my body feels weak like those thoughts have somehow sucked the energy out of my body.   I have also allowed myself to think negative thoughts to the point of getting a headache, or feeling sick to the stomach.   I don’t think we can separate our minds from our bodies.   When I think happy thoughts I feel more energetic. Science and medicine will never be able to prove every aspect of the mind-body connections, and that is not really important because I doubt that every reality of life can be proven.   But I know there is a strong relation between the mind and body and it is beneficial for us to learn more about this connection.  Ã‚   Knowing that our thoughts affect our bodies is a motivating factor in helping me pay more attention to what I think, and to focus on thinking positive thoughts. References American Academy of Family Physicians (2006). Mind/Body Connection: How Your Emotions Affect Your Health.   Retrieve April 1, 2007 from http://familydoctor.org/782.xml Bridger, D. (2006).   How Much Can Your Mind Control Your Body?   Retrieved April 1, 2007, from http://www.mindpowernews.com/127.htm Philosophy Of The Mind (n.d.).   Retrieved April 1, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_mind The Mind Body Connection (n.d.).   Retrieved April 1, 2007 from http://www.quantumhealthandfitness.com/mind-muscle-connection.htm