Apply the SPSS in the department of academic accreditation of graduate Assignment

Apply the SPSS in the department of academic accreditation of graduate certificates from the International Schools, Colleges and Universities - Assignment Example Over time, the definition of quality has transformed with changing perceptions among customers. Presently, in many organizations quality is defined as understanding, meeting, and surpassing customer needs and expectations (Besterfield, 2009). According to Montgomery (2005), quality is now one of the most important factors in selection of goods and services. Statistical tools are very important in quality management, they allow measurement and evaluation of performance in an organization and they are therefore regularly applied in decision support (Karuppusami and Gandhinathan, 2006). Total Quality Management tools and techniques are categorized into quantitative and non-quantitative, the quantitative tools generally consist of what is called statistical process control (SPC). SPC comprises of a number of statistical tools, usually seven, including Histograms, Pareto Charts, Process Flow Diagrams, Control Charts, Scatter Diagrams, Check Sheets and Effect Diagrams (Karuppusami and Gandhinathan, 2006). This report applies basic statistical tools of quality control in assessing the benefits of academic accreditation of graduate certificates from international schools, colleges and universities by the ministry of higher education in the Sultanate of Oman. Four main SPC tools are utilized including histograms, Pareto diagrams, scatter diagra ms, and control charts. The main objective of the report is to utilize SPC tools in assessing the efficiency of the accreditation process with the aim of improving it to meet or exceed customer needs. Histograms are special bar charts that are used to measure the frequency of occurrences (Goestch, 2005). The only difference between a bar chart and histogram is that the X-axis in a bar chart lists categories while in a Histogram it consists of a measurement scale with no gaps between the adjacent bars. Pareto diagrams

Social Media In Marketing Communication

Social Media In Marketing Communication The technologies and tools people use to communicate online are referred to collectively as social media (Scott, 2010 ). Social media is not understood in terms of the different technologies and tools but, rather how those technologies and tools allow you to communicate directly with people or intended recipient. The term social media represents media that users can easily participate in, contribute to (Karjaluota, 2008), communicate with and congregate to have fun with friends and community (Scott, 2010 ). Social Media is an emerging phenomenon of recent times. Social media is a group of new kinds of online media embodied participation, openness, conversation, community and connectedness as unique characteristics (Mayfield, 2008). Boyd (2008) refers social media is an umbrella term that refers to the set of tools, services, and applications that allow people to interact with others using network technologies. Social media encompasses groupware, online communities, peer -to-peer and media-sharing technologies, and networked gaming. Mayfield (2008) explain social media is all about being human like sharing ideas, cooperating and collaborating to create art, thinking and commerce, vigorous debate and discourse, finding people who might be good friends, allies and lovers, which our species has built since several civilisation. He further adds social media is becoming popular so quickly, not because its great shiny, speedy new technology, but because it lets us be ourselves. People can find information, inspiration, communities and collaborators faster than ever before. New ideas, services, business models and technologies emerge and evolve at fast speed in social media. According to Scott (2010) social media ; .provides the way people share ideas, content, thoughts and relationships online. Social Media differ from so-called mainstream media in that anyone can create, comment on, and add to social media content. Social media can take the form of text, audio, video, images, and communities (Scott, 2010 , p. 38). Social media is also known as user generated media (Mangold Faulds, 2009). User creates a network among friends, families, celebrities, and those who share common characteristics etc. that has built strong user base among different social media forms. It is becoming popular day by day due to its unique characteristics such as socialising, participating, freedom of expression, engaging, interactivity and easily accessible at fraction of cost. The main important features of social media is to keep in touch with friend, communicate with friend and share memories of good and bad experience through notes, post, blogs, video sharing and photo sharing etc. Social media is sometimes referred to as social software or social computing or computer-mediated communication (Boyd, 2008). In next section, social medias characteristic is explained. Characteristic of Social Media: The power of social media is rooted in its ability to connect people across time and space. The way these tools are used alters plethora of practices, including communication, collaboration, information dissemination, and social organisation (Benkler, 2006; Castells, 1996; Rheingold, 2002). Social media has affected how people interact with one another and, thus, it has the potential to alter how society is organised though they are simply the messengers, social media tools are revered for their potential to connect people( (Shriky, 2008; Tapscott Williams, 2006; Weinberger, 2008). Social media provides power to communicate one to literally hundreds or thousands of other people quickly and with relatively little effort. Participation and making connections are common characteristics among social media platforms. Part of this is informed by the notion of a flat community, in which all parties engage in open dialogue. Influence and credibility are prized in this arena, as the users reputation can often be a key motivator for one to remain active in the dialogue (Karjaluota, 2008). Some of the common characteristics of Social Media identified by Mayfield (2008) are; Participation, social media encourages contributions and feedback from everyone who is interested. It blurs the line between media and audience. Openness, most social media services are open to feedback and participation. They encourage voting, comments and the sharing information. There are rarely any barriers to accessing and making use of content-password -protected content is frowned on. Conversation, whereas traditional media is about broadcast and in contrast social media is better seen as a two -way conversation. Community, social media allows communities to form quickly and communicate effectively. Communities share common interests, such as a love of photography, a political issue or a favourite TV show. Connectedness, most kinds of social media thrive on their connectedness, making use of links to other sites, resources and people. Common Forms of Social Media: There are various tools and format are in practice in the forms of social media. The commonly used or basic forms of social media (Karjaluota, 2008; Mayfield, 2008; Scott, 2010 ; Mangold Faulds, 2009) are; Social Networking Sites (SNS) are virtual communities that allow users to build personal profile, connect with friends, and cultivate a community of friends and to share information, content and communication. Some appeal to broad groups (i.e. Facebook) whereas others are built around particular niches and demographics (i.e. LinkedIn). The common SNS are Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, LinkedIn, Faceparty etc. Blogs are personal web sites written by somebody who is passionate about a topic, which provide a means to share that passion with the world and to foster an active community of readers who provide comments on the feature posts. Perhaps it is the best known form of social media, blogs are online journals, with entries appearing with most recent first. Blogs are vary widely in nature, but tend to be popular as they often provide an unvarnished, insider perspective on a particular topic. For example, user sponsored blogs (unofficial Apple Weblog, Cnet.com) and company -sponsored websites/blogs (Apple.com, PGs Vocalpoint). Content Communities are sites that allow users to post and share content. Such communities exist around anything from videos and photos to stories and links. Some of these sites include voting functions that allow the community to determine the relevance of content. Sites like YouTube, Flicker, Vimeo and Jamendo.com greatly simplify the process of sharing and commenting on Photos, Videos and Music. Other examples are content sharing combined with assistance Piczo.com and general intellectual property sharing sites Creative Commons. Forums are areas in which multiple users can create topics and then comment on these topics. They are commonly used as resources for those interested in particular topic. It is a place for online discussion, often around specific topics and interests. Forums came about before term social media and are a powerful element of online communities. It is also known as chat rooms and message boards, with the main feature being that anyone can start a discussion thread. Wikis are community -generated documents and databases. These websites allow people to add content to or edit the information on them, acting as a communal document or database. The best -known wiki is Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia which has over 2 million English languages articles. Virtual Worlds represent one of the most novel areas on the web, in which users can engage in immersive worlds. Some of these spaces closely mirror real-world notions such as community and economics. Second Life is an example of virtual worlds. Micro blogging are social networking combined with bite-sized blogging, where small amounts of content updates are distributed online and through the mobile phone network. Twitter is well known form of micro blogging. Social Bookmarking sites like digg, del.icio.us, Newsvine, Mixxit, Reddit allows users to recommend online news stories, music, videos and content to others and vote on what is interesting. Many other forms of social media exist are news aggregators, podcasts (Apple iTunes), mash-ups, company sponsored cause/help sites (Doves Campaign for Real Beauty, click2quit.com), invitation only social networks (ASmallWorld.net), commerce communities (eBay, Amazon.com, Craigs List, IStockphoto, Threadless.com), news delivery sites (current TV), educational materials sharing (MIT OpenCoourseWare, MERLOT), open source software communities (Mozillas spreadfirefox.com, Linux.org) , windows Live, Google community and Yahoo. The Use of Social Media in Marketing Communication: Communication has become more challenging due to rapid changes in technologies, multiple communication channels and consumers constantly changing preferences and media use for obtaining information. Effectiveness of communication will largely depends on understanding of consumers buying behaviour, indentifying their information need and provides them with the right information, in right time at right place. It is enormously important to make sure the appropriate media is used (Ennew, 1993). Selection of a medium is relative with the customer preference with that particular medium. In an interview by www.marketingprof.com , a marketing guru, Philip Kotler says; .major challenge today is getting people attention. Consumers are pressed for times and many worked hard to avoid advertising messages. The main challenge is to find new way to capture attention and position a brand in consumers mind.. (Kotler, 2005 ¶17) Multiple communication channels pose a challenge to marketers to select a right medium to reach their target consumers. Traditional marketing communication media are loosing thier importance and are being challenged by new media. The internet has replaced traditional media such as radio, newspaper, magzine and the TV as the preferred medium for advertising (Selek, 2010). TV advertising is loosing its effectiveness because of growing advertising clutter, the increeasing number of channels and reduced watching of television by certain group of people (Kotler, 2005). Social Media presence in marketing communication is increasing rapidly. Social media is becoming a part of the marketing strategies of organisations irrespective of shape, size, volume and purposes. Marketers are trying to make it as a part of the Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) and element of their marketing mix (Mangold Faulds, 2009; Li Bernoff, 2008). IMC is a guiding principles, marketers has been practising since its identification as a marketing tools to communicate with their target market. IMC is arguably the best tools, as of now, use to coordinate and control varying elements of the promotional mix- advertising, personal selling, public relations, publicity, direct marketing, and sales promotion to develop customer focused integrated message and to achieve different organisational goals (Boone Kurtz, 2007). Social media is changing the landscape of marketing communication. Growing use and popularity of social media tools like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Flicker, Digg, Del.icio.us, Foursquare and others have compelled organisations use of social media as an integrated marketing communication tool. Consumers are making conversation on these platforms. Facebook alone has 500 million users worldwide, which accounts nearly 8% of world population and collectively, users spend more than 700 billion minutes a month in Facebook (Smith, 2010). The possibility of exposure to mass audience and high engagement are propelling organisations to use social media to communicate to their target consumers. Fortunes 500 companies have been using social media as one of the most important tool in their marketing strategy (Barnes Mattson, 2008). Increase in advertising spending on social media shows preference of marketers in social media against traditional media as a marketing communication tool.The growing popularity of internet business such as google and social networking sites (SNS) like Facebook have increased the use of social media in advertising. Advertising spending in the social networking area is estimated to be $865 million, with a projected value of $2 billion by 2011, or almost 8.5% of total online spending (eMarketer, 2006 cited in Gangadharbatla, 2008). Facebooks  £525 million revenue from advertising in 2009 (Smith, 2010) shows the magnitude of growing popularity of scoial media as a marketing communication tool. Marketers are shifting their marketing spending from traditional means of communication to digital ones, focusing on search, dispaly ads and social networking. Marketers who believe that most important way to improve communication effectiveness is to shift investment from traditional channels to digital channels are increasing. Another noticable changes is to shift advertising spending from awerness and brand building to promotional marketing (Ramsey Douglas, 2010). According to a 2009 survey, conducted by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and Marketing Management Analytics (MMA), most marketers say that they plan to increase their budgets for interactive marketing by pulling funds out of traditional media. Survey shows that U.S. companies moved total of $60 billion from traditional media into online marketing in 2009 itself, which represents a major shift from traditional marketing to digital marketing in an effort to increase marketing effectiveness. Research shows that after the corporate website, the most effective way to communicate with prospects is through social media. As many as 80% of U.S. companies are using social media in their marketing efforts, either placing ads on sites, monitoring sites for chatter about their brands, or engaging directly through sites like Facebook. For most marketers two prime objectives for usiing social media are enhancing brand awareness and deepening realationships with consumers. Many others use social media to expand to new audiences and acquire new customers (StrongMail, 2009). Social Media enables customer to talk to one another, which is an extention of traditional word-of-mouth communication (Mangold Faulds, 2009). The role of social media giving customer to communicate to one another is unique from traditional marketing communication. In his book The New Influencers, Gillin (2007) says that Conventional marketing wisdoms has long held that a dissatisfied customer tells ten people. But that is out of date. In the new age of social media he or she has the tools to tell [billions] consumers in few hours. The Internet has become a mass media vehicle for consumer-sponsored communications. It now represents the number one source of media for consumers at work and the number two source of media at home (Rashtchy, Kessler, Bieber, Shindler, Tzeng, 2007). Consumers are turning away from the traditional sources of advertising: radio, television, magazines, and newspapers. Consumers also consistently demand more control over their media consumption. They require on-demand and immediate access to information at their own convenience (Rashtchy et al., 2007; Vollmer Precourt, 2008). Social media is perceived by consumers as a more trustworthy source of information regarding products and services than corporate-sponsored communications transmitted via the traditional elements of the promotion mix (Foux, 2006). There are varying levels of trust and credibility among marketing channels: pretty low for ads, more so for traditional media and even lower for brand websites. Social media leverage the trust that users have with one another. This is well proven fact in marketing that most effective influencers in buying decisions are friends and family. Social media has been providing consumer different platforms to communicate easily with friends and family quickly and effectively. Recommendations from friends and acquaintances, particularly those people we think are most like ourselves, garner the highest trust. Almost three-fourths of customers consult product reviews before making a purchase, and more than half have made a purchase based on consumer reviews. They create transparency and establish trust to prospects (Ramsey Douglas, 2010). Marketers use several methods to improve consumer retention. Social media is becoming an important part of consumer retention and is giving companies new ways to tap into consumer mindset. A survey conducted by King Fish Media (2009) shows that 72% of US marketing managers, who participated in the survey, believes that social media is the most effective way to communicate with current consumers. Social media leave behind the old model of one- to- one communication and enable communication from one to many or many- to- many. Social media such as blogs, tweets, wikis, and social networks are all about speeding up and enriching communication. Social media tools bring the advantages of flatter, more democratic and presumably more effective communication networks (Hawn, 2009). The advent of social media challenge traditional type of intrusive and one way communication. Social media offer multi -dimensional communication among marketers to consumers, consumers to consumers and consumers to marketers. Social media is a great tool for listening to consumers and improving products and services using feedback and suggestion from consumers. Understanding the speed and breadth of response to a consumer issue is crucial in social media (Econsultancy, 2009). Mangold Faulds (2009) argue that social media is a hybrid element of the promotion mix because it combines characteristics of traditional IMC tools (companies talking to consumers) with a highly magnified form of word-of-mouth (customers talking to one another) wherby marketing managers cannot control the content and frequency of such information. Consumers ability to communicate with one another limits the amount of control companies have over the content and dissemination of information. In the era of social media, consumers have greater access to information and great command over media consumption than ever before (Vollmer Precourt, 2008). In the era of social media, marketing managers control over the content, timing, and frequency of information is being severely eroded. In the new communication paradigm, information about products and services also originates in the marketplace. This information is based on the experiences of individual consumers and is channelled through the traditional promotion mix. The traditional communication paradigm, which relied on the classic promotional mix to craft IMC strategies, must give way to a new paradigm that includes all forms of social media as potential tools in designing and implementing IMC strategies. Contemporary marketers cannot ignore the phenomenon of social media because it has rapidly become the de facto modus operandi for consumers who are disseminating information on products and services (Mangold Faulds, 2009). In this section researcher tried to gain insights about social media from available literatures and its uses in marketing communication. In following section researcher reviews of existing literature on social networking site Facebook and its uses by students, motives of use and use of Facebook in selection of universities, which is the main purpose of this study. The Facebook: Facebook is very popular social networking sites, which gives user an opportunity to create personal profile (include general information like education background, work background, and favourite interest), build a friend networks who have Facebook account, upload and share photos, put comment, show liking or agreeableness on any subjects, issues, comments, products and brands through like button, write notes and create news and many more. Facebook members can also join virtual groups based on common interests, see what classes they have in common, and learn about others hobbies, interests, tastes, and romantic relationship statuses through the profiles (Ellision, Steinfield, Lampe, 2007). It also has an option to add specific applications to further personalise ones profile (Rosmarin, 2007). People mostly use it to make friends, networking with friends, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet (Reuben, 2008). A Harvard undergraduate student and a programmer Mr. Mark Zuckerberg along with his friend Eduardo was set up Facebook.com in February 2004 at Harvard University dorm as an online student directory for only Harvard students (Cassidy, 2006; Mayer Puller, 2007; Boyd Ellison, 2007). To join a user had to have a Harvard.edu email address. Facebook extended beyond Harvard to other Ivy League school in spring 2004. In fall 2004 Facebook.com had added websites to several hundred of colleges and university, then later expanded to any university students having an university e-mail and now anyone over age 13 with an valid e-mail account can join Facebook (Reuben, 2008). Mr. Zuckerberg, who set up Facebook at his early 20 (now 26), has grown it into a business worth an estimated  £15 billion (Smith, 2010). Facebook has now become habitual and a part of everyday life for 500 million users worldwide. Facebook has reached almost eight percent of world population with meteoric rise of its users from 150 millions in January 2009 to 500 million in 2010 (Smith, 2010). Today, Facebook is the number one social networking site beating MySpace, LinkedIn, Foursquare etc. Facebook is third popular online brand after Google and MSN respectively. According to Nielsen survey (April, 2010) 54% worlds internet population visiting Facebook and spends 6 hours per person every month. On average user create 90 pieces of content every month, 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news, blogs etc) are shared each month, more than 3 billion pictures are uploaded every month, there are more than 60 million status updates a day and have an average of 130 friends (Smith, 2010). Collectively, users spend more than 700 billion minutes a month on Facebook. Alex Burmaster, of research agency Nielsen Online said: Facebook has become a phenomenon of our time, its become almost like a mobile phone, [and] people cant imagine their lives without it. Popularity of Facebook among Colleges and Universities Students: Origin of Facebook is directly associated with university students. Facebook was set up by a university student as an online student directory. Initially, it was restricted to users with a harvard.edu email address and was confined to colleges and universities students and staffs. It was officially open to non-academic and non-US based users in September 2006 (Joinson, 2008; Reuben, 2008). Facebook has become a number one choice among universities students. According to Pew Research Centers survey nearly three quarters (73 percent) of online teens and an equal number (72 percent) of young adults use social networking sites. The survey also reveals that among adults 18 and older Facebook is most preferred choice; 73% have profile on Facebook, 48% own profile on MySpace and 14% use LinkedIn (Lenhart, Purcell, Smith, Zickuhr, 2010). According to previous survey by Pew Center 50% of young adult social network users had profile in MySpace, 22% had profile on Facebook and only 6% had a profile on LinkedIn (Lenhart, A., 2009). The recent survey also shows that among adult profile owners with high school degree or less, 64% have a profile on MySpace, 63% have profile on Facebook and just 3% have LinkedIn profile. Adults with at least some college experience, 78% have profile on Facebook, where 41% have a profile on my space and 19% have a LinkedIn profile (Lenhart, et. al, 2010). It shows the greater presence and growing popularity of Facebook among colleges and universities students. There is growing concern about universities students excessive use of Facebook. Sheldon (2008) states that 93% student had a Facebook account, on average they spent 47 minutes a day on Facebook and in overall 81% student logged into Facebook on a daily basis. Social networking sites are widely thought to have changed students communication pattern because many college/university students lives have an online component (Zywica Danowski, 2008). There is hard debate going on about the risk of students being addicted to, and spending too much time on Facebook. Those who argue about negative impact and against on students excessive use of Facebook are demanding control on students from using Facebook. Facebook has been met with criticism by educators, with suggestions that students spend too much time on Facebook and find it addictive (Bugeja, 2006). Others, who believe control is not the right options, are suggesting attract and encourage students for its academic and positive use. Some studies have shown advantages of Facebook use for undergraduate students to assist and adjust to university life, especially those experiencing low self-esteem (Ellision, et al., 2007). Lloyd, Dean, and Cooper, (2007) concluded that students can benefit and suffer from using technology [Facebook]. Positive effects of technology [Facebook] are knowledge acquisition, socialisation and entertainment. However, negative effects include that students tend to be less healthy and passive in off-line activities when their sole purpose is for entertainment, which has a direct effect on their academic success, personal relationships, and wellness. Students Motives for Facebook Use: People use media to gratify their various communication needs and wants. Uses and gratification is viewed as a psychological communication perspective which focuses on how individual use mass media and other forms of communication to fulfil their needs and wants (Sheldon, 2008; Rubin, 2002). According to the uses and gratification perspective, media use is determined by a group of key elements including peoples needs and motives to communicate, the psychological and social environment, the mass media, functional alternative to media use, communication behaviour, and the consequences of such behaviour (Rubin, 1994). McQuail, Blumler and Brown (1972) classified mostly found needs and gratifications in four categories; diversion (escape from problems, emotional release), personal relationship (social utility of information in conversation, substitute of the media for companionship), personal Identity (value reinforcement, self understanding), and information (as cited in Sheldon, 2008). These classifications were, basically, developed for audiovisual media use and researchers extendend it for internet use and developed different motivational scales for internet use over time. According to Morris, and Ogan (1996) internet fulfills interpersonal and mediated needs. Needs traditionally fulfilled by media are social interaction, time pass, habit, information and entertainment (Flaherty, Pearce, Rubin, 1998). Media fulfilled interpersonal needs such as companionship, maintenance of relationship, problem-solving and persuation (Flanagin Metzger, 2001). LaRose, Mastro, and Eastin (2001) found that the expectation of finding enjoyable activities online predicted the amount of online media consumption. Song, LaRose, Eastin, and Lin (2004) identified virtual community as a new gratification that strengthen comunication with people met on internet. This definition contrast with relationship maintenance focused to maintain relationship with existing acquaintances (Song et al., 2004). Uses and gratification research has usually focused on how media are used to satisfy cognitive and affective needs relating personal needs and entertainment needs (Rubin, 2002), which includes need for personal identity, escapism, and self presentation. Researchers found various gratifications of internet and SNS uses such as acquisition of information, ability to engage in interpersonal communication and socialisation (Stafford Gonier, 2004); interpersonal utility functions such as relationship building, scoial maintenance and social recognition (Leung, 2007); interpersonal relations, information, and entertainment (Ho Cho, 2006); infromation, interpersonal communication, and entertainment (Matsuba, 2006). There has lot of research done about students motives in using Facebook. Majority of the previous research found friending, time pass, flirt and find new friends are the students prime motives to use Facebook. According to Coley (2006) most students use Facebook for fun to organise parties, and to find dates. They use it to find people with similar interest, peer who are in same class, and with whom they feel a sense of community and connectedness and its become habit to those who are already in online. Urista, Dong, and Day, (2009) in their study what motivates young adults to use SNS (MySpace and Facebook) found that individual use SNS to fulfill their needs and wants, which includes efficient communication, convenient communication, curosity about others, popularity and relationship formation and reinforcement. Ellision, et al. (2007) suggest that Facebook is mostly used to maintain or reinforce existing offline relationships, as opposed to establishing new ones online. There is usually some common offline activity among individuals with friends one another, such as a shared class or extra curricular acitivity. Lampe, Ellison, and Steinfield (2006) found that Facebook users engage in searching for people with whom they have an offline connection more than they browse for new people to meet. Sheldon (2008) conducted a survey of 172 students and found that large porportion of students use Facebook to maintain relationship with people they already know, majority of students also visit Facebook for time pass like when feel bored or get wall post update notification, significant porportion of students use Facebook for entertainment purposes and a small porportion use Facebook to develop new relationship. According to Pew Internet American Life Project survey (2009) teens and adults use Facebook to stay in touch with friends (97 percent), make plans with friends (62 percent), make new friends (52 percent), organize with others for an event, issue or cause (56 percent), and flirt (22 percent) (Lenhart, 2009). 2,251 subjects were participated in the survey. Research on Facebook is starting to emerge along with its popularity. The applications and utilities of Facebook is also constantly being developed. Most of the previous studies about motives to use Facebook was done before 2008, when Facebook was just started to emerge and not much popular as now and not much applications as now. The researcher found limited limited predictors have been used to study students motive for Facebook use. In this paper the researcher try to find out university students motives of using Facebook using new predictors. The first research question of the study is; RQ1: What are the motives of university students for Facebook use? Students Use of Facebook in Selection of Universities and Colleges: Oklahoma State Universitys study highlights a typical lifestyle of a todays student. On average each day students sleep for 7 hours, spend 1.5 hours watching TV, spend 3.5 hours online, listen to music for 2.5 hours, talk on a cell phone for 2 hours, spend 3 hours in class, spend 2 hours eating, go to work for 2 hours and study for 3 hours. This totals 26.5 hours a day, nearly half of that involve technology. Students read 8 books a year, surf t

Increasing Taxes to Bail Out Social Security Essay -- Argumentative Pe

Increasing Taxes to Bail Out Social Security In 1935 the United States was in the throws of the worst economic depression our country had ever seen. The President at the time was Franklin Roosevelt. As part of Roosevelt's "New Deal", he instituted Social Security, which established an old-age pension system, to be administered by the federal government, and financed by taxes on both employers and employees. This system was to help the older citizens and dependents of workers of the U.S. However, since its inception, Social Security has been turned into a retirement plan of sorts. Many retired and older citizens rely solely on Social Security benefits to live. The program has been successful for the last 64 years, but in the near future Social Security might run out of resources unless some drastic measures are taken to preserve it. The program will be collecting less than it is paying out by the year 2012 and be insolvent by 2030. Something must be done. Social Security has been a safe and reliable source of income for the old for the last 64 years. Some 42 % of elderly citizens rely on social security as a large part of their income. Every month, millions of people over the age of 65 receive a check in the mail. The preceding fact is one of the main reasons that Social Security is in trouble. When Social Security was first instituted, the percent of the population that lived past 70 was much lower than it was today. Recent discoveries in the medical field, and new attitudes towards eating and exercise have extended the life span of Americans much longer than in 1935. This means that there will be much more people receiving Social Security and they will be receiving it for a much longer time. The next problem with the sy... ... It seems to me that the government should stick with what it already does and knows how to do, that is, raise taxes. I am in favor of a sharp tax increase for Social Security. There is no risk involved in raising the tax, except for disapproval by the citizens of the U.S. I would also like to see the retirement age raised to 70 and the early retirement age raised to 65. This would make it lighter on the system as I mentioned above, providing more tax and fewer people to support. The measure I would implement would be to raise the cap on the amount of money that is taxable for Social Security. This would allow more tax money to be generated. These three things would set the system straight for the upcoming years. They are stable and sound ideas that have been proven to work. Privatization is not needed, we need to balance before we try to accumulate an abundance.

Classroom Observation Critique Essay

The goal of using think aloud in reading a text is to help students develop the ability to monitor their reading comprehension and use strategies to facilitate understanding. Studies show that students who verbalize their thoughts while reading score significantly higher on comprehension tests. The Teacher The teacher has a pleasing personality, which I think the reason that draws pupils’ eyes to the teacher’s face and listen to her voice. For the whole duration of my teaching profession, I have observed that the teacher’s appearance greatly affects students’ attention. The more beautiful the teacher is, the more attentive the students are, especially at the opening of classes. This led me to recall my elementary and high school years when I liked more my pretty teachers than those that are not so pretty. As a teacher right now, this can be very subjective and should not to be the sole basis in assessing teacher performance. However, every teacher should strive to look at their best every day. The teacher is confident and shows mastery of the subject matter. I believe this is very important because it is where we build trust from our students. And because the students trust you, they are more than willing to open themselves and ask you everything they need to know. The teacher answers the students’ questions in a simple and understandable way. In this manner, there is total understanding on the part of the students. Every teacher should make sure that all questions and clarifications raised by the students must be thoroughly answered and cleared. The teacher maintains discipline and control of the class. I believe this is one strong aspect of classroom management. At the beginning of the class, the teacher sets the mood where she is enthusiastic and maintains a warm and friendly atmosphere conducive to learning. She also avoids making embarrassing remarks about the student’s ideas or actions. In return, the students respect and admire her. She successfully establishes rapport with her students. The Teaching Procedure Introduction/Before Reading The teacher starts with a class discussion: What strategies do good readers use to make meaning of the text? In a class size of 20-30, each student is given the chance to speak of his/her thoughts. This follows that smaller class size is more well-attended to by the teacher compared with 40-50 students in a class, where, only a fraction of the students speak up because it would take a lot of time and the teacher is obliged to proceed to the next activity. After which, the teacher presents the term â€Å"think aloud† to the students and have them brainstorm and report on how it might be used in reading. The groups of four (4) actually make the correct guesses on how they understand the term given. Then, the teacher distributes the bookmarks with different strategies of thinking aloud written on it. Later, strips of paper with definitions of the strategies are distributed for matchmaking. Before the answers are revealed, the students are tasked to what they think of the strategies. In this kind of activity, the students get to compare their reports/answers with the list given and survey themselves how often they use these active reading strategies before. During Reading Students receive three post it notes. They label them: BEFORE READING, DURING READING and AFTER READING. The use of colorful post it notes in this activity keeps the flow of active participation. Colors, especially the bright ones, add life to our classroom activities. This is because colors stimulate our creative expression, lending excitement and interest. The use of small things like the bookmarks and post its, enhances students’ manipulative tendencies. They are also readily available and very handy. Teachers should keep a stack of these. As the teacher models think aloud, students write down on their post it notes what strategies the reader uses before reading, during reading, and after reading. This involves the teacher thinking out loud when working through the problems in the text and demonstrating processes for the students. However, the attention of students is very important. They have to listen and observe well. Then, one after another, the students read the remaining paragraphs in the class and model the kind of think aloud strategy he/she chooses. This is the part where students are provided with enough practice, collaboration, repetition and hands on activity until the students learn on their own. The above activities, as a whole, give more teacher involvement at first; then later, there is less teacher involvement, that is, he/she should only guide the students while they have total responsibility in attaining the required skill. After Reading The class conducts 3-2-1 activity—3 things learned, 2 things liked about the lesson, 1 question one still have. Again, each one has the chance to speak in front. Questions and interpretations are clarified, where the students remember what they have individually created in their minds from the text. This serves the primary purpose of post reading activity which is to provide the students the chance to ask questions concerning their assignments and extension of lesson. Enrichment Activity The students are grouped into four and read a copy of a poem that is unfamiliar to each group while using think aloud strategies. â€Å"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.† – Eleanor Roosevelt

Tourism and Premium Advantages

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Tourism Advantages and Disadvantages of Tourism Tourism is the act of travel for the purpose of not only recreation, but also the provision of services for this act. It†¦ Premium Advantages And Disadvantages Of Tourism Advantages and disadvantages of tourism Nowadays many people travel around the world. They get new experience, emotions, relaxation But is it that good? In†¦ Premium Advantages And Disadvantages Of Tourism. if the natural resources are destroyed for the settlement of hotels, it may be a disadvantage for everyone in the country. For example, in Maurtius , when tourists†¦ PremiumAdvantages And Disadvantages Of Tourism In Mauritus a computer literate the use of the manual system will be easier for them to work. * Advantage of the New System . * Easier to maintain and update data†¦ Premium Advantages And Disadvantages Of Tourism – Short Essay New pedagogy St vincent & Grenadines Island is a small island with limite d education facilities. Primarily motivated students can easily start their own†¦ Premium Advantages And Disadvantages Of Tourism Name: ____________________________ Number_____ Form ____ Class _______ Date: ______ /______ /______ Name: ____________________________ Number_____ Form ____†¦Premium Advantages And Disadvantages Of Increasing Tourism Activity In Different Countries ] Bottom of Form Similar discussions: advantages and disadvantages of tourism Advantages and disadvantages of the internet. Increasing the living standards†¦ Premium Advantages And Disadvantages Of Direct Selling: Perspectives Of Both Tourism Operators And Tourists for a tourist using direct selling. The third section will discuss the advantages and disadvantages for a tourism provider using direct selling. Finally, the essay†¦ Premium Tourism Advantages And Disadvantages

Free Essays on Physical Geography In Icefields Parkway

PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY The weather in Jasper National Park is ever-changing and always unpredictable. Visitors should be prepared for the icy winds that can blow off a glacier in mid-summer, and for the chinooks that can warm a January day to above freezing. Spring comes to the valley bottoms in mid-April and reaches the high country by mid- June. Summer days are long, but the summer season is short. July is the warmest month with a mean daily maximum temperature of 22.5 degrees Celsius. September and October bring fall colours, clear skies and cooler temperatures. The long winter season is varied with periods of cold stormy weather that can quickly change to a mild chinook wind. January is the coldest month with a mean maximum temperature of -9.4 degrees Celsius. In mountainous terrain, a number of factors contribute to climate and weather patterns and create a variety of micro-climates. These factors include elevation, latitude, prevailing winds, alignment of valleys, shading from mountains, and winds from the glaciers. Altitude has a great impact on the local climate; the higher the elevation, the colder the temperature. Generally, a loss of 1.7 degrees Celsius can be expected with every 300 metres of elevation gained. The winds from the southwest also have a significant influence on local weather. Although the Pacific Ocean lies several mountain ranges away, winds from the sea bring warm air and moisture to the mountains. Most of the moisture is dropped from these systems before they reach the eastern slopes of the Rockies.... Free Essays on Physical Geography In Icefields Parkway Free Essays on Physical Geography In Icefields Parkway PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY The weather in Jasper National Park is ever-changing and always unpredictable. Visitors should be prepared for the icy winds that can blow off a glacier in mid-summer, and for the chinooks that can warm a January day to above freezing. Spring comes to the valley bottoms in mid-April and reaches the high country by mid- June. Summer days are long, but the summer season is short. July is the warmest month with a mean daily maximum temperature of 22.5 degrees Celsius. September and October bring fall colours, clear skies and cooler temperatures. The long winter season is varied with periods of cold stormy weather that can quickly change to a mild chinook wind. January is the coldest month with a mean maximum temperature of -9.4 degrees Celsius. In mountainous terrain, a number of factors contribute to climate and weather patterns and create a variety of micro-climates. These factors include elevation, latitude, prevailing winds, alignment of valleys, shading from mountains, and winds from the glaciers. Altitude has a great impact on the local climate; the higher the elevation, the colder the temperature. Generally, a loss of 1.7 degrees Celsius can be expected with every 300 metres of elevation gained. The winds from the southwest also have a significant influence on local weather. Although the Pacific Ocean lies several mountain ranges away, winds from the sea bring warm air and moisture to the mountains. Most of the moisture is dropped from these systems before they reach the eastern slopes of the Rockies....

How to Study If You Only Have Minutes to Cram

How to Study If You Only Have Minutes to Cram Weve all been there: you either procrastinate or forget about a test until the last minute, at which point you realize that you have less than an hour to cram in as much knowledge as possible. Heres how to make the most of your cram session and study for your test in an hour or less. Find a Quiet Study Space If youre at school, head to the library or a quiet classroom. If youre studying at home, turn off the TV, shut off your phone, power down the computer, and head to your room. Politely request that your friends and/or family give you time to study quietly. If you have only a short period of time  to cram, youll need 100% of your focus. Review Your Study Guide If youve been lucky enough to receive a study guide from your teacher, use it! Study guides are a crammers best friend. Read through the study guide as many times as you can. Memorize as much of the content as possible, using mnemonic devices like acronyms or songs. You can also try reading out loud and discussing the content with a friend or family member. Dont worry about making flashcards or taking notes- an in-depth review of the study guide itself will be more effective. Crack Open the Textbook If you do not have a study guide, grab a pen and a notebook and open up your textbook. After youve confirmed which chapter(s) the test will cover, read the first two pages of each relevant chapter. Look for major ideas, vocabulary, and concepts, and as you read, summarize any words or phrase that are bold or highlighted in the text. (You can do this summary process in writing if you have time, or simply state your summary out loud). After youve read the first two pages of every chapter, read the last page of every chapter and answer the review questions in your head. If you cant figure out an answer to a review question, look it up in the textbook before moving on. These review questions are often good previews of the type of content to expect on your test. Review Notes, Quizzes and Assignments Dont have access to your textbook? Gather as many notes, quizzes, and assignments relevant to your upcoming test as you can. Your personal notes will hold plenty of useful information, and your teachers quizzes and assignments are often one of the main sources of test questions. Read every page as you would a study guide or textbook chapter, focusing on key terms and concepts. Try to memorize as much of the content as you can with mnemonic devices. Quiz Yourself Using your study guide, textbook, and/or previous assignments, hold a quick quiz session. Look for key terms, then cover up the answers with your hand and try to define them. Next, look for big concepts, then flip over the pages and explain the concepts in your head. Circle or write down any topics you have trouble with and review them several times. If you have time and access to a study buddy, he or she can help out by guiding you through one last quiz session, but self-studying is just as productive. Write Down Your Mnemonic Devices As soon as the teacher hands out the test and says begin, write your newly-created mnemonic devices (acronyms, phrases, etc.) down on your test paper. Seeing these mnemonic devices will jog your memory as you go through the test. Ask the Teacher for Help If you get confused or stuck during the test, dont be afraid to raise your hand and politely ask for help. Many teachers are willing to guide you in the right direction, particularly if they know you to be a hard-working student.

Gerrymandering - Definition and Examples in Politics

Gerrymandering s in Politics Gerrymandering is the act of drawing congressional, state legislative or other political boundaries to favor a political party or one particular candidate for elected office. The purpose of gerrymandering is to grant one party power over another by creating districts that hold dense concentrations of voters who are favorable to their policies. Impact The physical impact of gerrymandering can be seen on any map of congressional districts. Many boundaries zig and zag east and west, north and south across city, township and county lines as if for no reason at all. But the political impact is much more significant. Gerrymandering reduces the number of competitive congressional races across the United States by segregating like-minded voters from each other. Gerrymandering has become common in American politics and is often blamed for the gridlock in Congress, polarization of the electorate and disenfranchisement among voters. President Barack Obama, speaking in his final State of the Union address in 2016, called on both the Republican and Democratic parties to end the practice. â€Å"If we want a better politics, it’s not enough just to change a congressman or change a senator or even change a president. We have to change the system to reflect our better selves. I think weve got to end the practice of drawing our congressional districts so that politicians can pick their voters, and not the other way around. Let a bipartisan group do it.† In the end, though, most cases of gerrymandering are legal.   Harmful Effects Gerrymandering  often leads to disproportionate politicians from one party being elected to office. And it creates districts of voters who are socioeconomically, racially or politically alike so that members of Congress are safe from potential challengers and, as a result, have little reason to compromise with their colleagues from the other party.   The process is marked by secrecy, self-dealing and backroom logrolling among elected officials. The public is largely shut out of the process, wrote  Erika L. Wood, the director of the Redistricting Representation Project at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. In the 2012 congressional elections, for example, Republicans won 53 percent of the popular vote but carried three out of four House seats in states where they oversaw redistricting. The same was true for Democrats. In states where they controlled the process of drawing congressional district boundaries, they captured seven out of 10 seats with only 56 percent of the popular vote. Any Laws Against It? The U.S. Supreme Court, ruling in 1964, called for a fair and equitable distribution of voters among congressional districts, but its ruling dealt mostly with the actual number of voters in each and whether they were rural or urban, not the partisan or racial makeup of each: Since the achieving of fair and effective representation for all citizens  is concededly the basic aim of legislative apportionment, we conclude that the Equal Protection Clause guarantees the opportunity for equal participation by all voters in the election of state legislators. Diluting the weight of votes because of place of residence impairs basic constitutional rights under the Fourteenth Amendment just as much as invidious discriminations based upon factors such as race  or economic status. The federal Voting Rights Act of 1965  took on the issue of using race as a factor in drawing congressional districts, saying it is illegal to deny minorities their constitutional right  Ã¢â‚¬Å"to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice.† The law  was designed to end discrimination against black Americans, particularly those in the South after the Civil War. A state may take race into account as one of several factors when drawing district lines- but without a compelling reason, race cannot be the predominant reason for a district’s shape, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. The Supreme Court followed up in 2015 by saying states could form independent, nonpartisan commissions to redraw legislative and congressional boundaries. How It Happens Attempts to gerrymander happen only once a decade and soon after years ending in a zero. That’s because states are required by law to redraw all 435 congressional and legislative boundaries based on the decennial census every 10 years. The redistricting process begins soon after the U.S. Census Bureau completes its work and begins sending data back to the states. Redistricting must be completed in time for the 2012 elections. Redistricting is one of the most important processes in American politics. The way congressional and legislative boundaries are drawn determines who wins federal and state elections, and ultimately which political party holds the power in making crucial policy decisions. Gerrymandering is not hard,  Sam Wang, the founder of Princeton Universitys Election Consortium, wrote in 2012. He continued: The core technique is to jam voters likely to favor your opponents into a few throwaway districts where the other side will win lopsided victories, a strategy known as packing. Arrange other boundaries to win close victories, cracking opposition groups into many districts. Examples The most concerted effort to redraw political boundaries to benefit a political party in modern history happened after the 2010 census. The project, orchestrated by Republicans using sophisticated software and about $30 million, was called  REDMAP, for Redistricting Majority Project. The program began with successful efforts to regain majorities in key states including  Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, and Wisconsin. Republican strategist Karl Rove wrote in The Wall Street Journal before the midterm elections in 2010: The political world is fixated on whether this years elections will deliver an epic rebuke of President Barack Obama and his party. If that happens, it could end up costing Democrats congressional seats for a decade to come. He was right. The Republican victories in statehouses across the country allowed the GOP in those states to then control the redistricting process taking effect in 2012 and shape congressional races, and ultimately policy, until the next census in 2020.   Who is Responsible? Both major political parties are responsible for the misshapen legislative and congressional districts in the United States. In most cases, the process of drawing congressional and legislative boundaries is left to state legislatures. Some states impanel special commissions. Some redistricting commissions are expected to resist political influence and act independently from the parties and the elected officials in that state. But not all. Here’s a breakdown of who is responsible for redistricting in each state: State legislatures: In 30 states, the elected state lawmakers are responsible for drawing their own legislative districts and in 31 states the boundaries for the congressional districts in their states, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s School of Law. The governors in most of those states have the authority to veto the plans. The states that allow their legislatures to perform the redistricting are: AlabamaDelaware (Legislative districts only)FloridaGeorgiaIllinoisIndianaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaine (Congressional districts only)MarylandMassachusettsMinnesotaMissouri (Congressional districts only)North CarolinaNorth Dakota (Legislative districts only)NebraskaNew HampshireNew MexicoNevadaOklahomaOregonRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth Dakota (Legislative districts only)TennesseeTexasUtahVirginiaWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming (Legislative districts only) Independent commissions: These apolitical panels are used in four states to redraw legislative districts. To keep politics and the potential for gerrymandering out of the process, state lawmakers and public officials are prohibited from serving on the commissions. Some states also prohibit legislative staffers and lobbyists, as well. The four states that employ independent commissions are: ArizonaCaliforniaColoradoMichigan Advisory commissions: Four states use and advisory commission consisting of a mix of legislators and non-legislators to draw up congressional maps that are then presented to the legislature for a vote. Six states use advisory commissions to draw state legislative districts. The states that use advisory commissions are: ConnecticutIowaMaine (Legislative districts only)New YorkUtahVermont (Legislative districts only) Politician commissions: Ten states create panels made up of state lawmakers and other elected officials to redraw their own legislative boundaries. While these states take redistricting out of the hands of the entire legislature, the process is highly political, or partisan, and often results in gerrymandering districts. The 10 states that use politician commissions are: Alaska (Legislative districts only)Arkansas (Legislative districts only)HawaiiIdahoMissouriMontana (Legislative districts only)New JerseyOhio (Legislative districts only)Pennsylvania (Legislative districts only)Washington Why Is It Called Gerrymandering? The term gerrymander is derived from the name of a Massachusetts governor in the early 1800s, Elbridge Gerry. Charles Ledyard Norton, writing in the 1890 book  Political Americanisms, blamed Gerry for signing into a law a bill in 1811 readjusting the representative districts so as to favor the Democrats and weaken the Federalists, although the last named party polled nearly two-thirds of the votes cast. Norton explained the emergence of the epithet gerrymander this way: A fancied resemblance of a map of the districts thus treated led [Gilbert] Stuart, the painter, to add a few lines with his pencil, and to say to Mr. [Benjamin] Russell, editor of the Boston Centinel, That will do for a salamander. Russell glanced at it: Salamander! said he, Call it a Gerrymander! The epithet took at once and became a Federalist war-cry, the map caricature being published as a campaign document. The late William Safire, a political columnist and linguist for  The New York Times, made note of the words pronunciation in his 1968 book  Safires New Political Dictionary: Gerrys name was pronounced with a hard  g; but because of the similarity of the word with jerrybuilt (meaning rickety, no connection with gerrymander) the letter  g  is pronounced as  j.

Discuss two or three texts which explore the idea that gender roles Essay

Discuss two or three texts which explore the idea that gender roles are performative rather than innate. Discuss with reference - Essay Example Socially accepted mannerisms and functions are them critiqued through frameworks of understanding that are at once rebellious and radical. These texts open up new ways of understanding the gender relations that exist in patriarchal societies and the influences that such societies have on the people who are a part of such societies. The texts also open up the possibilities for social theorists to understand the ways in which society as a whole is complicit in the victimization of women. The victim’s complicity is also often explored and this results in a better understanding of how the power structures that area associated with patriarchy are able to stifle women’s roles without any voice of dissent making itself known or heard. Film theorists have often been able to locate such discrepancies in the society that is modern and yet patriarchal; they have also been able to locate better the performative aspect of gender because of the very nature of film as a medium. The Gr eat Gatsby is an important example of gender relations in the American society during the 1920s. This was an era when there was a great emphasis on the improvement of the economy and speculative investments were on the rise during this era. As a result of this, there were a large number of people who were extremely wealthy and held a great number of very lavish parties. Jay Gatsby is one such person. His source of income is very mysterious. What the reader knows of Jay Gatsby is what he chooses to tell the narrator Nick. As a result of this, the reader has no option but to accept the version of Gatsby. This passage makes this very clear- The truth was that Jay Gatsby, of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. He was a son of God—a phrase which, if it means anything, means just that—and he must be about His Father’s business, the service of a vast, vulgar, and meretricious beauty. So he invented just the sort of Jay Gatsby that a s eventeen year old boy would be likely to invent, and to this conception he was faithful to the end (Fitzgerald 1995, 16). The idea of inventing for oneself the kind of identity that was in vogue during the twenties is what Gatsby does. What he does is informed by the gender codes of the time and he is able to successfully inhabit such a role. This makes him a successful person for those who are around him. To inhabit a gender role is thus, what makes a person successful in a patriarchal society according to Fitzgerald. This inhabitation of gender roles can also be seen in the women characters of the novel. For instance, the extreme femininity of Daisy is what makes her attractive to the two men who are in love with her. Her rejection of the gender roles that are prescribed then makes room for turmoil and tension within the novel, the kind of tension that finally leads Gatsby to his death. Tom is another character who chooses to inhabit a space that has been socially prescribed. He p lays out an older form of masculinity. According to this role, he is physically strong and is also the provider of the family. Such ideas of gender, according to feminists like Simone de Beauvoir are based on the idea that gender roles are based on the sex of a person. Such roles are then sanctioned by the society and this leads to them being set

Computer Architecture Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Computer Architecture - Assignment Example In his 1946 paper authored with Hermann H. Goldstine and Arthur W. Burks, and titled "Preliminary Discussion of the Logical Design of an Electronic Computing Instrument,† von Neumann provided an elaborate explanation and plan concerning the physical layout of a basic computer and how it should operate. The ideas and explanations in the paper were to have a massive influence on virtually every subsequent design and development of computers (Aspray, 1990). His pioneering design ultimately led to the building (in 1952) of the EDVAC computer. According to Aspray (1990), the von Neumann architecture is what has always been used in the computer world whenever computers are being designed, and it is what most people are used to anyway. It is considered to be a groundbreaking innovation that laid one of the strongest foundations in the design, organization and development of electronic computers. In the "Preliminary Discussion" section of his paper, von Neumann states that a computer s hould have 4 main "organs." These â€Å"organs† can be categorized as connected to memory, connection to human input, control and arithmetic; they are otherwise known as the control unit, the arithmetic logic unit, input-output devices and the memory unit. von Neumann considered the ability to store orders, or instructions, that resulted in computation, as well as the results of this computation, as the core elements of a computer. As a result, more attention was to be paid to these elements. It is important to note that von Neumann defined every one of the four components he saw as integral to the development of general purpose computers, and therefore made it easy for subsequent developments to be made (Aspray, 1990). Question 2 As one of the two main buses in a computer, the system bus plays a crucial role in ensuring that a computer functions normally and commands are executed as required. The system bus is a network formed by the linking of the different sections in a co mputer; these are the system memory, the CPU and other components that are located on the motherboard. The main function of the system bus is to enhance modularity and reduce production costs all at the same time (Appleman, 2000). For example, earlier computers were bulky and were considered them too expensive for regular people who wanted to own a computer. The primary reason behind this was that companies found it hard to fit all the components of a computer into the motherboard, and therefore had to use more materials in order to create enough space to house all of them. Thus, a combination of poor ergonomics and high production costs meant that it was inevitable that the final product would be huge and prices would be prohibitive. However, with the invention and increasing use of the system bus, it was possible to make smaller computers that performed just as well as (if not better than) the earlier versions. In addition to this, there was a lot of expectation from customers tha t prices would be lowered and modulation between memory, cost and input-output devices would be enhanced (Appleman, 2000). Over time, the system bus has been refined and improved on, leading to even smaller computers and eventually the development of laptop computers that incorporate sleeker and more sophisticated system buses. Question 3 Due to the fact that computers run in binary (using zeros (0s) and ones (1s) only), it

The Significance of Leadership and Management in Childhood Essay

The Significance of Leadership and Management in Childhood - Essay Example Generally, early childhood education occurs from the time of a child’s birth to the age of eight. However, in the actual sense, this kind of education normally occurs from the time of birth to the time when the child starts attending school. At this point, the child mainly learns through play which therefore becomes the focus of early childhood education. The domain of early childhood education covers social, physical, intellectual, and emotional development as well as the child’s development of creative skills. The development of children in early education greatly depends on a number of factors some of which include the management and leadership of the education centers. The paper will analyze the aspects on management and leadership with respect to early childhood education. Leadership in Early Childhood Education Generally, leadership refers to a process whereby an individual influences the others to accomplish a given objective while directing them in a more cohesi ve and coherent manner. In short leadership is the ability to encourage a group of individuals towards achieving a similar goal according to Anderson and Anderson (2010). Early care and education leadership is not limited to administration and management instead involving also aspects of education. In this sense, leadership in this field demands that practitioners become willing to take reasonable risks and maintain a vision that goes beyond individual organizations, services and programs. With respect to early childhood development, effective leadership encompasses a myriad of activities. Some of these activities include the identification and articulation of collective vision, effective communication, encouraging meditation, and the assessment and monitoring of practice. Other activities that fall in this category include the establishment of distributed leadership, commitment to progressive professional development, the establishment of team culture and a community that is commit ted to learning. Since early care centers have stakeholders that include parents and members of the community, leadership also involves encouraging and facilitating cooperation between the centre, parents and the community. Beyond doubt, leadership in early education also involves innovation, sensitivity to history, context, and diversity. According to Rodd 1996, leadership in early childhood involves kindness, patience, warmth and other attributes associated with goodness to children, parents and the community. Furthermore, leadership as noted by Rodd is concerned with orientation toward certain specific goals, good planning, confidence, and mentoring as well as professional confidence. Management in Early Childhood Education In the current world, early childhood educators face a lot of strategic and management challenges, a situation that demands their acquisition of sound management skills. Management in business terms refers to the organization and coordination of an organizatio n’s activities in accordance with particular policies in order to achieve defined objectives. Management is a discipline which comprises interrelated functions including the formulation of organizational policies, planning, controlling and organizing as well as directing the resources of an organization towards achieving the objectives. Management can involve one person or thousands of individuals depending on the size of the organization in question. Communication Communication involves the transfer of information from one party to another. During early childhood education , educators have the responsibility to communicate with the children under their care. However, in some cases there are barriers to communication which the educators u,must seek to eliminate so as to achieve

Reflection of tuesdays with Morrie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reflection of tuesdays with Morrie - Essay Example As a result, they do not have much idea about learning how to die, but so much knowledge about the learning on how to live. According to Morrie, â€Å"once you learn how to die, you learn how to live†. To analyze the context of this point, one must understand first that these words form a statement that came from a person who has eventually accepted the idea of death, it is Morrie. Morrie, in his situation is not oblivious of the thought that the possibility of his physical death is at any moment and that could be depicted as like someone who is lurking around the corner and is ready to gouge him to death at any time. It is at this point in time that Morrie has eventually appreciated many things about life, which is something that many people do not appreciate, because they are too busy or being preoccupied earning a living for them to survive. However, behind all of these things, they are oblivious of the fact that they might have been missing something important or essential. They might have not appreciated the simple things, which eventually are the things based on the point of view of Morrie a s essential to survival. These things if properly appreciated will eventually lead a person to live a life free from stress and full of contentment. Thus, Morrie is just trying to show the idea that unless a person will never know things concerning on what it takes to be dying, the things that are truly essential for living can hardly be recognized by them. This is evident to the point of Morrie when he is certain of the perspective that people are too involved in material goods and their own egotism (Albom, 2009). While relying on an oxygen tank to survive, Morrie eventually appreciates the things outside of his window, but unfortunately he is no longer able to go outside and enjoy some of these things. However, the thought of contentment in his mind is the ultimate force that continues to

Strategies of Market Growth Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategies of Market Growth - Assignment Example Today, the economies of most of these markets are growing and expanding at a rate that easily attracts multinational companies from all across the world. Most of these emerging markets are also having very favourable macroeconomic and microeconomic policies that put them at highly lucrative positions to choose in the doing of global business. With the coming and advancement of technology also, there has been a major boost in terms of how effective and efficient business is undertake in these emerging markets. All of these favourable conditions notwithstanding, it remain a fact that with the level of development in these emerging markets, companies need much strategic approaches to make good use of consumers in emerging markets, especially those at the bottom of the pyramid. In this paper, two key business strategies that can be used by these companies are critically discussed. Strategies of Market Growth Gollakota (2010) identifies consumers at the bottom of the pyramid as one of the most important stakeholders of any company’s supply chain, especially those in emerging markets. ... erstanding circumstances that consumers must satisfy to meet their needs, whiles the final parameter looks into the essence of what the consumer wants to accomplish (Gollakota, 2010). Generally, though, the deep cost management centres on the second paradigm, which advises the need for prices of products and services to be cut low to ensure that those at the bottom will also have the means of responding to their needs. For the companies to do this cost cutting without running at a loss it important that they are engaged in prudent management of production cost. In the second instance, the use of deep benefit management is recommended for use. Unlike the former which focuses on cost management, this is more concerned about value management, where the need for companies to think of ways of adding new features that give unique value to their products and services is recommended (Ghemawat, 2010). In most cases, what has been observed with emerging markets is that consumers at the bottom want to use their money in the most guaranteed means that they have to be very certain about value for money. In effect, even if they will have to be paying more, they would need guarantee that the same product or service from another outfit has less value than the one they are purchasing (Pelle, 2007). Meanwhile, the best way to raise the value of a product is by introducing new features that takes away cost in an indirect manner. Some of these ways include â€Å"offering convenient locations, transport, or other services that are essential for BOP customers† Gollakota, 2010 p. 361). Conclusion In conclusion, it will be reiterated that the need for businesses and organizations to succeed is not an achievement that comes by accident, especially when reference is made to emerging markets. As

Case Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Case Analysis - Research Paper Example It transports more passengers, and it is also offers more regular schedule for domestic flights compared to its competitors. It offers low fares than any other airline because of its low-operating expenses. Chris Lauer accounts â€Å"Southwest Airlines is the largest low-fare carrier in the world† (1). Southwest’s also has a good customer service, a dedicated staff and personnel, and an exceptional management team that keeps on making an excellent pricing and marketing plan for the company. One of Southwest’s successful strategies is serving less congested airports that helped minimize total travel time for passengers, and this allowed the company to avoid paying the higher landing fees and terminal gate costs. Southwest is routinely improving its information system for faster flow of information in order to enhance the airlines function, cut costs, and improve its customer service On account of Southwest’s aim to carry out its low-fare strategy continually, the company operated only one type of aircraft. Along with this, Southwest flight attendants were responsible for cleaning up trash left by passengers and getting the plane presentable for the next flight while rival carriers had cleaning crews. The airline also did not have a first-class section on any of its planes. Also, passengers with checked baggage who were connecting to other carriers in order to reach their destinations were not offered baggage transfer services. Southwest also has a tarnished reputation regarding the management’s failure to conduct the required inspections for fuselage fatigue cracking. Southwest’s has growth opportunities by having a first-class section on its planes and by serving more domestic flights and possibly international flights. The airline should also offer a baggage transfer services to passengers who have connecting flights with other carriers in order to improve its customer service.

Strategies of Market Growth Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategies of Market Growth - Assignment Example Today, the economies of most of these markets are growing and expanding at a rate that easily attracts multinational companies from all across the world. Most of these emerging markets are also having very favourable macroeconomic and microeconomic policies that put them at highly lucrative positions to choose in the doing of global business. With the coming and advancement of technology also, there has been a major boost in terms of how effective and efficient business is undertake in these emerging markets. All of these favourable conditions notwithstanding, it remain a fact that with the level of development in these emerging markets, companies need much strategic approaches to make good use of consumers in emerging markets, especially those at the bottom of the pyramid. In this paper, two key business strategies that can be used by these companies are critically discussed. Strategies of Market Growth Gollakota (2010) identifies consumers at the bottom of the pyramid as one of the most important stakeholders of any company’s supply chain, especially those in emerging markets. ... erstanding circumstances that consumers must satisfy to meet their needs, whiles the final parameter looks into the essence of what the consumer wants to accomplish (Gollakota, 2010). Generally, though, the deep cost management centres on the second paradigm, which advises the need for prices of products and services to be cut low to ensure that those at the bottom will also have the means of responding to their needs. For the companies to do this cost cutting without running at a loss it important that they are engaged in prudent management of production cost. In the second instance, the use of deep benefit management is recommended for use. Unlike the former which focuses on cost management, this is more concerned about value management, where the need for companies to think of ways of adding new features that give unique value to their products and services is recommended (Ghemawat, 2010). In most cases, what has been observed with emerging markets is that consumers at the bottom want to use their money in the most guaranteed means that they have to be very certain about value for money. In effect, even if they will have to be paying more, they would need guarantee that the same product or service from another outfit has less value than the one they are purchasing (Pelle, 2007). Meanwhile, the best way to raise the value of a product is by introducing new features that takes away cost in an indirect manner. Some of these ways include â€Å"offering convenient locations, transport, or other services that are essential for BOP customers† Gollakota, 2010 p. 361). Conclusion In conclusion, it will be reiterated that the need for businesses and organizations to succeed is not an achievement that comes by accident, especially when reference is made to emerging markets. As

Should the federal government legalize the use of marijuana Research Paper

Should the federal government legalize the use of marijuana - Research Paper Example Such studies have been quoted as proof of the good qualities of the drug whenever the subject of legalizing marijuana is brought up. However, most of these studies do not tackle the issue about common mental problems that are experienced by patients when they consume marijuana in order to contain pain symptoms. It is a recognized fact that marijuana can cause anxiety problems, as well as depression, in all users. Using marijuana can also set off schizophrenic characteristics in individuals who are predisposed to getting this condition. These are facts that are never directly addressed by scholars who study marijuana users. The word ‘marijuana’ refers to a concotion of flowers, dried leaves, seeds and stems that originate from Cannabis sativa, which is the hemp plant. This mixture has mind-altering substances like delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), among other related chemicals. This concoction usually also contains substances such as hash oil and hashish. Marijuana is said to be the most popular illegal drug in nations all around the world. There are a number of nations that have taken the step of banning its use, however. In America, the Federal Government does not support the proposed legalization of marijuana which has been proposed by many state governments. This means that, in some cases, federal laws will clash with state laws. There are 18 states that have legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes. In other states, local governments are involved in debates concerning the legalization of marijuana for medical, as well as social purposes. For the most part, many users of marijuana do not consider the adverse effects of the drug, when proposing its legalization. This is something that has marked the majority of debates in which the advocates of the legalization of marijuana support the notion that it has medicinal properties that even serve to

Responsive Relationships In Inclusive Relationships Children And Young People Essay

Responsive Relationships In Inclusive Relationships Children And Young People Essay The purpose of this assignment is to give an observation of an inclusive environment that helps children feel welcome and safe. At the same time this assignment gives an opinion on how to improve the child care settings to help children feel more comfortable. The children at the child care centre are three and three and a half years old and it may be hard for children to leave their parents at that age. The setting helps the children feel at home when they come in to the child care centre. In the child care centre there are six areas where the children have the opportunity to play in, such as the block area where all the childrens toys are. The areas have different materials that are available for the children to use in order to develop and introduce the children to different experiences such as in the book area. There are books that have pictures of different animals and this will help the children identify different animals and even spark their interest later on in the day. Schedule Is there outdoor time schedule (or gym time for bad weather?) In the child care centre, the schedule reflects each childs needs. The children are restless and they need the time to have fresh air and physical activity. For example, the children have outdoor play twice a day and gym time when the weather is not suitable. The children have at least 2 hours of outdoor play in a day. There is a playground for the children where they can go on the slides, play in the sandbox and there are toys to play with outside. In the gym, there are scooters, mini cars and a smaller playground to play in. The gym has many materials for the children to choose from if they do not want to play with the scooters or the mini cars. There are other options for the children to choose from such as costumes and baby dolls with strollers. Is the schedule explained in enough detail that you can understand what children are expected to do during this time period? Schedules are typically posted so that children, families and volunteers can anticipate the next event. For younger children the schedule is often displayed in picture form (P.55) In the child care centre, there are two schedules in the classroom. The schedule provided for the adults gives specific times such as when it is time for the children to play, eat lunch, snack and go to the washroom. For the children, the schedule is placed at eye level where they can see and it will show the time for their play, snack and lunch but with pictures for the children to understand the schedule. 1b. Describe any changes, suggestions you would recommend to make the schedule in the environment meet the criteria in the environmental assessment tool. Bullard (2011), states that Children should not be required to lie on their mats for long periods of time (more than half an hour) when they are not asleep (p. 63). During rest time, some children are unable to sleep for a longer than thirty minutes. In my placement, some children move from their mats, or play with their blankets. To improve this transition I would have the children who are unable to sleep get together and go to the gym and play until they are tired, so that when they come back to the classroom the children are more likely to fall asleep. Transitions Are children given advance notice that an activity is changing? Giving a warning demonstrates that we have respect for children and their work. The time between the warning and the transition allows children to bring closure to the task they are engaged in and to begin planning for the next event (Bullard 2010 P.61). After the morning snack, the children are playing in the block area for at least an hour, before recall. This is from 8:30 to 9:30, before 9:30 the teacher will say Okay, guys, five more minutes. When the five minutes past the teacher will look at the clock and tell the children, okay, everyone, two more minutes. This gives the children an advance notice for the children so they do not feel rushed when the clock shows 9:30. When play time is over the children are more likely to clean up their material and wait for the next event on the schedule. 2b) Describe any changes, suggestions you would recommend to the transitions to meet the criteria in the environmental assessment tool. In addition to wasting valuable time and increasing the likelihood of behaviour problems, requiring children to wait with nothing to do is disrespectful (Bullard 2010 P. 60). In my placement, lunch time has the most waiting time. Sometimes the children will misbehave because they have nothing to do while lunch is being served. The recommendation I would make in order to make this transition easier for the children and the teacher is singing a song as this will help take their minds off of waiting for their food to arrive and singing is one the best way to keep a child entertained. A) Block Area B) In the block area there are many materials used by the children every day. The materials vary from dolls, building blocks and construction tools. The learning experiences in the block area help children express how they feel using the materials in front of them. For example, when a child is expressing that they are sad, they might isolate themselves and use the dolls to take their minds off of what they were upset about. The block area also encourages children to cooperate and learn how to share because of the amount of toys that are available in the learning centre. C) Are there materials that reflect the lives of children with disabilities? Yes, in the child care centre the block area has dolls with many disabilities to give children exposure to people with special needs. They have dolls from all different backgrounds that have disabilities such as a child in a wheelchair or an elderly person holding a cane. This helps children learn that people can be different and includes every child in the classroom. In my placement there is a child who has a mental disability that is unable to move and he is bound to a wheelchair. Having these dolls in the classroom help include him and show the children that he is not different from the other children. Are the shelves labeled so that children can easily find items and know where to put them away? Appropriate storage can help reduce clutter, saves time and make materials accessible, enhance the rotation of toys and equipment, and maximize the use of resource (Bullard, 2010 P. 99). Yes, in the child care centre the block area has many shelves that are labeled with words and pictures. This will help the children organize where they should put the material when it is time to transition to a new event. The shelves are child accessible that they are at their level to reach for the materials and it is very organized so that each child can find what they want without any assistance. D) In the block area, I feel that the spacing is not inclusive for all children. There is little space for a child in a wheelchair to be included within the block area with the other children. This is not responsive or inclusive because the child with special needs is left out from the activities that the children are participating in. This can cause a problem when he wants to be able to see the other children play. Also the parents and teachers are unable to move in the block area because of the amount of children playing and the toys in the room. This is difficult for when the parents want to be involved with the childs play. E) The recommendation I would make in order for the block area to be more inclusive is to arrange the room for more space to include staff and parents. In my placement, I noticed that the amount of children and toys that are placed in the block area does not give a lot of room for the teachers to move around or parents to see what their child is doing. If there was more space, there would be more room for children, parents and staff to be side by side and interact with each other. Another reason more room is important is because the child who is in the wheelchair is unable to join the children in the block area due to lack of space. If they expand the block area the child would be able to be included in the activities with the other children. I would push the shelves back more to give space for all the children and give room for the child with the disability to be able to move inside the block area. F) Is the environment homelike? The environment in the block area is somewhat homelike because there are pictures of the families of each child on the wall and there are living things such as plants. The child care centre provides the pictures for the children so that when they miss their parents they are able to look at the pictures in the block area. The child care centre also allows the children to grow their own plants at the centre. This teaches the children about growing plants and gives the environment a homelike feel. Are there pale and neutral colours used for most walls and shelving? Yes, the walls in the centre are painted white and the shelves are a natural wood colour. This is important because bright colours cause too much stimulation, especially when the toys and the pictures on the wall should be the main attraction. Neutral colours allow the emphasis to be on the toys and materials in the classroom. G) In part F), I mentioned that the environment of the block area is somewhat homelike in the child care centre. This is because there is no space for the children to find a quiet spot for their own purposes. According to Bullard (2010), Solidary retreats provide children the opportunity to think and dream, engage in uninterrupted concentration, regain control of emotion and unwind after intense periods of interaction. (P. 92). I would have a space outside of the block area for the child if he/ she wants to be alone, then they can leave the block area and sit in the space so that they are able to find their peace of mind. Conclusion The environment of the child care centre is homelike for children and helps the children feel comfortable in the room. The transitions between play time and recall help each child get used to the schedule. The teacher is there to assist the children through the transition through early warnings so that the children do not feel rushed when they have to clean up their materials. From my observation, the block area in the child care centre was inclusive. However, there are some recommendations that should be addressed in order to help each child feel more included and reducing the waiting time when transitioning to a new event. The recommendations I made were that they should sing songs during lunch time, expand the block area more to include a child with special needs and find a space for each child in the centre to be alone if they want to. All in all, the centres environment has met with each childs needs in terms of helping them transition from different activities and make them fee l comfortable in the classroom.

Multilateralism and Small Developing States Essay -- The Political Eco

Multilateralism serves to be both a blessing and a curse, when placed amongst small island developing states in the global system. The statement without a shadow of a doubt stands true that multilateralism can simultaneously advance and undermine the interest of small island developing states in the global system. Small island developing states lack the power, wealth and influence to exert any political clout in the global political arena at the individual state level and as such, often times than none, their interest are overlooked and ignored. A we take a critical look at multilateralism, the very definition of the word according to (Keohane,1990;731) defined multilateralism as â€Å"the practice of coordinating national policies in groups of three or more states.† By this very definition, we can see the contradictions that lies within, when looking at this through a Caribbean lens. Multilateralism, where Caribbean states are involved in binding agreements, can be argued to be a contradiction on the basis of the contending international relations theories of Realism and Idealism. The first theoretical perspective to be undertaken will be the Realist perspective on states in the global political arena. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy states clearly that â€Å"Realism, also known as political realism, is a view of international politics that stresses its competitive and conflictual side. It is usually contrasted with idealism or liberalism, which tends to emphasize cooperation.(Baylis, Smith and Owens, 2011; 4) states that, â€Å" the main actors on the world stage are states, which are legally sovereign actors. Sovereignty means that there is no actor above the state that can compel it to act in specific ways,. Other acrors, such a... ... 61 (4): 853–876. †¢ Keohane and Joseph S. Nye, Power and. Interdependence: World Politics in Transition (Boston: Little, Brown, 1977) †¢ Keohane, Robert O. â€Å"Multilateralism: An Agenda for Research.† International Journal, 45 (Autumn 1990). †¢ McGinnis, John O. â€Å"The Political Economy of Global Multilateralism.† Chicago Journal of International Law, Fall2000, 6. †¢ Strange, Susan. (1997). â€Å"Territory, State, Authority and Economy: a new realist ontology of global political economy.† In The New Realism. Edited by Robert, W. Cox (New York: The United Nations University Press, pp 3-19). †¢ Spangler, Brad. "Integrative or Interest-Based Bargaining." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: June 2003 .

The Beliefs of Locke and Newton, Inspired Jonathan Edwards Essay

In Jonathan Edwards's The Nature of True Virtue his beliefs of following God's supremacy leads to moral beauty, the virtue in nature, and the selflessness of true virtue will unite society all stem from John Locke's beliefs of the social contract, Isaac Newton's belief of the logical perfection of nature, and both of their beliefs of human morality. An important point which Edwards writes in his sermon is his belief that when man is truly following the path of God, he will reach a sense morality that has beauty. In the sermon, Edwards writes, "And if we consider the†¦moral excellency, the same will appear†¦God is infinitely the greatest Being, so he is allowed to be infinitely the most beautiful and excellent" (14). He is referring to the Puritanistic ideal that God is everything that is good and right. Therefore, God is the most moralistic entity in existence and striving for a godly life will eventually lead to one's own moral beauty. Although John Locke's ideas of morality are more political, they are passionate ideas, much like Edwards's ideas. John Griffith, commentating on Edwards's The Nature of True Virtue, states, "Edwards begins by accepting Hutcheson's proposition that virtue is moral beauty. Beauty, he says, is always a harmony, or 'consent and agreement'" (2576). Griffith is stating, like I previous ly stated, that Edwards predominantly focused on the moral aspect of his beliefs. Furthermore, Locke's passion for morality is also seen in his interpretation of the social contract. We see that Locke's ideas in freedom of life, liberty, and property have formed the basic morals of past and current governments. One of Edwards's morals that have been seen throughout American history is the infinite sovereignty of G... ...1960. Print. Griffith, John. "Jonathan Edwards." The Critical Perspective. Ed. Harold Bloom. Vol. 5. New York: Chelsea, 1987. 2573-79. Print. Rpt. of "Jonathan Edwards as a Literary Artist." Criticism (1973): 156-73. Henry, Caleb. "Pride, Property, and Providence: Jonathan Edwards on Property Rights." Journal of Church and State 3(2011):401. eLibrary. Web. 17 Jan. 2012. Lane, C, Belden.. "JONATHAN EDWARDS ON BEAUTY, DESIRE, AND THE SENSORY WORLD." Theological Studies 1(2004):44. eLibrary. Web. 17 Jan. 2012. Minkema, Kenneth P., Stout, Harry S.. "The Edwardsean Tradition and the Antislavery Debate, 1740-1865." Journal of American History 1(2005):47. eLibrary. Web. 17 Jan. 2012. Scheick, William J. "Virtue and Identity: Last Works: Of Beauty and Virtue." The Writings of Jonathan Edwards: Theme, Motif, and Style. College Station: Texas A&M UP, 1975. 128-32. Print. The Beliefs of Locke and Newton, Inspired Jonathan Edwards Essay In Jonathan Edwards's The Nature of True Virtue his beliefs of following God's supremacy leads to moral beauty, the virtue in nature, and the selflessness of true virtue will unite society all stem from John Locke's beliefs of the social contract, Isaac Newton's belief of the logical perfection of nature, and both of their beliefs of human morality. An important point which Edwards writes in his sermon is his belief that when man is truly following the path of God, he will reach a sense morality that has beauty. In the sermon, Edwards writes, "And if we consider the†¦moral excellency, the same will appear†¦God is infinitely the greatest Being, so he is allowed to be infinitely the most beautiful and excellent" (14). He is referring to the Puritanistic ideal that God is everything that is good and right. Therefore, God is the most moralistic entity in existence and striving for a godly life will eventually lead to one's own moral beauty. Although John Locke's ideas of morality are more political, they are passionate ideas, much like Edwards's ideas. John Griffith, commentating on Edwards's The Nature of True Virtue, states, "Edwards begins by accepting Hutcheson's proposition that virtue is moral beauty. Beauty, he says, is always a harmony, or 'consent and agreement'" (2576). Griffith is stating, like I previous ly stated, that Edwards predominantly focused on the moral aspect of his beliefs. Furthermore, Locke's passion for morality is also seen in his interpretation of the social contract. We see that Locke's ideas in freedom of life, liberty, and property have formed the basic morals of past and current governments. One of Edwards's morals that have been seen throughout American history is the infinite sovereignty of G... ...1960. Print. Griffith, John. "Jonathan Edwards." The Critical Perspective. Ed. Harold Bloom. Vol. 5. New York: Chelsea, 1987. 2573-79. Print. Rpt. of "Jonathan Edwards as a Literary Artist." Criticism (1973): 156-73. Henry, Caleb. "Pride, Property, and Providence: Jonathan Edwards on Property Rights." Journal of Church and State 3(2011):401. eLibrary. Web. 17 Jan. 2012. Lane, C, Belden.. "JONATHAN EDWARDS ON BEAUTY, DESIRE, AND THE SENSORY WORLD." Theological Studies 1(2004):44. eLibrary. Web. 17 Jan. 2012. Minkema, Kenneth P., Stout, Harry S.. "The Edwardsean Tradition and the Antislavery Debate, 1740-1865." Journal of American History 1(2005):47. eLibrary. Web. 17 Jan. 2012. Scheick, William J. "Virtue and Identity: Last Works: Of Beauty and Virtue." The Writings of Jonathan Edwards: Theme, Motif, and Style. College Station: Texas A&M UP, 1975. 128-32. Print.