Educational Website Evaluation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Educational Website Evaluation - Research Paper Example Before healthcare professionals recommend any websites to patients, the must make sure of the quality of content and information is accurate to serve the purpose. Based on the given references, â€Å"accuracy† is a key factor to check the sources for content. The information may also come from more than one source. If the information comes from a reputed source, then it is good to use. For example, websites like www.cdc.gov gives users ample information on health topics. Within the site one can find links that provide information in details on recent outbreaks in the country, health and safety topics related to all diseases. Accuracy of particular site deals with the updating of the site, the quality of language, authentication of the site, appropriate links within the site, etc. In CDC on the home page itself the visitors can view â€Å"Health and Safety Topics† that takes them to a vast array of information on various diseases and prevention methods. They can also get A-Z information on all health topics as each topic is provided with featured links and sub-topics making the information easily accessible. For example, the â€Å"heart disease† topic will give the visitors links for coronary artery disease, symptoms and recommendations. However, relying on the internet for health information is a risky proposition as one cannot blindly believe on all the sites. Many times, people end up with websites giving them irrelevant or false information. Fortunately, the users can verify the contents of CDC and it is accurate. Regular users of internet can easily identify the genuineness of this website. While searching for right health information few aspects needs to be considered. These include whether the site is authorized, does it ask for personal information or whether it makes unbelievable claims. It is also desirable to check the â€Å"About Us† page of the site for finding the answers about the questions relating to the promoters of the sites. To a certain extent, the â€Å"site map† can also be helpful. In the â€Å"About Us† page of CDC one can get to know about CDC organization, mission and vision, their training and education and how they are connected with social media. These points are enough to answer the authorization of the site. Second factor is the author of the website, who must have â€Å"verifiable credentials† (Website Evaluation Guide, n.d., p.1). The author must be easily accessible through e-mail address or other contact details provided on the site. CDC gives the users the complete postal address and how to contact the owner through twitter and FaceBook – CDC tweets and CDC FaceBook Posts. Evaluating health websites is impossible without authorization and details of sponsor. When a person checks on the authority, two important things must be noted such as (a) why the site is created and (2) which sponsor runs the site? If the site is making unwanted claims to the u ser that means the site does not have a sponsor or proper author. If one takes the example of the earlier mentioned site he or she can find that the site is run by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In the â€Å"About CDC† page of the site, there is a link for â€Å"CDC 24/7† which gives you information on how â€Å"CDC officials† work with other health care providers to spread health awareness. This provides clear details of who runs the site and what is its purpose. Another important

A Study On The European Citizenship Politics Essay

A Study On The European Citizenship Politics Essay Citizenship is not an essence but a historical construction. The idea of European Union citizenship was first acknowledged in the Maastricht Treaty, which was signed in 1991 and came into effect in 1993. European patriotism and identity obviously draw on the concept of European citizenship. The complicated nature of European collective identity and the different collective identities of European nations eventually link the process of common identity-building to the legal formation of a European citizenry and the distribution of rights and duties guaranteed for citizens by European law (Von Beyme, 2001). Today, citizenship has moved to the forefront of political debates in many European countries as well as the European Union institutions, and it has become a volatile policy area where change is dynamic and continuous even if the citizenship laws remain robust to major changes mainly due to the friction between the nation state and supranationalism in terms of political sovereignty. While Maastricht Treaty establishes Union citizenship for every person holding the nationality of a Member State; the Amsterdam Treaty addresses this issue by adding that Citizenship of the Union shall complement and not replace national citizenship (Treaty on European Union Article 8, February 7, 1992). There is a problematical area which the European Charter on Fundamental Rights will not overcome: the citizenship is merely a derived condition of nationality, while certain fundamental rights are based on a mixture of various criteria other than citizenship or nationality alone. Even if the Charter on Fundamental Rights in the European Union adopted as a legally binding instrument with EU law, it will not change anything in this direction and this dilemma will remain to exist. An important problem of the current formulation of European Union citizenship is that it is not defined as an autonomous concept in Community Law at the supranational level, but defined exclusively by the appl icable member state legislation for granting of nationality only at the national level. From the perspective of the legal aspects of citizenship, EU citizenship might be characterized as a derived condition of nationality simply because there is no Community competence to set up its own criteria for defining nationality or citizenship, thus the formal European identity. The conception of European citizenship is one of the mechanisms that the integration process generates for further deepening of the Union. After several rounds of enlargements and accession of more than ten new member states in the last decade, the European integration project must focus its efforts on deepening its structures and organization rather than enlargement especially at a time of fast globalization. Today, Europe is in need of defining the borderlines of European citizenship which cannot be constructed by a model built on the nation state principles. Although the identity building stage for peoples of the European Union is similar to the process of national identity building; the EU citizenship shall be comprehended and structured as a whole different entity than national citizenship. Today, the European society is in trouble because of the unclear definition of the EU citizenship and common European identity, or the unhealthy practice of European citizenship through natio n state based models in the integrated Europe of our day. So far, the prospects of a common European citizenship have been basically failure when it comes to practice and the reason is that European citizenship is incorrectly formulized to serve the aims of national interests rather than the supranational institutions of the European Union. The ultimate attempt of the European Commission to consolidate political integration through a Constitutional Treaty in the year 2005 was rejected by citizens of France and the Netherlands. The public opinion indicates that most citizens in Europe are not eager to become citizens of Europe they are not willing to shift their sovereignty, political allegiance and identities from the national to the supranational level (Baubà ¶ck, 2006). The results of successive editions of the Eurobarometer suggests that European political identity is weak and there is a great variation across EU member states, while in most EU countries only a very small percentage of people around five percent declare having an exclus ive European identity while up to fifty percent do not have any sense of European identity (Gubernau, 2001: 176). Indeed, Amsterdam Treaty of 1997 makes it clear that citizenship of the Union shall complement and not replace national citizenship and that the Union shall respect the national identities of its member states. Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty of the European Union: Article 1, October 2, 1997). Therefore, Community law does not recognize any authority of the Union in determining its own citizens (Baubà ¶ck, 2006). Instead, the current legislation suggests that the European Union citizenship is simply derived from national member state citizenship, which is highly problematic to serve the jurisdiction of the European Union institutions. Before the enlargement of 2004 which resulted with ten new member states joining the EU, the European Commission identified three priorities for the EU which highlighted giving full content to European citizenship (European Commission, 2004). In 2006, the second phase of the EU Programme to Promote Active European Citizenship was launched. The concept of a European citizenship incorporating shared values and a sense of belonging to the European Union in addition to legal rights were officially acknowledged by the Programme. However, today the European Union citizenship is increasingly challenged in domestic politics and may eventually become a source of conflict between member states, if it has not become an important area of intra-tension yet. Recent European experiences suggest that natural and spontaneous convergence among EU member states towards cosmopolitan liberal norms is no longer a reasonable expectation. Almost two decades after creating a citizenship of the Union, it shal l be the time that European policy-makers take the initiative of introducing common European standards for the citizenship laws of the member states to create an active and functioning European Union citizenship. Although this does not require imposing a single European citizenship law, the process might start with an open method of coordination and could result in an authority of EU law to regulate those aspects of national legislation that violate principles of European solidarity or result in discrimination and exclusion of third-country nationals (Baubà ¶ck, 2006: 6). Furthermore, problems exist at the supranational governance level as the European Parliament is the primary legislative body of the European Union but it is not a sovereign legislative body. . After all, the EU citizenship has unfortunately remained a metaphor with some added value to it until today. The European Union citizenship in order to practically exist needs direct effect of Community law in order to becom e e a genuine source of rights for citizens of Europe. Although Europe gave birth to the nation state system and the Europeans are creators of the idea of citizenship; peoples of the European Union are in desperate need of making an up-to-date definition of the EU citizenship today. The Classical Model of Citizenship, also known as the National-Political Citizenship, is a product of Europe in the context of the classical European nation state. One major problem in todays Europe is that this model is crumbling and no more capable of providing a complete comprehension of citizenship in the integrated Europe under our days dynamic conditions. The Classical Model applies to two types of nation state formations in Europe: the republican or civic model supported by France or the nationalist or ethnic model supported by Germany and the Eastern European states. Although the French model, also adopted by the Americans, focuses on the political qualities of culture and the German model focuses on the ethnical qualities as major elements; both incl ude the concept of nation, in other words people on a certain territory with certain rights and liberties as their main element. However, the strict attachment to territory when defining citizenship is no more applicable under todays European Union conditions; as free movement within the Union is established in recent years. On the other hand, the rights and liberties given to the increasing immigrant population and ethnic groups are questioned as the main factors of inconsistency, distress and tension in the socio-political life in Europe today. After all, the European Union is not a nation-state; it entails a whole different type of organization, a supranational entity above the level of member nation-states. If the EU is imagined as a large nation state, then its cultural politics stays on the top-bottom line as elitist discourse to create Europeans (Strath, 2000) and do not touch social identities of the people, except Euro-bureaucrats only (Shore, 2000). Nonetheless, today the EU citizenship rights are derivative of national citizenship and currently they do not form a compelling basis for an active European citizenship of participation (Delanty, 2000a: 83, Baubà ¶ck, 2006). On the other hand, to what extent EU citizenship departs from the nation-state norms of citizenship remains the question. The European integration has a positive impact on the decline of nation states as they begin to share their sovereignty for building a supranational entity which entails an economical as a well as a political unification of Europe. However, the National-Political Citizenship Model is out of date with the formation of todays integrationist Europe. European nation states are breaking down as they face with drastic changes driven by diverse outcomes of globalization, such as heterogeneous multicultural structure and free movement within the European Union which challenge the territory principle of the nation state structure. In Scholtes words, contemporary governance is multilayered; it includes important local, substate regional, suprastate, regional, and transworld operations alongside and intertwined with national arrangements (Scholte, 2000: 143). An important consequence of these shifts is that governance has become more fragmented and decentralized. Globalization has accelerated t he efforts for building European citizenship by creating gaps in effective governance at national level and refocusing attention on problems best dealt with at the sub-national or supra-national level (Rumford, 2003). Therefore, one can conclude that globalization has opened up the field of European governance. As a result, the new supranational state organization in Europe does not allow powerful nation states of the 20th Century to exist, and therefore the Classical Model of Citizenship which relies on the nation-state structure simply needs to be changed or reconfigured under todays circumstances. The present formulation of European Union citizenship has failed to establish a direct connection between the citizenry and the European Union institutions, without ties to the nation state. In the literature of liberal democracy, citizenship is meant to empower citizens of a state to hold governments accountable. In this respect, Union citizenship hardly satisfies democratic aspirations (Baubà ¶ck, 2006). Baubà ¶ck argues that the true value of being a citizen of the European Union lies not in rights one has towards the institutions of the Union, but in rights towards the other member states as the Union citizenship extensively prohibits national governments from discriminating against the citizens of other EU states (Baubà ¶ck, 2006: 1).. After all, there is a broader aspiration to promote relationships between the Union and European people which are to be more direct and substantial than they were in the past and which are less intervened by the member states. Almost a decade a fter the EU citizenship was introduced, the European Commission had confessed that EU citizens have little in the way of a European political consciousness and are not given much encouragement nor facility to engage in a consistent political dialogue with European institutions (European Commission, 2001:7). Therefore, Europeanists also believe that EU citizenship is also important for the future of the Union as it entails an enhanced relationship between the EU and its citizens which in turn will increase effectiveness and efficiency of European institutions, reducing the EUs democratic deficit while increasing the Unions political legitimacy. Meanwhile, the European citizenship has been a rather insignificant area of law and source of rights so far, after nearly two decades it had been introduced into the Community Law. In practice, the concept of EU citizenship has been used with an intention to close up certain gaps of free movement issues within the European land. The legal rights associated with citizenship of the Union are to travel and reside anywhere in the EU; to vote and to stand for election in municipal and European elections in the member state of residence, regardless of nationality; to have consular protection by the consulate of another member state while outside the EU; to petition the European Parliament and apply to the European Ombudsman (Consolidated Treaty of Rome Articles 18-22). Based on general principles of the Community law, specifically the principle of non-discrimination having direct effect, an extension of the substance of citizenship to third-country nationals who have legally lived within t he boundaries EU for a long time; and the issues that correlate with the interrelation between rights and duties remain as a question (Reich, 2001). Deviating from the past trend towards liberalization, there are numbers of countries, such as Greece, Denmark, and Austria, where restrictive citizenship laws have been either retained or further advanced largely due to the growing trend of external migration to the Union. The Netherlands, which used to have a liberal naturalization policy for immigrants, is the most dramatic example of a turnabout of citizenship policy. Furthermore, citizenship tests were introduced in Germany, Denmark, Greece, Austria, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands in addition to the widespread requirement of learning the dominant language, these tests include questions about the countrys history, constitution, and everyday culture which almost require university level education for immigrants in order to become citizens (Baubà ¶ck, 2006: 5). While language skills are universally accepted as useful for social as well as political integration for immigrants seeking citizenship, the usefulness of the largel y implausible questions asked in citizenship tests raise doubts. This new approach in European Union member states to naturalization reminds of exclusionary ethnic conception of citizenship as the new naturalization policies emphasize integration as a precondition for citizenship and they define integration as an individual achievement rather than a structural condition of equal rights and opportunities. Although citizenship is no longer attached to ethnic identities in todays Europe, it cannot be accepted as a tool for integrating societies which have heterogeneous origins. Today, the current formulation of the EU citizenship has three main features. First, it is not autonomous and genuine as it is derived from member state citizenship; second, it cannot establish a direct link between the European Union and its citizens without ties to the national level; and third, in practice it only gives free access to other member states for European citizens within the boundaries of the Union, and does not provide more. Moreover, it is a source of inequality and exclusion for Europeans. Some European Union member states may give national citizenship to immigrants in three years while another state can call for ten years of residence; thus there is no standards for becoming a European Union citizen for immigrants as the Union citizenship is merely connected to national citizenship. On the other hand, current policies do not serve as a unifying factor at the supranational level but remain merely connected to the national level as immigrants who move frequently betw een different member states of the EU while staying within the territories of the Union for an overall long period of time cannot become European Union citizens, because citizenship policies still operate at national level which does not only harm the unity of European society but also embarrass European Union by proving it as an ineffective political entity. In fact, nearly all European states require a certain period of continuous residence in their national territory rather than the territory of the European Union as a condition for naturalization according to their natural laws. Theoretically, the EU citizens have the right of free access to employment in other member states of the Union. However, this right has been temporarily suspended in some member states for the citizens of countries that have recently joined the EU which introduced a temporary form of second-class citizenship within the Union that is hard to reconcile with the basic commitment to free movement and non-dis crimination on grounds of nationality among the European Union citizens (Baubà ¶ck, 2007: 459).Therefore, one may conclude that there is a great inconsistency between the aims of the European Union citizenship and its current formulation due to the tension between national and supranational levels and the fact the EU citizenship is not genuine and remain merely a derivation from natural citizenship policies. There are different ways of responding to these problems and all entail a new formulization of European Union citizenship. A radical solution would be to turn the relation between supranational and national citizenship upside down, so that the former determines the latter (Baubà ¶ck, 2006). This would propose a federation for the European Union and there is not much political support among European citizens as well as governments for building such a European federation. The alternative remains to be to hope for a spontaneous convergence of national citizenship policies from below; which experience suggests that is not realistic to expect anytime soon. Many national reforms have moved in similar directions over the past decades, but it would be rather optimistic to believe that member states are willing to change their laws in order to avoid burdening other states with immigration problems or in order to secure roughly equal conditions for access to citizenship across Europe (Baubà ¶ck, 2006). Rainer Baubà ¶ck (2007) summarizes three major approaches to future European Union citizenship: The statist approach, the unionist approach and the pluralist approach. The statist approach view the European Union in as progressing towards a federal state, and suggests federal norms of citizenship such as the example of the United States for the EU citizenship. The unionist approach aims to strengthen citizenship of the Union by making it more inclusionary for the Europeans. It is different from the federal modal in terms that it seeks to emancipate EU citizenship from member-state citizenship rather than integrate the latter into the former. The pluralist approach seeks to apply general norms of democratic legitimacy at both supranational and national levels and to balance these concerns where they may coincide or conflict. Although this approach is not primarily committed to strengthening the EU citizenship by weakening member state citizenships; it is reformist in promoting a more consistent conception of multilevel citizenship which can be applied to the EU under todays conditions. The statist, in other words Federal approach has only few advocates and involves substantial departure from the path the European Union has been following until today which makes it a non-feasible solution. The Unionist approach has many advocates among Europeanists and immigrant populations; but in larger civil society it still remains a marginal proposition for European politics. Finally, the pluralist approach is the most feasible solution for European Union citizenship, but still it is too ambitious to have any chance of adaptation in the near future (Baubà ¶ck, 2007). After all, all three approaches propose different paths for European citizenship but they share a commitment to Union citizenship and they are opposed to Euroskeptic nationalist or intergovernmental perspectives on EU citizenship. In the general literature, In the general literature, there are several alternative formulations other than the Classical Model of Citizenship which may serve as basis for a common European Union citizenry.Revised National Citizenship Model is a new approach to citizenship; it is basically a version of the national-political model of citizenship which is arguably updated to todays conditions in Europe. Indeed, this model is probably the most commonly practiced citizenship model by the European states today, which simply took place of the classical model or mixed with the classical model due to change of the environment in Europe. Although this model supports openness in terms of a potential of citizenship for resident non-citizens, political rights are not given to the non-citizen residents which is central to discussion to overcome the potential problems in Europe centered in minority issues. Therefore, this model does not seem to provide a solution for the European Union citizenshi p in todays circumstances as it has already been largely practiced in parts of Europe. Finally, although the revised model makes it easier for non-citizen residents to earn citizenship rights while it simultaneously closes the doors for newcomers by establishing effective control over borders. The model makes it even harder to migrate into a country in any legal status which would decrease the non-citizen resident population. Most states in Europe such as England and Germany which are regarded as the hardest countries to earn citizenship; empower this model rather than the classical model today, to create a solution for their migration problems. The Post National Citizenship Model is the most complex, revolutionary and appropriate model for the future of European integration. Habermas, as a well-known European constitutionalist and pro-integrationist who comes from a republican nation state tradition, puts a lot of emphasis on civil rights and liberties while his arguments center on the idea of constitutional patriotism. The main argument is that Europe needs a public sphere, a public opinion and a political culture to create a common identity but the values used in creation of this singular European identity should not be ethnic or nationalist values and solely political elements of culture (Habermas, 1994). Ratification of a European Constitution would provide the easiest way to achieve these values to create a single European identity, which definitely cannot be created with ethnic or nationalist elements, which should remain as secondary identities. On the other hand, Habermas argues that further enlargement of the EU wi ll make integration even more difficult and the deepening of European Union is more important than its widening policies under todays conditions (Habermas, 2005). Finally, the newcomers are seen as a risk for the model of citizenship and the future of Europe because they must adapt to the European political culture or they will surely pose a threat to the democratic system of the state. Habermas concludes that a resident non-citizen should be entitled as a citizen only when being a part of the European political culture by building positive relations with the majority of the society and by being schooled in the educational system of the host country to for full adaptation (Habermas, 1994). On the contrary, Yasemin Soysal uses a different perspective while discussing the Post National Citizenship Model. The main argument which lies at the heart of the debate is that the human rights are more important than political rights because citizens are individuals which raise the importance of human rights (Soysal, 2000). The key point here is the fact that, although political rights are highly related to the nation state structure, the human rights are not related to the development of nation-state thus they are independent from a nation-state based citizenship model. Massive decolonization, the rise of transnational agencies, the emergence of multilevel politics and most importantly, increasing immigration after the Second World War are four developments that created the historical background for the rise of human rights in Europe in last fifty years. In Todays Europe, boundaries of citizenship are fluid, multiplicity of membership and universal personhood exist which are basi c characteristics of the Post-National Citizenship Model. As a result, the post-national citizenship model is compatible with todays European Union, as it does not count on national borders and only universal characteristics rather than national ones. Therefore, post national citizenship model suits well with the concept of a European citizenship, not created by ethnic, national or religious elements of culture but the political culture, as it was also argued by Habermas (1994, 2003). On the other hand, there is a counter-argument about the possible success of the Post-National Model application in Europe. The critical argument made by Soysal is that the rising trend of human rights creates a paradox, which lays as the main reason behind the increasing minority violence events across Europe. Soysal asks in todays environment of emphasized civil rights and post national individualism, how are particularistic identities affected, given the rise of human rights, particularistic identities such as ethnical, religious and national identities rise simultaneously (Soysal, 2000). The conclusion is that the Post National Citizenship Model sits on top of the paradox; civil rights and particularistic identities rise simultaneously as increasing liberties prepare grounds for expressing these identities. Although human rights are rising for the privileged citizens, not each and every individual in a society such as immigrant minorities in France has full access to human rights because they remain as non-citizen residents, outsiders to the culture and this causes the creation of socio-economical inequality. On the other hand, when these groups are given cultural rights under todays conditions without the establishment of necessary economic and social integration; the outcomes may be further expression of particularistic identities which will again create a threat to the social system. The rise of cultural rights is a crucial issue in the post national debate. Cultural rights are defined as an issue of human rights; the issue is related to group rights rather than individual rights in the post-national context (Taylor, 1999). For example the minority violence events on European streets can be understood by observing the rights of these groups of people who are all resident non-citizens and who all dont have national political rights; and it is important that all are group actions instead of individual actions. Cultural rights of these groups are crucial in a multicultural post-national Europe, and most of the social tension centers on the issue that how much cultural rights should the minority groups have in the context of an integrated Europe rather than a nation state structure. What makes these people different than European Union citizens in the cradle of democracy is the fact that majority rules in democracies and minorities are excluded from the system as a s acrifice simply because democracy is a majority system. On the other hand, in democracies, minorities have belief in the system because they have hopes to be a part of the majority and thus the ruling class one day and thats how the mechanism of democracy works. However, these minority groups in EU member states seemed to lose their hopes of having political rights, or becoming citizens in other words; thus they pose a threat for the democratic system under todays national-political citizenship model as Habermas also argues (1994). As these minority groups were left outside by segregation in Europe, and they have no political rights as resident non-citizens; the expression of their adaptation problems turned out to be attacks against the social and democratic structure in the country. These are all problems caused by the crumbling model of classical citizenship and post-national citizenship idea would bring solutions to most of these problematic areas. Immigrant minority groups in Europe would have citizenship rights that would integrate them into the democratic system and give them the chance to be represented, which will provide these groups hope and trust in democracy. As a result, violence on streets would be prevented because these groups would have the chance to fight for their rights in the democratic arena rather than the streets. The integration of non-citizen minority groups will give pace to the deepening process of Europe and it should be achieved before further widening which would slow down the integration in Europe by adding more complexities (Habermas, 2000). Cultural rights and cultural policy is another important area of tension in the debate of a European Union citizenship. In the Classical Nation state, or Liberal Model in other words, which is exercised by most European states today, public and private are two distinct and clearly separated realms (Habermas, 2003). Cultural rights can be exercised in the private area of life while public area is kept neutral and ethnic or cultural signs are kept out strictly. In France, people are asked not to wear even cross as a symbol of Christianity in the public area, however one can see women wearing headscarf in public in Paris; so the picture is mixed and complex. Taylor argues that this clear separation of public and private spaces aimed by the Liberal model cannot be achieved in a multicultural environment (Taylor, 1999), such as todays Europe. However, under a multicultural model suggested by Taylor which means the end of the Liberal model, all citizens will not be equal but groups of citi zens will have different rights in practice. If such a system will be designed for Europe it would be problematic to govern multicultural societies in European Union, more rights will be asked from the state to overcome the inequalities between the groups and it is questionable how much cultural rights a European state can give as a reply to the enormous demand by different groups. Such a system will lead to chaos in both governance and the society thus keeping the public sphere neutral as it is in the liberal model still is a better proposition for Europe while increasing the cultural rights homogenously to an extent supported by the Post National Citizenship Model. As a result, one may conclude that citizenship is increasingly post-national, rather than national, and the rights and benefits of citizenship frequently accumulate to resident non-citizens. Equally, the spaces within which citizenship is enacted and contestation and claims-making take place do not necessarily coincide with either the nation-state or the EU (Soysal, 2000). In short, there exists a proliferation of new forms of participation, and multiple arenas and levels on which individuals and groups enact their citizenship (Soysal, 2001: 160). The bond between citizenship and civil society can no longer be assumed, and nationally coded public spheres do not hold (Soysal, 2001: 172). The application of civil society to a transnational context has attracted criticism; particularly that such a move represents an attempt to reproduce on the supranational level a model that has reached its limits on the national level (Delanty, 1998). There is also

Essay on Disguised Men and Transformed Women in Taming of the Shrew

Disguised Men and Transformed Women in The Taming of the Shrew      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A recurrent theme in Shakespeare's plays is the idea that things are not always what they seem. The Taming of the Shrew provides a good example of this theme.   In this play we find many discrepancies between what seems to be and what is. We can find these incongruities at many levels as we analyze the three main plot lines of the play: The Induction, The Wooing of Bianca and The Taming of Katherina. Each of these subplots is based on earlier works of literature or folk tradition. Shakespeare is not alone in his choice of "false supposes" as a theme.   According to The Shakespeare Handbook,   Shakespeare adopts the entire narrative [for the Bianca story] complete with some stock characters and some pieces of staging, from George Gasciogne's play Supposes   (1566) a prose version of Aristo's   I Suppositi which is in turn a recycling of one of the standard plots of New Roman comedy as written by Plautus and Terence." (Fox, 97)    Each of Shakespeare's three story lines in the Taming of the Shrew contains examples of both people who pretend to be what they are not and those who become what they were not.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the Induction for this play we meet Christophero Sly, a common tinker who is course and rough in both his language and behavior.   His pedestrian station is codified in the usual Shakespearean way: he speaks in prose   (Barron's Book Notes on the World Wide Web).*  Ã‚   When he falls asleep, he is tricked into believing he is lord of the manor. As he starts to believe the trickery, he begins to change and becomes like that which he is "supposed" to be.   At the moment of his realization he even begins to speak in verse, ... ...s kicking and screaming child and starts kicking and screaming right along side him.   While onlookers might find this bizarre, it gets the child's attention and reveals to him just how foolish his own actions are.   By his actions then, the parent wins the child into a more reasonable attitude and behavior.    Works Cited Barton, Ann.   "The Taming of the Shrew." The Riverside Shakespeare 2nd ed. Ed. Dean Johnson et al. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.   138-141. Daniel, David. "Shakespeare and the Traditions of Comedy." The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies.   Ed. Stanley Wells. Cambridge:   Cambridge UP, 1987. Fox, Levi, ed.   The Shakespeare Handbook. Boston:   G.K. Hall & Co., 1987. Shakespeare, William. "The Taming of the Shrew." The Riverside Shakespeare 2nd ed. Ed. Dean Johnson et al. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.   142-171.      

Epilepsy: Seizure and Accurate Time Adjustment Essay

â€Å"Epilepsy is a nervous system disorder that produces sudden, intense bursts of electrical activity in the brain. This abnormal electrical activity in the brain causes seizures, which may briefly upset a person’s muscle control, movement, speech, vision, or awareness.† My definition of Epilepsy is pretty much the same; however, I would not have used the word briefly as it makes it sound so short lived. Seizures can last anywhere from a few seconds up to a few minutes. To get an accurate time adjustment use this comparison, for every second you are in a seizure you are killing many times the brain cells than if you were not. Add into this equation that the lack of oxygen to brain while in a seizure also increases the rate of brain cell death. Every second now feels like an hour. Then figure in that if it is a Grand-mal seizure where every second of convulsion is physically compared to 30 minutes of intense aerobic exercise, now you can begin to get somewhat of an idea. To get an even better picture let me explain what happens after the seizure. Disorientation: not knowing where you are when you come out of a seizure. Sometimes not knowing who you are or anyone else around are. No concept of what day or time it is. Physically: After having a Grand-mal seizure you are physically drained and tired. After getting the strength to get moving again, you now have a major migraine headache which lasts for about another day, and it gets worse with every eye movement. Having one seizure does not an Epileptic make. An Epileptic has many reoccurring seizures. There are many other ways to have seizure for example head injuries; other illnesses may also cause seizures like high fevers. These seizures normally will not happen again after the illness or injury has been taken care of and has gone away. â€Å"In the US, more than 2.3 million people are affected by seizures, and an estimated 3% of the population (about 7.2 million people) will experience at least one seizure during their lifetime. (This does not count the 5% of children who have seizures caused by fevers.) It affects all age groups. About 14% of epilepsy patients are under 15 years old and 24% are over 64,  with 62% being between those ages. Every year between 25,000 and 40,000 American children have a first seizure that is unrelated to a fever. Epilepsy is decreasing in childhood but increasing in the elderly, probably because of mild strokes and cardiac arrest.† Some children with Epilepsy actually grow out of it as they enter adult hood or shortly after. Many people with Epilepsy can be treated with drugs or other form of treatment and can go on with little to no change in their lives. Unfortunately, there are others who have seizures for no apparent reason and are so sporadic that they cannot be controlled, and the best you can hope for is some relief. Those who have their Epilepsy under control can get a drivers license as long as they are seizure free for 1 year. This used to be 6 months but has gone up. Epilepsy is all about fear. Fear of what others will think, fear of what you will do when having a seizure. Fear of killing others if you do go and get a drivers license. I mean, can you imagine waking up from a seizure and finding that you drove your truck through a school yard. â€Å"NEW YORK, May 24 (Reuters Health) – Media stories about the brain disorder epilepsy are often inaccurate and contribute to age-old stereotypes of patients as possessed and violent, researchers report. â€Å"Persistent myths about epilepsy, such as the ancient belief that it is a demonic disorder, can result in discrimination, emotional difficulties, and reluctance to seek effective treatment,† explain Dr. Gregory L. Krauss from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues. These images may be shameful to the 2.3 million patients who suffer from epilepsy. Further, they can encourage bystanders to respond incorrectly to seizures, the researchers report in the May issue of Neurology. For example, two thirds of Americans would try to free a person’s tongue during a seizure despite recommendations that such an attempt could be dangerous to both the bystander and the patient. â€Å" This example is a good one to show how fear completely overtakes the actual thinking process. It is impossible for anyone to swallow their tongue, it is attached to the lower part your mouth. But this is usually the first thing that someone with little more calm than the others standing around would think. Having seizures when you are at school also brings around many other stereo types like â€Å"That boy must be on drugs†, hey I was but they weren’t working. Or how about this one on school report cards, â€Å"Your child does not pay attention in class!† or how about being labeled the class clown because you are â€Å"purposely seeking attention by throwing yourself on the floor and acting retarded.† Children having Epileptic seizures are ridiculed through out their school. Seizures like Grand-mal can cause one to lose control of their bladder and bowels. A 4 or 5 year old having seizures would then be weird for having them and a baby for having an accident in their pants. Bibliography Medical Encyclopedia, MSN Health  ©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. May 3, 2002 – http://content.health.msn.com/content/healthwise/74/18511.htm Healthwise, Incorporated, P.O. Box 1989, Boise, ID 83701 Saveon Epilepsy.com – http://www.sav-onepilepsy.com/savonhealth/savonmain/centers.aspx?condition=Epilepsy&cat=0&catID=1&subCat=Overview&subCatID=3 Neurology Channel, â€Å"Media Stories Perpetuate Epilepsy Myths† Author Suzanne Rostler – http://www.neurologychannel.com/NeurologyWorld/media.shtml iv Raymond D. Sears, II – Epileptic, Author of â€Å"Go Get the Dirty Laundry.†

Math in Early Childhood Article Review Essay

The purpose of this article was to explain the use and importance of programs such as the, â€Å"What’s the Big Idea† program instituted at the Bennington Library in Vermont. The â€Å"What’s the Big Idea† program aims to provide librarians with techniques and tools for introducing preschool and kindergarten students to science and math through literature. Picture books and stories are used a lot because stores are great conveyors to memorable messages about since and math. It also gives children the tools they need to be able to look at books and seek out math and science concepts and connections within the text. The program focuses on child directed and hands on explorations rather that adult directed instruction allowing the children to gain personal acts of discovery through play. â€Å"What’s the Big Idea† focuses on four main math and science concepts; numbers and operations, patterns and relationships, changes over time, and geometry and special sense. For each topic there are activities, projects, and books that correspond with the chosen topic. There are different activity centers that are also set up. Some are set up for large group and small group and some are set up for independent exploration. They offer things such as interactive graphs, geoboards, jars with small objects for sorting, blocks, and other manipulatives. Something new that I learned was that I didn’t know that libraries offered programs like that. I knew that had reading groups and programs but I didn’t realizes that there were also libraries that offered programs to also promote math and science concepts as well. I like how they use books first to gain an idea and then tie it into math and science by exploring the concepts in the story a little further to better their understanding not only of the story but of the math and/or science behind it. A way that I can see this information being useful in the future is to have programs like this available to all libraries nationwide. In the article it said that it started out in Vermont and spread to libraries in New York, Delaware, and Texas. With children having access to programs like this from the preschool level they will then enter kindergarten with a greater knowledge base and with deeper understanding of the math and science concepts that they will need for the rest of their lives.

Every Picture Tells A Story Essay Essays

Every Picture Tells A Story Essay Essays Every Picture Tells A Story Essay Essay Every Picture Tells A Story Essay Essay This image shows a figure of African-Americans line uping. Their line extends from one border of the exposure to the other proposing a long waiting line. The work forces and adult females are have oning coats suggestive of the manner during the early portion of the twentieth century. It must besides hold been a cold twenty-four hours in fall or early spring in that they have to set their custodies inside their pockets to maintain warm. In the background is a elephantine hoarding picturing an American household comprising of a female parent. male parent. two kids and a Canis familiaris. They are inside a auto drive through the countryside. On top of the hoarding are the words â€Å"World’s Highest Standards of Living† and on the right in cursive. â€Å"There’s No Way Like the American Way† . These words suggest to the spectator the richness of an American life style. specifically the mean American household. To belong to an American household is the best topographic point to be in the universe. The lensman is seeking to indicate out the sarcasm between the two elements in the image. The whole image suggests a pictural commentary about inequality in American society and the semblance that the hoarding advertises. The â€Å"highest criterions of living† that the hoarding ascribes is merely applicable to the white American. The traditional. smiling. healthy. atomic household contrasts aggressively with the brooding looks on the faces of the people in the waiting line. The bright hoarding and the dark colourss in the people’s vesture farther stress this point. The spectator does non cognize what they were falling in line for but from the fact that some of them are transporting bags and pails. they are likely line uping for nutrient rations. The state of affairs sing racial divisions is non as bad today as it was decennaries before or the clip when the exposure was taken. There are still some hapless people who fall in line in soup kitchens. for nutrient casts. and impermanent shelters. but they would be comprised of black and white Americans. Billboard ads though. have non changed. They still promote the good manner of life to lure clients ; still feigning that American life merely offers good things.

Private Sector Participation in Solid Waste

Private Sector Participation in Solid Waste Free Online Research Papers 1.1 Overview of Kathmandu Kathmandu Valley, which provides the physical setting for Kathamndu Metropolitan City (KMC), is situated between the latitudes 270 32’ 13† and 270 49’ 10† north and latitudes 850 11’ 31† and 850 31’ 38† east. It covers an area of about 667 sq. km and its mean elevation is about 1350m. above sea level. The valley is bowl shaped with rivers draining towards the center of the basin. The rivers merge into the Bagmati River, which drains out through the Chovar Gorge located at the southwest corner of the valley. Kathmandu is the capital and commercial hub of the country. It is connected with other countries with only International Airport and two major highways connect with India and China. Since it is the capital of the country all the embassies are concentrate in the Valley, and particularly in Kathmandu City. But in recent years due to development in transportations, major industries have moved to the secondary cities. The Kathmandu Valley politically divided into the three districts of Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur. In addition to these three cities, there are 110 Village District Committees (VDC) within the Valley. KMC is located in the Kathmandu District and covers an area of about 50.8 sq. km.. Kathmandu Valley the prime city of the country comprising 24.1% of the national urban population and 70.4% of the valley’s total urban population in 1991. KMC’s population grew from 235,160 in 1981 to 421,258 in 1991, registering an annual growth rate of 6%. At present it is estimated that of KMC’s population will be approximately 725,000. Kathmandu is the largest city in Nepal with a population of approximately 725,000, which includes the cities of Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Thimi, and Kirtipur, as well as several villages, has population of 1.5 million. 1.2 Introduction to KMC Mayor and deputy mayor are elected directly by people every four-year. KMC consisted of 35 wards and each ward elects one-ward chairperson and four members every four year. Mayor, deputy mayor, 35 ward chairpersons, and 140 members form a KMC Board. Please see the attached Organization Structure. Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) consists of twelve departments including Environment Department, which is the largest of all. This department is divided into three sections; Solid Waste Management section, Mechanical Section, and Urban Environment Section. Overall KMC’s Environment Department is responsible for managing the solid waste produced in Kathmandu. Between 1980 and 1993, there existed a major project, funded by the German Government, which was responsible for waste management. KMC has 2,200 staff of which approximately 1400 are engaged in waste management. 1.3 Financial Structure Year Total Exp. Exp. SWM Income (Gov.) Income Others (Int. Donors) Income (SWM services) 2000 App. US$ 6,500,000 App. US$ 2,000,000 App. US$ 3,100,000 App. US$ 3,400,000 App. US$ 72,000 2001 App. US$ 5,200,000 App. US$ 2,000,000 App. US$ 3,100,000 App. US$ 2,100,000 App. US$ 72,000 2. Solid Waste Management in Kathmandu 2.1 Kathmandu’s Garbage A study done in 2000 by Kathmandu Valley Mapping Program (KVMP) concluded that Kathmandu residents produce 1 liter (0.3 kg) of garbage per person per day and average loose density of garbage was found to be 0.225 ton/m3. However, previous studies estimated that the density of garbage varies from 0.25 – 0.48 ton/m3. In this study the density of garbage is kept 0.255 ton/m3 for simplicity. This means that within Kathmandu City, the waste generation is about 650 m3/day. In addition to this, it is also estimated that 30% (approximately 300 m3/day) extra waste is also generated from daytime population, waste from neighboring cities villages and, commercial districts. Generally waste production rate in cities of the developing world is about 0.5 kg per person per day. The neighboring city of Lalitpur generates approximately 130 cubic meters of waste per day. Kathmandu’s waste is mainly organic in nature. Although the organic content may vary depending on the location of waste generation and the season, in general two thirds of the waste is organic. The rest of the waste consists of paper, plastic, glass, inert materials (dirt, bricks, stones etc.) and various other components. The table below presents the results of a recent waste characterization study. S. No. Description % Weight Basis 1 Organic 69.84 2 Paper 8.5 3 Rubber 0.54 4 Leather 0.12 5 Wood 0.73 6 Plastic 9.17 7 Bone 0.23 8 Textile 3.02 9 Ferrous Metal 0.87 10 Aluminum 0.05 11 Glass 2.5 12 Others 4.33 Total 100.00 Source: KMC/KVMP 2000 The main source of waste in Kathmandu is domestic waste. The city has only a few industries and most of the industries recycle their waste. The main industry is the carpet industry. The main source of hazardous waste is medical waste from hospitals and nursing homes. Recent study conducted by Environment Public Health Organization (ENPHO) estimates that there are 2347 beds in government and 1558 beds in private hospitals and nursing homes, which generate about 1189 kg of infectious waste per day. Most of the medical waste is discarded along with normal municipal waste. KMC is in the process of establishing a medical waste management system for Kathmandu. KMC has completed a survey of current practice of waste management in 45 health care institutes and presented its results in a workshop. KMC has also recently drafted medical waste management guidelines and an Environmental Impact Assessment Study of the proposed medical waste management system is under way. In near future, KMC wants to establish all needed infrastructure like treatment plant, management plan, and purchase collection vehicles and it will be contract out to a private party to operate. 2.2 KMC’s Waste Management System Each of the 35 wards in Kathmandu is assigned 20 to 30 sweepers. The sweepers sweep the streets and collect the garbage dumped by residents in certain locations. The garbage is loaded on to a tractor or tipper and brought to a transfer station. Garbage is also collected from 4 and 6 m3 containers, which are placed in different locations and at major sources of waste. At the transfer station the garbage is unloaded on to a platform and some of the recyclable materials in the waste stream is removed. The rest of the garbage is put in compactors and sent to the landfill site. At present, due to lack of proper landfill site, KMC is dumping its collected waste at Bulkhu. KMC, along with the central government, is in the process of searching for a new landfill site. KMC currently collects approximately 600-650 m3 of waste per day. Of this, a small portion is recycled, while most of the waste is landfilled. Summery Information on KMC’s Waste Management System: Average Waste Generation: 1.0 liter/per/day Estimated population of KMC: 725,000 Estimated Waste Generation from KMC: 725 m3/day Street waste generation (assumed 10% of hh): 73 m3/day Commercial waste (assumed 10% of hh): 73 m3/day Waste from neighboring cities village: 73 m3/day Total Waste Generation 944 m3/day Waste Collected by KMC: 650 m3/day Waste Collected (in ton): 200 ton/day Collected Efficiency: 70% Total no. SWM staffs: 1400 Total no. of SWM vehicles: 100 Actual Expenditure (2000): 14,000,000 NRS Table 1. Total Expenditure in SWM SN: Headings Street Sweeping (Ward Level) Rs./Year Street Sweeping (Central) Rs./Year Collection Rs./Year Transfer Station Rs./Year Transportation Rs./Year Landfill Site Rs./Year Total Rs./Year 1 Salary 38,823,600 3,192,000 7,240,800 427,200 643,223 396,000 50,722,823 2 Allowances 10,459,780 857,600 1,884,040 112,160 164,966 102,600 13,581,146 3 Provident Fund 3,882,360 319,200 724,080 42,720 64,322 39,600 5,072,282 4 Overtime 12,811,788 1,053,360 2,812,152 163,008 82,820 160,056 17,083,184 5 Administrative Cost 1,319,551 108,443 652,583 223,298 267,246 94,289 2,665,409 6 Depreciation 1,000,800 57,000 4,967,382 354,880 1,523,848 1,129,880 9,033,789 7 Maintenance Cost 280,000 8,000 4,523,382 354,880 1,523,848 2,259,759 8,949,869 8 Interest 6,785,072 532,320 3,366,083 3,389,639 14,073,115 9 Fuel 3,692,224 705,024 2,190,118 2,410,560 8,997,926 10 Others (Materials) 6,720,000 4,272,000 10,992,000 Total 75,297,879 9,867,603 33,281,714 2,915,490 9,826,474 9,982,382 141,171,542 In US $ 1,107,322 145,112 489,437 42,875 144,507 146,800 2,076,052 % of Total Expenditures 53 7 24 2 7 7 100 3.1 Problems: Following are the major problems faced by KMC in SWM. Inefficient collection system-Multiple handling of Waste Attitude throw forget Daily collection (street Sweeping) Less willing to pay Political Intervention Inappropriate technology Inflexible system Inappropriate collection vehicles Inadequate trained manpower No appropriate laws policies 3.2 Private Sector Participation (PSP): The main goal of KMC is to establish an integrated solid waste management system, which is efficient, cost effective, and environmentally sound by the year 2002 with maximum involvement of local communities as well as the private sector. To address the problems, KMC has been launching Private Sector Participation to achieve following outcomes: ? Efficient collection system ? Efficient transfer and scrap recovery ? Maximum recycling composting ? Sanitary landfilling ? Special waste management ? Appropriate policy and law ? Public education and participation ? Professional management and monitoring Involving the private sector in waste management services usually results in an efficient and professional SWM system. The private sector is usually best at providing efficiency and technical expertise, while the public sector, which is directly responsible to the people, is best at doing the jobs of monitoring and enforcement. Therefore, a suitable combination of the best attributes that the private and the public sector have to offer will be necessary to provide and efficient waste management system. Although efficiency and investment are two of the main causes that are often sited for involving the private sector, the bottom line is that the goal that KMC has set for itself cannot be achieved by KMC alone. Therefore, there is no option but to involve the private sector in SWM. KMC, therefore, is committed to involve the private sector in SWM services to make it more efficient and cost-effective. However, because privatization of waste management is a new, often mis-understood and sometimes controversial process for Nepal, the privatization process has been carefully planned so as to maximize the use of KMC’s existing manpower and equipment, and minimize risks and potentials for failures. Effective private sector participation (PSP) in waste management requires: 1. Political commitment 2. Confidence of all stakeholders 3. Option suited to local conditions 4. Enabling environment 5. KMC capable to plan and monitor the process 6. Fair transparent process In the past, a few attempts to involve the private sector had failed because the process was not well planned and not every body understood it. In 1996, an American company called Americore Environmental Services, and a Canadian firm, IER, had submitted unsolicited proposals for managing Kathmandu’s waste. As solid waste management was a major problem in the city, the municipality readily signed letter of intents with these companies, whereby the companies would manage all of Kathmandu’s waste. However, the municipal sweepers immediately opposed the plan because of the fear of the loss of their jobs. As a result the project could not move ahead and KMC only ended up hiring more sweepers to satisfy the sweeper community. Therefore in 1997, when KMC was formulating its new SWM strategy, the process of PSP was also planned accordingly and the pre-requisites for PSP mentioned above were first addressed. KMC’s strategy for waste management involves the following guiding principles: Plan the process but don’t wait for the perfect plan: In the PSP process, KMC first worked on preparing strategic plan and building the confidence of all stakeholders (KMC Board, KMC administration, KMC’s sweepers, Private companies, and the general public). While planning the process of PSP is important, it was also realized that KMC should not wait for the perfect plan because Nepal has no experience of a municipality working with the private sector in waste management and there is a need to learn by doing. The plan therefore has room for trial and error and improvements as process moves ahead. Phase wise implementation to build confidence: In order to slowly build the confidence of all stakeholders, KMC is implementing PSP in phases, instead of giving all the responsibilities to one company all at once. Incremental involvement of the private sector will allow both the private sector and KMC to slowly learn the process and gain confidence. Try different approaches: There are several ways to involve the private sector in SWM such as contracting, franchise system and management contract. KMC is in the process of trying these different processes and seeing which one fits best for the conditions in Kathmandu. The bottom line is that there is a need to be firm with the vision but flexible with the process. The vision is that by the year 2002, Kathmandu will have an efficient SWM system with maximum participation from the private sector. The process of achieving this will be by building the confidence of all stakeholders as KMC tries different approaches to PSP in a phased manner and continuously builds on the lesson learned from these experiences. The status of some of KMC’s efforts to involve the private sector in waste management in outlined in the sections below. West Sector Project The city of Kathmandu has been divided into five sectors for the purpose of waste management. West sector is located west of the Bishnumati River and consists of recent expansions. The sector mainly consists of residential areas such as Kuleshwor, it is estimated that the sector has an approximately 12,000 households. The West Sector was chosen for introducing door-to-door collection for the following reasons: In November 1998, KMC signed a five-year agreement with Silt Environmental Services to implement door-to-door waste collection in wards 13, 14, and 15. The main objectives of the project were as follows: 1. Introduce private sector participation in waste management to make the system more efficient. 2. Initiate door-to-door collection of waste in order to avoid dumping of waste on the streets. 3. Introduce source separated waste collection system to promote recycling. 4. Introduce alternate day waste collection system to reduce cost. 5. Encourage citizen to participate in Kathmandu’s waste management system and pay for waste management services. 6. Generate revenue to recover part of the cost of waste collection. Silt started its services in mid February 1999. 3.3 SILT KMC This program has been only partially successful because out of 12,000 potential members, only 4,000 have been getting the services and paying the fee. Problem faced by SILT is briefly described below: Regular Street sweeping activity is conducted by KMC. So, people are not interested in paying because every morning streets are swept and cleaned by KMC staffs. There is not major financial benefit for KMC because it carried out regular cleaning activity. Inadequate technical knowledge in waste management (SILT) 3.4 Private Sector Participation (Door to door collection, Sweeping, Transportation) Pilot Project Ward 1 24 In mid 2002, KMC announced that it was interested in contracting out waste management services (door-to-door collection, street sweeping, and waster transfer) of Central Sector (wards 1, 5, 11, 32, 33, 34) to private sector(s). The concept of contracting out of six wards at one time has to be abandoned because of opposition by sweepers. After continuous negotiations with sweepers’ union, instead of privatizing six wards to one private company, only two wards (ward 1 24) have been awarded the contract to two different companies. Following major steps have included in this PSP: After PSP, the sweepers were assured that there would be no layoffs KMC’s sweepers would be assigned to other location or will utilize them as gardeners 30% of total sweepers would remain in the same wards for tasks like cleaning of sewer, for monitoring private sector, and fixing streetlights. Private sector would not get any subside from KMC and fee should be equal or less than KMC’s tariff rate. For six months, KMC would provide a vehicle to collect street waste but the private party would be responsible to transfer waste collected from door to door services. Technical and Management trainings would be provided to private parties Waste would be collected daily not every other day waste separation will not be encouraged for time being. After launching this program, KMC closely monitored the progress made by private sectors. It has been one year now and KMC feels that these two private companies are in profit and willing to continue the services. During the process KMC provided following services to the private sectors: Technical Management trainings were provided to private sectors including NGOs who have been involving in waste management services. Meeting were held to share their views and difficulties among the these groups KMC constantly monitored and assist in planning KMC launched awareness programs to general public in these two wards to build confidences among the people KMC became a mediator between ward representatives and these companies to build confidence stakeholders KMC provided one vehicle to each company to collect waste only from streets for six month. KMC transferred 70% of its staffs to new locations and planning on providing gardening training 3.5 Problem occurred during the PSP way it has been handled Table 1: Problems Way it has been addressed: Problems Addressed Opposition by sweepers Meeting were held among sweepers in the presence of ward representatives and assured that their jobs were secured and would be relocated 30% of sincere sweepers were kept in the same ward as a reward Ward representatives were briefed on its (PSP) importance and requested not to politicalized No confidence among private sectors to start program in the beginning without KMC’s financial assistances Private sectors were briefed on financial cost benefits and profit they can make if carefully launched Assured these private sectors that KMC will contract out all its waste collection services including door to door collection, street sweeping, and waste transportation activities to the private sectors in future. Assured private sectors that they are here to stay and it long term profit No confidence among Stakeholders Public meetings were held and assured that people will get better service and wards will be cleaner than before Assured people ward officials that if they were not satisfied with private sectors’ performance KMC will step in immediately Assured that the fee will be within or below the tariff rate set by KMC ($0.70/hh/mo) Briefed general public regarding KMC’s financial situation and fee they pay will be utilize in improving environment of KMC Inadequate technical information management skill in private sectors Provided technical and management trainings KMC’s technical staffs were made available all the time for them to discuss share Following out comes have been gathered after completing one year: These private companies are willing to continue the activities carried out by them They are showing interest to expand their activities to another wards App. 50% of people surveyed expressed that the service provided by private sectors is better and the ward is cleaner than before The membership increased app. 40% as soon as KMC pulled all resources (waste collection vehicle) out from those wards So far ten applications have filed in KMC by different private companies to contract out new wards Benefits: General public Private Sector KMC They are more concern than before because they paying service fee Good profit Better Katmandu They feel proud because they are doing something for environment Long term profit Less management burden The area is more cleaner than before No major competition Cost saving. KMC spends app. US$25,000 for street sweeping and additional US$7,000 for transportation annually per ward. So total cost saving is app. US$22,000 per year/ward They do not have to worry about waste anymore Fairly small capital investments More efficient and effective services Door to door collection services Good relationship with local representative general public No waste in street 4. Conclusion Recommendations One of the KMC’s goals is to keep Kathmandu Clean. This can only be achieved by involving private sectors and communities in solid waste management services. PSP program launched by KMC is partially successful and heading towards right direction but KMC must continuously build confidence among stakeholders. 4.1 Lesson Learned: After few years of PSP experiences, KMC believes PSP can be effective tool to provide efficient and cost effective waste management services to general public. Following lessons were learned from the program: Confidence in PSP program Careful Planning try different approaches Learning confidence among stakeholders Build confidence among stakeholders Make sure that there is no political interventions Transparent process 4.2 Recommendations: Human Resources Development. KMC’s staffs have to be trained in PSP program Technically and Management trainings should be provided to private sectors on regular basis KMC’s must regularly monitor the process, working system, effectiveness, and gather consent of satisfaction from general public KMC should make sure that there is always competitions among the private sectors so that it will be cost effectives and provide quality services to public This a ongoing process, mistakes will be made but continue the process In future, KMC should change its role from providing services to public to managing PSP International Agencies can train staffs of KMC and private sectors Research Papers on Private Sector Participation in Solid WastePETSTEL analysis of IndiaInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite Religion19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraNever Been Kicked Out of a Place This NiceDefinition of Export QuotasThe Project Managment Office SystemQuebec and CanadaThe Effects of Illegal Immigration

USS Indiana BB-58 World War II Battleship

USS Indiana BB-58 World War II Battleship USS Indiana (BB-58) Overview Nation:  United StatesType:  BattleshipShipyard: Newport News ShipbuildingLaid Down: November 20, 1939Launched: November 21, 1941Commissioned: April 30, 1942Fate:  Sold for scrap, 1963 Specifications Displacement:  35,000  tonsLength: 680 ft.Beam:  107.8 ft.Draft: 29.3 ft.Propulsion:  30,000 hp, 4 x steam turbines, 4 x propellersSpeed:  27 knotsComplement: 1,793 men Armament Guns 9 Ãâ€" 16 in.  Mark 6 guns (3 x triple turrets)20 Ãâ€" 5 in dual-purpose guns Aircraft 2 x aircraft Design Construction In 1936, as design of the North Carolina-class moved towards completion, the US Navys General Board gathered to address the two battleships that were to be funded in Fiscal Year 1938.   Though the group preferred constructing two additional North Carolinas, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral William H. Standley favored pursuing a new design.   As a result, building of these vessels was delayed to FY1939 as naval architects began work in March 1937.   While the first two ships were formally ordered on April 4, 1938, a second pair of vessels was added two months later under the  Deficiency Authorization which passed due to rising global tensions.   Though the escalator clause of the Second London Naval Treaty had been invoked permitting the new design to mount 16 guns, Congress required that the vessels stay within the 35,000 ton limit set by the earlier Washington Naval Treaty. In planning for the new South Dakota-class, naval architects created a wide array of designs for consideration.   A central challenge proved to be finding ways to improve upon the North Carolina-class but remain within the tonnage limit.   The answer was the design of a shorter, by around 50 feet, battleship that utilized an inclined armor system.   This provided better underwater protection than earlier vessels.   As fleet commanders called for vessels capable of 27 knots, naval architects worked to find a way to achieve this despite the reduced hull length.   This was solved through the creative layout of machinery, boilers, and turbines.   For armament, the South Dakotas matched the North Carolinas in carrying nine Mark 6 16 guns in three triple turrets with a secondary battery of twenty dual-purpose 5 guns.   These guns were supplemented by an extensive and constantly evolving array of anti-aircraft weapons.   Assigned to Newport News Shipbuilding, the second ship of the class, USS Indiana (BB-58), was laid down on November 20, 1939.   Work on the battleship progressed and it entered the water on November 21, 1941, with Margaret Robbins, daughter of Indiana Governor Henry F. Schricker, serving as sponsor.   As building moved toward completion, the US entered World War II following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.   Commissioned on April 30, 1942, Indiana commenced service with Captain Aaron S. Merrill in command.   Journey to the Pacific Steaming north,  Indiana  conducted its shakedown operations in and around Casco Bay, ME before receiving orders to join Allied forces in the Pacific.   Transiting the Panama Canal, the battleship made for the South Pacific where it was attached Rear Admiral Willis A. Lees battleship force on November 28.   Screening the carriers USS  Enterprise  (CV-6) and USS Saratoga  (CV-3),  Indiana  supported Allied efforts in the Solomon Islands.   Engaged in this area until October 1943, the battleship then withdrew to Pearl Harbor to prepare for a campaign in the Gilbert Islands.   Leaving port on November 11,  Indiana  covered the American carriers during the invasion of Tarawa later that month.    In January 1944, the battleship bombarded Kwajalein in the days prior to the Allied landings.   On the night of February 1,  Indiana  collided with USS  Washington  (BB-56) while maneuvering to refuel destroyers.   The accident saw Washington  hit and scrape down the after portion of  Indianas starboard side.   In the aftermath of the incident,  Indianas commander, Captain James M. Steele, admitted to being out of position and was relieved of his post.   Returning to Majuro,  Indiana  made temporary repairs before proceeding to Pearl Harbor for additional work.   The battleship remained out of action until April while  Washington, whose bow was severely damaged,  did not rejoin the fleet until May.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Island Hopping Sailing with Vice Admiral Marc Mitschers Fast Carrier Task Force, Indiana screened the carriers during raids against Truk on April 29-30.   After bombarding Ponape on May 1, the battleship proceeded to the Marianas the following month to support the invasions of Saipan and Tinian.   Pounding targets on Saipan on June 13-14, Indiana aided in repelling air attacks two days later.   On June 19-20, it supported the carriers during the victory at the Battle of the Philippine Sea.   With the end of the campaign, Indiana moved on to attack targets in the Palau Islands in August and protected the carriers as they raided into the Philippines a month later.   Receiving orders for an overhaul, the battleship departed and entered Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on October 23.   The timing of this work led it to miss the pivotal Battle of Leyte Gulf. With the completion work in the yard, Indiana sailed and reached Pearl Harbor on December 12.   Following refresher training, the battleship rejoined combat operations and bombarded Iwo Jima on January 24 while en route to Ulithi.   Arriving there, it put to sea a short time later to assist in the invasion of Iwo Jima.   While operating around the island, Indiana and the carriers raided north to strike targets in Japan on February 17 and 25.   Replenishing at Ulithi in early March, the battleship then sailed as part of the force tasked with the invasion of Okinawa.   After supporting the landings on April 1, Indiana continued to conduct missions in the waters offshore into June.   The following month, it moved north with the carriers to mount a series of attacks, including shore bombardments, on the Japanese mainland.   It was engaged in these activities when hostilities ended on August 15. Final Actions Arriving in Tokyo Bay on September 5, three days after the Japanese formally surrendered aboard USS Missouri (BB-63), Indiana briefly served as a transfer point for liberated Allied prisoners of war.   Departing for the US on ten days later, the battleship touched at Pearl Harbor before proceeding on to San Francisco.   Arriving on September 29, Indiana underwent minor repairs before proceeding north to Puget Sound.   Placed in the Pacific Reserve Fleet in 1946, Indiana was formally decommissioned on September 11, 1947.   Remaining at Puget Sound, the battleship was sold for scrap on September 6, 1963.         Ã‚      Selected Sources DANFS: USS Indiana (BB-58)NHHC: USS IndianaMaritimeQuest: USS Indiana (BB-58)

Weekly progress report Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Weekly progress report - Coursework Example This. The questionnaires also include questions based on Likert Scale. I modified questionnaires on Sunday and Monday along with reading other relevant information from the book, Research Methods for Business Students. I read chapter-7 based on data analysis on Tuesday and Wednesday for 4 hours each day to gain insights over how to analyse primary and secondary data On Wednesday, I started distributing designed questionnaires to identified participants based on snow ball sampling method. I distributed questionnaires to 25 people on Wednesday personally and 30 more questionnaires were distributed on Thursday. I also identified 45 more respondents in the week and distributed questionnaires to the remaining 45 respondents. Overall, the entire process of distributing questionnaires took 4 hours of time on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday In the upcoming week, I will be analysing data collected through 100 respondents. I have already received 50 answered questionnaires and by the end of Monday, I am expecting to receive the remaining questionnaires. Once, I receive total numbers of questionnaires, I will be analysing them critically using graphs and charts. I am also reading the secondary information that has been presented in the literature review just to identify the relationship between primary and secondary information, if any. The idea is to present data in an ethical and transparent manner to highlight the views and opinions of respondents on effective delivery of m-government in Oman. The whole activity will take 2 days of time that means findings chapter will be completed by Tuesday. In the coming week, I have also planned to complete the discussion chapter including current status of m-government in Oman, current issues and way forward. Based on the analysis of primary and secondary data, I will be writing the conclusion and recommendation part. Overall, planning is to complete discussion and conclusions and

DMI Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

DMI - Assignment Example Data was collected on the following variables: For the variable on the time of study, the histogram shows that 61% of respondents studied at night while the remaining 39% studied during the day. Studying until late in the night can have an impact on the results as a student takes exam while the brain is fatigued and is not functioning at its optimum. The histogram and summary statistics for number of hours slept is shown above. From the results, we see that the average hours of sleep for grade 12 students are 6.5 hours with a standard deviation of 1.35. It has been recommended that students should sleep for at least 6 hours to maximize their cognitive ability. A scatterplot of age versus hours slept shows a negative correlation, i.e. older persons tend to sleep fewer hours as compared to younger ones. Indeed, the results from the scatterplot are further confirmed by results from the correlation table. The correlation is -0.725 implying a negative correlation between the two variables. A plot of exam score against hours slept shows a positive correlation between the two variables. Further analysis through correlation shows a value of 0.617. Consequently, the preliminary analysis supports the null hypothesis that academic performance is positively related with the number of sleep hours. Further analysis through regression is needed to build confidence in this hypothesis. Final analysis of the data involved regression modeling using exam scores as the dependent variable and hours slept, age and food quality as the independent variables. The regression equation can be stated as follows: From the equation, it is observed that the intercept for the number of hours slept is positive implying that hours of sleep positively impacts test scores. This can be stated as follows: a unit increase in hours slept results into a 4.479 unit increase in examination scores. However, age and food quality have a

Supply & Distribution Chain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Supply & Distribution Chain - Essay Example Logistic plan of Tim-Tam biscuits is not an easy task, since product is distributed to different channels and in different countries. We will use different channels to reach our target market. We will follow traditional chain but with innovative strategy and use of technology. Food manufacturers normally sell directly to sole distributors, wholesalers and super or mega markets. Many companies have their own distribution channel and they reach retailers and wholesalers through this network. We will also acquire our own network and we will distribute our products through two main channels, one with our existing network and second through joint venture or strategic alliance we will work with partners. This plan needs to focus on different elements and in this plan we will focus three elements; Information Technology, Demand Management and Procurement. Information Technology: To make sure all the processes are going smoothly and forecasting is accurate and productivity is efficient. Comp any will hire outside companies or partner with companies offers ERP solutions and supply chain solutions. These automations allow company to; identifies seasonal profiles automatically, Best Fit Forecast recast weekly for all items and Calculates sales volatility to optimize safety stock needs. Inventory Intelligence, purchase needs and buyers (retailers) need.

How B.G. Tilak thought taking action was the only way to create and Research Paper

How B.G. Tilak thought taking action was the only way to create and Independent India - Research Paper Example He later graduated with a bachelor’s in mathematics and Sanskrit. Tilik completed his studies with a degree in law in 1879. After graduating from school, Tilak emerged as a great political leader, writer, philosopher and a Sanskrit scholar. The philosophical views of Tilak were highly influenced by the western metaphysics and political views. This is attributed greatly to the extent the English education affected him. Tilak rose as one of the young scholars advocating for the freedom of India. The colonial government accused Tilak of inciting the Indians to political violence in his fight for an Independent India. This results from the fact that Tilak was an extremist and employed extreme mechanism when fighting for independence in India. The British rule accused Tilak of instigating the Indian community to violence and was highly criticized his activities that were mainly characterized by extreme violence and were mainly based on the teachings of Hinduism. Tilak considered extremist activities as the only solution to the rise in foreigners group, in the country. Majority of the historians classify Talik as the most extremist political leader in the colonial India. He was a considerable extremist’s leader who utilized his role in acquiring independence in India. Talik mainly sought the assistance of Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai and Aurobindo Ghose from the national congress, which enhanced his struggle for independent India. Despite his extremist tactics of acquiring an independent India, Tilak was highly respected and applauded by locals and foreign intellectuals but his extremism was an intimidation to the government. Tilak used his writing talent to promote extremism as well as opposing colonial rule in India. He specifically made use of Kesari and Mahratta, which were started in 1881. The newspapers columns unveil Tilak’s radical and strong personality. They further unfold political militant views. Tilak was

External Audit, Internal Controls & Management Information Systems Essay

External Audit, Internal Controls & Management Information Systems - Essay Example Most public companies have an internal audit function. The internal auditor generally consists of employees from within the organization, although at times this some or all of this function may be outsourced (ABA, 2007). For companies where internal auditing exists, it is important for the auditing committee to meet with the senior internal auditing executives regularly to discuss problems and issues regarding the internal and external audit programs. Annual audit plans should also be reviewed regularly. Even if the internal audit program has been outsourced the auditing committee should hold regular meetings with theses representatives (American Bar Association, 2007). The fundamental contributor to the failure of an organization is a weak and ineffective internal audit system (Hamilton & Micklethwait, 2006). An internal auditing committee is crucial for assuring that the internal controls are working adequately and to ensure that the company's financial statements provide a true and fair view of the company and its affairs (Hamilton & Micklethwait, 2006). The audit committee is an integral part of corporate governance because it has the oversight responsibility for a public company's financial reporting processes and external controls. ... the external auditor and the board, review the annual and quarterly financial statements with the external auditor and to review annual reports to shareholders, among many others (American Bar Association, 2007). The audit committee should meet with the corporate external auditor during the planning phase of each annual audit for the purpose of planning, staffing, scope and cost of the audit. Other areas that require special attention or emphasis should also be discussed along with special procedures that may be required during the auditing process. Once the audit is completed, the audit committee along with the external auditor is required to review any problems or difficulties that they external auditors may have encountered. Any significant issues which were highlighted in the audit, debates which took place with management regarding the audit, letters summarizing the audit and observation to management and the management response letter should all also be reviewed and discussed by the audit committee with the external auditor (American Bar Association, 2007). The audit committee should be clear about all significant accounting judgments made in the audit which would impact the company's financial statements. The committee should also discuss the quality of management's accounting decisions with the external auditor. The committee should also discuss deficiencies and weaknesses pointed out in the audit, with the internal auditors (American Bar Association, 2007). The purpose of external audits is to evaluate an organization's accounting procedures and to provide an opinion about the true and fair state of the firm's financial standing. These also verify the organization's compliance to the set rules and standards such as the General Accepted Accounting

General Electrics Joint Ventures Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

General Electrics Joint Ventures - Case Study Example Furthermore, in the process of being a ‘wholly owned subsidiary’, GE can freely engage itself with strategic alliances (499, 504). Back then, one of the possible reasons why GE stayed away from joint venture agreement is the fear of losing some of its technological know-how to its business partner. For many years, GE has been accustomed of having full control over its business operations. In the process of entering into joint-venture agreement with a local automobile manufacturer in China, GE will have to be forced to share control with its business partner. Q.2 Why do you think that GE has come to prefer joint ventures in recent years? Do you think that the global economic crisis of 2008 and 2009 might have affected this preference in any way? If so, how? In recent years, GE has come to prefer joint ventures over ‘wholly owned subsidiary’. Basically, it is possible that the global economic crisis in 2008 and 2009 has something to with GE’s decision to enter into joint venture agreements. One of the common problems that most business experiences in the host country is related to the differences in political system, culture, language, and business practices (497). Because of these differences, there is a strong risk wherein foreign companies could fail to satisfy the specific needs and wants of its target customers. Eventually, this increases the risks of business failure. GE decided to enter into joint venture with the state-owned Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) in China (484). Aside from making it easier to penetrate the market of the host country, joint venture enabled GE to effectively reduce the risks of losing large sum of money in case of business failure. When it comes to huge investment on R&D, GE could share the research costs with its business partner (497). Since the local business partner is more aware of the local

External Audit, Internal Controls & Management Information Systems Essay

External Audit, Internal Controls & Management Information Systems - Essay Example Most public companies have an internal audit function. The internal auditor generally consists of employees from within the organization, although at times this some or all of this function may be outsourced (ABA, 2007). For companies where internal auditing exists, it is important for the auditing committee to meet with the senior internal auditing executives regularly to discuss problems and issues regarding the internal and external audit programs. Annual audit plans should also be reviewed regularly. Even if the internal audit program has been outsourced the auditing committee should hold regular meetings with theses representatives (American Bar Association, 2007). The fundamental contributor to the failure of an organization is a weak and ineffective internal audit system (Hamilton & Micklethwait, 2006). An internal auditing committee is crucial for assuring that the internal controls are working adequately and to ensure that the company's financial statements provide a true and fair view of the company and its affairs (Hamilton & Micklethwait, 2006). The audit committee is an integral part of corporate governance because it has the oversight responsibility for a public company's financial reporting processes and external controls. ... the external auditor and the board, review the annual and quarterly financial statements with the external auditor and to review annual reports to shareholders, among many others (American Bar Association, 2007). The audit committee should meet with the corporate external auditor during the planning phase of each annual audit for the purpose of planning, staffing, scope and cost of the audit. Other areas that require special attention or emphasis should also be discussed along with special procedures that may be required during the auditing process. Once the audit is completed, the audit committee along with the external auditor is required to review any problems or difficulties that they external auditors may have encountered. Any significant issues which were highlighted in the audit, debates which took place with management regarding the audit, letters summarizing the audit and observation to management and the management response letter should all also be reviewed and discussed by the audit committee with the external auditor (American Bar Association, 2007). The audit committee should be clear about all significant accounting judgments made in the audit which would impact the company's financial statements. The committee should also discuss the quality of management's accounting decisions with the external auditor. The committee should also discuss deficiencies and weaknesses pointed out in the audit, with the internal auditors (American Bar Association, 2007). The purpose of external audits is to evaluate an organization's accounting procedures and to provide an opinion about the true and fair state of the firm's financial standing. These also verify the organization's compliance to the set rules and standards such as the General Accepted Accounting

Introduction To Surface Tension Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Introduction To Surface Tension - Essay Example This is a new way of teaching which involves the use of screen casting and video podcasting. It's an instruction strategy to help build increased interaction with students during face to face class time. The method promotes the team and active learning since one has to attend the classroom and to ask a question at the end as a proof that he actually watched the video. Monetary policy system is the action taken by the currency bodies to determine the size and the growth rates of money supply which in turn affects the interest rates. It is affected by changing the bank reserves and by increasing the interest rates when the rates are manipulated. It is used to control the economy as in the case of the USA since it can cause inflation if the money supply to the economy is very high(stthomas.edu). Also when the growth of the money supply is very slow then the economy also slows down. It also has the effect on the exchange rates difference currency as in the dollar. For example, when the d emand for BMW cars increases then its demand in other countries and for this reason stimulus in one country equals to the stimulus in another country because the company will open another branch and employ more people.This can be well enlightened by the Hamada model which is used to define the effects of financial influence on a firm as quantified by the Hamada coefficient. The tax shield increases the value of the levered firm. Financial distress costs and agency costs lower the value of the levered firm.

Introversion and Creativity

Introversion and Creativity Introversion- The Stairway to the Horizon of Creativity In the essay The Rise of the New Groupthink (Published on January 13, 2012), Susan Cain raises the awareness that the rise of group working is gradually replacing independent working even though it is very important in everyones life. By which, lead us to a world where group brainstorming sessions are now the new trend and private thinking is old-fashioned. Susan Cain is an American writer, a lecturer, a best selling author of a book about introversion in 2012 who has difficulties speaking in public and through those difficulties, developed an interest in writing about introversion. Her essay The Rise of the New Groupthink has opened up a whole new perspective about how important introversion is, and how underappreciated it has been over the years. Through my experiences, I support Cains idea that solitude and introversion are important to everyones life and there should be a balance between solitude and group thinking, not just give all the favor to group thinking and completely lef t out introversion. After researching various studies of psychologists, Cain stands on the side of introversion, stating that it is an important factor for creativity and thoughts. And according to another one of her article The Rise of the New Groupthink and the Power of Working Alone she uses a typical day in the life of Mr. Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, as a valuable example. Most of Wozniaks work came from all the time and hard work of inside his cubicle at Hewlett-Packard. Hed arrive alone around 6:30 am, early in the morning, read building magazines, and examine chip manuals, making plans, setting up designs in his mind. After work, hed go home, make a speedy spaghetti or Microwavable meal, then drive back to the workplace and work even until it passes midnight. He describes this period of quiet midnights and solitary early morning as the biggest high ever. Steve Wozniak is one of the biggest names there is when it comes to introverted geniuses. As seeing Steve Wozniak as a valuable exam ple, Cain acknowledges the importance of introversion and how it can be a tremendous help in peoples work and creativity. Also, she states two main reasons that help strengthen her acknowledgements and make it even more solid. Those two main reasons are the long-time bond between introversion with creativity and peoples productivity. First of all, solitude has long been related with creativity. Through Rise of the New Groupthink Cain solidify her idea by examining the research of two psychologists Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Gregory Feist, from which states that most creative people from many different fields are usually introverts. This is probably because that introverted people are happy with working alone, and just by being alone can they increase their creativity and innovativeness. This idea of Cain speaks to me pretty well because when I was young, I actually experiences just how important solitude is for an introverted person. My uncle is a game programmer, not a big shot in the business, but he has been working in a pretty steady job in a company named Ubisoft. He loves introversion more than anything else when hes working. He got tons of projects to work on all the time, but he never works with anyone, he said that he cant work or generates any ideas when he has to work in a group. And I actually witnes s it when he took me to work one day. When brainstorming with a group, he cannot concentrates due to a lot of different ideas, opinions from the co-worker. But after that is over, and hes back to his cubicle, his creativity just like come back and his assigned task was done with great rating from every co-worker for the new ideas and creativity of the game. Through my uncle experience, introversion has proven to be an essential factor and a crucial ingredient for creativity. At the same time, introversion and solitude are strongly relate with the need of privacy. Surprisingly, privacy plays a huge part in increasingly productivity. By having privacy, one can feels the comfortable and freedom from distraction that raise their focus, and, therefore increase their productivity. From a rather interesting study known as the Coding War Games, from the work of more than 600 computer programmers at 92 companies, consultants Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister compared among them and they found that from the same companies, the workers performed at roughly the same level with each other. However, between organization, there a huge gap! And just what made that huge gap? It was the privacy, personal workspace and freedom from interruption their company provides (Sixty-two percent of the best performers said their work space was sufficiently private). Through the research on the study, Cain shows us just how essential privacy is to ours creativity and productivity. Its w ithout a doubt that privacy has a lot of influences on ones performance. Just like the programmers, our minds need their private time to think, to be more creative. By having the privacy and the comfortable space as needed, ones productivity will increase dramatically. But, despite having such important factors, introversion still fall short in the race with group brainstorming of being the thinking trend of the society. Susan Cain also states this situation in Rise of the New Groupthink: Solitude is out of fashion. Most of us now work in teams, in offices without walls, for managers who prize people skills above all. Lone geniuses are out. Collaboration is in. The question is why? Why group brainstorming got so much credit but introversion wont? The reasons are that society now sees group working as a good way for people to learn how to work with others, make them feel more comfortable when working with other people, and furthermore, make better decision than the decision that an individual makes. However, various studies actually go against this statement. Studies show that offices with no private work space for workers actually make them uncomfortable, distracted and insecure. Theyre also easier to suffer from stress and exhaustion due to people watching everything they do. The studies also show that people who works in easy distracted environment make 50 percent more mistakes and take twice as long to finish it. For those reasons, introversion shows its superior sides over group working. But, for the society to realizes and give more credits for introversion, might take quite a long time. Through the course of a society that keeps advancing and developing, introversion plays a big role in making all of it comes true. But now, as group working increases, introversion is gradually being left out. If one day introversion is completely gone, there will not only limited the rate of creativeness within the society, but also our youth might never know how helpful introversion is to their creativity. And without the young generations creativity, the future ahead will not be bright. Work Cited Cain, Susan. The Rise of the New Groupthink. The New York Times. The New York Times, 14 Jan. 2012. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. . Maryellen, Weimer, Phd . Five Things Students Can Learn through Group Work. Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching Learning. N.p., 24 Aug. 2016. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. . Cook, Gareth. The Power of Introverts: A Manifesto for Quiet Brilliance. Scientific American. N.p., 24 Jan. 2012. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. . Susan, Cain. The Rise of the New Groupthink and the Power of Working Alone. The Rise of the New Groupthink and the Power of Working Alone. Susan Cain, 3 June 2015. Web. 16 Feb. 2017. .