Child Abuse

Child Abuse Child abuse occurs like a virus. Child abuse remains not only an individual or family problem but a societal problem. Children who survive abuse grow up more plausible to negatively impact society in many ways. The effects of child abuse on its victims are devastating and life-long. The effects on society are pervasive. Many possible outcomes exist for children experiencing abuse, which range from mild, almost unnoticeable personality effects to full-blown breakdowns in healthy functioning. Effects of child abuse implement various critical problems: physical, psychological, and behavioral.The first significant dilemma triggered by child abuse includes physical oppression. The usual physical abuse scenario involves a parent who losses control and lashes out at a child. The source may be normal child behavior that causes the parent to house deep-rooted negative feelings toward their children. These types of situations lead to numerous complications for the children and may cause a chil d to display fearful behavior.Illegal Drug Addiction and Substance AbuseAny abuse which results in a sever injury requiring prompt medical attention, that could be life threatening, that could cause mental and/or physical impairment, could cause disfigurement, or chronic pain is too classified as physical child abuse. Another form of physical abuse is any knowing or willful mistreatment which in the opinion of a licensed medical doctor causes great bodily harm and/or results in hospitalization for treatment of this injury or condition; this may include physical injury sustained as a result of abuse or conditions which result from a parent's willful failure to act to stop this from happening to the child.Physical neglect is defined as failure to provide for a child's physical survival needs to the extent that there is harm or risk of harm to the child's health and safety. Physical neglect includes these...

College Essay Topic #4 7 Essay Tips for Writing a College Application Essay About a Fictional Character

College Essay Topic #4 7 Essay Tips for Writing a College Application Essay About a Fictional Character How can you write an essay about a character from a novel, play or movie without ending up with a book report instead of a college application essay?   Follow these guidelines and you will demonstrate your ability to think critically about literature, film or theater, as well as about yourself. 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Choose a character who truly inspired you, repulsed you, or otherwise moved you. Demonstrate that you know the character well.   Re-read the book or watch the movie again if you have to! 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ask yourself, â€Å"How am I like this character?   How am I different? Write about it. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Write about the lessons you learned from the character.   How have you applied those lessons in your life? 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   If the character is from the past or the future, or from a different town, country, or even planet, inquire as to how you would fare in the character’s world. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Similarly to #4, how would the character fare in your world?   What if the character had to babysit your brother or do your science fair project? 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Share just enough information about the character and the character’s situation to allow us to understand how you are similar to or different from that character.   Keep the â€Å"story† to a minimum. 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Make sure the essay is at least 75% about you!   If you find yourself writing more than 25% about the character, step back, ask yourself question #s 1-5, and change the balance. Remember, just because you’re writing about a character doesn’t mean you have to re-tell the entire life story of the character.   Keep it personal and reflective and you’ll write a winning essay. For examples of successful college essays, The Essay Expert recommends Accepted!   50 Successful College Admissions Essays by Gen and Kelly Tanabe. Still not sure how to write a great college application essay about your sport?   Contact The Essay Expert for a FREE 15 minute consultation.

The Determination of Food Policy in a Modern World Essay

The Determination of Food Policy in a Modern World - Essay Example Contrary to the main point of The Omnivore Dilemma, however, that part of the difficulty for humans is choosing their food is that we have too much choice, that we can eat anything we want. The problem, however, is that we do not actually have that great a degree of choice and that the factors that determine the crops we grow are in fact outside of our control. It is impossible to simply choose better, safer, healthier, and more environmentally friendly food because the food we grow is determined by the complex interaction of population, food-consumption style, and climate. In order to truly be the masters of our destiny in terms of food production, we must control the factors that determine what food we plant. Corn is in many ways a wonder food and in many ways a dangerous food. Corn can be produced in quantities that far exceed other plants (Pollan 2006, 36), and is incredibly versatile, functioning as everything from feedstock (65) to the sugars in sodas and candies (85). This mea ns that corn is the product of choice for most food production – in a single meal, nearly everything you eat can be a corn product in some way or another (111). This leads to problems, however. Firstly, heavy reliance on a single crop is incredibly dangerous from a food security perspective - an insect that develops the ability to eat it in high quantities and resisting pesticides, or a phage that targets the plant could lead to significant food shortages. Likewise, corn products are not always the most healthy – the high-fructose corn syrup that is in nearly every junk food on the planet is associated with heart disease and diabetes, two of the most serious killers in North America. So, realistically, there would be many benefits to breaking our addiction to corn (and other similarly homogenous cereal crops) and diversifying our planting to a wider variety of food products. But unfortunately, this is near to impossible because of the pressures that actually decide wha t kinds of food we plant. Forces other than free choice force the determination of what crops we plant. The first of these forces is population. Corn and other cereal crops’ incredibly high yields have led to a population explosion the like of which the human race has never seen before. And the fact is, this means that we now need these high yield crops in order to maintain the population and avoid even greater mass starvation than is already occurring. Population in many ways forces us to grow the crops we do. The second major force is lifestyle – a great deal of the crops we produce are used to feed livestock, which are incredibly inefficient uses of food resources from the human perspective – only about one-tenth of the energy used to feed the animal a human eats actually makes it to the human(68). So the widespread consumption of meat in our society is another major factor inducing the growth of corn. A final factor is climate – as climate changes rap idly it is important to grow crops that can endure a wide variety of conditions, and corn has shown that it is able to do this – it can be grown anywhere from Brazil to Canada, and can endure significant swings in temperature, rain and so on without failing, unlike many other crops.  

Financial Contracts in Islamic law compared to that of American Law Dissertation

Financial Contracts in Islamic law compared to that of American Law - Dissertation Example Financial contracts can be entered in both written and verbal formats and must be discussed and accepted during a single meeting without any noticeable interruptions including multiple negotiation sessions or changes in the meeting venue. Unlike provisions under American law, Islamic financial contracts can be accepted based on personal conduct of the parties (Hassan, 2007). Under special circumstances, non-responsiveness to a given contract proposal is taken as an acceptance. Islamic law also allows further flexibility among parties within a given meeting session whereby parties have the right to refuse a contract up to the point when either party leaves the meeting venue physically. However, variations do exist over the interpretation, implementation and recognition of this feature even within countries where Islamic finance is practiced (Vogel, 2008). Contents of the financial contracts under Islamic law are prohibited from discussing or relating with any item prohibited by the re ligion. Such substances include alcohol and tobacco besides prohibition on gambling. All applicable items that constitute the contract content must further be in the possession or ownership of either party and legally exist at the time of the initiation of the contract (Rayner, 2001). In simple words, items that will be devised in the future may not be included in an Islamic contract. Specific properties of all these items including specifications, origin and quality must be clearly states in the terms of the contract. Other than deals that involve the exchange of money, the exact price at which the goods will be delivered should be agreed upon prior to contract agreement (Hassan, 2007). Contracts based on future prices that are speculative in nature are not allowed and cannot be developed based on the advice of a third party. While there are several types of Islamic financial contract, the most common one that is used for sale and exchange of goods is known as mu’awadat. Goo ds can be sold either for money or can be exchanges as part of a barter transaction. Even exchange of money is valid under Islamic contract. Real estate or equipment can be leased to external parties by using another type of contract known as the ‘ijara’ (Vogel, 2008). The concept of Islamic contracts has been in existence for several centuries in regions like the Middle East, Asia and North Africa where Islam continues to be a major religion (Ayub, 2009). Islamic finance is considered as a tool from the almighty and is based upon relevant Islamic principles that place a high value on moral principles that is expected of all followers of the religion. Conventional American law is aimed at helping create contracts that are ‘ethical’ in nature. Islamic finance advocates a similar approach when developing contracts and related transactions. However, this feature must not lead to an assumption that Islamic contracts bear a close resemblance with Western contrac ts (Rayner, 2001). In fact, contracts agreed upon under Islamic law are rather less binding than conventional American contracts that imply all aspects covered under them. Legal advice and further scrutiny is thus necessary in the case of Islamic contracts to understand the circumstances under which a contract may not be valid. In addition, the application of Islamic contracts has not been uniform across the Islamic world. While countries like Pakistan and Iran apply Islamic law in a stringent fashion, other countries

A Review on Reading Theories and Its Implication to the Teaching of Reading Essay Example for Free

A Review on Reading Theories and Its Implication to the Teaching of Reading Essay Abstract Opini dan masukan untuk peningkatan pengajaran membaca kepada pembelajar bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing, baik yang didasarkan pada hasil penelitian maupun pengalaman, tersedia sangat banyak dalam kepustakaan pengajaran bahasa. Tulisan ini merupakan sebuah rangkuman atas berbagai teori, temuan dan pendapat tentang pengajaran membaca. Pemahaman terhadap topik-topik tersebut, terutama tentang teori top-down, bottom-up, dan meta-cognitive, diharapkan dapat dijadikan landasan untuk meningkatkan teknik pengajaran membaca. Dengan demikian, kemahiran membaca para pembelajar bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing dapat ditingkatkan secara signifikan. Kata Kunci: top-down, bottom-up, schemata, meta-cognitive, pre-reading, during-reading, after-reading Introduction Among the four language skills, reading is possibly the most extensively and intensively studied by experts in the field of language teaching. The results of the researches conducted for many decades on nature of reading—how people learn to process textual information—have contributed contrasting theories about what works best in the teaching of reading. As a result, language educators can choose among a wide variety of teaching methods and techniques for students learning to read in their second language (SL) or foreign language (FL). For students who are learning a SL/FL reading is the most crucial skill to master due to several reasons. First, students can usually perform at a higher level in reading than in any other skills. They can quite accurately understand written materials that they could not discuss orally or in writing with equivalent accuracy or thoroughness. Such condition will undoubtedly enhance their motivation to learn. Second, reading necessitates very minimum requirements. Different from speaking which requires opportunities to interact with sparring partner, or from writing which needs a lot of guidance and time to practice, reading necessitates only a text and motivation. Third, reading is a service skill. After learning how to read effectively, students will be able to learn effectively by reading. Realizing how crucial reading is for our students, we can see the great importance of developing their reading ability. To achieve it, we should improve our reading lessons by implementing the best method and techniques provided by theories. This article aims to describe principal theories of reading and examine some tips and guidelines for implementing a theory of reading which will help us develop our learners abilities. Theories of Reading So far, there are three main theories which explain the nature of learning to read. First, the traditional theory, or bottom up processing, which focused on the printed form of a text. (2) the cognitive view, or top-down processing enhanced the role of background knowledge in addition to what appeared on the printed page. Third, the metacognitive view, which is based on the control and manipulation that a reader can have on the act of comprehending a text, and thus, emphasizes the involvement of the reader’s thinking about what he is doing while reading. 1. The traditional bottom-up view. The traditional bottom-up approach to reading was influenced by behaviorist psychology of the 1950s, which claimed learning was based upon â€Å"habit formation, brought about by the repeated association of a stimulus with a response† and language learning was characterized as a â€Å"response system that humans acquire through automatic conditioning processes,† where â€Å"some patterns of language are reinforced (rewarded) and others are not,† and â€Å"only those patterns reinforced by the community of language users will persist† (Omaggio 1993, 45-46). Behaviorism became the basis of the audio-lingual method, which sought to form second language â€Å"habits† through drilling, repetition, and error correction. Today, the main method associated with the bottom-up approach to reading is known as phonics, which requires the learner to match letters with sounds in a defined sequence. According to this view, reading is a linear process by which readers decode a text word by word, linking the words into phrases and then sentences (Gray and Rogers, cited in Kucer 1987). According to Samuels and Kamil (1988: 25),  the emphasis on behaviorism treated reading as a word-recognition response to the stimuli of the printed words, where â€Å"little attempt was made to explain what went on within the recesses of the mind that allowed the human to make sense of the printed page†. In other words, textual comprehension involves adding the meanings of words to get the meanings of clauses (Anderson 1994). These lower level skills are connected to the visual stimulus, or print, and are consequently concerned with recognizing and recalling. Like the audio-lingual teaching method, phonics emphasizes on repetition and on drills using the sounds that make up words. Information is received and processed beginning with the smallest sound units, and proceeded to letter blends, words, phrases, and sentences. Thus, novice readers acquire a set of hierarchically ordered sub-skills that sequentially build toward comprehension ability. Having mastered these skills, readers are viewed as experts who comprehend what they read. The bottom-up model describes information flow as a series of stages that transforms the input and passes it to the next stage without any feedback or possibility of later stages of the process influencing earlier stages (Stanovich, 1980). In other words, language is viewed as a code and the reader’s main task is to identify graphemes and convert them into phonemes. Consequently, readers are regarded as passive recipients of information in the text. Meaning resides in the text and the reader has to reproduce it. The ESL and EFL textbooks influenced by this perspective include exercises that focus on literal comprehension and give little or no importance to the reader’s knowledge or experience with the subject matter, and the only interaction is with the basic building blocks of sounds and words. Most activities are based on recognition and recall of lexical and grammatical forms with an emphasis on the perceptual and decoding dimension. This model of reading has almost always been under attack as being insufficient and defective for the main reason that it relies on the formal features of the language, mainly words and structure. Although it is possible to accept this rejection for the fact that there is over-reliance on structure in this view, it must be confessed that knowledge of linguistic features is also necessary for comprehension to take place. To counteract over-reliance on form in the traditional view of reading, the cognitive view was introduced. 2. The Cognitive View (top-down processing) In the 1960s a paradigm shift occurred in the cognitive sciences. Behaviorism became somewhat discredited as the new cognitive theory represented the mind’s innate capacity for learning, which gave new explanatory power to how humans acquired their first language; this also had a tremendous impact on the field of ESL/EFL as psycholinguists explained â€Å"how such internal representations of the foreign language develop within the learner’s mind† (Omaggio, 1993: 57). Ausubel (cited in Omaggio, 1993: 58), made an important distinction between meaningful learning and rote learning. An example of rote learning is simply memorizing lists of isolated words or rules in a new language, where the information becomes temporary and subject to loss. Meaningful learning, on the other hand, occurs when new information is presented in a relevant context and is related to what the learner already knows, so that it can be easily integrated into one’s existing cognitive structure. A learning that is not meaningful will not become permanent. This emphasis on meaning eventually informed the top-down approach to L2 learning, and in the 1960s and 1970s there was an explosion of teaching methods and activities that strongly considered the experience and knowledge of the learner. These new cognitive and top-down processing approaches revolutionized the conception of the way students learn to read (Smith, 1994). In this view, reading is not just extracting meaning from a text but a process of connecting information in the text with the knowledge the reader brings to the act of reading. In this sense, reading is a dialogue between the reader and the text which involves an active cognitive process in which the reader’s background knowledge plays a key role in the creation of meaning (Tierney and Pearson, 1994). Reading is not a passive mechanical activity but purposeful and rational, dependent on the prior knowledge and expectations of the reader. It is not merely a matter of decoding print to sound but also a matter of making sense of written language (Smith, 1994: 2). In short, reading is a psycholinguistic guessing game, a process in which readers sample the text, make hypotheses, confirm or reject them, make new hypotheses, and so forth. Schema Theory Another theory closely related to top-down processing called schema theory also had a major impact on reading instruction. It describes in detail how  the background knowledge of the learner interacts with the reading task and illustrates how a student’s knowledge and previous experience with the world is crucial to deciphering a text. The ability to use this schemata, or background knowledge, plays a fundamental role in one’s trial to comprehend a text. Schema theory is based on the notion that past experiences lead to the creation of mental frameworks that help a reader make sense of new experiences. Smith (1994: 14) calls schemes the â€Å"extensive representations of more general patterns or regularities that occur in our experience†. For instance one’s generic scheme of an airplane will allow him to make sense of airplane he has not previously flied with. This means that past experiences will be related to new experiences, which may include the knowledge of â€Å"objects, situations, and events as well as knowledge of procedures for retrieving, organizing and interpreting information† (Kucer, 1987: 31). Anderson (1994: 469) presents research showing that recall of information in a text is affected by the reader’s schemata and explains that â€Å"a reader comprehends a message when he is able to bring to mind a schema that gives account of the objects and events described in the message†. Comprehension is the process of â€Å"activating or constructing a schema that provides a coherent explanation of objects and events mentioned in a discourse† (Anderson, 1994: 473). For Anderson and Pearson (1988: 38), comprehension is the interaction between old and new information. They emphasize: â€Å"To say that one has comprehended a text is to say that she has found a mental ‘home’ for the information in the text, or else that she has modified an existing mental home in order to accommodate that new information†. Therefore, a learner’s schemata will restructure itself to accommodate new information as that information is added to the system (Omaggio, 1993). Content and formal schemata. Schema theorists differentiate formal schemata (knowledge about the structure of a text) from content schemata (knowledge about the subject matter of a text), and a reader’s prior knowledge of both schemata enables him to predict events and meaning as well as to infer meaning from a wider context. Formal schemata refers to the way that texts differ from one another; for example, a reading text could be a fictional work, a letter to the editor, or a scientific essay, and each genre will have a different structural organization. Knowledge of these genre structures can aid reading comprehension, as it gives readers a basis for predicting what a text will be like (Smith 1994). For example, if a reader knows that the typical format of a research article consists of sections subtitled Introduction, Theoretical Basis, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusion, that knowledge will facilitate their interaction with the article and boost comprehension. On the other hand, if he is not familiar with this formal schema, teaching it to him could lead to improved reading ability with lasting and beneficial effects. Content schemata refers to the message of the text. One’s familiarity with the content will make more productive and efficient. As Anderson (1994: 469) explains, â€Å"a reader comprehends a message when he is able to bring to mind a schema that gives account of the objects and events described in the message†. Activating and building schemata Since the reader plays a fundamental role in the construction of meaning, his age, gender, experience, and culture are important considerations for teachers who want to select readings that will motivate their students. Anderson (1994) notes that when readers cannot locate a schema that fits a text, they may find it incomprehensible. In some cases readers may not have a schema that is significant to the text, or they may need help to activate the pertinent schema to be able to comprehend the text. In such cases it may not be possible for the reader to understand the text, and the teacher must be ready to engage in â€Å"building new background knowledge as well as activating existing background knowledge† (Carrell, 1988: 248). In parallel with this, Bransford (1994) points out that difficulties in comprehension may be caused by the lack of background knowledge presumed by the text, and he sees the responsibility of instructors as being twofold: to activate preexisting schemata and to help students to integrate isolated â€Å"parcels† of knowledge into a schema or to build a new one. If the texts to be read contain a cultural context that is different from the student’s, the issues of formal and content schemata become even more important. McDonough (1995), explains that, to a higher extent, this is the reason why ESL and EFL students find it difficult to read in a second language with texts that contain cultural assumptions of the target culture. They may lack the culture-specific background knowledge necessary to process the text in a top-down manner. His reports on several studies demonstrate how people outside a given culture may misunderstand events with unfamiliar cultural connotations. (Students from different cultural backgrounds taking standardized tests which assume common schemata for will also face the same problem.) Applying schema theory to L2 reading Based on the aforementioned ideas, it is obvious that in order to teach reading effectively, the teacher’s role to activate and build schemata is paramount. To achieve it, he should in advance select texts that are relevant to the students’ needs, preferences, individual differences, and cultures in order to provide meaningful texts so the students understand the message, which entails activating existing schemata and helping build new schemata. Then, after selecting the text, he needs to do the following three stages of activities to activate and build the students’ schemata. (1) Pre-reading activities, in which the teacher have students think, write, and discuss everything they know about the topic, employing techniques such as prediction, semantic mapping, and reconciled reading. The objective is to make sure that students have the relevant schema for understanding the text. (2) During-reading activities, in which the teacher guide and monitor the interaction between the reader and the text. One important skill teachers can impart at this stage is note-taking, which allows students to compile new vocabulary and important information and details, and to summarize information and record their reactions and opinions. (3)Post-reading activities which facilitate the chance to evaluate students’ adequacy of interpretation, while bearing in mind that accuracy is relative and that â€Å"readership† must be respected as long as the writer’s intentions are addressed (Tierney and Pearson, 1994). Post-reading activities focus on a wide range of questions that allow for different interpretations. While schema activation and building can occur in all three stages, the pre-reading stage deserves special attention since it is here, during the students’ initial contact with the text, where their schemata will be activated. Pre-reading activities Pre-reading activities is aimed to activate existing schemata, build new schemata, and provide information to the teacher about what the students know. In their report on the positive effect various pre-reading activities had on reading comprehension, Chen and Graves (1995, 664), define them as â€Å"devices for bridging the gap between the text’s content and the reader’s schemata†. Various activities and materials can help the teacher introduce key vocabulary and reinforce concept association to activate both formal and content schemata. Formal schemata will be activated by employing devices such as advance organizers and overviews to draw attention to the structure of a text. The content schemata will be activated by using various pre-reading activities to help learners brainstorm and predict how the information fits in with their previous knowledge. One of the most important pre-reading activities proposed by schematic theorists is prediction. According to Goodman (1988: 16), prediction is important because â€Å"the brain is always anticipating and predicting as it seeks order and significance in sensory inputs†. Smith (1994, 19–20) defines prediction as â€Å"the prior elimination of unlikely alternatives†. According to him, predictions are questions the readers ask the world and comprehension is receiving the answers. He emphasizes that it is prediction that makes skilled readers effective when reading texts that contain familiar subject matter. â€Å"Prediction brings potential meaning to texts, reducing ambiguity and eliminating in advance irrelevant alternatives. Thus, we are able to generate comprehensible experience from inert pages of print† (Smith 1994, 18). Another pre-reading activity is previewing, where students look at titles, headings, and pictures, and read the first few paragraphs and the last paragraph; these activities can then help students understand what the text is about by activating their formal and content schemata and making them familiar with the topic before they begin reading in earnest. Semantic mapping is another pre-reading activity that Carrell, Pharis, and Liberto (1989: 651) describe as a useful way to pre-teach vocabulary and to â€Å"provide the teacher with an assessment of the students’ prior knowledge or schema availability on the topic†. This activity asks students to brainstorm about the reading topic as the information is displayed on a graphic â€Å"map. † As students make associations, the map becomes a thorough summary of the concepts and vocabulary that they will encounter in the reading. It can also help build schemata and vocabulary that students do not yet possess. Again, it is important to know something about the students so the selected texts contain the type of material that is likely to be familiar and interesting to them. Reutzel (1985) proposes another type of pre-reading activity called reconciled reading lesson, which reverses the sequence presented by many textbooks where the text is followed by questions. Instead, the teacher develops pre-reading questions from the questions that appear at the end of the reading. Smith (1994) criticizes comprehension exercises presented at the end of a reading because they are like memory tests. He argues that using prior knowledge efficiently contributes to fluent readers, and he believes that there is a reciprocal relationship between visual and non-visual (prior knowledge) information; the more the readers have of the latter, the less they need of the former. Although not all the post-reading questions can be easily turned into pre-reading ones, this strategy can be invaluable to activate schemata. 3. The metacognitive view According to Block (1992), there is now no more debate on whether reading is a bottom-up, language-based process or a top-down, knowledge-based process. It is also no more problematic to accept the influence of background knowledge on readers. Research has gone even further to define the control executed by readers on their trial to understand a text. This control is what Block has referred to as meta-cognition. In the context of reading, meta-cognition involves thinking about what one is doing while reading. Strategic readers do not only sample the text, make hypotheses, confirm or reject them, and make new hypotheses while reading. They also involve many activities along the process of reading, whose stages can be divided into three, i.e. before reading, while reading, and after reading. The activities the readers involve before reading are to identify the purpose of the reading, identify the form or type of the text. In the second stage (while reading), they think about the general character and features of the form or type of the text—such as trying to locate a topic sentence and follow supporting details toward a conclusion, project the authors purpose for writing the text, choose, scan, or read in detail, make continuous  predictions about what will occur next based on information obtained earlier, prior knowledge, and conclusions obtained within the previous stages. Finally, in the last stage, they attempt to form a summary, conclude, or make inference of what was read. Guidelines for Effective Teaching of Reading After discussing the ideas and concepts presented in the three reading theories, we are now on the position of arranging tips and guidelines for implementing a theory of reading which will help to develop our learners abilities. These tips are arranged in three sections which are parallel with the three consecutive reading stages: before reading, during reading, and after reading. Pre-Reading Tips Before the actual act of reading a text begins, some points should be regarded in order to make the process of reading more comprehensible. First, teachers need to make sure that the texts to read contain words and grammatical structures familiar to the learners. If the texts contain unfamiliar vocabulary, teachers can introduce key vocabulary in pre-reading activities that focus on language awareness, such as finding synonyms, antonyms, derivatives, or associated words. Second, teachers should make sure that the topics of texts chosen are in accordance with the age range, interests, sex, and background culture of the students for whom they are intended. If they are not, it is necessary to provide the necessary background information to the reader to facilitate comprehension. This activity could be carried out by letting the class members brainstorm ideas about the meaning of a title or an illustration and discuss what they know. The followings are some activities teacher can use during the pre-reading stage. These activities will not take a very long time to carry out. However, they are very effective in overcoming the common urge to start reading a text closely right away from the beginning. 1. Teacher-directed pre-reading, in which some key vocabulary, ideas in the text, and the type of the text are explained. In this approach the teacher directly explains the information the students will need, including key concepts, important vocabulary, and appropriate conceptual framework. The text types are also necessary to introduce because texts may take on different forms and hold certain pieces of information in different places. The students’ familiarity with the types of the text they are reading will develop their understanding of the layout of the material. Such familiarity will, in turn, enable them to focus more deeply on the parts that are more densely compacted with information. Even paying attention to the year of publication of a text, if applicable, may aid the reader in presuppositions about the text as can glancing at the name of the author. 2. Interactive activities, in which the teacher leads a discussion in which he/she draws out the information students already have and interjects additional information deemed necessary to an understanding of the text to be read. Moreover, the teacher can make explicit links between prior knowledge and important information in the text. 3. Reflective activities, in which students are guided to make themselves aware of the purpose and goal for reading a certain piece of written material. At the beginning stages this can be done by the teacher, but as the reader becomes more mature this strategy can be left to the readers. For instance, the students may be guided to ask themselves, Why am I reading this text? What do I want to do or know after finished reading this? Being aware of their purpose and goal to read, later—in during reading activities—they can determine what skill(s) to employ: skimming, scanning, reading for details, or critical reading. During-reading tips The activities carried out in during-reading stage consist of taking notes, reacting, predicting, selecting significant information, questioning the writer’s position, evaluating, and placing a text within one’s own experience. These processes may be the most complex to develop in a classroom setting, the reason being that in English reading classes most attention is often paid to dictionaries, the text, and the teacher. The followings are tips that encourage active reading. Practicing them will help the students be active readers. 1. Making predictions: The students should be taught to be on the watch to predict what is going to happen next in the text to be able to integrate and combine what has come with what is to come. 2. Making selections: Readers who are more proficient read selectively, continually making decisions about their reading. 3. Integrating prior knowledge: The schemata that have been activated in the pre-reading section should be called upon to facilitate comprehension. 4. Skipping insignificant parts: A good reader will concentrate on significant pieces of information while skipping insignificant pieces. 5. Re-reading: Students should be encouraged to become sensitive to the effect of reading on their comprehension. 6. Making use of context or guessing: Students should not be encouraged to define and understand every single unknown word in a text. Instead they should learn to make use of context to guess the meaning of unknown words. 7. Breaking words into their component parts: To keep the process of comprehension ongoing, efficient readers analyze unfamiliar words by break them into their affixes or bases. These parts can help them guess the meaning of a word. 8. Reading in chunks: To ensure reading speed, students should get used to reading groups of words together. This act will also enhance comprehension by focusing on groups of meaning-conveying symbols simultaneously. 9. Pausing: Good readers will pause at certain places while reading a text to absorb and internalize the material being read and sort out information. 10. Paraphrasing: While reading texts, it may be necessary to paraphrase and interpret texts sub-vocally in order to verify what was comprehended. 11. Monitoring: Good readers monitor their understanding to evaluate whether the text, or the reading of it, is meeting their goals. After-reading tips Post-reading activities basically depend on the purpose of reading and the type of information extracted from the text. Barnett (1988) states that post-reading exercises first check students comprehension and then lead students to a deeper analysis of the text. In the real world the purpose of reading is not to memorize an authors point of view or to summarize text content, but rather to see into another mind, or to engage new information with what one already knows. Group discussion will help students focus on information they did not comprehend, or did comprehend correctly. Accordingly, attention will be focused on processes that lead to comprehension or miscomprehension. Generally speaking, post-reading can take the form of these various activities: (1) discussing the text: written/oral, (2) summarizing: written/oral, (3) making questions: written/oral, (3) answering questions: written/oral, (4) filling in forms and charts (5) writing reading logs (6) completing a text, (7) listening to or reading other related materials, and (7) role-playing. Conclusion Researches, opinions, and suggestions regarding the teaching of the reading exist in extensive amount, and this summary of reading theories is by no means exhaustive. However, with a basic understanding of the theoretical basis of top-down and bottom-up processing, teachers can better take advantage of the most useful methodologies associated with the different approaches. What is important to bear in mind is that relying too much on either top-down or bottom-up processing may cause problems for beginning ESL/EFL readers; therefore, to develop reading abilities, both approaches should be considered, as the meta-cognitive approach suggests. Considering my own experience in teaching reading to Indonesian students, I have found that the students who managed to read English text effectively are those who approach texts in a painful, slow, and frustrating word-by-word manner. By improving their decoding skills, they are freed to concentrate on global meanings. So, both the psycho and the linguistic† aspects must be emphasized in EFL reading classes. Bibliography Barnett, M. A. 1988. â€Å"Teaching Reading in a Foreign Language. † ERIC Digest. Anderson, R. 1994. â€Å"Role of the reader’s schema in comprehension, learning, and memory. † In Ruddell, Ruddell, and Singer 1994, 469–82. Anderson, R. , and P. D. Pearson. 1988. â€Å"A schematheoretic view of basic processes in reading comprehension. † In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, 37–55. Block, E. L. 1992. â€Å"How They Read: Comprehension Monitoring of L1 and L2 Readers. † TESOL Quarterly 26(2) Bransford, J. 1994. Schema activation and schema acquisition: Comments on Richard C. Anderson’s remarks. In Rudell, Ruddell, and Singer 1994, 483–95. Carrell, P. L. 1984. The effects of rhetorical organization on ESL readers. TESOL Quarterly 18 (3): 441–69. _______ 1988. Interactive text processing: Implications for ESL/second language reading classrooms. In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, 239–59. In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, Interactive approaches to second language reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Carrell, P. L. , B. G. Pharis, and J. C. Liberto. 1989. Metacognitive strategy training for ESL reading. TESOL Quarterly 23 (4): 647–78. Chen, H. , and M. Graves. 1995. Effects of previewing and providing background knowledge on Taiwanese college students’ comprehension of American short stories. TESOL Quarterly 29 (4): 663–86. Goodman, K. 1988. The reading process. In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, 11–21. Kucer, S. B. 1987. â€Å"The cognitive base of reading and writing. † In The dynamics of language learning, ed. J. Squire, 27–51. Urbana, IL: National Conference on Research in English. Mcdonough, S. H. 1995. Strategy and Skill in Learning a Foreign Language. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Omaggio, M. A. 1993. Teaching language in context. Boston: Heinle and Heinle. Reutzel, D. R. 1985. â€Å"Reconciling Schema Theory and the Basal Reading Lesson. † The Reading Teacher 39 (2): 194–98. Rigg, P. 1998. â€Å"The Miscue-ESL project. † In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey 1988, 206–220. Rudell, Ruddell, and Singer, eds. 1994, Theoretical models and processes of reading. 4th ed. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. Samuels, S. J. , and M. L. Kamil. 1988. â€Å"Models of the Reading Process. † In Carrell, Devine, and Eskey, eds. 1988. 22–36. Smith, F. 1994. Understanding Reading. 5th ed. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Stanovich, K. E. 1980. â€Å"Toward an Interactive-Compensatory Model of Individual Differences in The Development of Reading Fluency. † Research Reading Quarterly 16 (1): 32-71. Tierney, R. J. , and P. D. Pearson. 1994. â€Å"Learning to learn from text: A Framework for Improving Classroom Practice. † In Rudell, Ruddell, and Singer, eds. 1994. 496–513.

Information Technology in Society Essay -- Technology, Computers, The

Introduction In recent years there has been a big change as revolution in the computer and communication world and all the signs are that technological development and employ of information technology (IT) will continue go on with a fast velocity. Advocating and accompanying the impressive developments in the power and continue employ of latest information technologies has been the communications’ declining cost consequently of both technological enhancements and developed competition. Such great progresses in development present several major and great opportunities but also pose a lot of challenges. Nowadays, increasing in inventions in the field of IT are having extensive effects all over the society, and different strategy makers are working on various issues in which economic output, rights of intellectual property, protection of privacy and approach to information. Option created now will have enduring effects, and concentration must be devoted to their socio-economic impacts. The most important and very effective outcome of the development of IT is most likely the electronic communication and commerce through the Internet, a latest approach of leading the business. However, in recent times, it may fundamentally change the economic behaviours as well as the social atmosphere. Previously, it impacts those important fields like communications and interactions, retail business and finance and might spread out to sectors mainly like the services of health and education. It involves the seamless process of communication as well as information technology all along the whole business value chain that is managed electronically (Castells, 1996). Literature Review The IT has impacted numerous aspects and features o... ...ted to change in the future times. Finally, the relevancy of a contemporary informational infrastructure to the socio-economic well-being of a society cannot be undervalued. Most favourable options, be they social, cultural or economic must be relied on the finest accessible information. The information’s quality determines the efficiency of any provided choice. In the people sphere, approach to believable information and data is a prerequisite to pluralistic and participative democratic system, development of human, social and economic clearness, and the development of different society. Understanding, knowledge and information infrastructures encourage and support conversation between those holding different thoughts. It is only in an environment in which authentic realities and information are obtainable that people can establish own views and perspectives. Information Technology in Society Essay -- Technology, Computers, The Introduction In recent years there has been a big change as revolution in the computer and communication world and all the signs are that technological development and employ of information technology (IT) will continue go on with a fast velocity. Advocating and accompanying the impressive developments in the power and continue employ of latest information technologies has been the communications’ declining cost consequently of both technological enhancements and developed competition. Such great progresses in development present several major and great opportunities but also pose a lot of challenges. Nowadays, increasing in inventions in the field of IT are having extensive effects all over the society, and different strategy makers are working on various issues in which economic output, rights of intellectual property, protection of privacy and approach to information. Option created now will have enduring effects, and concentration must be devoted to their socio-economic impacts. The most important and very effective outcome of the development of IT is most likely the electronic communication and commerce through the Internet, a latest approach of leading the business. However, in recent times, it may fundamentally change the economic behaviours as well as the social atmosphere. Previously, it impacts those important fields like communications and interactions, retail business and finance and might spread out to sectors mainly like the services of health and education. It involves the seamless process of communication as well as information technology all along the whole business value chain that is managed electronically (Castells, 1996). Literature Review The IT has impacted numerous aspects and features o... ...ted to change in the future times. Finally, the relevancy of a contemporary informational infrastructure to the socio-economic well-being of a society cannot be undervalued. Most favourable options, be they social, cultural or economic must be relied on the finest accessible information. The information’s quality determines the efficiency of any provided choice. In the people sphere, approach to believable information and data is a prerequisite to pluralistic and participative democratic system, development of human, social and economic clearness, and the development of different society. Understanding, knowledge and information infrastructures encourage and support conversation between those holding different thoughts. It is only in an environment in which authentic realities and information are obtainable that people can establish own views and perspectives.

On Dumpster Diving Essay

Quite by accident, I found the essay On Dumpster Diving by Lars Eighner on the pages of Seagull magazine. The first lines of it captured my interest considerably, for as I had never read about dumpster diving or scavenging before. On Dumpster Diving is a piece of large Eighner’s work called Travels with Lizbeth (1993), which was based on his own experience of homelessness. The author engages me by telling the origin and meaning of the term Dumpster Diver, presenting his survival guide with specified rules and regulations. Dumpster is a trademark of garbage loading onto trucks system. Dumpster diving involves persons voluntarily climbing into rubbish bins (dumpsters) to find valuables or simply useful items, including food and used clothing. Eighner writes that the life of a beggar traveling without any money opened his eyes to the fact that all those containers with waste are real â€Å"supermarkets† for the poor, and they are not only a source of survival, but also a d epositary of high-quality and diverse food. Anyhow, there is a risk in eating such findings. According to Eighner’s experience, taking food out of dumpsters should involve three simple principles: â€Å"using the senses and common sense to evaluate the condition of the found materials, knowing the Dumpsters of a given area and checking them regularly, and seeking always to answer the question, â€Å"Why was this discarded?† Narrator advises to avoid such foods as game, poultry, pork, and egg-based meals. Soft drinks testing should be based on their fizzing vigorously. Being a scavenger, one has to notice the least signs of visible contaminates. Notwithstanding the scavenger has no indemnity of self- intoxication. Later on Lars tells about â€Å"a predictable series of stages a person goes through in learning to scavenge,† in which disgust at the beginning gives way to indiscriminate acquiring of the things. The story also includes information about the â€Å"can-divers† and their way of diving featured as unethical and impudent. The plot of it is neither compound nor rich in events and characters. However, it is thought provoking. The author gives us detailed guidance how to survive being a dumpster diver. Reading the essay, I asked myself right along whether it was the only aim of Eighner to teach us those rules. As the story progressed, I picked up the writer’s conception gradually. His essay exemplifies the wasteful nature of American society and implies that it is the result of materialistic values but also ignorance and lack of understanding. People unreasonably throw out even food that is appropriate for using: â€Å"Students throw out many good things including food†¦the item was thrown out through carelessness, ignorance, or wastefulness.†(Eighner) The scavenger can acquire â€Å"boom boxes, candles, bedding, toilet paper, medicine, books, a typewriter, a virgin male love doll, change sometimes amounting to many dollars† in the dumpsters. I suppose the purpose of the article is also to show how immoral is to throw out good food and things, knowing that thousands are starving and suffering from poverty. However, exactly that garbage helps him to survive at difficult times. Eighner’s reasoning for why people are materialistic derives from the concept that they are lost and unsure of what they want. In a way, his short essay On Dumpster Diving, suggests to his readers that to achieve the state of satisfaction, they need to know what they want. He states, â€Å"Almost everything I have now has already been cast at least once, proving that what I own is valueless to someone.† The author himself collects only things that are of benefit to him and leaves the rest for the benefit of others. The article shows that the writer being homeless still keeps his intelligent, clever, and sentimental way of thinking. He emphasises the transience of material being and says, â€Å"Once I was the sort of person who invests material objects with sentimental value. Now I no longer have those things, but I have the sentiments yet.†(Eighner) I think, describing all the rules of dumpster diving Lars Eighner represents us the necessity of keeping the etiquette even in adversity. The breakers of that common law are the â€Å"can-divers.† They, as contrasted with the true scavengers, look only for the money there and mix the contents of the dumpster making it more difficult to find the truly good things, the author explains. The worst in can scroungers’ actions is their audacity to go through individual containers in front of peoples homes, something a true diver would never do. Doing that the can diver finds different prescriptions, diaries and things the owner throws out. It is clear that privacy disclosing would embarrass us. Eighner exclaims against private invasion, thus demonstrating his culture and humanism. The last paragraph where Lars compares himself to ultra-wealthy is the most interesting point of the essay, to my mind. The rich people can acquire anything they like and the money does not stand in the way of doing that. The dumpster diver gets the things from dumpsters free too. Author’s analysis is that the truly rich or the truly poor are those who do not want or need. In his comparison, Lars means that he and the super-rich do not need the items the rest of us do. He can just go out and find them. The narrator tries to show the positives of his profession, but does not overlook the negatives as well, following it with the words: â€Å"Dumpster diving has serious drawbacks as a way of life.† The main idea of Lars Eighner in his essay is to assure us that any hopeless situation has its way out. The life goes on even if you meet difficulties†¦ He calls us for keeping our cultural and ethical talents even when being in the lowest state of life. We may not forget that having materialistic values over moral ones destroys and vitiates us from inside. In the unique voice – dry, disciplined, poignant, comic- Eighner celebrates the triumph of the artistic spirit in the face of enormous adversity, thus, inspiring me for true respect.

Leadership Skills Ingredient in Decision-Making Essay

In correlation to the given test as an ethical decision maker, my scores revealed that I am not a judgmental person. I do not usually give judgments neither decide which is wrong or right. Therefore, I cannot easily offend other’s personal beliefs and principles. I also believe that moral right must be respected often. It should be protected. I basically make decisions that conform to unified standards of the majority so that I cannot humiliate them. I also believe that the human spirit can only flower in an atmosphere of freedom. Where people can freely express and decide for their own. However, I have difficulties in handling justice. Sometimes I have inequalities in dealing with other people. I easily make good deals with people close to my heart. Thus, it reflects my biases. The Individual Ethics Profile (IEP) revealed specific traits about oneself. I was able to discover my positive attributes like giving importance with other people’s moral rights. That quality is very essential in making ethical decisions in the future. From that, I can base some of my decisions which conform to the principles of proper conduct as established by the society. Since every decision can affect our future, I can also rely from that result some of my weaknesses particularly in the concept of justice. I must be in balance and minimize unhealthy biases with the people surround me. I can also find ways to strengthen and enrich them. Learning more of ourselves can be every beneficial so we can choose good decisions and productively utilize the freedom to decide in the real world. It can also be a source of improvement by comparing my first result to the second one as I take the same questions again. It can also serve as a guide to me in becoming a better leader and decision maker.

Nanoflares Keep Things Hot on the Sun

Nanoflares Keep Things Hot on the Sun One thing we all know about the Sun: its incredibly hot. The surface (the outermost layer of the Sun that we can see) is 10,340 degrees Fahrenheit (F), and the core (which we cant see) is 27 MILLION degrees F. Theres another part of the Sun that lies between the surface and us: its the outermost atmosphere, called the corona.Its some 300 times hotter than the surface. How can something farther away and out in space be hotter? You would think it would actually be cooling off the farther away it gets from the Sun.   This question of how the corona gets so hot has kept solar scientists busy for a long time, trying to find an answer. It was once assumed that the corona heated gradually, but the cause of the heating was a mystery.   The Sun is heated from within by a process called fusion. The core is a nuclear furnace, fusing atoms of hydrogen together to make atoms of helium. The process releases heat and light, which travel through the Suns layers until they escape from the photosphere. The atmosphere, including the corona, lie above that. It should be cooler, but its not. So, what could possibly heat the corona? One answer is nanoflares. These are tiny cousins of the big solar flares that we detect erupting from the Sun. Flares are sudden flashes of brightness from the Suns surface. They release incredible amounts of energy and radiation. Sometimes flares are also accompanied by massive releases of superheated plasma from the Sun called coronal mass ejections. These outbursts can cause whats called space weather  (such as displays of northern and southern lights)  at Earth and other planets. Nanoflares are a different breed of solar flare. First, they erupt constantly, crackling along like countless little hydrogen bombs. Second, they are very, very hot, getting up to 18 million degrees Fahrenheit. Thats hotter than the corona, which is usually a few million degrees F.   Think of them as a very hot soup, bubbling along on the surface of a stove, warming the atmosphere above it. With nanoflares, the combined heating of all those constantly blowing tiny explosions (which are as powerful as 10-megaton hydrogen bomb explosions) is likely why the coronosphere is so hot.    The nanoflare idea is relatively new, and only recently have these little explosions been detected. The concept of nanoflares was first proposed in the early 2000s, and tested beginning in 2013 by astronomers using special instruments on sounding rockets. During the short flights, they studied the Sun, looking for evidence of these tiny flares (which are only a billionth of the power of a regular flare). More recently, the NuSTAR mission, which is a space-based telescope sensitive to x-rays, looked at the Suns x-ray emissions and found evidence for the nanoflares.   While the nanoflare idea seems to be the best one that explains coronal heating, astronomers need to study the Sun more in order to understand how the process works. They will watch the Sun during solar minimum- when the Sun is not bristling with sunspots that can confuse the picture. Then,  NuSTAR and other instruments will be able to get more data to explain just how millions of tiny little flares going off just above the solar surface can heat the thin upper atmosphere of the Sun.

Overview of 12th Grade Math Curriculum

Overview of 12th Grade Math Curriculum By the time students graduate high school, they are expected to have a firm understanding of certain core mathematics concepts from their completed course of study in classes like Algebra II, Calculus, and Statistics. From understanding the basic properties of functions and being able to graph ellipses and hyperbolas in given equations to comprehending the concepts of limits, continuity, and differentiation in Calculus assignments, students are expected to fully grasp these core concepts in order to continue their studies in college courses. The following provides you with the basic concepts that should be attained by the end of the school year where mastery of the concepts of the previous grade is already assumed. Algebra II Concepts In terms of studying Algebra, Algebra II is the highest level high school students will be expected to complete and should grasp all core concepts of this field of study by the time they graduate. Although this class is not always available depending on the jurisdiction of the school district, the topics are also included in precalculus and other math classes students would have to take if Algebra II were not offered. Students should understand the properties of functions, the algebra of functions, matrices, and systems of equations as well as be able to identify functions as either linear, quadratic, exponential, logarithmic, polynomial or rational functions. They should also be able to identify and work with radical expressions and exponents as well as the binomial theorem. In-depth graphing should also be understood including the ability to graph ellipses and hyperbolas of given equations as well as  systems of linear equations and inequalities, quadratics functions and equations. This can often include probability and statistics by using standard deviation measures to compare the scatter of sets of real-world data as well as permutations and combinations. Calculus  and Pre-Calculus Concepts For advanced math students who take a more challenging course load throughout their high school educations, understanding Calculus is essential to finishing off their mathematics curriculums. For other students on a slower learning track, Precalculus is also available. In Calculus, students should be able to successfully review polynomial, algebraic, and transcendental functions as well as be able to define functions, graphs, and limits.  Continuity, differentiation, integration, and applications using problem-solving as the context  will also be a required skill for those expecting to graduate with a Calculus credit. Understanding the  derivatives of functions and real-life applications of derivatives will help students to investigate the relationship between the derivative of a function and the key features of its graph as well as understand the rates of change and their applications. Precalculus students, on the other hand, will be required to understand more basic concepts of the field of study including being able to identify the properties of functions, logarithms, sequences and series, vectors polar coordinates, and complex numbers, and conic sections. Finite Math and Statistics Concepts Some curricula also include an introduction to Finite Math, which combines many of the outcomes listed in other courses with topics which include finance, sets, permutations of n objects known as combinatorics, probability, statistics, matrix algebra, and linear equations. Although this course is typically offered in 11th grade, remedial students may only need to understand the concepts of Finite Math if they take the class their senior year. Similarly, Statistics is offered in the 11th and 12th grades but contains a bit more specific data that students should familiarize themselves with before graduating high school, which include statistical analysis and summarizing and interpreting the data in meaningful ways. Other core concepts of Statistics include probability, linear and non-linear regression, hypothesis testing using binomial, normal, Student-t, and Chi-square distributions, and the use of the fundamental counting principle, permutations, and combinations. Additionally, students should be able to interpret and apply normal and binomial probability distributions as well as transformations to statistical data. Understanding and using the  Central Limit Theorem  and normal distribution patterns are also essential to fully comprehend the field of Statistics.

Mbuti Culture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Mbuti Culture - Research Paper Example The Mbuti tribe is dependent on the forest for all the aspects of their life including getting their food, clothes, materials for hunting, item of play, musical instrument etc. In the recent times the tribesmen have come in contact with the agricultural people living the peripheries of the forest. However hunting remains their primary source of subsistence. Even in their trade with the agricultural people they exchange the meat they get from the forest in exchange for farm products (Tanno, n.d. pp. 1-51). The forest and hunting activities influenced the culture, social structures, gender relations and the beliefs and values of the Mbuti tribe associated with the Molimo ritual of the tribe. Social Organization The difference in the strategy for procuring the subsistence has attracted the interest of the anthropologist and ethnographers. Along with the difference in the hunting technique some difference in the social structure has also been observed with reference to the number of memb ers in the community. The inhabitants of the southwestern region, the net hunters live in a comparatively large camp consisting to seven to thirty families together. There method of hunting and distribution of the hunt are also of communal type. The women beat the under bush to drive the animals to the net which are looked after by the men. According to famous pygmy researcher Turnbull, this method of hunting requires a number of families to cooperate with each other in order to procure their subsistence. On the contrast the archers live in small groups of three to five. Individual members hunt with the help of arches and bows. The different operations of arching are tracking and ambushing which requires less number of men than net hunting. Several reasons have been cited for this difference in hunting pattern and consequent social structure based on region. According to Turnbull, this has occurred due to the historical distribution of the forest. The southwestern parts of the count ries have been subjected to encroachment for agriculture, mining, plantations, tourist centers etc. As a result the inhabitable land and the land for hunting and gathering have been reduced. On the other hand the population of the tribe has increased over the years. As a result the tribe was forced to increase their utilization of the reduced amount of available land. Moreover due to the Law of Diminishing Return the tribesmen had to undertake more work individually in order to maintain similar level of consumption. Another interesting feature that has been pointed out by the scholars is that the pygmy tribe has a low exposure to the technological advancement. Therefore they are unable to increase the utilization of the plot of land with the help of technology. To compensate for that, the tribesmen are required to increase the coordination and cooperation among themselves to maintain similar level of consumption. (Abruzzi, 1979) Renowned anthropologist, Harako suggests another alter native theory. According to him the original mode of hunting of the Mbuti tribe was archery. But some time in history a part of the tribe came in touch with the Bantu speaking tribes. In course of their interaction and exchange the Mbuti tribe learnt to use the net as a tool for hunting. This theory gives an explanation for the division of hunting methods

Research study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Research study - Assignment Example He asserts that several elements can be used to define quality of goods and services. Such factors include performance, operational features, aesthetics, reliability, durability, conformity, perceived quality and serviceability. Garvin reiterates that satisfaction among customers should not be restrained to goods alone. It should also be extended to services. According to the research, it is clear that customers establish a balance between price and benefits obtained from the goods and services acquired. For this reason, the research emphasizes that marketers should often equate value of goods and services with price. In order for businesses to deliver excellent services and products, they should exactly understand customers’ tastes and preferences. However, it is worth noting that different customers have various perspectives pertaining to what they really value in goods and services. Typically, not all dimensions used by businessmen to attract customers are appealing to them in a similar way bearing in mind that preference of certain brands by marketers is an indication of how customers perceive their goods and services. According to Garvin (2009), businesses should try as much as possible to comprehend their clients’ tastes and perspectives. Consequently, they will be able to increase the success rate of marketing their merchandises. For instance, Big W is a departmental store located in Australia that deals with sales of major products such as households, leisure, health, farm, entertainments and kids’ products. In the process of expanding its sales coverage, it has established a series of stores in Australia. At the same time, the company has increased several components including grocery. Currently, the company has put in place several links both at the local and international level. Needless to say, employees and managers in the company are very keen in analysing and adhering to consumers’ tastes and preferences. The researche r defines quality characteristics targeted in the research. The researchers note that entrepreneurship in business is about exchanges between buyers and manufacturers. Since it is continuous process, business men ensure that they win customers favour for future. For this purpose, it is important to understand the quality characteristics of products or services in order to ensure constant inflow of customers. Companies are able to sustain a royal group by offering quality products and services hence guaranteeing their future sale. Vividly, customers influence on future purchase is dependent on the present quality of goods and services obtained in the market. If at any time they feel dissatisfied, they are likely to change their purchase sites in future. It is evident from research conducted that, the quality of products derived from companies highly influence purchases in future either positively or negatively. Further, the researcher notes that it is advisable for businesses to fost er qualitative satisfaction to clients and their target groups. This can be done by conducting an analysis of clients’ preferences. The latter analysis will assist businesses to identify which products are highly preferred and to what extent customers are willing to purchase them. Additionally, considering customers preferences will help business men to make vital and reliable decisions that will favour customers. In line with this, this will help companies to optimize on more designs in terms of services and products. In order to accomplish this, they