Should Divorced Parents Remarry?

OUTLINE I. Introduction Thesis statement: divorced parents should not remarry for the following reasons. II. Body A. Divorced parents remarry which will have negative impacts on their children 1. Children will be placed in a complex situation. 2. Parents’ remarriage will give children pernicious influences on their behavior and study. B. Divorced parents will face complex relationships when they remarry 1. Stepparents will get into troubles with stepchildren. 2. Stepparents have to face unresolved issues related to the first marriage. C.Counterargument and refutation. 1. Counterargument. a. Children might have a perfect family with both mother and father which help them mature. b. New spouses in stepfamilies may have strong and harmonious marital relationship. 2. Refutation. a. Remarriage has negative effects on children. b. There are many conflicts happening in stepfamily. III. Conclusion Because of the above reasons, it is better for divorced parents not to remarry. Should d ivorced parents remarry? Remarriage of divorced parents is always a controversial issue in our modern society.Some of divorced parents choose remarriage as another chance or hope with a new family while many others decide to become a single parent. As making the decision to remarry, divorced parents have to choose a new partner who is suitable not only for them but for their children as well. Havemann and Lehtinen (1990) quoted a sociologist, ‘the difficulty which remarried family must wrestle may be tremendous’ (p. 280). Divorced parents can get into big troubles which people in first marriages will never foresee.In our opinion, divorced parent should not remarry for some rationales. Firstly, divorced parent remarriage is mainly responsible for children’s stress, depression, severe behaviors and bad schoolwork. Children not only can be the unwitting victim of a network of jealous and angry people but also suffer from conflict of loyalty. A study cited by Lutz (a s cited in Strong, Devault & Sayad, 1998) showed that many children felt stressful and worried because they were put in difficult predicaments. For example, a teenage girl felt heavily stressed.Although she lived with her mother and stepfather, she had to spend her weekends with her maternal grandparents and her paternal grandparents. She was always asked to report what happened at the other place and guard secret about it (R. H. Lauer & J. C. Lauer, 2007). Moreover, Visher and Visher (as cited in Devault et al. , 1998) see that many children in the stepfamilies who suffer the conflict of loyalties and loss of love from their parents can be in a state of great anxiety, confusion and they could behave unpredictably.In addition, according to Wallerstein and Kelly (as cited in Schwartz & Scott, 1994), remarriages of divorced parents not only cause children’s tension but also affect their study. The boys, for instance, had negative attitudes and did not concentrate on study in sc hool because their father and stepmother refused to send their biological mother money (Havemann & Letinen, 1990). Secondly, remarried parents will face stepchildren’s disputation and unresolved issues related to the first marriage.Children at any age tend to oppose and begrudge their stepparent, a newcomer in their family (Lauer & Lauer, 2007). In fact, they usually show their distrust, suspect, and resentment toward their stepparent. Even when stepmother try her best to be closed to stepchildren and satisfy their needs, the stepchildren still do not accept her as their real mother since they think that she is trying to replace their biological mother (DeVault, Sayad & Strong, 1998). By any cost, children try to â€Å"drive a stepparent out of the home† (Havemann & Lehtinen, 1990, p. 82). As a result, remarriages indeed have been devastated and disrupted by teenage stepchildren (Havemann & Lehtinen, 1990). Besides, not only stepchildren but also ex-spouses can be a co mplicated problem with remarried couples. Especially, former marital habits have a negative impact on the rapport between new spouses (Schwartz & Scott, 1994). A woman in her 30s, for example, told some troubles about her remarriage. Her husband bought her a nice nightgown, however he had a ritual of buying small size which fit his ex-wife but it did not fit her.Similarly, she also had a mistake that she called her current husband by her ex-partner’s name (Havemann & Letinen, 1990). In addition, keeping in touch with ex-spouses is inevitable. For instance, Sager and his associates reported that Mrs. Prince was annoyed because her husband has some calls continuously with his ex-wife many times a day for problems involving his biological children (Lauer & Lauer, 2007). Opposing people may claim that divorced parent remarriages may help the children to recover from emotional trauma of their parent’s divorce.Furthermore, on account of becoming older and more experienced th an in the first marriages, new spouses in stepfamilies might have strong and harmonious marital relationship. However, as stated previously, parent remarriages put the children in a problematic position and cause their emotional troubles. For stepdaughters, both Hetherington and Joshua Fischman (as cited in Schwartz & Scott, 1994) found that they experience more depression and have more negative behaviors.Besides, there are many conflicts happening in a stepfamily, which affects new spouses’ harmony like stepchildren’s disagreement and relationships with ex-spouses. Children’s behaviors have negative effects on the marital rapport, namely they act against stepparents and make a resentful atmosphere (Schwartz & Scott, 1994). Furthermore, stepsibling relationship is also one of the biggest problems in stepfamily because it can lead to stepsibling rivalry (Schwartz & Scott, 1994).As a result of such disharmony, â€Å"it is often difficult for remarried family to f eel like a real family† (Schwartz & Scott, 1994, p. 389). In conclusion, complicated problems with stepchildren and ex-spouse and negative impacts on children are two most severe issues in remarriage. Both the quality of the marital relationship and the stability in remarriage are poor. The statistics indicate that divorce people who remarry have a higher divorce rate than those in first marriages (Schwartz & Scott, 1994).Therefore, to our view, it is better for divorced parents not to remarry, which benefits both them and their children. Words: 852 * References DeVault, C. , Sayad, B. W. , & Strong, B. (1998). The marriage and family experience (7th ed. ). Belmont, Wadsworth publishing company. Havemann, E. & Lehtinen, M. (1990). Marriages and families (2nd ed. ). Englewood cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Lauer, R. H. & Lauer, J. C. (2007). Marriage & family (6th ed. ). New York: Phillip A. Butcher. Schwartz, M. A. & Scott, B. M. (1994). Marriages & families. Englewood cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

National Reconciliation Ordinance

On October 05, 2007, General Pervez Musharaf promulgated the NRO to give an immediate relief and forgiveness to public office holders, who were charged in corruption cases between 1986 and 1999 under Article 5(1)(2) of (PCO) Provisional Constitutional Order. One of the most consolidate reason behind NRO was to give an immediate relief to late PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto by giving protection in all cases registered against her by Nawaz government . The NRO also protected our current President Mr. Asif Ali Zardari and Ms Bhutto against $60 million Swiss bribe and Geneva simple money laundering cases.The case was pending in the Swiss court when General Musharaf promulgated the NRO and the government dropped all the cases in April, 2008. An accountability court also cleared Mr. Asif Ali Zardari on March 05, 2008, of five corruption charges and illegal use of property under the NRO. The Supreme Court of Pakistan on December 16, 2009, declared the (NRO) National reconciliation ordinance null and void and declared that all the cases which were active at the time of promulgation of the NRO may be reopened at the point at which they were closed.A 17-members bench of the Apex court headed by the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudry declared the NRO an instrument null and void because it violates the various constitutional provisions including Article 4, 8 , 25 , 62 (f) and others. The presidency of Pakistan announced that the government accepts and respects the verdict of the Supreme Court. The President enjoys the protection of Article 248 (2) of the constitution. The article 248 (2) states that â€Å"No criminal proceedings continued against the President or a governor in any court during his term of office†.

A Tragic Hero Things Fall Apart English Literature Essay

A Tragic Hero Things Fall Apart English Literature Essay Things Fall Apart is an intriguing story of how an Indian tribe is cultivated and one man’s pride brings him down. Okonkwo is flawed but has a desire to do good for his clan. As the protagonist the clan’s conflict is sought out by Okonkwo and his excessive pride. Building his compound from nothing, Okonkwo demands authority and power amongst his fellow clansmen. By the end of the story Okonkwo is unwilling to compromise due to his pride and is brought down by it even though he has a good clan stature and power. Okonkwo is a tragic hero and fulfils all the qualifications to be considered one. There are four criteria of a tragic hero, which shape the character’s fate. The character must be flawed but have the potential or want to do good, and have a lot of pride. Conflict is attempted to be resolved by the hero because they are often the protagonist. A protagonist is a leading character that is used to influence the direction of the plot. The tragic hero has oppor tunity, wealth, or power. In the end the tragic hero’s quality of excessive pride will bring him down and the opposite of what the reader thinks will happen does indeed occur. Okonkwo is the son of Unoka, who was a very lazy and worthless man who held no tribe titles and did not look after his family. Many people knew Unoka as this and his name was soiled. He borrowed lots of money from friends and deceived them by not so much as attempting to repay them. Having been born at this disadvantage Okonkwo had to work extra hard to have a normal lifestyle or even to rise above that as a leader in the Umuofia clan. â€Å"Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men usually had. He did not inherit a barn from his father. There was no barn to inherit†(Achebe, 19). This quote exploits Okonkwo’s father as a failure and defines Okonkwo as a tragic hero not because of his low birth status but because of the internal hatred it creates in him. He becomes cold he arted to anything weak or lazy and can not easily be pleased with anything. Later his son Nwoye leaves him because of his harsh treatment, even though Okonkwo had good intentions. Nwoye attended the Christian church and was brutally beaten when asked where he had been. A neighboring tribe committed a crime against the Umuofia clan and Okonkwo was sent as a messenger to lay out options. â€Å"And such was the deep fear that their enemies had for Umuofia that they treated Okonkwo like a king and brought him a virgin who was given to Udo as wife, and the lad Ikemefuna† (Achebe, 59). Okonkwo is very strong and his chi agrees with him making him more powerful. He is aggressive and respected due to his pride and confidence that he carries about himself. This leads him to be uncompromising and violent, but he uses these qualities for what he thinks is good.

Operational Risk Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Operational Risk - Essay Example (Dictionary of Accounting, 1999). Most of the prior studies on operational risk have focused on estimating operational risk in a financial institution. Frachot et al. (2001) explored the Loss Distribution Approach (LDA) for computing the capital charge of a bank for operational risk where LDA refers to statistical/actuarial methods for modelling the loss distribution. In this framework, the capital charge is calculated using a Value-at-Risk measure. Frachot et al. (2001) show how to compute the aggregate loss distribution by compounding the loss severity distribution and the loss frequency distribution, how to compute the total Capital-at-Risk using copulas, how to control the upper tail of the loss severity distribution with order statistics. Fachot et al. (2001) also compare LDA with the Internal Measurement Approach (IMA) proposed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision to calculate regulatory capital for operational risk. The results show that LDA and IMA are bottom - up internal measurement models which a re apparently different. (Frachot et al., 2001). As earlier mentioned, much of the Literature has focused on operational risk in financial institutions with a particular emphasis on the Basel II accord and the quantification of operational risks. Kuritzkes (2002) notes that the Basel II Accord definition of operational risk considers only a subset of operational risks. According to Kuritzkes (2002) the term "operational risk" commonly refers to all non-financial risks whereas the Basel II Accord definition considers only a subset of non-financial risks including those resulting from failure of "internal processes, people, or systems or from external events". Mainelli (2002) suggests that operational risk has many pseudo-standard sub-taxonomies, such as people (e.g. workforce disruption, fraud), process (e.g., documentation risk, settlement failure), systems (e.g. failure, security) and external risks (e.g., suppliers, disasters, infrastructure utilities failures). However, day-to-da y operational risk management involves decisions about opening times, cleaning standards, rodent controls in dealing rooms, secure electricity supply, security controls and other management decisions not suitable to real-time spreadsheet analysis. (Mainelli, 2002). Mainelli (2002) further suggests that there is a tension between the top-down imposition of a change and the bottom-up nature of these detailed decisions. If the purpose of risk-based capital allocation is to reflect differences across banks in business mix and risk profile, then operational risk measurement will need to be supported bottom-up within individual institutions. (Kuritzkes, 2002) Figure 1: Taxonomy of Operational Risk. Source: Kuritzkes (2002) As shown in figure 1 above risks can be divided into financial and non-financial risk components. The financial risk components include market risk, credit risks and ALM insurance and other risks whereas the nonfinancial risk component includes internal event risk, external event risk and business risk. As the figure indicates, the Basel II Accord only considers a subset (internal event risk and external event risk) as the nonfinancial risk. It fails to take into consideration a very important aspect of the risks - business risks.

Case Study Analysis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Analysis - Case Study Example At the end of the analysis, recommendations are provided as to how such types of situations can be avoided. Carl Robbins was a new employee in the organization with just six months of enrollment in the firm. According to my analysis, Carl Robbins had taken up a huge task that was not for him to be conducted at this early stage. He was new to the organization and therefore needed more time to get acquainted to the practices of the firm. Major and crucial tasks that should have been addressed earlier were neglected by Carl Robbins and were pondered upon at a later and late stage. Carl Robbins lacked time management skills, planning skills and proper organizing skills. Carl Robbins works for ABC Inc as a new recruitment officer of their campus. He is a new employee in this organization with just six months of work experience. In such a short work time duration, Carl conducted recruitment process and in April 15 trainees were recruited. Monica Carrolls is the Operations Supervisor of ABC Inc and she contacted Carl on 15th May about the briefings of the orientation sessions and also about the paper work issues. She wanted to ensure that all the documentation work of the new trainees such as drug tests, schedules, policy manual and other such documents were ready for the orientation session. When about two weeks were left for 15th June, Carl realized that many aspects were not completed. The manuals and policies were not prepared and also he found out at that time that the training room had been booked for computer trainings for the whole month of June. The new trainee orientation session planned by Carl would have to face delays due to his mismanagement of the event preparations. It was too early for Carl to take up such a project or task. Key problems were that the training schedule was not planned, the policy booklets and manuals should have been ready, Carl did not ensure about proper documentation

Economic impact Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Economic impact - Research Paper Example of one such nation where demand for coffee has reached an epitome so much so that it accounts for being one of the largest consumers of the commodity in the world. Annual consumption of the good is near to 4.5 kilograms per capita in USA, clearly indicating the degree of popularity that coffee has attained among Americans. Despite the downfall in the income growth rate of the nation, the nationals continue to spend an average of $165 per year on coffee with 54% of them consuming it on a regular basis (International Coffee Organisation, 2006). The present paper is a case study on how a push cart selling hot coffee and cappuccino in the industrial belts of Cleveland, Ohio and Houston, Texas will fare in its business. Objective of the paper will be to draw a conclusion about the prospects of the business in either location on the basis of the degree of demand and the economic influence it will impose. Production of coffee in USA is concentrated only within the states of Hawaii and Papua, though the nation imports a lumpsum quantity of coffee from Latin American nations, whose tropical climate are suited for its growth. In fact, as far as the data of 2001 is concerned, USA is the largest importer of coffee beans accounting for more than 25% of gross imports of the product. However in terms of production, USA produces only a fraction compared to its huge demand for coffee. Hence, a majority of the coffee being supplied in various parts of the nation comes from its imports from South American economies of Colombia and Brazil (International Coffee Organisation, 2006). Demand for coffee depends upon a number of factors which tend to vary from place to place, leading to diverse outcomes of business ventures. In Ohio for instance, these factors could be elaborated as follows. Population – According to census conducted by US Census Bureau in 2008, Cleveland comprised of 397,901 people out of whom 47.8% were males and the rest of them being females. This statistic is

Discussion Question Responses for Strategic Management Assignment

Discussion Question Responses for Strategic Management - Assignment Example I strongly agree to the idea that companies’ missions should share a strong link with the vision. A mission is better described or elaborated, as compared to the vision. This is because it explicates the reason for the firm’s existence, the technicality it desires to employ in order to achieve its goals and the scope of its activities or operations. However, I reason that it is not necessary that firms include social responsibility or roles in their missions, even though the idea sells the company. This is because it makes the company engage in unnecessary activities and expenses that can be easily avoided. Acision, a data management firm, offers a comprehensive vision statement that encompasses every important element. First, it understands customers’ needs then followed by the approach employed to meet the needs (Acision, 2011). The company also points the uniqueness of their services by pointing out that their data will be evolving. This is an impeccable approach, as it will ensure the company fully meets its client desires. It is important to note how Acision idealizes themselves as the most prominent firm in mobile data. Despite the fact that the statement itself is debatable, it provides a motivation to the employee when conceptualized. I, therefore, applaud how the company states its values and promote employees condition to uphold the code of ethics strictly. However, I am displeased by the fact that the vision does not state the welfare of employees in the company. I do agree that mission and value statements should be evaluated to test whether they are within reach of practical effort. In discussing the ineffectiveness of a firm’s vision or mission, I find it imperative to look at the factors that cause the same. A clear vision enables easy formulation or creation of company objectives. However, if

An evaluation of the suitability of the Istisna contract to financing Essay

An evaluation of the suitability of the Istisna contract to financing small enterprises - Essay Example These banks offer services based on religious teachings and laws. The banks continue to provide innovative financial products aimed at filling the existing gaps in the financial industry. These banks have used a philanthropic approach, adopted from Islamic teaching, to offer high quality services to customers. One of these approaches has been the Istisna contract. Based on the Sunnah of the prophet Muhammad (PBUH) this contract has transformed the banking industry immensely (Mahlknecht, 2009). The use of this contract may be enormously beneficial to people seeking comprehensive funding for small businesses. The contract and its use by Islamic banks The Istisna contract falls under the category of manufacturing contracts. It was created by the Islamic Financial Institution in line with the Istisna believes. The contract is strongly related to the shariah. In Arabic, the word Istisna means making a request to someone to build, construct or manufacture something for another. This contract is based on the principle meaning of the word. The contract, therefore, involves agreements for sale and purchase between two individuals. The items under discussion in the contract agreements of Istisna are non-existent. This can be termed as the greatest difference between the Istisna and other financial contracts within the industry (Warde, 2000). This has led to the identification of the Istisna as a exceptional sale agreement. Within the scope of the Istisna contract, the agreement is normally based on trust between the parties. The asset in the agreement normally has to be constructed or manufactured in a later date. The parties normally a gree on the date in which the finished product should be delivered. The process of creating an Istisna contract needs to be handled with considerable care. The Shariah law dictates that a commodity intended for sale must in the hands on the seller when the sale is being made (Mahlknecht, 2009). The seller must also posses the ownership of the product intended for sale. A product to be sold must also have been gained through acceptable means by the Islamic law. The Istisna contract, however, seems to offer a slightly different ideology. In the Istisna contract, the products being sold are normally, not in their final form. The core aspect of the contract becomes the religious values attached to the agreement. All elements of the contract are based upon trust and belief in the ability of the manufacturing party to deliver items. The quality and quantity of the product is expected to meet the agreed upon standards. In the contract, the parties agree on the specifications of the goods t o be manufactured as well as the date of completion of the manufacturing process. The cost price of the items can also be another element agreed upon by the contracting parties. All these elements are done through agreements made by the contracting parties. Within the scope of the Istisna contract, the Islamic financial institutions are requested by customers to manufacture a product. The product is manufactured by the financial institution on behalf of the customer. Upon completion of the construction, the product is then delivered to the customer for payment. Trust becomes essential as the customer may not be able to cater for the payment of the products delivered. An important note to make here is that the contract terms cannot be changed once they have been agreed upon. This becomes essential in ensuring that each party delivers its part of the bargain. Failure by either party, though, immediately makes the contract obsolete. The

A MULTICULTURAL VIRTUAL TEAM (slp) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

A MULTICULTURAL VIRTUAL TEAM (slp) - Essay Example The different teams also bring different thoughts to the table. People from US are graduated from better colleges which impart better education, so that the ideas that they put forth are more workable and easy to follow. These days’ multi-cultural virtual teams are even more important as they save the cost of travelling and at the same time provide a means of increased globalization and enhanced thoughts. Working of the team according to the Tuckman’s Teamwork Model This report describes a multicultural virtual team that was formed for a business company based on selling market products related to cosmetics. The few things that were required of the team were: 1. to keep a market survey of the number of customers 2. to keep a market survey of the demand of the cosmetics 3. promoting the products The team took the survey and found out that score was highest in the norming section of the questionnaire. And the two highest scores were performing and norming so the team was clearly in the performing stage altogether. The team first took together members from all over the world including places like Japan, USA, KSA, UK, Canada, Pakistan, and Indonesia. The purpose of including all these teams went from very much business-like country and highly developed countries to third world countries.

Call to Action Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Call to Action - Essay Example porating communities, public and private sectors as well as families aimed at changing the negative notion about illness and obesity to a positive one peddled by alteration of national conversation with particular focus being healthy and fitness. The identified news article is the Public Health report Journal published in July-August 2010. It is traced from the PMC (PMC2882598) regarded as US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. The report has been a vocal tool based on call to action proactive strategy. The initiative assigned specific roles to different institution and individuals. It is inspired by the need to reduce overweight and obesity based on promotion of exercise across the board. The ‘Exercise Medicine Initiative’ being a multinational and multi-organizational, is embedded on promotion of physical activities as the pillars upon which treatment and prevention of obesity and overweight are pegged. It culminated into immediate exercised-based actions spearheaded by close interactions amongst clinicians and patients. The report culminated into beneficial linkages between fitness professionals, the public and clinicians presenting avenues for instructions aimed at ensuring active and healthy individuals. Actions thus emerged to proactively advocate for exercise as the new medicine for obesity. With respect to communities, schools and workplaces, physical activities have been promoted to ensure well-being and increased health stocks. Besides, policy makers have also refocused on physical fitness-attached policies (Kazaks, 2013, p.122). This has also extended to clinicians as well as fitness professionals who have been subsequently incorporated exercise in their interaction with patients and clients. Media has remained the centerpiece in mobilizing the public to be educated and empowered via physical exercise consultations and counselling. Websites have been developed to sensitize people and patients on the pros attached to this

Breach Of Acountability Essay Example for Free

Breach Of Acountability Essay Duties have become a main stay in the interactions of humans over the years. Human interactions have created room for trust, which strengths relationship. On the hand, there could be abuse of this trust in a breach; this does not strengthen, but rather weakens or in any way completely destroy such relationships. Quite a number of organizations have been destroyed because of such collapse of accountability. This has its root in a character deformity that has pervaded every strata of society. It runs through arms of government, their agencies, non-governmental organizations, private industries even to family and day to day human relationships. Therefore, if there are humans with no such respect for integrity and reputation for keeping promises, they are likely going to show their character through a number of antisocial behavior that make lives and property insecure. Such disturbances can not be isolated to any particular organization or a group of people. It represents a society. BREACH OF TRUST IN THE POLICE The Police are an agency of government that deals, in simple terms, with the protection of lives and property within their specified jurisdiction. They maintain law and order in the society. Their work is sustained by government allocation derived party from the citizen’s taxes. This force uses a number of measures in the discharge of duties, including physical and sometimes deadly force. The use of such force is restricted only to situations that warrant them. Besides, for an effective police force, citizens and police officers have to work hand in hand in stemming the tide of criminal activities in the society. This requires substantial accountability from both sides, especially the force. The privilege that the Police enjoy on the nature of their can actually be misused: this raises legitimate and expected concern. The extension of character defiance in the society has also permeated the force, as there have now been reported cases of Police brutality towards the harmless populace. Quite a number of such cases have been reported; these usually have inherent root in societal menace, particularly racism. Of such cases are the recorded beating of Rodney King by four police men in Los Angeles in 1992; these men were charged to court and were acquitted of the charges. The verdict caused uproar in the area. The argument of the police towards such abuse of power is that such was necessary for the situation in order to effectively law and order. THE GUINEAN DIALLO’S CASE A classical example of police brutality is that of the 27-year old Guinean Merchant, Amadou Diallo who was killed by four New York City police men like a criminal facing a firing squad. The ugly incident took place on February 4, 1999 when the promising young man was fired 41 shots in which 19 entered him. Diallo was returning home the night of the catastrophe when an unmarked car parked close to him, and from it emerged four white policemen. He was then questioned, and they reported that he refused to answer their questions. Diallo then reached for his pocket; one of them thought he wanted to bring out a gun. He shouted and they started firing the West African ceaselessly. He eventually collapsed at the door of his apartment drenched in his own cold blood. His hand aimed at a purse, and not a gun. STRUGGLE AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY Then the struggle against Police brutality and breach of accountability began with many high placed blacks rising up to the occasion to defend the rights t life of the harmless young man killed for ‘ no obvious reason’ other than racism and intolerance. Diallo began the martyr for the struggle against reforms in Police methods and investigations in the city and other parts of the country. His death shocked the nations, and ignited many protests and criticisms of the Police. The Four white Policemen, namely Sean Caroll, Edward McMellan, Kenneth Boss and Richard Murphy, were charged to court. The trial began on February 2, 200 almost a year after the incident. On the 25th of the same month, these men were discharged and acquitted of all charges. The verdict sparked up series of demonstrations and protests led by the Clergyman, Rev. Al Sharpton. Other black leaders joined in the struggle for justice in this case. Critics of the judgment pointed out the failure of cross examination by the district attorney and introduction of racial factor that beamed brightly in the killing. Besides, In April 2000, Diallo’s family filed a $61million suit against New York City and the four police officers indicted; they demanded for one million per bullet shot and the remaining $20 million for the agony inflicted on the family by virtue of loss of Amadou Diallo. POLICE REFORMS The underlying issue in this killing is the racial factor that was obvious. Quite a number of similar killings have been reported. It is important to reiterate the fact that such killings show a vivid picture of the state of the society, and can therefore not be isolated from it. If there are elements in the society who have not come to term with racial intolerance, they would employ any opportunity at their disposal to exude it. This case therefore calls more important for consideration of racial discrimination, as a national issue of concern which requires immediate public attention to avoid a recurrence. Besides, the best part of the work would have to done by the affected minority group. Besides, this calls for a reform in the activities of the Police, including how more fair investigations can be carried with full accountability to the populace. This requires ‘restricted openness’ that would be effective in arriving at logical conclusions of prosecuting culprits with the rule of law. The justice system should also be sensitive to issues of racism in its verdict. BIBLIOGRAPHY Police Brutality. Accessed from www. hrw. org/reports98/police Vila, Brian, The Role of Police in American Society: A Documentary History. Communities against Brutality Accessed from www. cuapb. org Woods, Gerald. The Police in Los Angeles: Reform and Professionalization.

Cyclermate Report Group Essay Example for Free

Cyclermate Report Group Essay Many striking features of Cyclermate Company are shown clearly through its expertise workforce. It has skillful engineers gathered together to meet the volume on time. Besides, the high quality of the hand-made product is another crucial reason making its business expand. In addition, the word-of-mouth reputation is another major factors help this business succeeds. Furthermore, it takes advantages of the relatively low prices of commercial and industrial property. B. WEAKNESSES It is obvious that shambolic production process has heavily damaged the sales and profits gained. Unsuitable roles and duties division can be blamed for this problem. Some have to manage so many duties and tasks while others own so much spare time. Furthermore, the aging workforce endangers the productivity level. Another obstacle worsens the condition is the weak  training system. Fred, who is 18 years old, is a new worker in the field so it takes so much time to train him which also harms the production recently. Also, old machinery such as traditional spaying technique, painting and low-quality stock control technology needs updating as soon as possible if the business hopes to improve the production and sales in the coming time. Moreover, decline in sales show that marketing strategy of this company has problems. Apparently, it should be considered to be changed to online selling or online promotion immediately because globalization is widespread and making use of cyberspace is not a bad idea at all, in fact, many companies mostly succeed thanks to effective marketing campaign and successful advertising methods. Traditional adverts on national papers are no longer popular in our modern times. Besides, the managerial system also has matters. The managerial system inside the company such as company cultures, employee behavior, etc requires strict control, however, Lewis Llewellyn focus more on production issues and Dai on external relations. Obviously, the company is in serious shortage of labor and executive managers. Lastly, financial matters such as loss of profitability and rising overdraft are causing bad reputation and rapid fall in the share price. C. OPPORTUNITIES The product they selected was a â€Å"traditional† upright cycle, following a design typical of the 1940’s and 1950’s which created a strong niche market for this such product and would be given the upsurge in interest in cycling and the increasing consumer interest in â€Å"retro† styles. Another opportunity is that there would be a strong growth in their business because of the decrease in the number of people using cars. The opportunity created from the meeting between Amstrong and Owen helps him to have some expertise in new technologies that might be an interesting way to develop product. The upcoming changes in human resource, followed by Mr Jones who interjected that the quality problems could probably all be solved if the directors would allow the employment of more staffs in the factory and the plans for future directions, including development of the product range, and the introduction of new ways of working, new materials and possible outsourcin g of manufacture parts of the product manufacture point out the new development of their business. D. THREATS It can be seen that the biggest trouble Cyclermate is facing is their bad credits toward the bank. In 2010, the business is in trouble, the demand keeps going down despite the price reduction. This significant decrease in sales together with the increase in costs may last for the coming year. Therefore, Cyclermate’s overdraft is now becoming the major concern of the bank manager. So far, it is not easy for them to borrow money and this cause a lot of problem especially when they really need money to save their business. Besides, they also need to deal with their sales. Their customers demand high quality products and to meet this, they have to upgrade their producing system which will cost a lot. But, as the fact that they almost depend on their world-of-mouth reputation so it may be completely strange and challenging for them at first. 2. PEST analysis A. POLITICAL FACTORS Strict safety standard and consumer protection laws are Cyclermate’s priority. By 2010, their products continuously cause accidents. Customers keep complaining about the quality and faults in the products. One even got risk and intends to sue the company due to an accident purportedly caused by incorrectly assembled front brake. These mistakes made Cyclermate become a target of health and safety agencies. They have to improve the quality or else they can be stuck in authorized issues. On the other hand, they also need to achieve higher standard in manufacturing to meet requirements of the market, especially foreign markets. B. ECONOMIC FACTORS In a condition of high petrol prices recent years, many entrepreneurs find difficulties in producing and running their own business. Electricity is not an exception. Moreover, with the high cost in during manufacturing such as materials, facilities, the cost of products in the market does not avoid increasing. That is also the essential reason explaining the consumption in the world is in downward trend High costs also influence on delivery of this company, it prevents to expand the brand name and products to customers who live far away. Furthermore, it also interfere the import or export process because of tax, and ship costs. Finally, after wasting much money to purchase materials, or investing facilities and technology, spending on  marketing or delivery and paying salaries for their workers, the last profits of Cyclermate Ltd cannot be good and high. If the sales of this company are not able to improve, the worst case will happen is to go bankrupt, seriously. Cyclermate Ltd receives high competition from market because many rivals open more and more factory to produce bicycles in England, such as Carrera, Charter Lea. The competitiveness is higher and higher when there are new styles, color and reasonable price from competitors. The customers have lots of choices to select and purchase a bicycle which is stylish and suitable price. Another factor in economics that affects to the development of Cyclermate Ltd is labor. The unemployment rate is increasing, therefore, this is a good chance for this company to choose worker more easily, and employ them easily with affordable price. C. SOCIAL FACTORS High-speed innovation as well as the increasing demands of consumers requires Cyclermate to change and improve every day. Firstly, living standard of clients can affect to their choices. The higher income distribution they get, the higher demands they require. For example rich people want to ride an expansive and showy retro bicycle, but another client with medium wages just want to ride a nice quality bicycle. This point makes Cycler mate to diversify their price which is suitable for everyone in this communication. Besides price, design and color could be elements would make people to buy Cyclermate bicycle. The variation in design as well as color will attract children and teenager and give clients more options. Moreover, helpful accessories and functions are also important things that will affect to the survival of Cyclermate. A useful bicycle which is light and keep money in or save space in house will be the best choice for everyone. In addition, a friendly-environment Cyclerma te bicycle will be more popular and keep up with the friendly-environment trend in the world. D. TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS In parallel of development of economics, high technology involves specifically the Internet. The Internet is used worldwide and it becomes a necessary tool for many customers to order online. It is extremely convenient and quick to book or order in the Internet instead of calling or going directly to offices. Cyclermate Ltd is using the oldest way to  advertise their products by posting advertisement in traditional newspapers. It has limited their goods to the customers. Instead, this company can set up its own website. They can post products, events, activities of company in to that page in order to customers following easily. Facebook is the possible choice of any entrepreneurs, because the customers can catch the new trend in this page. Moreover, the Internet is the cheapest method for advertising. More and more clients require high quality of products. Therefore motivation or investment money on modern manufacturing system is extremely important. It reflects not only the assura nce about quality but also confirm the level position of company. With high level and the most modern machinery, the company will surely create trust to customers. 3. Financial Ratios Analysis A. THE DIFFICULTIES: Liquidity and debt ratios: †¢ Current ratio = Current assets/Current liabilities =0.85 †¢ Quick ratio = (Current assets – Inventories) / Current liabilities = 0.76 †¢ Debt ratio = Total debt / Total assets = 0.38 By analyzing the financial ratios, it is easy to recognize that the quick ratio is less than one, which means the chance that the company can pay off its debt by using most liquid assets is quite low. Besides, it shows that the majority of inventories are stored and not effectively managed, that is why current ratio is at such high level, which also means low sales and low revenue gained. Moreover, the company relies on the bank loan as the main monetary support. B. SOLUTIONS: First of all, there is one obvious answer to the financial difficulty is that Cyclemate Ltd can lease or mortgage their freehold land costing $160,000 to gain more money and solve the situation right away. Therefore, it can prove their strength to survive in the future so the company gain more trust from the bank for future investment. Secondly, the company is in severe lack of cash (only $675 left) so of course any borrowing loan from the bank could easily turned down. The solution to this issue is that they should strictly resolve and for the trade debtors to repay the loans as soon as possible. The amount of $200,571 would help the financial situation better in the  coming time. Once their assets are raised through and their liquidity are proved to be valuable enough to afford the loan, it will be beneficial for them to borrow money from the banks. Additionally, cost in selling and distribution could be possible declined to save more money for the company such as cutting cost for postage and courier charges by substituting by cheaper service, as well as the travelling and hospitality. Those indirect costs contribute such high cost to the manufacturing of the cycles, restricting them would help boost the sales with cheaper price. Last but not least, the aging workforce is also another worry. If we can lay off some workers and hire cheaper labor for cleaning and other odd activities, it could save money for paying wages. In the meantime, experienced workers still remain the same with appropriate amount of salary; no necessary change should be applied. 4. Manufacturing procedure and improvements A. IMPROPER WORKFORCE IN MANUFACTURING: Unreasonable workforce division is one of the most serious problems of Cyclermate Ltd. Besides, lack of experienced employees and the aging workforce are worrying the production process and raising a big question for a more effective training system. First of all, the inappropriate division of duties obviously had made such a burden on many workers. In particular, Dai Armstrong has to deal with many tasks such as making all the frames, factory manager and business director at the same time. He himself also finds it hard to keep up the level of production (approximately 8 frames/day) because it requires the harsh physical demands. Moreover, assembly is a complex process, which takes 2 or 3 hours for one person. Janice Jones and Ffred Gregory often have to work overtime to catch up with the progress. As a result, their health and time issue could be heavily damaged. Also, packaging is not responsibility of certain worker, anyone who has spare time can do that. If nobody has to complete their own part, without any time to do this, the packaging won’t be accomplished on time. ↠ A good answer for this problem is that the company should require clear division to who is able to undertake and separate arrangement of duties. Specifically, assigning other qualified person on frame-making position so that Mr. Dai could concentrate and dedicate himself to external relations business only. Assuming that the financial situation of the company gets  better, the company should consider hiring more experienced labor for assemble line and frame-making because Mr Dai can no longer put up with the physical requirement of the task. With those simple tasks like packaging, it is acceptable for free hand employees to help out, but only when they finished all their tasks. Besides, the fact that workforce is getting older is also causing big troubles for the company because the manufacturing requires adaptation to changes and new demands every single day. Meanwhile, some workers are close to retired age. For example, Idris Pugh undertakes wheel manufacture; however, he is now in his seventies. Therefore, low efficiency always appears in the factory even Idris is a perfectionist, whose wheels are always absolutely true, and never causing any complaints ↠ In this case, the company can consider employ cheaper labor that are suggested by Maldwyn Jones: Chinese or Taiwanese labor to make the machine for them- much better quality but half the price and move Idris Pugh to higher position as a supervisor for the whole wheel-making process. Last but not least, the training system creates such obstacles for the assembly process. Typically, Fred, who is 18 years old, is a new and un-experienced person, the training for him is necessary, however, not easy at all. It takes so much time to instruct Fred in traditional way which is apparently the cause of slow production recently. ↠ In order to solve it, Fred needs to be on-the-job trained and separately from working hours. Perhaps letting Idris Pugh to be a trainer for Fred is the best measure to take because with such experience, he can taught Fred who is 18 years old and save time for others people focus on completing their own tasks. By doing this, assembly area could be worked with maximum speed and capacity without interruption. Production activity can maintain its working pace.

Self Efficacy And The Social Cognitive Theory Education Essay

Self Efficacy And The Social Cognitive Theory Education Essay This chapter is divided into four parts. The first part initially discusses the construct of self-efficacy in the social cognitive theory. Then, definitions and properties of self-efficacy, characteristics of high and low self-efficacious individuals, the sources of self-efficacy and the difference between this construct and other similar constructs are discussed. Moreover, the last section of the first part is devoted to the role of self-efficacy in second/foreign language achievement and proficiency in general and in specific skills. The second part is devoted to the definitions of language learning strategies and their classifications. Moreover, the role of language learning strategies in second/foreign language proficiency and achievement and the relationship between language learning strategies and self-efficacy are discussed in this part, too. The third part is devoted to the construct of anxiety in general and foreign language anxiety in particular. In this part, definitions a nd classifications of anxiety, the role of anxiety in second/foreign language achievement and proficiency and the relationship between foreign language anxiety and self-efficacy are discussed. The last part discusses the concept of listening comprehension and how it is related to the three constructs of self-efficacy, language learning strategies, and foreign language anxiety. 2.1 Self-efficacy and the social cognitive theory To understand the concept of self-efficacy better, one must consider the theoretical framework of social cognitive theory. Bandura (1986, 1997) considers the social cognitive theory as a theory of human functioning. Based on this theory, human functioning can be explained through the operation of three factors that interact with each other. One factor is what Chomsky refers to as cognition, and Bandura in the social cognitive theory refers to as personal factors. Another factor is what Skinner referred to as environment and the third factor is what Bandura refers to as behavior. Bandura (1986) believed in the concept of triadic reciprocality in the social cognitive theory. This refers to the interaction among personal, behavioral and environmental factors. Moreover, an individuals behavior is determined by the interaction of the above mentioned factors. In this theory, individuals are considered as proactive, self-regulating, self-organizing and self-reflecting rather than reactive o nes and controlled by biological or environmental forces. Based on the social cognitive theory, individuals have a system of self-belief or a self-system that enables them to control their actions, feelings, thoughts, and motivation (Bandura, 1986; Pajares, 1997). This self-system makes it possible for individuals to make choices, choose their courses of actions, self-examine the adequacy of their behavior, interpret the outcomes, develop beliefs about their capabilities, and store this information to be used as a guide for future behavior (Bandura, 1986). Bandura (1997) considered the practice of self-reflection as the most influential mediator of human functioning and among the most arbiters of self-reflection are perceptions of self-efficacy. 2.1.1 Self-efficacy and its definitions Bandura (1986) considers self-efficacy as the main feature in the social cognitive theory. Based on the social cognitive theory, self-efficacy is the primary determinant of an individuals motivation to act. Bandura (1986) defines self-efficacy as peoples judgment of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances. It is not concerned with the skills one has but with the judgment of what can one do with whatever skills one possesses (p. 391). Besides Bandura, many researchers have provided different definitions of self-efficacy but most of them are based on Banduras definition. Delcourt and Kinzie (1993) stated that self-efficacy reflects an individuals confidence in his or her ability to perform the behavior required to produce specific outcomes (p. 36). Huang and Shanmao (1996) defined self-efficacy expectations as the beliefs about ones ability to perform a given task or behavior successfully (p. 3). Schunk (2001) considers self-efficacy as beliefs about ones capabilities to learn or perform behaviors at designated levels (p. 126). Moreover; Baron and Byrne (2004) identified three kinds of self-efficacy: Social self-efficacy, self-regulatory self-efficacy and academic self-efficacy. They considered social self-efficacy as the ability to maintain relationships, engage in social activities, and become assertive. They referred to the self-regulatory self-efficacy as the ability to be curious, think carefully, and avoid hi gh-risk activities. Finally, they considered academic self-efficacy as the ability to take part in learning activities, regulate the learning activities and meet expectations. 2.1.2 Self-efficacy and its properties Self-efficacy beliefs are not dependent on ones abilities but instead on what one believes may be accomplished with ones personal skills. Moreover, Bandura (1997) believed that there is a major difference between possessing skills and being able to use them in different situations. And that is why, different people with similar skills or the same person on different occasions may perform differently. Bandura (1997) mentioned that self-efficacy beliefs are distinguished from the skills one possesses, although they may be influenced by the acquisition of skills. That is why he assumed that self-efficacy beliefs are often better predictors of success than prior accomplishments, skills, or knowledge. For example, in educational settings, students self-efficacy mediates between the several determinants of competence (e.g., skills, knowledge, ability, or previous achievements) and their subsequent performances (Bandura, 2006; Schunk Pajares, 2001). Bandura (1997) mentioned that optimistic efficacy beliefs maintain and enhance motivation, and boost performance. Optimistic self-efficacy beliefs are instrumental to the successful completion of challenging tasks. These beliefs may increase effort and persistence and promote accomplishment in challenging circumstances. In academic settings, these beliefs seem to be necessary for attempting novel tasks or for learning new materials. He also stated that innovativeness requires an unshakable sense of efficacy to persist in creative endeavors when they demand prolonged investment of time and effort (Bandura, 1997, p. 239). Self-efficacy is not a fixed ability that individuals have or dont have in their repertoire of behaviors. But it is a generative capability in which cognitive, social, emotional and behavioral sub-skills must be organized and effectively orchestrated to serve innumerable purposes (Bandura, 1997, p.36). Bandura (1997) believed that the sense of self-efficacy influences individuals motivations, the goal they set, the effort they expend to achieve their goals and their willingness to persist in the face of difficulties and failures. For example, in an educational setting, students who have the sense of self-efficacy in their academic skills expect high marks on exams and expect the quality of their work to gain benefits for them. Another feature of self-efficacy is that it is task and domain specific. In other words, it refers to specific judgment of a specific situation and it is not a context-free disposition. A high sense of efficacy in one domain does not necessarily mean high sense of self-efficacy in another domain. And this is why measures of self-efficacy must determine the domains of action. In educational settings, self-efficacy beliefs are more specific and situational judgments of capabilities (Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara, Pastorelli, 1996; Bong, 2006; Pajares, 1997). In academic settings, according to Bandura (1986), self-efficacy refers to judgment of confidence to perform academic tasks or succeed in academic activities. Self-efficacy beliefs are also hypothesized to mediate the influence of other determinants of academic outcomes such as skills or past performance on subsequent actions. Efficacy beliefs also act in concert with other common mechanisms of personal agency such as self-concept beliefs, anxiety, and self-regulatory practices in influencing and predicting academic outcomes. Also, Bandura (1997) mentioned that in such settings self-efficacy affects students aspirations, their level of interest in academic work and accomplishments and how well they prepare themselves for future careers. He identified two types of efficacy in such settings: One refers to achievement in specific subject area such as language or science and the second refers to self-regulated learning and the extent to which an individual feels successful on tasks that generalize across academic domains. 2.1.3 High and low sense of self-efficacy Bandura (1997) stated that people usually tend to become involved in and perform activities that they judge themselves capable of managing, but they tend to avoid those situations that are threatening and they believe exceed their skills and abilities. In an educational setting, a learner is more likely to exert effort to engage in an assigned learning task when he or she sees him/herself capable of accomplishing it. When facing with difficult situations, those who have a stronger sense of self-efficacy tend to make greater efforts to deal with challenges. But those who have a lower sense of efficacy are likely to avoid engaging in a difficult task or even not try hard enough to accomplish the task. Avoiding difficult tasks leads to lower success and this, in itself, leads to even lower sense of self-efficacy. Based on the researches done in the area of self-efficacy, there are major differences between those with high and low sense of self-efficacy. High self-efficacious people exert more attention, effort and persistence in the case of difficulties than people with lower sense of self-efficacy. Those with high sense of efficacy work harder than their low self-efficacy peers. When those with low sense of self-efficacy fail, they often put the blame for their failure on everything except their own shortcoming. High self-efficacious people set more challenging goals for themselves than low self-efficacious ones. People with high sense of self-efficacy outperform those with low sense of self-efficacy and they employ more strategies to accomplish their goals (Bandura Locke, 2003; Latham, 2004; Locke Latham, 1990). Pajares (2006) reported that students with high sense of self-efficacy, regardless of previous successes or abilities, persist in the face of adversity. Moreover, these students are more optimistic and have lower stress levels and achieve more. Pajares and Schunk (2001) stated that the higher the sense of efficacy, the more energy and effort are used to keep trying tasks or situations that may be more difficult and challenging in nature. They believed that in educational settings, a self-efficacious student takes academic risks, sets goals for him/herself, compares him/herself to other peers, maintains routines, and keeps track of what works well and what doesnt regarding academic and social progress. A self-efficacious person may not have the highest grades in the class, but he/sh e believes in his or her own abilities to accomplish tasks, to find the right answer, to meet goals and often to surpass other peers. Schunk (1983) stated that a heightened sense of efficacy sustains task involvement and results in greater achievement and lower perceptions of efficacy lead to less persistence and lower achievement. Regarding the difference between high and low sense of self-efficacy, Bandura (1997) stated that self-efficacy beliefs influence individuals pursued courses of action, effort expended in given endeavors, persistence in the confrontation of obstacles, and resilience to adversity. Self-efficacious individuals will, therefore, approach challenges with the intention and anticipation of mastery, intensifying their efforts and persistence accordingly. These individuals rapidly recover their lowered sense of self-efficacy after enduring failure or difficulty, and attribute failure to insufficient effort or deficient knowledge. Students with a high level of self-efficacy perceive tough tasks as challenges. They also have higher motivation to conquer the difficulties and more confidence to accomplish demanding tasks. On the contrary, students with low sense of self-efficacy regard things as harder than they really are; they do not perceive their efforts can lead to better results, so they hav e less motivation to devote time to demanding tasks. He also stated that self-efficacy is a factor that can differentiate successful learners from unsuccessful ones. Eggen and Kauchak (2004) mentioned that students who have high self-efficacy are more willing to accept a challenging task, work harder, have a calmer disposition despite experiencing failure in the beginning, practice effective learning strategies, and generally generate better performance than students who have low self-efficacy, even if they have the same ability and skill. Finally, Bandura (1997) describes the feature of self-efficacious learners as follow: self-efficacious learners feel confident about solving a problem because they have developed an approach to problem solving that has worked in the past. They attribute their success mainly to their own efforts and strategies, believe that their own abilities will improve as they learn more, and recognize that errors are part of learning. Students with low self-efficacy believe that they have inherent low ability, choose less demanding tasks and do not try hard because they believe that any effort will reveal their own lack of ability (p. 3). 2.1.4 Self-efficacy and its sources People get their self-efficacy information from four different sources: Mastery experiences, vicarious (observational) experiences, verbal persuasions, and physiological reactions or states (Alderman, 2004; Bandura, 1997; Ormrod, 2003; Pajares, 2003; Pintrich Schunk, 2002; Zimmerman, 2001). The first source of self-efficacy is a mastery experience which is, according to Bandura (1997), the most influential source of efficacy information. Mastery experiences are prior performances that may be interpreted positively or negatively. Successful performances strengthen personal efficacy beliefs while failed performances undermine ones sense of self-efficacy. Successful performances lead to the anticipation of future success. Therefore, the information which is gathered from mastery experiences provides a reliable base from which one can evaluate self-efficacy and predict successful performance of future tasks. According to Palmer (2006), mastery experiences are the most powerful sources of creating a strong sense of efficacy because they provide students authentic evidence that they have the capability to succeed at the task. In educational settings or academic contexts, the previous success of a learner is the most influential source of self-efficacy beliefs. The second source of information for self-efficacy is vicarious experiences. It refers to the appraisal of ones own capabilities in relation to the accomplishment of peers. One can manage a task and foster the belief that he/she might possess similar capabilities by observing the success of comparable peers. Also, observation of the failure of a comparable peer can undermine an individuals perception of the ability to succeed. So, vicarious experience may affect efficacy positively or negatively. The third source of self-efficacy comes from verbal persuasion. It refers to the peoples judgments of others ability to accomplish a given task. Verbal persuasion is a weaker source of efficacy information in comparison to mastery or vicarious experiences. Verbal persuasion can be in the form of performance feedback or encouragement in overcoming obstacles. Positive verbal messages can lead to successful performances in future. On the other hand, negative persuasion can hinder the development of stronger sense of self-efficacy. The last source of self-efficacy information is physiological or emotional states of people such as stress, anxiety, or fatigue in judging their capabilities. Physiological and emotional states can lead both to an expectation for failure or enhancing beliefs for future success. According to Bandura (1997), high emotional arousal can undermine performance and people are more likely to expect success when they are not troubled by aversive arousal than when they are tense and emotionally agitated. Finally, it should be mentioned that self-efficacy beliefs do not come from a single source of the above mentioned information, but it is through the selection, integration and interpretation of information from these diverse sources that ones sense of self-efficacy is formed (Bandura, 1997). 2.1.5 Self-efficacy and similar constructs There are some constructs such as self-esteem, self-concept, and confidence that have fuzzy boundaries with self-efficacy or seem to constitute a conceptual overlap with it. The common feature of all these constructs is that they all refer to beliefs about perceived ability but what distinguishes self-efficacy from them is the idea that it refers to specific types of performance and explicit desired goals or results (Pajares, 1996). The main difference between self-esteem and self-efficacy is that self-esteem is a personal trait while self-efficacy is not. Self-esteem is a more emotional response to self while self-efficacy applies to specific fields of human behavior. Self-efficacy is the assessment of ones capabilities while self-esteem is the assessment of ones self-worth (Epstein Morling, 1995; Maddux, 1995). According to Zimmerman and Cleary (2006), self-esteem is an affective reaction indicating how a person feels about him or herself whereas self-efficacy involves cognitive judgments of personal capacity. They stated that self-esteem is not a predictor of academic performance while self-efficacy is. The main difference between confidence and self-efficacy is that self-efficacy is the belief in ones power to achieve certain levels of performances while confidence does not involve the persons power or ability to perform at a certain level (Epstein Morling, 1995). According to Pajares and Schunk (2001), an individuals self-concept involves evaluation of self-worth and it takes the cultural and social values into consideration. Self-concept has an indirect influence on performance while self-efficacy due to its task-specific nature can predict performance more easily than generalized measures of self-esteem, self-concept or anxiety (Zimmerman Cleary, 2006). Bong and Skaalvik (2003) argued that self-efficacy can be seen as providing a basis for the development of self-concept. Moreover, Pajares (2003) stated that writing self-efficacy is a significant predictor of achievement in writing while writing self-concept beliefs are not. 2.1.6 Self-efficacy and its role in achievement and proficiency Based on the properties of self-efficacy mentioned above, it seems that it plays a great role in determining individuals behavior in their daily lives and especially in educational and academic settings. In this part the role of self-efficacy in individuals achievement and proficiency will be elaborated and some major relevant studies will be reviewed. Some of these studies focus on the predictive power of self-efficacy in individuals achievement. Bandura (1986) assumed self-efficacy to be a much more consistent predictor of behavior than any other closely related variables. He mentioned that many students have difficulty not because they are incapable of performing successfully, but because they are incapable of believing that they can perform successfully, that they have learned to see themselves as incapable of handling academic skills(p. 390). Some researchers (e.g., Bandura, 1997; Pajares, 1997; Schunk, 1989; Zimmerman, 1995) assumed that self-efficacy, which is an individuals judgment about his or her abilities to perform a given task can be a better predictor of success than his/her actual abilities because they considered self-efficacy a critical determinant of behaviors. Some studies that have been done in the educational settings (e.g, Berry, 1987; Schunk, 1989) have shown that when learners have the same skills or they are at the same level of cognitive skill development, their performance can be different depending on their self-efficacy beliefs. That is why, Pajares (1997) stated that peoples prior accomplishments or actual abilities are not always good predictors of their subsequent success because the beliefs they hold about their abilities influence their subsequent behavior. But some researchers (e.g, Carmichael Taylor, 2005; Mills, 2004) warned that measuring self-efficacy in educational settings before the target skills are acquired cannot be considered as a good predictor of achievement. For example, in Mills (2004) study, self-efficacy was measured at the beginning of a semester when the participants had not acquired the required skills to perform the tasks. So, the result revealed that self-efficacy did not predict the final grade. According to Zimmerman and Kitsantas (2005), self-efficacy can better predict or explain subsequent performance when the students are familiar with the necessary skills to perform the task being measured. Schunk (1999) also warned that high self-efficacy beliefs will not produce competent performance if students lack necessary skills. For example, Chen (2003) found that the impact of students self-efficacy beliefs on their math performance was greater when they possessed underlying math skills. Multon, Brown, and Lent (1991) after doing a meta-analysis of self-efficacy research found a positive and significant relationship between self-efficacy beliefs and academic performance. Moreover, they indicated that self-efficacy was strongly related to student performance in a variety of subject matters. They reported that self-efficacy beliefs accounted for approximately 14% of the variance in students academic performance. Graham and Weiner (1996) found that self-efficacy beliefs more consistently predicted academic performance than other motivational constructs. Recently, several researchers (e.g, Maddux Gosselin, 2003; Skaalvik Bong, 2003) have shown that students academic self-efficacy is predictive of their study behavior as well as academic outcomes. Self-efficacy has consistently been shown to be positively associated with general academic achievement (e.g., Jackson, 2002; Lane Lane, 2001) and with performance in several specific domains, including math (Pajares Miller, 1995), and writing (Pajares, 2003; Pajares, Britner, Valiante, 2000). Some recent studies have found a consistent link between having a high sense of self-efficacy and achievement and the fact that efficacy beliefs are one of the most important predictors of motivation and performance (Bong, 2002; Pajares, 1996; Robbins, et al., 2004; Schunk Pajares, 2001). Also, Mills, et al. (2006) found that a stronger sense of self-efficacy leads to higher levels of achievement, greater willingness to face challenges and to exert effort. Many researchers indicated that self-efficacy has a stronger effect on academic performance than other motivational beliefs and it is found to have critical effects on various types of academic learning (Gibson, Randel, Earley, 2000; Linnenbrink Pintrich, 2002; Pintrich Schunk, 2002). Yazici, Seyis, and Altur (2011) found that self-efficacy beliefs are the most powerful predictors of academic achievements. Yang (2004) and Wong (2005) stated that students learning outcome is influenced by their perceived sense of self-efficacy. Moreover, Yang (2004) asserted that students learning attitudes, learning behaviors or even learning performances are affected by their sense of self-efficacy. Wong (2005) has shown that students performance can be facilitated by the enhancement of their sense of self-efficacy. Pajares (2002) mentioned that students academic self-efficacy influence their academic achievements in several ways. It influences the choices students make and the courses of action they pursue. In situations that students have free choices, they tend to engage in tasks about which they feel confident and avoid those in which they dont. It also helps to determine how much effort students will expend on an activity, how long they will persevere when facing obstacles and how resilient they will be in the face of adverse situations. Although considerable research has been done to study self-efficacy in educational and academic settings, most of these studies have been restricted to the domain of mathematical problem solving and languages other than English. For example, (Britner Pajares, 2001; Pajares Graham, 1999) found that perceived self-efficacy of the students mediate between their abilities and their academic performance in mathematics and science. Collins (1982) found that across ability levels, students whose self-efficacy is higher are more accurate in their mathematics computation and show greater persistence on difficult items than do students whose self-efficacy beliefs are low. Pajares and Graham (1999) aimed to determine whether mathematic self-efficacy makes an independent contribution to the prediction of mathematic performance when other motivational variables and previous achievements are controlled. They found that mathematic self-efficacy was the only motivational variable to predict mathem atic performance. Ayotola and Adedeji (2009) examined the relationship between mathematics self-efficacy and mathematics achievement. The result revealed that there was a strong positive relationship between mathematics self-efficacy and achievement in mathematics. The researchers concluded that self-efficacy beliefs are important components of motivation and of academic achievement. Jaafar and Ayub (2010) also found a positive relationship between mathematics self-efficacy and mathematics performance. In the case of languages other than English, McCollum (2003) found that the German language self-efficacy was a significant predictor of the semester final grade. In a similar study, Mills (2004) investigated the relationship between French self-efficacy in reading and listening and proficiency in reading and listening. The result of the analysis indicated that French reading self-efficacy was a predictor of French reading proficiency but French listening self-efficacy was not a predictor of proficiency in listening. Mills (2004) assumed that the failure of French listening self-efficacy to predict French listening proficiency may have been partly due to the fact that the critical task measure in the study-that is, listening proficiency test-possessed psychometric flaws. Recently many researchers have investigated the role of self-efficacy in foreign language settings and the role it plays in the achievement and proficiency in foreign languages specially English. Hsieh and Schallert (2008) examined the relationship between self-efficacy and attribution in a foreign language setting. In their study attribution referred to the explanations individuals give for their success or failure in a particular performance. The result indicated that despite failure in performing the given tasks, students reported the same level of self-efficacy as successful students when they attributed their failure to lack of effort. The researchers concluded that even when students reported having low self-efficacy, helping them view success and failure as an outcome that they can control may increase their expectancy for success and lead to successful experiences. Wang and Wu (2008) adopted the social cognitive model to investigate the role of self-efficacy on behavioral influences such as feedback behaviors and learning strategies and on environmental influences such as achievement. In the case of behavioral influences, the result indicated that self-efficacy was significantly related to students elaborated feedback behaviors and use of learning strategies. However, the results indicated that self-efficacy was not related to students academic performance. The researchers argued that this may be due to the domain specific nature of self-efficacy. They assumed that students who lack performance information or experience in the academic domain may form inaccurate estimation of self-efficacy and this may have been the reason why self-efficacy did not predict students achievement in this study. With regard to learning English, Huang and Shanmao (1996) found a relationship between self-efficacy of ESL students and their scores on the reading and writing sections of the TOEFL test. In a similar study, Templin (1999) divided the EFL participants into high and low self-efficacy groups and found a significant difference between the English proficiency of the two groups. 2.1.7 Self-efficacy and its role in achievement and proficiency in specific skills Some researchers studied the role of efficacy in specific skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing in English. Pajares (2003) in reviewing the predictive power of self-efficacy in writing found that writing self-efficacy makes an independent contribution to the prediction of writing outcomes and plays a meditational role that social cognitive theorists hypothesized. Moreover, he suggested that instruction in self-regulatory strategies such as goal setting, self-recording progress, revision strategies, and self-evaluating progress may increase both self-efficacy and writing skills. Shang (2010) investigated the impact of EFL self-efficacy in reading and reading proficiency. He found a correlation between EFL learners self-efficacy in reading and their reading proficiency. Recently, Sioson (2011) aimed to determine among the subscales of language learning strategies, beliefs about language learning and anxiety which one is the strongest predictor of performance in an academic speaking context. The result of multiple regression analysis revealed that only the motivation and expectation subscale of beliefs about language learning was the significant predictor of speaking performance. Woodrow (2011) indicated that self-efficacy is a powerful predictor of writing performance than anxiety. According to the finding of his study, highly self-efficacious students performed well in their English writing and showed desirable learning attributes such as exerting effort. Ghonsooly and Elahi (2010) found a positive relationship between the Iranian EFL learners self-efficacy in reading comprehension and their reading achievements. The researchers indicated that high self-efficacious learners performed better than low self-efficacious learners in reading achievements. They concluded that EFL learners self-efficacy is an important factor in the achievement of high scores in English language skills such as reading comprehension. Rahemi (2010) studied the self-efficacy of Iranian high school students. The result indicated that students majoring in humanities had a very weak English self-efficacy and held certain negative beliefs about their academic ability as EFL learners. Moreover, a strong correlation was found between their English achievement and sense of self-efficacy. Rahimi and Abedini (2009) explored the role of self-efficacy in listening comprehension of Iranian EFL learners and their listening comprehension test performance. According to the res ults of the study, there was a significant difference between high and low self-efficacious students in terms of listening comprehension. Moreover, self-efficacy in listening was significantly related to listening proficiency. In another study, Graham (2006) studied the role of efficacy in the development of listening skills and

Repression of Women in Euripides The Bacchae Essay -- Feminism Women

Repression of Women in Euripides' The Bacchae      Ã‚   Many different interpretations can be derived from themes in Euripides's The Bacchae, most of which assume that, in order to punish the women of Thebes for their impudence, the god Dionysus drove them mad. However, there is evidence to believe that another factor played into this confrontation. Because of the trend of male dominance in Greek society, women suffered in oppression and bore a social stigma which led to their own vulnerability in becoming Dionysus's target. In essence, the Thebian women practically fostered Dionysian insanity through their longing to rebel against social norms. Their debilitating conditions as women prompted them to search for a way to transfigure themselves with male qualities in order to abandon their social subordination.    According to research, the role of women in classical Greece was extremely limited. Men and women were segregated all over in the Greek society, even in the home (Source 9). Women were secluded in their homes to the point of not being able to leave their own quarters except on special religious occasions or as necessity dictated (Source 10). All women were tightly controlled and confined to the home to insure that their husbands were provided legitimate male heirs. Beyond this, women had no true value (Source 6). Clearly, male domination in Greek society was like enslavement to women. A marriage contract dated 92 B.C. can be located in Women's Life in Greece & Rome by Mary R. Lefkowitz and Maureen B. Fant which defines unacceptable behavior within the union of marriage. The document requires that both husband and wife be chaste within the context of the household, but although nothing prevents ... ...because their position in life made them more susceptible to this kind of delirium.    Works Cited Williams, C.K. The Bacchae of Euripides Faraone, Christopher A. Ancient Greek Love and Magic Http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/FARANC.html Gleason, Maud W. Making Men: Sophists and Self-Presentation in Ancient Rome Http://pup.princeton.edu/titles/5574.html Lefkowitz, Mary R. And Maureen B. Fant Women's Life in Greece & Rome http://uky.edu/ArtsSciences/Classics/wlgr/wlgr-greeklegal101.html Http://didaskalia.berkeley.edu/supplements/supp1/rabinowitz.html Http://novaonline.nv.cc.va.us/eli/eng251/agamemguide.html Http://pup.princeton.edu/titles/5665.html Http://www.classicnote.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/bacchae/themes.html Http://www.ifi.uio.no/~thomas/ai/ai03.txt Http://www.iwu.edu/~mblodget/hypergoddess.html   

Business Proposal :: essays research papers

General company description â€Å"It’s a dog thing!† it’s a company that will provide dogs clothing and accessories using the Internet as a selling distribution. Mission statement: â€Å"It’s a dog thing!† aim to retail and distribute unique customize dog apparel at affordable prices. â€Å"It’s a dog thing!† always has that perfect gift for your own or someone else’s four legged friends. Don’t let your dog be wagged behind. Company goals and objectives: Our goals are to grow in this niche market thus aim to attain a high market share, doing so, will help the company achieve the main goal which is to be a market leader in this field. Our objective is to obtain our annual sales targets and to increase the company’s profit margins; this will help us achieve our goal. Another important objective is to meet customers specific needs in order to maintain customer satisfaction and loyalty. Business philosophy: In this business what’s important is to stay positive and to liaise together as a team in order to solve any problems that may occur and to make important business decisions. Target market: The target market would be dog owners of all ages. The products will be set at affordable prices for customers that are seeking the lifestyle of the upper class person. (to be continued†¦ this time next week) Products and services Products & Services  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wholesale Cost  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Selling Price   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   T-Shirts (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £8.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99 Vest Tops (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £8.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99 Polo Shirts (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £13.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £22.99 Hooded Tops (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £11.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £21.33   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Name Tags (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £1.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £5.99 Crystal Band Collars (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £15.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £25.99 Sparkling Collars (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £19.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £10.99 Leads (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £9.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £29.99   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Boots (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £30.00 Bags (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £9.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £17.99   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Necklace (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £24.99 Silver Necklace (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £54.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £75.00 Hair Accessories (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £0.50  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £3.00 Tiara  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £7.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99 Banadana (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £2.50  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £12.00   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   All-In-One Bathrobe (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £15.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £24.99 Bathrobe (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £17.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £26.99   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Shampoo & Conditioner  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £4.50  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £9.99 Perfume  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £3.00  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £7.50 Dental Kit  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £3.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £9.99   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Beds (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £20.00  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £55.00   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Customisation (Various Design)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  From  £5.99 Engraving  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £2 Per Letter Marketing plan Market Overview: Market size The UK market for pet accessories was  £296 million in 1999. An increase of 36% since 1995 but in 2003 the market size is over  £400 million. Business Proposal :: essays research papers General company description â€Å"It’s a dog thing!† it’s a company that will provide dogs clothing and accessories using the Internet as a selling distribution. Mission statement: â€Å"It’s a dog thing!† aim to retail and distribute unique customize dog apparel at affordable prices. â€Å"It’s a dog thing!† always has that perfect gift for your own or someone else’s four legged friends. Don’t let your dog be wagged behind. Company goals and objectives: Our goals are to grow in this niche market thus aim to attain a high market share, doing so, will help the company achieve the main goal which is to be a market leader in this field. Our objective is to obtain our annual sales targets and to increase the company’s profit margins; this will help us achieve our goal. Another important objective is to meet customers specific needs in order to maintain customer satisfaction and loyalty. Business philosophy: In this business what’s important is to stay positive and to liaise together as a team in order to solve any problems that may occur and to make important business decisions. Target market: The target market would be dog owners of all ages. The products will be set at affordable prices for customers that are seeking the lifestyle of the upper class person. (to be continued†¦ this time next week) Products and services Products & Services  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wholesale Cost  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Selling Price   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   T-Shirts (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £8.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99 Vest Tops (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £8.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99 Polo Shirts (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £13.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £22.99 Hooded Tops (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £11.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £21.33   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Name Tags (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £1.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £5.99 Crystal Band Collars (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £15.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £25.99 Sparkling Collars (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £19.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £10.99 Leads (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £9.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £29.99   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Boots (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £30.00 Bags (Various Colours & Sizes)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £9.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £17.99   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Necklace (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £24.99 Silver Necklace (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £54.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £75.00 Hair Accessories (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £0.50  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £3.00 Tiara  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £7.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £14.99 Banadana (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £2.50  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £12.00   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   All-In-One Bathrobe (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £15.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £24.99 Bathrobe (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £17.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £26.99   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Shampoo & Conditioner  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £4.50  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £9.99 Perfume  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £3.00  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £7.50 Dental Kit  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £3.99  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £9.99   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Beds (Various)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £20.00  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £55.00   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Customisation (Various Design)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  From  £5.99 Engraving  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ £2 Per Letter Marketing plan Market Overview: Market size The UK market for pet accessories was  £296 million in 1999. An increase of 36% since 1995 but in 2003 the market size is over  £400 million.

Comparing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and The Sign of Four Essay -- compar

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde â€Å"has left such a deeply painful impression on my heart that I do not know how I am ever to turn it again† -- Valdine Clemens That which is willed and that which is wanted can be as different as the mind and the heart.   The Victorian age in English Literature is known for its earnest obedience to a moralistic and highly structured social code of conduct; however, in the last decade of the 19th Century this order began to be questioned.   So dramatic was the change in thought that Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (published in 1883) and Doyle's The Sign of Four (published in 1890) can be used to display this breaking away from strict social and moral standards.   Stevenson's character Mr. Utterson can be used to personify the earnest social morality that the Victorian age is known for, while Doyle's protagonist Sherlock Holmes personifies the shift to more individualistic pursuits.  Ã‚   In their search for answers, Mr. Utterson and Sherlock Holmes exhibit very different motivations for investigating:   the fulfillment of social and moral obligations, and persona l satisfaction, respectively.   This can be shown by comparing and contrasting these two characters' reasons for getting involved, their methods of dispensing information during their investigations, and their results at the cases' conclusions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The characters' actions in the first paragraphs of each of these works is very revealing; Sherlock Holmes is injecting himself with cocaine and Mr. Utterson is described as having resisted the theater (that he enjoys) for over twenty years.   From these beginnings, it is obvious who the pleasure seeker is and who adheres to a strong sense of morals.   Although Mr. Utt... ... Valdine. The Return of the Repressed: Gothic Horror from The Castle of Otranto to Alien. Albany: State University of New York, 1999. Print. Doyle, Conan. The Sign of Four in The Complete Sherlock Holmes Barnes & Noble, Dayton, New Jersey, 1988. Stevenson, Robert Louis. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Tales Of Horror. London: Penguin, 2003. Print. Works Consulted Charyn, Jerome. â€Å"Who Is Hyde?† Afterword: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Bantam Books. Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., 1981. 105-114. Hume, David. â€Å"Of Moral and Social order.† An Introduction to Philosophy. Ed. G. Lee Bowie, Meredith W. Michaels and Robert C. Solomon. 4th ed. Harcourt College Publishers, 2000. 348-352 Mighall, Dr. Robert. A Geography of Victorian Gothic Fiction: Mapping History’s Nightmares. Oxford University Press, 1999. 166-209.

Theater Review: No Child

In 2001 President George W. Bush proposed the No Child Left behind Act which forced schools to take action with the below average test scores. Due to this act schools are required to have their students take tests and have a certain percentage increase in grades every year otherwise there would be consequences from a school being labeled as a needing improvement to the extreme of having it privately run or shut down. The play â€Å"No Child† written by Nilaja Sun acts as a direct commentary for the need of the No Child Left behind Act. In this play the characters and their actions have such a strong correlation to the real problems that students in under privileged societies in America face as well as the need for reform in the education department. (No Child Left Behind) The setting of the play is the school that seems unfit for children to be going to receive an education. The janitor describes the school â€Å"The building fallin apart, paint chipping, water damage, a whole in the fourth floor ceiling that aint been fixed since 87, all the bathrooms on the third floor, they all broke. The school is also described by the janitor as having â€Å"one hundred thousand dollars' worth of security system which includes two metal detecting machines, seven metal detecting wands, five school guards and three NYC police officers. All armed†. (Sun 5) These descriptions of the school itself appear that education is not the primary focus of the leadership in the school district. It seems that the funding that the school is being given is not being utilized to its full potential for the benefit of the student's education. In public schools across the nation this is the actual setting of how the school can be described. With the No Child Left Behind act schools are pushed to make education the primary focus in order to give students an equal chance at life afterwards. (No Child Left Behind) As stated earlier the characters have a strong correlation to students and educators in real life. Being a teacher is described as being â€Å"underpaid, unappreciated, and underpaid job in this crazy universe. (Sun 6) The tenth grade class in this play is group of disrespectful, hopeless kids that are just pushed around all day and treated as if they are convicts themselves. It seems that in this story every person who is in a position to make a positive change whether it be the parents or the teachers push it off on someone else to do. The first teacher that the audience encounters is a woman named Ms. Tam who is underpaid and unappreciated as well as blatantly disrespected by her students and has no control over them. It gets to the point that Ms. Tam actually ends up leaving because she cannot handle the students. Prior to the No Child Left Behind act new teachers were only required to have bachelor's degree, be fully certified and to have a subject matter knowledge generally through tests. After the act was implemented, the standards for all teachers were required to be highly qualified which is different in every state regardless if they are new or have reached their tenure. The act also makes it so the teacher's salary could be raised or dropped depending on how the students performed on their tests. By doing this teachers are required to take responsibility for their students which requires them to go above the bare minimum. (No Child Left Behind) The next teacher that the audience sees interaction with between the students is Ms. Sun. Right off the bat the audience sees that she is someone that not only cares about what she is teaching but about the students that she is teaching. She lays down rules about being in class on time, eating in class and being respectful to everyone. She gets the students to actually care and want to take part of the play that she was hired to be in charge of a play that the students previously scoffed at. By getting the students to take part of the play actually gives them a greater hope for their future that they don't have to end up hopeless, a characteristic that society has already label them as being. These are the teachers that the No Child Left behind act is instituting, teachers that have the ability to push their students to have an equal chance that privileged and well educated students have. Ms. Sun is not here to do the bare minimum required; she is here to make a change in students who just need guidance. (No Child Left Behind) The students are probably the most important characters in this play in correlation to the No Child Left Behind act. The audience gets to see the transformation that begins to take place in the students after a teacher who goes above and beyond what her peers are doing with their students. In the beginning of the play the students proudly characterize themselves as the worst class ever. Mrs. Kennedy later on refutes this claim by saying, â€Å"Look, I understand that they consider themselves the worst class in school. News Flash – they're not even close. (Sun 21) It is this statement that the audience can understand that although this class is pretty horrible there are worse classes which shows that it is the school as a whole that is failing at their job. Towards the end of the play the students have done a complete 180. Not only are they wanting to take part of the play but they are doing what they need to for class such as showing up on time, not eating in class and not being disruptive. One of the students who were initially the leader of not doing the play actually says that he is looking forward to taking part of it next year. All that it took was a determination of the teacher to push past the expectations of failure of these students and found a way to reach them. At the end of the play instead of every student being a failure as originally thought some go on to Harvard while others make proud livings for themselves. The play was a strong motivator that provoked emotion and the responsibility to help the cause. The play was more than direct commentary in one's opinion, and more a piece of propaganda to move the audience to join the fight. The play shows the horrors of reality and a resolution that leaves the children and audience with hope. The bottom line is to show the audience that these children are not hopeless or lost causes and they need people to have hope and believe their fate is not sealed with the circumstances they were born into.