Monday, September 30, 2019

Rachel Carson Environment Essay

â€Å"The Influence and Growth of the Environmental Movementâ€Å" In today’s fast-paced society, people seem to ignore one of the most important factors of why we are alive: planet earth! It provides us with water, â€Å"fresh† air, and a limited supply of natural resources. Mother earth has been a gracious host but it seems as if humans might be overstaying their visit. Modern day greedy businessmen try to squeeze every last drop of juice from earth. But soon, the earth will be all dried up with no more juice to offer.Fortunately, thanks to the work of many environmentalists all around the world from the present day, the world may be able to recover from all its injuries caused by the insatiable human race. Rachel Carson’s book â€Å"Silent Spring†, which spurred the environmental movement, helped raise awareness for the environment, warn humans of the dangers of using pesticides such as DDT, preserve several plant and animal species, and make the atmo sphere cleaner Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, which was published in 1962, was undoubtedly a critical turning point in history which prompted attention to environmental issues.Some say that Carson’s book was a â€Å"marker for the beginning of the modern American  environmental movement† (Geary). Carson was a revolutionary and had an astounding influential power. Silent Spring highlighted many of the damages done to the environment by the use of pesticides (Kelly). This of course, attracted many scientists to begin researching the issue but had other benefits as well. Her work was so intriguing and influential that â€Å"the vibrations of  [her] work resounded not only in academia but in the mind of the public as well† (Kelly).Truly, Carson’s concerns caught the attention of many people, both scientists and the public. Because of her efforts, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created in 1970 (Kelly). Rachel Carson spearheaded the En vironmental campaign and helped raise awareness about the growing risks of damages caused to the environment. In addition to the growth of awareness during the environmental movement, some dangers to animal life also grew. In her book, Rachel Carson explores the effects of pesticides.The most famous of these was dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT), which had been used to control pest insects, like mosquitoes and lice, in many countries (â€Å"The Environmental Movement†). Although Carson warned of the dangers of using these long-lasting pesticides, some insisted on the continuation of their usage. Farmers liked DDT because it helped to control insect damage to their crops (â€Å"The Environmental Movement†). Obviously, there are effects to the use of such pesticides. Carson explains that, overtime, DDT and other long-lasting pesticides had become part of the food chain.This is due to â€Å"the chemicals, remaining on plants and   water after sprayings, were inge sted by small animals, which were then eaten by larger animals, including humans† (â€Å"The Environmental Movement†). Carson definitely foresaw the dangers of using pesticides towards animal life and had a kind heart towards the lives of those several animal species that were being affected. She pointed out that these pesticides killed not only harmful insects like mosquitoes but also the ones that were innocent, such as bees, fish, and birds (â€Å"The Environmental Movement†).The environmental movement helped to preserve numerous species on planet earth. The earth is home to a vast variety of plants and animals. But, even with the slightest change to the environment, can completely devastate an ecosystem (â€Å"The Environmental Movement†). Protecting and preserving this rich animal life on earth was an important part of the environmental movement. In fact, â€Å"one of the most significant issues of the  environmental movement  has been the fight to protect animal and plant species from becoming extinct† (â€Å"The Environmental Movement†).This concern for animal extinction and preservation had several positive effects. For example, Congress passed the Endangered Species Preservation Act in 1966 in hopes of lowering the extinction rate (â€Å"The Environmental Movement†). This law was a huge improvement for animal extinction rights and preservation. However, this law only applied to fish and wildlife, and only to species native to the United States (â€Å"The Environmental Movement†). A few years later, another law would be passed to further help the preservation efforts.This law was The Endangered Species Conservation Act, passed in 1969, which broadened coverage to offer greater protection to larger numbers of animals (â€Å"The Environmental Movement†). Another law passed in 1973, the Endangered Species Act, further strengthened protections for endangered species. This law helped define t he term ‘endangered' species as â€Å"one that is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range† (â€Å"The Environmental Movement†). With the help of many federal agencies, combined with the efforts of other organizations as the World Wildlife Fund, a significant impact was made to elp preserve the lives of several plant and animal species throughout the environmental movement. During the environmental movement, some environmental hazards became the focus of attention and posed a severe threat to planet earth’s well-being. An important focal point of the environmental movement was global warming. Global warming is the warming of the earth’s climate due to the increase of harmful gases caused by human activity—such as carbon dioxide, methane, and CFCs (â€Å"The Environmental Movement†).One of the ways to decrease greenhouse gases and other harmful emissions is to reduce the world's dependence on fossil f uels. Fossil fuels are oils that are created inside the earth but that are not renewable— which include coal, natural gas, and oil CFCs (â€Å"The Environmental Movement†). The process of extracting these fossil fuels can be dangerous and devastating. Mining for coal can have a devastating impact on the landscape, leaving scars like deep holes and mountains with their tops shaved off as well as produce toxic waste that pollutes waterways (â€Å"The Environmental Movement†).There are drastic results that can occur to the burning of fossil fuels. The danger in burning natural gas results in emissions of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane (â€Å"The Environmental Movement†). Of course, fossil fuels are an important cause in pollution, but another factor comes from the daily life of humans. Humans use their cars as an everyday transportation method but, the truth is, that it also increasing the CO2 levels in the air. Another factor of pollution come s from deforestation. Deforestation is the clearing of forests in order to make room for new development projects.Unfortunately, the logging of forests also results in increases in carbon dioxide (â€Å"The Environmental Movement†). Clearly, the world would be much cleaner if it weren’t for all these damaging emissions from gasses and fossil fuels. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, helped to spearhead the important environmental movement that would change the way people look at the environment forever. Through her efforts, she was able to give people knowledge about the environment, warn humans of the risks of using harmful pesticides, protect many different plant and animal species, and, most importantly, make the earth a healthier place to live.Maybe if humans work together a little harder, they might be able to keep the earth juicy for just a view more centuries. Environmental activist  Rachel Carson  speaks in favor of curbing the use of chemical pesticides and the aerial spraying of crops, before a Senate subcommittee on June 4, 1963. AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS. REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION. (â€Å"Silent Spring†) A fogger machine sprays the pesticide DDT through residential streets while people watch from their porches in 1949. At one time, people thought that DDT was not harmful to humans, only to disease-causing insects.The Library of Congress. (â€Å"The Environmental Movement†) Bibliography Durbin, Paul T. â€Å"Conservation and Preservation. †Ã‚  Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics. Ed. Carl Mitcham. Vol. 1. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. 418- 420. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 Nov. 2012. â€Å"The Environmental Movement. †Ã‚  American Social Reform Movements Reference Library. Ed. Carol Brennan, et al. Vol. 1: Almanac. Detroit: UXL, 2007. 151-190. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 Nov. 2012 Geary, Daniel. â€Å"Environmental Movement.   Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 3rd ed. Vol. 3. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 226-231. Gale Virtual Library. Web. 2 Nov. 2012. Kelly, Evelyn B. â€Å"The Rise of Environmental Science. †Ã‚  Science and Its Times. Ed. Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer. Vol. 7: 1950 to Present. Detroit: Gale, 2001. 83-87. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 Nov. 2012. â€Å"Silent Spring. †Ã‚  American Decades Primary Sources. Ed. Cynthia Rose. Vol. 7: 1960-1969. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 553-556. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 Nov. 2012. Silent Spring. †Ã‚  Literature and Its Times:  Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them. Joyce Moss and George Wilson. Vol. 4: World War II to the Affluent Fifties (1940-1950s). Detroit: Gale, 1997. 337-342. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 Nov. 2012. Works Cited â€Å"The Environmental Movement. †Ã‚  American Social Reform Movements Reference Library. Ed. Carol Brennan, et al. Vol. 1: Al manac. Detroit: UXL, 2007. 151-190. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 Nov. 2012. Geary, Daniel. â€Å"Environmental Movement.   Dictionary of American History. Ed. Stanley I. Kutler. 3rd ed. Vol. 3. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2003. 226-231. Gale Virtual Library. Web. 2 Nov. 2012. Kelly, Evelyn B. â€Å"The Rise of Environmental Science. †Ã‚  Science and Its Times. Ed. Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer. Vol. 7: 1950 to Present. Detroit: Gale, 2001. 83-87. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 Nov. 2012. â€Å"Silent Spring. †Ã‚  American Decades Primary Sources. Ed. Cynthia Rose. Vol. 7: 1960-1969. Detroit: Gale, 2004. 553-556. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 Nov. 2012.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

From Data, Information and Knowledge to Wisdom

From Data, Information and Knowledge to Wisdom The data-information-knowledge-wisdom (DIKW) continuum is a concept of the transformation of data into wisdom through cognitive processes. DIKW was initially used to illustrate principles of information management for the designing of information systems (Davenport & Pursak, 1989)(Saltworks, 2009).DIKW models utilized by nursing such as the model by Englebart & Nelson (2002), incorporate principles of increasing complexity due to increasing interactions What is important and unique to nursing is the DIKW concepts and models also help describe the critical thinking processes that nurses use to transform knowledge into the delivery of patient care, into education and learning and also into nursing research (ANA-American Nurses Association, 2008).The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the progression through the four steps of the data, information, knowledge, wisdom continuum that occurs research information to answer a clinical questi on pertinent to nurse practitioner practice. Standardized N nursing Language in Nurse Practitioner Practice The use of electronic information and decision support systems in nursing practice has brought about the introduction of several standardized nursing languages to document and communicate patient care. (McGonigle & Mastria, 2012 ).The identity of the Nurse Practitioner is grounded in nursing practice but has also expanded to include the functions of a physician (O'Connor, Hameister, & Kershaw, 2000). Given the merged identity of the Nurse Practitioner the clinical question is :Would a standardized nursing language adequately document the patient care delivered by a nurse practitioner? The Search for Clinical Data Data are discreet entities that in of themselves have no meaning. The search for data related to the clinical question was conducted through the Walden Library Health Science and Nursing Databases.DATA TO WISDOM 3 Using the search words Nurse Practitioner and Standard ized Nursing Language, both the CINHAL/Medline and the OVID data bases were queried. The search identified 6 articles. According to Bernstein (2009), The Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom hierarchy is based on filtration and reduction, so to select the most relevant articles, the titles and the keywords of the articles were reviewed first. This resulted in one article that did not contain the search words to be elimiated from further review. Translating Clinical Data to InformationTo further evaluate the usefulness of the 5 remaining articles, their abstracts were read to identify any relevant information. Information is data that has some meaning to it. Davenport and Prusak (1989) describes information as data that makes a difference to the receiver of the data. The data which is now aggregated into informational sentences and paragraphs (complete thoughts) reveal that the NANDA Nursing Diagnoses, the Iowa Nursing Interventions, and Iowa Nursing Outcomes Classification SNLs have be en explored for use in Nurse Practitioner practice.This is information as it has context to the reason the literature search is being performed. Linking Information to Knowledge In the DIKW continuum, Knowledge is transformed from Information At the knowledge stage in Englebart's & Nelson's (2002) DIKW model, an increased level of complexity in thinking must occur as a result of the increasing occurrences of interrelationships between information and knowledge (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2012 ).Davenport and Pursak also describe the knowledge stage of the continuum as a level of higher order of thinking and go on to describe some of the higher level thinking actions that turn information into knowledge. DATA TO WISDOM 4 One such action is Comparison i. e. How does this information compare to other known facts ? In this case the information found was about one type of SNL, but it known that there are about 13 different SNLs in existence. Another action is making Connections i. e. How does this information relate to other pertinent topics? In this situation another pertinent topic in NP practice is e-Prescribing.How does the use of an SNL relate to e-prescribing? Thus far the knowledge gleaned is not enough information has been found to answer the clinical question as written. Wisdom—Knowledge Applied in Meaningful Ways. Can informatics be used to gain wisdom? Interestingly the concept of wisdom has been eliminated from many DIKW models (DIK models) because according to Davenport and Prusak(1989) there is â€Å"enough difficulty distinguishing among the three related concepts of data, information and knowledge† and so â€Å"higher-order concepts such as wisdom and insight have been lumped into the category of knowledge†.There are differences in defining what wisdom is. According to Bernstien (2009) â€Å"wisdom means an ability to see the long-term consequences of any act†. Or wisdom is knowing when and how to apply knowledge to complex pr oblems or needs (Englebart & Nelson, 2012). In this case Wisdom is knowing that more research needs to be done on the topic of SNL's and NP practice in order to determine if standardized nursing language adequately applies to NP practice. It is what nurses do with the information available or lack of information available in informatic systems that creates wise decision making.Summary In nursing, Data- Information- Knowledge-Wisdom continuum models help depict the critical thinking nurses use to provide patient care. In information science DIKW models depict information management systems. DATA TO WISDOM 5 Data and Information can be stored in the databases of information systems in the forms of numbers, symbols and words that in of themselves have no meaning. It is only when data and information have context and meaning and are correctly applied to a problem that they are transformed into Knowledge and Wisdom in the minds of the users of these information systems. DATA TO WISDOM 6 References American Nurses Association. (2008). Nursing informatics: Scope & standards of practice. Silver Springs, MD Bernstein, J. H. ( 2009) The Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom Hierarchy and its Antithesis.Retrieved from http://arizona. openrepository. com/arizona/handle/10150/105414 Davenport, T. , Prusak, L. (1998) Excerpt of Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know. Retrieved from http://wang. ist. psu. edu/course/05/IST597/papers/ Davenport_know. pdf McGonigle, D. & Mastrian, K. G. (2012). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (2nd ed. ). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. O'Connor, N. A. , Hameister, A. D. , Kershaw, T. (2000). Application of Standardized Nursing Language to Describe Adult Nurse Practitioner Practice. Nursing Diagnosis Magazine. Copyright 1999 Nursecom, Inc. Retrieved from www. highbeam. com The Data-Information-Knowledge Continuum. The Saltworks Blog Archive. Retrieved from http://www. datamobilitygroup. com/saltwor ks/archives/76

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Understand own Role and Responsibilities in Lifelong Learning

There are many legislation requirements within the Further Education Sector. As a summary of the legislation requirements, some of those that are essential are Every Child Matters, The Equality Act 2010 and Safe Guarding Vulnerable Groups.Every Child Matters is a legislation requirement which was introduced in 2003 in response to the death of Victoria Climbie, who was murdered by her carers. An inquiry was launched by Lord Lamming to improve child protection issues and there are now five outcomes of which education establishments must ensure are achieved. They are that pupils are being healthy, staying Safe, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and achieving social and economic well being.The Equality Act 2010 is an act which legally protects people from discrimination. It sets out ways in which it is unlawful to discriminate others. It has replaced previous discrimination laws by including them all in one act, making them easier to understand. Safe Guarding Vulnera ble Groups Act 2006 is an act which relates to the protection of children and vulnerable adults. The Act was brought about after an inquiry was made chaired by Sir Michael Bichard, relating to the Soham murders. Listed in the table below are a few other legislation requirements of which staff within the FE Sector should work towards:An overall summary of why codes of practice and legislation requirements are important within my role in the further education sector is that they help prevent any harm to people and secure a safe learning environment. L0 – 1.3 – EVALUATING RESPONSIBILITIES WITHIN THE FE SECTOR Whilst working in my role within the further education sector as a Music Tutor, there are many responsibilities that need to be maintained to ensure a safe and sufficient learning environment. They are as follows:INCLUSION: Inclusion is essential and it is important that I take individual students’ needs into account. For example some of my students are disabl ed so I have to plan lessons accordingly so that they are inclusive of everyone, whilst working towards the required criteria/curriculum. PROMOTE EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY: It is important that within my role I give every student a chance of success. In order to do this it is my responsibility to ensure everyone is treated equally and fairly. There are students from many different backgrounds in my teaching establishment so I must take this into account by adapting various things where necessary to suit the needs of their religion/beliefs or other requirements.SAFEGUARDING: It is my responsibility as a Music Tutor in the Further Education Sector to ensure students are safe within the learning environment by abiding by codes of practice and legislation requirements such as Every Child Matters. If I felt a student was at risk it would be my responsibility to take necessary action such as reporting it to relevant people. Exceptions would also be made regarding confidentiality if I felt th e student or others were at risk. PREPARATION: Lessons should be planned accordingly to suit the requirements of every student whilst ensuring any objectives and learning outcomes are met. In my role in particular there are students with many different requirements. Some are visually impaired and have various disabilities so it is my responsibility to ensure that lessons are tailored in order for them to achieve what is required.LO – 1.3 – EVALUATING ROLES WITHIN THE FURTHER EDUCATION SECTOR With regards to roles within the Further Education Sector, I have recently learnt that there are many roles required of an FE Tutor/Lecturer. For example my current teaching placement involves roles other than teaching, such as: ASSESSING: Assessing is an important part of my role as it ensures that lessons are planned accordingly to the needs of others. It also lets me know where students are with regards to achieving learning outcomes. AMINISTRATIVE ROLES: Administrative duties a re an important contribution to my role as organised records of information have to be maintained. Administrative duties also help with the preparation of lessons, such as creating slides or presentations.PERSONAL TUTOR: As well as teaching within a group setting, my current teaching placement also requires me to engage in one to one tutoring. These tutorials are important as they give students a chance to address any questions or difficulties they may be having and also helps me  assess where students need to improve and how they develop musically. Listed below are a few more roles required of an FE Lecturer:To conclude my evaluation of roles and responsibilities within the Further Education Sector, my opinion is that there are a broad number of roles entailed in teaching and it is important that teachers are aware of the skills required to ensure students receive a good education. I believe teachers’ responsibilities of procedures such as legislation requirements and code s of practice are essential to ensuring students are safe and learn in a positive environment.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Racism in Criminal justice system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Racism in Criminal justice system - Essay Example It is something that occurs more than we notice. Many scholars believe that racism play a more important role in targeting and sentencing process in the criminal justice system and this is something which should not happen in any country no matter what. Racism plays an essential role before the criminal reaches the day of sentencing in the court. There are various publications that speak on profiling and actuarial methods which unwillingly get people into the system. Though these are two major components of the discriminatory acts that exist within the criminal justice system, it does not actually begin with these institutionalized methods. It is the laws and crime control policies that create discrimination in the system. It has been witnessed that in some instances these laws and policies are set in favor of the white people and in opposition to the black ones. The involvement of government is also essential in such situations. It is their responsibility to finish racism with the c riminal justice system so that each and every citizen could live a peaceful life. Government should also make sure that every citizen gets equal rights. In this paper, a detailed discussion has been done on the racial disparities in criminal justice system along with its adverse effects to the community. ... This shows that racism does exist. According to you what should have been done in that situation? One possibility was to arrange a meeting between the police chief and other senior members to discuss about how the newcomers to the community were affecting law enforcement. It is better to make an attempt to explain the laws to the newcomers so that such incidents could be avoided in the future. The American citizens should put in efforts to communicate and work out with the police to help the newcomers so that they could be given proper education regarding the rules and regulations. This attempt could certainly produce a positive change at the institutional level. It is quite true that we can never be entirely free of racial prejudice. Therefore we should have the ability to identify and address racism because it results the unearned privileges of some and imposes unfair limitations on others. The economic stability of a group of people is closely linked with racism and unless it is s tudied thoroughly, a community building effort will not reach its full potential. Racial prejudice and racism have been commonly practiced in the U.S. by the people with European background against various other groups, such as African-Americans or Latinos (Silas, 10). However, racial prejudice and racism also lead to tensions between people of non-European descent, for example the tensions between African Americans and Asian Americans. As the U.S. becomes more diverse and the people all over the globe more educated, we must make certain efforts to reduce hostility which creates differences in our physical traits and other aspects. No matter what culture you belong, it is quite obvious that

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Asian American women study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Asian American women study - Essay Example These racial and gender complexities served to define what became of Asian American women who moved to the united states in the pre-1965 period. It is worth noting that it was not easy for Asian women to move into the United States even when they wanted to. The exclusion and restriction principles saw many women barred from gaining entry into the United States despite their husbands working in America. The application of the restriction law only contributed to the formulation of multiple barriers that served to prohibit Asian women from joining their husbands in the United States (Espiritu 45). For example, the proportion of Chinese women in comparison to men was very low, placing emphasis on the level on the gender constraint placed on women who expressed interest of immigration into the United States (Chan 117) Evidently, Asian women faced the detrimental effects of the American immigration policy compelling some of them to file lawsuits. In many of these litigation cases, they los t and had to give up the prospect of being able to unite with their husbands and sometimes their children who accessed immigration permits easily. The restrictive immigration policy had detrimental effects on Asian women who have a primary responsibility in ensuring that the family unit remained closely knit (Chan 119). In Asian culture, the family unit is the fundamental unit defining a society, and women had a major responsibility in making it successful. Moreover, Asian women who successfully immigrated into the United States only managed because of the profiles of their husbands, and not solely on the women as individuals (Scott 1056). The wives of laborers were not preferred immigration candidates and their immigration requests were usually rejected. Asian American women who fled to the United States during the Vietnamese war faced multiple challenges. Most of them resided in refugee camps and proper resettlement only depended on sheer luck to acquire willing sponsors who would help them resettle into the news culture and environment. Accounts from many of these women reveal that the new cultural set up and language barriers were some of the hardships they faced. Culture is an important aspect of identity in Asia, and many of the immigrants exhibited the willingness to foster their culture despite the overwhelming mainstream culture. Most of the women faced the challenge of fending for their families in America (Chan 125). The surging compulsion of securing a job in a foreign country was not easy, but most of the women who found themselves the heads of their families stood up for the challenge. Moreover, bring up children with Asian values was not easy since most of the children schooled in highly integrated institutions. The need for the Asian families to experience a cultural wellbeing and familiarity saw many of the families cluster in California, where the weather was favorable, and many Asian immigrants had settled. Although many Asian American women resettled and focused on rebuilding their lives in the United States, the stereotypes attached to people of Asian descent served as glass and bamboo ceilings, forming a complexity of barriers that served to prevent most of the Asian Americans from complete integration into the American society. English, as a second language proved difficult for many Asians to learn, and prevented many of the

Evaluation Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Evaluation Plan - Essay Example The confidence of the older patients with chronic disease can be improved by providing education. This can be done through self-management support. This entails helping the patients to be informed about their condition. This would in turn make them to be active during the treatment. There are two interrelated activities that are undertaken during self-management support. First, the patients are provided with information about their chronic conditions. Secondly, the care giver should work with the patients in making medical decisions. This includes indicating whether the patient agree to take the recommended medications, whether the patient is willing to undergo surgical procedures and making the patient to be self-motivated by allowing the patient to choose the health-behavior-related goals they desire to undertake. Another notable way of assisting the older patients with chronic disease is by group counseling. This implies a therapy format that entails approaching individual’ s issues through the adoption of interpersonal interaction. Apart from assisting the patients to build confidence in managing chronic illnesses, Living Well with Chronic Conditions provide the patients with information on how to manage pain, how to increase their physical activities, healthy eating habits, and making of proper treatment choices. Patients with chronic conditions confidence can also be enhanced through community fairs in senior centers.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

International Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

International Financial Management - Essay Example The basic types of exchange rate regimes are the fixed exchange rate and the floating exchange rate. In the latter case the market decides the movements of the exchange rate. Exchange rate volatility is a common denominator of a country's exposure to international risk through foreign transactions, whether international trade or investment (Madura, 2009). The higher the degree of exposure the higher the degree of risk associated with such exposure. Thus the exchange rate can be considered as an important indicator in monetary policy and it mainly depends on the monetary policy framework of a particular country. Exchange rate can be identified as a target for particular government's policy and that it can actively manage with the other components of a monetary policy such as inflation, balance of payments and so on. For instance the changes in exchange rate in a short term can impact on the real economy and the balance of payments and in the long term those effects can be adjusted with the exchange rate movements. Therefore developing countries that depend on commodity exports to a greater extent are more likely to face a greater degree of risk due to the fact that commodity prices in international markets are subject to huge fluctuations. As a result their currencies against those of advanced industrialized economies are weaker. Even the well developed countries especially UK has been faced with this reality but their ability to manipulate exchange rates in international markets is considerably higher when compared to those developing countries (Wheele, 1995). 2. Literature ReviewCurrently available literature on the subject of exchange rate regime and related price stabilization policy in a modern economy has both a theoretical approach and a broader empirical approach. Price stabilization policy refers to a government macroeconomic strategy designed and executed by the central bank to ensure stable economic growth based primarily on stable prices and lower unemployment levels. This is a contingency macroeconomic model that presupposes a smoothing out effect on erratic fluctuations in aggregate supply. Alogoskoufis (1992) shows that the broader policy level approach includes monitoring and adjusting cyclical growth process and interest rates so that aggregate demand can be managed to achieve broader macroeconomic policy goals.This

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

The Future of the Renewable energy of Saudi Arabia(Jeddah) Dissertation

The Future of the Renewable energy of Saudi Arabia(Jeddah) - Dissertation Example This much energy can power the entire nation for 72 years. It becomes evident from the study that as the country lies very near to the equator, it is the best place to harvest solar energy (Aljarbou, 2009). In addition, it is seen that Jeddah has an average of 5.78 kWh/m2/day of insolation because of its higher solar intensity. This is because of the altitude of the place. So, in order to meet the entire energy needs of Jeddah, that is calculated to be around 50.915 GWh/day, the total area required will be 36.64 km2 which is about 1.22 % of the total land area of Jeddah (ibid). Aljarboua also looks into the financial aspects of installing Photovoltaic technologies. Here, the picture is negative. When the economic analysis is conducted using the national renewable energy laboratory guidelines, it is found that the saving to investment ratio (SIR) is very poor in Saudi Arabia as compared to other nations. While the SIR is less than 0.13 in Saudi Arabia, it is much better in other natio ns. The reason for this poor SIR is the low price of energy in Saudi Arabia due to the easy availability of oil resources. That means, if the solar energy technology is to become economically beneficial, either the cost of fossil fuels should go considerably upwards, or the installation costs of the photovoltaic solar energy technologies should come dramatically down. So, in his study, Aljarboua takes the other cheaper forms of harvesting solar energy. Some of them are solar water heating (SWH), and ventilation air preheating (SVP). From the study, it becomes evident that the last two forms of harvesting solar energy are more suitable for Saudi Arabia. While photovoltaic technology has an SIR of 0. 1175, that of SWH is 0.52 and of SVP is 7.78. In addition, the pay back years also vary considerably. If the PV technology requires 149 years, SWH and SVP require only 33.5 and 2.25 years respectively. In fact, the use of solar energy has been rising in Saudi Arabia since 1960. The King A bdulaziz University for Science and Technology’s Energy Research Institute has conducted many studies on the utilization of solar energy. Some practical use of solar energy mentioned in the study are ‘lighting, cooling, water heating, crop/fruit drying, water desalination, operation of irrigation pumps, running of meteorological stations, road and tunnel lighting, road signals and traffic lights’ (â€Å"Renewable energy feasibility study†). Despite all these developments, the practical use of solar energy has not made notable progress. There are various reasons associated with this failure. The first one, according to Said, I.M.Ei-Amin and A. M. Al-Shehri (n.d.), is that oil is easily available in Saudi Arabia. In addition, the oil is more effective as an energy source and it has a considerably lower cost in the nation. The second major issue is the dust effect that reduces the availability of the solar energy by 10-20%. The third most important reason is that while the government provides subsidies for oil and electricity generation, the same subsidy is not available for the use of any non-renewable energy source (ibid). Photovoltaic cells The term ‘photovoltaic’ indicates that electricity is made from light. The most widely used material to make photovoltaic cells is silicon. There are three different varieties of photovoltaic cells; monocrystalline, polycrystalline, and amorphous

Monday, September 23, 2019

The impact of increase in lead times in supply chain activities on Research Paper

The impact of increase in lead times in supply chain activities on retail concerns - Research Paper Example However, for this to happen to any supply chain, the management must enforce some of the basic rules that allow them to compress time to enhance their processes and ensure that the clients receive their orders in due time. Precision and accuracy always work positively as they ensure that the time that lapses between the placement of an order and the delivery of the same is as minimal as possible and at the right time (Chen, et al., 2000, p. 436). This does not imply a reduction in the quality just to satisfy demand. Each employer understands that the employees will always work best if motivated and inspired to keep the quality and time as congruent as possible. As such, working hand in hand with them is not only necessary but advantageous because the management will understand what is required to help them achieve the very best within the shortest time possible (Borzath, Warsing, Flynn and Flynn, 2009, p. 78). Pressurizing them may hinder their full potential and thus failure in the production system because they are not satisfied with what they are doing. However, a clever supply chain manager will always seek innovative means through which they can improve the demand chain performance. To achieve this, they may need to include some of the time-proven ideologies such as lead time reduction, forecasting or customer satisfaction matrix. The report herein will explore the impact of lead time reduction and how this affects the services within a supply chain. The report will also offer some recommendations based on the impacts discussed in relation to the Norwich Nordic and Pulp Company as well as the best means of maintaining this trend. Lead Time This is defined by several researchers as the amount of time that elapses between the start of a process and its completion (Chen, et al. 2000; Borzath, Warsing, Flynn and Flynn 2009; de Treville et al., 2004; Shah and Ward, 2007). Every company wants to encompass the whole system in the supply chain from the consumer de mand to customer satisfaction this means that by all means they have to deal with the total cycle time (TCT) or the lead time. This has three major components that are imperative in meeting the customer demand, information flow and material flow. These attributes are necessities and if well intertwined, could offer the best strategy in meeting the demands of the supply chain management system. The consequent reduction of the lead time is very imperative in the creation of a direct leverage on the bottom-line (Shah and Ward, 2007, p. 786). This will help the chain achieve better competition and allow the management to deal with each of the factors from a more informed position compared to before. By allowing this component, the management will be offering a chance for each of the employees to play to the same music hence minimizing delays and maximizing on the time allocated for each activity. When talking about the lead time there are several components that ought to be considered. They include pre-processing, processing and post-processing. Pre-processing includes the determinations made when resources are required and the steps that allow each of them to be filled in order. It also looks at the final product and how it reflects the current order placed by the client (Ketchen and Hult 2006, p. 575). The processing bit looks at the actual manufacturing of the product and making it like the real product that has been ordered. Post-processing looks at the delivery of the order to the client after the order has been manufactured. Each of this is what the lead time has to be measured against based on the benchmarks set by the company. Reducing the process

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Interpreting the 1832 Reform Act Essay Example for Free

Interpreting the 1832 Reform Act Essay Summary: The Great Reform Act, a product of in tense debate, has produced an equally diverse debate among historians. One element of the controversy centres on the origins of the Act. How far was it designed to stave off a popular revolution, and how far to preserve the influence of the landed gentry or to buy off opposition by timely concessions? Or did the policy-makers not have time to formulate precise aims? The effects of the legislation are equally controversial. Did governments become more popular and more responsive to national issues? How did voting behaviour change? The answers historians have found tend to reflect the particular constituencies they have studied. Diversity rather than uniformity characterises both the motives for the Act and its historical effects. The 1832 Reform Act continues to arouse a great deal of controversy among historians. Older accounts by Trevelyan (1920), Christie (1927) and Butler (1914) treat reform as a timely concession to popular pressure and a Whig party manoeuvre designed to weaken the Tories. But since the 1960s there have been many alternative interpretations, and as we enter the new century it seems appropriate to draw together and reexamine these differing opinions about a topic which continues to fascinate teachers and students of nineteenth-century British history. Concession or cure? According to Moore (1966 and 1974), the Reform Act was not a concession but a cure, designed to revive electoral deference. Reform was meant to reorganise the electoral system, concludes Moore, so that there would be no power for the unpropertied, a clearer distinction between county and borough constituencies, an exclusion of middle-class influence from the counties, and with more seats for the counties a reinforcement of landed influence. Parry (1993, p 80) dismisses Moores idea, not least because counties continued to have large urban electorates, and Eastwood (1997) argues that rural voters were rather less pliant, and county politics more complex, than Moore appreciates. Eastwood shows that county elections were participatory events before and after 1832, and that rural elites continually had to negotiate with voters. There was no hegemonic paternalism and no simple correlation between landlord power and voting behaviour. OGorman (1984) also casts doubt on Moores assumptions about deference, and McCord (1967) has suggested that even if the government did have clear aims (which were, in his view, to remove anomalies and bring into the political nation worthy sections of the middle classes), ministers did not have the time, expertise and knowledge needed to draft legislation which would give effect to these intentions. Evans (1995, pp 93-4) points out that neither Greys ministry nor the Whig party were united on reform. Lack of information about different types of constituency and the extent of middle-class and landed influence, moreover, made it impossible to accomplish the reorganisation posited by Moore. There was no master plan, argues Evans, only general concerns about reserving political influence for property and preventing an alliance of middle-class reformers with the masses. For the most part ministers reacted to extra-parliamentary developments (on this point Evans appears to disagree with McCord, who thinks that the main features of the reform bill were settled well before popular pressure reached its height). Evans stresses that the reform crisis did not allow ministers the time (even had they the ability) to get into the minutiae of precisely who should and should not be enfranchised in particular places. Moores thesis has also been questioned by Hennock (1971) and Davis (1976), while Beales (1992) insists that redistribution of seats was far more important to the framers of the reform bill than expansion of the electorate. Mitchells interpretation of reform (1993) underlines this point. For Mitchell the reform bill was part of the old Whig struggle against the Crown. Senior Whigs believed that liberty and property were inseparable and that more influence for the propertied classes would serve as a barrier against royal tyranny. Liberty would be safe if property was properly represented and, since the rotten boroughs no longer served this function, seats had to be redistributed and borough voting rights revised. Vernon (1993) argues that the 1832 Reform Act enabled the elite narrowly to define the people as propertied men. It thereby contributed to a political closure experienced between 1832 and 1867. Vernons idea about democratic losses, however, must be balanced by the undoubted gains achieved in 1832, especially in terms of political influence for non-elite interests. Continuity or change? According to Gash (1979, pp 150-2). the general purpose behind reform was to make the old system more acceptable. The bill had enough scope to capture the public imagination while also appearing to meet a need, but it was a clumsy measure, incapable of recasting the electoral system, and its authors were always more interested in continuity than change. Ministers lacked the intention, information and experience to go farther than they did. They were working in haste to carry out a political pledge and did not profess to be logical. Milton-Smith (1972) suggests that generalisation about reform is unhelpful, since the bill was a highly flexible tool. Though it was presented by ministers as a final measure, they meant by this that it would satisfy existing demands. Whig leaders accepted that in future decades representation might have to be conceded to new interests, and Milton-Smith concludes that the reform bill should be viewed more as a concession than a cure. Other commentators, notably Bentley (1984, p 87), Parry (1993, p 99) and OGorman (1986), have stressed that reform did not greatly alter the social composition of the Commons, or make the electorate popular, or transfer power to the urban middle classes. Some historians have chosen to focus on what was achieved in 1832, rather than on what the reform bill did not do. Briggs (1979, p 253) pays modest tribute to the governments role in making it possible for an unwilling parliament to reform itself. The reform bill was a success, he adds, because it removed the danger of revolution, attached the middle classes to the constitution, and gave aristocratic government a new lease of life. Evans (1996, pp 223-9), Derry (1990, pp 195) and Phillips (1982) have examined the importance of 1832 in promoting new forms of political organisation, registration drives, party cohesion, the rise of urban and industrial influence, and a higher number of electoral contests (with persistent partisan voting). The instrumentality of reform is clear. The bill was not just a Conservative measure. It was also dynamic. In the 1830s and 1840s there were constructive social and economic policies, and the success of 1832 enabled Parliament to regain lost stature and command wider approval. This ties in with Mandlers thesis (1990, chs 1, 4) about the reassertion of an aristocratic governing style, and with Parrys idea (1993, pp 78-89) of vigorous liberal government. Parry claims that the Reform Act achieved its fundamental purpose, which was by bold means, to strengthen the power of government to locate, and respond equitably to, social tensions, unrest, and grievances, and so secure popular confidence in more active, disciplinary rule. Hence the Whigs interventionist approach of the 1830s and their eagerness to use the powers and opportunities provided by reform to transform the range and image of government behaviour. Parry may be exaggerating. He implies that Greys administration had clear goals and complete control over the process of reform, and that ministers really knew how they were doing and how to do it when, in fact, much was uncertain and unpredictable. The Reform Act was significant not only for what it did, argues Davis (1980). but for what politicians thought it did, and reform prompted a notable change of attitudes, especially among Tories who came to accept Peel as their leader. After 1832 Peel demonstrated that he was reconciled to institutional reform, and he saw clearly that the Reform Act made the influence of electors much more significant than it had formerly been. To Phillips (1980), the expansion of the electorate is a clear indication that reform was a concession, intended to appease the nation and satisfy a growing desire for inclusion in the political process. Political activity had mushroomed since the 1780s, and the reform of 1832 created a voting public corresponding reasonably well, proportionately, to that segment of the population apparently meriting inclusion among the electorate as a result of several decades of sustained political participation. Phillips presents a coherent argument, though it is easy to con fuse effects with intentions. In a detailed examination of parliamentary boroughs, Phillips (1992) has shown that the Reform Act significantly altered voting behaviour in some locations, but that the nature of change varied from place to place. Phillips argues that after 1832 voting became clearly and consistently partisan (partly an unintended consequence of voter registration). Voter turnout increased (it was already high in many places). Religious affiliation had more influence over voting choices than social class, as had been the case before 1832, and national issues rapidly came to dominate elections. Some electoral corruption continued, though it was politically irrelevant and rarely determined voting choices and election results. Another element of continuity, therefore, was the considerable freedom of choice enjoyed by voters. These findings are useful because they indicate that elections were already politicised and participatory before 1832, and that the Reform Act furthered political commitment in a manner that would not otherwise have been possible. Indeed, reform made previous changes irreversible. Yet Phillips probably claims too much. His focus on local conditions is not easy to marry with his view that the Reform Act facilitated the rise of national parties and national issues. Furthermore, reform gave government broader responsibilities, another reason why purely local contexts were superseded. Phillips identifies an increase in voting on national party lines, but he also states that reform had uneven results. Perhaps in his general conclusions he loses sight of this point. His sample of boroughs all survived 1832 as two-member constituencies, moreover, which makes them a questionable basis for generalisation. The Reform Act possibly had greatest impact in the new boroughs it created in 1832. On partisanship, national platforms, individual voter choice, participation and turnout in the post-1832 electoral system, the interpretation of Taylor (1997) differs greatly from that of Phillips. In Taylors account party was limited as an organisation and an idea. Consistency in voting took time to develop, as did party cohesion at local and elite levels, so that national platforms were not really significant until after 1867. Individual voter choice made little sense to contemporaries, adds Taylor. because they tended to vote as members of an interest or community, not as individuals. On this matter Taylor gives a salutary warning about the dangers of pollbook analysis, which tends to privilege the views of individual voters. He argues that the reformed system was meant to represent interests; this was the constitutional context within which elections took place. As for participation, demographic change led to a relative fall in the proportion of voters among the adult male population after 1832, and in some boroughs voter turnout declined. Many potential à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½10 householders never registered, and a large number of electors voted only once (particularly as first-time voters). The fact that there were six general elections within just 11 years (1830 to 1841) affected both registration and the inclination to vote. Much of this is incontestable, though the value of Taylors conclusions (like those of Phillips) must be balanced by a recognition of the diversity of borough constituencies. Did popular pressure really matter? Opinions differ as to the importance of popular pressure during the reform struggle. Though Briggs thinks that the bill relieved the danger of revolution, Rude (1967) notes the absence of a genuine revolutionary threat. Some historians deny that extra-parliamentary agitation did much to shape the struggle or its outcome. Clark (1985. p 402) insists that the timing and nature of reform owed most not to unrest and radicalism out of doors, but to party confusion, a conflict of opinion in cabinet and Parliament, and instability in high politics caused by Catholic emancipation in 1829. Clark blames Peel for betraying the old regime, the confessional state with its exclusive Anglican constitution, and asserts that parliamentary reform would not have been possible without Catholic emancipation. The constitution was already fractured by earlier surrenders, argues Clark, even before Greys ministry took office. Hole (1989, ch. 16) offers a different analysis. He contends that secular arguments had been replacing religious ones in political controversy since the I 790s. Therefore Clarks confessional state no longer existed in the late 1820s. Theological influences played no important role in the struggles over Catholic emancipation and parliamentary reform. Discussion was carried on primarily in political and social terms. Reform is not to be understood only in the intellectual and high political framework recreated by Clark. Any explanation of the reform struggle would be incomplete without some reference to popular pressure, and as excitement reached new peaks there were times when extra-parliamentary agitation had decisive impact: October 1831 when the Lords rejected the reform bill, for example, and May 1832 when the Grey ministry resigned. After the Days of May, indeed, reformers were sure that their activities had prevented Wellington from forming a government and promoted Greys return to the premiership. On the other hand, as Evans suggests (1995, pp 92-3), even in May 1832 when agitation was of more moment than Wellingtons efforts to form an administration, it is not clear that the unrest actually altered the course of events. Nor, in fact, did politicians ever lose the initiative. Wellingtons failure and Greys recall resulted directly from decisions made by William IV and prominent Tories. Brock (1973, pp 305-9) accepts that there was peril in 1832, though he points out that ministerial responses must be treated cautiously. Francis Place, Joseph Parkes and other reform spokesmen kept ministers informed of the agitation, but we cannot be sure how much ministers believed or how far they were unnerved by what they were told. Cannon (1973, pp 238-40) concludes that pressure from below was less important than decisions taken at the top. But could the unrest of this period really be ignored? Grey and his colleagues were conscious of enormous pressure from external sources, which is one of the reasons why they only returned to office after securing the Kings agreement to a creation of peers. Stevenson (1992, p 296) doubts that there could have been a rising had Wellington taken office in May 1832, for though the people had arms, they did not have the necessary leadership and organisation. This emphasises the threat posed to the established order not by the masses but by respectable radicalism and its methods. Newbould (1990, p 10) suggests that ministers were concerned less about an imminent popular revolt than about a future challenge from the wealthy, assertive and politically aware middle classes. Much was said about a resort to physical force, not least by Place in London and the leaders of the Birmingham Political Union, but this talk was meant to disturb elite politicians. The will and planning for an uprising were exaggerated for effect. Several historians have emphasised this in their explanations of reform; Thompson (1980, pp 887-903), Hamburger (1963, cii. 4), Thomis and Holt (1977, ch. 4) and Wright (1988, pp 89-95) conclude that the threat of revolution was n ever as serious as contemporaries believed or claimed. United action was precluded by divisions within the reform movement. The campaign in many towns was fragmented, and Birmingham was unusual because of the co-operation there between reformers of different social ranks. It cannot be assumed that Place, Parkes and other spokesmen were firmly in control of the masses (and there was still an insurrectionary minority on the fringes of British radicalism, though it lacked wide support). Another important point is that there was less violence in May 1832 than in October 1831. Contemporaries noted this, and some feared a sinister plot, assuming that radicals were so well-disciplined they could hold themselves back in readiness for a popular outbreak at some later time. Place allowed this idea to spread. Again, perception mattered more than reality. Place advised his allies not to hold meetings in case these revealed that the popular movement was more divided than was generally supposed. Whig MPs and peers made much of the danger of unrest when addressing Parliament, as did Grey and the King in their correspondence. Though some feigned alarm only to persuade opponents of reform to give way, others genuinely feared revolution. The fear was expressed often enough, and not only in public arenas. Private letters and records include such expressions, and perhaps these reveal what people were really thinking at the time. For Grey and his colleagues, and for the King, one of the most disturbing aspects of the reform struggle was the manner in which popular pressure became focused with the rise of political unions. The fact that these bodies had such authority, and yet for so long were answerable only to themselves, was a new and alarming development. Grey repeatedly emphasised that the only way to take the wind from their sails was to carry the reform bill, and Lopatin (1991) and Ferguson (1960) have argued that there would have been no reform without them. Words and concepts to note: Hegemonic paternalism: a form of control by the natural leaders of society; those who owned the land, that amounted to domination. Instrumentality: purpose served. Pollbooks: the records kept by returning officers of those who voted in particular constituencies.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Development of a Deep Sea ROV

Development of a Deep Sea ROV Jeremy Moros Abstract Australia’s geographical location places it within reach of 65% of the world’s salt water oceans. However, to this day, only 0.9% of the oceans depths have been explored. This journal explores whether or not current technologies allow for the possibility of a series of imagery and sensory underwater drones gathering data from unexplored biological habitats and ecosystems, where the costs and safety of human expeditions have been prohibitive. To discover these depths the proposal for an Unmanned Scientific Data Gathering and Collection System (USDGCS) has been explored to determine whether existing open source platforms such asArduino can be utilised to create a system where once deployed can collect and redistribute first hand data live across the internet. The drone must be designed to perform a large array of tasks, whether it be the photographing and mapping at extreme depths, or the monitoring species populations close to the surface. Ultimately, a model that is fri endly to the environment in which the ROV operates is essential so the self-powering drones have been explored. Keywords Underwater Drone, Ocean, Remotely Operated Vehicles, UAV Introduction ROV’s are commonly referred to as an acronym for â€Å"Remotely operated vehicles†. ROV’s can be classified as one of two types of drones, Underwater ROVs and aerial UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). Similar principles allow for the similar technologies in such drones however the medium in which they operate differ. In each classification, drones such as AUVs (Autonomous underwater vehicles) do not require constant control from a human, but instead rely on prewritten algorithms. These algorithms make use of self-navigating equipment such as using sensors and radars to determine their location and perform functions with an accuracy dependent on the equipment on board. The extreme water pressure experienced at depths below a few hundred meters are enough to kill a human. ROV’s were developed to overcome the limitations of deep-sea divers where they have proven to be of much use in the gas and oil industries. The first form of a drone was the 1960’s HOV or Human Operated Vehicle. However basic, it demonstrated the very first development of drone technologies. It was the US Navy that funded and developed more of early ROV technologies through the 1960’s program Cable-Controlled Underwater Recovery Vehicle (CURV). This vehicle was created to be cable of performing sophisticated deep-sea rescue operations, such a  recovering black boxes from previously destroyed military aircraft and retrieving highly dangerous devices such as a nuclear weapons. The â€Å"CURV† removed any danger to the humans that operated them and was considered as a milestone in technology. However, many of the technologies incorporated into were develo ped for scientific research purposes. ROV’s today underwent development when drones were developed for scientific research purposes. These technologies include the addition of live streaming video cameras and lights sources, where it became easier for a ROV to be precisely controlled by an operator. Now in the 21st century, many components are commonly integrated to expand a vehicle’s capabilities. These may include mapping sonars, magnetometers and high resolution digital cameras, as well as more sophisticated tools such as instruments that can accurately determine water temperature, clarity and light penetration. Specialised drones may feature cutting arms or manipulators that can gather rock or flora samples for low depth environments ( Purpose of investigation The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether current technologies allow for the successful development of a deep sea ROV where data can be collected and redistributed live through the World Wide Web without costs being prohibitive. 2 Context: Parts of a ROV The ROV is commonly consists of 4 systems, each of which serve a specific function. 2.1.1 The Frame: The frame of a ROV serves as the primary skeleton of the vehicle. Often constructed beams, struts or plates as the frame bears the load of the water pressure. The frame often defines the overall shape of the ROV as mechanical and electrical components often need to be secured inside the frame for successful operation. This includes weights, pressure canisters, thrusters, floats, camera, lighting and other instruments like manipulator arm, sonar, scientific sensors, etc. ROV frames can be made from a range of materials including plastic composites and aluminum tubing and the choice is based on the developmental requirements of a ROV. Due to the highly saturated salt solution in the ocean, corrosion resistant materials with high strength and low density have been favorably considered. Since weight has to offset with buoyancy, this is critical. A well designed frame aims for easy repair if components are to fail, as well as a shape that will aid easy control. 2.1.2 Buoyancy System: A ROV owes its ability to stay afloat due to its buoyancy system. The principle to the floatation of an ROV is the attainment of neutral buoyancy of the ROV system as a whole. If neutral buoyancy is achieved, a ROV is capable of floating in water and can rise and descend when needed. There are many ways in which buoyancy can be achieved, the most simple being the attaching of floats to a ROV. In more sophisticated ROVs, a dedicated buoyancy system is incorporated into the design. A Ballast system is of two types, an active and static ballast system. An active Ballast system is more sophisticated as it can adapt to changes in weight of a system. A static ballast system is far less sophistical, where floats and other simply floating devise such as air filled cans provide a fixed buoyancy range beyond which the ROV will sink to the ocean floor. However, if the static ballast system has a fixed buoyancy too great, the ROV will never dive, no matter the thrust from a propulsion system. 2.1.3 Propulsion System: Thrust is required for the control of a ROV, which is provided by a propulsion system. The thrust produced should be more than the drag force acting on the system, thus a more aerodynamic design is advised. A range of propulsion systems have been developed, however the most common would be a combination of bilge pumps and underwater rotors to propel the craft. The motor inside a ROV should be adequate to propel the ROV forward, as well as stop it in a short time. High torque motors of 800-2000 RPM rotors are considered to be sufficient for underwater drones. The number of thrusters required is dependent on the functions a ROV will perform. It is known that the greater the number of thrusters, the more freedom in the movement of the ROV. The propeller attached can be a 3 blade or 5 blade depending on the speed and water density through which the ROV will traverse. Brushless DC motors are preferred over other types of motors due to the fact that they offer a hi gher efficiency, hence offering better control of a ROV’s speed. DC motors are often far cheaper than a similarly outputting AC motor. 2.1.4 The Electronic System The electronic system of the ROV encompasses the payload of the ROV. The ROV system should have a water tight enclosure for the electronic and electrical components. A variety of electrical components are used for a number of purpose such as driving power, lighting and video feed, etc. The wiring should be secure and watertight to ensure that the chances of water damage to electronics is kept to a minimal chance. The wiring is often kept far clear of the rotors to reduce any chance of entanglement. The video feed can either be stored on an on-board system or transferred to the control room via a tether or a however recent technological advancements are allowing for a wireless connection to the surface. The ROV often receives electrical commands through the same radio device as the video feed, whether it be wired or wireless. Micro Controllers are considered an ideal option for analogue control as development is not required for a new embedded PC board, hen ce lowering costs. The Arduino platform utilizes these micro controller boards and is an example of a cheap, but effective solution. These controllers allow for sensory data to be collected from various instruments. Some ROVs are designed to incorporate instruments where they are capable of performing a standard set of operations. The power source of a ROV is dependent on the depth it is required to travel. Low depth ROV’s are able to leave a power source on the surface and are powered by an electrical cable. However, a ROV designed to dive deep proves a long electrical cable impractical and therefore warrant onboard batteries with 5-12 Volts. A photovoltaic cell can be installed on the ROV and be used to recharge the battery when resurfacing.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Epidemiological Report on Stomach Cancer Tobacco Smoking

Epidemiological Report on Stomach Cancer Tobacco Smoking 1.0 BACKGROUND Cancer is among the leading causes of death in the world. In 2012, cancer was responsible for 8.2 million deaths and 14.1 million new cases were recorded, accounting for 65% of the deaths in low-middle income countries (IARC, GLOBOCAN, 2012a). Cancer is a multistage process characterised by uncontrolled multiplication of abnormal cells which causes a lump to develop. This lump, known as a tumour, is named after the part of the body where it develops (American Cancer Society, 2012). Although mortality rates are higher in low-middle income countries, increased incident rates have been found in developed countries (IARC, GLOBOCAN, 2012a). An increase of 8 million cases per year is expected by 2030 (WHO, 2014). A number of factors are thought to be responsible for causing cancer such as genetic factors, chemicals and radiation, viruses or infections, alcohol use, tobacco, diet, and physical inactivity, age and several more that still remain unidentified (WHO, 2014; American Cancer Society, 2012). Lifestyle plays an important role in health. About 30% of deaths due to cancer are associated with poor lifestyle behaviour, which is marked by obesity, low fruit and vegetable intake, consumption of alcohol and tobacco use (WHO, 2014). Despite tobacco being the most preventable cause of death it kills 1 person every six seconds. The tobacco epidemic kills more than 5,000,000 people in a year – which is more than the combined number of deaths by malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS (WHO, 2008). Tobacco use contributes to about 20% of cancer deaths globally (WHO, 2014). A plethora of evidence exists demonstrating the multipotent carcinogenic nature of tobacco smoke, and its ability to cause cancer at multiple sites in the body and not just the lungs. It can cause cancer of the renal pelvis and bladder, oral cavity, larynx, pancreas, nasal cavity, liver, cervix, stomach, kidney and oesophagus (Vineis et al., 2004). Smokers are 7 times at more risk of dying from these cancers than non-smokers (Kenfield et al., 2008) 2.0 CONTEXT 2.1 DEMOGRAPHY, PREVALENCE OF DISEASE EPIDEMIOLOGY In 2012 stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, was ranked as the third major cause of cancer related mortality in the world with 723,000 deaths reported (IARC, GLOBOCAN, 2012b). An estimated one million cases of stomach cancer were recorded in the year 2012. This represents 6.8% of the total cancer cases reported. Stomach cancer is the fifth most common cancer worldwide with approximately one million cases in the following year; of which 70% of the cases occurred in low- middle income countries (IARC, GLOBOCAN, 2012b). The numbers of stomach cancer cases have significantly reduced over the years (IARC, GLOBOCAN, 2012b) and several epidemiological studies have been conducted to identify the causes of the disease and the reason for this decline. Figure 1 demonstrates estimated stomach neoplasm incidence and mortality (age- standardised per 100,000) worldwide in the year 2012. Distinct geographical differences exist with two third of the cases occurring in developing countries, a nd 50% of the total gastric cancer cases occurring in Eastern Asia. Eastern Asia has both high incident as well as mortality rates, but Western Africa has the lowest incidence and North America the lowest mortality rates. The incident rates (age standardised per 100,000) of stomach cancer are twice as high in men as compared to women. The striking time trends, geographical variations and gender distribution suggest the possible contribution of lifestyle and environmental factors to the aetiology of carcinoma of the stomach. Figure 1: Source: IARC, GLOBOCAN, 2012 2.2 EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDIES SHOWING ASSOCIATION BETWEEN STOMACH CANCER AND TOBACCO USE Infection with Helicobacter pylori is one of the main causes of gastric neoplasm (Tredaniel, 1997) however, in certain countries like Africa, where H.pylori has high prevalence, stomach cancer rates are still low (Campbell et al., 2001; Brenner, Rothenbacher and Arndt, 2009). This suggests that there may be other factors too responsible for gastric neoplasm. A large number of studies have demonstrated a strong positive association between stomach cancer and tobacco use. The association is thought to be because of the carcinogenic substances present in tobacco smoke. Tobacco smoke contains about 70 carcinogenic substances, like hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, cadmium, carbon monoxide and others, which when inhaled enter the lungs, and is carried by the blood stream to other sites in the body, depleting the sites of oxygen necessary for survival, and more importantly, damaging the DNA making cells to proliferate in an abnormal manner and cause cancer (Cancer Research UK, 2012). A number of case- control studies have demonstrated stomach cancer to be a tobacco related cancer (Minami and Tateno, 2003; Cai, Zheng and Zhang, 2003). A fourteen year prospective study conducted by the American Cancer Society showed a positive correlation between stomach carcinoma and the use of tobacco (Chao et al., 2003). According to the study, any form of tobacco use (pipe, cigar, bidi, chewing tobacco, cigarette smoking and snuff) was considered to be linked with higher incidence and mortality rates of stomach cancer. The study included 508, 351 men and 676,306 females aged thirty years or older, residing in a house with at least one individual forty-five years or above. The individuals were chosen from fifty states in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Men were made to complete questionnaires, with questions about current or past use of any tobacco product, while women only asked about use of cigarette smoking. The study was adjusted for all variables thought to act as confounding factors; age, race, family history, education, diet, use of multivitamins and aspirin (Chao et al., 2003). Tobacco users among men are 1.68 times more likely to die of stomach cancer and women who use tobacco are 1.38 times more likely than non-tobacco users. Men who are currently tobacco users are 2.12 times (95% CI, 1.76-2.54) as likely to die of gastric carcinoma as those who have never smoked tobacco. Women smokers are 1.5 times at more risk than non-smokers (Table 1). And the risk increased with the duration of tobacco use (Chao et al. 2003) Table 1: Tobacco Use and Relative Risk of Gastric Cancer Type of Tobacco Use Men Relative Risk (95% CI) Women Relative Risk (95% CI) Never-used any type of tobacco 1.00 1.00 Ever-user of any type of tobacco 1.73 (1.47–2.04) 1.34 (1.12–1.60) Current user of any type of tobacco 2.12 (1.76–2.54) 1.51 (1.20–1.90) Source: Chao et al., 2003 (Modified and prepared in MS. Word according to required data) 3.0 METHOD/ DATA In order to assess the possible causal relationship between carcinoma of stomach and the use of tobacco particularly in current tobacco smokers, data was withdrawn from WHO database. Data for nine countries with the highest incident rates were taken from IARC, GLOBOCAN (2012) database and the tobacco rates for each country were taken from â€Å"Tobacco Country Profile† from the WHO Report on Global Epidemics (WHO, 2013). The data from the two sources was combined to form one table for purpose of analysing the relationship. Rank Country Age-Standardised Rate per 100,000 (World) Prevalence of Tobacco Use (%)2012 1 Korea, Republic of 41.8 25.7 2 Mongolia 32.5 27 3 Japan 29.9 22 4 Guatemala 23.7 10 5 China 22.7 25 6 Kazakhstan 21.6 24 7 Kyrgyzstan 21.4 23 8 Albania 20.1 26 9 Belarus 18.8 29 Table 2: Data showing incidence of gastric cancer in both sexes in 2012 (IARC, GLOBOCAN, 2012) Data showing tobacco use in adults in the year 2012 (WHO, 2013) In order to get a clear picture, a graph (Figure 2) was drawn from the data in Table 2 to understand if there was a co-relation between the exposure, i.e., tobacco use and outcome, i.e., stomach cancer and if it was appropriate to refer gastric cancer as a â€Å"tobacco-related cancer† as has been referred by many other studies. Figure 3: Incidence of stomach cancer and tobacco use Data from IARC, GLOBOCAN (2012) and Tobacco Country Profile (WHO, 2013) collected in MS Excel and graph generated in MS World 4.0 RESULTS: Striking results were observed on analysing the data and graphs. High rates of tobacco consumption were considered to be responsible for causing stomach carcinoma. It was expected that the countries showing high number of stomach cancer cases would also show high consumption of tobacco among the population. However, an irregular trend is observed between the exposure and outcome. The Republic of Korea, having the highest rates of stomach cancer should have shown high rates of tobacco use, however, it shows lower rates of tobacco smoking than Belarus. Similarly, Belarus having the lowest number of stomach cancer cases among the nine listed countries, demonstrates the highest prevalence of tobacco usage in adults. 5.0 DISCUSSION Several epidemiologic studies have shown a positive causal relationship between tobacco smoke and increased incidence of stomach cancer. Evidence suggests that 20% of the stomach cancer cases in the United Kingdom can be attributed to the use of tobacco (Cancer Research UK, 2014). However, a few studies like the self-analysis of data above were unable to find any positive association between stomach cancer and tobacco use. In a twenty eight year cohort study conducted in Norway, with 26,000 Norwegian men and women, no association was found between stomach cancer and tobacco consumption (Engeland, 1996). Similarly a case control study carried out in Japan seemed to show no relationship of tobacco use and increased rates of stomach cancer (Murata, 1996). When considering epidemiological studies and their results, flaws in data collection and study design must be considered before making an inference. Case control studies are most susceptible to bias. There are high chances of selection bias, especially when the investigator is not blinded. Another bias that has the potential to effect results of case control studies is attention bias, which is also known by the Hawthorne effect, according to which people tend to act and behave differently when they know the relation being studied (Bruce et al., 2008). Similarly, cohort studies may produce uncertain results because of their long duration which results in loss to follow up, also known as attrition bias. Questionnaires are considered to be the main research tools when it comes to collection of data from a large sample population. Although questionnaires are an effective and cheap way of gathering data, there are some possible errors that should be taken care of. These specifically include sampling error and measurement error (Bruce et al., 2008). An extremely important factor that can be attributed to the difference in results is confounding. For factors to be considered confounders, they need to have an association with the outcome of interest. Alcohol consumption can be considered a confounding factor in the relationship between stomach cancer and tobacco use. Alcohol consumption is considered to have a synergistic effect (Chen, 2000). However, the synergistic effect of alcohol is considered to be controversial, with some studies demonstrating no effect of alcohol consumption on stomach cancer rates (Murata, 1996; Cancer Research UK, 2014). Another main factor is H.pylori infection, which is the considered to be the main cause of carcinoma of the stomach. Studies have showed that in tobacco users who have H.pylori infection, they are 10 times more likely to develop carcinoma of the stomach than those who do not smoke tobacco (Cancer Research UK, 2014; Tredaniel, 1997). Other possible confounders include diet. Although differences in results can be observed, smoking is known to be an established risk factor for most cancers and diseases. It shall be inappropriate to conclude that no association exists between stomach cancer and the consumption of tobacco. The magnitude of the association can vary but it would be wrong to deny any association at all. It can thus be concluded, that tobacco use, may not be an independent factor like Helicobacter pylori in the aetiology of stomach cancer, but it is a contributing factor for the development of carcinoma of stomach. The use of the word contributory does not by any way rule out the possibility of tobacco having a direct effect on stomach cancer, it in fact, takes into account the persistent risk of cancer among smokers and indicates that had smoking not exist, a large and significant proportion of disease burden would not exist in this world.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

?Vincent is not a hero? Discuss :: essays research papers

â€Å"Vincent is not a hero† Discuss Andrew Niccol has created a character that is portrayed as being a struggler from the moment he was born, he was destined to play this role as soon as he was conceived naturally as he was to wear the label of â€Å"God child† for the rest of his life , this label determines they life style and quality of life he will lead and the prospects are not good -â€Å"They used to say that a child conceived in love has a greater chance of happiness. They don't say that anymore†. Niccol leads us to believe that Vincent is a man who has overcome the odds in order to achieve his dream in a society where individuality is an unrequited trait and the ability to conform plus right DNA is all a person needs to succeed. What can easily be missed is the reality that in order to achieve his dreams he had to become a criminal which raises the question, is this man who is seen as a hero defiant of his opposition, worthy for our admiration considering the un-admirable form he had to take on t o gain it?. The measures Vincent goes to, to achieve his dream of becoming an astronaught make him seem less of a hero than he is portrayed as, The idea of changing your identity from an â€Å"invalid† with problems that prevent one from leading a normal life, to taking on the identity of a â€Å"Valid† with a physical make-up so perfect that â€Å"you could go anywhere† with his â€Å"helix tucked under your arm†, again lowers the opinion of his character and makes it difficult to separate his true identity to the false one he has taken on, Throughout the film Niccol makes it hard to distinguish which parts of Vincent’s personality actually are, we see many instances where Vincent shows admirable qualities such as him romantically letting go of a strand of Irene’s hair and saying â€Å"the wind caught it† . But this incident could also psychologically be a way of ensuring if Irene ever had a piece of him, that she would do the same and his identi ty would be protected. His personality as we knew it before he took on Eugene’s identity portrayed him as lonely dreamer. He was the stereotypical outcast down to finest detail. He sat by himself, ate by himself , dreamt of great things and in true Hollywood style left home and took on the job that all people take when they have nothing left, a cleaner.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Reduced Poaching Incidents due to Increased Poaching Laws :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Reduced Poaching Incidents due to Increased Poaching Laws While driving down and old dump road, Curly, as we will call him, spotted some deer just off the road. Slowing down he realized that the few deer that he had seen were all exceptionally fine bucks. Driving off he ponders whether he should go back and take these exceptional deer. Screech!!!! He flipped a 180 and headed back. Arriving back he picks out the nicest one of the bunch and reaches for his gun. Resting the gun in the door, he takes aim and shoots. The deer falls and the rest run for fear of being shot too. Curly pulls away knowing he had just taken a very fine deer. Later that night Curly returned with his friend Moe, his name for the time being, to retrieve the antlers from the deer he had shot earlier. They both exit the vehicle and walk over to the deer. Taking the saw, they slowly cut off the horns. About two months later the two boys were stopped by a wildlife official and were questioned about the shooting. They told the truth and now they both face huge fines, communit y service, possible jail time and felony charges. Poaching has been done ever since the first regular hunting season was formed. Most at that time poached to stay alive by using the meat and hides. In the present day some people still poach just to stay alive but the main concern is the taking of trophy size animals. The horns of and big buck or bull sell for exceptionally high prices. This is a big concern for the animals and for the people who depend on their existence for survival. Colorado has had one of the biggest problems with poaching. Well, they did for a while. Since a magnificent bull elk named Sampson was killed in Estes Park in the 1990's, Colorado has increased laws on poaching a great deal (Taking aim). This incident gave hunting a new name. People began to believe that hunters were only killing to "stuff a trophy" or "get a wall hanger" (Taking aim). The Sampson Law Some people think that those who poach have their own rights because the game is on their property or they are in need. In some cases this is true, but only to a certain extent. They state that if the person who owns the property stocks the lake or creek, or has problems with excessive game animals on his or her property, then this will fall into play.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Political attack ads

Americans National University Political advertisements have been a pervasive part of politics In the united States since the dawn of television. Presidential candidates have been making an appearance In the living rooms of Americans since Dwight D. Eisenhower Introduced a series of short campaign ads to the world of television during his presidential race (livingroomcandidate. Org par-I, 2012).From the beginning researchers regarded television as a medium that had the potential to allow people to become more informed, and therefore more included leading to a nonpartisan democracy Chirurgic, Coleman, & Blubber, 2009). Individuals who, in the past, had limited access to current affairs have been able to gain a different impression of politics through the medium of television. As television became a comfortable medium for politics, electoral democracies became a game of â€Å"power, persuasion, monopolizing support for policies and politicians, and accumulating votes† (Chirurgic, Coleman, & Blubber, 2009).In this paper the writer will attempt to analyze the impact of political television ads on democracy. Throughout political history politicians have used an ray of methods such as speeches, advertising, and political rallies to obtain the winning vote, however political television ads became a popular theme in the race for president. Political attack ads are as old as television and made their first appearance in 1952 in which republicans would give one answer to one group and give a completely different answer to the same question to another group (Greer, 2006).Because of this the opposing party could not be trusted. Some of these ads had quite a lasting effect but none more than the President Johnny's ad â€Å"Daisy Girl† that sutured a little girl picking the petals off of a daisy then fades into a nuclear bomb going off (Greer, 2006). The ad was a response to Barry Goldwater statement regarding using nuclear weapons in the Vietnam War. Although t he ad was only aired once before being pulled from television, many believe It's Impact was what led to Johnson winning the presidential race In 1964 (Greer, 2006).For more than sixty years politics and television have existed In a state of reciprocated dependence. Politics provides the raw materials while television packages It, subtly reconstructs It, and livers It to the audience (Currently, Coleman, Blubber, 2009). Political advertising has become an Indispensable campaign strategy and many people regard It as fairly obtrusive. Political advertisers are not liable to any regulatory organization, voluntary or otherwise, for the accuracy of their claims (lounger, Prior, 1999).Political ads are complaining about the objectivity of the comments made about them. While television has become a fundamental part of the political process it, in turn, has widely contributed to De-plasticization (Chirurgic, Coleman, & Blubber, 2009). Greer ascertains that poll after poll confirms that the e lectoral process is marked by cynicism and dissatisfaction with contemporary campaign discourse (2006). Nearly 60% of the public in the year 2000 was dissatisfied with how candidates conduct their campaign (Greer, 2006).The focus has moved from political discourse to the personalities and faces of political leaders. Because the focus has turned to spectacle rather than ideas the educational value of election campaigns has greatly diminished. Televised presidential debates have become a battle of physical style which has moved our culture towards a new way of conducting important business Postman, 2005). The lines between show business and political discourse become more blurred with each passing day. Americans tend to have a negative preconception towards political campaign ads.They are inclined to believe that such attack ads undermine not only the election but the democratic government as well. John Greer Author of In Defense of Negativity disagrees with this theory. Greer believe s that these political ads enrich the democratic process, providing voters with relevant and substantial information before they head to the polls as they are pitched battles for control of the government (2006). Greer points out that exaggeration in political ads not only apply to negative ads, but to positive election propaganda as well (2006).Many ads point out the positive aspects of a candidates race to become president such as President Reggae's advertisement of his tax cuts, however he failed to mention the tax increase he previously signed into law. This ad and other similar political ads were not labeled as misleading (Greer, 2006). Americans tend to assume that positive political ads are practical and truthful. Greer states that Bob Squire once said â€Å"most lies in politics are told in positive ads† (Greer, 006). This statement asserts that regardless of the content of the ad it is impossible to truly assess whether or not the ad is misleading.Political attack ad s have branched off from the television and people are now turning to the internet for their political news. The television trend is currently on a downward spiral. According to research by the Pew Internet & American Life Project the number of Americans going to the internet for their presidential election campaign news has increased by 23% since 2004 while those relying on television dropped by 4% (Pew, 2008). The most popular internet resources are blobs, comedy sites, government websites, candidate sites or alternative sites (Chirurgic, Coleman, & Blubber, 2009).Audiences are increasingly becoming active participants in public communication, as senders as well as addressees of mass-circulating messages (Chirurgic, Coleman, & Blubber, 2009). Through the internet medium American audience members can intervene and participate in political discourse with a gradation of value that was impossible even twenty years ago. Political advertisement, whether positive or negative, will always mom with a degree of fabrication that misleads one American or another.Political ads set the stage for campaigning and are what gets Americans involved in democracy whether it is a commercial you watched on Television or a Youth video. Americans have been able to gain a sense of involvement that was not possible offended by political attack ads, Greer believes that positive political ads can be Just as misleading if not more. Regardless of the general consensus, political attack ads have gotten the public more involved in not only their local politics, but their national politics as well. References Greer, John G. 2006).

Monday, September 16, 2019

Curriculum Development for Inclusive Practice Essay

Curriculum Development for inclusive practice Curriculum is defined as the following; a specific blueprint for learning that is derived from content and performance standards. Curriculum takes content and shapes it into a plan for effective teaching and learning. Thus, curriculum is more than a general framework, it is a specific plan with identified lessons in an appropriate form and sequence for directing teaching (Wiggins and McTighe, 1998). The word ‘curriculum’ is actually a Latin word for ‘racecourse’. Curriculum is the activities that learners will undertake to achieve their learning goals. The planning, learners experience and order in which it occurs are all part of the curriculum. There are a huge and vast amount of elements that help shape a curriculum. There are many different methods and approaches to the design and implementation of curriculum and a lot is dependant on the teachers’ approach of it. In the world of training, the curriculum can designed around the objectives of the clients specifications. Most of the time curriculum is based on the organisational needs of learning and objectives, for example, their curriculum. Approval from external agencies, for example, awarding bodies give approval for the qualification to be delivered. The awarding bodies supply the syllabus or guidance which gives the teacher the information and framework for delivery and assessment of the subject matter. External agencies may provide funding in some cases and in this instance the course will only be provided once the funding has been attained. Within the training in-house sector of teaching, it is normally the business and individual needs’ that sets the benchmark for the requirement of bespoke training courses. In house training/teaching cater for the needs of the staff and in the majority a lot of the courses attained by the learners do not lead to formal qualifications. In all of the above instances the organisation will supply the syllabus or course content to shape the curriculum. If the syllabus or course content is not available the teacher will have to develop their own based around the subject that has to be delivered. The aim of the teachers is to identify the learning needs, styles and the potential of the learners, this needs’ to be achieved at the prior to the start of the students learning. As an example of this a school’s curriculum comprises both statutory elements (including the National Curriculum, religious education and careers educations) and non statutory elements (priorities defined by the school). An area where there will be a significance of equality and diversity in the design of the curriculum would be children with multi-sensory impairments. One of the fundamental principles of the code of practice is that all children, including those with special educational needs should be offered full access to a broad, balanced and relevant education. This is what the national curriculum was designed to provide. Some children who are multi-sensory-impaired will follow the National Curriculum, usually with additional support. Others will follow a modified form of it. Still others will follow more specialised developmental curricula which will include teaching a child things that non-disabled children already know by the time they start school. Even children who follow the same curriculum as non-disabled peers, however, will usually need additional elements because of their sensory impairment. These may relate to: * mobility skills, communication, sensory development or other aspects specifically affected by deaf blindness * therapy needs – for example, physiotherapy * concepts usually learned incidentally – for example, the interpersonal and independence skills used at break or meal times All teachers modify the curriculum in order to meet the range of learning needs in their class. Children who are multi-sensory-impaired are likely to need the curriculum modified on an individual basis, because each child’s combination of hearing impairment, visual impairment, other disabilities and learning characteristics will be different. There are many models which affect the delivery of curriculum, way in which a teacher must attain the end result, should and could deliver to the learners. For example, the product model focuses hugely on the outcomes of a course. The product model is also referred to as the behavioural objectives model. An example could be of a first aid course, the teacher has to teach what must be taught in order to facilitate the learners to pass. Training in the workplace is very much honed to the product/behavioural model of curriculum development. The teacher focus predominantly on what must be taught rather than focusing on what should or could be taught The behavioural model of learning concentrates on the measurable outcome of curriculum. The advantages of the behavioural model are that there is normally a general statement of intent and this is hopefully ensuring avoidance of vagueness. The assessment process is actually more precise. The learning should be step by step and it should focus on the previously learned material. Ralph Tyler (1971) stated that there is a guideline for curriculum development that the interacting influences of organized scholarship, the learner, and society should provide the dominant source and influence for curriculum development. Tyler organized his model into four fundamental questions, which he stated should be answered when designing curriculum: 1. What are your curriculum aims and objectives? Which learning experiences meet these aims and objectives 3. How can these learning experiences be organised into a curriculum programme? 4. How can this programme be evaluated? The Tyler theory to date is the most influential model of all in preparation of curriculum, the needs of society at the time of development and the needs of the learner at the time of development should be imperative. The ever evolving social psychology of our society must be accounted for, exactly what are the educational purposes needing to be attained. The focus should be related to previous learning and experiences and after analyse the factors how is the curriculum design going to encompass and attain the objectives that may not have been reached previously. The philosophy of education will profoundly affect a student’s life. It is providing the foundations, the aspects of knowledge and social experiences are needed to improve learner’s futures. An example could be of training, the different settings and mutli-cultural workforce will have a variation on the curriculum. The curriculum will need to be designed in partnership with the employers, so a competency framework will be met. Aims and objectives will have to set within in the competency framework which over time changes with legislation and regulations. The learning experiences should organised into the curriculum and depth, complexity of the subject, ensuring that it covers all levels of learner’s attainment. Then course needs to be evaluated, how will the course be evaluated and the key objectives attained? Simplistically the Tyler theory in practice is the most fool proof design of curriculum. The curriculum can be subjective and open to interpretation. Needs analysis previous to design of curriculum is imperative, the findings should be summarised and should formulate part of the curriculum development documentation, which is practice is fantastic if you have the relevant information prior to course delivery. The world of training can be ad-hoc and trainers are not always privy to this information. However, the behavioural model approach has received criticism. One of the arguments against the behavioural model is that the ‘affective domain’ cannot be considered adequately in terms of specific behaviours. The affective domain describes learning objectives that emphasize a feeling tone, an emotion, or a degree of acceptance or rejection, thus it cannot be assessed adequately and the behaviour model will discourage ‘creativity’ on the part of both learner and teacher. In the 1980’s behaviourism was superseded by the humanistic approach to curriculum design and implementation. The process model concentrates on course content, relevant knowledge and skills that can be learnt and applied. This model focuses on teacher’s activities, the conditions in which the learning takes place and the learner activities. An example could include when a person pays for their course of study. The learner would be getting the benefit of what ‘must’ and ‘should’ be covered as well as ‘what’ could be delivered. Stenhouse (1975) quoted the English dictionary when defining curriculum as ‘a course; especially a regular course of study as at school or university’. Most of the time the course design/curriculum is what the governing bodies have decided should be taught. The sets what exactly as teachers in advance what learning is going to be planned, achieved and what goals should be produced to the subjected being taught. Stenhouse challenged the view that teachers need to be objective in their view of curriculum, realistic even, to ensure that there is a balance between the ‘intentions and realities’ that the curriculum design will get the best outcomes for their students. He draws comparisons the process of curriculum as to a recipe in cookery, the recipe is followed and the result would be a dish. In theory this can be a tried and tested, for example, how to you know if the curriculum design has achieved all the education goals until the there is a evaluation at the end of the course? How many pass grades and how many failures. Like making a cake it doesn’t always rise the way you’d wished it to. Often when baking the ingredients need to be adjusted or the timings. In 2001, DDA (Disability Discrimination Act). was introduced, fortunately this means that teaching must always be inclusive, counting for the needs all of learners The curriculum must encompass best practice principles of equality and diversity in all areas. Equality of opportunity and provision means giving every student the same learning environment, and is an important element of schooling. Equality and diversity means giving students what is necessary to extend them to their full potential. Some may need additional tuition to bring them to the standard of the rest of the group, while others may need additional tuition to take them beyond the group because they are capable of further development and learning. It is imperative to ensure that all students are able to access the curriculum it is important to consider the curriculum content, as well as the teaching and learning practices used within a design. With regards to design of curriculum we have to attain why and what. The educational ideology such as the fundamental values, beliefs and assumptions this is extremely prevalent in the world of care, the format is normally set out by the governing bodies such as the Commission of Social Care Inspection. Normally the needs that the course must met are the needs set out by the governing body to attain the best level of care for Service Users. For the main part with training, cost analysis plays heavy, is the course a requirement under the recommendations that have been implemented by the governing body? Learners in this social care field are normally trying to achieve and meet performance criteria, the learning outcomes are normally behavioural as the learning is skill based. However the curriculum is not considered a complete entity and does not provide every opportunity relevant to qualifying as a health care worker. Ongoing learning will provide opportunities to evidence knowledge, skills, experience, values and ethics. Some of the methods used to deliver the curriculum are essential; others that are not are open to negotiation. A diversity of methods of learning is useful to meet the different learning styles of students. The main objective must be continuity for the learners’ and teachers alike. Coordinated Curriculum is very much relevant in the Social Care Sector. Coordinated curriculum is the method of linking different subjects/contents together. It establishes the links between the subjects for example in Social Care it would link the psychology, sociology, biology and practice together. Coordinated curriculum means that there is a greater emphasis on the total context in which teaching and learning take place. Realistically in Social Sector teachers/trainers will be using both product and process models. The process objective happens when you can’t tell in advance will exactly the student will learn advance, health and social can unmanageable in the fact that you are dealing with human beings (patients/service users) and they don’t always follow the curriculum recipe. Therefore, evaluation will be invaluable in ascertaining if effective learning has taken place. This should help identify any problems within the curriculum design, reflection on the needs of the organisation, the syllabus and learners. Evaluation is should be the process through which teachers judge the quality of their work, their own work and their students. Formative evaluations, which involve a continual stream of reflection and feedback, and allow the educator or student to continually adjust and improve their work while it’s ongoing. Traditionally, teachers have emphasized summative evaluations, where feedback is gathered only after instruction has been completed. Both strategies are necessary to provide for effective curriculum assessment and student education. A teacher’s skill in the classroom assessment is essential to the goal of student success. In evaluating the curriculum can only lead to a teachers continuing professional development in the Life long learning sector. If the evaluation and assessment of curriculum is to be meaningful, teachers must be able to relate their learning to their personal experience and practice. Kolb’s Learning Cycle, outlines the four stages involved in any successful learning experience. Learning is defined as a process in which experience is changed into knowledge. In turn, knowledge creates a foundation and opportunity for learning. In Kolb’s four-staged cycle, the individual reflects on experience and draws on conclusions, which can be used to influence future action. In this way, practice, reflection, theory and action become essential parts of professional development and therefore assist with the future of improving practice in inclusive curriculum design. After reading and studying the different models of curriculum, one can draw comparisons from the Ralph Tyler’s Basic Principles of Curriculum Instruction (1949). As a trainer clear definitive learning objectives are set out by the customer, the learning will hopefully be a useful experience to the candidate and will have a cumulative effect. Tyler’s model applies the importance of evaluating the curriculum and revising any aspects that do not prove to be effective. Thus the importance of continuing professional development, evaluation, assessment and reflection play heavy in the product model of curriculum. The other model used in training would be the process model by Laurence Stenhouse An introduction to Curriculum research and development (1975). Teachers or trainer have to have a high level of professionalism and competence in their specialist subject area. The content is defined in cognitive terms; the process is that the learner needs to go through to learn. As mentioned earlier in the assignment, Stenhouse draws comparison to making a cake and with the social care sector the same methodology can be used. If a candidate/learner has been taught to use a hoist but then drops the patient then this would question the realities and intentions of the curriculum. In conclusion, it is important that the teacher is always involved at all stages of any curriculum development and review. This will ensure that quality assurance happens at all stages of development. The teacher therefore can be positive that all parts of curriculum contains all the relevant information such as the course goal, aims and objectives, rationale, entry requirements, evaluation, assessment etc. Any curricula should ensure that schools/higher education programs must be delivered in the most effective and up to date manner as possible. In reviewing the subject of curriculum it should enable a teacher to reflect on addressing the identified needs of the students within the educational establishments or programmes. Curriculum should also provide a tool for examining the quality and completeness of the curriculum’s components for, example, instructional principles, functional knowledge, self-perceptions, attitudes, skills, and duration. Through constant analysis it will help to determine the degree of fidelity between the curriculum and its application in the classroom; and assess the impact of the curriculum on students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour. As David Ausubel (1969) suggested the learning process should be approached like a mental journey! Geoff Petty quotes ‘We should seek a win-win curriculum that puts the needs of individuals on equal terms with economic and other factors’. The quote really say it all as we are purely developing curriculum with the main objective of imparting knowledge and skills on the learners of the future which will hopefully have a positive effect on the economy in the 21st century.