Victoria`s Secret Economic Environment

IntroductionThe apparel industry faces various supply chain challenges, many due to the fact that the major part of apparel manufacturing activity for the United States market has moved outside the country to low-labor-cost countries in the Far-East. Thus, due to long physical distances, apparel companies in the US are continuously challenged to quickly respond to changing trends, to reduce long lead-times, to execute collaborative product development with suppliers using effective communication and to ensure total supply chain visibility. Moreover, fickle consumer preferences and shortening of the product life cycles make the apparel industry very challenging from a supply chain perspective.The Victoria's Secret business provides a case study representative of most supply chain challenges faced by the apparel industry as a whole. Victoria's Secret is a multi-channel retailer selling its products through physical stores located throughout the United States, as well as through a colle ction of printed catalogs and an online shop. Its major product offerings lie in the category of intimate apparel, sleepwear, beauty, apparel, shoes and swimwear. For the purpose of this research, we focus on the intimate apparel segment of Victoria's Secret. Intimate apparel represents the largest portion of Victoria's Secret business and is sold through all the retail channels described above.Company HistoryAccording to company lore, after a disagreement with his father in 1963 over the operation of the family store (Leslie's), Leslie Wexner, then 26, opened  the first Limited store in Columbus, Ohio, with $5,000 borrowed from his aunt. Leslie Wexner's desire was to focus on moderately priced fashionable attire for teenagers and young women (Hoover's Online). The Limited went public in 1969 with five stores. Rapid development of large malls spurred Limited's growth to 100 stores by 1976.Two years later, The Limited acquired Mast Industries, an international apparel purchasing an d importing company. In 1982, Limited purchased Lane Bryant (a plus size brand) and Victoria's Secret (lingerie). In March 2002 the so called The Limited changed its name to Limited Brands. Limited Brands is currently focusing on its star players, Victoria's Secret and Bath and Body Works.Company StrategyThe company strategy has evolved over time. Prior to 1995, the company's strategy was primarily driven by a knock-off design, shop-and-copy system. During this period, the company's merchants searched for forthcoming fashion designs, all over the world, especially in Europe, and produced merchandise inspired by these designs. Their strategy involved speed sourcing of the products and selling them out even before the original brand could actually be launched. By the early nineties, there remained little competitive advantage in this approach, as the rest of the world had figured out similar ways to do business (Limited Brands Presentation, 2005), between 1995 and 1998, the company st rategically planned an overhaul, focusing on developing a distinct brand identity.The Limited became the largest employer of apparel designers in the world (as mentioned by a top executive). The company re-positioned itself to operate like an upscale consumer package company. With aspirations to be a large powerful brand that controlled its own retail distribution channels and seeking a consistent repeatable business, the company soon incorporated vertically integrated capabilities into its supply chain. In its quest to narrow its portfolio and create a distinct brand image, the company closed all of its poorly performing businesses, including the sale of its bank, and spun off or sold Abercrombie and Fitch, Lane Bryant and six out of seven Henri Bendel stores (Limited Brands Presentation, 2005).Financial PerformanceVictoria's Secret Business UnitWithin Victoria's Secret, all three channels – Victoria's Secret Stores, Victoria's Secret Beauty and Victoria's Secret Direct â₠¬â€œ are experiencing revenue growth as well as profitability. As of august 2013, Victoria`s Secret stores sales increased 3% on top of a 9% increase last year. Increase was primarily driven by strength in bras and panties. Victoria's Secret Direct, the catalog and online business, also experienced growth. Direct enjoyed a 3% increase in sales in 2013. The growth came from improved clothing assortment at more competitive prices and growth of its intimate apparel category, especially of panties and sleepwear.Direct now represents approximately a third of Victoria's Secret sales. A 2001 â€Å"share of drawer† analysis indicated that one-third of the typical customer's lingerie drawer comes from the Victoria's Secret brand. Most of the drawer, however, consists of daily wear lingerie products, of which Victoria's Secret is a relatively lower percentage. Thus, the trend for the new product introductions will likely be toward more pretty, yet every day, styles like the Body by Vic toria sub-brand, a line of everyday intimate apparel.Victoria's Secret StoresVictoria's Secret (VS) is the most profitable as well as the biggest revenue generating brand for Limited Brands. Its net sales for the year 2013 were $ 271 million correspond of 16.7% of the total % of sales. Victoria's Secret comprises 3 sub-businesses: Victoria's Secret Stores (VSS), Victoria's Secret Beauty (VSB) and Victoria's Secret Direct (VSD) network of stores. VSD sells VS lingerie, sleepwear as well as 3rd party brands in the categories of apparel, shoes and accessories through its online store and catalogs. This case study focuses on Victoria's Secret's lingerie business.ProductsVictoria's Secret sub-brands or collections can be said to focus on a central theme. For example, the most recently introduced Victoria's Secret sub-brand called ‘Pink† is a new collection of intimate apparel aimed at a 19 year old  woman (Limited Brands Interview, 2005), and the â€Å"Victoria† is t he new glamorous fragrance launched that build on its fragrance business. Each of these collections is offered in a variety of different styles based on the extent of coverage given by the bra, the configuration of the bra strap or even its entire silhouette.Overall, the products carried by Victoria's Secret Stores can be divided into 3 broad categories: Launch Fashion Products, Non-Launch Fashion Products and Basic Products. About 60% of units in store are basic, 25% non-launch fashion and the remaining 15% are launch products. Basics consist of products which sell all year round and have styles and colors which can be sold in all seasons and for the most part, never go out of style. Beige Dream Angel's bras, white and black bras from the Body by Victoria collection are examples of basic products.Fashion products are loosely defined as items with styles, colors or silhouettes which typically sell for one season (1 season = 6 months) and then shift to regular replenishment. Launch p roducts are fashion items which are heavily promoted and may even announce the introduction of a completely new category. These products involve special planning and are typically launched two times per year, in spring and fall. An example of a highly successful recently launched product is the new The Close-Up ®. The company also engages in about fifteen annual reconfigurations of its stores also termed as â€Å"floorsets†. A floorset may or may not involve a launch.Customer SegmentsVictoria's Secret Stores is trying to be the dominant, young, sexy and sophisticated lingerie and beauty brand in the world. Victoria's Secret serves a wide range of customers with varied psychographics and demographics. On a household income scale, the VS customer loosely lies between 30-75 percentile ranges. With presence in almost all major malls in the United States, VSS aspires to become a destination brand, which means that a customer would be tempted to visit the malls just to see the VS store. With the Pink ® sub-brand, the space Victoria's Secret is trying to fill as â€Å"young and casual†, a category which had been previously overlooked  by Victoria's Secret.Pink was developed in response to the fast growing Abercrombie & Fitch brand, which was once a part of The Limited. Out of the three key words describing the overall target customer above, â€Å"young† is the most important. The goal is clearly to target a young demographic. Finally, the company sees VS as an â€Å"aspirational† brand, and as such, older women may be encouraged to buy Pink  ®' products as well, as a 40 year old is likely to aspire to look like 30 rather than to look.Demand Forecasting and PlanningOn the demand planning and forecasting front, the Catalog and Web businesses are governed by separate strategies. This is primarily because the drivers of demand for the two channels are different. For the catalog, the demand forecast is mapped against the curve of the pr oduct life cycle from the point the catalog is mailed to when 98% of the product is sold. Moreover, circulation of printed books is the primary driver of sales. Within a catalog, dynamics related to location of the display of product, and to the model selected for the display, are sales drivers. Once Direct has visibility as to the actual product layout of the catalog, it re-forecasts the demand several weeks before it is mailed, and subsequently adjusts its purchase orders.For the web, on the other hand, the forecast is based on individual item performance on an hourly, daily or weekly basis. One of the key metrics that Direct uses to monitor its sales is given by the Net-Growth Ratio. This ratio measures for every $1 of demand generated, how much was generated for sales after accounting for returns, cancellations and failure to fulfill back-orders. Victoria's Secret Direct, especially the catalog business, has additional levers in the way that offer a wider breadth of fashion asso rtments. This is because the marginal costs of carrying fashion versus basics product in Direct is governed by different dynamics in comparison to stores, as the stores have huge fixed costs due to real-estate.Moreover, it is possible for Direct to leverage assets between the catalog and web operations such as common photography. About 400 million catalogs are mailed in a year; approximately one fresh book a week having anywhere between 60 to180 pages and including between 250 and 600 items. About 95-98% of the Direct products are sold in US. Semi-annual sales are  tied together with Victoria's Secret Stores and a sale period is comprised of 8 weeks, requiring approximately 8 mailings during this time (Limited Brands Interview, 2005). Last, but not the least, if a product doesn't perform well in one media, it is not introduced in the other.Sourcing and ProductionVictoria's Secret Direct utilizes the Mast network, as do the Victoria's Secret Stores. Direct is able to maintain accur ate data about customer preferences and buying patterns due to the online nature of its business. It is therefore able to quickly translate this information to its vendors, making it much more responsive to changing customer needs than the Victoria's Secret Stores. This allows Mast to adopt a sourcing strategy based on the vendors' ability to deliver smaller and more frequent orders. Smaller orders mitigate risk of over-stocking and frequency allows the company to react closer to the demand and to get the right product out to market in time.Distribution and FulfillmentOn the distribution front, Direct uses its own distribution center in Columbus, Ohio, separate from the Victoria's Secret Stores' distribution center. Both web and catalog share this DC. The process of picking in distribution centers is different from stores, as these products are picked as single items based on orders, whereas in the Victoria's Secret Stores' operations the products are picked and shipped in cases. Th e average time it takes to get to customers is about two days. The online business is well integrated to inventory systems at the DC level, but is not integrated with Victoria's Secret Stores. With only about 15-20% of overlap in SKUs between the stores and Direct, this is not an immediate need (Limited Brands Interview, 2005).Direct keeps a close watch on its inventory and maintains fairly accurate item levels as well as order level data. For example, the current percentage of service level that Direct operates shows an 88% in stock and 12% back-order at the item level. This level of data integrity allows Direct to be much more responsive than Victoria's Secret Stores and  as a result allows them to make dynamic changes to order quantities, pre-packs and size-curves based on latest selling patterns. In contrast to placing large orders with Mast, as do Victoria's Secret Stores, Direct can thus place smaller and more frequent orders. Moreover, Direct doesn't require excess inventor y for the purpose of its floor and window displays as do Victoria's Secret Stores.Goals and ChallengesAs a part of the INSIGHT project, Victoria's Secret Direct is working closely with its production team to create a library of fabrics and raw materials to make a choice matrix such that lead times can be reduced dramatically. They are also a part of the same initiative to reduce concept to market lead times from 72 to 40 weeks.The challenge for the company is in the area of returns. Currently, returns amount to approximately 25% of demand and are primarily driven by the Swim and Apparel categories; however, a considerable part of returns are put back in stock. These are products which are in reasonable condition to be resold. The return rate for lingerie is negligible. One of the challenges that Victoria's Secret faces overall is in the category of fringe sizes. Fringe sizes are the ones which are on the tail-end of the demand curve and whose demand patterns are harder to predict. C ustomers looking to buy these sizes typically feel the need to try them on before purchase.If these products are carried by Direct, there is potential for reduced customer service levels. On the other hand, if Victoria's Secret Stores decides to carry these sizes to provide better customer service, they will be faced with challenges of less predictable demand patterns for these sizes, leading to over or under stocking of product. Therefore, the company has to work a delicate tradeoff between providing better customer service levels and the subsequent financial impact of this service. A survey about multi-channel retailing tactics used by retailers, conducted by Forrester research, showed that 87% of retailers allowed purchases made online to be returned to stores.Limited Brands fully integrated Victoria's Secret with its Direct business. This involves large logistical challenges for the brand but have a  positive impact of customer satisfaction levels as the customers are able to return goods purchased online to Victoria's Secret Stores, and are even able to order products in stores which they purchased online and have them delivered to their house with no additional cost.Victoria's Secret's Supply Chain FrameworkVictoria's Secret's business strategy has evolved from a shop-and-copy system to a branded concept, that of selling innovative, technologically advanced products at reasonably high profit margins. The Victoria's Secret brand is positioned to be the dominant, young, sexy and sophisticated lingerie and beauty concept, targeting young customers who appreciate the value of possessing innovative lingerie. At the same time, the company is somewhat risk averse.It does not rely solely on its fashionable bra launches for all of its sales. It distributes risk by having a mixed assortment of fashion and basic goods. However, having this mixed assortment adds complexity, in that the brand has to operate two supply chains; one for each of these types of products . Below I underlined the operating model, operational objectives and important tailored business activities that drive sustained competitive advantage within the Victoria's Secret supply chain and align with the overarching business strategy.Complementary Operating ModelThe operating model at Victoria's Secret Stores is to achieve desired brand recognition through innovative product development, glamorous bra launches and high shelf availability of its products. Most of the Victoria's Secret Stores' new product introductions are offered in both fashion (items with less predictable demand) as well as basic (stable demand) styles. This mix of fashion and basic items helps Victoria's Secret to distribute risk, to ensure profitability and to offer compelling value to customers. The company identifies that there is not a single all-in-one supply chain solution for both of these categories of products and therefore it maintains two different types of supply chains for each.The supply chai n for Victoria's Secret's fashion items is driven by â€Å"Speed-to-Market† to ensure responsiveness. This is reflected in the company-wide initiative to shorten its â€Å"Concept-to-Market† calendar. This supply chain is further governed by a sourcing strategy that requires a set of suppliers with an excellent record of product innovation, value-adding capabilities and no minimum volume requirements. Due to the prioritization of speed over low labor cost, these items are made in the most capable factories in the world, wherever they may be, and are consistently air shipped to the company's distribution center in Columbus, Ohio.On the other hand, the supply chain for Victoria's Secrets basic items is driven by factors like asset utilization and supply chain efficiency. As a result, basic goods are manufactured in vertically integrated factories which provide close control over capacity utilization and productivity. These factories run at full capacity and provide econo mies of scale (Limited Brands Interview, 2005). Mast holdings have an equity stake in two of Limited Brands' largest factories in India and Sri Lanka. This is a strategic decision in order to maintain tighter control and better supply chain visibility.Operational ObjectivesThe help of Limited Logistics Services (LLS), Victoria's Secret has drafted a Service Level Agreement that defines various performance metrics for services to Victoria's Secret Stores. This agreement also defines the role of the Victoria's Secret Stores in successfully meeting these objectives. The performance metrics are divided into three broad categories as defined below.Customer ResponseThese metrics are customer-focused and customer-facing. They include a set of distribution metrics as well metrics related to store performance such as responsiveness, floor-set, business priorities, new stores, Value Added Services (VAS), meeting cadence, reporting, and air shipments.EfficiencyThese are internal metrics. They are productivity and cost-related and include a set of metrics at the manufacturing as well as distribution center level such as Auditing/Cycle Counts, Through- Put, Network Productivity, DC Metrics, DC Throughput, and Store Throughput.Asset Utilization These metrics are also internal-facing and largely focus on maintaining economies of scale. They include: Capacity Utilization and Inventory Turns.Objectives Balancing FrameworkThe focus placed on each of the metrics mentioned, varies by whether the product is basic or fashion. For example, in the category of basic products, asset utilization metrics like capacity utilization and efficiency objectives like supply chain costs and productivity carry more weight than responsiveness. The factories making these products run at full capacity with two shifts per day to efficiently deliver these products to market at minimum possible cost of production. These products generate moderate margins for the company in comparison to the fashion pro ducts.On the other hand, in high-margin product categories of fashion goods, particularly in highly promoted launch-related fashion goods, which are most often a result of innovative product development and have relatively short-product-lifecycle of just one season, responsiveness metrics are seen to carry more weight overall. The focus in this model is to increase in-season product availability to reduce lost sales and maximize margins.Tailored Business ActivitiesAt the operational level, there are a set of three tailored business activities that provide significant competitive advantage to the Victoria's Secret supply chain and place Victoria's Secret in a unique position in comparison to its competitors. These activities are aligned to the overarching strategy, which is to deliver an assortment of innovative  fashion products and less risky basic products. The first tailored activity emanates from the company-wide open innovation model. The decentralized design culture within V ictoria's Secret adds unique capabilities to its supply chain design.Product Innovation can come from the supplier, from in-house development or through design inspirations from external concepts. This creates the possibility of inter-company operating ties with outside suppliers. For example, if Limited Design Studios in New York initiates a design concept, it can go to a preferred supplier to be further developed and even changed. This relationship during the design process adds flexibility, which is hard to replicate.The second tailored activity has to do with the sourcing model that Limited has adopted as a whole. The presence of Mast Industries as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Limited Brands is of tremendous value to the company. Mast carefully selects its vendors based on capabilities to manufacture and deliver fashion versus basic products. Mast works with a set of vertically integrated factories as well as raw material suppliers to create a product that is hard to replicate.V ertical integration helps the company to control the production process from fiber to garment. On one hand, this leads to greater manufacturing efficiency required for producing basic products, which generate relatively lesser profit margins than fashion items. On the other hand, vertical integration also helps to speed the product development process essential for new and fashionable products.Finally, the role of Limited Logistics Services' (LLS) â€Å"shared service model† in the smooth operation of its supply chain is indispensable. As mentioned earlier, the Service Level Agreement with each of its brands, including Victoria's Secret, not only defines the detailed performance metrics but also defines the role of each brand in order to carry out the objectives on time. LLS consistently benchmarks itself against outside logistics providers and has been able to provide higher service levels to its brands at competitive costs. The dynamic ability of LLS to constantly evaluate and re-evaluate its performance against external agencies, helps Victoria's  Secret to stay ahead of the competition. In its logistics design, LLS incorporates the fact that whether a product being delivered is fashion or basic.For example, in most cases, fashion lingerie is air-shipped from Asia to Columbus, OH and basic products are ocean-shipped. This is because the fashion products, which have relatively higher margins, are less expensive to transportation costs per unit. Fashion and launch products may also have to go through a customized value-added service process in order to cater to the requirements of the individual stores to which they are shipped. These value-added services are performed at the DC level and the company claims to perform them more cost effectively and efficiently than an outside third party logistics provider. MarketMonopolistic competition is a form of imperfect competition where many competing producers sell products that are differentiated from one a nother (that is, the products are substitutes, but, with differences such as branding, are not exactly alike). In monopolistic competition firms can behave like monopolies in the short-run, including using market power to generate profit. In the long-run, other firms enter the market and the benefits of differentiation decrease with competition; Textbook examples of industries with market structures similar to monopolistic competition include restaurants, cereal, clothing, shoes, and service industries in large cities, which the company Victoria`s Secret fit perfectly.The â€Å"founding father† of the theory of monopolistic competition was Edward Hastings Chamberlin in his pioneering book on the subject Theory of Monopolistic Competition. Joan Robinson also receives credit as an early pioneer on the concept. Monopolistically competitive markets have the following characteristics: There are many producers and many consumers in a given market, and no business has total control over the market price. Consumers perceive that there are non-price differences among the competitors' products. There are few barriers to entry and exit.Producers have a degree of control over price.

The Main Cause of Global Warming

Pollution Is not a simple problem that the world Is facing; actually pollution Is the reason behind the occurring of global warming. Global warming refers to the increase of temperature on the earth's surface. For every action there is a cause and effect. Global warming is one of the biggest problems that the world is facing nowadays. There are many solutions that we can go for to prevent the massive problems that might happen later on in the future. Introduction: â€Å"We† as human beings we want to survive and live in a planet that might not be armful for our health.Sadly we're not recognizing what damages we're leaving behind us because of the several kinds of pollution that we made by ourselves. There are several kinds of pollution some are visible like air, water, and human pollution while others are invisible. Those kinds of pollutions are affecting our planet In a dangerous way that might lead us to a global warming one day. â€Å"Air pollution occurs when the air cont ains gases, dust, fumes in harmful amounts. † Air pollution is affecting humans health in a negative way like causing cancer, birth effects and genetic mutations.Air pollution is affecting our environment as well, since its affecting â€Å"the ozone layer in the atmosphere and it can increase the amount of ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth, where It damages crops and plants and can lead to skin cancer and cataracts. † According to the UNEVEN scientists, they estimated that the pollution in the cloud contributes to at least 700,000 premature deaths every year. This shows how the air pollution is affecting our environment and human beings.Some of the everyday things are the main things of causing air illusion like: automobile emissions, tobacco smoke, combustion of coal, acid rain, noise pollution from cars and construction, power plants, manufacturing buildings, large ships, paint fumes, aerosol sprays, wildfires, and nuclear weapons. To help the environment and t he human health we should work on keeping the planet clean from air pollution. â€Å"The number one way to prevent air pollution is to walk or bike more and drive less. This will prevent fossil fuels from polluting the air. â€Å"Water pollution Is the Introduction of chemical, biological and physical matter Into argue bodies of water that degrade the quality of life that lives In It and consumes It. † Factories, refineries, waste treatment facilities, mining, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, human sewage, oil spills, failing septic systems, soap from washing your car, oil and antifreeze leaking from cars, household chemicals, and animal waste are the main sources that can cause water pollution. â€Å"The best way to prevent water pollution Is to not throw trash and other harmful chemicals Into our water supplies. Construction. Agriculture can cause land pollution because of â€Å"the local pests that have existed for hundreds of years along with the new invasive speci es so they are laden with chemicals that are not found in nature†. Soil pollution and waste disposal are examples of land pollution. Deforestation can cause land pollution as well because of the endless trees that people are cutting every single day and this causes the land to be imbalanced. Construction can release chemicals that can inhibit the growth of plants and animals.By decreasing the amount of papers we're using we can decrease the amount of trees that we're cutting every single day which this is the reason behind the land pollution. Global warming is happening now. Our planet temperature is increasing way more than it is supposed to be. Obviously â€Å"we† are the reason behind what's happening in the world. Since we're overloading our atmosphere with carbon dioxide it's raising the planets temperature. Before its too late, we should follow some instructions to prevent the global warming from getting worse.

The Nature of Leadership

Leadership can refer both to the process of leading, and to those entities that do the leading. Leadership has been a central, and sometimes controversial, topic in the study of organizations. In spite of claims to the contrary, there is substantial evidence that leadership is positively related to a variety of individual and organizational outcomes. Leaders, by their very roles, are responsible for making decisions that help their organizations adapt and succeed in competitive environments (Antonakis et al, 2004). Leaders do not merely impose goals on followers, but work with others to create a shared sense of purpose and direction. Leaders primarily work through and with other people. They also help to establish the conditions that enable others to be effective. Leadership is a function more than a role. Although leadership is often invested in – or expected of – persons in positions of formal authority, leadership encompasses a set of functions that may be performed by any different persons in different roles throughout a community. Leaders manage and managers lead, but the two activities are not synonymous. Management functions can potentially provide leadership; leadership activities can contribute to managing (Antonakis et al, 2004). Reflecting based on the above statements made me realize that effective managers do not only administer the people under him/her but should also be a prime initiator of innovation in which tasks and goals of the department and the organization as a whole. As such, managers should be creative as well as discerning when it comes to analyzing and assessing the resources of the company. Developing and evaluating the efficiency of a particular operation strategy will be helpful in maintaining the overall competitiveness of the business organization. In effect, being able to contemplate the factors that will greatly influence the success of the business should be highly considered through objective investigation of the current conditions of the business environment particularly the industry to which the company belongs. The three major leadership styles: laissez-faire, democratic, and authoritarian leadership. Laissez-Faire leaders take no initiative in directing or managing the group; he/she allows the group to develop on its own, as it has no real authority. Specifically, the leader answers questions, provides information, or gives no reinforcement to the group. Furthermore, the leader evaluates and criticizes little, and is thereby non-threatening. The leader allows the members to make their own decisions (Antonakis et al, 2004). On the other hand, democratic leaders provide directions, but allow the group to make its own decisions. Specifically, members are encouraged by democratic leaders to determine goals and procedures, and to stimulate their self-direction and self-actualization (Antonakis et al, 2004). Moreover, democratic leaders offer suggestions and reinforce members' ideas. After offering these suggestions, providing information, and clarifying ideas, the leader allows the group to make the decision. In leadership styles, the democratic leader is in the middle of the styles. The authoritarian leader is the opposite of the laissez-faire leader. The authoritarian leader sets the agenda, determines the group's policies, assigns tasks to the members, and makes decisions for the group without consulting them. In the end, the leader takes responsibility for the group's progress, but accepts very few suggestions from the group (Antonakis et al, 2004). Rarely do the group members communicate with one another, but they communicate with the leader. Leaders should have vision for the organization. The leaders sell vision by visible management attention, proactive policies and procedures, recognition systems, incremental change expectations, and shared glory (Antonakis et al, 2004). Leaders should also have faith that in change, the organization can accomplish its purpose. Moreover, leaders should have integrity, an ethical sense of justice, fairness, and honesty, so that the members can believe in their word. In regards to leaders in an organization as the life-giving elements in every organisation in that without managers, organizations cannot possibly function properly. Thus, a strong link is noted between a leader’s efficiency and organization performance (Antonakis et al, 2004). It has been recognised that leaders are a significant power behind the progress and successful development of an organisation’s strategy and such success is very much dependent upon their attitudes, behaviour and commitment to their specific responsibilities. The basic tension that underlies many discussions of organisational change is that it would not be necessary if leaders had done their jobs right in the first place. Planned change is usually triggered by the failure of people to create continuously adaptive organizations. Thus, organizational change routinely occurs in the context of failure of some sort. Successful change must involve leaders who initially instigate the change by being visionary, persuasive and consistent. A change agent role is usually responsible to translate the vision to a realistic plan and carry out the plan. It is impossible for a leader to get extraordinary achievement alone. Moreover, teamwork is needed in an unstable market and most especially in the business we are in. If you can’t depend on others, you will never become a leader because the better we are able to innovate if we feel we are more trusted. If a leader trusts his staff, his staff will trust him back. As a leader, trust is needed and that a team should be bonded with the capacity to trust each other (Antonakis et al, 2004) . Leadership comprises the aptitude and ability to inspire and influence the thinking, attitudes, and behavior of other people. Leadership is a process of social influence in which one person is able to enlist the aid and support of other individuals in the achievement of a common task. Although this specification seems relatively simple, the reality of leadership is very complex. Intrapersonal factors such as ideas and emotions, interact with interpersonal processes (i.e., attraction, communication, influence) to have effects on a dynamic external environment. Each of these aspects brings complexity to the leadership process. References Antonakis, John, Cianciolo, Anna T. and Sternberg, Robert. The Nature of Leadership.   United States: Sage Publishing House, 2004.            

Comparing bluetooth technology and infrared Essay

Comparing bluetooth technology and infrared - Essay Example The following paper analyses the relative advantages of all three. Bluetooth is an always-on, short-range radio based technology that resides on a microchip. Controlled and moderated by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, this short range wireless communication technology started off as a utility to enable laptop users to make calls via a mobile phone. It was commissioned by the mobile phone company Ericsson but soon started spreading. The concept behind the technology is fairly simple. It uses a 2.4 GHz band to connect blue tooth devices that may be within ten meters of each other to share at up to 720 Kbps (How Bluetooth Works). This technology can operate with many users to create a piconet, further networks of which allow larger communication. Safety and privacy is assured through encoding each link, thus not allowing third parties to access the data being transferred without the relevant PIN code or authorization. As a radio broadcast communication system is being utilized here, line of sight communication is not a problem in the case of Blu etooth technology. This leads to many possible applications of this technology. First of all wireless communication between various devices such as personal computers in small network or between mobile phones or between a personal computer and its connecting devices such as mouse and keyboard can be employed. This leads to easy communication without the use of long wires that can easily occupy useful space and is unseemly to the eyes and in cramped computer rooms. Game consoles use this technology to allow communication between the processing machine and the controllers. Dial-up internet facility on Personal Digital Assistants makes use of Bluetooth as well. Seeing the range of applications of this technology, one can surmise that it has some obvious benefits. First of all, it replaces serial equipment making use of wires spreading everywhere and allows easy communication with devices near it. There is the further advantage of mobility, where the user is not required to be tethered to the electronic device to be able to use a Bluetooth active device. Such practical advantages make its use worthwhile and convenient. Unlike the Infra Red technology discussed later, it does not require the connecting devices to be in line of sight which gives it an advantage in terms of range over Infra red enable devices. However, there are many disadvantages as well. As many applications as it has, Microsoft chose to not include Bluetooth support in its new operating system as it claimed there were still not many Bluetooth enables devices that required Windows support (How Bluetooth Works). This limits its uses for personal computer users who make use of the Windows operating system. Furthermore, the microchip that is required for Bluetooth technology can be labeled relatively expensive. This presents a challenge to its use in mobile phones which are hugely competitive in terms of prices and companies may see costs rising. This diminishes its extended use by the mobile phone industry unless its cost drops. There is also the problem of security. A number of weaknesses have been pointed out in Bluetooth's pin number based production of a device's initiation key. This can lead to possible cracks in security, allowing a third

Lesson planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Lesson planning - Essay Example There are two students from Germany who are relatively new to the country but have a little background in English. There are three African students who are fluent in Rwandese and French. She has been studying in the school for a while and moved from the beginners’ class to the intermediate level. The other two are from South America and know Spanish and a few words in English. The purpose of learning is to enable the students understand English. It is important for my lesson plan to follow the order above for maximum gain of the pupils. Introduction to each other help ease the ambiance in the room, and the students become open minded to learn (Kerns and Mendelson 2004). The tutor should also be friendly to his/her students. The first few weeks are for the students to get into the groove and remind themselves the English language they already know. The short term goal for the students is to become fluent both in written and spoken English. There is also the long-term goal is for the students to be able to advance their careers while others are doing it for leisure purposes. The tutor should also be goal oriented while making the lesson plan. There should be a strategy in the execution of the lesson plan by the teacher. Involving and engaging the students intensively during the lessons is important in ensuring the students learn English vocabulary at a faster pace (Kerns and Mendelson 2004). The students being adults’ means they have rich life experiences that would be fun to share with the class. Part of the lesson plan is to let the students tell the class a little about themselves in the English language. It is a brilliant idea for any tutor to capitalize on the diversity of the learners. Learning different cultures while still learning the English language is a fun way of educating a class. The choice of the family and friends nouns is pure to enable the learners put into practice the lessons they are getting in class. Most of the adult learners have

Dell Computers Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Dell Computers Inc - Essay Example onal costs of intermediaries between the company and consumer and thus reducing the overall cost of the PCs making it cheaper than other PCs in the market. The other advantage was that it reduces the costs and risks associated with carrying large stocks of parts, components and finished goods (Thompson and Gamble, 2006). The company later became a public limited company and raised $34.2 million in its first offering of common stock and achieved sales of $388 million in 1990. During 1986 to 1993, Dell refined strategy, build an adequate infrastructure and established market credibility against better known rivals like IBM and Hewlett Packard. Dells computer strategy clicked into full gear in the late 1990s and the sell direct strategy provided the company with most efficient procurement, manufacturing and distribution capabilities in the global PC industry and gave a substantial profit margin advantage over rival PC vendors. It is further stated that Dell’s operating cost ran a bout 10 percent of revenues in 2002 as compared to 21 percent of revenues at Hewlett Packard, 25 percent at Gateway, and 46 percent at Cisco Systems (Thompson and Gamble, 2008). Dell Inc was the undisputed leader in the United States for sales in personal computer dominating the market. In 1998, the market share of Dell was 13.2% as compared to Hewlett Packard’s 7.8%. However it should be noted that Compaq was ahead of Dell during 1998 with 16.7%. This was the only period when any other vendors were ahead of Dell as the company occupied top position in 2000 with 19.7% as compared to Compaq’s 15.9% and HP’s 11.5%. The table below shows that Dell Inc has been ranked first since 2003 showing its dominance in the market for personal computer since 2000 in comparison to other companies. But, according to table 2, Hewlett Packard dominates the world market with 18.8% in the year 2007 as compared to 14.9% of Dell Inc. Though Dell Inc was dominated the market in United States and all over the world throughout 2000s, Dell Inc’s market share fell down from 16.6% in 2006 to 14.9% in 2007 whereas Hewlett Packard’s market share increased from 16.5% in 2006 to 18.8% in 2007 thus becoming the market leader in the industry. Table 1: U.S. Market Share of the Leading PC Vendors, 1998-2007 2003 Rank Vendor 2007 2006 2005 2004 2002 2000 1998 Shipments (in 000s) Market Share Shipments (in 000s) Market Share Shipments (in 000s) Market Share Shipments (in 000s) Market Share Shipments (in 000s) Market Share Shipments (in 000s) Market Share Shipments (in 000s) Market Share 1 Dell 19645 28% 20472 31.2% 21466 33.6% 19296 33.7% 13324 27.9% 9645 19.7% 4799 13.2% 2 HP 16759 23.9 11600 21.5 12456 19.5 11600 20.3 8052 16.8 5630 11.5 2832 7.8 3 Compaq - - - - - - - - - - 7761 15.9 6052 16.7 Source: Thompson and Gamble (2008) Table 2: Worldwide Market Shares of the Leading PCs, 1998-2007 2003

Free Will Unit4 DB Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Free Will Unit4 DB - Assignment Example My argument is empiricist. It is supported by some evidence including Psychiatric illness like Schizophrena whose findings after studies suggest a remarkably high degree of influence of genetics, mostly evidence that is additive with no shared influence of the environment. Mental ability, where the IQ is only governed by the environment at an early age, but genetic influence increases gradually while the effects of the shared environment drop to zero. Social attitudes, where studies reveal that environmental influence on conservatism is only up to the age 19 after which genetic influences takes change (Bouchard & Thomas, 2004). My argument is based on findings from different researches taken by different institutions and which focuses on different areas. I have also provided supporting evidence of those findings. Therefore, my conclusion is that genetics affect the human personality and physiology more than the environment does and given that this argument is empiricist the freedom to choose among the two is restricted to a single option being genetics. Baker C. (2004) Behavioral Genetics: An introduction to how genes and environments interact through development to shape differences in mood, personality and intelligence. Retrieved March 4, 2013 from

Perspectives in Human Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Perspectives in Human - Research Paper Example I must say, I didn’t understand many principles that my family stood for, but I always tried to reason them out with a positive presumption. I was brought up amongst these ideals, and I was on my way to becoming a helf-decent Paxton myself. But things have changed a lot since my first semester in College. Growing up in the Paxton family, the first thing I was taught was to sing the glory of god and his creations. Not a day passed without my mother reading out a verse from the Bible before I went to bed. Sometimes, these verses would manifest themselves into biblical dreams. The holidays brought the entire family together and it would be a refresher course of all the family ideals. The eldest son always joined the forces. Serving the nation was a family mandate. But in a family full of ex-service men, the true heroes were the war veterans. Like Uncle Avi, who served during Vietnam. I was always convinced that My Brother Franklin would also join the marines and also doubted if h e’d ever return. The very concept of patriotism was now muddled with the hatred I had brewed towards wars and conflicts. The Paxtons also have strong preferences. We never employed Mexicans in our gardens, which meant ours’ was the dullest garden in the neighborhood. ... My family is the dearest thing to me. And I have always aspired to be the ideal Paxton. I am almost certain that for it is the most important thing to me. However, experiences that I have had this semester have completely shaken the very foundations of what I believed. This semester I learned many things. Not all of them were in line with what I always grew up learning. It can be very mind-boggling at times, when your very constitution is challenged by something new. It is like trusting someone all your life and learning one fine day, that the person was a lie. Honestly, I’d have preferred to be in that hypothetical situation than the predicament that I was in a few weeks ago. Mainly because it was my prerogative to understand, accept the latest developments and embrace change. And I have always found change to be the most uncomfortable thing. I guess the seeds were sown deep by my family. One of the things that I learnt this semester was that every human being is born with a set of rights that are inalienable. This means that we are born with some rights which cannot be taken away by anybody. Our Bill of Rights only lists these rights out. It was strange for me to believe that we always had these rights with us. Like an inherent part of our body. I always thought that people spoke, behaved and lived the way their parents did. So if I ever met a person who condemned our Country, I would think badly about his parents or family and wonder why they never disciplined him. Similarly, if someone was a homosexual, I’d wonder why his parents never sent him to the doctor. Now I have become aware that our families, societies and countries are not the reason why we choose to behave or express

Compare and Contrast Research Methods Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Compare and Contrast Methods - Research Paper Example As there are various research methods for carrying out different types of research in all areas such as psychology, public affairs, marketing, business administration and etc., it is important to make wise decision among all available options so that the results can be used in a productive manner (Hopper et al., 2007; Lee, Benoit-Bryan & Johnson, 2010). Since questionnaire-based survey was discussed in detail in the last assignment, five other research methods will be compared with this method to understand their applicability in the real world. The following table is a brief snapshot of the similarities, differences and applications of questionnaire-based surveys after doing comparison with in-depth interviews, focus groups, projective techniques, experimental methods and observation: In-depth interviews and questionnaire-based surveys require the professionals to develop a questionnaire so that they can ask the questions to the respondents in a structured way and any queries regarding the questions can be clarified during the research (Brugger, 2010; Kotnik et al., 2010). As compared to the questionnaire-based surveys, in-depth interviews are time-consuming, interviewee might record the answer according to his/her perception and experts need to learn the skills of conducting the interviews (Milena, 2008; Yaoxiang, & Lihai, 2008). These interviews are ideal for gathering information about the perceptions, attitudes, preferences and behaviors of the consumers. In-depth interview method is frequently used in the fields of psychology, marketing and business administration (Harris & Brown, 2010). Focus groups comprise of eight to twelve respondents and it has a lot of similarity to the questionnaire-based survey such as a questionnaire is developed and tested before carrying out the research, respondents are provided leverage of answering

The Role of The CCTV Surveillance Systems in Reducing Crime in City Coursework

The Role of The CCTV Surveillance Systems in Reducing Crime in City Centers - Coursework Example It has been observed that CCTV helps police and security personnel to fight against terrorism. According Abhishek Agarwal CCTV is an integral in the protection of people and their homes. With all the innovations and technology of this world CCTV is among the most important electronic innovations which has brought dramatic change in people lives. As these system works on more sensitive and sophisticated electronic maneuverings which has made its overall more effective explained by Agarwal. â€Å"CCTV’s are funded by partnerships consisting of local authorities and businesses† (qtd.in Staffordshire police).In the last decade the propagation of CCTV has been observed in town centers. Britain is among the most extensive CCTV coverage country in the world. This is due to the proactive approach which was carried by central government with an investment of 38Million pounds to support 585 local CCTVs explained by Coretta Phillips. CCTV has been located in town centers, shops, shopping centers, hospital, building societies but very few of them are installed in housing projects (Coretta Phillips; Crime prevention studies). In addition to the funds from central government , European government and other local bodies have also invested in installation of CCTV with the major aim is to provide deterrence of crime and disorder. It has also explained by many experts that because of its surveillance capability it has become easy to deploy police and other security perso nnel appropriately. It also reduces public’s fear of crime which in return increases the use of public spaces. These cameras can be installed anywhere within the public areas of these systems noticeably or secretly explained by Michael Greenberger,J.D The ability of basic modern cameras includes zoom, pivot, rotate and focus on objects and people upto 300feet away (Ready;2005).also the video output of these cameras can be monitored , recorded and reviewed at a later time or

Comic Strip Lesson Plan Essay Example for Free

Comic Strip Lesson Plan Essay In this lesson the students will discuss memories in front of the class that they enjoy remembering; along with their speech they will present their interpretation of the memory through art. It will also help with their public speaking skills. Objectives: * I want the students to learn how to give a short presentation in front of the classroom. Materials and Technologies (Teacher and student): Teacher notes for lessons. Students will need comic strip sheets, color pencils, crayons, and markers. Preparation of the room: I will put the needed comic strip paper on each students desk. If the students have any of their own crayon, color pencils, or markers they will have them on their desk. All of the classroom crayon, color pencils, or markers on a small table in front center of the classroom, along with extra comic strip paper. Artist (s): Roy Lichtenstein; comic strip type art Maya Lin; demonstration of longstanding memories in art work. Artmaking medium: color pencils, crayons, and markers. (Not all must be used on project if not desired by student.) Instruction (Activities and Procedures): Be very specific!!! Opening: â€Å" Today we will be discussing memories that are special to each of us. We will also be presenting our memories to the class through a short speech, and a comic strip drawing.† Attention Grabber (Anticipatory set): For an attention grabber I as the teacher would present my own comic strip, and present a fond memory of my own. This memory would be one that is possibly embarrassing or funny so I could loosen the class up about presenting their own memories. Tap into prior knowledge: I can ask if any of them have ever had to speak in front of a crowd. How did they feel? Did they enjoy? Or if they didn’t, why? Introduction of artist: For Roy Lichtenstein I will tell about his part in Pop Art. I will show them â€Å"Masterpiece† It shows how the comic strips were drawn, and they should resemble there own. I will also show Maya Lin, and her Vietnam Memorial. This shows how the memory of someone or an event is not forgotten if there is art to remember it with. Art making activity: The student will have a 4-6 panels strips of paper. On the strip they will draw there recollection of a particular memory. They will do this with color pencils, crayons, and markers. If less or more panels are needed the adductions will be made. Closure: We will end the lesson with each student presenting their comic with a short presentation. Interdisciplinary connections: This lesson will connect with writing/spelling, because the student will have to have some dialogue/description on the comic. It will also connect with reading, because they will have to read the comic in front of the class as part of their presentation. Accommodating individual differences: To meet the needs of all students, I will make sure that all needed materials are readily available and easily assessable. Feedback: How and what manner will you provide feedback to students. I will give feedback on a comment sheet. On this sheet I will give marks for the students spelling on comic strip, the presentation, and on the drawing themselves.

Fundamental Principle of Arbitration Essay Example for Free

Fundamental Principle of Arbitration Essay In other word, arbitration is the outcome of a private agreement between parties to settle their disputes from the courts, and submit it to the decision of a private tribunal. If the principle of privacy is breached, the arbitration will be effected. The second principle is confidentiality. It is when that all takes place at arbitration is confidential. Either party or tribunal cannot disclose to third person without the consent of the other except for the purpose of the proper conduct of the arbitration. However, there is a question regarding to these two principles which is whether privacy automatically results in confidentiality or does it automatically demand confidentiality. There are two main areas of confidentiality which are confidentiality prior to award and confidentiality after award. According to English law, there are two opinions regarding with this issue. First, if it was absence of an express term in an arbitration clause providing for confidentiality, the presumption of confidentiality will applies. Second, the general duty of confidentiality cannot be implied in a silent clause for arbitration in an agreement. However, this opinion has been criticized since it is a break with the general principle of confidentiality. In Malaysia, there is no doubt that privacy and confidentiality are regarded as essential features for the parties to the arbitration. An arbitrator in breach of the confidentiality requirements would be exposed to misconduct proceedings. Finally, the duty of confidentiality is not absolute and was subject to limited qualifications or exceptions such as consent, compulsion of law, disclosure by leave of the court or disclosure necessary for the purpose necessary of protecting the interest of an arbitrating party.

The Relationship Between Centripetal Force And Velocity Environmental Sciences Essay

The Relationship Between Centripetal Force And Velocity Environmental Sciences Essay Investigate the relationship between centripetal force and velocity in circular motion, when a stopper is swung with a string in which different weight hangers are attached to. DATA COLLECTION AND PROCESSING According to Mr. Isaac Newton, an objects natural state of motion is to stay at rest if its already at rest or to continue in linear, uniform motion unless its subjected to a net, external force. This means that if an object is moving at constant velocity (or speed) in a straight line, it will continue to move in a straight line, at that same velocity, unless some outside force changes its motion in some way. So in order for an object to move in a circular path, some force is needed to pull it away from the straight-line trajectory it wants to follow (i.e., its natural state of motion). Some force needs to pull the rotating object in at every single point along its circular path in order for it continue moving in a circular fashion (instead of allowing it to follow its natural state of motion)[1]. If an object moves in a circular path there must be centripetal Force acting on it. In this experiment we will investigate the relationship between centripetal force and velocity. Next we will show how our raw data is going to be manipulated: Initially we will show T for 20 revolutions, at each trial. Subsequently the average for 20 revolutions will be calculated (based on 3 trials). Using this averaged value we will calculate the period of 1 revolution. In this process we will have to divide the uncertainty in time by 20. Details about uncertainty calculation will be added later on. Next we are going to calculate the average linear speed, v, of the stopper for each mass of the weight hanger. We will include a sample calculation. We must remember that we used a fixed radius of 0.5 meters. We have to bear in mind that we will have to add the percentage uncertainty in the radius and the percentage uncertainty on T and add them up when calculating the uncertainty for linear velocity. Theoretically, the centripetal force should be directly proportional to the square of the speed. In order to check this, a column v2 will be added to one of our data tables. When we do that the uncertainties on V must be squared. We will also display a column indicating the centripetal force. We know that the centripetal force is equivalent to weight in this experiment; the weight, in turn, is equal to the tension on the string. When calculating the uncertainty for the resultant force (weight) we took the uncertainty on mass and multiplied it by ten which is the gravity value. In order for us to calculate centripetal force the following formulas will be used: Fc = mv2/ r Fc = W = mg The uncertainties involved with the measurements which have fixed values are: Centimeters: 1cm  ± .05cm Time: 1s  ±0 .005s Mass: 1kg  ± 0.000005kg UNCERTAINTY ON T The uncertainty on T is the same of that on the stopwatch. As we start and stop the stopwatch we must, therefore, double the uncertainty: 2( ±0 .005) =  ±0.01 SAMPLE CALCULATION OF T FOR ONE REVOLUTION OF A MASS OF 0.1 KG Average T for 20 revolutions: 15.3 Average T per revolution: 15.3 / 20 = 0.765 Uncertainty was also divided by 20: ( ±0.01/ 20) =  ±0.0005 As the uncertainty on T was already multiplied by 2 we do not need to double it this time CALCULATING UNCERTAINTY ON VELOCITY FOR 0.1 KG As mentioned earlier now we will have to calculate percentage uncertainties. We will apply the following formula: http://scidiv.bellevuecollege.edu/Physics/measuresigfigs/Measuresigfigseq1.gif Percentage uncertainty in radius: (0.05 / 0.5) x 100=  ±1.0% Percentage uncertainty on T for 1 revolution (calculated above): (0.00025/ 0.765) x 100 =  ±0.0326% By adding p the above uncertainties we get the percentage uncertainty for velocity which is  ±1.0326% in this case. In order to obtain the percentage uncertainty for v2 we simply square the uncertainty on v. SAMPLE CALCULATION OF V FOR 0.1 KG v = 2 pi r/T V= = 4.106  ± 1.0326% In addition we will calculate UNCERTAINTY ON MASS The uncertainty on mass was calculated based on the electronic scale used. The uncertainty on the scale was  ±0.05 grams. Since we need the uncertainty in kg we multiply this value by 1000 and we get:  ±0.00005 Table 1 Showing magnitude of resultant force and averaged results Mass (kg) ( ±0.00005) Centripetal Force (N) ( ±0.000005) T for 20 revolutions ( seconds) ( ±0.01) Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 0.100000 1.000000 15.50 14.81 15.56 0.150000 1.500000 13.69 13.80 13.91 0.200000 2.000000 12.31 12.76 12.43 0.250000 2.500000 11.57 11.55 11.61 0.300000 3.000000 10.40 11.20 10.80 0.350000 3.500000 10.38 10.01 10.21 In table 1 we presented the value obtained in each trial for 20 rotations. In table 2, on the other hand, we are going to present the average value of 1 rotation for each mass. By doing so we believe to have increased the accuracy of the results. In order to calculate the uncertainty for 1 oscillation we divided the uncertainties in 20 rotations by 20; as the left-most column (table 2) shows. In spite of that there were cases where the difference between the highest and lowest value obtained were greater than the uncertainty itself. In the cases where this happened we found the differences between these values (highest and lowest) and use it as the uncertainty. Now we will show these differences between higher and lower values. In the three trials for 0.1 Kg the difference between the highest and lowest value is: 15.56 14.81 = ± 0.75. Hence this value will be used as the uncertainty as it is greater than the uncertainty in time. In the three trials for 0.15 Kg the difference between the highest and lowest value is: 13.91 13.69 =  ±0.22. Hence this value will be used as the uncertainty as it is greater than the uncertainty in time. In the three trials for 0.2 Kg the difference between the highest and lowest value is: 12.76 12.31 =  ±0.45. Hence this value will be used as the uncertainty as it is greater than the uncertainty in time. In the three trials for 0.25 Kg the difference between the highest and lowest value is: 11.61 11.55 =  ±0.06. Hence this value will be used as the uncertainty as it is greater than the uncertainty in time. In the three trials for 0.3 Kg the difference between the highest and lowest value is: 10.80 10.20 =  ±0.60. Hence this value will be used as the uncertainty as it is greater than the uncertainty in time. In the three trials for 0.35 Kg the difference between the highest and lowest value is: 10.38 10.01 =  ±0.37. Hence this value will be used as the uncertainty as it is greater than the uncertainty in time. Table 2 Preparing the results for graphical analysis T for one revolution (seconds) ( ±0.0005) Absolute Uncertainties ( ± seconds) Percentage uncertainty on T ( ± %) V (m/s) Percentage uncertainty on V ( ± %) V2 (m2/s2) Percentage uncertainty on V2 ( ± %) 0.76500 0.75 0.000653 4.105 1.000653 16.859 1.001306 0.69209 0.22 0.000722 4.537 1.000722 20.857 1.001445 0.62239 0.45 0.000803 5.045 1.000803 25.457 1.001607 0.57880 0.06 0.000864 5.425 1.000864 29.430 1.001729 0.53970 0.60 0.000926 5.818 1.000926 33.846 1.001853 0.51040 0.37 0.000976 6.152 1.000976 37.850 1.001953 Now we will plot square root of centripetal force against V. We will make use of the percentage uncertainty on V to plot the horizontal error bars and the uncertainty on centripetal force to plot the vertical error bars. The uncertainty on centripetal force is  ±0.000005 and, therefore must be squared to give us the uncertainty on. So we have which is equal to  ±0.002236. Thus we have explained how our error bars were calculated. The graph we came across was the following: Graph 1 Showing correlation between and V Not as we were expecting the graph resembles a parabola. We believe that, in order to obtain a straight line we must square both the centripetal force and velocity. This will give us the proportionality found in the formula: F = mv2/ r. We believe that, by plotting this graph we will be able to prove our prediction that the velocity squared is proportional to centripetal force. By plotting the mentioned correlation we get: Graph 2 Showing correlation between Fc and V2 Even though the best linear fit is not a perfect straight line there are no big discrepancies in our results (such as an outlier). The RSME value or the root means square error tells us how far the linear fit is from the plot points. The value of 0.02 is really low and suggests that the best fit is really close to the original data. Also the difference between the possible maximum value and possible minimum value of the spring is so low: Maximum slope: 0.13 Minimum slope: 0.11 Difference: 0.02 So we have the slope of our straight line being: 0.12  ± 0.02 Because the RSME value is low, we can infer that the value obtained is realistic. In addition due to the fact that the best linear fit touches (including or not the error bars) all the data points we can infer that the graph is accurate and, consequently, so are our results. CONCLUSION AND EVALUATION All in all this investigation led to fairly precise results. We do however think that the experiment can be improved in several ways. The following improvements would increase the reliability of the experimental procedure. Among the difficulties involved in the experiment we found, for instance, speed which we did not manage to keep constant when swirling the mass. Every so often the movement of our body would vary the speed at which the mass was being swung. In addition the swing rotation was not constantly a horizontal line. These factors will cause our results to become less accurate. Furthermore we faced some difficulties when swinging the stopper with constant power and speed; sometimes our hands touched the string which was not supposed to be touched during the rotations. The stopwatch delay and the human reaction time also affected our results to some extent. For example in a time of 5 seconds the human reaction time of 0.7 seconds can be very significant in the result as 1.4 seconds are involved in starting and stopping the stopwatch. Therefore these factors together are the responsible for us not obtaining a perfect parabola and consequently a perfect straight line. Moreover we found really ha rd to determine the initial and final point in relation to which the rotations were being counted. This probably led us to miscount the number of rotations. Therefore in some cases we might have had more or less than 20. Many changes could have been made to the experiment to make it more accurate: Setting up a better method of counting the rotations completed by the bung by using more advanced equipment than merely relying on human reactions. Increase the amount of rotations to ensure greater accuracy.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Increase the number of repeats to get a more accurate average.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Set up computer equipment to time the experiment more accurately. This could be done using a motion sensor connected to a data logger (logger pro 3) to record the information.  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By doing the experiment outside uncontrollable factors such as wind can increase friction acting upon the bung and alter the time by small amounts which still make the experiment less accurate. Further work as increased number of repeats could be carried out. In addition, different experiments can be done with increased number of rotations and larger radii. If one decides to investigate the effect of another variable such as radii the experiment will keep the same; the only difference will be that the weight hanger will be kept constant and the radii will vary. If we decided to increase the radii being investigated we would conclude that as the radius increases so would the time to complete 20 rotations for the bung, in a proportion directly related to the increase in distance. This is because we know that F = mv2/ r. Where F = force, m = mass, v = velocity and r = radius. So if r is increased then all the other variables increase in direct proportion to the initial increase. Newtons First Law states that an object travels at constant velocity unless acted on by an unbalanced force. The unbalanced force is the weight in our experiment which increases the force making the sp eed increase because more force is being added. Therefore, this explains why the speed increases. Now we will try to explain our results based on our scientific knowledge. If we draw a free body diagram of what is happening during the experiment we will come to the conclusion that the tension in the string (which is equal to the centripetal force) is being produced by the force of gravity which is acting on the load being used. From graph 2 we see that centripetal force increases in a direct proportion to the square of velocity. This relationship is further explained by the formula: F = Since m and r are kept constant and v is our dependent variable we see that force, in fact, should increase as our experiment suggests. Thus our experiment proves the formula for centripetal force. Looking at the experiment we see that fairly good results were obtained. They, despite the uncertainties, allowed us to prove Hooks Law. Due to the fact that the experiment was dynamic, a few sources of errors affected our results. We see that the curve obtained is pretty close to a straight line which is reinforced by the low RSME value. All in all this tells us that the method is reliable and lead to precise results.

The Important Role of Mathematicians in Society Essay -- essays resear

The Important Role of Mathematicians in Society Thesis Statement This report will focus on the professional field of mathematicians. It will highlight some of the history, responsibilities, opportunities, and requirements of this occupation. Outline I.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Introduction A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A condensed history of mathematics B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Famous mathematicians and their accomplishments II.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Body A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Opportunities for mathematicians B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Education and training C.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Requirements D.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Earnings III.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Conclusion A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Good mathematicians are problem solvers Mathematicians: Making numerous contributions A mathematician is described as someone who uses logic or theory to solve problems. Mathematicians and their craft have been making milestones in history ever since the Neanderthal man became homo - sapiens and began communicating, with the use of speech. The first period of time in the history of mathematics is known as the Chinese / Egyptian / Babylonian Period. This era starts in 50,000 B.C., and reaches to 601 B.C. During this primitive age, man used notches in bones, and clay tokens for counting. Sundials were used as a method of telling time and keeping track of the days. The most infamous mathematician from this time was Ahmes of papyrus. Ahmes was the author of the Egyptian scribe â€Å"The Rhind papyrus†; it is one of the oldest mathematical documents in existence. The Greek Period (600B.C. – 499 A.D.) took mathematics far beyond the realm of counting and measuring time. The Greeks brought a variety of great minds to life, including Thales of Miletus, Archimedes, Apollonius, Euclid, and Democritus. They began using logic to explore new mathematical concepts. Pythagoras of Samos was one of the foremost logical minds of this age. He is the inventor of abstract mathematics, and the founder of the â€Å"Pythagoras Theorem†. This theorem is still used today, in modern geometric equations The Hindu / Arabian Period (500A.D. – 1199A.D.), gave us Aryabhata the Elder and Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khowarizmi. Al-Khowarizmi wrote a very important Egyptian book titled â€Å"Al-jabr† His book helped to advance the study of algebra, and is re... ... salary for a government mathematician is $62,000; for mathematical statisticians, $65,660   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In conclusion, â€Å"Good mathematicians do not rush in to apply a formula or an equation. Instead, they try to understand the problem situation; they consider alternative representations and relations among variables. Only when satisfied that they understand the situation and all the variables in a qualitative way do they start to apply the quantification.† Bibliography   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mathematics its power and utility Sixth Edition Karl J Smith   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Math & Mathematics The history of Math Discoveries around the World   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Vol. 1&2 Leonard C. Bruno   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Career Discovery Encyclopedia Volume 5 Ferguson Publishing company   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Encyclopedia of Careers & Vocational Guidance- Eleventh Edition VOL. 1 & 3 Ferguson Publishing Company   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A History of Mathematics –Midair MacCormaic

Examining Pascals Argument for God Essay -- Religion Pascal

There have been many responses to Pascal’s proposition. British humorist Terry Pratchett cleverly summed it up in one of his books with a story of a philosopher who said, â€Å"Possibly the gods exist, and possibly they do not. So why not believe in them in any case? If it's all true you'll go to a lovely place when you die, and if it isn't then you've lost nothing, right? (Pratchett 51)† To the average person, it seems as though there are two choices of religion; to believe in God or not to believe in God. Pascal’s theory is that it is better to believe in God, even without reason, because in so believing, you lose nothing, whereas if you do not believe, you stand to lose significantly. On the surface, this wager seems to make an adequate amount of sense, but upon further examination, the argument begins to break down. Pascal states, â€Å"According to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions. (Pascal 444)† He does not think that reason is sufficient to prove God’s existence, nor is there solid evidence one way or the other. â€Å"There is an infinite chaos which separates us, (Pascal 444)† Pascal says, meaning that if there is a God, humans cannot comprehend Him or His actions. This is to say, even if God exists, humans could not possibly know enough about Him to prove His existence by proof or reason. This, Pascal says, is why the wager is necessary; we cannot know if He exists, we must decide to either believe or disbelieve based on logic. Pascal says that the choice is between several sets of human qualities or characteristics: the true vs. the good, reason vs. will, knowledge vs. happiness, and error vs. misery. He theorizes that the believer who turns out to be correct in his belief will have true good, agreement with rea... ... of belief that have been created around the deity by humans. Even if there is a God and belief in Him is founded, there is no way to know if He will or will not bestow rewards upon His followers. Pascal’s theory would make sense if it were based on anything other than religion. Theology depends more on personal motivations than a desire for some unknown reward that may or may not exist. Pascal seems to be merely covering his own ass with this wager, telling himself that he is believing in anticipation of his eventual reward. This is not a satisfactory justification for believing in a God for which one has no evidence. Works Cited Pascal, Blaise. â€Å"The Wager.† Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings. William L. Rowe and William J. Wainwright, ed. Harcourt Brace, Orlando, FL. 1973. Pratchett, Terry. Hogfather. Harper Prism, London, England. 1996. Examining Pascal's Argument for God Essay -- Religion Pascal There have been many responses to Pascal’s proposition. British humorist Terry Pratchett cleverly summed it up in one of his books with a story of a philosopher who said, â€Å"Possibly the gods exist, and possibly they do not. So why not believe in them in any case? If it's all true you'll go to a lovely place when you die, and if it isn't then you've lost nothing, right? (Pratchett 51)† To the average person, it seems as though there are two choices of religion; to believe in God or not to believe in God. Pascal’s theory is that it is better to believe in God, even without reason, because in so believing, you lose nothing, whereas if you do not believe, you stand to lose significantly. On the surface, this wager seems to make an adequate amount of sense, but upon further examination, the argument begins to break down. Pascal states, â€Å"According to reason, you can defend neither of the propositions. (Pascal 444)† He does not think that reason is sufficient to prove God’s existence, nor is there solid evidence one way or the other. â€Å"There is an infinite chaos which separates us, (Pascal 444)† Pascal says, meaning that if there is a God, humans cannot comprehend Him or His actions. This is to say, even if God exists, humans could not possibly know enough about Him to prove His existence by proof or reason. This, Pascal says, is why the wager is necessary; we cannot know if He exists, we must decide to either believe or disbelieve based on logic. Pascal says that the choice is between several sets of human qualities or characteristics: the true vs. the good, reason vs. will, knowledge vs. happiness, and error vs. misery. He theorizes that the believer who turns out to be correct in his belief will have true good, agreement with rea... ... of belief that have been created around the deity by humans. Even if there is a God and belief in Him is founded, there is no way to know if He will or will not bestow rewards upon His followers. Pascal’s theory would make sense if it were based on anything other than religion. Theology depends more on personal motivations than a desire for some unknown reward that may or may not exist. Pascal seems to be merely covering his own ass with this wager, telling himself that he is believing in anticipation of his eventual reward. This is not a satisfactory justification for believing in a God for which one has no evidence. Works Cited Pascal, Blaise. â€Å"The Wager.† Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings. William L. Rowe and William J. Wainwright, ed. Harcourt Brace, Orlando, FL. 1973. Pratchett, Terry. Hogfather. Harper Prism, London, England. 1996.

Teens and Sex - Sex in the New Millinium :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Sex in the New Millinium    References to sexuality and sexual activities seem s to surround the American public in everything we do. Movies, music, the Bible, religion and politics are all related to sexuality and sexual activities in one way or another.    MTV, the first 24-hour music network, has been structured around youths ranging from the age of 12 to 34. In fact 28% of their viewership is under the age of 18. You ask why bring MTV into something sexual? Well, the music videos shown tend to center their theme on gender portrayal sand sexual or violent content. Women are portrayed as passive characters and sexual objects. 81% of the videos that contain violence also contain sexual imagery. Some videos that contain certain lyrics and actions about sexuality and sexual behavior can encourage a na†¹ve child to do something that they should not be doing. So why do producers keep making videos that are so harmful to our youth? They do this because sexual imagery increases the appeal of the music videos. Certainly, the language of music videos includes a variety of symbols and images.    For any individual, regardless of sexual inclination, to embrace the vague sexual desires is to claim a nature that God never intended for us. On the other hand, to make sharp distinctions among human beings, in terms of à ¾homosexuals and heterosexualsà ¾, is underestimating how permanently self-referential and self-absorbed our society is. How does the church feel about sexuality? A individual is not born à ¾gayà ¾ or à ¾straightà ¾ they are born à ¾maleà ¾ or à ¾femaleà ¾. The church of the 90à ¾s has accepted the gay community for whom they are and what they believe in. However, they feel that God did not create them with these ideas in mind. The gays just acquired them from society.    Something that I came across time and time again as I researched sexuality was what is the main influence on someone that helps them decide their sexuality and their sexual actions? Through research, it seems as though our society is convinced that parents and the educational system must interact with young children and teach them about sex. By instilling strong morals and values in our children, parents feel that they will make the à ¾rightà ¾ decisions when it comes to anything sexual. But who is the one to decide what is à ¾rightà ¾ and what is à ¾wrongà ¾.

Adult Self-Directed Learning

Through time, self-directed learning has been observed as a rather distinct form of learning that has been in existence in the development of children up to the adult years. In the past, it has been known that the practice of self-directed learning has become the practice where formal instruction is not available before the establishment of schools (Merriam & Brockett, 2007).It requires a greater focus on the ability of the learning to become the source of initiatives when it comes to acquiring information and the reliance on their self without guidance from the traditional perspectives contained in the classroom setting. More so, it emphasized on a lesser restrictive foundation of learning and allows for the adult learners to depend on their own capabilities and discipline (Edwards, Hanson, & Raggatt, 1996).Aside from the learner, there is a perspective from the field of education which points towards the fact that adult learners are able to gain knowledge in self-directed learning through dialogue, too (Borkman, 1999). Nonetheless, there is much more emphasis on autonomy and the assumption of ownership when it comes to learning (Knowles, Golton, & Swanson, 2005).Upon review of the literature mentioned above, it has been shown that adult self-directed learning has existed through time, focuses on autonomy and ownership in learning, acquisition of information through independence, and the use of dialogue in learning.These are essential and basic elements within the concept of self-directed learning but the ability of the adults to engage in self-directed learning, in consideration of the characteristics and perspectives they have in terms of learning, is worth discussing.Moreover, the long existence of self-directed learning leads to the question of whether it can be really institutionalized or formalized through the inclusion in the academe or should remain as what it has been before, which is that learning rests on the initiative of the learner and occurs jus t about anywhere.It has been considered that the adults are able to conceptualize and reflect on their own better than the other age groups because of their current stage in cognitive development. Inherently, they have the capability to analyze and critically assess situations before them because of the sense of maturity attached to their age group.With this characteristic, adults can engage in self-directed learning better than high school students would do, as an example. However, this particular ability, brought about by their level of cognition, raises the question of whether adults are indeed able to learn by themselves or would need to communicate with a particular mentor or peer, which is posited in the element of â€Å"dialogue† for self-directed learners.The autonomy and independence is especially raised in the case of self-directed adult learners because of the discipline they have but nonetheless, there remains the need for them to have an authority in their activi ties when it comes to learning. There remains the constant need for inquiry and honing of ideas and the adult learner should be able to engage with someone who can ask questions in order to engage the learner into deeper thinking.While cognitive development may be a factor that makes the adult capable of engaging in self-directed learning, there remains the need for them to engage in dialogues in order to assure that what they gain in terms of their autonomous and independent are continuously refined. Thus, there remains the need for a mentor or outsider interaction that turns the mentor into a facilitator of learning instead of an agent through which learning primarily rests on.Moreover, this makes the autonomy and independence of a learner vary in terms of the set-up where self-directed learning occurs. There are differences that have to be accepted when it comes to the learning styles and behavior of the adult learners which makes room for flexibility in the framework of self-dir ected learning.There are adults who are able to devote their time practically on learning by themselves and there are also those who need constant dialogue for them to learn. In terms of learning styles, there is much room left for flexibility in this method of learning and makes people appreciate the fact that it puts the learner at the center of every activity.This deviates and puts much difference as compared to the traditional classroom setting because of the restrictive nature of learning and expression of individual learning habits. It now becomes important to emphasize that learning is deemed to be a rather enriching and fruitful experience when the learner is able to express and do it in his/her own way and will because of the satisfaction this brings.More so, a person would rather act more cooperatively when he/she has a sense of control over the choices that has to be made, which is the essential and a root function in self-directed learning. Thus, the question of whether adult self-directed learning rests on the level of cognitive development of the learner has to take into consideration the personal learning habits and degree of autonomy required by each learner. More so, evaluation of progress has to be based on the different requirements of each learner.In terms of formalization, there are current ways through which self-directed learning has been formed to become a part of the academe. The fact that it has been used as a method of instruction in the universities, which is partially a hybrid form in the case of distance learning, shows that it is recognized as an acceptable and effective means of acquiring knowledge.However, there remains the question of whether institutionalization of this form of learning creates any difference or not. The existence of self-directed learning practices in universities gives the formal setting for learning to occur. It does, in fact, take into consideration the different needs of the learner and the experience is enhanced through three different elements of the concept.These three elements are the advancement in technology, the training for teachers, and the convenience and accessibility of the learners to engage in self-directed learning.There advancements in technology have now provided self-directed learning to occur at a more effective manner for both the students and the teachers. The existence of internet has made it possible for learners, and teachers alike, to engage in dialogue and transfer of information across boundaries without barriers of geographical distances and costs. Learning could now occur online where different people in different parts of the world are able to communicate in real time.Moreover, there is a far wider reach for adult learners to be able to seek the advice or opinion of experts or other professionals when it comes to acquiring information for their subjects. However, this poses problems and disadvantages for those who are not abreast with the changes in te rms of technology for this particular method of learning.Moreover, there are adult learners who are not familiar or are not willing to use new technologies. Thus, it limits the effective and new tools of self-directed learning to those who can use them and have access to such.Aside from technology, teachers or mentors, who serve as facilitators, have also undergone changes as they developed their selves to adopt with the requirements of self-directed learning. It is assumed that there are still adult learners who wish to learn under the tenets of self-direction but requires guidance or dialogue.This situation gives rise to the hybrid mix where a mentor is present in order to fulfill the roles expected by the learner. Through time, educators have made their selves available for training on how to handle communication for adult self-directed learners, motivation, and manner of facilitation. It is apparent that there are differences with that of the traditional classroom setting and th is makes the teachers wear a relatively different shoe.This is where they realize that dictation and feeding everything into the student does not work. Rather, they only have to stimulate the students to critically think and analyze their situation and create an atmosphere which enables learning to occur.Lastly, access and convenience remains a great factor for the adults to choose self-directed learning today. The present conditions of the adults who engage in learning have made this a practical and popular choice nowadays. Adult learners are usually engaged in learning because of their need to go up the professional ladder, which can only be done through education.In this set-up, they are given the chance to commit to their work and still be able to attend classes wherever they may be. Self-directed learning, thus, enhances the chances and opportunities provide for adults to acquire knowledge without any inconvenience.  Upon visiting one of the online websites dedicated to self- directed learning, www.selfdirectedlearning.com, there are information provided for the purpose of both the learners and the teachers. The site convinces people that they could engage in self-directed learning through steps and also provides the teachers with information regarding some aspects of this particular form of learning.However, it is not a site which is purely devoted to providing information but mixes it with commercial purposes and makes offers of different materials for those who visit the site. Thus, it makes the readers question whether the information provided is intended to give credible information or simply support the commercial purposes of the website.Thus, it has been shown that self-directed learning for adults have several elements. It is seen that it could occur in practically any place with varying degrees of formality. Moreover, there are considerations given for the preferences and personal habits of the adults when it comes to learning as brought about b y their present situation and needs.There are other aspects which affect the ability of mentors and students to come together for the purpose of engaging in self-directed learning where the learner still serves as the primary focus of the process and the teacher serves as the facilitator.ReferencesBorkman, T. (1999). Understanding self-help/mutual aid: Experiential learning in the commons. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Edwards, R., Hanson, A., & Raggatt, P. (1996). Boundaries of adult learning. London: Routledge.Knwoles, M., Holton, E., & Swanson, R. (2005). The adult learner: The definite classic in adult education and human resource development. Burlington, MA: Elsevier.Merriam, S. & Brockett, R. (2007). The profession and practice of adult education: An introduction. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Problems of disaster management Essay

Prediction, warning, and evacuation systems that depend on refined technology and extremely effective public bureaucracies are above all open to question. In addition, disasters hold features that have not been common in smaller communities and that might raise completely new problems of disaster management. For instance disaster impacts that control mass media markets are probable to be extensively, incessantly, and obsessively reported whereas impacts on other communities that have less right to use to these channels are likely to be ignored. The consequences for skewing post-disaster assistance are considerable. Secondly, the multifarious societal mixes pose new problems for the delivery of emergency response services and disaster relief; linguistic, ethnic, and other divergences are often marked in such places. Thirdly, the sheer size and complication of infrastructure networks make them predominantly liable to distraction. Finally, recovery is apt to transpire more slowly than in smaller places. In short, past lessons of disaster management might no longer be applicable in the cities of the polycentric. Certainly, the majority of the world’s big cities are not part of the polycentric. Instead they serve as primary contact points linking the polycentre and regional or local markets on the global periphery. Tijuana (Mexico) is a good instance. Once a small regional town, it is now the fourth-largest city in Mexico with a populace of well over 1 million. Tijuana’s recent growth has been fuelled by investments of multinational corporations in maquiladora firms near the US border. As more shanty towns group in the steep semi-arid valleys of the city edge and more people crowd into the waterside lowlands, the incidence and harshness of floods and landslides in Tijuana are also speeding up. In places such as Manila, Dhaka, Ankara, or Lima there is the prospective for heavy loss of life during disasters as well as appalling material destruction. The situation in Lima is typical. This is a city that has endured severe earthquakes as a minimum five times in the past three hundred years. At the end of the Second World War, just over half a million people lived in the metropolitan area. these days, there are more than five million. Vast numbers of poor rural peasants have infested into Lima. Not all groups are equally exposed to hazard. Certainly, the pattern of hazard-susceptibility is a complex one that has developed in response to changes in demography, economics, land ownership, building practices, and other features. Read more:Â  Sharing Responsibility During Disaster Management Middle and upper-income groups live in well-constructed houses that often conform to antiseismic codes and are sited in neighbourhoods with broad streets and ample open spaces. If distressed by an earthquake there are enough resources to make certain quick recovery. The marginal shanty towns (pueblos jovenes) are also low-density settlements, this time poised of light bamboo structures that do not disintegrate when the ground moves. People are poor, but stages of social organization are high. On the contrary, seismic susceptibility is high in the inner-city slum areas. Here numerous poor families are crowded into old adobe brick structures, adjacent streets are narrow, and open spaces are non-existent. There are few neighbourhood organizations or other local institutes that might be called on in the event of a disaster. Here earthquake protection measures are nominal or, more often, non-existent. As summarized by one observer, the situation is full of desolate prospects: The population of critical areas would not choose to live there if they had any substitute, nor do they neglect the maintenance of their stuffed and deteriorated tenements. For them it is the best-of-the-worst of a number of disaster-prone situations such as having nowhere to live, having no way of earning a living and having not anything to eat. Given that these other risks have to be faced on a daily basis, it is hardly surprising that people give little precedence to the risk of destruction by earthquake. (Maskrey, 1989, p. 12) In summary, there is a high extent of uncertainty about the future of cities. Their growth seems certain, but at what density? New ones might spring up in unexpected places under the influence of changing geo-economics’ forces.ever more similar in outward form, cities in diverse cultures and continents may still hold peculiarly different internal structures. The divisions between rich cities and poor ones might become wider and their disaster receptiveness may also diverge. But, at the similar time, the differences between all cities and their rural hinterlands might become sharper. It would be reckless to assume that the disaster-susceptibility of any one city will be quite like that of any other. This is an era of great urban instability; it bears close examination of hazards and disasters.

Character and Sex Education

As Americans we tend to have a conditioned view toward sexuality as a normal, healthy part of life. However, it seems that one may underestimate the power that sex has on culture, which is evident in the many areas. Most recently discussions on a sexual nature received extreme national prominence with the public events surrounding the Kenneth Starr investigation and report, which focuses on the sexual aspects of the relationship between President Bill Clinton and a former intern, Monica Lewinsky. The result was a war of beliefs, morals and differences of cultures mixed with political anipulations. With the increase of sexual presence in our society, it is often wondered how this increase has affected morals and values of those who live it. Sex is everywhere–not just limited to the bedroom, but to the television, movies, billboards, office buildings and almost every fragment of modern culture. Around the turn of the twentieth century, open discussion and study of sex was well on its way. Sexual/cultural pioneer, Sigmund Freud believed that sexuality was tightly woven in all persons, present from birth. His breakthrough thinking affected social practices and was nstrumental in breaking the â€Å"moral fog that had enshrouded sexuality for most of the nineteenth century did not begin to lift until after the First World War† (Janus 1993). By analyzing modern culture, a person can accurately determine the effects of the sexual revolution and how it has led to the alterations or evolution of personal, moral and Where do we get our morals and values? Character education was what took place in school and society in the past. This drilling of acceptable social conventions seemed to â€Å"contain† our culture for many years. In modern years society has shifted to the â€Å"decision-making approach† (Kilpatrick 1993). This approach takes many forms, sometimes as a course in itself, sometimes as a strategy in sex education classes, sometimes as a unit in civics or social sciences–it has set the tone for modern moral education in public and even private schools. â€Å"The shift from character education to the decision-making model was begun with the best of intentions. The new approach was meant to help students to think more independently and critically about values† (Kilpatrick 1993). Followers of this approach claimed that a young person would be more committed to self-discovered values than to ones that were simply handed down y adults. That was the hope, but the actual effect of the shift has been quite different. For students, it has meant confusion about moral values: learning to question values they have scarcely acquired, unlearning values taught at home, and concluding that questions of right and wrong are always changing with the influence of society. We live in a sexual world, but Americans have been slow to fully acknowledge its enormous impact. Among those interviewed in the Janus Report who were 18 to 26 years old, 21% of the men and 15% of the women had had sexual intercourse by age 4; a small percentage of them had had their first intercourse before age 10. â€Å"It ought to be the oldest things that are taught to the youngest people. † (Noonan 1999) This statement accurately portrays moral education today. â€Å"The Day America Told the Truth,† a 1990 survey of American beliefs and values contains this scene from a California high school. The setting, Friday afternoon and the students are leaving a class in â€Å"social living. † The teacher's parting words are, â€Å"have a great weekend. Be safe. Buckle up. Just say no. And if you can't say ‘No,' then use a condom! (Kilpatrick 993) Although the teacher in this example gives a nod in the direction of abstinence, his approach is basically of the â€Å"responsible sex† variety. Sex is an image that Americans have grown accustomed too. Sex is everything. If you're good looking, then you're having sex. If you're sexy, then you're having sex. If you're having sex, you're popular, and people are more likely to buy stuff from your company if you show people having sex. Sex sells. Sex sells cigarettes. Sex sells cars. Sex sells clothes, alcohol and One way that a breakdown of sexual restraint hurts society is the educational sphere. There is abundant evidence that the more sexually active students do poorly in school and tend to drop out more frequently (Noonan 1999). For all of the teenage girls, who drop out of school, half of them do so because of pregnancy. But that figure only suggests one small aspect of the problem. The constant distraction caused by worries about sex and about relationships takes a tool on schoolwork. Dieting has become an unfortunate cultural phenomenon, especially for women and girls, whose self-image is often closely linked with their body image. Eating disorders are more common in girls ecause they believe it's their role in society to be sexy. Numerous studies have been conducted to determine the history of sexual abuse in eating disorders patients, and the findings have been controversial. The figures range from 7% to 74%, with most studies showing that between 20-69% of anorexics and bulimics have been abused† (Janus 1993). It is important to note, however that not everyone who has been sexually abused develops anorexia and not all anorexics have been sexually abused. For many survivors, anorexia can also serve as a way to make their bodies less desirable to potential perpetrators. In one sense, mature adolescents deny their sexuality by returning to a prepubescent state, developing amenorreah or loss of menstruation, which is one of the criteria for diagnosing anorexia. Unfortunately, teachers have been reluctant to discuss sex in absolute moral terms, leaving students with the impression that it's purely as subjective matter. It turns out that when adults confront teens over sexual misbehaviors, a frequent response is simply, â€Å"I didn't know it was wrong. † Everyone is a product of his or her culture. We tend to conform to cultural expectations, even if not perfectly. Our present culture sends out confused and misleading messages about sex-messages that, in the long run, may cause more harm than good. A former secretary of education observed,†I have never had a parent tell me that he or she would be offended boy a teacher telling a class that it is better to postpone sex. Or that marriage is the best setting for sex, and in which to have and raise children. On the contrary, my impression is that the overwhelming majority of parents would gratefully welcome help in transmitting such values. † (Kilpatrick 1993) The long history of sexually transmitted diseases has made aution in sex one of the facts of life. In the late 1980s, the AIDS epidemic made caution in sex a fact of life or death. It was no longer a moral issue. When AIDS surfaced as a national problem, the sexually active momentarily panicked. The enormous tensions generated by these devastating STD†s made practice of casual sex pause. â€Å"The new social and sexual changes in lifestyles have been adopted by many other participants. Divorced or separated men and women, newly single, are dating again and searching for sex partners and new love. Parents in their 40's and 50's and 0's are enjoying a new sexual style at the same time their teenage or young adult children are also experimenting with sex, and seeking loving relationships. There are few guidelines now, except for cautions about sexually transmitted diseases. The old rules governing sex no longer apply, and many individuals and couples now create their own moral and lifestyle decisions, or make them within the morality of their own small, peer In the Janus report, 45% of women and 19% of men claimed to have been sexually harassed on their jobs. In the interviews, the men attributed the harassment they xperienced to both heterosexual and homosexual individuals; the women ascribed their harassment almost entirely to men. In an age of liberation, it is interesting that an issue so broad gained national attention so accidentally. Why all the sudden there an underlying awareness of widespread sexual harassment on the part of women? The intensity and speed of reaction to the charges readily support this assumption. Sexual Harassment has become a household topic across America. Today, men and women are more free than ever to explore their sexual beings in or out of marriage. Their ransformed sex roles, feminism movement and the sexual revolution cause increased communication outside the home. Today, medicine, psychology and sociology advise that people should keep on having sex as long as they wish. Sexuality becomes adapted to the context of the sexual experience, at all ages. While early adolescence are experimenting with full sexual activities of diverse varieties and young couples are seeking sex for reproduction, older couples are enjoying the comfort and excitement of sex in a new appreciated form. â€Å"A new, vital, and active sexuality has been identified mong mature, and post mature Americans. While society frets about preteens' frolicking and college students' antics on Spring break in Florida, the graying segment of Americans may be leading the way in superior sexual experience† (Janus 1993). Other issues relating to sexuality have also made headlines over the past two decades. Divorce rates leaped in the 1970's, absent or self-involved parents and child-rearing practices were blamed for creating misbehaving, out-of-control kids; the family was believed to be in big trouble. Very young adults are living together without the benefit f marriage. Meanwhile, kids are experimenting with their own sexuality at earlier and earlier ages. Barely out of their own childhood, teenagers are producing babies at ever-growing rates. By the 1980's, nearly a million mothers under 18 were giving birth every year. (Janus 1993) Of these young women, 70% were unmarried, up from 30% only a decade earlier. Some estimates indicate that as many as 10,000 extremely young women age 12 or younger, become pregnant every year. (Janus 1993) The younger these children are when they have their first child, the more likely they are to ave at least one more child before their teen years end. These children who have children are particularly at risk of dropping out of school and becoming social throwaways who face a bleak future and are wanted only on the streets. Later, unable to get and hold jobs, they will drop out of the labor market as well, creating cycles of deep, depressing, poverty as their children and grandchildren in turn become teenage, single, unemployable parents. This idea represents the attitude of our culture to criticize teen parents and to make an example of â€Å"those kids. look what can happen to you. etc. However, this is not always the case, many teen mothers are extremely successful in personal and professional careers. Many times the father will support the baby who shares his genes, even if they do not act as a family unit. By analyzing many factors where sex is apparent on modern culture, it is obvious how this increased presence has significantly affected values and morals on related topics. There has been a dramatic shift in attitude in just a small period of time and it will be interesting to see how these changes will continue to evolve and adapt to new introductions of culture and it†s influence.