Alumni Essay

GENERAL BACKGROUND Information system (IS) is the study of complementary networks of hardware and software that people and organizations use to collect, filters, and process, create, and distribute data. The study bridges business and computer science using the theoretical foundations of information and computation to study various business models and related algorithmic processes within a computer science discipline. Computer information system (CIS) is a field studying computers and algorithmic processes, including their principles, their software and hardware designs, their applications, and their impact on society while IS emphasizes functionality over design. Any specific information system aims to support operations, management and decision making. In a broad sense, the term is used to refer not only to the information and communication technology (ICT) that an organization uses, but also to the way in which people interact with this technology in support of business processes. Some authors make a clear distinction between information systems, computer systems, and business processes. Information systems typically include an ICT component but are not purely concerned with ICT, focusing instead on the end use of information technology. Information systems are also different from business processes. Information systems help to control the performance of business processes. Alter argues for advantages of viewing an information system as a special type of work system. A work system is a system in which humans and/or machines perform work (processes and activities) using resources to produce specific products and/or services for customers. An information system is a work system whose activities are devoted to processing (capturing, transmitting, storing, retrieving, manipulating and displaying) information. As such, information systems inter-relate with data systems on the one hand and activity systems on the other. An information system is a form of communication system in which data represent and are processed as a form of social memory. An information system can also be considered a semi-formal language which supports human decision making and action. NEED OFINFORMATION SYSTEM Information systems help provide structure and access to information. Since libraries build, manage, and maintain information systems, librarians and LIS students are often propelled onto the front lines of interactions between library users and technology. But what do librarians need to know to best meet their patron’s needs? Information expert Ratzan uses plain language, humor, and everyday examples like baseball and arithmetic to make sense of â€Å"information systems† . He also explores their characteristics, uses, abuses, advantages, and shortcomings for your library. Fun exercises and appendices are provided to illustrate key points in the book and measure understanding. You can be a technophobe and still learn about systems and subsystems to represent, organize, retrieve, network, secure, conceal, measure, and manage information. This expert sourcebook addresses both theoretical and practical issues, and is complete with exercises, examples, terms, and charts that help clarify concepts to make your information system a success. ADVANTAGES OF INFORMATION SYSTEM Information systems have significantly transformed the way business is conducted. In today’s society it would be pretty difficult to find an organization that does not use some form of technology, automation or information system to help run its operational and daily transactional processes. Computer technology has become so highly integrated in the business environment it is often hard to remember a time when organizations operated without it. The benefits technology offers are very valuable and this is the primary reason why many businesses opt to invest in information systems. Increased Productivity When automation takes over some of the burden of the more mundane and routine tasks, the rapid speed increases productivity. In addition employees are free to work on other important tasks that require human thinking. The time computer information systems frees up also gives both management and their staffs the ability to have time to brainstorm and come up with new and innovative ideas since the burden of some of the everyday tasks are lifted. Less Redundancy and Better Data Integrity Computer information systems can be programmed to have amazing ability to eliminate duplicates, point out inconsistencies and merge data together to make it more manageable. This heightens the ability for higher degrees of accuracy and efficiency. Data integrity means the data is more reliable due to the capabilities of automation. Inputting data into information systems where it can be sorted, filed and processed is highly efficient. Long gone are the days of filing cabinets, missing papers, misfiled documents and other important details. If information is needed, all it takes is a few clicks of the mouse or a few works typed in and all the information immediately pops right up. Instead of having separated computer systems for different parts of a business, modern information systems allow systems to be streamlined. No longer do different staff members have to input and file the same information for their own purposes and needs. Instead data goes into one central place and IT personnel set up user privileges which are typically on a need to know basis and employees can access which areas of the information system they need to perform their jobs. Initially investing in computer information systems is a large investment, but when strategically planned through proper system analysis, the investment in information systems can pay off handsomely over the long term. The key is to think of the organization’s mission, objectives and overall business plan and ensure the implemented information system meets these goals. With proper planning a company can simultaneously maximize profit while decreasing overhead costs. The possibilities of using information systems in business are endless. While  there are some challenges to overcome when making the transition to new kinds of automation, with strategic thinking, good technical planning and an overall willingness to embrace change through technology, there are many terrific advantages of integrating information systems in any organization. ALUMNI INFORMATION SYSTEM Alumni information system is an example of web application which is under the information systems. It helps an academic institution in tracking its alumni. Also, it helps the alumni to communicate with the institution through the use of the internet. It also helps the alumni to get updated with the latest news and upcoming events of the institution. This application can easily be accessed through the use of the internet which will be very useful to the alumni because they can keep in touch with the institution even if they do not visit the school. This application can be very useful especially to those alumni who are now living abroad because they can still get connected with their fellowmen and the institution. Nowadays, computer has infiltrated all the aspects of our society. The computer is most likely one of the great technological mechanism for future change. It can now simply make our works easier and lighter. With this great thing it won’t be more useful without the computer’s software. Software is a generic term for organized collections of computer data and instructions, often broken into two major categories: system software that provides the basic non-task-specific functions of the computer, and application software which is used by users to accomplish specific tasks. SCOPE OF THE PROJECT WORK A website requires attractive design and proper arrangement of links and images, which enables a browser to easily interpret and access the properties of the site. Hence it provides the browser with adequate information and functionality about the organization, community, network etc. This sites use to view information of alumni, job vacancy details. The current happening information showing in the page. The alumni are old students are registering their information in the  department. Here the department organizing the any activities is inserting in the site. This web site is totally full of information and details of person joined with that institute. This project is to modify, add store data of each and every individual. ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION Introduction A to Z Computech is one of the foremost technical and well experienced Computer Institute. It offers Diploma Courses, Higher Diploma Courses, Post Graduate Diploma Courses, Certified Courses, Individual Courses, Project Works, Implant Training, Soft Skill Training, Web Designing, and Software Development in various streams and Aims to provide Quality Computer Education. The Institute was established in June 1996 in Chennimalai, headed by J. Senthil Kumar, The Managing Director, and a visionary with 18 years of experience in the Field of IT. The Institute was certified by International Standard Organization (ISO 9001:2008). A to Z Computech aim to provide superior Computer Education in convivial and artistic environment with disciplined, Dedicated and Corporate regulations. Vision Vision is to bring up the computer skills, Innovative ideas and talents of each and every individual student from rural area and make them to participate in team for the Development of our nation. By providing Quality, time bound and cost-efficient Computer Education. Mission [The ultimate goal of A to Z Computech is to have its own identity in the Computer Training industry as a most trusted trainer in all aspects and a one stop solution for high quality, time bound and cost effective Institute. A to Z Computech is committed to maintain 100% student’s satisfaction by certain values Deep Integrity & Ensuring Code of Conduct. Precious Timekeeping & Highest level of Training Potential Leadership with an Energetic Team Sufficient Infrastructure for anytime Expansion Continuous Growth & 100% Success Leadership and Team A to Z Computech are an Institute with diverse talents & skills. Our Institute offers a Job Oriented Courses, College Project Works (All UG & PG Courses), In Plant Training in which talented, creative & motivated students can be employed by us. A to Z Computech don’t just acknowledge hard work & achievements; A to Z Computech reward it & groom it. A to Z Computech have an experienced team of ambitious, vibrant, young professionals having ability to update with latest trends & requirements of students. A to Z Computech team’s passion is to take challenges and to deliver to Students expectations. ORGANIZATION OF THE PROJECT REPORT This project report is subdivided into six main chapters and some appendix. Chapter I â€Å"INTRODUCTION† includes the introduction about information system, need of information system, advantages of information system, alumni information system, about the organization and organization of the project report. Chapter II â€Å"SYSTEM ANALYSIS† includes description of the Existing System and proposed system. It’s employed to provide a systematic proposed method and principles to achieve the objectives of the report. Chapter III â€Å"SYSTEM SPECIFICATION† includes hardware and software requirements, front end and backend details. Chapter IV â€Å"SYSTEM DESIGN† includes system and data flow diagram, module description, database, input and output design. Chapter V â€Å"TESTING & IMPLEMENTATION† includes testing plan and schedule, implementation details. Chapter VI â€Å"CONCLUSION & FUTURE WORK† includes the conclusion and general evaluation of the project and suggestion of the future work.

Hotel Report

BM 0970 Introduction to Hospitality & Tourism Executive Summary Introduction Hotel Rendezvous, Singapore Products/Services: They offer worldwide hotel services in countries such as Singapore, Shanghai and many parts of Australia. They are from The Marque Group of Hotels and they have hotels by the name of both Marque and Rendezvous. Hotel Rendezvous in Singapore offers good location too. It is situated in the heart of the civic, cultural and commercial district; Bras Basah Road, just stones throw from the always-crowded Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station. Without a doubt, this is the perfect place to rendezvous for business or pleasure. Competition: Hotels nearby includes the known Concorde Hotel, once known as Le Meridian Hotel, Hotel Fort Canning, Mandarin Orchard, which is a 5* Hotel and Hangout @ Mt. Emily, a themed budget hotel. Unique-selling points: Hotel Rendezvous Singapore has the â€Å"Telepresence† Room. This state-of-the-art facility connects users the world with unparalleled convenience and ease, while reducing corporate travel expenses and increasing productivity and environmental friendliness. The hotel is also the first to offer the facility, thus more business visitors will be attracted to stay in Rendezvous. Furthermore, those who book the facility will get discounts for rooms and also f/b services. Target Market: Business travellers Potential Opportunities & Challenges Of Hotel Rendezvous Challenges include: 1. Some hotels nearby in Orchard Road have better services An example will be Mandarin Orchard Hotel; they have: * Medical clinic in case of emergencies * Baby sitting services for customers who stays in the hotel with their families and need someone to mend their children when the parents are away * Postal services (Immediate mail from the hotel to Singapore Post) 2. Online guest reviews affect the competitiveness of Hotel Rendezvous Websites like Trip Advisor will have both negative and positive comments. While positive comments may encourage first-time travellers to visit Hotel rendezvous, negative comments will deter travellers to enter the hotel, especially the business travellers who want better services. Since, the negative comments will not be removed immediately, thus causing an influence to the choices made by first-time travellers. 3. Shopping centres are located far from hotel Major shopping malls like ION Orchard and Wisma Atria are located far from Bras Basah Road, where transportation is needed. 4. Due to IR, business and leisure tourists may prefer hotels such as Marina Bay Sands for stay in Singapore instead. 5. F1 Night Race The F1 night race occurs in the month of September each year and during this period, it is much more inaccessible to get to Hotel Rendezvous. Major road closures at locations such as Orchard Road and Stamford Road will make it harder for drivers to get to the hotel. Challenges: Since F1 will end in 2011, the hotels surround the F1 track race may experience a significant drop in hotel occupancy rate. Therefore, suggestions such as organising local Singapore track race are recommended. Key Developments & Opportunities 1. Zoukout An annual music, dance and art event hosted at Sentosa Island. Organised by Zouk Club. Tourists all over the world come to Singapore where â€Å"30- 35% of the total turnout come from the region, mainly from Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong and also as far off as the United States. †   This year’s Zoukout has guests like David Guetta and Tiesto, who are known worldwide. . Christmas Light Ups The Christmas light ups are done annually on the stretch of Orchard Road, where many tourists can photograph their memories with wonderful lights on the background. 3. Great Singapore Sale Great Singapore Sale is an annual event with extensive discounts to attract global and Singapore shoppers to buy merchand ises from international brands such as Topshop, Nike, and River Island. Foreign shoppers may need an accommodation to stay when they come to Singapore and shop. Since Rendezvous hotel is located near major shopping district, it is an opportunity for the hotel to attract both leisure and business tourists. They can collaborate with GSS such as private sale for Rendezvous hotel’s patrons or discounted room rates if they purchase $500 with 3 combined receipts during this Sale period. Resources available 1. Transportation; Shuttle Services For easier travel, the Rendezvous Singapore Hotel offers an airport shuttle service for guest use. However, the international airport can be reached within minutes by guests driving their own vehicles and the MRT station nearby offers additional transportation options. Airport Airport is air transportation for international tourist to reach Singapore. With airport, it is 20 minutes away to reach hotel rendezvous which give tourists convenience to reach their accommodation faster. It increases the probability for business tourists to choose Rendezvous as their accommodation since it is not far from airport. The 20 minute distance allows better traffic to enter Hotel rendezvous. As such, it is a resource that Hotel Rendezvous can tap on to further establishes its status as a business tourist’s hotel. 2. Land; Minor expansion of the hotel grounds can be done at the fountain lounge (Ref 1. 4), where more space can be given to the Palong Bar, since its size is small. With the expansion, a dancing floor, with a disco theme can be built for guests to have parties or dinner and dance events in future. We have also found out that with the inclusion of a duty free shop in hotels may earn the hotel more revenue with the fees for rental and commissions. An example will be Royal Plaza on Scotts, where DFS Galleria is located in the hotel premises. Many foreigners love to shop at DFS because their products are much cheaper too. Thus, we recommend that Hotel Rendezvous should hire services from DFS Galleria for the land expansion, to cater to guests who ove shopping, at their convenience. 3. Relationship (Networking); The Cathay Cineplexes The Cathay Cineplexes are just stones throw away from Hotel Rendezvous. Guests at the hotel can go there for shopping paradise and movie galore. The Cathay Building has been a distinct landmark since 1939 when it first opened its doors to avid movie-goers. Now a shopping mall infused with fashion and trends, five storeys house retail and dining indulgences while two floors are dedicated to an eight-hall multiplex cinema, including The Picturehouse – Singapore's first arthouse theatre. Guests will be interested to watch movies there, and with winning movies from the Cannes Film Festival, it is a good place for guests to watch it first hand here in Singapore. Recommendation: The Cathay Cineplexes could collaborate together with Hotel Rendezvous to have priority seats for the guests by showing their hotel keys or vouchers issued from the hotel. There should also be a convenience service for advance booking of tickets which allows guests to get their tickets at the reception of Hotel Rendezvous This will allow them to get their tickets at ease, without having to rush between meetings and leisure. The Cathay will then receive better exposure via putting up advertisements such as pamphlets in the hotel to gain reputation among the travellers. Also, collaboration may bring higher revenue since the priority seats is an incentive for them to watch movie in The Cathay. Guests might even recommend the movie theatre to their colleagues who might come to Singapore in future. The Cathay could also provide Hotel Rendezvous complimentary movie passes to be given away to guests. When the guests visit The Cathay Building for the movie, there may be higher chances of them visiting the retail outlets as well. Therefore, it will increase revenue and in turn, they can increase the monthly rental of the shops. 4. Labour (Human Resources); When guests enter the hotel, the first people they are greeted by are the staffs at the hotel lobby. Porters/Bellmen are those who meet and greet customers upon their arrival. Hotel Rendezvous have about 4 porters and security officers on duty on a normal business day. Valet parking is also a special service the hotel offers for guests who drive. The porters also collect and deliver luggage to guests’ hotel rooms once they arrive. In Hotel Rendezvous, receptionists are better called as Guest Reception Officer. . Technology; The hotel needs a good room allocation system. We have researched for best technology supplies and one of which we recommend is Pelican E-Hotel Distribution System. This company provides services such as central reservation and also the Global Distribution System (GDS), which connects with over 600,000 travel agencies worldwide. T his will benefit the hotel through preventing confusions over room allocations. Different guests may want particular rooms such as: * Smoking/Non-smoking rooms * High/Low levels * Queen/2 Single Bed Rooms, etc. We have also found a company, First Data ®, which processes all major credit cards. They can also use the Payment Software solution to process debit/ATM cards, checks, stored value/gift cards, even private label cards and line-of-credit applications. Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS), a Singapore-based payment method can also be used by the hotel to provide smooth transactions for guests. 6. Entrepreneurship; Capitalization through opportunities 1. Attractions and entertainment; Museums Singapore Arts Museum, National Museum, Asian Civilizations Museum are located near Rendezvous Hotel. These museums usually have different exhibitions shown at different periods of the year. An example will be Pompeii: Life in a Roman Town 79CE, at the National Museum of Singapore till January 23rd. Istana The Istana is the official residence of the President where he receives and entertains state guests. The entire domain occupies over 100 acres and is located along the busy Orchard Road. The grounds also contain: * Sri Temasek, also built in 1869, for the Colonial Secretary and was the official residence of the Prime Minister * The Annexe * The Istana Villa (1938) * The Lodge (1974) * The Japanese Gun, presented to Lord  Louis Mountbatten  after the Japanese * surrender in 1945 Marsh  Garden (1970) * Lily  ponds * A nine-hole  golf course * A  burial place  of the  Bencoolen  Muslims, who came to Singapore between 1825 and 1828, located on the southern slopes of the grounds close to the Orchard Road entrance The main purpose of guests to visit Istana is to see the architecture, the facilities, which is only unique to Singapore 2. Destinations; Peranak an Museum The museum explores the culture of Peranakan communities in the former Straits Settlements of Singapore, Malacca and Penang and their links with other communities in Southeast Asia (SEA). It is a boutique museum with one of the finest and most comprehensive collections of Peranakan artefacts in the world. Three floors of permanent galleries illustrate important rituals, practices and the material culture of the Peranakans, as well as how the unique fusion culture is viewed today. The Peranakan Museum provides an enjoyable and educational experience for all, with intricate displays innovatively presented in ten galleries, children’s interactive and special merchandising in two shops. Two temporary exhibition galleries will present a programme of special exhibitions throughout the year. The Peranakan museum is a museum under the Asian Civilisations Museum. Recommendation: Due to the popularity of Mediacorp drama Little Nyonya, the museum may attract Chinese-indo to appreciate the historical artefacts from this museum. In addition, non-Nyonya tourists who want to experience Nyonya culture, they may want to visit this attraction. As such, the hotel may collaborate with the museum with promotional activities like 15% discount off the museum ticket price with any 2 night stay in the hotel. Also, Hotel Rendezvous may collaborate with Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to showcase their promotions and activities regarding Peranakan Museum through STB website. With STB a reliable source for travellers, not only the collaboration will expose Hotel Rendezvous to leisure travellers, and also gain higher reputation among business travellers. For STB, this collaboration will fulfil their mission: We develop and champion tourism, so as to build the sector into a key driver of economic growth for Singapore by the increase in popularity of Hotel Rendezvous and the need to experience Peranakan culture. The Battle Box The Battle Box provides tours to tourists and also local residents of Singapore. For a price of S$5 for children and S$8 for adults, visitors can attend a guided tour of the location. It is the latest military operations complex in Singapore and was the hub of the Malaya Command Head quarters during World War II. They use the specially arranged audio and video effect, high quality animatronics and crafted figurines; they bring back February 15th 1942 to guests, when Singapore fell to the Japanese. So, this destination allows guests of Hotel Rendezvous to get to know the history of Singapore better while they are here. Killing two birds with one stone, they get to do work and know Singapore. In-hotel Resources Meeting rooms and Events Venues * Six functions rooms which can accommodate from 10 to 240 people and a Telepresence Suite * A total  880 square metres of banquet space * A superb selection of food ; beverage packages * The latest in audio visual ; web technology * Special accommodation rates Technical Equipment The latest in audio visual ; web technology is conveniently available upon request. We will be pleased to discuss with you any special presentation requirements you may have, whatever your requests, we will help make your event a success. Value Promise (Fig 1. 1) This service is available free of charge. The hotel promises value to their customers and thus, more of them will go back to the hotel more than once. Business Benefits (Fig 1. 2) This service costs less than a full breakfast meal; $29. 50 Lowest Price Guarantee (Fig 1. 3) Customers are assured that they get the lowest rate they can find in the nearest vicinity. They will even get claims if they find a lower room rate somewhere else with the equivalent facilities/services. Conclusion The top three resources that are significant to the success is labour, technology and travel agencies. Firstly, labour is important in the business. Workers like the receptionist might be the first person the customers will meet when they reach the hotel. If the workers do not treat their work seriously, customer might have a bad impression of the hotel. However, if the workers give a pleasant first impression to the customer, customer might visit the hotel again or recommend the hotel to their friends and family. This will increase the hotel revenue. Secondly, having better technology than other hotel will enable customer to enjoy better benefits that they can’t enjoy in other hotel. An example will be, customers will choose a hotel with wireless than a hotel which doesn’t have as wireless enable customer to surf the net easily. Better technology will also mean that the workers can serve the customer better as the waiting time will be shorter. An example will be customer checking-in to the hotel. Customer will than doesn’t have to wait for long queue to check-in to the hotel if the computer system is able to locate the customer room easily. Lastly, travel agencies play an important role in the hotel. If many travel agencies are willing to advertise to the customer the hotel, there will be huge increase of customers coming to the hotel, which result to more revenue. Working with travel agencies will greatly helps the hotel to earn more revenue. However, if no travel agency wants to help the hotel to their customers, hotel would have lesser customer than hotel with travel agencies helps.

Friendship: Meaning of Life and Friends Essay

What is a friend? According to Aristotle, a friend is a single sole dwelling in two bodies. People understand the concept of friendship differently, but there is one common ground for it. It is always built on a mutual sympathy. Friendship plays an important role in our lives, to a large extent. Friends can help you find the meaning of life by helping you overcome challenges. They are people in your life that care for you and they simple add joy and meaning to your life. In some cases it is short and finds its end quickly, while in other cases it may last for many years and grow stronger every year. True friendship is built on trust and mutual support. Your real friend will always find time to talk and try to find solutions to the hard problems you face every day. They are always there to help you and expect the same from you. Friends are psychologically comfortable with each other, and sometimes are emotionally closer than with their relatives. Friends help you overcome challenges you may face at times in your life. A special thing about friendship is that friends have the ability to do different things like simply talking something through and giving advice or physically helping you Sometimes friends find more comfort in each other rather than family because they might have the idea that there family might judge them, and there friend will tell it right. In difficult times, friends make you see things from a different point of view, allowing you to take time to reflect and examine the situation. Doing this it allows you to see another perspective of the situation and find another way to overcome your challenge. Not only do friends help you through situations, but they go about this through love. Friends are people in your life that love and care about you. They will not only help you through something but they are the ones that will always be there for you in those times of need. They care about you and how you feel and that is what makes them a true friend. A friend is someone who believes in you when you have yet to believe in yourself. They help you to find the meaning of life because they let you know that there is someone out there that cares for you and that you are valuable to someone else in this world. Friends are not only there to help you, but they also add fun, happiness and joy to life. They add fun, happiness and joy as you can relate to each other and share the same values about things. Through sharing the same values you are able to laugh and joke about things that you will both find funny as you share the same ideas. They can make you forget about any problems you have by simply having some fun. Friends can be your whole life as you revolve many things around them. You know you can trust them as much as they can trust you. Friends help us to not take everything in life too seriously and have a bit of fun by simply being in each other’s company. Friendship has great value in the meaning of life. It is one of the richest treasures of life. Friends help you overcome challenges and difficult times in your life, through talking and physically helping you. They are someone who knows you well and cares about you, so that everything they do for you and through love. When the crowd dies down after a crisis, your friends are the ones who are still active. Friends will sit with you in the hospital, be with you while you grieve, be available at a moment’s notice of crisis, come out to help in the middle of the night, stand up for you, lend a hand when there is work to be done, be loyal to you, have fun with you, make you laugh when you are sad etc etc†¦ and the list goes on. The most important thing about friendship is that it adds meaning and value to our lives.

Influence of Ethnic Lobbies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Influence of Ethnic Lobbies - Essay Example This influence and the potential imbalance of â€Å"rights and interests† in extreme cases may lead to conflict that may tear apart the delicate mechanism of democracy. This will be explored further. American Foreign Affairs and Ethnic Lobbies The issue of the inequity of power distribution and influence amongst various groups has been rigorously debated in the United States since the inception of the pluralist democracy, according to Smith (5) and recognizes that polarizing influences will always exist within the structure of a pluralistic democracy (6). When looked at in the context of American foreign policy Smith argues that at different occasions different ethnic lobby groups with different agenda’s have had an undue influence on American foreign policy decisions, which may not necessarily have been in the interest of the nation as a whole. Smith identifies three ways through which ethnic lobbies gain influence in American foreign policy: by acquiring votes, financ ing campaigns of politicians and by organizing and mobilizing the ethnic community to which it belongs. History of Ethnic Lobbies & Measuring The Effect A country with as ethnically diverse a population as the United States of America has encountered various forms of ethnic activism and foreign policy lobbying for various at ends throughout its history. The period of World War 1, in particular, was a deeply polarizing era, during which many different ethnicities in America had differing allegiances in the conflict. Jewish Americans had begun to develop a strong lobby by acquiring control over financial resources and media in the form of newspapers. Having initially supported Germany, they began to support Britain after the Balfour Declaration. During the period after the war, ethnic lobbies began to exert increasing amounts of influence. Examples included America’s reluctance to actively participate in the League of Nations through Irish American lobbying, the ascendancy of t he Republican party due to German American support and America’s â€Å"isolationism† of the 1930’s influenced by Mussolini supporting Italian Americans (Smith, 53). It must be clarified, however, that even though lobbying has a great deal of influence on many American foreign policy decisions, it is not the sole determinant. In fact, Smith states that the problem is one of â€Å"measurement†, and that in order, to measure the effect of lobbying, the activities of the lobbies must be inspected in isolation and in competition with contradictory forces (124). Jewish American Lobby The Jewish American lobby has managed to maintain a strong presence in American polity since the beginning of the 20th century, its influence has grown gradually and it can now boast of almost unrelenting American support in almost all matters, that it concerns itself with. The ultimate goal of the Jewish American lobby in the modern day scenario is the unconditional support of Isr ael. In the early 1980’s President, Ronald Reagan managed to garner just enough support in Congress to allow an arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

Binge Drinking In College Students Research Paper

Binge Drinking In College Students - Research Paper Example The blood- alcohol content in her body during the time of death was 0.52. This was six times more than the legal adult intoxication limit as per the law in California. The girl measured 5 feet 2 inches in height. She weighed about 100 pounds. According to the toxicology report the girl had drank an equivalent of one pint of whiskey in an hour to get to this blood –alcohol content rate. There were more such reports of alcohol related deaths from different campuses in the country during the last three years. These incidents and the series of research reports and surveys that followed prompted this investigation after much pre investigative research .The pre investigative research showed that the issue is wide spread in the United States and it is beyond race and gender among the young school / college students. Thus focusing on gender or race for this investigation seemed meaningless. But still, the investigation included more whites than other races almost at the percentage of 80-20, because the whites are in majority and because the issue is not a racially culture specific .More males were included in the investigation than females as of course males indulged in alcohol abuses more than the females, may be as a part of macho freedom and macho power evidently present in a male dominated society. Most of the youngsters included in the investigation indicated that it is the subculture that exists in the campuses in the United States that leads to alcohol abuses .When fresh students reach the campus, most of them away from home for the first time, they are very cordially invited for free beer parties. The ready availability of cheap alcohol especially beer is another factor that traps students into this drinking sub-culture in the campuses. Availability of cheap alcohol, according to students included in the investigation, tempts them to drink in private settings like dorms and fraternity parties. Alcohol

Methodology chapter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Methodology chapter - Essay Example These differences, which can be considered to be improvements on the latter approaches, are what make design-based research a good fit for this research study. Design-based research differs from lab experiment re4search in a number of ways, especially in the education domain. While using lab experiment research in this case would have required a laboratory setting to ensure that there were no significant interruptions from confounding variables, design-based research will enable the current research to account for the dynamics, complexities, and limitations of the real world classroom (Behrendt, 2010). In addition, despite the existence of significant dependent and confounding variables in the classroom, DBR does not seek to consider all the former variables. This ability to choose from a number of dependent variables offers an advantage for using DBR to study the use Adobe Connect in learning a second language, especially since lab experiments have a fixed procedure due to attempts to manipulate one variable and control for the rest. By revising the research design iteratively and flexibly over the course of the research, it will be possible to characterize the complexities of how participants develop competency in the use of technology (Behrendt, 2010). Moreover, the fact that DBR will allow for social interactions with the ESL teachers, as well as between the ESL teachers and their students. This is due to its â€Å"real world† orientation, which lends it an added advantage over lab experiment research that would isolate the ESL teachers and prevent their interaction with researchers. Due to the complexities portended by the language barrier and learning new technology, it will be difficult to come up with a hypothesis from ini tial investigation of the research problem, which is a requirement of experimental investigations (Behrendt, 2010). By using DBR, however, the researchers will be able to develop practical design profiles

The Geopolitical and Strategic Importance of the Persian Gulf In Essay - 1

The Geopolitical and Strategic Importance of the Persian Gulf In Relation To Contemporary International Affairs in the Region - Essay Example However, the growth of this reason has resulted in both positive and negative effects. Negative impacts can clearly depict the several conflicts affecting the region that is frequently ignited by outside power (Nyrop, 2008). The August 2, 1990, Iraq invasion of Kuwait, is an example of such wars. The US intervened arguing that it was liberating Kuwait from Saddam Hussein. The U.S. sought convinced about 35 nations to support the move to liberate Kuwait through military action. The Persian Gulf War led to an increased rivalry between countries in the region. The conflicts are often ignited by the fight for a resource such as water and resources such as oil. The frequent conflict has become of great concern in the international affairs (Ungerman, 2000; Darvishi & Javilvand, 2010). The Persian Gulf is of great geopolitical and strategic importance due to its role in supplying most of the world’s resources. Natural resources such as water and energy are increasingly becoming scarce. Therefore regions such as the Persian Gulf, which supplies most of the energy to the world due to its great oil and gas resources are expected to continue being of great importance to the international affairs. Therefore, the Persian region is expected to continue being politically important due to its great role as an energy supplier. Moreover, the fight for energy is responsible for most of the past conflicts over energy (Darvishi & Javilvand, 2010; Ungerman, 2000) Therefore, the region is expected to continue being significant in the international affairs since tension is expected to continue growing since the energy requirement across the globe is increasing and countries such as China are expected to require about 5 million barrels per day b 2015. Since the oil will be derived from the region, Asian countries are likely to be characterized by increased interstate conflicts and weapon proliferation.

Women's and global leadership at bestfoods Case Study

Women's and global leadership at bestfoods - Case Study Example Ensuring that for each leadership position, a woman candidate must be present (Osland & Adler, 2007). Another method for promoting diversity include sending more women both of America and of non-American decent to senior management and development programs to shed a light on them on the possible leadership training offered to individuals. Understanding women and the barriers they face while at formal employment and support them. This is to be done by appreciating the effort that women contribute at work as well as the household needs they reach up to. At the same time, it is the look at work output in terms of delivery rather than time spent at work. Adding to that, many women at high levels to be selected for senior managerial positions at the company.Senior level management training offered to senior position holders promoted by companies could be beneficial to women if they had such positions(Osland & Adler, 2007). Brody is justified to hold the forum. This is because forums are an audience for all to be heard and the forum was to encompass women who are the sole victims in diversity at Bestfoods. The forum was to have 50% of women from outside the US, an enough indication of diversity. Possible alternatives that would generate the same agenda include holding seminars on gender diversity at work, pushing for bills that involve a certain limit in employment of women in each sector as well including women in the human resource departments of many companies (Osland & Adler, 2007). While pushing for the forum organization, Brody and Shoemate faced several challenges and programs. Brody and Shoemate’s ideas were not all met with a warm reception. Skeptical comments arose from some men and women who believed that the forum was not going to bear any results whatsoever. There was also the feeling of inferiority complex among some of the women selected to attend the forum. They felt that if in any case

The world was created by God Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The world was created by God - Term Paper Example In addition, there is no one being that has the power and skill to create the world. The Jainas contend that, if God were truly omnipresent and omniscient as claimed by the Naiyayika, then he would have to be everywhere and would require adsorbing himself to everything. Everything would have to be adsorbed to into his own self also, which would not leave anything to exist outside of him. His omniscient nature would also make him have the ability to experience hell since he would know everything and the knowledge he would have would be a direct experience. Therefore, his omnipresent and omniscient presence is put into question. The Jainas also contend that, a spiritual God would not have the ability to create material things because he had no raw material to do this. This argument posits that claiming the raw material rose naturally was to err because this would mean that the whole world might as well have created itself and come to be naturally in a similar way (Van Voorst 134). From this argument, the Jainas seem to contend that understanding the world as being the cause of an effect is difficult since if effect is taken to mean the world is made of parts, even space would, in this case, have to be regarded as having been an effect of God’s creation. If this effect were to mean that something that did not exist before being the result of a cause with coherence, it is not possible to talk of the world as being the effect of the creative ability of God because all atoms have been there since the beginning. In addition, if it means that God created things that are liable to being changed over time, then it should be argued that God was and still is liable to being changed. God would also need a creator who would create him and that creator would need another creator to create him and on and on. From the Jainas argument, such kind of creation would cause infinite regress. Finally, the Jainas contend that if God was complete and perfect prior to creating the world, the will to create the world would never have arisen in him, and if he were not perfect, he would not have the ability to create the world anymore than a potter would (Van Voorst 134). The view of God as an all-embracing and formless also renders him unable to create the world because he would have no desire to form or create anything. The Jainas contend that if God would have to be imperfect because he would have to possess the intelligence of humans. If this was not the case and God’s intelligence was only similar to that of humans, he would still have to possess a body because all intelligent beings in the world have bodies. Embodied intelligence is necessary if God should have the ability to produce a will. God would also not have gained any advantage from creating the universe since he is perfect as well (Van Voorst 134). According to the Jaina, it is unnecessary to assume a first-cause or a creator because there must also be a being who led to the first cause. F or the Jainas, it is more probable and logical to assume that the world has always existed and that it has gone through many changes (Jain 45). Nature and not a deity or God drives these changes, which also led to the Jainas not having any stories to explain creation. The world and everything that is in it, including motion principles, time, soul, space, and

Ancient Greece and Greek Red-figure Vase Essay Example for Free

Ancient Greece and Greek Red-figure Vase Essay In ancient Greece, most jobs were done by slaves instead of free people. This was because the Greeks had no money to pay workers with (until the Archaic period), and because they had no clocks (to measure how long somebody had worked). But it was also because it is cheaper to force people to work for you than it is to pay them. Most people who were slaves in Greece had been born free. They were sold into slavery by their parents when they were children, because their parents were too poor to take care of them. Or they were captured by kidnappers or as prisoners of war and sold as slaves. A few slaves were the children of other slaves. Some slaves were Greek and some were Persians or Egyptians or Scythians. There were a lot of jobs, and so about a third of the people living in ancient Greece were slaves. Slaves were owned by other people, and had to work for their owners. They could not decide to go work for somebody else. If they refused to work, their owner hit them. People who were slaves could not marry or raise children without their owner’s permission. And slaves could be sold at any time. Most of the slaves worked in the fields, plowing and planting seeds and harvesting wheat and barley and olives. Some slaves worked for small farms, maybe just one or two slaves working alongside their boss. Other slaves worked on huge farms with hundreds of other slaves, and never saw their owner. Slaves who worked in the fields were almost all men. Other slaves, both men and women, worked in factories or small shops, making shoes or shields or pottery or leather or weaving cloth. Some slaves cut hair in barbershops, and others worked in the public baths. Some were prostitutes. Slaves who could read and write were often teachers or accountants. Or slaves who had skills might be musicians or dancers. Skilled slaves were often freed when they got too old to work, though we’re not sure whether this was good or bad for them. A smaller number of slaves worked as servants in the houses of their owners. Women worked as wet-nurses, or as nannies, or as cleaning women or cooks. They went to get water from the public fountains. Men worked taking care of the horses, or accompanying free children to school, or as handymen or gardeners. Men went to the market to do the shopping every day. These slaves, too, were often freed when they got old and couldn’t work anymore. Some poor slaves worked rowing trading ships. They were kept down in the bottom of the ship and never saw the sun, and they were given only bread and water to eat, and were often beaten to make them pull the oars harder. Most men who worked as rowers didn’t live very long. But the slaves that were the worst off were the men who worked in the silver mines. The silver in the mines was mixed with lead. So the men who worked in these mines gradually died of lead poisoning. Nobody lived more than two or three years. Their owners knew that the slaves were being poisoned, but they didn’t care. Some of these slaves were criminals, murderers or thieves who were being punished by working as slaves. Others were slaves who had tried to run away from other jobs, or had refused to work. But many slaves went to the mines for no reason at all, just because people were needed to work in the mines, and free people didn’t want that kind of work

Geographically Weighted Regression to Model Housing Prices

Geographically Weighted Regression to Model Housing Prices Introduction In chapter 2, HPM has been used to model the relationships between characteristics of property and neighbourhood. However, HPM treats the whole housing market as a single homogenous market and assumes a stationary process, i.e the parameter estimates are assumed to apply equally over space. This presumes the influences of various factors on house prices in one location are the same as those in another location so that space, place and location do no matter (Foster refer). However, as shown in Chapter 2, the residuals derived using HPM are correlated. Additionally, Chapter 3 shows that when MLM approach is employed to account for spatial heterogeneity, the effects of those various factors in fact vary across neighbourhoods at different scales and there are great price differentials between neighbourhoods. The global approach, such as HPM, masks those local deviations from this average relationship. Disadvantages of MLM Although MLM approach takes into account spatial heterogeneity by specifying the spatial units as levels in the model, there are some weakness of this approach. Firstly, there is no agreement on the definition of neighbourhoods (Kearns and Parkinson 2001: 2103), so the specification of the macro level units (i.e. neighbourhoods) is fairly arbitrary. In the past, census boundaries (†¦),administrative boundaries (†¦.), or school catchment areas (goodman) have all been used to delimitate the whole house market into smaller submarkets, or local neighbourhood areas. Some researchers combined a series of dataset, such as travel-to-work, immigration and house price information and constructed a so-called housing market areas (HMAs)(†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..) . HMAs neither match the census boundaries, or the administrative boundaries, but instead, they represents†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. . The existence of spatial dependency in geographical data means that the observations that are most spatially dependent in the locations that are close to each other should constitute a neighbourhood. A predefined hierarchy of spatial units based on administrate or census boundaries may not necessarily appropriate. Secondly, MLM[1] treats space and assumes that same spatial process applies within the neighbourhoods and discontinues at the boundaries of the neighbourhoods. (†¦). Additionally, the highest level of spatial units (for example, MSOAs in our analysis) are assumed to be spatially dependent. This assumption is unrealistic because the â€Å"effect† of a neighbourhood is more likely change gradually from one neighbourhood to its adjacent ones rather than completely stops, the so-called â€Å"spill-over† effects. Therefore, there might be presence of spatial dependency between MSOAs that MLM is unable to capture. In contract, GWR (Brunsdon et al, 1996†¦..) relaxes the assumptions of the effects of various variables being constant over space (Dark, 2004,Mitchell, 2005andShi etal., 2006) and treats space as continuous. It calibrates locally a spatially varying coefficient regression model for each location of the study area by weighting the attributes of it neighbouring locations based on distance-decay functions (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.). The attributes of neighbours of a fitted location are all considered so the spatial dependency and heterogeneity can be taken into account in this approach (Paez 2005). This chapter therefore introduced this type of modelling technique to explore the spatial variations that may exist in the relationships between house price and its predictors. Purpose and Structure of the Chapter The aim of this chapter is to identify whether the relationships of house prices and a range of characteristics of houses and neighbourhood attributes) are relatively stable, or they vary substantially over space? If there are spatial variations, how does the relationships vary within and between neighbourhoods and how does this variation differ from the results derived from MLM approach? In addition, how good is the GWR approach in terms of its predictive capability, compared with MLM.? In the next section, a brief description of this technique is introduced. Section 3 follows with a review of previous applications of GWR is presented. The proposed study in relation to the empirical implementation of the technique then follows in section 4. The final section summarise the comparison between GWR and MLM the results and discusses the appropriateness of both techniques. 4.2 Brief Description on GWR Models What is GWR? GWR technique is fully descried by Fotheringham etal., 2002[2] and just a brief description of the approach is presented here. GWR is a spatial analysis technique that takes into account spatial autocorrelations among the observations in surrounding locations by allowing for spatial nonstationarity in the linear regression coefficients for each location. In GWR literature, the â€Å"location† can be a point or an aggregated area. describe local geographical variations in the relationships between a response variable and its explanatory variables by a set of local estimates for all the predictors for each geographical location (Fotheringham et al. 2002). A set of estimates and standard errors for each local coefficients are produced by focusing each location in the study region and weighted matrix of its nearby observation. The basic GWR equation can be written as: (4.1) Where denotes the coordinates of the th point in a two-dimensional study area; is the dependent variable at point , is the estimated intercept at point , ( represents the estimated coefficient for variable at point , is the independent variable of the th parameter at location , and is the error term for the local model at point . The estimation of ( is derived using weighted least squares (WLS) regressions (Moore and Myers, 2010; Fotheringham et al., 2002) by weighting the observations near location in accordance with their distance to that fit point. It is given by: where is a diagonal matrix denoting the geographical weighting of the observations around the fit point . Weighting The weighting is based on the distance between the regression location and its nearest neighbours, defined as bandwidth. The points in closer proximity to location is given more weight and therefore has more influence on the estimation of than the observations that are further away to location . A number of weighting schemes are available, but they tend to be Gaussian or â€Å"Gaussian-like† function, which is the types of dependency generally found in spatial processes (Forthemham). Two Commonly used distance-decay functions in GWR are Gaussian and Bi-square function (Fotheringham et al. 2002), which are expressed as below: Gaussian Bi-square Where is the th element of the diagonal of the matrix of the geographical weights , is the bandwidth, a threshold distance that any observations beyond this distance will not be used for calibrating the local model, and represents the distance between observation and focus point . When and coincide, the weighting equals to 1. Source: Gollini et al (2014) GW model: an R Package for Exploring Spatial Heterogeneity using Geographically Weighted Models Both functions are continuous up until the bandwidth, but the weights of Bi-square function decrease faster than that of Gaussian function and eventually become zero at the boundary of the bandwidth, while the weights of Gaussian function do not become zero. Both of the weighting functions will be tried in the planned research. Bandwidth Bandwidths can be specified either as fixed or adaptive (in terms of physical distance). The physical distance for adaptive bandwidth is changeable according to the spatial density so as to capture a fixed nearest neighbours for each local model: a shorter distance for areas where observations are dense and longer distance when data are sparse. The benefit of using adaptive bandwidth is that it can ensure sufficient local information be utilised for areas where observations are spatially scares and reduce the estimate variance for local coefficient and still reveal subtle local variations where observations are dense (Fotheringham et al. 2002). Therefore, adaptive bandwidth will be used in the planned research as the density of house price data vary geographically. The size of bandwidth affects gradient of the kernel and thus the rate of decay function. A small bandwidth have fewer observations included in the local model and rapid decay whereas a large bandwidth will have more observations in the local model and a smoother weighting scheme. The size of the bandwidth is important as if the bandwidth is too small, although the model would fits better for the local observations, but at the same time local noise may also be fitted thus the local estimates will have large variances. Conversely, if the bandwidth is too large, although the variances will become smaller, but the estimates of local coefficients are based on a much larger area and result in biased estimates which masks the true local relationships, especially if the relationships vary dramatically over small areas. This is the so-called bias-variance trade-off (Fotheringham et al., 2002)[3]. The effective number can be used to reflect bias-variance trade-off in GWR, which is a measure o f the number of observations that have been used effectively for calibrating the local model. Bias-Variance Trade-Off To find the best bias-variance trade-off, an appropriate weighting function and optimal bandwidth need to be selected. It has been argued that the selection of bandwidth selection is far more important than the weighting scheme as the weighting all decreases as distances increase by all weighting functions but the size of bandwidth decides the degree of decay (Fortherham†¦). The optimization process is generally exploratory and can be very compute-intensive process as it requires all the local regressions fitted at each step[4]. It can be achieved by either cross-validation method or use corrected Akaike information criterion (AICc) (Fotheringham et al. (2002). Leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) is a commonly used cross-validation method in GWR, where for each local model, it is validated by using all the cases except for one observation and the model is tested on that single observation. The bandwidth which produce the smallest root mean square prediction errors for all the dependent variables of all the local models is deemed as the optimal bandwidth. AICc is an indicator of goodness-of-fit and can be used to compare competing models while taking into account the complexity of a model. A lower AIC score indicate a better fit of a model. As a rule of thumb, a decrease of 3 in AIC of two competing model score indicates an improvement in the model fit for the model with lower AIC (Fotheringham et al 2002; Zhang etal., 2011). It is common though to get different optimal bandwidth from the two methods as the criteria for optimal is different for AICc and for CV[5] and the AIC value is not based on prediction of the dependant variable (†¦[6]..). In addition, AIC score can be corrected for small sample size, while classical CV method tend to produce under-smoothed result for small sample size[7]. One thing is note is that AIC should be avoided when the sample size is large as it requires the creation of an n by n matrix [8]so the optimization can be very slow[9]. Both method will be tried out in the planned research. Why Use GWR and when? As mentioned earlier, when there is spatial dependency between variables and spatial non-stationarity, GWR can be used to disaggregate global relations to local levels to obtain a better understanding of spatial data in more details. As every local model is fitted to local observations, it fits better to data than a global model and residuals are generally lower and less spatially dependent. The outputs, the estimates of local coefficient are specific to each location. In Chapter 2, Moran’s I has been used and indicate that there is statistical significant spatial autocorrelation within both house prices and the residuals of HPM results. This means that the global fitted coefficient value of HPM does not represent detailed location variations adequately and GWR should be used in this instance to taken into account the spatial dependency and examine the heterogeneity in housing market. A review of GWR approach in house price estimation This section reviews the application of GWR technique with a focus on residential real estate, as well as the comparisons of GWR with a range of other methodologies. The section will conclude with the identification of the research gap and thus the contribution of the current chapter. Application in Real Estate Valuation GWR has been applied to a number of field, including land use (Geniaux et al. 2011†¦.), environment (Harris et al. 2010a), health (Comber et al. 2011, Helbich et al. 2012b, Yang and Matthews 2012; [10]) and crime studies (Leitner and Helbich 2011), economics ([11]), regional studies ([12]) and residential real estate studies (Kestens et al. 2006; Bitter et al. 2007†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦). In terms of the application to real estate, GWR has been used to investigate the effects of the locations and surrounding neighbourhood characteristics, such as †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦,the effects of accessibility, such as the new bus transitway in†¦..((Mulley, 2013), infrastructure availability in †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.(Cellmer, 2012), and the effects of open space amenities (Nilsson, 2014). GWR has also been used to identify housing sub-markets (Borst Mccluskey, 2007; Crespo Grà ªt-Regamey, 2013; Helbich, Brunauer, Hagenauer, Leitner, 2013). GWR compared with other modelling techniques GWR has also been compared with a few valuation tools in real estate, such as multiple regression analysis (MRA), simultaneous autoregressive model (SAR), Artificial neural networks (ANN), spatial expansion method (SEM) and Spatial lag model (e.g., Brunsdon et al., 1999[13]; LeSage 1999[14]; (Bitter, Mulligan, Dall’erba, 2006; Helbich, Brunauer, Vaz, Nijkamp, 2013; McCluskey, McCord, Davis, Haran, McIlhatton, 2013; Yu, Wei, Wu, 2007). More specifically Bitter, Mulligan, Dall’erba (2006) demonstrated in their study that GWR was superior to spatial expansion method ( define briefly †¦.)in terms of predictive accuracy and explanatory power when applied to examine the marginal price of key housing attributes in the Tucson, Arizona housing market. McCluskey, McCord, Davis, Haran, McIlhatton (2013) also showed that GWR outperform MRA, ANN and SAR in term of predictive accuracy, transparency, and cost-effectiveness and offered when applied to 2,694 residual properties in for real estate price estimation. In a case study of spatial heterogeneity in Austria, Helbich, Brunauer, Vaz, et al. (2013) extended GWR to a mixed-GWR(MGWR), which allows some coefficient to be stationary while others to be non-stationary. This approach is more flexible and parsimonious than standard GWR (Wei and Qi, 2012). Both MGWR and GWR has smaller prediction errors in comparison with a global approach, such as OLS, SAR and spatial t wo stage least square procedure (S2SLS)[15]. There are other extensions of GWR. To deal with cross-sectional time series data, GTWR (Huang, Wu, Barry, 2010) was developed to integrate both temporal and spatial information in the weighting matrices to capture spatial and temporal dependency and heterogeneity[16] . GTWR is able to model spatial and temporal nonstationarity simultaneously and therefore offers a better goodness-of-fit. LeSage (2003) incorporate a Bayesian treatment into GWR in order to improve the estimates of GWR parameters. Contextualized Geographically Weighted Regression (CGWR) was developed by adding contextual variables into standard GWR. The research applied this approach to model spatial heterogeneity in the land parcel prices of Beijing in China and demonstrated that the incorporation of contextual information improved the model fit. However, multicollinearity between explanatory variables may result in unstable results in GWR models and cause more problem for GWR than in a global regression model (Lloyd 2007). Therefore, extreme caution should be exercised when analysing the spatial patterns of local coefficients derived from GWR (Wheeler Tiefelsdorf, 2005). A range of diagnostic tools was proposed and usage of PCA to identify the most influential predictors or integrating ridge regression into the GWR framework (D. C. Wheeler, 2007) can help stabilize GWR regression coefficients. There is only limited comparison of GWR with MLM, or random coefficient model (RCM). These two approaches are very different in terms of its underlying assumptions of the spatial process and yielded completely different results in the study of long-term illness in the UK (Brunsdon, Aitkin, Fotheringham, Charlton, 1999). There has no published research that compares GWR with MLM in terms of their capability to model spatial heterogeneity of house price data and their predictive accuracy. In addition, although GWR can be applied at any geographic scale of measurement, in practice however, may applications and previous research applied it to an coarsely aggregated scale due to the availability of data or keep anonymized information. Unlike previous studies, we have geo-code the â€Å"location† of each house based on its unit postcode location, which only contains typically around 15 residential addresses[17]. We hope to offer further insight into the geographical variation of the relationships at this detailed level, which previously might be disguised in previous research when the level of analysis was carried out at a much coarser scale. Planned Research Standard GWR is applied to the same dataset in chapter two and three, the house price data of the Greater Bristol area. Two extended version of GWR, GTWR and CGWR, will be explored with the former to capture the temporal dependency and heterogeneity and the later to incorporate contextual information into the model. In GWR and CGWR, the whole dataset will be split into yearly data to avoid the potential temporal autocorrelation within the data. There is no need of doing so in GTWR, as the time of sale has been taken into account in the model. Individual house characteristics are all categorical variables as described in Chapter 2 and will be modelled first and then neighbourhood variables will be added in the subsequent models. The planned procedures and a few methodological issues are addressed as follows. Firstly, before carrying out actual modelling of GWR, whether there is significant spatial autocorrelation within the data, which can be between the response variables and its lagged values or between the explanatory variables and their lagged value. Two most commonly used weighting function, Gaussian and Bi-squares functions will be used, although it has been shown that the selection of the weighting function does not have as much an effect on the results as the selection of bandwidth (Fotheringham, Brunsdon, and Charlton 1998). If it is the case, just one weighting function will be used in the subsequent yearly models and the focus will be one the optimization of bandwidth. An adaptive bandwidth is proposed, as there is a good mixture of rural/urban of housing stock in Greater Bristol and the density of the house sales varies dramatically over space. Both CV and AIC will be used to obtain optimal bandw idth and measure model fit as it was shown in the past that the two methods resulted in different optimal bandwidth and regression coefficients ([18]). Once a weighting function and bandwidth has been selected, the weighting matrix can are defined and used to estimate the coefficient for every location based on equation (4.1) and calibrating local GWR. The standardised residuals and the parameters, and their estimated standard errors will be mapped to investigate whether they vary spatially[19]. This will also be compared with the map of the shrinkage estimates of the neighbourhoods (OAs, LSOAs and MSOAs) derived by MLM in previous chapters. It is expected that the mapped patterns of MLM coefficient exhibit more â€Å"noise† than that of GWR, since GWR is essentially a spatially smoothing calibration. All of the model caliberation will be conducted in R, using GWmodel package as this software is free and the process can be easily replicated. Lastly, the predictive accuracy of GWR will be measured and compare with MLM. R squared is used for goodness of fit of the model and it measures the proportion of variation in the data that is explained by the model. Adjusted Rsquared takes into account the complexity of the model in terms of the number of variable that are specified in the model. It is expected that extended version of GWR, GTWR and CGWR, may provide better model fit and more accurate predictions based on their previous applications. In the past, there has been criticism that GWR cannot produce confidence intervals (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..) and the significance of the estimates for parameters cannot be tested. However, Monte Carlo significance tests have been used to test whether there is significant variability (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..) so this test is also planned to test if the spatial variation of the coefficients are statistically significant. â€Å"Wild bootstrap† approach as suggested by by H ¨ardle (1990) and McMillen (2004) can also be used to produce a weighted average of the variance of the separate parameter estimates. Conclusion GWR generally give much better fits to the data and the residuals are less autocorrelated. Its advantages over MLM is that it no longer treats space as discrete, which more likely resemble the spatial process in reality, and it models both spatial dependency and heterogeneity. In addition, it is essentially a non-parametric approach that does not requiring any assumptions with respect to the predictors, which can be categorical or the underlying distributions of the predictors can be highly skewed. There is no need to specify a functional form to produce the estimates of spatially varying parameters (Brunsdon et al 1998). The underlining concept of â€Å"letting the data speak for themselves† make it a good exploratory tool [20] for spatial analysis. This concept is very much similar to another modelling technique, ANN, except that in ANN, there is no implication of nearer locations have more influences on the estimates of local coefficients than locations that are further awa y as in GWR. This although unlikely in reality, but it might happen. How does GWR compared with ANN will be discussed in the next chapter. Link GWR and ANN: a set of estimates of spatially varying parameters WITHOUT specifying a functional form – â€Å"let the data speak for themselves† (Chris et al 1998) [1] the parameter estimates are assumed to be randomly distributed with either a finite (Wedel and Kamakura 2000) or a continuous mixture distribution (Aitkin 1996). [2] And Legendre, 1993 [3] Check: Bias-variance trade-off: MLM (Goldstein 1987) and Ridge Regeression (Hoerl and Kennard 1970a, 1970b) [4] check reference Schabenberger and Gotway (2005 316-317) statistical methods for spatial data analysis Waller and Gotway (2004, p434) – applied spatial statistics and Lloyd (2007 pp 79-86): local models for spatial analysis [5] http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisdesktop/9.3/body.cfm?tocVisable=1ID=-1TopicName=Interpreting GWR results [6] Housing Sub-markets and Hedonic Price Analysis: A Bayesian Approach by David C. Wheeler1*, Antonio Pà ¡ez2* , Lance A. Waller1 and Jamie Spinney3 Chapter 4 [7] Encyclopedia of Geographic Information Science edited by Karen Kemp (p183) [8] (gwr.sel {spgwr}) [9] NOTE AIC be applied in non-Gaussian GWR( Local Models for Spatial Analysis, Second Edition By Christopher D. Lloyd) [10] Modelling spatially varying impacts of socioeconomic predictors on mortality outcomes, J Geograph Syst (2003) 5:161–184, DOI: 10.1007/s10109-003-0099-7, proposed for modelling spatially varying, predictor effects on a disease or mortality count outcome The methodology is illustrated by suicide mortality in 32 London Boroughs over the period 1979–1993, in terms of area deprivation and a measure of social fragmentation disease mapping methods [11] SPATIAL HETEROGENEITY AND THE WAGE CURVE REVISITED*Simonetta Longhi, ISER, Peter Nijkamp [12] The Geographic Diversity of U.S. Nonmetropolitan Growth Dynamics: A Geographically Weighted Regression Approach Mark D. Partridgey Dan 5. Rickman, Kamar AU, and M, Rose Olfertte.st for geographic heterogeneity in ihe growth parameters ami compare iliem to global regression estimates. The results indicate significant heterogeneity in the regression coejjkients across the country, most notably for amenities and college graduate shares. V.sing GWR also exposes .signiftimt local variations that are masked by global estimates [13] A Comparison of Random-Coefficient modelling and Modeling and Geographically Weighted Regression for Spatial Non-Stationary Regression Problems, Geographical and Environmental Modeling, 3 (1), 47–62 [1

Communication Development Plan

Communication Development Plan Abstract This paper describes how the communication can be developed by using some strategic plans or tools. It contains graphical representation and the content will be in my point of view. The development plan is clearly explained in the document. It defines the goals and strategies of communication development. Communication Development Plan The purpose of the communication plan is to develop my communication skills and to be experienced for attending a job interview. By effectively communicating I can easily work with the co-employees and accomplish the given tasks. The communication plan gives a system to oversee and facilitate the wide assortment of interchanges that occur amid the venture. The communication plan covers who will get the interchanges, how the interchanges will be conveyed, what data will be imported, who imparts and the recurrence of the interchanges. Communication development exercises distinguish the proper level of communication for each venture partner, what data ought to be conveyed, and the recurrence of interchanges. This arrangement ought to likewise incorporate the vehicle of communication (email, up close and personal gatherings, and so forth). The danger of deficient planning could bring about the inability to finish key venture destinations, duplication of exertion, and diminished partner certainty. Current Assessment of Communication My current communication assessment is developed by scoring each category through assessing on my own knowledge: Table 1Self-Assessment Scoring table (Deborah J. Barret. 2014. P.21) Score Capability Area 4 Ethos/image 3 Audience analysis and strategy 3 Social media and other written communication 2 Oral communication 3 Visual communication 4 El: Dealing with own feeling 3 El: Dealing with others 4 Cultural communication competence 3 Group and team communication and dynamics 3 Organizational communication 3 Internal communication 2 External communication 1= Need lots of work in this area 2= Need some work in this area 3= Acceptable, but could be stronger 4= Very good abilities, close to leadership communication level 5= Excellent abilities, leadership communication level achieved The above table shows in which categories I need to develop and which one is strong. By this assessment, I can easily know what the areas need to develop and work on it. Communication Improvement Goals You can have brilliant ideas, but if you cant get them across, your ideas wont get you anywhere. (Lee Lacocca) The communication skills that need to be improve are Listening skills and Oral communication. I generally wondered: What is it that makes a few people exceptionally powerful communicators while a couple gets to be tongue-tied at the possibility of tending to a gathering of outsiders? I used to know somebody who was particularly splendid, conferred and remain in his employment yet he generally used to get disregarded when the time sought the yearly progression or raise. For all intents and purposes, each part of the life force you to speak with others in some frame or mold. If you need to set objectives to enhance relational abilities, first, consider how you identify with others and after that solicit you what undesirable examples from conduct may hinder communication achievement. Indeed, even a snapshot of expectation may go far toward enhancing individual and business relationships. Similarly, as with whatever another aptitude, you must point on your capacity to speak with others obviously and viable. A few people are conceived with it. Yet, there is a large portion of us, I included, who have needed to take a shot at it to get to where we are today. Have patience. Try not to anticipate that yourself will bloom into a sure public speaker overnight. Set sensible objectives and compliment yourself at whatever point you effectively explore through a saddling discussion or discourse. Actions to achieve goals Listening Skills: To become a good listener, we need to follow the requirements below: Focus Fully on the Speaker his or her non-verbal communication, the manner of speaking, and other nonverbal signs. The manner of speaking passes on feeling, so in case youre considering different things, checking instant messages or doodling, youre practically sure to miss the nonverbal prompts and the enthusiastic substance behind the words being talked. Furthermore, if the individual talking is comparatively diverted, youll have the capacity to rapidly get on it. If you think that its difficult to focus on a few speakers, take a stab at rehashing their words over in your mind until it fortifies their message and help you to remain centered. Favor your right ear the left half of the mind contains the essential preparing places for both dialogue appreciation and feelings. Since the left half of the mind is associated with the right side of the body, supporting your right ear can help you better understand the enthusiastic distinction of what somebody is stating. Have a go at keeping your stance straight, your button down, and tilting your right ear towards the speaker this will make it less demanding to get on the higher frequencies of human talk that contain the enthusiastic substance of whats being said. Avoid interrupting or trying to redirect the conversation to your concerns, by saying something like, On the off chance that you feel that is terrible, given me a chance to disclose to you what occur. Listening is not the same as sitting tight for your swing to talk. You cant focus on what somebodys expression in case youre framing what will state next. Frequently, the speaker can read your outward appearances and realize that your mind is not here. Show your interest in what beings said. Nod your head incidentally, grin at the individual, and ensure your posture is open and welcoming. Urge the speaker to proceed with little verbal remarks like yes or uh-huh. Try to set aside judgement. Keeping in mind the top goal to discuss successfully with somebody, you dont need to like them or accord with their views, qualities, or conclusions. In any case, you do not need the judgment and keep fault and keeping feedback in mind the end goal to completely understand a man. The most disturbing communication, when effectively executed, can prompt to the most improbable and significant association with somebody. Provide feedback. If there is by all accounts a difference, reflect what has been said by rewarding. What Im hearing is, or Seems like you are stating, are incredible approaches to reflect. Dont just repeat what the speaker has said literally, however-youll sound devious or unintelligent. Rather, express what the speakers words intend to you. Make inquiries to clear up specific focuses: What do you mean when you say or Is this what you mean? Individuals frequently concentrate on what they ought to state, however viable correspondence is less about speaking and more about tuning in. Listening admirably implies not simply understanding the words or the data being imported, additionally understanding the feelings the speaker is attempting to convey. (Robinson, Segal, Smith. 2016. p.3-4). Oral Communication. An important part of supervision is the capacity to speak with other parties. A successful approach to rapidly enhance the capacity to impart orally and in composing is to see each correspondence open door as making an oral proposition to someone else. The oral proposition can be made orally, or it can be in a composed report. The accompanying dialog of making an oral proposition is more expanding than a boss would typically do in imparting assignments or data to a subordinate, yet the ideas are appropriate to all oral communication. (CSTE Common Body of Knowledge, V6.1) The following guidelines need to be followed when giving a presentation: Underline that you are introducing the best answer for the clients issues. Emphasize that your venture group is all around prepared to complete this arrangement. Sell the corporate experience of your enterprise staff and yourself. Sell your own administration capacities. trade the specialized mastery of the venture staff and yourself. Sell your eagerness to do this venture sufficiently, effectively, and financially. Oral Communication is the process of verbally transmitting data and thoughts starting with one individual or gathering then onto the next. Oral correspondence can be either formal or casual. Cases of casual oral communication include: Face-to-Face discussions Phone discussions Talks that happen at conferences Strategic planning/Communication The strategic plan used for finding my goals to achieve is self-assessment as shown above in the table. The below is the plan for achieving my goals: Communication Development Process: The above figure explains how to achieve communication by following the cycle. Define Success: Firstly, identify the needs that are need to be developed for the organization that you are interested to apply for a job. Self-Awareness: Understanding the strengths and weaknesses by assessing on your own knowledge and by checking with the organization. Self-Management: Setting the goal is more important which leads to a great leader. Then focus on implementing the goal by several strategies and finally develop the skills that are required through practicing daily by some activities. Evaluate progress: At last measure, the goals whether you have reached or not. If you find any remarks while improving stats, then plan to refine the goals and continue the process until it done. Improving does not end. (Sir Winston Churchill) SMART Goals: It is used to measure the goals and maintain a time table which helps to achieve your goals. The above briefly shows that what are the SMART goals responsible and what can be achieved from it. When you have arranged your venture, turn your regard for building up a few objectives that will empower you to be effective. Objectives ought to be SMART Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and time-based. (Haughey. 2014) Specific: What needs to be accomplished and why? Oral Communication It is the important means of communication which is used for academic and business meetings. Time management It helps you to make right choices, so you can spend more time on the things that are more valuable to you. Measurable: How will I know it will be accomplished? When I was in undergrad, I couldnt give speeches in front of class. But, now I have improved a little and gaining experience by taking feedback from professors. Achievable: Time Management:Â   Oral Communication: Know your subject clearly and practice Do not speak too fast It is better to say little than too much Make face-to-face conversation effective Improving presentation skills Record a video for yourself and verify Relevant: Is this worth time? Yes, I am student and have free time. Is this the right time? Yes, while being a student is the right time to learn. Am I right person to reach the goal? Yes, I want to become a project leader. Time Bound: When? I have 9 months of time from now. What can I do from now? I can learn many things while being a student and take feedback of lecturers. I can gain more experience from the collage. Conclusion I conclude this report that communication development plan is very helpful for those who want to become a good leader and achieve their goals. I have briefly explained how to achieve goals using SMART analysis and given the table format. Self-assessment is also given to identify your goals that need to be improved. References Robinson.L, Segal.J, and Smith.M. Effective Communication. Last updated: December 2016. p.3-4. https://www.helpguide.org/articles/relationships/effective-communication.htm?pdf=true CSTE Common Body Of Knowledge, V6.1. http://msqaa.org/Best_Practices/Management/MakingProposal.pdf Deborah J. Barret. (2014). Leadership Communication. Mc Graw Hill Education: New York. p.21.

Disc Golf :: Ultimate Frisbee Golf

Water and Salt water sound similar, at first you would think that but as soon as you research either of them you’ll find that the only thing they have one thing in common water. This pair brings to mind somewhat of a similar situation in golf and frisbee golf. One would think that you frisbee golf is just golf with a frisbee but this is not so it s deeper than that. When you experience both of these it come to you, although they share similar names golf and frisbee golf have many differences between them. It is easy to conclude that the equipment differs in golf and frisbee golf. When golfing you use fifteen clubs and a ball, the clubs allow you to hit shots at different lengths. The ball you use consists of hard plastic that varies in the way they grip the green and the way they fly through the air. You hit the ball at a hole with a three-inch diameter by hitting the ball with the club. When playing frisbee golf you use frisbees made from a hard plastic for durability. When picking out your frisbee you must take a lot of other things into consideration such as: color, weight, design and flight pattern. You also may find it necessary to obtain two frisbees one being a driver and the other being a putter. The driver is for maximum distance but not accuracy and the putter is for the opposite. You throw these frisbees at hanging chains with a cup underneath. I think beginners should play where they get the frisbee to hit any part of the chains or the pole in the air. So if you throw it a nd nick the chains its as good as putting it in the cup, making it easier so you don’t get so discouraged. This also helps them experiment with how the frisbee flies and how to get it to fly other ways. To recap golf uses two types of equipment and frisbee golf uses just one, also in golf the club propels the ball as opposed to frisbee golf where your arm throws the frisbee.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is really only one traditional swing in golf. This is a fluid take back followed by a controlled rip at the ball. In frisbee golf you have many choices of how you want to throw the frisbee, it comes down to a matter of how it needs to fly and what you feel most comfortable with.

Sheilas Comment Explaining the Action of the Play :: Sheila An Inspector Calls J.B. Priestley Essays

Sheila's Comment Explaining the Action of the Play "Well he inspected us all righ Between us we drove that girl To commit suicide" This sentence is very important to the story because Sheila realises that the inspector is not a real inspector but he has inspected them and they lost against him and it was them, each member of the family who contributed to Eva Smiths death. We will learn in this essay how each family member is a contributor to the death of an innocent person, Eva Smith and also how the inspector inspects the family using his power not physically but verbally and how he does the inspection. We learnt about how each person from the Birling's family effects Eva Smith even a good person like Gerald and a bad person like Mr Birling so it is necessary to explain how each character acts towards Eva Smith. Combined with this we learn from the story that an inspector with the name of Goole comes to inspect them all. The first person that strikes on Eva Smith is Mr Birling. Mr Birling is a very rich person. He has a prosperous business but is shown to be extremely greedy and very ironic. His extreme greediness concludes to Eva Smith loosing her job, which was the first hit on Eva Smith. Eva Smith is a very hardworking woman who works for Mr Birling in his factory. She is getting very fed up due to the low wage he pays and which she cannot survive on. She and the other ringleaders are planning on to go on strike after there holidays. Eva Smith after the holidays goes and asks Mr Birling for an increase to 26 Shillings a week which he refuses saying, "I could not consider it" and then sacks her is pretty sad and very evil of him to do that. It also shows me the time of period where women were protesting for their rights and independence and women also died for their rights. So first contributor to Eva Smith's death his Mr Birling because he throws her out of her job because he did not want to give her the increase. You will also learn of his bad and evil personality as the essay proceeds. As I have said before he is very ironic. Before the inspector comes in to inspect them they are having a party because Mr Birling's daughter is engaged to Gerald. Here Mr Birling is telling his son Eric and his future son in law how life is and what is going to happen. His son Eric is talking about a possible war.

Psychology and Social Support Essay

Marriage these days does not seem to last very long. Two months after his wedding, your friend Tom confides in you that he’s unhappy in his marriage. He tells you that he and his wife seem to be fighting all the time, and nothing seems to get resolved. He tends to be very high-strung anyway(His friends call him â€Å"Type-A Tom†) and now he feels like the stress of the constant bickering is affecting every aspect of his life, including his health. Since you’re in a Psychology class, he asks you for your thoughts on the chances of his marriage surviving and your advice about what he can do about his stress. Based on what you’ve read (either in the assigned readings in this module or your own Internet research), you answer his questions by addressing 10 factors that may be related to his situation. Briefly discuss each of these factors (and how it may relate to Tom’s predicament) in a 5-7 page essay. The Factors are: Predictability of the stressor. In psychology, stress is a feeling of strain and pressure. Symptoms may include a sense of being overwhelmed, feelings of anxiety, overall irritability, insecurity, nervousness, social withdrawal, loss of appetite, depression, panic attacks, exhaustion, high or low blood pressure, skin eruptions or rashes, insomnia, lack of sexual desire (sexual dysfunction), migraine, gastrointestinal difficulties (constipation or diarrhea), and for women, menstrual symptoms. It may also cause more serious conditions such as heart problems. Also, experimental research which has been performed on animals, also displayed results relating to stress and negative effects on the body. It has been shown that stress contributes to the initiation and development of specific tumors within the body. A stressor is any event, experience, or environmental stimulus that causes stress in an individual.[22] These events or experiences are perceived as threats or challenges to the individual and can be either physical or psychological. Researchers have found that stressors can make individuals more prone to both physical and psychological problems, including heart disease and anxiety.[23] Stressors are more likely to affect an individual’s health when they are â€Å"chronic, highly disruptive, or perceived as uncontrollable†.[23] In psychology, researchers generally classify the different types of stressors into four categories: 1) crises/catastrophes, 2) major life events, 3) daily hassles/microstressors, and 4) ambient stressors. Social support (human relationships) Social support is the perception and actuality that one is cared for, has assistance available from other people, and that one is part of a supportive social network. These supportive resources can be emotional (e.g., nurturance), tangible (e.g., financial assistance), informational (e.g., advice), or companionship (e.g., sense of belonging). Social support can be measured as the perception that one has assistance available, the actual received assistance, or the degree to which a person is integrated in a social network. Support can come from many sources, such as family, friends, pets, organizations, coworkers, etc. Government provided social support is often referred to as Public aid.

Assessment In The Classroom Essay

The school has a comprehensive, well set out assessment-policy which I have tried to familiarise myself with during my second four week university block away from the school, as I sourced a copy of it during my serial weeks along with a number of other school policy documents both required for (and beyond) the school-policy professional activity exercise. I have found this has helped me get to grips with the procedures within the school and has helped me fit in. Though the school assessment policy document is comprehensive in its description of the responsibility for planning of and approaches to recording and reporting of assessment, and the use of assessment results. It also interestingly, takes time to highlight the importance of using whole class assessment as a means of reflecting and evaluating one’s own teaching practices; something which the PGDE course has stressed is a central part of the modern-day teaching profession. More specifically however, I have also been fortunate enough to witness the effective use of a variety of assessment practices by my teacher in the classroom which I feel has been invaluable in furthering my understanding of styles of assessment and how these work. Indeed while I was aware of many of the features of the school policy document, I feel that to see these in action in the classroom is a process which cannot be communicated in written form. That said, I have been aware of the majority of these as they feature in Assessment is for Learning (AiFL) and Building the Curriculum 5: Assessment (BTC5) policy documents and so this combined with the provision of information in the school assessment policy guide placed me in good stead to look out for these in practice. Two Stars and a Wish The two stars approach was something I was familiar with the workings of through our use of it in assessing our own poster-display work in ULT/ELT seminars. It was however interesting to see how differently children responded in the classroom. Beyond engaging with the terminology far more than my fellow-students (who often mixed up the order) children seem surprisingly keen to improve if they can and focus not only on the two stars element, but also focus (positively) on the wish – seemingly happy to take advice on what to do better next time (again, sometimes more so than my PGDE colleagues)! Self Assessment I feel very positive and encouraged by the use of self assessment by my teacher who has demonstrated how effective this approach can be in identifying both success and problems equally. Indeed self-assessment appears to me, to allow children to feel as though they are playing an active role in the learning process as a whole and not simply a subject of learning and assessment. The thumbs (up, middle or down) approach also seems appealing as it is very efficient in that it allows a simple yet comprehensive snapshot of how pupils rate their own understanding. Further follow-up questioning also seems to be an effective part of the self assessment process. She has also demonstrated however that self-assessment is not limited to the simplistic thumbs or traffic-light colour approach (which was most obvious to me), through her interesting use of a traffic light workbook stamp which children are required to colour-in (green, orange or red) on their own work, before detailing a short reason to justify their choice which provides useful and often specific feedback on teaching which would seem to be a useful tool in the reflection and improvement process. Peer Assessment The use of peer assessment appears prominent in my teacher’s classroom presumably because she so eagerly embraces cooperative learning and thus children are often not only self- assessing their own work but also that of their partner or group. I feel this could be an effective approach to introducing peer assessment of individual work to a class who have not experienced this before – as it may well demonstrate the importance of being polite (but honest) when assessing other pupils work. Formal assessment I was fortunate enough to observe my class being formally assessed on both writing and spelling during my serial placement. Though the need for a comprehensive awareness of assessment is arguably now greater (now that I am giving my own lessons) than was the case during my observation weeks, and it is difficult to discuss something which took place so many weeks ago, I feel I am able to reflect on these early experiences enough to be able to appreciate the key elements of formal assessment. I believe I have an awareness of the principled approaches needed to implement formal assessment. Ultimately I feel my teacher’s competent and varied use of these approaches to assessment (even at this early stage of my placement) has given me the working awareness needed to implement them and also the confidence to begin to take steps towards using a greater range of these in a number of my future lesson plans.