Role of Women in Society (the Story of an Hour and a Rose for Emily)

Kate Chopin’s â€Å"The Story of an Hour† written in 1894 and William Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily† written in 1930 are two stories that show major roles of women in society. Although the two stories have a different perspective of the women due to their era, they both give a great explanation of how the women were and how they were treated by other people during their time. The women in both of the stories explain how they perceive each of their own roles and how they cope with their own situations, which are much different and alike from our society today.For many years women have tried finding their place in society, which is hard when males are usually perceived as the leaders or ones who control their wives. In â€Å"The Story of an Hour† Chopin explains the freedom of a once married woman, and how much she enjoys her freedom from being married, this story is based on the role of women in marriage and relationships. In the scene where Mrs. Mallard believes that her husband is dead after receiving the shocking news â€Å"She did not hear the story as many women have heard the same† (Chopin 106), this sentence explains that Mrs.Mallard takes it in differently than most other women do when they find out that their husband has died. For a while, Mrs. Mallard is sad but only when she was alone â€Å"When the storm of grief had spent itself she went away to her room alone. She would have no one follow her† (Chopin 106). When Mrs. Mallard had abandoned herself she caught herself whispering over and over again the words â€Å"Free, free, free† (Chopin 107). This sentence showed that Mrs.Mallard was finally free â€Å"She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring of life† (Chopin 107). The words â€Å"New spring of life† show that Mrs. Mallard had a new spring in life which symbolized freedom. â€Å"There would be no one to liv e for during those coming years; she would live for herself† (Chopin 107), this shows that she has had enough from her marriage and wants to enjoy her freedom and not waste it on someone else, she just wants to enjoy it for herself.Mrs. Mallard was obviously in a bad marriage â€Å"And yet she loved him-sometimes† (Chopin 107), this phrase shows that she was confused about her love for her husband and only loved him sometimes. â€Å"Spring days, and summer days, and all sorts of days that would be her own† (Chopin 108), explains that she was just so happy to finally spend those days on her own and not have her husband to hold her back from the things that she loves, that she is finally free to do whatever she enjoys to do. At the end of the story when Mrs.Mallard’s husband shows up at the house and as she looks at him she has a loud screeching cry and that was it. Mrs. Mallard had died of heart disease â€Å"a joy that kills† (Chopin 108). Mrs. Mall ard expected to be free for the rest of her life, then after seeing her husband alive she realizes she will not have her life the way she had imagined and then she died from disappointment of not having her â€Å"Free! body and soul free† (Chopin 107) life. In the story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† Faulkner explains the anger of a lonely, unloved woman that is desperate for affection but is shocked when she does not get it.This story plays a major role of women in society due to uncontrollable anger and revenge. Miss Emily’s lonely life begins from the death of her father which left her depressed and unloved. â€Å"She went out very little; after her sweetheart went away, people hardly saw her at all† (Hemingway 117), this shows that Miss Emily cannot handle being outside of her house while she is depressed. When Miss Emily met Homer Barron in the story, she fell deeply in love with him and people said â€Å"they are married† (Hemingway 120).After being with Homer for a while he finally admitted that, â€Å"he liked men- and it was known that he drank with the younger men in the Elks’ Club† (Hemingway 119). In the scene where Homer had admitted he liked men and threatened to leave the following day, Miss Emily went and bought arsenic poison which showed that Miss Emily could not handle the fact that he was going to leave her. This is a typical role of women in society today because most women have a feeling of revenge when a man threatens to leave them.For a long time after that many people were not surprised when Homer Barron was not seen for some time. In this story Miss Emily poisons her husband and kills him leaving his body in her bed for many years. The ending of the story shows the biggest part in the role of women. Miss Emily is believed that she killed her husband due to the revenge of him threatening to leave her. Miss Emily probably would have not killed her husband if it were not for her father leaving he r at a young age.As Emily grew up she only knew how to be lonely and when she found Homer she took it for granted that he was not going to leave her, and when he finally did threaten to leave her she figured that she would not want to go through loneliness which explains when they found Homer’s body in her bed. She put his body in her bed because she could not handle being alone the rest of her life and she knew if she killed him that he would have no way of leaving. From the two stories Josephine and Miss Emily both saw death as a solution to their situations.Josephine perceived her own role as being a free woman out of marriage, while Miss Emily saw loneliness as a problem. These women did not handle or cope with their situations well at all, which is like most women today. Most women do not know how to handle situations that are very tough, especially ones that make them disappointed. In both of the stories it is the men’s fault for their deaths. Men to this day cau se many women to become disappointed because men are controlling and both of the stories Josephine and Miss Emily were controlled by their husbands or, they were disappointed in what their husbands’ did.

Retaining High Potential Employees

Generally, talent management refers to the identifying, developing, and retaining high potential employees for top key business positions including training, career planning, HR development, succession planning, performance management, balanced demand and supply of qualified workforces so that the organization can reach to their target goal but the approaches vary from organization to organization (Mathis & Jackson, 2008, p. 292) [14]. Talent management is one of the fundamental terms in the operational area of HR governance where talent attraction, talent development, talent deployment and retention are four major paradigms to ensure the sustainability of human resources(Grobler, Bezuidenhout and Hyra, 2014) [15]. If there is no proper managerial succession planning, the practice of learning organization, career planning and mentoring, then the retention of highly talented people would be very challenging for the long run. The current study also expects the positive relationship between talent management and sustainable human resource development and develops the following hypothesis:H1: There is positive relationship between talent management and sustainable human resource development. 3.2 Consolidated HR policy:The practices of sound HR policies directs towards the strong committed labor pool for any organization. HR policy is the foundation of all HR activities. It is the written directions about the employment and plays a remarkable role to implement organization's HR strategy effectively like transforming organization into a more optimistic perception, transparency and psychological contact regarding the job (Watson, 2013) [16]. Moreover, it is not static dictation rather continuously updated and improved with the changing environment such as developing new HR policies, implementing, reviewing and ensuring that human resource expertise is represented as part of the skill set of the board of directors (Moore, 2011) [17]. The current study ought to examine the relationship between consolidated HR policy and sustainable human resource development and following hypothesis is developed:H2: There is positive relationship between consolidated HR policy and sustainable human resource development. 3.3 HR risk management:Although risk is inevitable in business environment, it is also common in HR practices. So, the organizations need to identify, observe, prioritize and manage key HR risks with a pragmatic, integrated and coordinated approach which might be comprehensive analysis of its personnel risks. For instance, the optimistic HR environment leads to the minimum level of risk and increases an organization's ability to manage risks. HR Risk Management Service Line Leader in the United States of America (USA); Christopher Lipski pointed that managing risk in the HR area has gaining increasingly importance for global executives (Ernest & Young, 2009) [18]. Good HR governance includes the proper risk monitoring activities such as standard code of ethics, contingent management, conflict, stress management and so on. As proactive approach, companies must be careful of becoming risk complacent when they assume that they can forecast the future accurately (Taleb, 2007) [19]. This hypothesis is developed to prove the following relationship:H3: There is positive relationship between HR risk management and sustainable human resource development. 3.4 Employee development:The actual growth of an organization completely depends upon the intelligent and skilled employees' collaborative team performance. From this perspective, employee development is an emerging issue for the sake of organizational development. It means the physical and psychological both development of employee and organization as a whole. Hence, it is believed that when human resources would develop, organization would be more flourished regarding its overall growth (Elena, 2000) [20]. Now, it is a common practice to all concerned organization to turn the human resources into the human capital through effective training and development, offering the scope of self-actualization, coaching and mentoring, on the job career development and overall interpersonal skill development which will lead to the intended employee performance. The following hypothesis is developed to examine the relationship between employee development and human resource development:H4: There is positive relationship between employee development and sustainable human resource development. 3.5 Compensation benefits:Simply, the compensation is the monetary value to an employee in return of his/her services. It comprises some other benefits and rewards for the employees which they receive in the forms of pay, wages, fringe benefits and so on which work as motivating factor behind their best performance (Holt, 1993) [21]. The behavioral aspects of employees are affected by compensation. Monetary benefits can increase feelings of self-reliance (Vohs, Mead, ; Goode, 2006, 2008) [22] and also increase pain tolerance (Zhou, Vohs, ; Baumeister, 2009) [23]. If the compensation system is appropriate for all then organizational policies and procedures could have their desired effects. Moreover the structure and implementation of compensation systems not only can affect employee motivation, but also can improve safety, quality, and creativity at their workplace. The following hypothesis focuses on the impact of compensation on human resource development:H5: There is positive relationship between compensation benefits and sustainable human resource development.3.6 Employee welfare:Employee welfare comprises various benefits and facilities such as allowances, housing, transportation, office time meal and medical insurance etc. It also includes monitoring of working conditions, creation of industrial harmony and so on. Employee welfare oriented environment leads to increase the number of satisfied employees which ultimately ensures the incremental profitability growth. Some common cherished employee welfare activities at workplace are flexibility in job responsibility, community benefits, transportation facilities, childcare facilities and so on. Some Bangladeshi organizations are practicing the employee participation in Workers Profit Participation Fund (WPPF) which is one of the significant fringe benefits for employee welfare. Bangladesh Labor Law (Amendment) 2013, Section 234 of the Act No. 42 of 2006[24]. -In Section 234 of the said Act – (a) Replacing Clause (b) of Sub – Section (1), the following Clause (b) shall be replaced, e.g.: (b) of the owner within maximum nine months from the completion of a year, 5 percent from the net profit for the year shall contribute to the WPPF with a proportion of 80: 10: 10 to the Participatory Fund, Welfare Fund and Workers' Welfare Foundation Fund established under Section 14 of the Bangladesh Workers Welfare Foundation Act, 2006[25]: Provided that if any employer has paid one percent (1%) of net profit to the Welfare Fund immediately before effectiveness of this Act, the Board of Trustees is obligated to transfer 50% of deposited amount in favor of the Welfare Fund to the Workers Welfare Foundation Fund. This hypothesis is developed to prove the following relationship:

The Basis of Economics

Japan has performed a miracle. The country's economic performance following its crushing defeat in World War II is nothing short of astounding. The economic expansion of Japan is second to none. All of the elements are in place for Japan to continue increasing its share of the world's wealth as America's gradually declines. The country is on track to becoming the world's largest economy. How did Japan do it? There are many theories and studies that have traced the Japanese miracle without success. The answer to the mystery can by examining Japan's culture, education, and employment system. Japan's success is not just a case of good technique and technology in business, but a real recognition and development of the necessary human skills. A better understanding of the Japanese society provides the framework to understanding the workings of Japanese business (and possibly the Japanese mind. ) The ayes of the Japanese provide a foundation for their economic adaptability in modern times. Japan is a culture where human relations and preservation of harmony are the most important elements in society. It is their sense of identity and destiny, which gives their industrial, machines its effectiveness. Among the Japanese, there exists an instinctive respect for institutions and government, for the rules of etiquette and service, for social functions and their rituals of business. Japan is a traditionally crowded island; the people are forced to share the limited space with each other and to live in harmony. The Japanese are very protective of their culture. They are very conservative to outside intrusion. Their distinctive ways are a source of pride and national strength. Japan's striving for purity is very different form a North American idea of open doors and diversity as strength. Accordingly, one of the main sources of Japan's strength is its people's willingness to sacrifice, to be regimented and homogenized, and to subordinate personal desires to the harmony of the working group. The Japanese people have had to become a group-oriented society. While in the western world, individuality and independence are highly valued, Japanese society emphasizes group activity and organization. The people accept that they will belong to one social group and work for one company for life. The crowded island conditions have driven society to value conformity. The culture that Japanese people are brought up in causes them to recognize that they have to work together to succeed. Only harmony will provide improvement. This development of the human nature and attitude relates directly to Japan's business practice and provides a basis for good business relations. Japan's education system has grabbed the world's attention as it is specifically designed to teach the children skills and aptitudes to give them an edge in the business world. The educational system, based on the principle of full equality of educational opportunity, is widely recognized as having greatly contributed to the prosperity of Japan by providing a highly qualified work force supplemented by extensive in training programs by many of the major employers. The primary and secondary educational system is probably the most comprehensive and most disciplined in the world. Where North American students attend school 175 days a year, Japanese students attend 240 days. Japanese students attend elementary and secondary school six days a week and for two months longer each year than North American students. In addition, they have long hours of homework. A large majority of Japanese students attend Juki, or preparatory schools, in the evenings and on Sundays. In higher education, while lacking the strong University system which exists in North America, the curriculum is equally rigorous, and Japan is graduating 75 000 engineers per year, 3 000 more than the U. S. , from a University population one fifth the size. The education system itself is a unifying force. It molds children into group oriented beings by demanding uniformity and conformity form the earliest ages. The attainment of excellence within this complex environment, and the importance it holds for one's future is stressed early. This emphasis places a great burden on the young to perform well in school a to earn admittance to high status universities. The public school system not only produces good, obedient citizens, it produces good workers. A willingness to give oneself to the corporation's best interest, to arrive early and stay late, and to produce good work is attributes learned in the Japanese schools. Those who cannot learn these skills do not do well in school or do not rise in the ranks of the corporate world. The education system is an excellent example of how the Japanese recognize and develop the necessary human skills that are needed in society and stressed in the business world.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6250 words

The Royal Bank of Scotland - Case Study Example Increased merger and acquisition activity, particularly in the banking sector, in Europe has been, and is due to deregulation as contained under the Second Banking Directive that was adopted in 1989, and implemented in 1993 which set the stage for the Euro, and the European Union's transition to a one market economy (Murphy). The preceding was a process undertaken by the European Union in response to developments as represented by " globalisation of markets and finance, the creation of regional economic blocks such as the Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA), the emergence of newly industrialized countries in Asia or Latin America, the introduction of new technologies in product design and manufacturing, and new forms of firms' organization representing just some of the main features of the new international economic order that is emerging" (Canals 1). 1. It is important to understand is the process of deregulation, as it has had two important effects (Gardener and Versiulujs 2): 1. It, deregulation, has "removed or reduced the economic franchises, increasing competition between banks and financial institutions thereby increasing risk in their balance sheets, rendering them seemingly less sound than their large corporate customers". 2. "second and more subtle but no less important change arise from the ability of the banks to seek new business in much wider fields of activity (for example, such as loan

Marketing Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Marketing Communication - Essay Example esses for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large† (American Marketing Association, n.d.). Proper communication is very important for the success of any marketing strategy. Again proper strategy has to be adopted to communicate all those necessary information regarding the product, price, promotion and place. So it is clear that marketing and communication both are interconnected and success of one is dependent on the other. Marketing communication mix is comprised of different marketing communication elements like advertising, public relation, sales promotion, direct marketing etc. These are needed to be followed to achieve various marketing objectives. In 2012 summer Olympic Games will take place in London from 27 July to 12 August. Then there will be 2012 Paralympic games which would start from 29 August to 9 September. This is the third time that London would be hosting the Olympic Games. 2012 Olympic Games would be taking place in some of the new venues along with historic and existing facilities (London Olympics 2012, n.d.). London Organising Committee would be in charge of running the games. The logo of London Olympic has created lot of controversy in the recent past. Communication would be one of the most important factors for the success of such a mega event. Since it is a sports mega event quite obviously young generation of the world would be the major target of the communication strategies. But it has been found quite difficult to communicate anything to today’s youth. In this essay two major issues regarding this mega event are discussed. One is challenges that are likely to face by the organising committee while communicating to today’s youth and another one appropriate strategies and promotional tools for the communication of this event. Youth represents the main section of world population in the world today. They are the future of this globe. It is

Italy History and Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Italy History and Politics - Essay Example Certainly all 4 families flex their muscles throughout Italy and beyond its borders, but the strength of corruption's grip is felt most noticeably in the South. Consider this: although a large flow of cash is continually funneled through political parties and persons in positions of power [reference Silvio Belusconi's rise, fall and subsequent rise to power as an example], Italy's underworld makes it's biggest profits from the lowest common denominator: the public sector. Hence the existence of the "tangenti" better known as the bribe or kickback. Used as a means to buy into businesses and the lucrative contracts that come with it; in areas as diverse as construction, trash removal and produce distribution to name just a few ( Moody 1 ). The rampant use of the tangenti reached epic heights during the 1980's and 1990's. Paul Ginsborg touches on the phenomenon is his epic volume Italy and It's Discontents where he briefly examines the kickback scandals inherit to the later half of the 90's as well as the murky relationship between seven-time Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti and the Mafia. Money wasn't buying power so much as it was buying position. Consider one of the most well known Italian kickback scandals of the last 20 years involving computer giant Olivetti. In a face-to-face admission with Milan prosecutors, Olivetti Chief executive officer Carlo De Benedetti confessed that his company $6.8 million in tangenti between 1988 and the end of 1991. Most of the money, he said, was funneled to the Socialist and Christian Democrat parties in return for contracts to nearly $400 million worth of computers and printers to Italy’s national postal service (Moody 4). Why the motivation to play with the bad guys? Before Olivetti involved itself in tangenti, the company's annual sales to the post office totaled just over $1 million. The next year after tangenti payments kicked in and money was delivered to the political parties Olivetti revenues soared to nearly 4150 million. A coincidence Recalled De Benedetti: When I stopped paying, we (Olivetti) didn't get any more business with the Italian post office.But what hurt more is that our business outsideof Italy suffered. It was impossible to sell any-anything to the Dutch, for instance, since we couldn't get a good reference any longer fromwithin Italy. (Moody 3) Thirty years later and same type of hardball is still played. As recently as 5 October 2005, Federal investigators were unraveling a huge kickback scandal involving the Mafia and construction companies bidding for multi-million dollar lucrative contracts to build a bridge that will link Reggio Calabria and Mesina and cut travel time in half.(La Republica, 6). In sharp contrast, it's not like Italians haven't at least tried to rebel against this type of underhandedness. Widespread state corruption, historically endemic in the country, accelerated during the 1980's and both the ruling parties were systematically involved in clientism, and stealing from the public purse. The mafia thrived thanks to collusions of the state. Key figures in Italy's various crime families did deals with politicians which guaranteed votes of immunity

Discussion of Outsourcing and Its Pro and Cons Assignment

Discussion of Outsourcing and Its Pro and Cons - Assignment Example The IT functions include but not least software development, maintenance or support services in which the company deems cheaper to operate (Gartner, 2013). This occurs when an organization finds that it's cheaper to contract a third party to manage it IT than building an in-house IT department, or out-source a software or data storage than buying and maintaining its own. IT insourcing is acquiring or taking back the IT functions that have been previously been outsourced to a supplier or a third party provider (3P). In insourcing, the company takes control of the valuable business process and cease entrusting the functions to a 3P. The main difference between insourcing and outsourcing comes in the cost of the company, hence insourcing is more expensive as the company has to start from scratch whereas outsourcing the work is already flowing and the employees are familiar with the job (Marquis, n.d.). To achieve the same results insourcing firm uses its own acquired resources whereas in case of the outsourcing the firm uses the resources of the 3P. Insourcing involves placing a new location site for the operation site within the confines of the four walls of the organization, whereas involves using a facility that it’s outside the vicinity of the company. The insourcing the firm has total control of the employees and IT business process; whereas in outsourcing the management lacks or has no control over the way 3P operates (Marquis, n.d.). IT offshoring is relocating of IT business process from the primary country to another one to lower the administrative costs or due to lack of expertise in the primary country. This is mainly to take advantages of local resources, reducing costs and increasing the local market share; offshoring firm does not lose the ownership and the operations remain intact and unchanged (Lu, 2011).  

Write an academic report that is clear,concise & cohesive on the topic Essay

Write an academic report that is clear,concise & cohesive on the topic of THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE - Essay Example In most instances, language is defined as verbal behavior, including body movements and gestures (Campbell & Green, 2006). Language is an integral constituent of the human activity playing a central part in the experiences and events of daily life of humans. This essay explains the meaning of language, importance of language in communication, the importance of language in civilization and the importance of language to culture. Oral language is a skill acquired naturally by small children. However, early childhood development cannot be overstressed, but it is a platform, which enables children to read and write. Assigning a meaning to sentences and words involves interpretation, which is mainly influenced by an individual’s attitudes, topic knowledge and experiences. Therefore, during communication individuals arrive at different meanings during a conversation. The principal means of communication in any society is spoken language although written communication also plays a vital role (Fellowes & Oakley, 2010).Language can be expressed orally through a generation of speech, which facilitates speech through an employment of signs systematically. It is a complex physical process, which involves the use of the vocal tract in controlling and shaping moving air in various ways in order to produce sounds. A speech comprises of fluency, voice and articulation. Language is extremely an important way used by human beings to interact. Language is used to express the needs of individuals and ask others questions. Language is modified in every situation, for instance, the tone used to address children at home is different from the tone used in business meetings. In order to communicate effectively, individuals send a message comprising actions, words and gestures. Therefore, communication is two-way since the recipient is as important as the sender is (Gee & Hayes, 2011). Through language,

Holocaust - Dr. Mengele Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4750 words

Holocaust - Dr. Mengele - Research Paper Example According to the discussion it it is clear that apart from millions of victims, the Nazi holocaust had its own heroes, martyrs and villains. Dr. Joseph Mengele is one of the most hated villains of that epoch. History describes Dr. Mengele as â€Å"the SS physician at Auschwitz†, and â€Å"the angel of death.† He was a doctor, who conducted cruel medical experiments on hundreds of Jewish prisoners during the period when he was stationed at the notorious Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz that killed thousands of Jews by burning them alive in mass gas chambers and crematoria. He conducted weird and cruel clinical experiments on the Jewish prisoners as if they were guinea pigs. The most intriguing aspect of his personality was his utter indifference towards others’ suffering, and the way he even did not spare children as objects of his experiments.This paper stresses that the paradox presented by the personality of Dr. Mengele has intrigued the world ever since the cruelties of the holocaust came out in public. But the best way to remember this person would be as a reminder that, given such odd circumstances of fascist mass hostility, even the normal human being is capable of inflicting unbecoming cruelties on fellow humans. And more significantly, it has to be understood that in such a circumstance, a person with even a slight psycho-pathetic mindset could turn into a real and grave danger to humanity-Hitler being the number one example for this.   But when perused from closer premises, the Nazi mindset can be understood as an outcome of ideological frenzy overpowering all humane feelings and responses, a dangerous human possibility indeed, that was revealed before our eyes through the Nazi holocaust, as never revealed before. Here the term, ideology can be understood as â€Å"any idea or set of ideas that provides a prescriptive view of life.†16 An ideology can either be â€Å"a formalized and presumably conscious world view† or it can simply be â€Å"unconscious shared group fantasies, which have the power to charge up the entire group with sufficient energy to trigger unified mass action.†17 In this context, Dr. Mengele has to be understood not as a rare exception

The Takeovers Directive Is An Ineffective Piece Of Legislation Essay

The Takeovers Directive Is An Ineffective Piece Of Legislation Designed To Create An Unachievable Single Market For Takeover Activity - Essay Example More specifically, in the UK, a takeover refers to the purchase of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, contrary to the acquisition of a private business. The three main types of takeovers are friendly takeovers, hostile takeovers and reverse takeovers. A friendly takeover refers to the acquisition of a company, which has been approved by the management. In normal cases, a bidder notifies a company board of directors prior to making an offer for the target company. If the board concurs that accepting the offer would serve the interests of shareholders better than rejecting the offer, then it recommends that the shareholders accept the offer2. The friendly type of takeover is rather common in private companies in which the shareholders are usually the board of directors. In these cases, chances are always high that should shareholders accept a takeover offer, then the board is usually of the same opinion. If not, the board is always under the shareholders†™ orders accept the bid. It is noteworthy that this scenario is rather irrelevant to the UK’s idea of takeovers, which only regards a takeover as acquisition of a public company. The second type of takeover is the hostile takeover in which a bidder acquires a company despite the unwillingness of the company’s management. ... Usually, on being established, certain larger private companies would want to float themselves in stock exchanges without the expenses and time resources involved in initial public offers. In the UK, for instance, a reverse takeover refers to a one-year acquisition of a company, which causes fundamental changes in its business and board voting or control. Finally, backflip takeovers are takeovers in which the acquiring company becomes a subsidiary of the purchased company and is mostly seen when a larger but unknown company acquires a well-known struggling company. A business concept that has been closely associated with takeovers, especially in the European Union is corporate governance. Corporate governance refers to the set of rules, processes and practices that a company uses for control and direction. In essence, in entails the weighing and balancing of the various interests of stakeholders such as management, customers, suppliers, financiers, government, shareholders and the co mmunity. Corporate governance thus covers every aspect of management, including action plans, internal controls, performance measurement and corporate disclosure. In the modern business environment, it does not pay for a company to be merely profitable; more should be done to attain a high level of corporate governance or good corporate citizenship using good corporate practices, environmental awareness and ethical and professional conduct among other strategies. Excellent takeover policies, regulation and legislation are some of the mechanisms by which the EU Commission and Member States have applied to improve corporate governance. For instance, the EU Takeover Directive of 2004 was adopted with the

An empirical investigation of earnings restatements by UK Firms Essay

An empirical investigation of earnings restatements by UK Firms - Essay Example For example, in recent years, the frequency of US earnings restatements has increased, attracting considerable attention from academics. Much of that attention has been focused on the relation between earnings restatements and shareholders’ wealth. Moreover, research found that, due to the accounting errors, there was a negative market reaction of earning restatement. There is a very little evidence on the market’s valuation of earnings restatements due to accounting policy changes, and the effect of restatements on financial performance measures, other than market returns. (Richardson et al. (2002). It is apparent that the restatement amount is significantly associated to future earnings, suggesting that earnings restatement is value relevant in both contemporaneous and inter-temporal settings. whether attributes of restating firms differ from those of non-restating firms in the same industry and from those from various industries included in our samples. After a preliminary examination of the data, the inquiry has motivated concern, as well, over possible accounting abuse due to a lack of study using samples of 200 UK listed companies in the London Stock Exchange. The financial data for all companies will be collected from Financial Analysis Made Easy (FAME) and conclusions drawn from the analysis of the results. A US study documents an increase in restatement frequency because of errors (Wu, 2002). While giving evidence at the US Senate in January 2002, Paul Sarbanes commented that â€Å"frequent restatements of earnings raises questions about the reliability of published financial statements because it threatens to undermine investors’ confidence in the securities markets (comments on the floor of the US Senate, 23 January 2002)†. It is not surprising that in the case of accounting errors, restatements seem to cause significantly downgraded assessments of firm

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Essay Example for Free

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Essay There are many events in a person’s life that can be considered traumatic. Trauma can be easily described as a distressing experience caused by an event or physical injury. The symptoms that follow a traumatic event can include disassociation, hyperarousal, and avoidance. Some people choose to cope with their symptoms in many different ways such as substance abuse, medication, and/or therapy. When working with trauma there are many diverse forms of treatment. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing [EMDR] is one form of treatment that appears to be effective. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing is a treatment used in psychotherapy to alleviate distress associated with trauma (Shapiro, 1991). During EMDR clients reprocess information while focusing on external stimuli such as, lateral eye movements, hand tapping, and audio stimulation. Francine Shapiro developed EMDR in 1987 after discovering that eye movements had a desensitizing effect on herslef, and also after experimenting she found that others also had the same response to eye movements. In 1987, Shapiro named this approach to treatment Eye Movement Desensitization. A case study was conducted to test the effectiveness of eye movement desensitization. The results indicated there was a significant decrease in distress and increase in confidence in positivity (EMDR Institute, 2012). When this treatment was first discovered it was reported it serves to decrease anxiety and did not claim to eliminate all posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Gaining feedback from clients and clinicians this treatment continued to develop. In 1991 reprocessing was added to eye movement desensitization creating EMDR. Adding reprocessing was to reflect the insights and cognitive changes that occurred during treatment and to identify the information processing theory (that Shapiro developed) to explain the treatment effects (2012). In 1995 the EMDR International Association was founded to establish standards for training and practice (Shapiro, 2001). There have been many studies published in regards to posttraumatic stress disorder and demonstrating the effectiveness of EMDR. EMDR therapy happens in eight stages. EMDR requires clients to think about the past, present, and future. The first phase is designed to obtain history and also to develop treatment planning. Obtaining history information can take one to two sessions or it is something that is continuous throughout therapy. Clinicians will discuss with the client the specific problem and symptoms resulting from the problem. The client does not have to give much detail in regards to history. Some people will share and give great information and specifics and there are others who are only comfortable sharing limited information. With the background information and history collected, the therapist will be able to develop a treatment plan that will identify targets on which to use EMDR (Shapiro, 1991). Targets are the events from the past that created the problem, situations that cause distress, and skills client needs to learn for future well being (1991). The second phase is preparation, it is important to explain the theory of EMDR and how it works. Establishing rapport to ensure clients are reporting accurate feelings and changes that are experienced during eye movements is helpful (Shapiro, 2001). The second phase of treatment the therapist will also ensure the client has several ways to cope with difficult situations. The therapist is able to teach different techniques of imagery and stress reduction techniques that clients can use during sessions. The techniques are used to rapidly produce change in emotional disturbances (2001). The client at this point is learning self care. The third phase is assessment, in this phase the client will select a specific memory/picture from the target event. At that time a statement is chosen that expresses a negative self belief associated with the event (Shapiro, 2001). The negative beliefs are verbalizations of negative and disturbing emotions that still exist. The common statements include I am bad, I am worthless, I am nothing, etc. The client then picks a positive statement to replace the negative belief. The positive statement should reflect what is appropriate in the present (2001). The client is then asked to estimate how true they feel the positive statement is using the one to seen Validity of Cognition scale; one equals completely false and seven equals completely true (Maxfield, 1999). Also, during the Assessment Phase, the person identifies the negative emotions along with physical sensations associated with the memory. The client is asked to rate disturbance on the Subjective Units of Disturbance (SUD) scale, with zero reflecting no disturbance and ten reflecting the worst feeling ever had (1999). The next phase focuses on the clients emotions and sensations as they are measured using the SUDs rating (Shapiro, 2001). The desensitization phase people reprocess past events while focusing on an external stimulus. This phase allows a chance to identify and resolve similar events that may have happened and are associated with the specified event/memory. During desensitization, the therapist will lead the person in sets of eye movement with appropriate changes of focus until his SUDs levels are reduced to zero or a low number. Another phase is the installation phase. The goal is to increase the positive belief that the person has identified previously to replace the negative belief. The goal is for people to identify and believe in their positive statement and scoring it high on the Validity of Cognition scale. After the positive belief statements and installation the next phase which is the body scan phase, the client is ask to think about the past target and asked to notice and focus on changes in body. The seventh phase is closure. In this phase the client is asked to keep a log during the week of anything related to the memory that may arise. The goal is to ensure that the client leaves feeling better than the beginning of treatment (Shapiro, 1989). It is reported if the processing of the traumatic target event is not complete in a single session, the therapist will assist the person in using a variety of self-calming techniques in order to regain a sense of stability. The last phase examines the progress made thus far. The therapist makes sure positive results on scales have been maintained. The reevaluation phase is vital in order to determine the success of the treatment over time (Maxfield, 1999). Clients may feel relief almost immediately with EMDR; however it is as important to complete the eight phases of treatment. The goal of EMDR is to produce the most comprehensive and profound treatment effects in the shortest period of time, while simultaneously maintaining a stable client. The beginning of EMDR appears to be similar to exposure therapy. There are several studies and reviews that have been completed to test the effectiveness of EMDR in treating trauma. EMDR has been found to be an effective treatment for trauma. It has also been found to work faster than other therapies (Cahill, 1999). A study done by Davidson and Parker compared EMDR to no treatment and compared it to other exposure therapies such as prolonged exposure (2001). This study explored thirty four studies on the effectiveness of EMDR in treating trauma. It was discovered that among the thirty four studies, EMDR was found to be effective with an effect size of . 83 when compared to no treatment. It was also found to be a better choice of treatment than other non-exposure therapies such as CBT which only had an effect size of . 55. Controlled efficacy studies report a decrease in PTSD diagnosis of 70-90% after three to six sessions (Chemtob et al. , 2000). EMDR has been compared with cognitive behavior therapy in past clinical trials. EMDR has also been compared with and found superior to a wide range of other treatments, such as relaxation therapy, biofeedback, standard mental health treatment in a managed care facility, and active listening (Maxfield, 1999). Evidence based support has led to EMDR being acknowledged as effective in the treatment of PTSD. Independent reviewers for the American Psychological Association reports EMDR and exposure therapy as empirically validated treatments (Chambless et al. , 1998). Also the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies designated EMDR as effective for PTSD (Shalev et al. , 2000). They noted that EMDR is more efficient than other treatments as it used significantly fewer sessions than behavior therapy and took less time (2000). Cahill found similar results in a literature review conducted. They found that as a whole EMDR is effective in treating trauma, but that it is equally as effective when compared to other exposure therapies (1999). Some studies also indicate that EMDR may be more easily tolerated by clients than other exposure therapies. In a study by Schubert, it was discovered the use of eye-movements in the EMDR process reduced the pulse and heart rate in clients (2010). This suggests a calming experience as the process progresses. EMDR has been extensively researched in the treatment of trauma survivors. EMDR has been tested with survivors of a wide range of traumatic events, using a variety of control conditions, in multiple types of settings, by numerous researchers (Maxfield, 2002). Research has also investigated the use of EMDR with victims of rape, physical assault, childhood abuse, natural disasters, accidents, and other traumas (2002). EMDR is a therapeutic technique in which the patient moves his or her eyes back and forth, while concentrating on the target event or memory causing distress. The therapist waves a stick or light in front of the patient and the patient is supposed to follow the moving stick or light with his or her eyes. EMDR is fast and rapid approach to therapy. While there are many supporters of this type of therapy there are many critics that believe EMDR is pseudoscience. It is suggested, wit evidence based information EMDR is an effective treatment. It is important to note that only clinicians who have received specialized training in EMDR are able to conduct it.

Music And Songs In Teaching English

Music And Songs In Teaching English There is a belief that first musical instruments appeared as early as speech, which means that the language of words and that of music were formed in parallel, completing and enriching each other. That is why language of words shows so much similarity to music. Both speech and music are characterized by rhythm and melody. Close associations of language and music have rooted in peoples mind very deeply. People often use metaphorically the name of one to refer to the other: they call pleasant words music to their ears, face the music when accepting criticism or punishment for something they have done, use the phrase the language of music to describe a way of expressing meaning through sounds. Sound and word are combined to give birth to pieces of vocal music, where music brings to light the internal sense of the text, reveals what is hidden between the lines. So it is natural to teach language with the help of music and songs. Moreover, a great number of scholars consider music and son gs to be the most productive and effective ways of teaching a foreign language. The role of music and songs in teaching English is very important. Using songs and music is one of the tools a teacher can use to teach English to the class, regardless of the age of the learner. Songs and music are a tie that binds all cultures and languages and, therefore, the best way to make learning English fun. Jeremy Harmer in his book How to Teach English emphasizes the importance of music as a learning tool by stating that music is a strong incentive for student engagement because it speaks directly to our emotions while still allowing us to use our brains to analyse it and its effects if we so wish (Harmer 319); and it plays a multifunctional role in the process of learning a foreign language, it has the power of creating a propitious atmosphere, it can amuse and entertain, and it can make satisfactory connection between the world of leisure and the world of learning in the classroom (Harmer 319). Tim Murphey, indicates two chief assets in the usage of music and songs in re lation to language learning: music is highly memorable; it is highly motivating, especially for children, adolescents, and young adult learners (Murphey 4). Nevertheless, the role of songs and music in teaching English is often underestimated, and activities involving them are often neglected by teachers. The usage of music and songs in the classroom: has often been met with ridicule and a cautionary statement that although students were enjoying class, they were not learning (Salcedo, The Effects of Songs in the Foreign Language Classroom on Text Recall and Iinvoluntary Mental Rehersal). Teachers usually think that students will not take music and songs seriously at English classes; they will have too much fun and will not pay any attention to the pedagogical aim of the song. It is not rare to hear teachers ask questions like What do music and songs have to do with language learning?, What do you do with a song besides listen to it and possibly sing with it?, What else can be done with the song besides gap-filling? This testifies to the fact that teachers are often unaware of the opportunities songs and music can present. There are diff erent opinions, but it is for sure that it is a good way to make foreign language learning much more effective to learners of different age and different levels. Teachers who want to keep their students interested and motivated should use songs and music activities, since, according to Larry M. Lynch, it has lots of advantages: Songs almost always contain authentic, natural language; A variety of new vocabulary can be introduced to students through songs; Songs are usually very easily obtainable; Songs can be selected to suit the needs and interests of the students; Grammar and cultural aspects can be introduced through songs; Time length is easily controlled; Students can experience a wide range of accents; Song lyrics can be used in relating to situations of the world around us; Students think songs are natural and fun. (Lynch, 9 Reasons Why You Should Use Songs to Teach English as a Foreign Language.) Songs and music are invaluable in teaching English at elementary level. No other materials give the teacher such a broad range of possibilities for teaching various aspects of English. An illustration of language in action, the song can be subjected to linguistic analysis or turned into an exercise. Through the use of songs English pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar can be effectively taught. According to Cameron there are three stages of a song as a task for elementary level students: preparation stage (it is very important to activate the vocabulary and to form basic sentence structures in this stage); core stage (the best way to involve students and raise their interest in this stage is to sing the song several times in the core, changing pace or volume and making students perform actions and sing along chorally); follow-up stage (attempts to be a successful completion of the core stage ) (Millington, Using Songs Effectively to Teach English to Young Learners). Songs can be used to develop students listening skills. They improve listening skills because they provide students with practice listening to different forms of intonation and rhythm (Millington, Using Songs Effectively to Teach English to Young Learners). Songs can be really helpful in practicing listening skills warm-up work can provide a basis for students to make predictions before listening; listening activities can encourage listening for gist or listening for detail (Hancock 7). Their advantage lies in the fact that they usually go at slower speed than speeches or dialogues; words, phrases, sentences are being sung which usually means that they are uttered more slowly and often more distinctly than in case of speaking. There is a wide range of song-based listening activities for students at elementary level: picture discussion (the teacher presents some key words and/or the title from the lyrics and asks students to predict what the song is about); snippets of information (the teacher plays the first few seconds of the song and asks students to predict from the mood of the music what the song is about); picture selection (the teacher shows students two or more alternative pictures, magazine photos perhaps, and asks them to say which one best matches the contents or mood of the lyric and why); sequencing (the teacher gives students a copy of the lyric with the lines in the wrong order or cut into strips, and students listen and put them in the right order). While listening to songs students hear the language used so that they can both imitate the pronunciation and also subconsciously acquire some of its sounds and patterns. During the process of listening to songs, students subconsciously acquire some of English sounds and patterns. When it comes to singing, they imitate the pronunciation, learning to use rhythm and stress correctly. The task of learning the correct use of stress and rhythm becomes simpler because students are lead by the rhythm of a song. There are a few activities which students at elementary level can do with a song to practice pronunciation. The most effective one is repeating certain parts of the lyric (drilling). Songs are equally suitable for teaching vocabulary at elementary level. Teachers may use them for two purposes: either to present new vocabulary items or to practise the familiar ones. Often songs represent a theme or topic that can provide the context for vocabulary learning (Millington, Using Songs Effectively to Teach English to Young Learners). Neil Millington in the article Using Songs Effectively to Teach English to Young Learners gives examples of two songs: Teaching Practice Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes serves to review body parts, or I Can Sing a Rainbow which is helpful for reviewing color names (Millington, Using Songs Effectively to Teach English to Young Learners). The repetition of monosyllabic words in childrens songs can help improving vocabulary acquisition (Millington, Using Songs Effectively to Teach English to Young Learners). There are songs which can be used as the basis for dramatization. Tim Murphey states that at elementary level the dramatization of the s ong can be useful to express, through gestures, the meaning of some actions (Murphey 121). The age-old technique of asking students to perform actions with words has become popular because of well-documented research that shows it to be very effective. The idea is that if students can move and do what is said matching words to the actions, language is learnt more deeply. Songs can be a good source of topics for discussion and different classroom activities at elementary level. The plot of the song is a good basis for story telling while characters in the song can serve as a basis for role play. By interpreting and converting song lyrics into prose and discussing the style of the song students have a chance to develop their productive skills speaking and writing. The main speaking activities for elementary level are: role-play (the teacher asks students to imagine that they are characters of the given song); continue the story (students may be asked to imagine how the characters ended up in the situation they are in.); Particular attention should be paid to the choice of songs. Mark Hancock (Hancock 3) thinks that just because a student might not choose to listen to a certain song outside the classroom, does not mean that the student would not enjoy it as part of a learning activity. Teachers are not advised to present the song as something students are supposed to like. Thus, any song could be used for teaching purposes. According to Tim Murphey, any song can be useful and motivating, however teachers should use the students choice of music and song as much as possible (Murphey 14). Another important issue is whether teachers should always use authentic songs or not. According to Jeremy Harmer, listening material as well as the kind of tasks which go with it are determined by the level of students (Harmer 319). Music and songs in English classroom are important and useful tools. This is a great formula for keeping students always interested in the language they learn. With their help students can not only learn English but also relax and enjoy their class. There are benefits to using songs in the classroom; however, more often than not, songs are used relatively ineffective, often as activities between learning. No matter how enjoyable or memorable singing songs can be, it will not teach learners to use the language and will not give them the ability to communicate in another language. Reframing songs into tasks according to preparation, core, and follow-up stages enhance songs potential as teaching and learning tools. Songs and music can be used for practicing different aspects of English, and all learning skills can be improved.

OpenMP Based Fast Data Searching with Multithreading

OpenMP Based Fast Data Searching with Multithreading V.Karthikeyan, Dr. S.Ravi  and S.Flora Magdalene Abstract The multiprocessor cores with multithreaded capability are continuing to gain a significant share and offer high performance. The use of OpenMP applications on two parallel architectures can identify architectural bottlenecks and introduces high level of resource sharing in multithreading performance complications. An adaptive run-time mechanism provides additional but limited performance improvements on multithreading and is maximized the efficiency of OpenMP multithreading as required by the runtime environment and the programming interface. This paper handles the task of data searching efficiently and a comparative analysis of performance with and without OpenMP is made. Experimental result shows accelerated performance over the existing methods in terms of various performance criteria. Keywords: OpenMP (Open Multi Processing), Multithreading, Fast Data Searching, Multicore Introduction OpenMP is an adopted shared memory parallel programming interface providing high level programming constructs that enable the user to easily expose an application task and loop level parallelism. The range of OpenMP applicability is significantly extended by the addition of explicit tasking features.OpenMP is used for enhanced portability computation, where a dynamic workload distribution method is employed for good load balancing. However, the search network involved in the Viterbi beam search is reported by [5] statically partitioned into independent subtrees to reduce memory synchronization overhead. It improves the performance of a workload predictive thread assignment strategy and a false cache line sharing prevention method is required. OpenMP is a collection of compiler directives and library functions that are used to create parallel programs for shared-memory computers. It combines with C, C++ or Fortranto create a multithreaded program where the threads share the address sp ace and make easier for programmers to convert single-threaded code to multithreaded. It has two key concepts namely; Sequential equivalence: Executes using one thread or many threads. Incremental parallelism: A programming that evolves incrementally from a sequential program to a parallel program. OpenMP has an advantage in synchronization over hand-threading where it uses more expensive system calls than present in OpenMP or the code efficient versions of synchronization primitives. As a shared-memory programming paradigm, OpenMP is suitable for parallelizing applications on simultaneous multithreaded and multicore processors as reported in [11]. It is an API (application program interface) used for explicitly direct multi-threaded, shared memory parallelism to standardize programming extensions for shared memory machines is shown in Figure 1. Figure1:Model for OpenMP Program using threading At high-end, the microprocessors encompass aggressive multithreading and multicore technologies to form powerful computational building blocks for the super computers. The evaluation uses detailed performance measurements and information from hardware performance counters to architectural bottlenecks of multithreading and multicore processors that hinder the scalability of OpenMPin which OpenMP implementations can be improved to better support execution on multithreading processors. The thread scheduling based model with kernel and user space is shown in Figure 2.OpenMP applications can efficiently exploit the execution contexts of multithreading processors. The multi-threading models are; Master-Slave model, Worker-Crew model and Pipeline model Figure 2:Multithreading processors using Kernel and User space OpenMP Issues with Multithreading Approach OpenMP specification includes critical, atomic, flush and barrier directives for synchronization purposes as shown in Table 1. Table 1:OpenMP synchronization specification Effects of OpenMP for Multithreading Process The effects of OpenMP for multithreading process arelisted in Table 2. Table 2:Effects of OpenMP The multithreading is required a solution which is scalable in a number of dimensions and achieve speedups. An efficient parallel program usually limits the number of threads to the number of physical cores that create a large number of concurrent threads. It describes the low-level Linux kernel interface for threads and the programs are invoked by a fork system call which creates a process and followed by an exec system call and loads a program to starts execution. Threads typically end by executing an exit system call, which can kill one or all threads. Related Works Daniel, et al., [2010] presented the compilation of synchronous programs to multi-threaded OpenMP-based C programs and guarded actions which are a comfortable intermediate language for synchronous languages. J. Brandt and K. Schneider [2009] presented separate compilation of synchronous programs. The target deterministic single-threaded code directly executes synchronous programs on simple micro-controllers. K. Schneider [2009] proposed the problem to generate multi-threaded C-code from synchronous guarded actions, which is a comfortable intermediate format for the compilation of synchronous programs. PranavandSumit [2014] proposed the performances (speedup) of parallel algorithms on multi-core system using OpenMP. C.D. Antonopoulos, et al., [2005] proposed multigrain parallel delaunay mesh generation and opportunities for multithreaded architectures. H. Jin, et al., [1999] proposed the OpenMP implementation of NAS parallel benchmarks and its performance. M. Lee, et al., [2004] presented peak performance of SPEC OMPL benchmarks using maximum threads demonstration and compared with a traditional SMP. Zaid, et al., [2014] presented to implemented the bubble sort algorithm using multithreading (OpenMP) and tested on two standard data sets (text file) with different sizeF. Liu and V. Chaudhary [2003] presented a system-on-chip (SOC) design integrates processors into one chip and OpenMP is selected to deal with the heterogeneity of CMP.M. Sato, et al., [1999] proposed the compiler is installed to support OpenMP applications and GCC acts as a backend compiler.T. Wang, et al., [2004] presented the current flat view of OpenMP threads is not able to reflect the new features and need to be revisited to ensure continuing applicability.Cristiano et al., [2008] proposed reproducible simulation of multi-threaded workloads for architecture design exploration.Vijay Sundaresan, et al., [2006] proposed experiences with multi-threading and dynamic class loading in a java just-in-time compiler. Priya, et al., [2014] proposed to compare and analyze the parallel computing ability offered by OpenMP for Intel Cilk Plus and MPI(Message passing Interface). Sanjay and Kusum [2012] presented to analyze the parallel algorithms for computing the solution of dense system of linear equations and to approximately compute the value of OpenMP interface. S.N. TirumalaRao [2010] focuses on performance of memory mapped files on Multi-Core processors and explored the potential of Multi-Core hardware under OpenMP API and POSIX threads. Explicit Multithreading Using Multithreads The Explicit multithreading is more complex compared to OpenMP and dynamic applications need to be implemented effectively so as to allow user control on performance. The explicit multithreading based multithreads with C coding are shown in Figure 3. Figure3: Explicit multithreading based coding in C Scheduling for OpenMP OpenMP supports loop level scheduling that defines how loop iterations are assigned to each participating thread. The scheduling types are listed in Table 3. Table 3:  Scheduling Types Pseudo code: #pragma omp parallel sections { #pragma omp section do_clustering(0); #pragma omp section do_clustering(1); #pragma omp section do_clustering(2); #pragma omp section do_clustering(3); #pragma omp section do_clustering(4); } Optimizing Execution Contexts on Multithreading Process The selection of the optimal number of execution contexts for the execution of each OpenMP application is not trivial on multithread based multiprocessors. Thus, a performance-driven, adaptive mechanism which dynamically activates and deactivates the additional execution contexts on multithreading processors to automatically approximate the execution time of the best static selection of execution contexts per processor. It used a mechanism than the exhaustive search, which avoids modifications to the OpenMP compiler and runtime and identifies whether the use of the second execution context of each processor is beneficial for performance and adapts the number of threads used for the execution of each parallel region. The algorithm targets identification of the best loop scheduling policy which is based on the annotation of the beginning and end of parallel regions with calls to runtime. The calls can be inserted automatically, by a simple preprocessor. The run-time linking techniques such as dynamic interposition can be used to intercept the calls issued to the native OpenMP runtime at the boundaries of parallel regions and apply dynamic adaptation even to un modified application binaries. It modifies the semantics of the OpenMP threads environment variable,using it as a suggestion for the number of processors to be used instead of the number of threads. Results and Discussion The experimental results of data searching with OpenMP tools (multithreading) and without OpenMP (no multithreading) tools are shown in Figure 4and Figure 5 respectively. In both the cases search time for data is evaluated and established OpenMP based implementation which is fast compared to data searching done without OpenMP tools. Figure 4:Search time with OpenMP (Multithreading) Figure5:Search time without OpenMP (No Multithreading) The percentage of improvement in data searching with OpenMP (multithreading) tools is given in Table 4 and its graphical representation shown in Figure 6. Table 4:Improvement with Multithreading Figure6:Improvement in data Searching with OpenMP (in %) The time elapsed to write data in file which is experimented with OpenMP and without OpenMP (search data) shown in Figure 7 and Figure 8 respectively. Figure 7:Search datawith OpenMP Figure 8:Search datawithout OpenMP Conclusion Searching a data in large data base has been a profound area for researchers. In this research work OpenMP Tools is used to perform multithreading based search. The motive to use OpenMP is that the user can specify a paralliazation strategy for a program. Here an experiment of data searching using multithreading is conducted for a data base. The experiments are conducted with and without OpenMP and their performance is presented. The results obtained shows that the time required for searching a data using OpenMP is less compared to data searching without OpenMP. The method presented shows improved performance over existing methods in terms of performance and parallaziation can be done in future. The main limitation of the research work is that its practical implementation requires same number of multicore units as that of the number of threads. Future research shall focus on use of parallel threads for high performance systems. References Daniel Baudisch, Jens Brandt and Klaus Schneider, 2010, â€Å"Multithreaded Code from Synchronous Programs: Extracting Independent Threads for OpenMP†, EDAA. J. Brandt and K. Schneider, 2009, â€Å"Separate compilation of synchronous programs†, in Software and Compilers for Embedded Systems (SCOPES), ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, Vol. 320, pp. 1–10, Nice, France. K. Schneider, 2009, â€Å"The synchronous programming language Quartz†, Internal Report 375, Department of Computer Science, University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany. PranavKulkarni, SumitPathare, 2014, â€Å"Performance Analysis of Parallel Algorithm over Sequential using OpenMP†, IOSR Journal of Computer Engineering, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 58-62. C. D. Antonopoulos, X. Ding, A. Chernikov, F. Blagojevic, D. S. Nikolopoulos and N. Chrisochoides, 2005, â€Å"Multigrain Parallel Delaunay Mesh Generation: Challenges and Opportunities for Multithreaded Architectures†, in Proceeding of the 19thACM International Conference on Supercomputing (ICS’2005), Cambridge, USA. H. Jin, M. Frumkin and J. Yan, 1999, â€Å"The OpenMP Implementation of NAS Parallel Benchmarks and its Performance†, Technical Report NAS-99-011, NASA Ames Research Center. M. Lee, B. Whitney and N. Copty, 2004, â€Å"Performance and Scalability of OpenMP Programs on the Sun FireTM E25K Throughput Computing Server†, WOMPAT 2004, pp. 19-28. ZaidAbdiAlkareemAlyasseri, Kadhim Al-Attar and Mazin Nasser, 2014, â€Å"Parallelize Bubble Sort Algorithm Using OpenMP†, International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 103-110. F. Liu and V. Chaudhary, 2003, â€Å"Extending OpenMP for heterogeneous chip multiprocessors Parallel Processing†, Proceedings of International Conference on Parallel Processing, pp. 161-168. M. Sato, S. Satoh, K. Kusano and Y. Tanaka, 1999, â€Å"Design of OpenMP compiler for an SMP cluster†, Proc. of the 1st European Workshop on OpenMP, pp.32-39. T. Wang, F. Blagojevic and D. S. Nikolopoulos, 2004, â€Å"Runtime Support for Integrating Pre-computation and Thread-Level Parallelism on Simultaneous Multithreaded Processors†, the Seventh Workshop on Languages, Compilers, and Run-time Support for Scalable Systems, Houston, TX. Cristiano Pereira, Harish Patil and Brad Calder, 2008, â€Å"Reproducible simulation of multi-threaded workloads for architecture design exploration†, in Proceedings of the IEEE International Symposium on Workload Characterization, pp. 173-182. Vijay Sundaresan, Daryl Maier, PramodRamarao and Mark Stoodley, 2006, â€Å"Experiences with multi-threading and dynamic class loading in a java just-in-time compiler†, in International Symposium on Code Generation and Optimization, pp. 87–97, San Francisco, USA. Priya Mehta, Sarvesh Singh, Deepika Roy and M. Manju Sharma, 2014, â€Å"Comparative Study of Multi-Threading Libraries to Fully Utilize Multi Processor/Multi Core Systems†, International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol. 4, No. 4. Sanjay Kumar Sharma and Kusum Gupta, 2012, â€Å"Performance Analysis of Parallel Algorithms on Multi-core System using OpenMP†, International Journal of Computer Science, Engineering and Information Technology, Vol. 2, No. 5. S.N. TirumalaRao, E.V. Prasad, N.B. Venkateswarlu, 2010, â€Å"A Critical Performance Study of Memory Mapping on Multi-Core Processors: An Experiment with k-means Algorithm with Large Data Mining Data Sets†, International Journal of Computer Applications, Vol. 1, No. 9.

Medical Research :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Medical Research Outline I. Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Beep! Beep! Beep! The heart monitor beeps every time his heart does the boys face is unemotional to him its already over. As he sleeps next to him are all his family members many speechless and most in tears as they watch the 13 year old boy’s last moments. Hooked up to a breathing machine because his lungs are now useless he struggles for each breath; and yet it still monitor still†¦beeps†¦ beep †¦ but, all of a sudden without notice the beeps begin to come closer and closer together and then louder to where you here it down the hallway. The beeps become increasingly so close that its almost one perpetual sound and then without notice it becomes one. The monitor’s green line that at one point in time was bouncing is now a steady flat line†¦Another life lost to cancer, what a shame. Medical research is essential to our way of life everyday people just as the one that I described to you moments ago will lose their lives not just ca use of cancer but because other afflictions such as AIDS, or as diabetes. II. Medical Research saves lives A. For example, vaccines for diseases are found only due to research 1. John F. Enders found vaccine for polio in 1954 2. Since polio vaccinations outbreaks declined from 57,879 to just a few each year B. In addition, the American virologist Albert Sabin developed the oral vaccine   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1. The trivalent oral polio vaccine (TOPV) was licensed in 1960   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2. (TOPV) replaced the Salk injectable vaccine as the standard immunizing agent   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  in the United States. C. Furthermore, viruses like yellow fever have almost been wiped out   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1. Walter Reed found that yellow fever is transmitted through mosquitoes   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2. Through sanitation yellow fever was virtually exterminated since 1901 D. Due to research like this viruses such as these will hopefully never comeback III. Some diseases can be more easily cured or eradicated A. For example, Alice C. Evans discovered that raw cow milk has a deadly disease   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  called bacillus’s.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1. Now all milk intended for human consumption has to be pasteurized B. In addition, Rene J. Dubos French-born American bacteriologist   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1. Noted for his major contribution to antibiotics   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2. He also developed penicillin and other antibiotics like streptomycin and   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  tetracycline’s. C. Furthermore, scientist Ferdinand Cohn   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1. Discovered the nature and principal of bacterial spores   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2. One of his most famous findings is that of anthrax D.

Absence Measurement and Management Essays -- null

This essay answers the following questions. 1) Why and how should absence be proactively managed without damaging the psychological contract? 2) What advice would you give to the Directors to measure absence levels and causes? 3) What procedures would you recommend should be established to manage absence? You must justify your recommendations. 4) How should the devolution of People Management responsibilities to first line managers be handled? 1) Why and how should absence be proactively managed without damaging the psychological contract? The psychological contract is an informal, unwritten contract between employer and employee. It includes their mutual agreement towards obligations to one and other. It will entail certain expectations which should be attempted to be upheld. This contract is based on trust and respect, and employees with effective managers should have a strong understanding of what their psychological contract entails, as well as their formal written contract which can be upheld legally. All employees at Insure it Wright, should understand both of these contracts and it is important when attempting to manage an issue, such as absence, that the psychological contract is not affected. The directors have identified absences as an issue, which is having a negative impact on the organisation as a whole and the service it is providing. This should be dealt with as swiftly as possibly in a manner which will not affect the psychological or written contract. They are having issues with several types on absence, particularly short term and unauthorised absence. Absence must be so rigidly monitored because, a large amount of absence will have a negative impact on the company financially. Particul... ...: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/absence-measurement-management.aspx. Last accessed 20th of April 2014. †¢ CIPD staff. (2012). The Role of line managers in HR. Available: http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets/role-line-managers-hr.aspx. Last accessed 24th April 2014. †¢ 1.BLACK, C. and FROST, D. (2011) Health at work: an independent review of sickness absence. Cm 8205. London: Department for Work and Pensions. Available: http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/health-at-work.pdf. Last accessed 28th April 2014. †¢ Taylor, Baldry, Bain & Ellis. (2003). A Unique Working Environment': Health, Sickness and †¢ eAbsence Management in UK Call Centres. Work, Employment & Society . 17 (3), 435-458 †¢ James P, Cunningham I & Dibben P. (2002). Absence management and the issues of job retention and return to work. Human Resources and Management Journal. 12 (2), 82-94.

Instructional Communication Essay

Instructional Communication Instructional Communication can be best explained as the transfer of information in a teaching environment. There are a lot of aspects that is associated with Instructional Communication. The contexts that are most relevant to my career are teacher to teacher communication, teacher to student communication, comprehension of information, and technology used in the setting. These four aspects make up my career as a public affairs instructor for the Department of Defense. Instructional communication is very important to the field of communication. Instructional communication is implemented everyday all around the world. It is implemented in schools and in job settings. This type of communication is how we relate information to new people on the job or students in a classroom. In order to determine the depth of comprehension we have to analyze formal and summative assessments of the students. During the course that I instruct, we also use technology to convey information as well as have the students to use technology to complete projects that are due during the course. Instructional communication has several different contexts located within it. I feel that the most important context would be teacher to student communication. It is extremely important as a teacher or an instructor to be able to convey the information to your audience and them be able to comprehend what you are talking about. It is also very important that students ask questions or talk about the material that is being covered to show understanding. According to Karaduz, (Karaduz, 2010) â€Å"An important part of instructional services involves giving messages to students about how they should learn and become involved in the learning process, giving those stimuli for reinforcement, identifying the gaps in their learning, and amending these gaps. An effective instructional process thus requires strong communication skills along every step. It is through language that a healthy communication is established, student interest is aroused, and ways of comprehending, practicing and retaining information are clarified. Karaduz said a lot in these few sentences. He talked about how important communication is between student and teachers. What good do teachers do when the students cannot understand the teacher’s message? Teacher and student communication is so important in any instructional setting. The next most important part of instructional communication is teacher to teacher communication. It is handy to have colleagues that you can ask questions or get advice about certain criteria. I have worked as a public affairs person for the last seven years. Of that seven years 2 ? of them has been in a combat area. In this intense atmosphere I have learned pretty much everything that I teach my students at the Defense Information School. A lot of times other instructors come to me for information on what should happen in a certain situation in a combat area. I think that teacher to teacher communication is extremely valuable and you should take a advantage of it. According to Lance (Lance, 2010), â€Å"when administrators value collaboration between teacher-librarians and classroom teachers and when teacher-librarians and their classroom colleagues report that it happens more frequently, students are more likely to master ICT standards and more likely to earn advanced scores on state reading and language arts tests. † This study linked collaboration between faculty and students scores. Lance showed that when faculty collaborated on instructional information and objectives the student’s scores went up on formal assessments. Another context of instructional communication is comprehension assessment. As an instructor I have to assess the students learning to see if they have learned the specific objectives to move on to the next part of the course. If students do not meet those objectives then they fail and are recycled to another program. I use different kinds of assessments to check the depth of their knowledge of the material. The students have written assignments, formal assessments, and a Field Training Exercise (FTX). The students also have time to redo any work that they have failed in order to receive a better grade. I provide feedback within two days of the after the due date of the assignment. I provide feedback and remedial for any student that is deemed in need or feels that they need the extra help. Since we try to communicate very well with the students our fail rate is between 2 to 4% each course. Technology is the last item that is very important to instructional communication. â€Å"Based on the immersive interface that underlies virtual worlds such as Second Life and World of Warcraft, virtual environments allow the enactment of complex situations with tacit clues, imulation of scientific instruments, virtual experimentation, simulated collaboration in a team, and adaptive responses to students’ choice—all captured and recorded in data streams (Clarke-Midura, 2010),† according to Jody Clarke-Midura and Chris Dede. In this century technology has advanced so much. We have social media sites, PowerPoint presentations, email, and other was to communicate in and out of t he classroom. I learned that when you do not have proper communication things tend to follow apart.

Training and Development – Al Ain Distribution Company

BMHR N360 Training and Development Assignment #1 Al Ain Distribution Company Table of Contents Introduction3 Company Profile4 Job Details5 Job Title5 Statement Of Functions5 Job Description and Duties5 Work Performed5 Work Relations & Contacts7 Accountability For Actions & Impacts7 Job specification (qualification)8 Opinion8 How does this job fit with the company? 8 How this job does fits in the UAE needs? 8 Conclusion9 Reference10 Introduction This course is BMHR N360-Training and Development, and our teacher ask us to do an individual assignment that about finding the role of a training and development professional in the UAE. Moreover, I did an interview with Senior Training Officer, Mr. Ahmed Al Dhaheri and we had talking about job details, job title, job description and duties, job qualification and my opinion on how this job fits with the organization and how it fits in the UAE needs. Company Profile Al Ain Distribution Company (AADC) is a public joint stock company registered and incorporated in the United Arab Emirates under Law No 2 of 1998 on 1 January 1999 with Head Office at Al Ain. AADC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority with a fully paid capital of AED Billion 1,530,000,000, linked to http://www. adc. ae/ENGLISH/EN-T1-About. html. Furthermore, they are the only one who is distributing water and electricity for Eastern Region of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (Al Ain city and its nearby areas). Moreover, by the end of year 2008, the number of AADC employees was more than 1900 and they provide services approximately for one half million people and that includes se rvices to provide water and electricity, ownership, meter reading operation and maintenance of the water and electricity distribution network assets. AADC has achieved: ADAEP (Abu Dhabi AWARD for Excellence in Government Performance) for the best Technical Project. *   OHSAS 18001 certification. * HSE ISO 14001. * ISO 9001: 2000 quality certification in 2004 for its operations. * SKEA 9Shaikh Khalifah Excellence AWARD. Job Details Job Title * Job Title: Senior Training Officer * Section: Manpower and Planning Development * ADWEA Group Company: Al Ain Distribution Company * Department: Human Resource Statement of Functions Co-ordinates and organizes AADC’s staff training and development activities to ensure that staff performance is up to AADC’s prospective standards. Job Description and Duties Work Performed * Reviews training programs of ADWEA Academy at the beginning of each year and dispatches emails to concerned departments to ensure their awareness of relevant programs and training policies. * Ensures staff registration for the appropriate programs related to their respective fields and positions and initiates all administrative procedures to complete registrations. * Raises staff training requests to HR Management for approval and forwards requests to ADWEA Academy accordingly. Oversees training fee payments. Attends to managerial requests for external trainings designed to provide specific and on-job training and arranges them if approved by management. * Follows up on the approved training plans as well as reviews the attendance sheet employees and updates the Human Resources Management System (HRMS) accordingly. Investigates staff absence and oversees their participation rate to ensure that all employees have attended enough training pro grams per year as per AADC policies. Oversees the replacement of absent employees if possible. Prepares reports of statistics of attended programs and number of employees that have participated for management’s reference. * Attends to all staff queries regarding training programs and advises them on methods of applying. * Dispatches Evaluation forms to obtain employees’ feedback about training programs attended immediately after completion of programs and dispatches the same to employees’ supervisors after 3 months of completing the programs to assess the importance and impact of different programs. Analyzes feedback and prepares reports and own comments and recommendations for the reference of AADC’s Managing Director, Deputy Managing Director and ADWEA aiming at continuous improvement of training programs. * Discusses and prepares an Annual action plan, related to training and development, with the Head of Manpower and planning development section covering matters such as weaknesses of current system, suggestions and overall training objectives of AADC. Gathers/ prepares data concerning number of employees in AADC, their grades, costs of training programs, number of training days, nationalities of employees and other information to calculate the budget required for the training programs in accordance to ADWEA Academy’s policies. * Oversees applications of Interns and coordinates with their universities to bring them into AADC. Coordinates with line managers to accommodate and evaluate interns as well as issues ‘Training Certificates’ to them. * Super vises the work of Assistant Training Officer. Work Relations & Contacts Regular contact with Assistant Training Officer to give work directions and receive feedback. * Regular contact with the Head of Manpower and Planning section to receive work directions and give feedback and reports. * Coordinates with all AADC departments to inform them of different training programs and oversee their participation. * In contact with ADWEA Academy to receive training program schedules and give feedback and comments on completed programs. * Regular contact with all AADC employees and their supervisors to oversee their attendance in training programs and receive their feedback. Annual contact with Finance department to discuss training budget. * Occasional contact with Universities, colleges and trainees to invite and approve student internships in AADC as well as issue ‘Training Certificates’ for them. Accountability for Actions & Impacts * Improving the training plan and programs o f all AADC employees. * Preparation of AADC’s annual training program and plan. * Proper implementation of training plan. * Reports to: Head of Manpower and Planning Section. * Financial Dimensions: Prepares Training Budget. Job specification (Qualification) * Completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Administration, Human Resources or related field. * 5 years of experience out of which 2 years in training department or relevant role. * Good communication and leadership skills. * PC. Literacy: MS. Office. * Very good spoken & written Arabic and English. Opinion How does this job fit with the company? It dose fit the company by Increased productivity, reduced employee turnover, whenever it low was good for the company. Also, strengthen the company by putting the employees update with the new technologies, building a more effective, efficient and highly motivated team which improves employee morale and enhances the company's competitive position. Moreover, provide adequate replacements for employees who may move up or leave in the organization. How this job does fits in the UAE needs? They are the best water and electricity distribution companies, distribute water and electricity in a secure, reliable, safe, cost-effective manner and environmentally responsible, ensure that they provide a highest levels of quality and excellence. In addition, satisfy UAE customer needs and ensuring that all business actions are driven by their needs. Their Excellence â€Å"Strive to achieve the highest possible standards in day-to-day work and in the quality of the outcomes provided†. Linked to http://www. aadc. ae/ENGLISH/EN-T2-mission. html Conclusion In this assignment I learned that HR-Training and Development major is not easy and it really requires high qualifications. Furthermore, I knew more and more about this job such as nature of the organization, job description and duties and job requirements.

Insomnia and Dreaming

For the occurrence of dreams, an uninterrupted period of sleep is needed. So if the quality of sleep declines, the dream recall frequency will decline as well. As experiments shown us, people of mood disorder and depression have a reduced dream recall frequency. Also people having Apnea and increased daytime sleepiness, CNS and PLM will have the same results which are a decline of sleep quality and a reduced dream recall frequency. Insomnia is the most frequent, it is considered as a symptom and it is a subjective dissatisfaction with sleep, also difficulty with sleep initiation and sleep maintenance. The stages may look like this, increased sleep latency, increased awakenings and arousals, decreased sleep efficiency, increased time of wake after sleep onset, decreased total sleep time, decreased rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) and decreased deep sleep in stages 3 and 4. A study on 289 people have showed over a 6 year period in the life of the experiment, that there is a comparison between individuals reporting insomnia to those reporting no insomnia. Those reporting were 141 and those none reporting were 148 individual. The only difference was in the nightmare recall frequency that was found higher in the insomnia group. Also this finding took into consideration people taking medications and those who were not taking any sort of medication inside the reporting insomnia group. A decrease in dream recall was shown; a decline in dream recall is recorded with disordered sleep. Those with sleep latency more than 30 minutes reported a decline in dream recall. As for sleep effiency the groups with a higher percentage (85%) had more dream recall frequency than others. Individuals with a WASO (wake after sleep onset), of higher than 60 minutes had a lower dream recall than others. Also stages 3 and 4 showed a significant decline for the group reporting insomnia. As a result, people with 360 minutes of continuous sleep have an increased nightmare and dream recall. As a conclusion, dreaming requires a minimum quality of continuous sleep. People reporting insomnia has lower levels of dream and nightmare recalls. I can not say that I had a personal experience in insomnia. But surely I saw close people in my family having this problem. When I used to live in my grandparents house, I used to notice how my uncle would wake up in the middle of the night after slept for a maximum of an hour. He used to walk around the house for a while, than take out his collection games that he used to build and try to reshape them. He would do this for a couple of hours before returning to bed. I might say that I noticed how he would wake up in a bad mood. Also when he was asked to remember certain events and details it would take him a while. I think his changeable mood as a result of sleeping for a very limited number of hours may have affected his way of thinking. Also I noticed how he would sleep for several hours during the day to compensate the lost sleepless nights. As a direct effect, my uncle started taking bad decisions in his field of work and was finally advised to see a physician. These days after seeing the difference I realized that I was right in describing his insomnia at the time. Reference: Pagel, J. F. 1,3; Shocknesse, Shannon 2 (1)University of Colorado School of Medicine and Director, Sleep Disorders Center of Southern Colorado, Pueblo, Colorado (2)Rocky Mountain Sleep, Pueblo, Colorado Dreaming and Insomnia: Polysomnographic Correlates of Reported Dream Recall Frequency. [Article] Dreaming. 17(3):140-151, September 2007.

Need for collaborative projects in business courses Essay

Group projects are integral to the business curriculum and can be useful in developing students’ skills and abilities as managers. However, faculty encounter several problems with group projects, including assessing students’ efforts, aiding good communication and coordination among members, and making sure the project is a truly collaborative effort. Technology may aid in addressing these problems; electronic discussion boards and chat rooms, for example, can help faculty and students enhance collaboration and increase the accountability of group members. Keywords: Discussion boards, chat rooms, collaborative learning, student projects INCREASED GLOBAL COMPETITION and other changes in the business environment over the last several years have led organizations to restructure themselves. One aspect of that restructuring is a shifting of responsibility and decision making downward and a movement toward self-directed work teams (Cohen, 1993). To prepare students to thrive in this environment, we obviously need to teach them effective teamwork and communication skills. This article describes two tools that can help accomplish this task, the electronic discussion board and the chat room. These can foster interdependence in group projects and deeper, active learning. First, we discuss the need for and benefits of collaborative projects, the problems of group work, and the role of technology in such projects. We then provide recommendations for incorporating these electronic tools in business communication classes. Need for Collaborative Projects in Business Courses. As many researchers have noted, the structural shift towards teams occurring in many organizations should be reflected in the classroom (Bobbitt, Inks, Kemp, & Mayo, 2000). Using groups in class thus prepares students to work collaboratively in the business environment while promoting collaborative learning in the classroom itself. The first benefit of group work in the classroom is that it teaches students how to work collaboratively in the business environment. Business organizations repeatedly indicate that the increased use of teams in the real world has increased students’ need for exposure and experience with teams (Buckenmyer, 2000). Companies that use teams creatively spend many hours and dollars training individuals to work in teams and training managers to manage teams. Through working in groups, students can enhance their abilities in setting goals, delegating work, and dealing with conflict (Colbeck, Campbell, & Bjorklund, 2000). They can also improve their communication, leadership, problem solving, and technical skills. All of these skills are highly rated by recruiters and employers and will help graduates meet the demands and rigors of the workplace (McNally, 1994). The second benefit of group work is that these projects promote collaborative learning. University educators have embraced cooperative learning methods as ways to engage students and to foster cooperation (Ravenscroft, 1997). Researchers have found that the values of Generation X are highly individualistic, visually-oriented, and aligned with information technology, not with the sharing of information (Buckenmyer, 2000). Thus, group course projects, with proper guidance, can help these students learn to deal effectively with others. Group work learning can be an excellent way of encouraging the development of higher cognitive skills in students (Thorley & Gregory, 1994) and can be effective even for relatively quiet group members. When groups work well, students consistently fare better in class, on tests, and in attitudes towards the instructor and each other (Jones & Brickner, 1996). The quality of learning is improved by peer support, with students gaining experience in communication, negotiation, organization, and task management. Cooperative methods have been recognized as effective ways to motivate students to become actively involved in learning. The collaborative group project creates a forum that allows students to take an active approach towards their own education. The security of working within a group provides an excellent entree into the progression to independent and autonomous learning (Maguire & Edmondson, 2001). Problems with Group Projects The many benefits of collaborative projects, however, are often offset by problems. First, a common problem is the failure of the group to work together effectively. Students may exert an individual effort but are unable to coordinate their efforts effectively with their group members to achieve any kind of synergistic benefits (Tullar, Kaiser, & Balthazard, 1998). Group members need to be contributing their ideas, questioning and learning from each other, and building on the efforts of the other members. For collaborative learning to occur, students must coordinate the diverse skills and abilities of their group members to address a complex task (Tullar et al. , 1998). A second problem is that often group members simply divide a project so that each individual writes a portion. Then, just before the project is due, the students bring in their disks and combine files without coordinating their efforts or talents effectively. Third, group work often leads to unequal contributions of members, resulting in â€Å"hitchhikers† and â€Å"workhorses† (Cottell & Millis, 1993). These â€Å"hitchhikers,† also called â€Å"free riders† and â€Å"social loafers,† can cause problems in the workflow of the group, as they do not do their fair share. Members of the group have difficulty addressing the free-rider problem and documenting the problem and their efforts to solve it (Gremler, Hoffman, Keaveney, & Wright, 2000). The issue becomes one student’s word against another’s as the teacher tries to determine fair individual grades. Finally, group projects are often assigned without the allocation of class time for groups to develop cooperative skills or to become cohesive (Michaelsen, 1992). There is limited time in class to discuss both the needed topics and the mechanics of group management. In many cases, groups meet on evenings and weekends when faculty members are not available for assistance. Additionally, many group members are geographically and temporally dispersed, which makes organizing face-to-face group meetings difficult. The Role of Technology in Enhancing Collaborative Learning Active and cooperative learning approaches will be counterproductive unless they are thoughtfully implemented and well supported. Communication tools like discussion boards and chat rooms can be effective in inter-team collaboration as well as in faculty-student communication. These tools can help ease the problems discussed in the previous section. By solving these problems with technology, faculty can address three learning goals: empowering students, improving their communication skills, and developing their ability to work collaboratively. Finally, these technological communication tools offer teaching opportunities by allowing faculty to be more accessible to students and to track students’ efforts better. Addressing Group Project Problems Internet-based tools can be a tremendous help in coordinating team efforts, particularly when the team is geographically (whether by a few miles or a few thousand miles) or temporally dispersed (Kaiser, Tullar, & McKowen, 2000). With technology, groups can meet either synchronously, using chat rooms, or asynchronously, using threaded discussion boards, in which group members contribute to the group discussion at times convenient to their schedules over a defined time period. These tools enable everyone in the group to talk at the same time or at their convenience by typing their comments into the forum that instantly distributes their comments. Additionally, strong personalities have greater difficulty dominating the group as everyone has equal access to the â€Å"floor. † Students may feel more comfortable presenting ideas this way than in a face-to-face meeting, and the quality and professionalism of their ideas may be higher, knowing that their participation is being monitored. The discussion forum also gives all students ample time for reflection so students’ responses are often more thoughtful than those in face-to-face situations. Studies have illustrated this level of increased and more evenly distributed participation from students in computer-supported groups (Tullar et al. , 1998). Addressing Learning Goals Projects provide opportunities for experiential learning, that is, students apply what they have learned to real-world situations and thus develop decision-making skills. But in doing so, projects often produce anxiety as students struggle to determine what answer the instructor wants. However, with these projects, whether it be a case, a report of a business issue, or a business plan, faculty are typically not searching for one right answer, but rather are concerned with the process that students use in solving problems. Teaching students to ask the right questions is thought to be more important than giving students the right answers. In the real world, there is neither one right answer nor is there a â€Å"sage on a stage† that can direct students to the right answer. Students need to learn how to find and to support the answers for themselves. The use of electronic discussion boards and chat rooms can aid student learning in the struggle through the project process. Thus, three learning goals can be addressed through the use of electronic discussion boards and chat rooms with experiential group projects: (1) empowering students to become active participants in their learning, (2) increasing students’ communication skills in describing and solving problems, and (3) enhancing students’ abilities to collaborate and work with others in developing their own resources in solving problems. To achieve these goals, education must involve interactivity among instructors, students, and the materials, and electronic discussion boards and chat rooms can enrich that interactivity. Providing Additional Teaching Opportunities Another advantage of these tools is the opportunity for faculty to participate in the discussions and e-mails. Faculty can use these tools to demonstrate concern for students and to provide additional accessibility and feedback. In fact, the transactional distance encourages faculty to maintain a facilitative role rather than an authoritative role (Moore, 1993). Finally, these tools make it easier for faculty and students to keep track of what everyone has said as there is a written record (Kaiser et al. , 2000). Students have the opportunity to reorganize and reshape their understanding of course content. The Web-based tools allow thoughts to be captured for future examination, elaboration, and extension. The end result is usually more robust and thoughtful discussions. In fact, threaded discussions can extend the time that both instructors and students invest in the course (Bruce & Hwang, 2001). Recommendations for Using These Tools Many universities are starting to use various computer course tools or platforms to promote online learning. These platforms, such as BlackBoard or WebCT, can be used to design either Web-based or Web-assisted courses. For several years, we have used discussion groups and chat rooms in Web-based classes but have also found that communication can be enhanced in traditional classes through use of these tools. Since more business organizations are using electronic tools, such as Lotus Notes, to facilitate group meetings, using them in the classroom helps students further prepare for their careers. However, the wise faculty member will be advised that these tools should be used judiciously. Therefore, based on our experience, the following suggestions are made to faculty who are considering the use of Web-based tools. Discussion Boards Instructors and students can compose and post messages electronically on electronic discussion boards. Both public and private discussion forums can be implemented. With many computing platforms, such as WebCT, faculty can set up public forums to start threaded discussions for the class to which the students can respond electronically. Students can use these public forums to post questions to which the entire class can respond, such as for help in finding information for the project. A project normally seems easier when the instructor is discussing it in class and few questions arise. However, students’ questions occasionally occur after class or on weekends. The discussion board allows the opportunity for students to post problems asynchronously and to receive input from the class. The burden is no longer on the instructor to solve every problem as it occurs but is on the students to work with each other as well as with the instructor in solving problems. This is a tremendous lesson for students to learn to deal with problem solving in the real world. When an employer gives an employee a project or task to do, he/she expects the employee to do it on his/her own and not ask for assistance from the employer every step of the way. Students have to learn to be problem solvers on their own, and the use of electronic discussion boards helps develop that skill. The professor’s role is to help get the conversation started. For example, the instructor can post a question on the public project discussion board asking at which sites people are having success finding information for the project. The students can then respond. Those students who respond in a useful manner will be rewarded, such as with a participation grade. Those students or groups who do not respond can be asked on the discussion board for their input. When students see the progress other students are making, they may be spurred to work harder. Additionally, the faculty need to check the discussion board frequently to see if any misinformation is being spread, to ensure â€Å"netiquette† is being practiced, and to restart the conversation as needed. Finally, faculty can take questions that the students ask individually and request that the students post them on the discussion board. In that way the instructor only has to respond once, and similar inquiries can then be referred to that response. This will eve ntually build a culture in the class where the instructor is not seen as the sole source for information, and the students learn to work with each other in solving problems. Additionally, instructors can create private forums to be used to divide students into groups for class exercises or for the use of asynchronous coordination of group projects in which group members cannot all meet at the same time. The instructor can visit these public and private forums to track group progress, to encourage students to help each other to solve problems, and to provide assistance as needed after the students have tried first on their own. In the private group forums, the students are encouraged to use the board to organize group meetings, to post their research findings, and to post drafts of their work for their group members to see and make comments. The professor can encourage individual group members to post their contributions to the paper to the private forum for the other members to see and post suggestions. This would increase group collaboration in a manner that can be documented. After the group has collaborated on a draft of the project, the instructor can offer suggestions. Finally, instructors should consider requiring the groups to post progress reports on their efforts periodically during the term. These progress reports describe what the group has accomplished, what the group’s plans are, if there are any problems, and if there are, how they are being addressed. The instructor should provide guidelines as to what the groups should have accomplished by the progress report dates so the students can determine if they are on track. While these reports could be submitted on paper, doing it through the discussion board makes it easier for group members to be aware of what has been submitted. Chat Rooms. With chat rooms, students can meet electronically at the same time no matter where they are, as long as they have Internet access. Each group can have its own chat room, with the instructor joining in from home or office in one of several ways. The group can meet first and then have a designated time when the instructor logs in to answer questions. The instructor can leave when the questions are answered or give the group time to discuss among themselves and then check back later. For project work, it is important that instructors periodically meet with student groups to answer questions, address problems, and provide guidance. The chat room may be a useful tool in meeting with students out of class. The students can meet with the instructor for a practice â€Å"chat† to get the students comfortable with the technology. The instructor can request that the groups meet with him/her several times during the term to discuss their progress. These meetings can be either in the office during office hours or during designated chat office hours, such as on Sunday nights when the instructor is at home. With traditional classes, groups should have the option to meet in person with the professor, particularly early on in the project. For those students who cannot come during office hours, the chat room provides an excellent way to interact, although instructors may want to set clear boundaries or specific hours for when they are willing to meet in the chat room. When the instructor is meeting with groups via chat, patience is needed. It can be confusing when everyone is typing in questions. While the instructor prepares an answer to one question, several more students’ questions can appear. The instructor needs to make it clear that he/she will discuss questions in the order in which they appear. On the other hand, there may be times when the chat room is silent while the students are preparing their questions. The instructor may want to prompt to see if there are any other questions but should give the students some time if needed. Finally, no one should log off until everyone has finished. Someone may be in the middle of preparing something to post and the silence is seen as the end of the session, or someone may have left the room for a minute and has come back to find an empty chat room. Therefore, a practice chat session may be helpful with these issues. Grading Student Use of Discussion Boards and Chat Rooms Grading student responses in both the discussion forum and chat room can present challenges. Many times there may be a group grade for a project that is then adjusted for the individual student’s grade base on his/her contribution to the group’s project. Additionally, students may be individually graded for their participation in the course. Some students will initially shy away from using the discussion board, as they would prefer to do things the way they always have and do not want to learn a new technology. Other students, particularly those who are too shy to speak up in class, may welcome this new opportunity. It is up to the instructor to provide the incentive to become involved. While a positive attitude may help the instructor in encouraging students, making posts part of their grade, such as a portion of their participation grade, probably ensures the best results. Instructor can grade the posting on several issues: clarity of thought/grammer, quality of comments/critical thinking, and usefulness/participation in responding to other posts. In evaluating the group projects to determine individual grades, instructors often have students submit group evaluations. The information on these evaluations can be substantiated or compared to what has occurred on the group’s private discussion forum and what has been documented in the progress posts. If a group member is not contribution, it is the responsibility of the group to communicate this the instructor and to attempt to deal with the problem before the final project is submitted. The use of the discussion board and chat room can be a tremendous help in tracking a group’s activities. This puts more responsibility on the students to document and address the issues before it is too late. It also aids instructors in making fairer assessments of individual efforts. To better manage the communication tools, instructors should set up clear guidelines for grading, such as describing how many new posts and response posts are required per week, as well as how often the students are expected to check the discussion board. For example, the professor may want each group to submit a bi-weekly progress report on its project. The instructor may also want to review â€Å"netiquette† as well as set limits as to how many posts students can make on public forums to avoid overwhelming the discussion board. The instructor needs to stress that it is the quality of the posts and not the quantity that counts and provide students with feedback to encourage its proper use. Finally, the instructor can also utilize student management tools that are included in the computing platforms like WebCT to determine when and how many posts the students are making. Additionally, search commands can be used to find all the posts one student has made in order to track an individual student’s progress. Conclusion Teamwork and group meetings are entrenched elements of an increasingly global environment. As a result, business faculty must prepare their students, as future managers, to collaborate with groups effectively. Electronic meeting tools, such as discussion boards and chat rooms, can play a key role in that training. These tools can enhance and empower student learning and collaboration as well as increase communication and problem solving skills. By collaborating more effectively in school, students will be better prepared to collaborate effectively in the workplace (Kaiser et al. , 2000). These tools also offer additional teaching benefits. They are very useful in documenting student effort and accountability for fair contribution. They also provide a means for faculty to be conveniently accessible and to provide feedback outside of class time. Additionally, electronic tools help students learn to develop their own resources. These tools then can be a tremendous aid for faculty to address group project problems, to help their students achieve learning goals, and to provide additional teaching opportunities to interact with their students. Thus, by using electronic discussion boards and chat rooms, such as with group projects, faculty can effectively enhance their students’ collaborative learning. References Bobbitt, L. M. , Inks, S. A. , Kemp, K. J. , & Mayo, D. T. (2000). Integrating marketing courses to enhance team-based experiential learning. Journal of Marketing Education, 22(1), 15-24. Bruce, S. M. , & Hwang, T. T. (2001). Web-based teacher preparation in visual impairment: Course development, teaching, learning and quality assurance. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 95(10), 609-622. 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