Early Physiotherapy to Prevent Lymphoedema after Surgery Assignment

Early Physiotherapy to Prevent Lymphoedema after Surgery - Assignment Example In most research studies, there exist biases that may cause possible deviation of results. Choosing the most appropriate study methods is important to avoid instances of bias in research (Greenhalgh and Tylor 1997). Research appraisals assist in establishing the question posed by the author(s). It is vital for research studies to possess well-developed study questions relevant to the topic under study (LoBiondo-Wood and Haber 2010). In addition, the identified study questions must have applicable parameters and study populations and discern relevant outcomes. Statistical testing should be based on study hypotheses because they are fundamental in research studies (Greenhalgh and Tylor 1997). Appraisals assist in ascertaining the relevance of hypothesis testing the techniques used in a given study. Appraisal also contributes to determining whether research is based on practice (Brown 2014). Lacomba et al. (2010) carried out a study aiming at ascertaining the efficacy of early physiotherapy in post cancer surgery. An appraisal of the study carried out by Lacomba et al. (2010) reveals that there exist proper applications of interventions for physiotherapy sessions during post cancer surgery. Notably, the research conducted by Lacomba et al. (2010) is indispensable in promoting prevention of secondary lymphedema immediately after surgery. Even though the study was successful in addressing the hypothesis question, it had various limitations such as the recruiting of subjects from a single hospital. It is noteworthy that most single hospital recruitment may result in systematic variations during provision of care between other regions and the hospital. Lacomba et al. (2010) provide a vivid description of secondary lymphoedema within the first paragraph that clearly introduces the study.

Racial profiling is not beneficial despite expert's findings Term Paper

Racial profiling is not beneficial despite expert's findings - Term Paper Example It suggests that profiling undermines social cohesion, is unjust, and should be stopped. Introduction Racial profiling is a controversial subject that is increasingly on the minds of both minorities and the police. This is a common practice by which people of a certain ethnic background are targeted by the security apparatus on the belief that they are more likely to commit or be involved in illegal activity. There is no other probable suspicion except for their skin colour, and because of it they are subject to search or even detention. There are some that suggest this needs to be done in order to protect our security and to cut down on costs. However, racial profiling is inherently unjust and unAmerican. It is not a useful or acceptable practice and it may even have negative consequences for security. Background To properly understand the role played by racial profiling in the criminal justice system it is important to take a step back and look at the various theories that underlie the system we live in. There are two main models that are used to frame the criminal justice system. These two models are excellent illustrations of the thinking behind a great deal of the policy discussion relating to racial profiling. The first model is called the Due Process model. In this system, the standard to arrest and convict a person is very high. There are numerous safeguards in place to ensure that no innocent person is ever subject to any sort of invasive treatment. Everyone, no matter what the crime or the nature of the evidence, is treated with kid gloves. Not until the judge weighs in with the final conviction is the suspect sent to prison. Trials, under this model, last for a very long time and every scrap of evidence is reviewed. The problem with this model is that it is impracticable. It is very expensive and time consuming. It uses up a lot of resources in a system with limited or finite resources already. It may also permit guilty people to game the system to s ome extent. This system is often promoted by people on the left of the political spectrum. There is a second model called the Crime Control model. Under this system, the police have a great deal of power to act as they see fit. They are empowered to stop people without suspicion and hold people without charge. The prosecutors are usually presumed to be right. The presumption of innocence is somewhat limited. There are few protections regarding the civil rights of those accused under this model. An accusation is similar to a conviction. Trials and investigations are short; everything is aligned against the suspect. Suspicion is akin to guilt. Criminals have few rights and little evidence needs to be presented in order to convict someone. This model is often promoted by people on the right. These two models are good illustrations of the politics behind racial profiling. They also represent two poles, neither of which are an appropriate way to run a criminal justice system. We see that racial profiling falls into the Crime Control model, where suspects have fewer rights, but community security is the ultimate good. Preserving limited resources is important. Rather than randomly searching people, under racial profiling ethnic background is taken to imply a likely disposition to commit a crime or type of crime. Race is used as an investigative shortcut. This is an unfortunate extreme. A much better position is between the two models. Problems with Racial Profiling There are many possible reasons why

Company analysis of NUMICO

Company analysis of NUMICO NUMICO came into existence in the year 1896 when Mr Martinus van der Hagen secured all rights of a formula for infant milk from cows milk. His operation was based in The Hague in The Netherlands. In 20th century company changed the named to Nutricia but in the year 1997 when company received the designation Royal then its name changed to NUMICO NV. Recent Past of NUMICO: Strategic Corporate Development History For nearly 5 decades NUMICO worked with corporate strategy of trying to build themselves on only one baby product with limited exports. In 1946 company introduced another product but in the local market only. NUMICO for a long time tried to develop the new strategy after their first initial success in 19th century. Launching new product was not a brilliant idea though it was a sustainable decision. Usually companies spend millions of dollar developing the product and this would take some years to recover. As product development was not enough to grow in multiple folds so company made many acquisitions in different geographies. The result at the end of year 2006 was NUMICOs presence in more than 100 countries with plethora of products to sell. Products were bifurcated among different divisions like clinical nutritional products went under brands such as Nutrison, peptisorb etc. Revenue and profit margin both increased because of acquisition. Acquisitions can get a limited and desired level of success and to keep growing even NUMICO invested heavily in research development. Strategic alliance with industry giants, universities and government helped NUMICOs cause. Research development wing of NUMICO attracted the best and on a regular basis filed for the patents. NUMICO Acquisition strategy in 1998, 1999 2000 To exploit linkages between the organisation and its environment NUMICO adopted Medical Platform Marketing. NUMICO moved from supermarket shelves to practitioners clinics. Now, products for vulnerable people were prescribed by doctors. Expenses on research and development were forcing NUMICO to reach new places to recover the cost. In 1998 annual report NUMICO was a multinational company focusing on the development, production and sales of nutritional medical concepts with a great value addition. Strategy of NUMICO as per annual report of 1998 mentioned in the case study* by Eppink was as follows: The strategy of NUMICO is focused on specialisation, continuing internationalisation and profitable growth, partly by acquisitions as wll as by strategic alliances, and safeguarding the highest quality in all stages of production and services. As per the turnover in 1998, NUMICOs major revenue generating business still was infant food which was sold maximum in Western Europe which was experiencing the major falling birth rates and an ageing population. After analysing the market NUMICO bought few European companies to expand in profitable areas. In 1999, NUMICO acquired a company bigger than them in terms of production revenue. When NUMICO bought General Nutrition Companies (GNC) of Pittsburgh (USA) it was the largest manufacturer of nutritional product in the world with a stronghold in sports-nutrition market. It was a win-win situation for both the organisations where GNC was gaining from NUMICOs research to enhance their product range NUMICO could gain from the distribution network of GNC. Press release explained the reason of this acquisition which was to achieve the global market dominance.1 Acquisition was on the cards for the third year as well when NUMICO snapped Enrich International Rexall Sundown in 2000. Unlike GNC Enrich was in the business of nutritional supplements personal care products with an in house RD department for product development. Again unlike GMC, Enrich was in 10 more countries with a global distribution system. Rexall Sundown another US based organisation was acquired by NUMICo. Rexall like Enrich was a producer of nutritional supplements as well as consumer health products. NUMICO acquired another business which has got nothing to do with their main business interest like GMC. A press release describes the reason of acquisition which was again to get the pole position in the market.2 Acquisition of new businesses far from NUMICOs main business made NUMICO its own rival because NUMICO already had the presence in the market. However, Rexall could exploit the European market because of NUMICOs distribution network present in Europe. At this point in time, NUMICO was confused in their approach because two competitors (Enrich Rexall) were working under one roof and serving the same market. Strategist might have analysed the more competition less co-operation among the two brands. To make operation smoother and to serve their customers better NUMICO merged the Enrich Rexall in one new separate entity by the name Unicity. Strategy evaluation: From day one and for a long period of time NUMICO operated with one product because of which they never realised their potential as a standalone entity to grow. After not getting desired success till the end of 20th century NUMICO realised alone they cannot get the global position in market. At this position, they might have done PEST analysis to judge the environment affecting them. Even SWOT could be used as a tool to know the strong areas where they can build the future empire. PEST might have shown them that they are not functional in future markets where they can grow faster than their current strong hold markets like Western Europe. PEST can cover issues from demography to social technological changes like declining birth rates to e-commerce. By applying SWOT, one can know that NUMICO always regarded the RD as an important activity which they wont give up at any cost. Thus, they identified RD was their strength where they can build their future. Michael Porters 5 forces theory could have also applied in this case study to know why NUMICO only adopted the acquisition route. As the case study explains NUMICO was operating in such an environment where the small players could have changed the entire game. The threat from existing players and new comers was massive moreover small players were taking the competition to all geographies. Hence to enhance the global position in the market NUMICO adopted the acquisition route. Acquiring GMC was a sensible move it was reducing the competition and on the other hand it was enhancing the performance but acquiring Rexall Enrich was not at all a brilliant move. Reason being, it stretches the operational efficiency because NUMICO was not in the same domain with them. *case study (Do the Harvard referencing because I am not aware of the source) 1) Just the last line need referencing from the case study. 2) Press release in the case study Current Strategic Situation: Acquisitions in a field which was not related with their main business interest left them in a position between the pharmaceutical market and the food market. To avoid the stuck in the middle situation usually organisations adopts the Michael Porters (1998), generic strategies which is as follow: Figure: Competitive advantage Source: tutor2u.net (Accessed on: 20/03/2011) Cost Leadership: In this strategy, organisation aims to be the lowest cost producer to gain the maximum share in the market. To achieve this position organisation drive the cost down through sourcing the cheapest raw material labour cost. NUMICO was not trying to achieve the cost leadership because case study shows that they were aiming for high margin business. Hence, cost leadership is not NUMICOs domain. Differentiation: As the name suggests, in this strategy, organisations aim to be different from their competitors. Differentiation provides a competitive advantage to organisations which helped them to charge a premium price for their products services. If we look at NUMICO case study we will find that they started with one product due to patents they held the ground for long time. One product was sufficient with a patent to create the differentiation but later they acquired so many organisations which could provide them distribution network penetration in the foreign market. Acquisition which they made was not only in their own domain and at this point they started losing the gained differentiation. From super stores shelves to general practitioner prescription, move was certainly adopted to make a differentiation but due to diversified businesses it confused the distribution points. Differentiation did not pay off well because by 1998 their major revenue generator was still infant formula. Niche strategies: Here the organisation function in one specific segment and try their best to become the best provider of products services. To work in this kind of strategy organisations need to be either cost efficient or different from other players like Rolls Royce in the car market. NUMICOs acquisition exercise took them into various domains but still they tried to call themselves a Medical Platform Marketing. One platform for medical assistance to those who are vulnerable didnt work well because of plethora of products. However, from NUMICOs perspective they focused on specialisation with profitable growth. STUCK IN THE MIDDLE: NUMICO got involved in series of acquisition related unrelated to their main business interest because of which they are facing the stuck in the middle situation. To simplify the situation they tried to bring all the diversified business interests under one roof. Things are still confusing because they wanted to build on nutritional field but due to acquisitions they are working in nutritional supplements fields as well. Moreover, they acquired two competitors (Enrich Rexall) and left them in the field to compete with each other. It took some time to bring both of them under one brand name and by that time both of them did enough damage to each other. Now, NUMICO is stuck between the pharmaceutical market the food market because of their confused approach. Lot of unwise decision made which resulted in head on collusion with giants of pharmacy food business like Novartis Nestle. NUMICO always wanted to sell clinical diet foods but because of their acquisitions they are not focusing on their main stream business. NUMICO bought the US operations not to sell what they were doing before acquisition e.g. vitamins. Rather than turning them into NUMICOs regular business NUMICO started looking after their operations. First an industry expert noticed that NUMICO is facing challenges because they are not performing only in their traditional markets. Company was stuck in the middle because it was facing challenges from giants minnows at the same time. New markets where they were operative due to acquisitions were full of small players. In addition to that threat from new entrants was massive. NUMICOs strategy needed a review before they lose the global position. Strategy review: In the year 2000, NUMICOs board of directors recognised the risks from existing strategy. NUMICO due to acquisition was not paying enough attention to their cash cow i.e. infant products and now strength of NUMICO is making them vulnerable. NUMICO is a European organisation they maintain balance sheet in euro and any PEST affect in USA operation can cause serious problem to their business figures. Operation overseas involves exchange risk as well. Last but not the least even NUMICOs board realised that they are confused in approach. NUMICO was not all stuck in the middle because organisations who face this kind of situation usually subject to a takeover or merger. Finally when NUMICOs board realised the drawback associated with the strategy they should take this opportunity to reduce or eliminate the risk. Strategy review due to certain events: In the year 2001, after 1 year of realisation, company saw themselves in hot waters due to economic slowdown in the USA. In addition to slowdown, demand for nutrition herbs were plummeting too with an increased competition from low price manufacturers. Its not only NUMICO which was facing the heat but the whole sector was losing the effectiveness. If NUMICO would have done the PESTEL analysis then they could have avoided this slowdown and competition because they never saw this slowdown coming into the picture. It is necessary to explore the competitive environment to develop sustainable competitive advantage. NUMICO response to events: NUMICOs response to the situation was not at all proactive. NUMICO response was reactive that to after negative growth. CEO was asked to mind the traditional new business but not to take any other big projects. US operations gave back to back management problems to CEO which resulted in his resignation in May 2002. New CEO bifurcated the operations in three divisions and for the first time they adopted a specific approach to tackle each brand. In other words, NUMICO changed the corporate strategy to unit level strategy to take care of each business. In the year 2002, NUMICO got bad news from all the quarters of business and to make the situation worse exchange rate of US dollar was changing frequently against euro. Finally, NUMICO announced the sale of Rexall Sundown GNC to focus on high-growth/high-margin businesses of baby food and clinical nutrition. Both the brands increased the performance of its new owner. Strategic Direction for the future: After divestment, NUMICO should think about the future. Company can use BCG Matrix to determine what is to be done to remaining product portfolio. NUMICO already dumped the low-growth/low-margin products, so now; they can concentrate on long term value creations through developing high-growth/high margin products. Stars of NUMICO: NUMICOs star was infant product but due to lot of exposure in low birth rate countries their business was declining at an alarming rate. NUMICO can utilise the some money which they received from divestment to expand in those countries where birth rate is much better than Western countries like India China. For infant products, long ago NUMICO used to command premium price because of RD patents. Cash Cow of NUMICO: NUMICO should turn their infant product into cash cow by offering cost leadership. After gaining the cost leadership NUMICO can go back to their golden days. To achieve the cost leadership NUMICO doesnt have to invest heavily on supply chain because they have everything which it takes to get the advantage. Dogs of NUMICO: NUMICO already sold the Dogs from their product portfolio now they should not repeat this mistake by taking over another non-business interest investment. Question marks of NUMICO: NUMICO should avoid this block by focusing on cash cows star blocks. Imagine a scenario; if they dont pay much attention now on finding new markets for infant products then they might end-up in this block because western market has declined in term of birth rate and they already sold the maximum distribution points of GMC Rexall in USA. Hence, they should take actions on urgent basis to avoid question mark. Figure: BCG Matrix Source: www.tellingthestory.typepad.com Accessed on: 20/03/2011 BCG matrix can help in understanding the mistakes done in past to fit an all approach strategy for future. BCG matrix is not free from flaws but it certainly explains what to do what not to do. To bring back the growth back into the books of NUMICO they should adopt Ansoff Growth Matrix. As per Lynch (2006), the market options matrix examines the options available to the organisation from a broader strategic perspective than the simple market/product matrix (called in some texts the Ansoff Matrix). Figure: Ansoff matrix Source: www.cipher-sys.com Accessed on: 20/03/2011 As per Ansoff matrix, NUMICO can go for market penetration. It will be like without disturbing the companys existing range of products or services and perhaps it can attract current customers as well. Things can backfire if market penetration is planned for new customers only. For example, mobile companies offer brilliant price plans to retain the existing customer. Market penetration is smooth when the market is growing. Existing organisations with low relative market share in a booming market have little to lose but NUMICO has high relative share and if they dont attract their current as well as new customers then they might lose whatever they are holding till now. Market development using existing products could be a strategic route but for this approach they should not disturb the existing customer focus. In NUMICOs case, they should take infant products to those countries where birth rate is better than Western Europe and USA. NUMICO can slightly repackage the product then can promote to a new market segment. Product development for the existing market can be possible for NUMICO because they have their own RD centres where they can develop new concepts. NUMICO should do optimum utilisation of their all resources to counter competitive entry. NUMICOs RD centres can help them to maintain the companys stance as innovator. Diversification is not needed according to case study because they have just finished the sale of GMC Rexall. Other Strategic Options: Organic growth: NUMICO should start the change from with-in and build itself from scratch and this time they should stick to the core business. Acquisitions Mergers: NUMICO can acquire the rival business or merge with one of its rival from core business market to gain the lost momentum. Strategic Alliances: NUMICO can make some strategic alliances with few government bodies in developing countries. Licensing: NUMICO can sell their patent license or lease to its competitors to build a business from their intellectual properties. Recommendations: NUMICO needs to pursue a growth strategy in a structured way the methods by which the market opportunities associated with strategy options might be achieved. NUMICO should treat their RD outputs as their assets which they can sell in market to claim a tag of future business. Investors like to associate themselves with future markets because they know their money can take them to new avenues with high returns. NUMICO was a leader in RD and infant products but all was lost because of acquisitions in foreign un-related markets products. This time they should build themselves related to their core-strength. For RD, they hired PHD passed-outs but they never presented themselves as a smart organisation which they should focus this time. Current generation would like to associate themselves with smart organisations like Google Apple. NUMICO should aim for future parents who will buy their products services. Given the amount of analysis that can potentially be undertaken, merger with other competitors is highly recommended. Mergers are similar to acquisitions like combining two companies. However, merger can happen in one scenario where both the parties cannot take over each other. This can be a friendly hand but still a special care will be always required. Merger should be sone before identifying the strategic issues. Mergers are never meant to lose the total control of the company but to gain new markets new customers. None of the evidence suggests till date that merger is a value addition but neither has it suggested any failure when both partners are same in size. Merger might not a big value to NUMICO but it can enhance the performance. Although NUMICO can still grow as a stand alone business but to take their research in right path they need a right partner. Partner especially with same business interest but with more distribution points in desired locations can do wonders for NUMICO. NUMICO always had RD centres but they never capitalised on that asset perhaps a partner can take that advantage or turn it into their competitive advantage.

Speech Recognition Software :: Essays Papers

Speech Recognition Software Wouldn't it be nice to talk normally to our computers, just as we've seen the characters in "Star Trek" do? Of course, the computers in "Star Trek" understand what you're saying, and that's still a long way off. Tecnology has been advancing at astonishing rates, developing new software for a better interaction computer – human. For example Dragon Systems' NaturallySpeaking is the first continuous-speech voice-recognition program designed for general dictation Until now, most voice-recognition programs supported discrete speech. Examples include Dragon Dictate, Kurzweil Voice, and IBM's Simply Speaking and VoiceType. These work well in special circumstances. But. You. Have. To. Speak. Like. This. Good enough IBM's soon-to-be-released Via Voice different is that they offer large-vocabulary, continuous-speech recognition. Their promise is that you can speak normally and the program will understand what you say. These programs are designed to replace dictation machines and give you hands-free typing. Seeing this In NaturallySpeaking, the app writes the words you speak, and you can save what you've spoken as an .RTF file or copy the material to the Clipboard and an application. You can even edit your text within that application by speaking specific phrases. Saying phrases like "select word" or "spell that" is cumbersome and more time-consuming than editing by hand, but it does allow hands-free use of the program. Ideally, it could be combined with a speech-synthesis program that would verbally prompt you for information. But the real breakthroughs are farther off, when the programs can better differentiate the context of what you are saying. Even then, that doesn't mean the computer will understand what you mean. That's just science fiction. But having it recognize words as you speak them is a big step forward. Dragon has added some new dictation and editing capabilities not found in its previous product, DragonDictate. You can spell words by saying the letters instead of using the alpha-bravo alphabet. Voice macros enable you to add long phrases to documents by speaking shorter ones. To aid postdictation editing, its new select-and-say feature highlights a word or phrase anywhere in the document if you say, "Select [word or phrase]." Typically, you'll have to edit your document after you dictate it; if you wish to edit your file orally, you have to learn the appropriate voice commands. Once you have installed the software it is important that you go through the speech training consisting on two parts. The first part, an informative dictation trainer, stepped me through both a basic and dictation training session.

Attitude Towards Women Essay

Richard is portrayed in many different styles through-out the play; from charming and cheeky to manipulative and arrogant.  He obviously has a clear set judgement on women, which to the audience is perhaps more apparent than to the characters in the play. He has a down cast view on them, and thinks the same of who continue to be intrigued by them, therefore mimics them. We can see this in Richards opening speech of the play.  In Richards opening speech he is addressing the audience directly, which was good on Shakespeare’s behalf, as it then gives the audience the feel that they are involved from the very beginning. In his opening speech, Richard states †Ã¢â‚¬ ¦To strut before a wanton-ambling nymph,†, referring to men trying to impress women. It shows he see’s women as flirtatious, loose, easy even. It shows Richard had not yet any respect for women, why we do not quite know; but it sounds as if he feels they are game playing and men who fall for the game’s he frowns upon. Perhaps there is a reason for Richards dis-interest. In his opening speech he also tells the audience about his deformities. It is possible that maybe Richard puts up a barrier to women to avoid rejection, getting hurt, as he feels they won’t love him due to his deformities. He perhaps feels he is at a disadvantage to other men, which is why he shames them, perhaps it is even jealousy. We know of his down glance on men who fall for women, and of his self pity, as earlier in his speech he claims †He capers nimbly in a ladys chamber, To the lascivious pleasing of a lute. But I that am not shaped for sportive tricks nor made to court an amorous looking glass,†. In this, he mimics men who allow their attention to be swayed by women. He believes men should concentrate more on what they are fighting for (in battle), rather than paying attention to vain women. Another speech that highlights Richards’s attitude to women  Is the one at the start of Act 2 Scene 1, the speech he makes before he goes to speak to Anne.  In this speech, he shows confidence. He knows he is able to manipulate Anne and feels proud of what he knows he can accomplish. This is shown when he predicts the outcome from saying †For then I’ll marry Warwick’s youngest daughter .. What though I killed her husband and her father? † He in a way makes it out to be a joke. As he can see how ridiculous the outcome he predicted may seem, for why would Anne want to marry Richard after what he has done to her family. Richard knows this and is proud to know he has this power of manipulation. He also shows his confidence in manipulation when saying † The readiest way to make wench amends † , meaning for himself rather than her, this shows a type of irony. Richard tells the audience how he wants to be in power; and he feels this power in knowing he can influence other people’s decisions and actions, in order to help himself. He wants to be seen as Anne’s father figure as well as her husband, as it is known how fathers in traditional life guide their daughters decisions, which is exactly what Richard would like to do to Anne, This is a perfect example to show how crude, snide and bitter Richard is, seeing as he killed both her husband and her father. The audience can see Richard wants to use Anne but what for exactly we are unsure. This of course is good as it leaves the audience with a sense of mystery and suspense. There are many reasons why Shakespeare has made Richard into such a character. Perhaps Richard is portrayed like this to the audience because he feels that women are to blame for his  deformities, which he had from birth and obviously have quite an effect in him. Perhaps he feels as he was born with them, from his mother (who is of course female), all women are capable of affecting men in such a way. And Richard of course believes  They have no right to, especially as then he feels he (or men in general) have no sense of power in such an event. Therefore Richard ‘punishes’ them through what he may see as his gift of manipulation. I think the way in which Shakespeare has portrayed Richard to the audience in this play is very clever. As it leaves the play with a constant air of suspense. Of course I do not agree with how Richards view and attitude towards women is portrayed, I find it appalling, but I do believe it gives the play an extra feeling of suspense as it does truly entice the audience. What really stands out as good to me is how Richards’s speeches are shared in confidence with the audience. It allows him to show more emotions and therefore the audience know that whatever act he may put on to others, his true colours are dark, and he is really a very snide and bitter person. This also shows what a brilliant play act Richard is portrayed as. His private speeches give the audience a feel as if they where actually involved in the play. Like they’ve been let in on a secret, just not all of it, so they need to wait through the play to discover what Richards’s true plans are.

Impact On Teaching And Learning Practice Education Essay

This paper presents a reappraisal of the literature on schoolroom formative appraisal, or appraisal for larning. Several surveies have shown grounds that the frequent execution of formative appraisal schemes can give significant acquisition additions. Student perceptual experiences are considered along with an analysis of the formative schemes used by instructors in systemic attacks to learning. There besides follows a treatment on the nature of appraisal for acquisition and its deductions for the development of learning pattern.2. IntroductionAppraisal for acquisition is frequently referred to as formative appraisal, and can be defined in assorted ways. To help elucidation, the definition of formative appraisal used in this paper is meant to include: ‘all those activities undertaken by instructors – and by their pupils in measuring themselves – that provide information to be used as feedback to modify instruction and acquisition activities. Such assessment becomes formative appraisal when the grounds is really used to accommodate the instruction to run into pupil demands ‘ ( Black & A ; Wiliam, 1998b: 140 ) From this definition formative appraisal can be conceptualized as consisting of five cardinal schemes: 1. Clarifying and sharing learning purposes and standards for success ; 2. Engineering effectual schoolroom treatments and other larning undertakings that elicit grounds of pupil apprehension ; 3. Supplying feedback that moves scholars frontward ; 4. Triping pupils as instructional resources for one another ; 5. Triping pupils as the proprietors of their ain acquisition. ( Black & A ; Wiliam, 2009 ) The research into appraisal for acquisition has led to the development of a theory of formative appraisal which attempts to specify all formative interactions as those ‘in which an synergistic state of affairs influences knowledge ‘ ( Ibid: 11 ) . The get downing point of the work on formative appraisal that is described in this paper was the reappraisal by Black and Wiliam ( 1998a ) . This reappraisal covered a really broad scope of published research and provided grounds that formative appraisal raises criterions and that the assessment patterns of the period were weak. However, there seemed to be really few resources to assist instructors set the research findings into pattern. Partially in response to this perceived deficiency of aid, Black and Wiliam published the brochure Inside the Black Box ( 1998b ) , which served four chief purposes: aˆ? To give a brief reappraisal of the research grounds. aˆ? To do a instance for more attending to be paid to assisting pattern inside the schoolroom. aˆ? To pull out deductions for practical action. aˆ? To discourse policy and pattern ( Wiliam, 2011 ) . The reappraisal by Black and Wiliam ( 1998a ) involved analyzing reappraisals of research published up to 1988 and so look intoing through the issues of over 160 research diaries and books for the old ages 1988 to 1997 and their reappraisal drew on stuff from 250 beginnings. One of the precedences identified in measuring the research studies was to place and summarize surveies that produced quantitative grounds that inventions in formative appraisal can take to betterment in the acquisition of pupils. Since the publication of Black and Wiliam ‘s reappraisal at that place has been a greater focal point on issues environing appraisal for larning and their possible benefits to instructors and pupils in raising schoolroom attainment. In 2008 the DCSF published The Assessment for Learning Strategy which presented the characteristics and possible benefits of formative appraisal as shown in the image below ( DCSF, 2008:5 ) . It seems that there is now a consensus in many educational circles that assessment for acquisition is one of the most important, ways of raising attainment within schools. The purpose of this paper is to reexamine and critically analyze some of the most important grounds that has been gathered sing formative appraisal, and whether it warrants the focal point that is now being placed upon its usage by instructors and pupils in our schoolrooms today.3. Ethical motivesThe intent of this literature reappraisal is to analyze and measure the efficaciousness appraisal for larning schemes on bettering pupil attainment, and as such is designed to hold a positive impact on instruction and acquisition pattern, guaranting that learning and assessment clip is used every bit efficaciously as possible. As such, there are improbable to be any negative or harmful effects as a consequence of this paper. In its Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research BERA province that educational research aims to ‘extend cognition and apprehension in all countries of educational activity and from all positions ‘ ( 2011: 4 ) , and this paper will try to run into these hig h purposes. In conformity with the BERA guidelines attention will be taken, when reexamining surveies, to guarantee that the consequences are non used in any manner other than was intended by research workers, and that was made explicit to participants so as non to encroach upon the footings of voluntary informed consent, right to retreat and privateness afforded to them in the original surveies. The paper will see the context and methodological analysis of each research survey, and will merely include those which are deemed to run into the high ethical criterions laid out by BERA ( 2011 ) in their Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research.4. MethodologyChiefly quantitative research was considered and collated, across a assortment of instruction platforms, and in a assortment of parts of the universe, and so the research has been analysed harmonizing to the undermentioned standards, in order to help choice and reading: Focus – What was the intended focal point of the research? Context and coverage – Where was the survey undertaken? At what degree of instruction? How large was the sample size? When was the research completed? Where was the research undertaken? Perspective – Is at that place impersonal representation of the information or is at that place any prejudice toward a specific result? Methodology – How was the research conducted? Audience – What was the intended audience of the research? Findingss – Are the findings important and can they robustly support the decisions drawn? Impact – What is the impact of the survey and is it relevant to the reappraisal? Restrictions – What limitations or lacks exist in the research? Areas for future development – Does the research lead to farther countries that can or necessitate to be researched in future? Adapted from Randolph ( 2009 ) . Due to the sheer figure of surveies into the effects of appraisal for larning The trouble in executing this reappraisal was in choosing the most appropriate plants and research surveies that have been conducted and written to this point, and besides in collating the findings suitably. Student patterned advance and attainment can besides be measured in assorted ways, but an effort at synthesis has been made in order to supply the reader with utile and robust informations to back up the decisions of the paper. The undermentioned subdivision reviews the literature that was selected utilizing the above methodological analysis. The surveies chosen were all based on quantitative comparings of larning additions, and for being strict in utilizing pre- and post- trials and comparing of experimental with control groups. It is non implied, nevertheless, that utile information and penetrations about the subject can non be obtained by work in other paradigms.5. Literature ReappraisalIn this subdivision summarised histories will be presented of research which was selected and reviewed harmonizing to the standards outlined in Sections 3 and 4, and which illustrate some of the chief countries and issues involved in research which aims to procure grounds about the effects of formative appraisal. The first undertaking considered was a undertaking in which 25 mathematics instructors from Portugal were given developing in assorted methods of self appraisal during a 20 hebdomad educational class, which they went on to implement into their instruction pattern with 354 pupils aged between 8 to 14 old ages old ( Fontana & A ; Fernandes, 1994 ) . The students of an extra 20 instructors, who were taking a different class in instruction, acted as the control group. Both of the groups were given pre- and post- trials to find their degree of mathematics achievement, and both spent the same sum of clip in category on the survey of mathematics. Both groups showed important additions over the period, but the experimental group ‘s average addition was approximately twice that of the control group ‘s addition. The chief focal point of work was on regular self-assessment by the students, which involved learning them to develop a degree of apprehension of both the acquisition aims and the appraisal standards, giving them chance to take larning undertakings in which they had an involvement and utilizing undertakings which gave them the ability to measure their ain acquisition results. This research showed robust grounds of attainment additions when utilizing formative appraisal schemes. The writers of the survey reflected that extra work was required to look for long-run results and to research the comparative effectivity amongst the assorted techniques employed in together and in isolation of each other. In this survey the two outstanding elements found were the focal point on self-assessment and the execution of this appraisal. It was non conclusive that one or other of these characteristics, or the combination of the two, was responsible for the additions that were found. The 2nd illustration had its beginning in the thought of command acquisition, but departed from the mainstream political orientation in that the writers of the survey began with a belief that it was the frequent testing that would be identified as the chief ground for the addition in the acquisition accomplishments reported for this attack. The undertaking was an experiment ( Martinez & A ; Martinez, 1992 ) , in which 120 American college pupils in an introductory algebra class were placed in one of four groups, two experimental and two control groups. The experimental group were tested three times every bit frequently as the control group throughout the class and the consequences of a post-test showed a important public presentation addition for those tested more often over the less often tested control group. It could be questioned as to whether frequent proving truly constitutes formative appraisal and this inquiry would necessitate to measure the quality of the teacher-student interactions sing trial consequences and on whether trial consequences really could be considered as representing formative appraisal in the sense of it taking to step ining action taken to shut any spreads in public presentation ( Ramaprasad, 1983 ) . The 3rd survey reviewed here was involved formative appraisal schemes used in the instruction of kindergarten kids who were aged 5 ( Bergan et al. , 1991 ) . The writers of the survey held a thesis that focused attending to the early acquisition of basic accomplishments is indispensable for kids. The undertaking involved 838 kids drawn from largely disadvantaged place backgrounds in the USA. The instructors of the experimental group designed and carried out a measuring and planning system which required an initial appraisal input to be able to inform and act upon instruction pattern at the single degree, and further diagnostic appraisals to invariably supervise advancement and accommodate the instruction and larning throughout the 8 hebdomad period of its class. The instructors used chiefly the observations of accomplishments to measure advancement and attainment. At the decision of the survey, result trials were so compared with the initial appraisals of the same accomplishments. An alysis of the information showed that the experimental group achieved significantly. It is of import to observe, nevertheless, that of the control group, on mean 1 kid in 5 was referred as holding peculiar larning demands and the corresponding figures for the experimental group were 1 in 17 and so this may bespeak an country of failing in the reconciliation between control and experimental groups within this survey. Another illustration of research in this country involved work to develop an inquiry-based in-between school science-based course of study and was conducted by Frederiksen & A ; White ( 1997 ) . The learning class focused chiefly on a practical enquiry based attack to larning within a designated country of scientific discipline, and the work included 12 categories of 30 pupils across two different schools. The categories were taught to a strictly constructed course of study program in which scientific issues were explored through practical experiments and computing machine simulation, utilizing an enquiry rhythm theoretical account that was made explicit to the pupils. The work was carried out in collaborative equal groups, with each category being split into two halves. Half of each category acted as a control group utilizing parts of the lessons for the general treatment of issues environing the subject, whilst the other half acted as the experimental group and spent the same clip on structured collaborative treatment, designed to advance brooding appraisal, utilizing techniques such as self appraisal and peer appraisal of category presentations. All of the students involved in the survey were given the same basic accomplishments trial at the beginning and the same station trial to mensurate attainment and advancement. On the result tonss, the experimental group showed a important overall addition ; nevertheless, when the consequences were compared to the initial pre-tests it was found that pupils who ab initio scored lower, saw the biggest additions from the formative appraisal schemes implemented in the survey, with the highest ability pupils betterment was less pronounced. Amongst all the pupils in the experimental group, those who showed the best apprehension of and ability to implement the ego appraisal processes achieved the highest tonss.

How to Place a Checkbox Into a DBGrid

How to Place a Checkbox Into a DBGrid There are numerous ways and reasons to customize the output of a DBGrid in Delphi. One way is to add checkboxes so that the result is more visually attractive. By default, if you have a boolean field in your dataset, the DBGrid displays them as True or False depending on the value of the data field. However, it looks much better if you choose to use a true checkbox control to enable editing the fields. Create a Sample Application Start a new form in Delphi, and place a TDBGrid, TADOTable, and TADOConnection, TDataSource. Leave all the component names as they are when they were first dropped into the form (DBGrid1, ADOQuery1, AdoTable1, etc.). Use the Object Inspector to set a ConnectionString property of the ADOConnection1 component (TADOConnection) to point to the sample QuickiesContest.mdb MS Access database. Connect DBGrid1 to DataSource1, DataSource1 to ADOTable1, and finally ADOTable1 to ADOConnection1. The ADOTable1 TableName property should point to the Articles table (to make the DBGrid display the records of the Articles table). If you have set all the properties correctly, when you run the application (given that the Active property of the ADOTable1 component is True) you should see, by default, the DBGrid display the boolean fields value as True or False depending on the value of the data field. CheckBox in a DBGrid To show a checkbox inside a cell of a DBGrid, well need to make one available for us at run time. Select the Data controls page on the Component Palette and pick a TDBCheckbox. Drop one anywhere on the form - it doesnt matter where, since most of the time it will be invisible or floating over the grid. Tip: TDBCheckBox is a data-aware control that allows the user to select or deselect a single value, which is appropriate for boolean fields. Next, set its Visible property to False. Change the Color property of DBCheckBox1 to the same color as the DBGrid (so it blends in with the DBGrid) and remove the Caption. Most importantly, make sure the DBCheckBox1 is connected to the DataSource1 and to the correct field. Note that all the above DBCheckBox1s property values can be set in the forms OnCreate event like this: procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);begin DBCheckBox1.DataSource : DataSource1; DBCheckBox1.DataField : Winner; DBCheckBox1.Visible : False; DBCheckBox1.Color : DBGrid1.Color; DBCheckBox1.Caption : ; //explained later in the article DBCheckBox1.ValueChecked : Yes a Winner!; DBCheckBox1.ValueUnChecked : Not this time.; end; What comes next is the most interesting part. While editing the boolean field in the DBGrid, we need to make sure the DBCheckBox1 is placed above (floating) the cell in the DBGrid displaying the boolean field. For the rest of the (non-focused) cells carrying the boolean fields (in the Winner column), we need to provide some graphical representation of the boolean value (True/False). This means you need at least two images for drawing: one for the checked state (True value) and one for the unchecked state (False value). The easiest way to accomplish this is to use the Windows API DrawFrameControl function to draw directly on the DBGrids canvas. Heres the code in the DBGrids OnDrawColumnCell event handler that occurs when the grid needs to paint a cell. procedure TForm1.DBGrid1DrawColumnCell( Sender: TObject; const Rect: TRect; DataCol: Integer; Column: TColumn; State: TGridDrawState); const IsChecked : array[Boolean] of Integer (DFCS_BUTTONCHECK, DFCS_BUTTONCHECK or DFCS_CHECKED);var DrawState: Integer; DrawRect: TRect;beginif (gdFocused in State) thenbeginif (Column.Field.FieldName DBCheckBox1.DataField) thenbegin DBCheckBox1.Left : Rect.Left DBGrid1.Left 2; DBCheckBox1.Top : Rect.Top DBGrid1.top 2; DBCheckBox1.Width : Rect.Right - Rect.Left; DBCheckBox1.Height : Rect.Bottom - Rect.Top; DBCheckBox1.Visible : True; endendelsebeginif (Column.Field.FieldName DBCheckBox1.DataField) thenbegin DrawRect:Rect; InflateRect(DrawRect,-1,-1); DrawState : ISChecked[Column.Field.AsBoolean]; DBGrid1.Canvas.FillRect(Rect); DrawFrameControl(DBGrid1.Canvas.Handle, DrawRect, DFC_BUTTON, DrawState); end; end; end; To finish this step, we need to make sure DBCheckBox1 is invisible when we leave the cell: procedure TForm1.DBGrid1ColExit(Sender: TObject);beginif DBGrid1.SelectedField.FieldName DBCheckBox1.DataField then DBCheckBox1.Visible : Falseend; We need just two more events to handle. Note that when in editing mode, all keystrokes are going to the DBGrids cell, we have to make sure they are sent to the CheckBox. In the case of a CheckBox we are primarily interested in the [Tab] and the [Space] key. [Tab] should move the input focus to the next cell, and [Space] should toggle the state of the CheckBox. procedure TForm1.DBGrid1KeyPress(Sender: TObject; var Key: Char);beginif (key Chr(9)) then Exit; if (DBGrid1.SelectedField.FieldName DBCheckBox1.DataField) thenbegin DBCheckBox1.SetFocus; SendMessage(DBCheckBox1.Handle, WM_Char, word(Key), 0); end;end; It could be appropriate for the Caption of the checkbox to change as the user checks or unchecks the box. Note that the DBCheckBox has two properties (ValueChecked and ValueUnChecked) used to specify the field value represented by the checkbox when it is checked or unchecked. This ValueChecked property holds Yes, a Winner!, and ValueUnChecked equals Not this time. procedure TForm1.DBCheckBox1Click(Sender: TObject);beginif DBCheckBox1.Checked then DBCheckBox1.Caption : DBCheckBox1.ValueChecked else DBCheckBox1.Caption : DBCheckBox1.ValueUnChecked;end; Run the project and youll see the checkboxes all over the Winner fields column.

Between Silence And Light Essays - Phillips Exeter Academy, Khan

Between Silence And Light Essays - Phillips Exeter Academy, Khan Between Silence And Light Between The Silence and The Light Introduction Architecture is a meeting place between the measurable and the unmeasurable. The art of design is not only rooted in the aesthetic form, but in the soul of the work. In Phenomena and Idea, Stephen Holl once wrote, The thinking-making couple of architecture occurs in silence. Afterward, these thoughts are communicated in the silence of phenomenal experiences. We hear the music of architecture as we move through spaces while arcs of sunlight beam white light and shadow. Undoubtedly, Holl adopted this concept from its author, Louis I. Kahn. Unquestionably, I am referring to Silence and Light, a concept created and nurtured by Khan, and one that dominated the later half of his work. Kahn had chosen the word Silence to define the unmeasurable or that which has not yet come to be. According to Khan, the unmeasurable is the force that propels the creative spirit toward the measurable, to the Light. When the inspired has reached that which is, that which known, he has reached the Light. Eloquently expressing the architect's passion for design, Khan wrote Inspiration is the of feeling at the beginning at the threshold where Silence and Light meet. Silence, the unmeasurable, desire to be. Desire to express, the source of new need, meets Light, the measurable, giver of all presence, by will, by law, the measure of thing already made, at a threshold which is inspiration, the sanctuary of art, the treasury of shadow. Khan believed that in order for architectural theory to be credible, it had to be constructed. Thirty years ago, Khan began one of his most successful executions of the Silence and Light with the Library at Phillips Exeter Academy. This New Hampshire landmark physically illustrates and ideologically embodies many of Khan's concepts and incorporates many of his beliefs, synthesizing them into a tight little package with a powerful punch. The subtleties of materiality coupled with multiple plays of light truly embody the spirit of Khan's philosophy at Exeter Academy. As Stephen Holl concisely expresses Architecture is born when actual phenomena and the idea that drives it intersectMeanings show through at this intersection of concept and experience. It is exactly Khan's blending of idea and design that makes this building a model for theoretical execution in design. The following essay will explore the many architectural implementations of Khan's theories from materials, to form, to function and to the Silence and Light. This investigation shall probe the ideology in conjunction with its realization to the approach, the circulation, the enclosure and the details. Additionally, the Library at Phillips Exeter Academy shall be analyzed in relationship to his theories on education, institutions and learning. As the quote I asked the building what it wanted to be has been often attributed to Louis Khan, I shall ask the question, What did Khan want the building to be, and how did he approach this challenge? Institutions and Education Khan believed that Institution stems from the inspiration to live. This inspiration remains meekly expressed in our institutions today. The three great inspirations are the inspiration to learn, the inspiration to meet, and the inspiration for well being. The architecture of Exeter Library captures the essence of these inspirations, offering opportunities for all of them to blossom. Khan continued They all serve, really, the will to be, to express. This is, you might say, the reason for living. It is this inspiration that enlivens the spirits of the students, and motivates them to study and learn. I may suggest then, that if the purpose of the institution lies within the Silence, then its physical materialization becomes the Light. If we assume that the desire to seek truth and universal knowledge is rooted in the Silence, then we may accept the school building to be the Light, more precisely spent light. Khan believed that the first schools emerged from the Silence, from the desire to learn. Schools began with a man under a tree, who did not know he was a teacher, discussing his realization with a few, who did not know they were students. The students aspired that their sons also listen to such a man. Spaces were erected and the first schools began. Since

Casino Royale Opening Sequence Analysis Essay Sample

Casino Royale begins with a pre-credit sequence that gives the audience a obscure penetration into the narrative of the movie. that is about to unknot. While most Bond films start with the hallmark gun barrel sequence. Casino Royale was the first Bond film to get down with a pre-credit sequence that tied into the gun barrel sequence. Casino Royale besides does non integrate female figures in the gap credits and alternatively uses the James Bond character as the cardinal figure. The pre-credit sequence has been edited into black and white. which is a intervention form. and uses rather a contrast of the two colorss. particularly in the violent bathroom scene. The usage of visible radiation and shadow is besides a major intervention form used. where the light appears to be more settled on Bond’s face ( the ally ) and the shadow is more prone to MI6 subdivision head. Dryden’s face. to bespeak the relationship between the good and the bad. A Walther PPK gun was used in the movie Casino Royale. this symbolizes Bond as a superior character. and besides gives him his dual 0 position. This gun besides suits his character. an MI7 agent. as another gun. such as a western gun. would non function its intent in the movie. At the really beginning of the pre-credit sequence. an analytical shooting of the lift Numberss increasing appears. the Numberss increase up to figure 6. screening that the following degree would be 7. This connects to James Bond being 007 and that Dryden is about to meet him in his office room. on the 7th floor. The edifice that first appears has the text â€Å"PRAGUE† appear on the screen. this is a Eastern European topographic point and could besides associate the Bond’s foremost kill ( Fisher ) as he besides appears to be Eastern European. The first shooting the audience receives of Dryden is a low camera angle shooting. this gives him a high position and besides indicates that he is rather a powerful adult male. Shot-reverse-shot is used in the duologue between Bond and Dryden. in-between this are speedy cuts to a flashback of a violent bathroom scene where Bond is doing his first putting to death. this makes it more edgy/jumpy for the audience. The flashback is evidently in the past and this is a contrast to the present footage that is besides being shown. the usage of colors is besides contrasting as the flashback uses more inauspicious colors to the present. Switch overing between two narratives relates to Bond’s foremost and 2nd putting to death. his first in the flashback and his approaching 2nd. to have his dual 0 position. it shows that he is a extremely skilled MI7 agent and give the audience an penetration into the remainder of the movie. Other analytical shootings are used foremost when Dryden opens the drawer in which contains his gun and back a really speedy analytical shooting of a framed image of Dryden’s household. merely before he dies. these are used to give more elaborate narrative information. An set uping shooting is used at the really beginning of the debut. it shows the exterior of the edifice and so the following shooting shows the interior of the edifice. Reaction shootings are besides used in the pre-credit sequence. the first reaction shooting is a close up of Bond’s face after his first kill demoing a spot of sorrow. but his reaction shooting of his 2nd putting to death is besides a stopping p oint up but shows that Bond is more happy with himself this clip and more please of what he has accomplished. as he has now succeeded in killing two people. The gait of the flashback scene is really speedy and shows that the violent death is done suddenly. seeking to acquire it over with where-as Bond’s second putting to death is more drawn out and has more significance to it. for illustration. Bond has a conversation with his victim foremost. The music in the flashback besides is really loud. which is non-diegetic. and besides adds to the edgy and jumpy tenseness that is put across. A lone auto drawing into a parking batch and the sound of footfalls on a cold difficult floor are diegetic sounds that are used in the debut to depict the surrounding environment. it indicates that there is no 1 about apart from Dryden and gives the feeling that the edifice is empty. However this merely adds to the tenseness even more as James Bond fans know that the movies are normally â€Å"action-packed† and that something exciting is bound to go on shortly. There is a representation of two different societal categories in the pre-credit sequence. it portrays Dryden as a more upper category adult male. with the manner he looks and the manner he speaks. where as Bond ( Daniel Craig ) looks more thuggish and like he is out to kill. The audience is merely introduced to males in the pre-credit sequence but it portrays them with more power and position within the movie. nevertheless Bond movies are known to include the celebrated â€Å"Bond girls† . and nevertheless naive they may look. they do excessively besides have a batch of power and can play a chief portion in the violent scenes. The narrative in the debut is in the stage of orientation. as it foremost introduces us to a few of the characters and besides indicates the initial state of affairs. it allows the audience to believe further into the narrative about what is traveling to go on. The debut can besides move as something for the audience to associate back to in the terminal to understand the significance of peculiar fortunes. At the terminal of the pre-credit sequence it is still on the flashback footage and the adult male who we think Bond has killed gets up with a gun to hit at Bond but so the audience is placed inside the shaft of a gun as Bond turns rapidly around and fires straight at the camera. go forthing a drip of blood buttocks. The celebrated James Bond subject melody so begins. Hearing this signature entirely is adequate to suggest that one is about to see a James Bond film. which follows an established set of criterions. The audience is prepared to see the new Bond miss. the new appliances a nd vehicles. the new stunts. and the new secret plan that ever consequences with James Bond salvaging the universe from immorality.

Econ 101 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Econ 101 - Research Paper Example The book contained a new economic outlook of the government and money, and from the roots of the book, came the introduction of macroeconomics. According to the School of Thought (2011), the development of Macroeconomics can be attributed to the works of Keynes, and the controversial arguments that he had with fellow economists helped the development of economics. The other contribution that Keynes had on the world is probably the influence that he had on other Keynesian economists like Joan Robinson, with whom he belonged to a reading group. The influence that Keynes had on his protà ©gà ©es can be seen in later works developed by these economists. The most interesting fact about Keynes life is that his life and work probably led to the development of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, since he helped develop a new international money system that needed to have an overseer. This means that the development of the new economic treaty between the United States and The United Kingdom was brokered using Keynes’s knowledge, and the two institutions mentioned were developed because of the

Confederate Constitution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Confederate Constitution - Essay Example As such, before the point in time that Jefferson Davis was elected as President of the Confederacy, Cobb was the de-facto leader of the Confederacy and served as the executive power under whose signature the Confederate Constitution was able to be passed into law. With regards to the â€Å"why† question, this document served as a means of proclaiming a level of self determination, a la the much earlier Declaration of Independence that the founding fathers of the United States had penned. Moreover, it served to differentiate the means whereby the Confederate States sought to define the most important concepts of power and the relationship which the member components of their own union must relate to the central Confederate government. As such, the document specified that at any time and for any reason, the dissolution of a member state from such a confederacy was entirely possible and allowable under the legal terms in which the document was penned. Similarly, with regards to t he â€Å"where† question, the document was ratified in Montgomery Alabama. With regards to the key differentials that the document noted as compared to the United States Constitution, these were many and will be explained within the following bullet points: The preamble to the Confederate Constitution placed emphasis upon the fact that all signatory states were acting in their own sovereign and independent character. Establishes the 3/5’s compromise as the law of the land; thereby denoting that a slave can only be counted as 3/5’s of a person when determining the overall population total of each state. Provided the President of the Confederate States with the power of line item veto but reqruierd that once the president would use the veto power that... With regards to the â€Å"why† question, this document served as a means of proclaiming a level of self-determination, a la the much earlier Declaration of Independence that the founding fathers of the United States had penned. Moreover, it served to differentiate the means whereby the Confederate States sought to define the most important concepts of power and the relationship which the member components of their own union must relate to the central Confederate government. As such, the document specified that at any time and for any reason, the dissolution of a member state from such a confederacy was entirely possible and allowable under the legal terms in which the document was penned. Similarly, with regards to the â€Å"where† question, the document was ratified in Montgomery Alabama.With regards to the key differentials that the document noted as compared to the United States Constitution, these were many and will be explained in the following bullet points:ï  ¶ The preamble to the Confederate Constitution placed emphasis upon the fact that all signatory states were acting in their own sovereign and independent character.ï  ¶ Establishes the 3/5’s compromise as the law of the land; thereby denoting that a slave can only be counted as 3/5’s of a person when determining the overall population total of each state.ï  ¶ Provided the President of the Confederate States with the power of line item veto but required that once the president would use the veto power that the bill would then be resubmitted to both houses for a possible override.

E-Payment Systems Assignemnt Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

E-Payment Systems Assignemnt - Assignment Example The report will also try to underline a comparison among the mentioned methods. Apart from that the report will also emphasize on the aspect of database security of the seller. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Method 1: Credit or Debit Card 5 Method 2: Cash on Delivery 6 8 Method 3: Mobile Phone Payment 8 Matrix Comparison 10 Security 11 References 12 Introduction In spite of the incident of dot-com bust, internet has changed the way organizations carry out their business. Internet helps an organization in finding new avenues of generating revenue, achieving new set of customers and also managing the supply chain of the business. Internet has significantly impacted on the global economy (Reynolds, 2004, p.5). Organizations also understood that internet is one the best medium of carrying out the business in a cost effective way and directly selling the products to the end user, thereby restricting entry of any third party. Thus during the early 1990’s the co ncept of e-commerce were hugely incorporated into the business process of the organizations. Electronic commerce or what is commonly known as e-commerce is an application which facilitates online selling and buying of goods and services. It offers online fund transfer; Electronic Data Exchange (EDI), online marketing and different other applications. The major advantages of using e-commerce are maximization of speed in the context of service delivery, reduction in the overall cost and also quicker response to the customers. Electronic commerce also plays crucial role in the process of online payment. Online payment method refers to the process of directly transferring funds to the seller’s bank account. The biggest advantage of an online payment option is that it instantly completes the entire process of payment. The electronic payment options which are accepted in e-commerce include credit cards, debit cards, cash cards and internet banking. Furthermore in order to conduct i nternational money transfers there are several online platforms such as PayPal, alert pay and Google checkout among other which aid in the process of transferring money. Therefore in order to facilitate online payment options issues such as convenience of customer and technical infrastructure and the security of the method must be taken into account. Thus modern systems need to be incorporated for better and smoother transaction. The recommended methods of payments are summarized below:- Method 1: Credit or Debit Card A debit or a credit card is one of the most widely used and accepted method of payment. Credit cards or debit cards are generally issued by banks or any other financial institutions. In this payment method the user directly transfers the money to the seller’s bank account either from its own bank account or through the credit issued by the banking authority. The process is also very simple, thus it will provide huge convenience to the customers. Furthermore it a lso consumes very less time the payment process can be carried out within few minutes. In case of customers making use of credit card they need to repay it later to issuing authority while on the contrary debit card users pay real time from their respective bank account (Radu, 2003, p.2). The option also provides high security to both the

New Developments in Radiology and Medical Imaging Essay

New Developments in Radiology and Medical Imaging - Essay Example The use of PACS to import images has the support of physicians at UCSF but old technology dies hard thus the continued usage of viewing images on CD still standard (Phillips Medical Imaging Blog: Radiology PACS Reduces Repeat Procedures Per Recent AJR Study). 4 Implementation Cost of PACS 4 Table  1 5 Advantages of Implementing PACS 6 Disadvantages of Implementing PACS 7 Summary 7 Works Cited 8 New Developments in Radiology and Medical Imaging Introduction Medical imaging is an evolving industry with increasing technical advancements in the profession. The ever changing technology requires that with cost effective architecture and technology the health business should lead to better patient care. Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) is one such new development in radiology. Other new advancements include CT scans, Ultrasound, Virtual Intraluminal Endoscopy, Positron Emission Tomography (PET), MRI, Radio Surgery and High Intensity focused Ultrasound (McKesson Medical I maging Blog: Recent Advancements in Radiology). This paper focuses on PACS. About Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS) PACS are communication systems that allow physicians to read radiology images without leaving their computers. On McKesson website they reveal about McKesson Radiology 12.0 which introduces a new web-based platform with the ultimate PACS experience. The new release is made up of McKesson Radiology station, and the client side application for PACS solution which provide superior image display, work flow efficiency and system integration capabilities. The platform reduces the total cost of ownership (TCO) of users through providing a scalable and flexible architecture for handling organization’s growing data. The technology provided improved access to images and clinical reports thus enabling physicians to deliver optimal patient care. The McKesson Radiology 12.0 has five deployment alternatives where one can choose from according to his flavor (M cKesson All about PACS: the Picture of Better Health). These alternatives include: i. McKesson Radiology station provided for the performance-focused, diagnostic end-user. ii. McKesson Radiology station Lite provided for those who work outside the health care facilities and require streamlined solutions on standard windows-based PCs, laptops or Macitonsh Platforms. iii. McKesson Radiology station eJacket for referring physicians, patients and report-centric end- users. iv. McKesson Radiology station Disc provided for those who need to send CDs or DVDs to others i.e. referring physicians, consultation purposes from other specialists, and to patients for their own records. v. McKesson Enterprise Image Clinical Reference Viewer which addresses emerging mobile-workflow requirements for radiologists, referring physicians and other specialists. Application Communication systems are a lifeline of any hospital and mostly within Radiology departments. Using PACS to import radiology images pl ay an important role in reducing repeated tasks. At the McKesson Medical imaging blog David Philips explain an incident concerning a report concluding that patients who had undergone CT or MRI before transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) had more repeat imaging than when the images were imported into the PACS.

Type 2 Diabetes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Type 2 Diabetes - Essay Example Many of the diabetic tests being carried out in clinics do not meet the required ethical standards. Health care promoters like Doctors face direct involvement with many ethical issues (Type 2 Diabetes 2015). They are vital in decision making, and thus, making significant ethical implications. Type 2 Diabetes patients trust Doctors to act on their discretion, meaning he is left to what he feels is necessary. But as research shows, some incidents present ethical dilemma to Doctors making very few act to the best course of action. Many Doctors also have issues presenting information to patients regarding testing of Type 2 Diabetes. How a doctor perceives many of the Diabetic questions could therefore be of a big interest to his patients’. From the discussion, we find out that the legalization of some ethical issues would be a positive move towards protecting the patient and the healthcare provider. Legalization of euthanasia would be meaningful to type 2 Diabetic patient undergoing server pain. Legalization to autonomy gave Diabetic patients the freedom to withdraw from hospital bed at their own will. What does Legislation mean in Type 2 Diabetes? Legalization in Type 2 Diabetes refers to creating accommodative rules and policies that will protect and harbour workers infected by Type 2 Diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes should not keep an employer away from the work place. A worker should not be fired or suspended because he or she is suffering from Diabetes.

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 3

Economics - Essay Example Some of the other factors as determinants of demand have been introduced in the theory of demand recently. The traditional theory of demand starts with the examination of the behaviour of the consumer since the market demand is assumed to be the summation of the demands of the individual consumers. Thus, the demand for a given commodity is the horizontal summation of the demands of the individual consumers. In other words the quantity demanded in the market at each price is the sum of the individual demands of all consumers at that price. The responsiveness of the demand in relation to the price or income of the consumer is referred as the elasticity of demand. There are as many elasticities of demand as its determinants. The most important of these elasticities are (a) the price Elasticity, (b) the income elasticity, and (c) the cross elasticity. The concept of elasticity of demand is important in that it s being used by the economists to explain the consumer behaviour in different market conditions. With this background this paper illustrates the importance of different kinds of elasticities of demand and the ways in which they are helpful to the economists to report on the consumer behaivour... The laws of demand and supply are an important part of in the study of economics. They help the economists to measure the relative changes in the demand due to changes in prices with the concept of elasticity of demand. (Pink Monkey) The price elasticity is a measure of the responsiveness of demand to changes in the commodity’s own price. Depending on the magnitude of the changes in demand it can be termed as either point elasticity or arc elasticity of demand. If the changes in the prices are very small, the point elasticity of demand is used as the measure of responsiveness of demand. If the changes in the prices are large then arc elasticity of demand is used as the relevant measure of responsiveness. The laws of demand and supply form the basic

Type 2 Diabetes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Type 2 Diabetes - Essay Example Many of the diabetic tests being carried out in clinics do not meet the required ethical standards. Health care promoters like Doctors face direct involvement with many ethical issues (Type 2 Diabetes 2015). They are vital in decision making, and thus, making significant ethical implications. Type 2 Diabetes patients trust Doctors to act on their discretion, meaning he is left to what he feels is necessary. But as research shows, some incidents present ethical dilemma to Doctors making very few act to the best course of action. Many Doctors also have issues presenting information to patients regarding testing of Type 2 Diabetes. How a doctor perceives many of the Diabetic questions could therefore be of a big interest to his patients’. From the discussion, we find out that the legalization of some ethical issues would be a positive move towards protecting the patient and the healthcare provider. Legalization of euthanasia would be meaningful to type 2 Diabetic patient undergoing server pain. Legalization to autonomy gave Diabetic patients the freedom to withdraw from hospital bed at their own will. What does Legislation mean in Type 2 Diabetes? Legalization in Type 2 Diabetes refers to creating accommodative rules and policies that will protect and harbour workers infected by Type 2 Diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes should not keep an employer away from the work place. A worker should not be fired or suspended because he or she is suffering from Diabetes.

The poem Half caste Essay Example for Free

The poem Half caste Essay The poem half caste has one reference of rhyme in it glow, shadow, tomorrow this rhyming makes the poem seem like a well planned argument rather than a rant. This gives the effect that he is reasoning with someone in an argument (his audience). The rhythm in the poem nothings changed, starts off with a very slow rhythm to it, it sues mono-syllabic words small round hard stones click this creates a slow harsh bitter mood. During the 2nd stanza the pace speeds up, he begins to use repetition and my hands, and my skin, and and this repetition of the word and shows his anger rising, consequently causing the poems pace to quicken dramatically. Once again the rhythm changes, this change occurs in the 4th stanza no sign says it, but we know where we belong the rhythm is slower meaning that he is sad. The rhythm in the poem half caste is very constant, it has a steady rhythm to it mainly because the poem is very humorous and harsh all through the poem yu mean when Picasso mixed red and green, is a half caste canvas The poet in the poem half caste uses many references to imagery, imagery means when you can see what the poet is trying to describe yu mean when light an shadow mix in de sky is a half caste weather this compares having parents of different colours to a natural image of the sky mixing. Nothings changed also uses imagery. Name flaring like a flag this simile shows the proud and insulting dominance of the white mans inn. The white mans inn is posh it is admirable it is up-market but still it squats , it does not blend in with its surroundings, this new inn, with posh food contrasts sharply with the black peoples inn, with plastic tables and no tissues but to wipe your hands on your worn out jeans. The flag of the white mans inn seems to be taunting the man. The poets use language to explore their feelings about racism in many interesting and imaginative ways. In half caste the poet repetition of the words explain yuself this gives a conversational and yet aggressive tone. The poet also uses Creole explain yuself, by the poet using Creole it shows he is comfortable with both sides of his background. In the poem nothings changed the poet uses alliteration and one syllable words to tell his poem. Cuffs, cans, crunch by using mono-syllabic words the poem seems sad, but it also makes it seem snappy and hard hitting. Afrika also uses onomatopoeias click, crunch. Onomatopoeias are words that sound like the sound they make. Both of the poems are expressing their hate for racism they have told it in two different perspectives one from each poet. Tatamkhula afrika has a more aggressive view of racism, he despises it. On the other hand john agard has a more conversational attitude to racism he debates about it and is able to laugh the idea of racism off. John agards poem interested me the most, because I was interested to hear about his ideas on racism (half caste). In conclusion I agree with both poets about their view on racism, racism is for the small minded and it should be stopped.

Gender Gap between Boys and Girls in Education

Gender Gap between Boys and Girls in Education There has been a lot of work done on boys and girls achievement in schools: narrowing down the gap. In 1960 young boys were 21 times more likely to attend university than girls. It can be suggested that the changing world is having an impact on boys achievement in terms of boys attainment in schools and that of girls success in schools. It was suggested that the equal pay act and that of the sex discrimination act (1970) changed the emphases of education policy and that can be noted as a key period of history that changed the objectives of girls in terms of careers and attainment. Girls had to achieve higher marks in their 11 plus examination than boys. Elwood J et al (1998, p.5) states that 11 plus examination à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ children used to be selected for secondary schooling, were deliberately skewed so that girls had t achieve better results than boys. The period 1950-1960 found the reasons behind this was because boys matured later than girls which would not have been fair to l eave out boys from attending grammar schools. But in 1990 their was concern over boys achievement in schools. It has been suggested that in societies such as the UK the socialisation process as it operated at least up to the 1970s meant that many parents socialised their daughters to show dependence, obedience, conformity and domesticity whereas boys were encouraged to be dominant, competitive and self-reliant. Also when young children saw their parents acting out traditional gender roles many would perceive these roles as natural and inevitable leading girls and boys to imagine their futures as fulltime housewives and mothers and as fulltime paid employees respectively. In schools teachers praised girls for feminine qualities and boys for masculine qualities; boys and girls were encouraged to opt for traditional male and female subjects and then for traditional male and female careers. Furthermore in certain sections of the mass media [and especially perhaps in teenage magazines] girls were encouraged to recognize the all importance of finding Mr. Right and settling down to a life of blissf ul domesticity in their traditional housewife-mother roles. Cole (2006, p.26) suggests that even before children go to school their parents will treat a boy and girl very different. Even in society throughout history this has occurred. A lot of research has gone into this; your gender is an issue from the minute you are born. Automatically society will say how a girl will behave and how a boy will behave. If it is a boy, oh hes like that because hes a boy and boys always take longer to grasp it. Girls, even in the late 1960s were more likely than boys to gain 5 or more GCE Ordinary Level pass grades. From the 1960s to the 1980s the percentages of girls and boys gaining 5 or more GCE Ordinary Level pass grades gradually increased but the so-called gender gap in educational attainment increased especially once the GCSE was introduced primarily because girls have maintained their traditional higher attainment levels in Arts and Humanities subjects but also reduced [and in some years overturned] the traditional attainment gaps in favour of boys in Mathematics and Science subjects. The GCSE was introduced in 1988 and from then onwards the female- male gender difference in educational achievement at GCSE level widened as differences between the [ higher] female pass rates and the male pass rates in Arts and Humanities widened and females narrowed or sometimes reversed the traditional higher male pass rates in Mathematics and science subjects. It has been claimed that the relative improvement of female educational achievements can be explained partly by the nature of the new GCSE courses .This has been disputed, however, on the grounds that several factors have contributed to these trends. By the late 1980s females were more likely than males to gain two or more Advanced Level passes and during the course of the 1990s they also became more likely to gain 3 or more A level passes. Females also soon became more likely than males to gain A grades in almost all Advanced Level subjects Nevertheless gender differences in examination performance at Advanced level are smaller than at GCSE level. In 2007-2008 69.3% of girls and 60.1% of boys achieved 5 or more GCSE Grade A*-C passes; 51.3% of girls and 42.0% of boys achieved 5 or more GCSE Grade A*-C passes including English and Maths. The gender difference in examination success varies considerably from subject to subject. For example girls in 2007-2008 girls outperformed boys by 14% in English, 16% in Design and Technology, 9% in Modern Foreign Languages, 17% in Art and Design and 12 % in English Literature but by only 1% in Mathematics, 2% in Core Sciences, 1% in Chemistry and 2% in Classical Studies. Although the data are not presented here Girls are now more likely to gain A* and A grades in most but not all   GCSE subjects. Other areas the research will focus on are schools too feminised, advantage for girls but disadvantage for boys. Hutchings (2002) states the phrase feminisation is used simply to refer to the fact that there are more female teachers than male, especially in the primary sector. (Biddulph, 1997 cited in Skelton et el, 2007) state that the current situation is often presented as one which is detrimental to the educational experiences and opportunities of boys with the implication that boys do better when taught by men teachers. (Skelton et el, 2007) suggest that Another use of the phrase feminisation of schools is in relation to the idea that the predominance of females has led to the delivery of the curriculum, assessment practices and the management and organisation of the classroom becoming more feminine in nature. Female teachers are more lenient on boys than male teachers also male teachers can be role models for pupils which will enable the child to be motivated to learn and succe ed in education. Role models it is argued that there are more positive role models for young girls than there are for young boys in terms of encouraging them to do well at school. Issues within the classroom the findings of  Becky Francis (2000) argues girls are improving more rapidly than boys , this is to be explained   primarily in terms of the processes affecting the social construction of femininity and masculinity. In relation to the social construction of femininity, she argues that many girls of middle school and secondary school age aim to construct feminine identities which emphasise the importance of maturity and a relatively quiet and orderly approach to school life. Girls certainly do take considerable interest in their appearance and may choose to rebel quietly by talking at the back of the class or feigning lack of interest but , according to Francis, not in a way which will detract from their school studies. Their femininity is constructed in such a way that if they choose to behave sensibly and work hard this, if anything, adds to their femininity. Findings have suggested that it is vital to keep the subjects taught in curriculum interesting for children to learn about in class. This may enable children to be motivated to learn and gets rid of the label of boringness of lessons. Jackson (2006, p.127) states that if students find the curriculum boring, it provides little incentive for them to counter the uncool to work discourse. Continued existence of laddish, macho anti- school subculture- these are groups of pupils in schools who have different norms and values to the rest of the school. Subcultures can be anti school where pupils are rude to teachers, dont do homework, truant and get into fights. Some sociologists argue that boys are much more likely to be in these groups and to think that education is a waste of time and that it is not macho to do well at school. Subcultures can also be pro school where pupils are very committed to school, they do all their work on time, or early, they are always on time for lessons and n ever truant. It is argued that girls are more likely to be in these subcultures than boys. Methods of assessment have been identified particularly frequently as a key factor in this bias against boys. An increased amount of assessed coursework has been suggested to explain boys doing less well at GCSE and A levels, with the argument being that boys do less well at coursework because of their preferred learning styles (Skelton et al, 2007). Girls do less well at sudden death exams (timed exams previously unseen by the candidate) which rely on last-minute revision and require self-confidence. This latter form of assessment has been argued to favour boys, and was the basis for O level exams (the exams that preceded GCSEs in Britain). Bleach, 1998, cited in Skelton et al, 2007 In fact, however, girls results were already improving before the GCSE assessment model was introduced. And further, Arnot et al. (1999) discuss how a reduction in the coursework component in public examinations in the 1990s did little to alter the pattern of gender achievement (Skelton et al, 2007). Another issue could be masculinity peer pressure from friends Jackson (2006, p.74) states that the uncool to work this statement is suggesting that if boys work hard at school they will not be cool. (Jackson, 2006, p.84) Those who seem to be most disadvantaged as a result of the discourse are those who attempt to balance academic work and popularity but can not manage to do both successfully. This is a powerful predictor in a lot of schools, this is seen as social status of pupils needs to be popular and be part of a group. A lot of pupils will feel being unpopular is not as good as anything else. Also it will lead to negative impact. Both girls and boys have to act as they are chilled, relaxed, laid back when it comes to the academic side of work. As the relative rate of female educational improvement increased it came to be argued that this might be explained to some extent by biological factors. Experiments investigating the brain activities of male and female babies suggested that differences in the structures of female and male brains respectively may mean that females have genetically determined linguistic advantages which would explain females especial facility with language based subjects. It was also suggested that girls earlier maturity means that they can concentrate more effectively and are better organised especially in relation to course work. This was considered to be a significant point because the relative improvement in female GCSE results was associated especially with the introduction of coursework-based assessments which had been absent from the GCE Ordinary Level examinations which the GCSE replaced. However in relation to these theories it should be noted that male-female differences in Advanced level lan guage examination results are small, that the relationships between physical and intellectual maturity are uncertain and that gender differences in examination results cannot be explained only by the presence or absence of coursework. Other factors that may affect attainment are different learning styles, both boys and girls learn differently, but we need to be careful we do not stereotype on gender. When looking at the gender debate it has been suggested by Coffield (2004) that consideration to learning styles is important when establishing the link as to why there is a gap between boys and girls due to peer pressure for the boys what their friends may think if they achieved well in school, the way boys are assessed in schools for instance boys do better in exams than coursework. Examples of these could be boys would prefer to learn kinaesthetically by doing things such as experiments or activities and girls would learn well visually by seeing. Interest in learning styles has grown rapidly in recent years and perceived differences in the learning styles of boys and girls are one of the most frequently expressed explanations for the gender gap in achievement. This argument is also based on the presumption that if boys are naturally different to girls because of their biological make-up, then it follows that they will have different approaches to learning (Noble and Bradford, 2000; Gurian, 2002). Studies have shown that the vast majority of boys and girls prioritise a teachers individual ability as a teacher, and their level of care for their students, rather than a teachers gender. Skelton et al (2009), Francis et al (2008). Boys to better in maths than girls research by Hargreaves et al into pupils stereotypical attitudes to mathematics and English has shown that stereotypes succeed among pupils, with most believing that maths is a boys subject where boys do better, and English a girls subject where girls do better. DfES (2007, p. 3) Boys outperform girls in Maths at Key Stage 2, and continue to outnumber girls at higher level maths. But there is a large gender gap favouring girls in English. On the other hand girls do better in English than boys On the other hand women do better on reading comprehension and vocabulary than men do. APA report state that some verbal tasks show substantial mean differences favouring females. Whitepaper on gender differences in achievement Social class and ethnicity according to Cole (2006, p.29) states that Gender is not the strongest predictor of attainment. Social class attainment gap at key stage 4 is three times as wide as gender gap. DfES (2007, p.3) Analysis of the attainment data shows that other factors or a combination of factors, such as ethnicity and social class, have a greater bearing on educational achievement than gender considered on its own. Gender differences in educational achievement are far smaller than social class differences in educational achievement. Students of both sexes who are eligible for free school meals are far less likely than students of both sexes ineligible to be successful at both levels of the education system. Some ethnic differences in educational achievement are also greater than gender differences in educational achievement. Statistics on the gender gap between boys and girls Attainment at each end of the distribution of grades also varies by gender. Girls are more likely than boys to gain an A* grade at GCSE. Boys are a little more likely to gain a G grade at GCSE or to gain no GCSEs at all. The largest gender differences (a female advantage of more than ten percentage points on those gaining an A*-C GCSE) are for the Humanities, the Arts and Languages. Smaller gender differences (a female advantage of five percentage points or less) tend to be in Science and Maths subjects. Some of these achievement patterns have been relatively stable over six decades of exam results, particularly in English Language and Literature, French, Art and Design and Religious Studies. There have been changing patterns over the years. In Maths, there has been a shift from a male advantage averaging 4 percentage points prior to 1991 to a slim female advantage of 1-2 percentage points in recent years. In Geography, there has be en a widening of the gap in girls favour, and in History, there has been variation but with girls now doing much better than boys. This research will explore possible solutions we can use to solve this gap such as single sex schools which may help girls to speak out. Times online (2004) Girls in mixed classrooms refrain from speaking up and answering questions. Another way of solving the gender gap is by having single sex classes in mixed schools so that teachers can meet different learning styles for boys. Research has shown that girls obtain better results in single sex schools in comparison to mixed schools Curtis (2009). Odone (2004) conversely, that boys do not want to study foreign languages or shine in English literature in case they are mocked as poofs. Garner (2008) Differences in how male and female brains work mean single-sex schooling will make a comeback leading head mistress in the Independent. However the disadvantages of sex schools Blair (2006) Girls schools feature highly in the league tables because they are highly selective, their children come from particular social backgrounds and they hav e excellent teachers. BBC News (2006) While both single-sex and co-education have passionate advocates, half a century of research has so far revealed no striking or consistent differences one way or the other. Odone (2004) Children, will inhabit a mixed society later, so let them start young, with mixed classes. Younger et al (2005, p.89) found that boys and girls may feel more at ease in single sex classes, feel more able to interact with learning and feel free to show interest in the lesson without inhibition. It was felt that there can be positive effects on achievement for boys in modern languages and girls in science and maths. (Dcfs (2007) Methodology The methods that will be used to gather research for this project will be as follows: the use of books to get information on issues affecting gender differences in achievement at schools and what theorist have already found around this agenda. The internet will be useful for this research project because you can research recent and up to date statistical information on the gender gap and get government published on this debate. Journals will be useful for the research project to collect recent data and changes in the debate around boys and girls achievement in schools and narrowing down the gap. These methods of researching are called secondary research. Secondary research is the use of material, which has been researched by someone else. The different research methods for secondary research are as follows: technology based research is to do with researching from the computer to get your information, which has a lot of benefits such as the internet provides online libraries; e-books, journals and encyclopaedias such as infed. The main electronic databases that will be used for this research are as follows education research complete, education online and SwetsWise. The key read that will be used will be based on gender differences and achievement in school also how the search found a number of journals, but some were irrelevant, to the research topic. Search engines help you through the mass of information on the internet two most popular search engines are Bing, google advanced search and google scholar also on the internet you can search for newspaper articles. However web sources may not always be reliable so researchers need to find out how accurate the information there are number of ways to assess the accuracy of the sites. According to Walliman and Buckler (2008, p.92) compare the data with other sources and is it biased many use the web to promote ideas. The reasons for choosing to do the research project as a desk study were as follows: to find out what has already been researched in this field and arguments that have already been produced around this agenda. However the reasons for not choosing the fieldwork approach method were because it will be time consuming and availability of schools to carry out the research is limited and difficult to get a place in schools to do observations. The advantages of the desk study approach are as follows; able to collect, understand and interpret data also to limit costs such as travelling costs. The disadvantages of desk study may be the availability of books from the library In contrast the advantages of the interview approach (structure and unstructured) advantages of structured interviews are time management can be controlled, results are simple to gather and the questions are securely set in advance. the disadvantages of structured interviews are there might be other questions to ask and you cant develop on questions. The advantages of unstructured interviews are there is a lot of time, you can develop questions and it is a relaxed method. Disadvantages of the interview approach are as follows: The disadvantages of unstructured interviews are the interview can simply be a chat, not all the participants are asked the same questions and only some of the questions are asked. Indirect observation is when a participant gets their information from viewing from far. Direct observation is when a participant obtains information by combining with the circumstances they are watching. Advantages of the observation approach (direct and indirect) the advantages of observations are actions can be seen in the normal surroundings and observations can both be direct or indirect. Disadvantages of the observation approach (direct and indirect) the disadvantages of observations are they are lengthy and not consistent. Qualitative vs. quantitative Analysis There was clear evidence that in the era of the 11+ pass marks were set higher for girls than for boys so as to prevent girls from taking a disproportionate share of Grammar School places. From the early 1950s until the late 1960s girls were less likely than boys to be entered for GCE Ordinary Level examinations. In any case in the 1950s and early 1960s many pupils left school at age 15 having taken no official national examinations. The candidate pass rate in GCE O Level examinations was higher for girls than for boys from the early 50s to the late 1960s so that despite the higher entry rates for males the percentages of male and female school leavers actually passing 5 or more GCE O levels were fairly similar although females did usually outperform males by 1-2% each year. This overall statistic masked the facts that girls outperformed boys by considerable margins in Arts and Humanities subjects and that boys usually outperformed girls but by smaller margins in Mathematics and Scie nce subjects. In order to analyse the relative educational improvement from the 1980s onwards we must distinguish between factors accelerating the rate of female improvement and factors restricting the rate of male improvement. Females and males educational achievements have improved but the rate of female improvement has been faster and this widened the female-male achievement gap especially at GCSE level. Remember, however, that gender, social class and ethnicity are interconnected. Girls are more successful than boys in all ethnic groups but middle class boys are still more educationally successful than working class girls in all ethnic groups. Gender differences in educational achievement are smaller than social class differences in educational achievement and some ethnic differences in educational achievement. Research has shown that Of the 71,286 girls who sat GCSEs in single-sex schools over the three-year period, on average all did better than predicted on the basis of their end of primary SATS results. By comparison, of the 647,942 who took exams in mixed-sex schools, 20% did worse than expected. This means that girls in single sex schools can be expected to do better in their school, in comparison to girls in mixed schools. Studies have shown that girls in mixed sex classes tend to refrain from speaking up and boys dont want to study English to avoid being mocked as poofs', therefore single sex schools would help to resolve this issue as they will remove this pressure between the genders and allow both boys and girls to participate freely. Also Single sex schools will benefit students as male and female brains work differently. Girls can relate to emotions more and are seen as caring and talkative they can sit and talk about emotions whereas boys are more likely to do practical things instead of talking of emotions, hence why boys fail in English. So perhaps, as this leading head mistress, quoted in the Independent suggests, single sex classes need to be implemented to meet the learning strategies of the different sexes. Mainly English and foreign languages is where I believe that pupils need a gender based curriculum as was suggested by the DFES (2007) report it remarks that of the core subjects, the gender gap is widest in English; overall, the differences in language and literacy skills are given as the main cause of the gender gap in attainment. It is suggested that there is around 10% children leaving education with 5 Cs and above girls since 1968 have been slowly achieving better than boys according to Dcfs report into gender. It is a step towards the well researched idea that genders learn differently therefore it is possible to suggest that gender specific learning amongst boys and girls will close the statistical gap of attainment. Although the dfes report suggest that is no substantial evidence to back this up I believe that children will benefit from this approach. Another issue that I found is that boys tend to do better on spatial skills; they find mathematics and science more interesting to learn about. But on the other hand girls to better on verbal, comprehension and vocabulary skills than boys do. This table shows the gap in 1989 was just 6% but 10yrs later it had increased to 10%. It is suggested by S. Ball (2008) that this gap is an overall statistic and not subject specific he suggests that in 2004 the deviations of this gap was just 1% and that in some subjects boys achieve better results than girls therefore it is not valid to say that all boys or all girls achieve less in GCSE levels Conclusions In conclusion doing this research project on boys and girls achievement in schools and narrowing down the gap. The research found that there is not as big as a gap as people thought. The main factors that affect boys achievement are peer pressure and schools too feminised. The research also found that single sex schools and classes do not make that much difference but it found that girls have more confidence to participate in class discussion. In conclusion, the history of the gender gap shows that the gender gap itself has always been present in education, but was hidden by the advantage given to boys in 1960s, and it was often harder for girls to progress into further education, since it was not expected of them, therefore affecting the gender gap in the sense that there were lower numbers of girls then boys progressing. Over the years boys have improved and so have girls, maintaining the gender gap but showing that boys are adapting to the changes and are working harder to keep up. The gender differences in boys and girls does show that they learn in different ways, and these differences are, now more then ever, taken into account in teaching methods, lesson planning and assessment methods, and there is evidence showing that Boys are fighting back at A levels, with their results improving more rapidly than girls (BBC, 2004),however, it is important to recognise that there are girls and boys who wont fit into these gendered patterns and therefore focus should still be placed on the individual and not the biologically predisposed expectations, (Phoenix, 2004, pg 34). We could also conclude that this improvement could be the first sign that boys are now realising they will have to fight to maintain their place in the workforce, as history shows women have been seen as servants to the state (Steedman, 1 985, cited in Arnot and Ghaill, 2006, pg 19). This oppression of women, like other cases where parts of society have been repressed (e.g. repression of the afro-Caribbean population), resulted in women fighting or rebelling for their place in society, which is not something the male population has had to do. Therefore acting as a source of motivation for women to make sure they are treated as equals and to progress in life, where as men have missed out on this and until recently, have lacked the motivation to fight for their place. Now men are in a place of competition with women and are now beginning to see that its not particularly clever to under-achieve (BBC, 2004).